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My pulse is in my fingertips.“More agents?”
Evan nods.“She called in.Not taking any chances.”
“But—”
A bunch of cops converge by the steps leading up to the entrance.At least three of them are talking in loud, terse voices.More officers get out of the cars and drag barriers onto the sidewalk.
“Hey!”A man jogs by.“I want to pick up my kid.How do I get in there?Hey.Somebody answer me.Who’s in charge here?”
“Who the fuckisin charge here?”Evan’s pissed.The group of cops keeps changing, some of them running off, others running back.A car pulls up behind us, a door slams, and Evan sticks out his hand and catches a cop by the elbow as he runs by.“Is the armed individual inside the building or outside?”
“Can’t speak to that.”
I follow Evan closer to the building.
“Clear this area.Sir.Ma’am.We need this area clear.”The woman directing us past the barricadeslookslike a cop, but she’s not in uniform.“Keep moving.”
“Has anyone entered the building?”Evan asks.
“No one is allowed to enter the building until the lockdown is over.”
“That’s not what I asked.”Evan jogs a few feet ahead, then circles back for me.“If nobody’s in there, I’m going in.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.You’ll stay here with the cops.”
“The cops aren’tdoinganything.”
“I’m not happy about—” He digs his phone out of his pocket.“They’re not letting Drew out of the teacher’s lounge on the twins’ floor.What thefuck.”
We go back toward the barricade, but the loud maybe-cop woman directs us away again.Sirens on a side street get closer.
“All of you need to step back.”
Evan and I are swept up in a group of parents approaching from the other direction.Four cops join in the effort.A mom next to me shouts questions and doesn’t get any answers.A dad pushes between me and Evan.
“I have a duty to enter the building on behalf of my client,” Evan says over the raised voices.Two people are between us now.He’s leaning toward the cops, demanding their attention.
One of their walkie-talkies crackles.It sounds completely garbled to me, but the cop pushes a button on the black plastic.“Copy that.”He puts a hand out to Evan, but addresses the crowd next.“We have confirmation that it was a false report.”
“What?”A lady next to me elbows her way forward.“Which part was false?The lockdown or the gunman.”
The cop lifts both hands now.“There’s no cause for alarm.The armed individual’s presence on campus couldn’t be substantiated.Everybody calm down.”
“I’m not going to calm down,” Evan snaps.“I want eyes on my clients.And why the fuck do I have a member of my security team being denied access to those clients?I need answers right now.”
Somebody pulls on my sleeve, and I take a step back.Evan, at least, is talking to the cops.There are other people here worried sick about their kids.Three more parents take up the empty space I’ve left behind.
The person doesn’t let go of my sleeve.
I move my wrist to shake them off, and a hand clamps down on my arm.
Then it’s not pulling, it’s dragging, with so much force that we’re out in the intersection in seconds.This cross-street isn’t barricaded.There’straffic.Cars.And we’re in the middle of them.
“Hey.Hey.Let go of me.”Twisting my neck to look up at them only gets the sun in my eyes.“Hey!”
A car goes by too close for comfort.“Shut up.”
