A Child In Need

by Marion Lennox

  ‘Tell them what?’ Nick, too, sounded calm, much calmer than he was feeling. Fear and guns and tiny children. This had all the makings of a nightmare.

  ‘Tell them not to come in or I’ll kill someone.’

  ‘I’ll go…’ He took a step toward the door.

  ‘No!’ Len was indecisive and terrified, changing his mind in the instant.

  ‘If you want me to give them a message fast, then I need to go outside,’ Nick said calmly. ‘I can’t tell them anything from in here.’

  ‘I’ll kill the kids if they come in!’

  ‘I understand, but I need to go outside to tell them that. Now, or they’re coming in.’ He cast a swift glance at Shanni, hoping desperately there were some brains behind the riot of blonde curls. Then he looked back at Len, forcing his voice to sound calm as he spoke to him. ‘If you stay behind me, you can keep the gun trained on me while I speak.’

  ‘I…’

  ‘They’re coming in, Len.’

  ‘No!’ The boy was clearly frightened half to death. He waved the gun at the room in general. The children were stunned into absolute silence and Shanni had sunk down onto the mat beside them.

  And Len made up his mind. ‘Go out,’ he ordered Nick. Tell them what I said. But I’m behind you. The rest of you…don’t move or I’ll kill him.’

  And he shoved the gun into Nick’s back and pushed him out the door.

  There were sirens screaming from everywhere. How many cops did they have in this town? Nick thought bleakly. Still, noise was good. If the kindergarten teacher had any brains at all… Let her have one neuron at least.

  She did. Shanni knew exactly what she needed to do.

  The boy had threatened the stranger-he’d shoot him if they moved-but Shanni couldn’t allow herself to worry about that. Her first-her only responsibility was to her children. Len and his hostage were no sooner out of the door, concentrating on the advancing police, than she was sending a silent message to Marg with her eyes. Let’s get them out of here!

  She had to risk talking a little.

  ‘I want absolute silence!’ she whispered to the children, forcing herself to stay on the mat so her eyes were level with theirs. Somehow she had to keep calm. ‘Not one peep out of anyone. This is a pirate game, just like we’ve been talking about. So the order is that you stay quiet as mice and stay exactly where you are until I touch you. Then, when I touch you on the shoulder, you run outside to Marg, just as fast as your legs can carry you. But not one sound, or Dirty Dick will win the game.’

  Then, with a final commanding glance at the children-daring them to disobey-and one cheeky grin to show them it was still fun-she rose, practically shoved the still boggling Marg toward the back door, and she touched Hugh who’d been standing with Marg. ‘Okay, run. Hugh, you first. Now Louise. Go! Now Mary! Sam! Tony! Faster. Good kids. Outside, and Marg will get you right away from Dirty Dick. Go!’

  Nick took a deep breath. There were police running toward the place and somehow he had to stop them. Somehow he had to raise his voice.

  ‘Stop! Right now!’

  They stopped, but to his horror Nick saw that two of the police had their guns drawn. Great-a gun battle with him as the meat in the sandwich.

  He needed to talk and he needed to talk fast! He raised his voice and yelled.

  ‘I’m Nick Daniels, and behind me is Len Harris. Len’s jumped bail after armed robbery charges. He has a gun trained on my back and he’ll kill me if you come closer.’ He was trying to give as much information as he could in the little time he had, but it was as much as he could manage to make his voice work at all. Let her be moving the kids…

  ‘I didn’t tell you to say who I was.’ Len’s gun jabbed Nick hard in the back and Nick grimaced with pain. ‘Just say… Say, “One step closer I’ll kill you.”’

  There were three policemen now within listening range. They’d been running but had stopped dead at Nick’s words.

  ‘One step closer and he’ll kill me,’ Nick repeated flatly.

  ‘I mean it,’ Len yelled, and the gun dug deeper. ‘Now… Get back. Now!’

  Heck, did he have the gun cocked? Somehow Nick had sounded calm enough, but there were rivulets of sweat running down his forehead.

