by Jesse West
“What are you doing Jackie?” Rick’s voice showed concern as he ignored Jack’s attempt at making a joke.
“It’s not easy to explain man. It’s just…” he paused for a second and got up from his chair, “It’s just what I have to do.”
“Jackie, listen to me. I know you think you need to do this but there are better ways. This will ruin your life. Your career. Everything we worked for together. Are you willing to throw all of that away just to get…revenge?” Rick paused for a second since he didn’t know how else to look at it. He wasn’t in Jack’s mind so from an outsider’s perspective and from what he knew about Jack, this seemed like the right title. Revenge.
“Revenge? You think this is revenge?” Jack said in a joking yet angered tone. “You think I’m doing this to get revenge? Revenge for what? What exactly would place a stamp on this that would label it as revenge, Rick? Tell me that.”
“I know what you’re going through, Jackie.” Rick tried to say more but he was cut off.
“NO! You do not know what I am going through!” Jack was getting angry.
“Jackie, just listen to me.” Rick tried to get a word in but Jack wouldn’t let him.
“NO! You do not get to speak right now! You do not understand anything about what my life has been like because your life has been perfect!”
As Jack screamed into the radio and paced back and forth through the dining room and living room, everyone watched him, unsure of what was going to come next.
Lynn took the radio from Rick and attempt to get a word in.
“Jack, this is the Eric Lynn, the Lieutenant. Do you remember?
“Of course, I remember,” Jack replied. “What do you want, Lieutenant?” he had fury in his voice. He was upset with Rick, but also he was upset with himself for getting so angry.
“You can call me Eric if you like,” Lynn tried to ease the conversation.
“Thanks for your permission, Eric. Now get to the point.” Jack sat back down on the couch in the living room this time.
“There’s no reason to get upset or start shouting. We don’t need to cause a panic in there or out here,” Lynn said.
“Agreed,” Jack replied.
“Rick is here to help just like all of us are and there’s no reason to get upset.” Lynn was looking at Rick as he spoke to Jack.
“Alright, so let’s talk about what I want from you.”
As Jack began speaking, one of the other officers came over with a note that said, ‘He only mentioned eight people.’ This struck Lynn’s curiosity.
“What is it that you want, Jack?” he said as the note was handed to him.
“All I want is time,” Jack said in confidence. “You give me…” he paused for a second as he thought. “Three hours. Three hours of uninterrupted time and I’ll let you have a hostage.”
“One hostage for three hours?” Lynn replied, “Come on, Jack. You have to do better than that. You’re asking for a lot and giving a little. You know how this works.”
“I know exactly how it works. I’ve proven that I am willing to harm these people and these are the rules in which I am asking for you to abide by. If you do not give me what I ask for or break the rules I am laying out for you, know that I am willing to put a bullet in someone’s head!” he lifted the gun and cocked it back so they could hear it over the radio. This made everyone in the room flinch since they knew he was fully capable of it. The only one that hadn’t been paying much attention to him, was his mother.
“Well, Jack, let’s be honest. You haven’t been very trust worthy so how can I keep you to your word.” responded Lynn.
“What are you talking about?” Jack was confused.
“You told me you had 9 people in there and you’ve only described eight so far. Who’s the other person?”
“You give me my time, I’ll answer your question.” Jack was stern in what he wanted.
“See, I can’t do that Jack. You have to give me more than just one hostage. For that, I can guarantee you at least an hour but no more than that.”
“One hour for one hostage?” Jack asked, intrigued.
“Yeah.”
“Ok. Let’s stick with that.” Jack had a plan. “You give me my three hours and when it’s over I’ll give you three hostages.”
Lynn smirked a bit to the other officers who were listening to the conversation as well. The only one who didn’t seem pleased was the captain.
“Alright Jack,” Lynn began, “that seems fare. Three hours for three hostages. I can swing that.”
“Good.”
“I want you to send them out now.”
“No. After I get my three hours.”
“Jack...”
“No Lynn, these are my rules. I get my three hours and after that you get your three hostages.”
Lynn hesitated for a second but he had no choice. Jack knew what he was doing.
“Ok. It’s a deal.”
“Good,” Jack was satisfied.
“Now that we have a deal, you need to answer my question.” Lynn needed all the information he could get.
In the house, Jack remained silent as he sat down in his chair in front of his mother who hadn’t lifted her head the entire time. Everyone else had been staring at him, listening to him, but not her. He sat there and didn’t respond.
“Jack?” Lynn’s voice snapped it out of it, “You still there Jack?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Who is the last person Jack?”
“……My mother.”
Jack turned the radio off after he answered the question.
“Jack? Jack!” Lynn shouted into the radio realizing he lost him, “Dammit!” but he knew he had gained trust and planted his foot down with what he wanted from Jack. Now, it was about keeping his own word.
“What are you doing Lieutenant?” The captain shouted as he realized as well that the radio was off.
“My job.” Lynn expressed as he walked back to his team. “Alright, I need everyone to keep a perimeter around this house. No one goes near it unless I give the command.”
“What are you doing giving him three hours?! We need to bring this to an end.” the captain bellowed to Lynn as he was giving orders.
