Justice

Negotiations

Chapter 14

Third Person POV

As Gary Mills stepped out of the house he was greeted by the sight of the man who shot his daughter flanked by two other officers. “I said I only wanted to talk to you. They need to back off.”  He said gesturing to Thunder and Wordy who were hovering just behind Ed.

Ed Lane shook his head. “Can’t do that Mr. Mills. They’re keeping both of us safe. You said you wanted to talk to me. Here I am. Let Sophie and Clark go, and let’s just talk this out.”

Mills smiled making him look slightly crazy. “I can’t do that Officer Lane. They’re keeping me safe.”

Ed tensed. On both sides of him Thunder and Wordy simultaneously said, “Calm.”

 Ed took a deep breath and said, “You said you wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”

Mill honestly hadn’t expected things to play out this way. He was rapidly trying to figure out how he could make it end the way he wanted it to. How he could make the cop trip up and say something wrong so he would have a reason to shoot. Finally he replied. “How can you live with what you did to Sasha?”

Ed paused, trying to come up with the right words. “The truth, Mr. Mills, is that I can’t. Every day I live with the fact that a young girl ended up dying that day and I was the one who took the shot. I can’t live with that, so I push it out of my head. I focus on something else. I work harder, I train harder, and I push my team harder because it’s something else to focus on and maybe it might keep someone else from dying.”

 Ed took a breath. It seemed to be working. So he continued. “I wish she hadn’t been there that day. I wish she had put the gun down. I wish she had just turned and ran away.”

Mills tensed. “You wish what? You’re saying that’s it’s her fault that she got gunned down by a shooter she couldn’t even see?”

“Careful Eddie. You want to make him see reality, but you do it the wrong way and he’ll go up.” Greg’s warning came over the headsets.

Nodding Ed returned his attention to the subject. “I’m not saying it’s anyone’s fault. I’m just laying out what I know. What I know is that we get asked to back up a drug bust and something unexpected happens. A girl shows up, presumably to make a purchase. Officers on the street go in to arrest her, and she pulls a gun and fires hitting one of the cops. I was given the order to shoot, so I took the shot. That is what happened. If you let my family go and put the gun down you can see the transcripts from the call and read all the reports, but you have to put the gun down.” He was practically begging at the end.

Mills didn’t move. Ed could practically see the gears turning in his mind, looking for a way to make things end the way he wanted them to.

“Please let them go.” He pleaded. “If you want somebody to kill, just shoot me. That’s the real reason you killed those kids and you’re threatening to kill them. You wanted to get rid of the anger that you felt. But you couldn’t, because killing those people isn’t the same as killing the person who took your daughter from you. If you let them go you can do whatever you want with me. Just please don’t hurt them.”

Sorry I haven’t updated lately. I have no good excuse. Please tell me what you think. And I will try to update sooner.