  But the police had the message. ‘Okay. We’re backing up.’ The first policeman held out a hand, signalling the others to stop behind him. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I dunno yet,’ Len yelled. ‘I gotta think. You give me space. I got all these kids in here…’

  ‘Don’t touch the children!’ The closest policeman’s voice rose in fear and Nick looked more closely at the officer. He looked in his thirties-around the right age to have a child of his own in there.

  ‘We’re going back inside.’ The gun jabbed again into the small of Nick’s back. It hurt! ‘Don’t follow. That’s all.’

  ‘I’m telling him to let some of the children go,’ Nick yelled, dragging back against Len’s insistent pull. ‘He can’t keep all of them. Tell him I’m right.’ He was desperately buying time here. Len was staring straight out at the policemen, and his attention was solely on the outside. And inside…

  Surely there was a back door in the kindergarten? Surely the woman wouldn’t be so stupid as to stay still and wait for this crazy kid to return? He had to give her time.

  ‘You can’t keep twenty-five kids hostage,’ the policeman yelled, confirming Nick’s impression. Yep, this officer knew the kindergarten, right down to the number of children inside. He had personal involvement here.

  That was good, Nick figured. No policeman was going to try heroics if his kid could be caught in the crossfire.

  Were the children moving out? Out of the corner of his eye Nick saw a flutter of movement behind him. A wisp of colour against the building, fast removed. Please…

  ‘I ain’t letting any of them go,’ Len snarled. ‘And you come closer and I kill them. One by one.’ He jabbed Nick again, grabbed his collar and hauled him backwards into the kindergarten.

  At first sight, Nick thought she’d got them all away. There wasn’t a child in sight. But then he saw a neat denimed backside, sticking up from underneath a side table and his heart sank. Surely she hadn’t tried to hide?

  As Len gave a roar of rage, Shanni turned to face him, her arms cradling a tiny boy.

  ‘You should have gone.’

  ‘Right, and left Harry.’ An hour later, they were seated against the wall as far from either door as Len could set them. Len was standing opposite, staring out through a chink in the closed curtains. Every so often he’d swivel to stare at his hostages, and only now had he calmed down enough for them to dare speaking. For a while there Nick had feared for this girl’s life.

  But she’d stood up to Len as she’d emerged from under the table to face him.

  ‘I don’t care who you are or what you’re doing, but you don’t need twenty-five tiny hostages. You have me, you have this man and you have one child.’ She’d tilted her chin, defiant and seemingly fearless. ‘And if you hurt Harry-’ she’d held the child closer ‘-then you’ll only have one hostage, because you’ll have to kill me, too.’ And there had been enough steely determination in her voice for Len to know he’d heard the absolute truth.

  She’d looked beautiful, Nick thought, stunned. He’d never seen anyone with such courage. This woman took his breath away. And what she’d achieved… Somewhere outside, twenty-four children were being reunited with their parents, with only one remaining here. One emaciated baby with wide eyes and a leg in a cast: a baby who sat ramrod-stiff on Shanni’s lap and didn’t make a sound.

  If only she’d been a little faster… ‘Why didn’t you get Harry out too?’ he asked, looking down at the child. Surely he wasn’t old enough for kindergarten.

  ‘You didn’t give me enough time,’ she whispered. ‘He was under the table.’

  ‘Yeah, right.’ He didn’t understand, but he heard the note of accusation in her voice and it wasn’t only about not giving her
enough time. Her accusation made him blink.

  ‘You blame me for this?’

  ‘You chased him in here. Of all the stupid…’

  ‘Hey, I didn’t!’ His voice rose, and he bit his lip and cast a wary glance at Len. Len, though, was too busy looking outside at the gathering forces of the law. ‘He saw me at the petrol station and assumed I was after him.’

  ‘You’re a cop?’

  ‘A lawyer.’

  ‘Oh, great.’ Her voice said what she thought of lawyers in general-and one lawyer in particular.

  ‘This is not my fault,’ Nick said through gritted teeth-he wasn’t used to being talked to like this by a woman.

  Shanni glowered darkly and held Harry closer. ‘I’m not listening. I need someone to blame, and a city lawyer with a too-thin tie and expensive aftershave will do very nicely, thank you very much.’

  He blinked. For heaven’s sake… She was…laughing at him?