“Listen to me Captain Williger! When you have a 97 percent success record in hostage survival rate then you can call the shots with the negotiating!” Lynn knew he pulled rank since he was the onsite negotiator and what he says goes in these situations, so he mouthed off to the captain as he pleased. “Right now, my goal is to get those people out of that house and get Jack Bogan in our custody without causalities! Including Jack! These officers will follow my lead and do nothing to jeopardize any of the lives in that house! My priority is to end this by the safest means necessary, not the quickest!”
Williger was reluctant, but he knew Lynn was right.
“Well, you have command Lieutenant. But I want swat on call and ready if we need them.”
“Agreed. Get me as much background information that you can on Officer Bogan, his family history, anything that is useful I need it ten minutes ago. What about family?”
“His father passed about a month ago, mother is apparently in there with him, but he has a sister that was contacted. She should be on her way here.” Williger replied.
“Alright, that’ll work. Inform me as soon as she gets here. Now, get me whatever else you can.” Lynn wanted more then what he had.
“I’ll get some men on that right now.” The captain turned away from them as he approached another officer.
“Where is the swat leader?” Lynn turned looking for him and walked back to the patrol car with Rick trailing behind them. The captain followed shortly behind.
“Right here, sir.” One of the other officers said.
“Sergeant Frank Kaplon sir. SWAT team leader,” they shook hands as they introduced themselves.
“Pleasure to meet you sergeant. It’s a shame it had to be under these circumstances.” Lynn said.
&nbs
p; “It’s what we do, Lieutenant. Are you the negotiator in command?”
“I am.”
“Who’s the taker?”
“Officer Jack Bogan. Apparently this is his family’s house and he’s got about 9 people in there that I tend to get out safe and sound. You with me, Sergeant?”
“Hundred percent. Just tell me what the plan is.”
“You have your men split into 3 teams. Have 2 teams go around the back from 2 houses down from the left and right of the neighboring houses so he doesn’t see them. Your 3rd team will go around the block to the opposite end of the house. I want to block all chances of an escape in case he tries to leave with a hostage. You got a sniper handy?”
Rick heard all that Lynn was saying and it filled him with anger. He jumped in on his command to questions his choices. “What? A Sniper?” he began approaching them as the captain held him back “What is it you plan on doing, Lieutenant? You wanna take out one of our guys?! What happened to zero casualties?!” he got defensive to the idea of them killing his partner.
“Calm down, Ricky.” The captain said as he stepped in front of him.
“Who is this?” Kaplon asked in confusing.
“Officer Rick Krauthammer.” Rick spoke out loud with defiance.
“The taker’s partner.” Lynn explained. “Look officer, we are going to do whatever we can to get everyone out of there alive. You have my word. But I need to take the necessary precautions.”
Rick listened unwilling and nodded his head in compliance.
“Now, who’s your best shot?” Lynn turned and asked the sergeant.
“MAHONEY!” Kaplon turned and shouted to one of his teammates, a female with blonde hair in a ponytail stood up with a rifle in her hand and approached them.
“You a good shot officer?” Lynn asked her.
“Damn right, sir.” She said with confidence.
“Good. You only fire on my command.” She nodded her head in compliance. “You perch up across the street in one the houses and make sure you have a clear view of the front of the house.”
“Got it.” She turned and ran to the other side of the street. Kaplon walked back to the rest of the team and gave them their orders. Lynn stared at information he had on the numerous papers in front of him.
“What now?” Rick asked, breaking the silence. Still upset but powerless. Jack’s actions put him here and there was little Rick could do to help him. The captain stood there next to him waiting for Lynn’s response.
Lynn turned from the house and leaned up against the car, folding his arms. He felt successful in the steps he’d taken thus far and knew there was only one thing left to do.
“Now, we wait.”
Mother
With all of the lights shining through the curtains and the low hum of voices coming from outside, Jack sat in his chair and pondered. He had the time he wanted and he knew they would keep their word. He was honest about the situation in the house and he was truthful in regards to what it was he wanted. After everything that has happened so far and with everything Jack had to do next, time was all he needed. He drifted into his thoughts, taking into consideration anything they might be planning when it came to the situation in front of them. Jack was smart when it came to the law but he was untrained and had little knowledge when it came to onsite hostage situations. The calls they make at this point may or may not jeopardies lives but exactly what are they willing to do to make sure this ends with as little bloodshed as possible. In an instant, he realized that the only safe way to avoid the loss of life was for them to take his life.
“They’ll aim to kill me,” he thought to himself, “I put a target on my head. They’ll be looking to take me out of the picture to assure their safety. I doubt they will stick to their word but I will stick to mine. Three of them.”
He looked around at everyone in the room, taking notice of them for the first time since the lights were noticeable outside. Pauline was continuing to stare at Gene whose eyes were drooping as if he was prepared to fall asleep.
