Page 17 of Captive Hearts
Eight
Gina wasn’t sure whether to get out of the van to join in the little chat with the copper. But she hadn’t been asked for, only Ashley, so she opted to stay where she was. Though she did have her ear strategically turned to the conversation.
But when she heard the detective mention something about interviewing the gunman, she found herself getting out of the van and jogging over in time to hear Ashley sputter, ‘What?’
‘I realise this is a rather big ask, but the gunman, he saw your van, with the logo. And he asked… He’ll only talk to me if you’re there.’
Ashley’s jaw was still on the floor. But Gina knew without a doubt that when Ashley collected herself, she was going to be up for this. ‘Ashley,’ Gina began, trying to nip the whole thing in the bud as quickly as she could, ‘That’s a seriously bad idea. We can’t.’
Ashley held up a hand. ‘Hang on, I’m not saying yes. I just want to… hear the officer out.’
Gina thought,Yeah, right. But she closed her mouth.
‘Look, we’d make sure you were safe, you could shoot from behind the cordon,’ DI Conway said.
‘Bulletproof, is it, this cordon?’ Gina asked.
‘There’ll be twenty officers standing between you and this man.’
‘Gunmanwas the word you used a second ago,’ Gina corrected.
‘Gina, just shut up a second, let the woman talk,’ Ashley said sharply.
Gina nearly walked off right then. But despite Ashley’s rudeness, she was worried about what would happen if she left. She worried that Ashley would do something extremely dumb. So she mimed zipping her lips, throwing the imaginary key in Ashley’s face. Ashley didn’t notice, she was already asking, ‘He’s just going to walk out and talk to you?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s not… That doesn’t seem very smart. I mean, the only reason you’re not going in there now is because he’s got some civilians in there, correct? So if he walks out, he loses any protection.’
‘He’s bringing someone out with him. He’s gonna talk from behind them.’
‘Wow, nice guy,’ Gina said.
‘I thought you’d zipped,’ Ashley reminded her. She turned back to the police officer. ‘Why does he want us there?’
‘He didn’t say. It wasn’t exactly a long conversation. He said, “Get me the news people and I’ll come out and talk.”
‘And you really think you can guarantee our safety?’
Gina was now thoroughly disturbed by this conversation. ‘If anyone cares,I’mnot doing this. And you shouldn’t either,’ she told Ashley.
DI Conway turned her attention to Gina. ‘I need both of you. He wants to see a proper camera and a real reporter.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘That’s just the impression I get.’
Gina blew out tiredly. ‘Your certainty is somewhat underwhelming.’
DI Conway sighed. ‘Look, I’ve got a lot of innocent people in there, and I want to get them out without incident. I can’t do that without a real conversation. I need to hear his terms.’
‘But you’ve got an armed unit there, right?’ Ashley said. ‘So what happens if you don’t like his terms?’
‘It’s not coming to anything like that,’ Conway said firmly. ‘But we’ve got confirmation he has a handgun. We have to have armed officers there as a precaution.’
Ashley put her hands on her hips, thoughtful. Gina was somewhat buoyed by the fact she’d yet to say yes. Maybe she could be reasoned with, unlike the armed dickhead in the restaurant.
But then, of course, it tipped.