  He must be mistaken. Women didn’t laugh at Nick Daniels. And women didn’t laugh in situations like this. Her attention was back on the child now, and she was ignoring the reaction she’d had on Nick. Her arms were hugging the little boy, trying to draw his rigid little body into hers.

  ‘Hey, Harry, it’s okay. It’s okay.’ She rocked him back and forth as she’d been rocking him for over half an hour but there was no sound. Was he mute? Nick wondered, watching woman and child. He knew nothing about babies. Maybe all children reacted like this to fear.

  ‘His mum and dad’ll be beside themselves with worry,’ he ventured.

  ‘No.’ Shanni shook her head. ‘Harry lives in one of the houses of the local orphanage. His house mum, Wendy, will be waiting outside, though, won’t she, Harry?’

  Silence. Nothing.

  ‘Is he all right?’ Nick stared down at the little boy. There was something wrong here, apart from the cast on his leg. He mightn’t know much about children, but he wasn’t stupid.

  ‘He’s fine.’ Shanni sighed. ‘As fine as each of us are in this mess.’ She bit her lip and then seemed to do an inward shrug. Retrieving a hand from around Harry, she extended it in his direction. ‘I’m Shanni McDonald. And this is Harry Lester.’

  ‘I’m Nick Daniels.’ He took her hand in his and found it surprisingly warm and strong. Different…

  She was a very different woman from the type he was accustomed to, he decided, but he couldn’t quite figure out why. Or why she made him feel…odd.

  Well, at least she wasn’t falling into hysterics on him, he decided thankfully. He managed a faint smile-and found her eyes disconcertingly twinkling at him.

  ‘I could say the same for you,’ she said.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘I can guess what you’re thinking and, like you, I’m really pleased you’re not the fainting type. We need a couple of cool heads here.’

  A couple of cool heads… Nick blinked. She was implying she could help get them out of this mess-and she seemed almost to be able to read his mind!

  ‘Don’t do anything,’ he said hurriedly. The last thing they needed here was heroics.

  ‘I’m not stupid,’ she said with dignity. ‘Not like some people I know.’ Then she bit her lip and the twinkle appeared again. ‘Harry, Mr Daniels might have chased a pirate right into our kindergarten but maybe we should be nice to him. Shall we offer him some milk and fruit?’

  ‘Milk and fruit?’

  ‘It’s what you eat,’ she said austerely, ‘in a kindergarten.’ And then, before he could say a word, she raised her voice. ‘Len?’

  Len wheeled from the window as if she’d yelled, and the gun whirled to point straight at her. To Nick’s amazement she didn’t react with fear but with purpose, rising to her feet with Harry still cradled in her arms. No fast movements-but determined for all that.

  ‘Sit down!’ Len’s voice cracked in panic but Shanni simply shook her head.

  ‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘I need to go to the bathroom.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘There are no windows in the bathrooms,’ she said evenly. ‘Check and see. There’s only roof vents, and I’m not that athletic. No one is.’ She smiled, and her smile would have stopped a tank in its tracks. ‘Len, if you don’t let me go, you’ll be sorry.’

  ‘I…’

  ‘I bet you want to go, too,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘What with all this excitement. Tell you what? Why don’t you take your gun and Mr Daniels and Harry into the boys’ room while I use the girls’ room. You can keep your gun on them and I swear I won’t go anywhere.’

  He stared at her, baffled.

  ‘Make as many threats as you like,’ she said calmly. ‘You don’t need to. I’m promising, and I don’t break promises. I will not try to escape. You have my word. I won’t leave Harry. But if we can’t work bathroom arrangements out we’re going to be very uncomfortable.’

  ‘Yes…’ He thought this through. ‘If you try and get away I’ll shoot the kid. I mean it.’

  ‘I told you-I won’t leave without Harry,’ she said, and her eyes were direct and honest-so that even Nick, who didn’t trust anyone, trusted her. ‘I swear.’

  And, to Nick’s amazement, Len agreed.

  CHAPTER TWO

  AS HE agreed to almost everything else she suggested through that long afternoon and night. Len might be a criminal with a record a mile long, but he was also still child enough to respond to Shanni’s authoritative school-marming and cheerful smile. In fact, he almost seemed to like it, and, as night fell and she warmed milk for him, he even gave her a hint of a shy smile in return.

