by Susan Stoker
Once again Cheyenne thought about her job and how it should be more fulfilling than it was. She thought saving people’s lives would be exciting and rewarding, but all it turned out to be was stressful and boring at times. I’m 32 years old, I should be doing something interesting with my life. I should be traveling, or even married by now.
Cheyenne’s life depressed her. She lived in Riverton, California, near the Navy base. She saw men and women in uniform every day. She’d once thought about joining up to “see the world” as all the recruiting posters claimed, but she really was too much of a coward to go through with it. Besides, there was no way she’d be able to pass the physical tests. She wasn’t fat, but Cheyenne didn’t think she’d be able to do even one pull up, and running was completely out of the question.
Cheyenne found military men fascinating. She assumed it was because she didn’t really know any, but like many woman, she found a man in uniform irresistible. She wasn’t living in a fantasy world though, she knew they could be mean and ugly, just like any other person. She saw the stories in the newspaper all the time about killings and beatings and such that happened on and around the base, not to mention manning the phone lines and hearing and getting help for domestic incidents that sometimes involved members in the military, but it didn’t keep her from fantasizing about men in uniform in general.
There was one man that she saw on a semi-regular basis at the grocery store who immediately came to mind when she thought of the Naval Base. He wasn’t usually in his uniform at the store, but she always knew it was him. He was fairly tall, had dark hair and he was built. Cheyenne was ashamed to admit that she’d stalked him around the store one day, watching as he filled his cart with healthy food, nothing like the pastries and processed crap she always bought.
He was always polite to the people around him. He even helped her get a can of something off the top shelf once and smiled at her as he’d done it. Cheyenne had beamed the rest of the day like a schoolgirl. She didn’t know his first name, but she knew his last name was Cooper. It was sewn onto the front of his uniform. She’d only seen him wearing it on one occasion, but she knew she’d never forget it. He filled it out in all the right places. She had no idea what kind of job he did in the Navy, as she didn’t know what all the patches on his uniform meant, but it honestly didn’t really matter to her. Ever since Cheyenne had seen him in the store, she refused to shop anywhere else, just in case she’d run into him again.
Cheyenne found it interesting to people watch as she went about her day. Since she had to sum up a person after only a brief conversation at work, she’d gotten really good at it. One of her favorite things to do was imagine what people’s lives were like just from looking at them. Cheyenne looked around her in the grocery store…it wasn’t very crowded, which was good because she preferred to do her shopping when there weren’t hordes of people around.
There was a lady walking in front of Cheyenne in the produce section. She was wearing three inch heels and a skin tight dress that barely covered her backside. I don’t know how people wear those things. I bet she’s an undercover police officer, she’s just gotten off duty where she tried to arrest men soliciting prostitutes and is getting some food before she heads home. Cheyenne looked at a college aged man standing at the meat counter. I bet he’s having a barbeque today and is trying to decide what to buy to grill for his buddies. Cheyenne continued her daydreaming as she wandered around the store. She wasn’t in a hurry, because the only plans she had that day were to go home and finish the book she’d started the day before.
Cheyenne started up the frozen food aisle and noticed five men standing around near the pharmacy. As the store was pretty empty, they really stood out. They didn’t have carts with them and they were dressed all in black. About the time her brain processed the fact that something wasn’t right, she heard yelling, and the men all pulled out pistols from somewhere hidden in their clothing. Cheyenne stood frozen. When she’d wished for more excitement in her life she really hadn’t meant something like this! She started inching backwards to get out of the aisle and out of sight of the men, but one noticed her and started down the aisle toward her pointing the gun directly at her.
* * *
Dude laughed at his friends. They loved eating at Aces Bar and Grill. It was their go-to place for both drinks and food. They’d tried to get everyone together at least once a week. The bar might not be big, and it certainly wasn’t a chain, but the food was delicious and, perhaps most importantly, wasn’t overrun with tourists.
If Dude was honest with himself, he knew it didn’t matter where they ate every week. He loved his friends and their women. He loved to rib his teammates as much as he could.
“You guys are pathetic!” Dude teased, rolling his eyes at the other men on his SEAL team. “Seriously, you never want to go out anymore, you stay home all the time. You’re all a bunch of fuddy duddies now that you have women. I’m impressed you even left your houses at all today.”
“Hey, you’re just jealous,” Mozart shot back, laughing at his friend.
Dude laughed with his friends, knowing Mozart was right on so many levels. He looked around and was thrilled to see the happiness on his friends’ faces. Their women were perfect for them.
The men were startled when the sound of Wolf’s cell phone pealed. They watched as he answered it and they all sat up straighter when they saw his muscles get tight. A phone call could mean nothing more than a telemarketer had somehow gotten a hold of Wolf’s unlisted number, or it could mean they were about to be shipped out to an undisclosed location.
Dude watched as the four women around them also tensed, waiting to hear what the news was.
“Right, yeah, I’ll get him on it. Thanks.” Wolf hung up the phone and turned to Dude. Not beating around the bush he stated urgently, “Possible bomb threat inside the grocery store on Main Street here in Riverton. They’re asking for an ordinance expert.”
