To pursue the heart of Agent Grace Williamson

Part 35

I jumped out the car and the rainfall fell continuously, already soaking into my clothes. I hurried over to the crowd of people and saw Jack talking to a detective. I heard Hannibal's shoes squelch in the mud beside me.
"Jack, what's going on?" I asked him, shouting over the rain and citizens talking between them all.
"We know nothing but that he's holding a little girl hostage. We can't shoot him, or else she will fall with him" Jack exclaimed to me. I nodded my head slowly and let out a loud sigh, this is going to be difficult.
"I must suggest that we remind the suspect that he's holding a little girl, to talk him down" Hannibal suggested to us.
"We have no names?" I questioned Jack, taking note of what Hannibal said.
"None" Jack mumbled to us.
"Any snipers posted?" I questioned again.
"In the trees, just waiting for the command" he answered. I looked behind Jack and stared into the forest, they were well hidden.
"Can I go in?" I asked Jack. He nodded his head and held his radio out to me. I nodded my head and I walked past everyone and to the suspect. As I got myself through the crowd, I saw the little girl was Alice. She screamed my name once she saw me and I felt everything fade into the background. She had a bleeding knee and a missing shoe, I don't know where my mum was. Possibly in the crowd, not sure. The man held Alice up and pressed a pistol against her temple, he seemed stressed and he was right on the edge of a cliff. Since the weather was vicious today, that meant the ocean past the cliff was also vicious.
"D-Don't come any closer" the man shouted to me, aiming his gun at me and away from Alice. I raised my hands up, showing I was no threat and Alice just cried, trying to wiggle free. My eyes kept glancing at Alice and the man, one wrong move is all it takes for him to jump with her.
"Please let Alice go, she's just ten years old. I am begging you" I pleaded to him. The man looked down at Alice and then back up to me.
"How do you know her name?" He asked me, more like shouted over to me.
"Just someone I've seen around" I lied, so then he would have no weakness on me. Alice seemed confused but she didn't say anything, she was too scared to say anything.
"Look, just let Alice go and I promise you, I will protect you" I vowed to him, slowly walking towards him.
"Stop! J-Just stop!" He waved his gun over at me again and I stopped, gulping a little for Alice's safety.
"She's innocent in all of this! Look, I'm sure we can talk about this if you just come with us" I shouted over to him but tried to indicate that I'm saying this calmly instead of aggressively.
"All cops are fucking liars, t-they always LIE" he screamed to me.
"I'm not lying, I'm trying to help you. All I need in return is for you to let Alice go, and come to me" I replied to him. He glanced down at my pistol in my belt and snarled a little - crap, this isn't good.
"Throw your weapon" he ordered to me. I did it with no questions asked, I quickly threw it away from me and saw my pistol land into mud and slowly sink in.
"I did what you asked, now do what I asked!" I ordered over to him. He just started to chuckle and held tighter onto Alice and she whimpered.
"I'm not fucking stupid, I-I know how you all run things.. I'll just die" he barked to me. I sighed and looked over at Alice's terrified face and I began to walk closer to him.
"Please... please stop" he whimpered.
"Just.. let me help you" I held my hand out to him and he dropped Alice and took my hand. Suddenly, someone shot into his shoulder and he gripped onto my hand and fell backwards. I heard Alice shriek as I was pulled off the cliff but I managed to grab a hanging root. I grunted as the man held onto my other hand and I could feel my hand slowly slipping on the root. I looked down and I saw him trying to climb up me. I started to kick at him but he clung onto my leg, making it more difficult for me to kick him off.
"Grace! Move!"
I pushed my body close into the rocks and heard a ton of gunshots and felt free. I looked down and saw him falling with countless bullet holes in him. The drop was awful and made my head slightly spin, then the man got consumed by the large waves. I looked up and saw Jack, Hannibal and Alice all looking down at me.
"Grab my hand!" Hannibal shouted to me as he held his hand down to me. I tried to reach out for his hand and the root gave weigh a little so out of instinct, I just clung back onto it.
"Shit.. Shit!" I gasped, shivering in my voice. I could feel my legs dangle and it was such an awful feeling, like something was pulling me down.
"Come on, please Gracie!" Alice shouted to me, crying. I put my feet on some rocks to push myself up. I reached for his hand and it made me put more pressure onto the rocks and hanging root. They were all also slippery.
"You gotta jump, Grace. You can do this!" Jack shouted to me.
"I-I can't" I cried, holding back onto the root. I never felt so scared before, it felt worse than Hannibal telling me he's the Chesapeake ripper.
"I'll catch you" Hannibal promised me. I took in a few breathers and I felt the root now starting to slowly tear out - it was now or never. I adjusted my feet on the slippery rocks and reached my hand out to Hannibal again. Suddenly, everything began to give weigh and I pushed myself up and just grabbed Hannibal's hand in time. I shrieked as I looked down and saw there was nothing else I could hold onto, so I used my two hands and held onto Hannibal but our hands were slippery from the intense rainfall.
"Pull her up, pull her up" cried Jack. Hannibal tried to pull me up and I felt myself slip so Hannibal stopped trying to pull me up, but still held onto me tightly.
"Give me her other hand!" Jack shouted. I held onto Jacks hand. Jack and Hannibal used both their hands and started to haul me up. I saw the ground they were standing on starting to crumble and it was getting worse and worse.
"Your feet!" I screamed. They both looked down and started to pull harder. I was to die either way, but I didn't want to drag Hannibal and Jack down with me. I let go of their hands and slipped right out. Everyone shrieked and it was like everything was in slow motion. I took one last chance at all their faces and there was so much I wanted to say to them all, but I couldn't. Alice screamed as Hannibal pushed her away from the cliff, to not see me and Jack just stared at me, his eyes wide and jaw dropped, distraught.

Then it all went dark.