Page 20 of Captive Hearts
DI Conway tried again, moving the bullhorn a bit farther from her lips. ‘Sir, are you ready to come out? I have what you requested. A news crew are here to film while we talk.’
Nothing happened for a second, and everyone waited anxiously. At last, the door cracked ajar and Ashley, standing next to Gina with her cam on her shoulder, held her breath.
An older woman in glasses stepped out. She had her hands up. ‘Don’t shoot!’ the woman yelled. ‘I’ve got the man behind me!’
Everyone watched carefully as the woman stepped forward. Behind her, you could just about make out another person. Ashley could only catch parts of him, a bit of hair, an arm, a nose. ‘Oi, news bird?! You there?’ came a yell.
Ashley didn’t realise he meant her until DI Conway turned and glared at her. ‘Answer him!’ she said sternly.
‘Oh! Err, yes, sir. I’m right here. Ashley Quick for KTN.’
A head popped briefly around the woman, and Ashley got a better look at him as he locked eyes with her. Ashley felt her stomach turn over as he glanced from Ashley to the camera next to her before he dropped quickly back. He was on the small side - kind of runty even - about forty, with a small moustache and a receding hairline. Not much to intimidate. He still scared the crap out of Ashley.
‘Ashley Quick?’ he said disappointedly. ‘I watch the teatime news; I don’t remember you.’
Classic, Ashley thought. ‘I did that story last week about the guy who had the graffiti on his café window calling him a dick splash? I mean, we couldn’t actually show the words “dick splash”, but you could sort of see it through the blur.’
‘Oh, yeah,’ the man said. ‘I remember that.’ He paused. ‘So you’re not, I mean, you’re not really a… Are you the only one that came?’
‘I don’t think the national media have gotten ahold of this yet, sir. I just got lucky.’
‘Oh,’ the man said, saddened. ‘I thought you might be a bit bigger. Never mind.’
Ashley glanced around at the coppers, all looking at her now. She wanted to die. The gunman thought she was too small-time to cover him. ‘Sir, I may be an, err, up and comer, but I promise, I will cover your story completely. My camerawoman and I will stay here for as long as it takes.’
Ashley felt Gina shuffle beside her, and she could tell that hadn’t gone down very well. But she had to get this man’s confidence. ‘Is there anything you’d like to talk to me about?’
The gunman paused. ‘Yes. But I need you to come closer. I want you to get a good look at this.’
Ashley paused. She glanced over at DI Conway, who gave her a subtle shake of her head. She glanced over at Gina, who was staring at her with the eye that wasn’t on the viewfinder. It was wide with panic.
Ashley turned back to the gunman. ‘Sir, I can assure you that my camerawoman will get everything from this distance. She’s got a good, err, long lens. Haven’t you?’
Gina paused, and then popped her head out from behind the lens, flicking an irritated look at Ashley. ‘Yep. Really long.’
‘Sir,’ interrupted DI Conway, ‘If I could just get your attention for a moment-’
‘FUCKING SHUT IT!’ he barked at her from behind his human shield. ‘I don’t care how long the lens is. I need you up here.’
Ashley froze. ‘Err…’
‘Tell you what. You come up here, and I’ll let this old dear go,’ he offered, sweetening his tone.
‘I’m only fifty, actually,’ the hostage complained.
‘Sir, that wasn’t part of the deal we struck,’ DI Conway said, trying to wrestle back control.
‘Don’t care. New deal. News bird and camera bird come up here, and I’ll talk to them. And in return, I’ll let the codger go.’
‘Codger?’ the hostage protested. ‘I’m still in my prime!’
‘So, you coming up or am I going to pop her right here?’ the man said much less nicely, waving his gun around the woman’s head.
Ashley was absolutely stuck. She couldn’t go up there. It was madness. But the man was making it clear what the choice was. If she didn’t go up, that woman might be killed in front of her. For the first time, she forgot about the story. ‘Sir, I… alright. I’m coming up. But I can’t… I won’t be bringing my camerawoman, alright?’
‘No good,’ the man said. ‘It’s a package deal. You’re worth bugger all without the other one.’
‘I’ll shoot you on my phone. I can livestream if you’d prefer.’ Ashley got her phone out and started fiddling with Facebook. ‘I’ve never done this, I don’t really like Facebook, but gimme a second to work this out.’
