By the time the plane landed, he was pumped and ready to get to the scene as quickly as possible. They loaded into a waiting van and took off for the scene of the crime.
“Hendrick sent me some information about the Pearson chief of police,” Rowan said from the front seat.
She was young for an agent, only in her early twenties. Rowan was skilled in dealing with all levels of police personnel. She was a real asset when it came to coordinating the team with local law enforcement and also skilled at clearing red tape for the agents.
“Walter Cummings has been chief of police here for the past seven years. According to the locals, he’s a bit of a blowhard and showman but runs his department with an iron fist,” Rowan said.
“I’m sure you’ll manage him just fine,” Evan said. “We’re going to need the support of all the local police.”
He sat up straighter in his seat as he saw the two brick buildings in the distance. The larger one housed dorms for the residents. The smaller one held the classrooms the students attended every day—even on weekends for half days—and that was where the armed men had burst in and taken hostages.
In front of the school was a wide paved driveway. The relatively small parking lot was filled with a fleet of first responder vehicles and personnel as well as what appeared to be a large onlooker presence. Too many civilians for Evan’s comfort level.
“It looks like a cluster—” Davis started to say.
The van came to a halt. “Let’s get this under control,” Evan said as they all exited the unmarked vehicle.
It took Evan and Rowan several minutes to work their way through the crowd and finally locate Chief Walter Cummings. He was a squat, barrel-chested man with salt-and-pepper hair and broken blood vessels across his nose and cheeks.
“Chief Cummings?” Rowan said, and held out her hand. “Rowan Cooper with the TCD. This is Special Agent Evan Duran, TCD’s top hostage negotiator.”
He shook Rowan’s hand first, then Evan’s, using a hard, viselike grip that Evan assumed was meant to be intimidating. It didn’t work. “I’d say I’m glad to see you folks here, but I’ll be honest. This is a matter I thought we could handle. But you know the state boys were worried about regulations—”
“The last thing we want to do is step on anyone’s toes,” Rowan replied smoothly. “We all have one goal in mind, right? We need to get the hostages out safe and sound and put the hostage takers behind bars.”
“I’ll need details about the hostages inside the building,” Evan said, cutting to the chase.
The chief rocked back on his heels. “The principal, two teachers and four students, along with a security guard.”
“Do you know how many hostage takers are in there?” Evan asked.
“No, I don’t,” he replied. “We’ve tried to call the main office, but nobody from the inside is talking to let us know what’s going on in there. We know the security guard is dead, but we aren’t sure who else might be.” The chief grimaced. “Bert Epstein was a personal friend of mine. His body is there in the front doorway.”
“I’m sorry you lost your friend,” Evan replied, but did not have time for more than the cursory condolence. “You have a number for a phone inside the school?” Evan didn’t remember whether Hendrick had sent a phone number or not.
Walter nodded and gave it to him. “It’s the only number I have. It rings in the office.”
“And you have no idea who the armed men are or what they want?” Evan asked. This situation had already been going on for almost twenty-four hours, and Chief Cummings didn’t know anything? Was the man just that incompetent?
Walter shrugged. “No clue.”
Evan looked toward the other building on the property. “I understand that is where all the students live. I’m assuming you have armed guards at the door and the place is on lockdown?”
“Affirmative,” the chief replied.
“Who are all these people?” Evan asked, and swept one of his arms toward the onlookers. “There seems to be a lot of civilians just standing around.” They were people who not only contributed to the chaos of the active scene but also stood a chance of taking a bullet if things went sideways. They needed to be moved out of the area immediately.
“Some of them are teachers who work at the school and are concerned for the people who are inside. They’re also townsfolk interested in what’s going on. We don’t usually have a situation like this,” Chief Cummings explained.
“We need to move them all out of here as quickly as possible,” Evan said. He looked at Rowan. “Maybe you could help the chief get some of his men together to get any civilians safely off the premises.”
“Are you sure you don’t need any of my input right now on how you’re going to handle this?” the chief asked.
“Not at this moment,” Evan replied. Right now more than anything he hoped to make contact with somebody inside. He wouldn’t know how to negotiate the release of the hostages without gaining some kind of information about the people who were holding them. The most important thing was to find out why they were in the school and what they wanted in order to release the hostages unharmed.
He stared at the school. How many people were actually dead inside? Was it possible Annalise was one of the them? He could see a man’s body lying prone in the front doorway. That would be the security guard Chief Cummings had mentioned.
His chest tightened. The stakes were high. If these men had already killed people, then they had nothing to lose and there was no assurance they wouldn’t kill more.
IT HAD BEEN a night of hell. Throughout the long hours of darkness, men had been in and out of the room, peeking out the window and cursing.
