“Kind of hard for you to do when he won’t answer the phone.”
“He will. Eventually, he will,” she repeated.
Kreiger kicked the toe of his right shoe into the pavement. “Fine.”
“Meaning that you’ll stand down for now?” There was so much to consider before breaching a hostage situation. It was rarely ever a clear extraction without cost.
“For now.” He lit up a cigarette, and she returned to the command vehicle.
Everyone looked at her when she opened the door and walked to her workstation. “I’m going to try calling again.”
No one said a word. The air was thick with stress and apprehension, as they put on their headsets.
The line rang several times before Ryan’s voice came on the line.
“What do you want?” Snapping and curt.
“This isn’t about what I want, Ryan.” She needed to ground him, recenter things so that he saw her as being there for him, not out for her own agenda.
There was silence on the other end except for some crying and sniffling in the background.
“We heard gunfire out here,” she said, proceeding cautiously. “Is everyone?—”
“Everyone is fine.”
“He’s lying!” a woman cried out.
Sandra guessed it was Ashley Hanson.
“Don’t listen to her,” Ryan hissed. “You can’t kill the devil.”
Sandra made brief eye contact with Donny. “And who is the devil?”
“The Hansons!”
Sandra took her time responding, hoping the pause might dampen his rage. While the seconds ticked off, she analyzed what he’d told her between the lines. “Is one of the Hansons injured?” She used a calm tone, removed all judgment, phrasing it as if the injury wasn’t his fault.
“He’ll be fine.”
Donny wrote on the page,Either the boy or Edward…
“Who will be fine, Ryan?” Sandra looked up at the ceiling of the vehicle and held her breath for his reply.
“My dear half-brother.”
A man’s voice said, “I’m not your?—”
“Shut up! Or I swear to God I’ll shoot you again! Why can’t you just show me some respect?” Ryan asked, clearly not talking to her but to Edward.
“If Edward was shot, Ryan, this doesn’t need to get any worse. Send him out, so he can get the help he needs.”
The span of following silence had Sandra’s ears ringing.
Eventually, she broke it. “Ryan, we are doing what you asked. We’re looking into your mother’s crash. We started on that without anything in return. But now my boss?—”
“No. He’s not going anywhere. Whatever happens here today, he deserves it for keeping his father’s secrets!”
Donny wrote,Is there more we don’t know about?