“I’m on it.” Dude stood up quickly, already thinking about what he might find. The local police department would sometimes call on the military when they needed extra help. Their commander had no qualms in reaching out to the team when he knew they’d be able to help.
“Let us know if you need anything.”
Dude raised his hand in acknowledgement of Wolf’s words, then he was gone.
* * *
Cheyenne had never been so scared in her life. She’d seen movies and read books where the heroines were brave and smart-mouthed the bad guys. Somehow it had always worked out for them though. Cheyenne didn’t think smart-mouthing back to these scary men would help her, or anyone else around her, in any way shape or form. They were mean, and somehow Cheyenne knew they wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger and kill any one of them.
Apparently they wanted to rob the pharmacy in the back of the grocery store of their drugs, but unfortunately, their plan had failed. Three SPs, Naval Shore Patrols, happened to have been in the store at the time they tried to rob it. Guns were drawn and a stand-off ensued. Cheyenne had been trapped in the store, along with two other women, and the five gunmen. They’d hauled them all to the back corner of the store.
The SPs had managed to get all of the other customers out of harm’s way and out of the building in the chaos that had ensued once the gunmen had pulled out their weapons. It seemed like forever had passed since they’d taken over the store, when in actuality it had only been about an hour and a half. The gunmen were mad and desperate. Cheyenne could tell they were getting more and more anxious as time went on. Occasionally she’d hear mumblings of a loudspeaker outside the building.
The two women trapped with her were hysterical. They were both pretty young, maybe in their early twenties. Each time one of the gunmen would look their way, they would plead with them to let them go, that they had families, that they had children, that they were married…whatever they thought would sway the gunmen into showing mercy and letting them go. When that didn’t work, they just sat huddled together
and cried.
While Cheyenne was also scared to death, she didn’t figure that crying would do much good. These guys were obviously high on some kind of drug and they only cared about getting away. Since there were five of them, Cheyenne knew there was no way she and the other women would be able to “make a break for it,” anyway. They were stuck until this standoff was over, however “over” occured.
She thought about her coworkers. Had anyone called 911? Had one of her coworkers answered the call and sent out for more help? Cheyenne wished with all her heart she’d never stepped foot in the grocery store that day. That’s what wanting to eat got her. What she’d give to be sitting in the control room at work and organizing the rescue from the outside. She’d never thought much about being a victim herself. She was always the one helping others, she never considered that she’d be the one needing help.
Cheyenne was brought back to her present situation when one of the gunmen, the biggest and meanest looking, stalked over to their corner and snarled, “Today’s a good day to die.”
This, of course, got the cashiers even more hysterical than they already were. He laughed with a cruel low grunt. Cheyenne knew he was enjoying making them scared. She just sat there dry eyed and tried to tamp down her terror.
“Here’s the deal, ladies,” the scary man sneered. “We can’t get out of here until those cops get out of the way, and they aren’t going to do that unless we make them, that’s where you come in.”
Cheyenne sucked in a deep breath, knowing whatever he had in store for them wasn’t going to be good.
“Since I’m in a good mood today…” Cheyenne couldn’t help but snort under her breath. She apparently hadn’t been quiet enough with her scorn because the man glared at her nastily before continuing. “I’ll let you all decide who gets to deliver my message to the cops outside.”
Cheyenne could practically feel the nervous energy coming off of the cashiers. She knew they were dying to be the ones to take the message out of the building. But Cheyenne wanted to know what the catch was. There was no way this evil man was just going to let one of them walk outside and go free. They were their ticket out of there and Cheyenne knew it.
The gunman walked away, but called back to them, “Stay put bitches, I’ll be right back with the message.”
As soon as the man was out of earshot, the cashiers started arguing with each other.
“I need to get out of here,” the blonde said.
“No way, I should be the one to deliver the message, you aren’t married, no matter what you told him,” the other woman argued back.
Their voices got louder and bitchier as they argued with each other.
“Yeah, but I have to be here to take care of my mom, you know she’s not doing well,” the blonde shot right back.
Cheyenne sighed. She didn’t bother joining in their argument. She was glad the two women hadn’t turned on her yet, they weren’t even considering her to be the one to get out of there with the message. She was basically invisible to the women. But that was okay, Cheyenne was single, had no husband or kids…essentially she was expendable.
The women stopped their arguing as the man came back toward them holding a box. Cheyenne shuddered, knowing that whatever was in that box wasn’t good. They’d all assumed he’d come back with a piece of paper with the gunmen’s demands written on it. No one had expected a box.
The man carefully put the package on the floor and turned toward them, with his hands on his hips as if daring them to defy him. “Here’s the message…it’s a bomb.”
Cheyenne gasped and shrunk back from the innocuous looking box on the floor, just as the two cashiers did the same thing.