  ‘Ta…’

  ‘Think nothing of it,’ she said, ignoring Nick’s look of amazement. She glanced at her watch. It was almost ten. After a dinner of bananas, apples and milk there was nothing more she could do to make them comfortable or to defuse the tension. ‘I guess we should all try to sleep now.’

  That was too much to expect. ‘Don’t be stupid!’ Len clutched his mug of milk in one hand, his gun in the other and stared out into the night like a hunted thing.

  There’d be scores of policemen outside now, Nick knew, with sharpshooters, police psychologists-the works. The police had tried over and over to talk to Len through the long afternoon, but his fear hadn’t let him take the first step. The phone was off the hook and he was simply ignoring the loud hailer.

  It was looking as if it would be a long, long night.

  ‘You don’t mind if we try to sleep, then?’ Shanni gestured down to the mats they used for the children’s naps. She had blankets and pillows piled up-everything they needed.

  ‘Do what you want,’ Len almost snarled, and Nick thought, he’s tired. He wants to sleep-but he daren’t.

  So Shanni spread out the bedding, two sets of mats three feet apart. Nick glanced down at them and casually pushed them together.

  ‘It’ll be warmer,’ he suggested, and Shanni looked thoughtful. But she didn’t disagree.

  ‘Come on, Harry,’ she said, and slipped down between mat and blankets, holding the child close, as if she really did intend sleeping.

  Nick stared down at them for a long moment-and then did the same.

  There was nothing else to do but sleep with her!

  Weird!

  Len had the lights turned off so he could see outside more clearly. Nick lay staring up into the dark. He was trying to sleep on kindergarten mats, for heaven’s sake, with a woman and child by his side. He could feel the warmth of Shanni-her arm was brushing his, and he was acutely aware of every movement. Sleeping with a woman had never seemed like this! Strangely, it had never seemed so intimate.

  She was some woman! She made him feel…

  No! It was hardly the time to think like this now! Think of something else. The child…

  Harry hadn’t said a word all day, Nick remembered, dragging his thoughts from where they kept straying. Right to the feel of Shanni… The thought of Shanni…

  Stop it, Daniels. Get a hold on yourself!

  Keep th
inking of the child. Harry…

  Harry had eaten the fruit Shanni had fed him, and he’d drunk his milk. He’d gone to the bathroom and submitted while Shanni had given him a wash. All the time he’d seemed totally aloof, though his wary eyes had been watching every move anyone made. Now…in the dark, Nick sensed he was still being watched. The little boy was between them, with Shanni’s arms around his shoulders, holding tight. Shanni’s arms…

  ‘Comfy?’ Shanni murmured, and Nick grimaced.

  ‘Comfy as I’ll ever be. Would it have hurt to have full-length blankets?’ He had blankets draped all over him, but with three-foot kindergarten lengths it took four pieces to cover him.

  ‘We don’t get many six-foot students in this place.’ Shanni chuckled, and the weird sense of intimacy deepened. But, in the faint light filtering in from outside, Nick saw her cast a glance across at Len. She wasn’t focussed entirely on Nick or Harry, then. She was checking their talking wasn’t making Len edgy, but Len’s attention was all on the outside. It was okay to keep talking. ‘Mr Daniels is a bit big for our beds, isn’t he, Harry?’ she said softly into the dark.

  There was no sound from Harry, but he wasn’t asleep.

  ‘Does he ever talk?’

  ‘Who, Harry?’ Shanni gave Harry a squeeze to which the child didn’t respond at all. ‘Only when he wants to-which isn’t often. Harry’s just new at our kinder. He hasn’t learned yet that we’re his friends and we’re never going to hurt him.’

  So…the kid lived in an orphanage and he thought adults were things to be feared. Nick frowned, stunned into silence at the unexpected, gut-twisting wrench of sympathy he felt for him.

  Which was stupid. This wasn’t like him. He didn’t get involved emotionally! Ever.

  ‘Come on, Harry, love,’ Shanni was whispering. ‘Settle down. Let me cuddle you.’

  He didn’t. His eyes watched everything, supremely distrustful…