Chapter 13 - FORTY-ONE HOSTAGES
Police surrounded the facility.
Families gathered beyond the barricades.
Some cried.
Some screamed names toward the building.
Edward arrived with Julian.
Mitchell intercepted him.
“You stay here.”
“Victoria bought that place with money stolen from me.”
“That doesn’t make you law enforcement.”
“It makes me the reason she’s inside.”
Mitchell hesitated.
Then handed him a phone.
“She wants to speak to you.”
Edward answered.
“Victoria.”
“Hello again.”
“What do you want?”
“One thing.”
“What?”
“A plane.”
Edward almost laughed.
“You think you’re walking out?”
“Not walking.”
“Flying.”
She continued.
“Private jet.”
“Fuelled.”
“Ready.”
“And safe passage for Daniel.”
“Or?”
“You really want me to say it?”
Edward looked at the building.
“No.”
“I don’t.”
Victoria’s voice softened.
“You should have chosen me.”
“I did.”
Silence.
“For two years, I chose you.”
“I defended you.”
“I trusted you.”
“I slept beside you.”
“I planned children with you.”
His voice tightened.
“And you used every one of those things as a weapon.”
Victoria said nothing.
Edward continued.
“You want to know when you lost?”
“When Florence refused to be afraid of you.”
Victoria’s breathing changed.
“You always did worship her.”
“No.”
“I respect her.”
“That’s something you never understood.”
Victoria hung up.
Minutes later, an elderly resident appeared at a second-story window.
She held a handwritten sign.
HELP.
Mitchell ordered the tactical team forward.
Then alarms erupted.
Smoke poured from a rear hallway.
“They started a fire!”
Edward’s blood froze.
Firefighters moved.
Residents began appearing at windows.
Police broke doors.
Edward ignored every order and ran toward the side entrance.
“Edward!”
He pushed inside.
Smoke burned his throat.
“Anybody here?”
A weak voice answered.
“Help!”
He found an elderly man on the floor beside a walker.
Edward lifted him.
“Put your arm around me.”
“My wife…”
“Where?”
“Room fourteen.”
Edward carried him toward firefighters, handed him off, then turned back.
A firefighter grabbed him.
“You’re done.”
“My wife is in there!”
Not true.
But it got him two more seconds.
He slipped away.
Room fourteen.
An elderly woman was trapped behind a fallen cabinet.
Edward pulled it aside.
“Come on.”
She coughed.
“Who are you?”
“Someone having a terrible week.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
He led her out.
As they reached the corridor, Victoria stepped from the smoke.
A knife rested against Julian’s throat.
Edward stopped.
Victoria smiled.
“Found your lawyer.”
Julian looked furious rather than afraid.
“Don’t give her anything.”
Victoria pressed the blade closer.
“Shut up.”
Edward raised his hands.
“What do you want?”
“The account codes.”
“I don’t have them.”
“You can get them.”
“No.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“You still don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
He looked beyond her.
A red emergency light flashed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Mitchell’s signal.
Edward smiled.
Victoria frowned.
“What?”
He answered,
“You keep looking at the man in front of you.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Edward continued.
“That’s why you never see the woman behind you.”
Victoria spun.
Florence Hale stood at the other end of the corridor.
Alive.
May you like
Upright.
And holding Victoria’s dropped handgun in both trembling hands.