“I don’t know how much longer the old man has. I hit him pretty hard. Maybe it was too hard. But I wouldn’t take it back.” He glanced over at Bobby, “He deserved to watch me do that. He needed to feel what I felt for so long dealing with him.” Bobby was still on the floor. His eye was pretty much swollen shut and the rag wrapped around his hand was showing a noticeable red stain leaking through. “He did this to himself. He did this to them.” Then he looked back over to them. Pauline was just staring at him with concern, whispering to him things that Jack couldn’t hear but didn’t pay attention to, “She’s no saint either.” He just let them be.
Sue was sitting upright with her head leaning up against the wall. She had a look of aggravation and she was breathing at a bit of a faster rate than normal which demonstrated her frustration in what was going on. “I do feel bad for her. Finally hearing the truth from her parents. It’s not easy but it had to happen. I’ll take these people apart brick by brick until all the lies are out in the opened.”
He then looked over to Sal who was leaning back in his upright position as well except he was leaning his head out to try and see out the window behind him. The blinds were blocking his view but he was still curious. “I don’t what he thinks he’s looking for but he won’t see much. Just silhouettes and flashing lights. He can’t see out and they can’t see in.”
He turned the other way to see how the kids were. James was still holding Sabrina and she was resting her head on his chest. It looked like she was falling asleep herself. “I hate that I’ve done this to her. I’ve ruined her image of me. Destroyed any chance of her looking at me the way she did when she opened that door. The hug she gave me was immeasurable and I’ll never get that again. She deserves to leave this house.” Jack was nervous about her wellbeing and was unsure about how this will affect her in the long run but he knew he had to get her out as soon as he could.
Vicky was sitting up in her chair with her knees up in her chest and she had her arms wrapped around her legs. “Why did you help me Vicky?” It still confused him why she volunteered before. Maybe she figured it would be better to sacrifice herself than to have him pick whoever he wanted. Maybe she really understood and felt for Jack. He couldn’t put that puzzle together as he sat and couldn’t help thinking to himself “Why?”
All these thoughts continued to rattle around in his brain. “It doesn’t matter.” He finally silenced himself “As long as I finish this.” He was determined to go on until he reached whatever fate lied ahead of him. However this evening was going to go down, he was going to finish what he started.
Silence filled the room as no one said a word. Jack sat in his chair still in thought. His mother looked up and stared at him since she realized at that very moment, he was looking at everyone but her. He hadn’t attended to her since he told the Lieutenant that the 9th hostage was his mother. Jack knew he had some time to gather his thoughts if Lynn stood by his word to give him time.
“Jackie.” His mother finally broke the silence. Some of the others looked over surprised that she was speaking directly to him.
Jack’s attention lifted to her immediately. “Yes, mother.” he said with sarcasm.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“Haha, you don’t get to ask me that,” he replied with a tone of confidence and annoyance.
“Jackie, I’m your mother and you will tell me why you are doing this,” she demanded in a stern voice.
“Oh, are we pulling the mother card?” Jack replied with sarcasm.
“Jackie.” Before she continued, he cut her off.
“You know, the card you pull whenever you feel like you deserve something for being a ‘mother’ when you’ve done nothing to respectfully deserve it.”
“I gave birth to you! I raised you! I cared for you! I gave you everything!” her voice became more firm and her anger seemed to show. To her, she was his mother. Though Jack felt otherwise.
“Raised me?
Took care of me? Gave me everything?” Jack threw her questions right back at her. “How dare you sit there and say you were ever a mother to me!”
“I gave you a home and I put food in your mouth!”
“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO THOSE THINGS YOU IDIOT!” Jack was beginning to get emotional again.
“DO NOT TALK TO YOUR MOTHER THAT WAY!” she replied to him fiercely.
“There you go again! Using that mother word like it fits you!”
“You grew inside of me. You came out of my body. I am your mother and you will speak to me the way you should.” She demanded.
“Ha, you know what I find amusing? Where was all this fury and anger when this asshole was beating you regularly?” he gestured towards Bobby. This silenced his mother for a moment. “Yelling at you? Throwing things? Destroying that ‘home’ you gave me? Where was this anger and passion when I was a kid? Where was my mother then?!” she ignored all of his words and just stared at him.
“I am your mother.” was all she said.
“Are you kidding me?” Jack became mad and confused. “Do you just not want to hear the truth?”
She just looked at him firmly with irritation in her glare.
“You don’t do you. You like living in your little world where you do nothing wrong and everything is fine. Well, guess what mother, it’s not fine. Nothing is fine and you choose to be blind to the part you have played in this.”
She continued to just stare at him.
“At exactly what point in my life did you feel like my mother? Tell me that.”
Whilst all of their arguing, the rest of them were listening and watching along. No one was saying a word at this point, including his mother.
“You can’t, can you? Your main argument that you’re using to consider yourself my mother is simple that you gave birth to me. Well, newsflash MOM that means shit when you’ve had little to do with actually raising me to be a decent person in this world. You, Bobby, even my own father have failed to actually be parents to me. I took care of him more than I took care of myself. I’ve witnessed more disaster when I was living with you than all the years I’ve spent as a police officer! The way you ‘raised me’ causes me to go through spurts of depression and anxiety that you will never understand or even attempt to comprehend because in your mind, you’ve been a great mother. Truth be told, if I took in any of what I witnessed being around you, I’d probably be dead by now.”