“The message is, that if they don’t let us out of here, we’ll blow up this bomb and everyone in the store. Shrapnel will blow for fucking miles…anyone in the vicinity of the building will die…holes punched throughout their body,” his voice trailed off as he laughed. Then he glared at them all again and said, “You have three minutes to choose who will take the message outside. I’m sure it won’t be hard to decide. After all, whoever gets to take it, will be free.” He again laughed, but Cheyenne couldn’t hear any humor in the laugh. He stalked off to converse with his fellow gunmen, leaving them there to figure out who would be the one to carry the deadly bomb outside to the cops.
Cheyenne turned to the two women; they all just looked at each other. Predictably, the cashiers started to cry. Cheyenne wasn’t very far from crying herself, although she willed the tears away. If she was going to die, she wasn’t going to do it sniveling.
Whispering, Cheyenne turned to the two women. “It sucks, but he’s right, whoever takes this outside will be free.”
“But, it’s a bomb,” the blonde woman croaked, not able to tear her horrified eyes away from the box sitting in front of them.
“What if it’s not?” the other woman said. “I mean, what if they just want us to think it’s a bomb to scare us, but it’s really only a piece of paper in there?” Cheyenne thought about it. The girl was right, he could be trying to scare them and it wasn’t anything.
“Are you crazy enough to take a chance on that?” the blonde whispered.
The other cashier’s shoulders slumped. “Hell no.”
“Well, I know I don’t want to risk it. These guys are crazy. I’m not sure I’d trust them to know how to build a bomb, nonetheless build it sturdy enough to withstand being carried through the store.”
Unfortunately, Cheyenne agreed with her.
As if realizing she was there for the first time, the cashiers turned toward her. “What about you?”
“Uh…” Cheyenne couldn’t think of anything to say, but the blonde didn’t give her a chance anyway.
“I don’t see you wearing a ring, so you aren’t married. Do you have kids?”
Cheyenne shook her head honestly, knowing where this was going.
“Then you have to do it. We have families, people who depend on us.”
When Cheyenne just stared at them, the dark haired woman joined in with the pleading, but at least she was nice about it. “Please,” she begged.
Finally after another moment, knowing it was probably the best decision, Cheyenne decided to just go with it. If all it took to be free from this nightmare was a moment of danger to walk that damn box out the door, it’d be worth it. “I’ll do it,” Cheyenne croaked to the other women. “I know you both have families. Hopefully it won’t come to anything; we’ll just have to believe that.” The women nodded and didn’t say anything.
The gunman stalked back over to the frightened women and demanded, “So? Who’s taking my message outside?”
Cheyenne stuck her chin up and said simply, “Me.” She really didn’t like the wicked smirk that came over the man’s face as he turned to her.
“Then get up, bitch, I gotta prepare my gift for the cops.”
Cheyenne slowly stood up, regretting with every fiber of her being what she was about to do. She knew this wasn’t going to end up well for her. She just knew it.
* * *
Dude paced outside the grocery store. He hated waiting. So far no one knew much about what was going on inside the building. The SPs that were in the store when the robbery had started had done a great job in getting almost everyone out, but they said there were still some civilians inside. He wasn’t sure how many, and the gunmen weren’t really talking except to say if they weren’t allowed to leave, then they would set off a bomb and blow everyone up. That was where he came in. Everyone knew he was the best, all he needed was a chance to diffuse the bomb, but no one knew if they would have that chance.
Dude heard one of the police officers say, “Look!”
He turned and watched through the plate glass window as two women walked across the front of the store toward the front door. They were holding each other and walking quickly. There was no sign of any of the gunmen. Had they sneaked out? Was that even possible? He watched as the women exited the store and crept toward the line
of police cars.
“Stop right there,” one of the police said through his bullhorn. “Turn around, put your hands on your head and get down on your knees.” The women did as he asked. Four police officers cautiously peeled away from the line of cars they’d been standing behind as cover, and approached the women with their guns drawn. They grasped them by their hands, which were behind their heads, had them stand, and practically dragged them back behind the police cars.
Dude listened in as the cops quickly interrogated the women on the spot, trying to get more intel as to what the hell was going on.
“How many gunmen are there?”
“Five.”
“What kind of firepower do they have?”
At the blank look from the women, Dude rolled his eyes as the officer explained that he wanted to know what kind of guns the bad guys had.
“Oh, they each had a little gun, but the leader guy had like, two of them, and a long gun too,” the blonde explained, wringing her hands dramatically.
“Did they let you go? How’d you get out of here?”
This time it was the dark haired woman that answered. “They wanted one of us to take a message out here to you guys, but then the big guy said the message was a bomb. The other lady said she’d do it and the guy took her in the back. They left us alone, and we decided to get the hell out of there, we didn’t want to get blown up. We ran toward the front of the store and by the time they noticed us, we were too close to the door, so they had let us go. But they’re pissed, that’s for sure.”
“So there’s only one other hostage inside?”
At the nods from both women, the officer asked again, “You’re sure?”
“Yeah, positive,” the blonde said frantically nodding. “Yeah, you heard her say the message they wanted us to take out here to you was a bomb? Neither of us wanted to take it, and we have family, there was no way we could’ve done it. The other lady volunteered.”