Red Tape (19 page)

“Please, Mom, quickly, I only have thirty seconds.”

“The phone is near her ear,” my mother said.

“Mandy, baby, Mommy loves you with all my heart. You be a good girl for Grandmom and Grandpop. I love you, baby girl.”

I could hear Mandy say, “Ba ba.” That’s all she was able to say at her age, besides some other babbling.

I broke down in tears as I hung up the phone. I could no longer control my sobs.

“Why are you doing this?” Rodney asked softly. I could see the Rodney’s hands were trembling and he was sweating bullets. He looked like he was in bad shape. I figured he was way past due for his medications.

Mr. Triggers grew incensed. “Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?” he shouted. “I’m doing this because you people messed up my whole life. You screwed me.”

“How?” Rodney asked.

I thought this was rather bold of Rodney. I feared Rodney was going to push this guy over the edge and the gun would start firing. My hopes of getting out alive were bleak, but I still felt there was a slim chance of someone saving us. If Triggers started shooting, our chances would be gone.

I quickly butted in and said, “What he means is, what can we do to help you?”

“You could’ve installed the dunes before the freakin’ storm took away everything I owned; that is what you could have done, but now it’s too late!” Triggers said in a very evil tone. “You took away my life and now I’m going to take away yours, but not before I make that Frita O’Donnell pay for all her red tape!”

“The mayor took your life away, not us. She tried to take my life away too. I’d be happy to see you make her pay,” I said.

I was trying to keep him focused on a different target. I hated the mayor, so why not keep his attention there? It was a fat chance he’d ever get to her after this hostage stunt, so I didn’t feel like I was putting another person in harm’s way by saying that.

“Yeah, she did destroy my life,” he said. “But you work for her, so you are against me too.”

“No I’m not,” I said. “I hate her. She put me in jail for no reason.”

It was time to break my rules about being professional to those outside of my inner circle, and it worked. It finally got his attention. Maybe if he felt I could empathize with him, he would let me go.

“What do you mean?” he said.

“She falsely accused me of stealing and embezzlement. She made the police arrest me. I got thrown into jail. I got fired. I had to post bail and hire an attorney. I had no money to pay my bills. Then she tried to have me killed. Sent two goons after me. Tried to take my poor baby girl’s mother away. I have a restraining order against her.”

“See! I knew she was evil. She ruins people’s lives.”

“She does, but she is going to get hers. She was arrested for being the leader in an identity theft ring.”

“Then why did I see her yesterday at the pharmacy?”

“She didn’t have her day in court yet, but she will. She will be behind bars for a long time.”

Mr. Triggers was silent. I didn’t know if I still had him relating to me or if I was losing him. It was around noontime. I couldn’t think of anything else to say about the mayor. I had to pee really badly.

“Would I be permitted to go to the bathroom?” I asked.

Mr. Triggers scowled at me.

“You and Rodney could come into the room. There are stalls on the bathroom doors inside, but you’d be able to see my feet and see I wasn’t running away. I promise, I’ll be quick.”

“I need to go too,” Rodney said.

“Fine,” Triggers said. He motioned to us with the gun to move out of the room.

He led us to the bathroom and we both took a stall to do our business, while Triggers waited watchfully in the doorway. I thought the fact that he let us use the restroom was a good sign. Maybe he would let us live too. We washed our hands and Triggers led us back into Rodney’s office at gunpoint.

Rodney’s phone rang again. Triggers told me to answer it. The voice from the other end said, “Chelsey, this is Agent Romeo again. Is Mr. Triggers willing to talk yet?”

I looked at Triggers. “They want to know if you want to talk yet.”

“No!” Triggers screamed.

“He doesn’t wish to speak at this time. Is there any message?” I asked.

“Has he hurt either one of you?” Romeo asked.

“No.”

“Has he told you his demands?”

“He wants his dunes installed and he is watching the TV to see that it’s accomplished. He also wants Frita O’Donnell down here.”

“Hang the phone up,” Triggers shouted.

“He wanted to know if we had demands,” I said. I purposely included the “we” in that sentence, because I wanted Triggers to think I was on his side. I had nothing left to lose.

“They know my demands,” Triggers replied.

“Yes, but we should ask for more. Like food. Are you hungry? I could go for a pizza.”

“Yeah, okay, fine. Food.”

I picked up the phone and dialed the non-emergency police number. I wasn’t sure how to reach Agent Romeo, but I assumed they would be on the police lines. I knew the non-emergency line was a recorded line, so if Romeo wasn’t reachable this way, he would still be able to replay the tapes. I was surprised when Romeo answered. I assumed since they could see where the call was coming from, they knew it was us.

“Agent Salvatore Romeo.”

“There’s another demand,” I said.

“I’m listening.”

“Pizza and soda please.”

“Are you and Rodney hurt?”

“No.”

“We will leave the food outside of the door. Try to get Triggers to pick up the food himself.”

“Understood.”

I told Triggers the food would arrive in twenty minutes. It was close to two o’clock in the afternoon when the food arrived. Triggers insisted I go to get the food. He threatened to kill Rodney if I didn’t come back. There was no way I was going to be able to convince Triggers to get the food like Agent Romeo asked and I wasn’t about to risk my life by trying.

I made my way out of Rodney’s office and into the lobby. I moved slowly, stepping over a body and tiptoeing through pools of blood until I reached the main doors. I could see all the police cars and commotion outside. I slowly opened the doors. I heard a voice yell, “Hold your fire.”

I held the door open just wide enough to grasp the pizza box. Two men wearing dark tactical gear ran toward me from the sides of the building, but stayed along the siding, away from the glass doors. One shouted to me, “Are you okay?”

I pulled the food into the municipal building without answering him. I didn’t want Triggers to hurt Rodney, so I wasn’t about to say anything that would cast doubts in Triggers’ mind that I would return. I hurried down the hallway and into Rodney’s office. Triggers ate in silence. He indicated that Rodney and I could eat. I forced myself to take a couple of bites. I didn’t have an appetite, but I knew I needed to keep my strength up in case an opportunity to run presented itself.

Rodney spoke up after a while. “Why don’t you let Chelsey go? She is a single mom and her child needs her. You can keep me and still get what you need by holding me hostage,” he said to Triggers.

Triggers looked at him for a very long time without saying anything. I spoke up. “You should let Rodney go instead of me. Rodney has a terminal illness and is going to die anyway. You’d be more likely to get your dunes if you have a young, single woman that you are holding hostage.”

“What are you doing?” Rodney whispered. “Your daughter needs you.”

I was torn. I knew my daughter needed me, but I thought I could talk my way out of the situation better than Rodney could. I felt that if Rodney stayed, Triggers would definitely kill him and Rodney looked worse than I had ever seen him at this point. He was sweaty and twitching. He needed medical attention and I felt I had a better chance of making it out alive. I was torn between doing what was right and doing what was right for me. I chose to do the right thing.

“Mr. Triggers, you could bargain with them. Tell them that in exchange for three truckloads of sand being deposited at the end of your street, you will let one of us go.”

Mr. Triggers still sat silently. He seemed to be pondering the idea.

“Get them on the phone,” Triggers said.

I dialed the number. Romeo answered again. Triggers told me to tell them the bargain.

“He has a proposition for you,” I said.

“Put him on the phone,” Romeo said.

“They want to talk to you,” I said to Mr. Triggers.

Triggers shook his head. “They talk to you or no deal.”

“He won’t get on the phone and he said he won’t provide this offer again.”

“I’m listening,” Romeo said.

“Mr. Triggers would like three truckloads of sand delivered to the end of his street. Once the loads are delivered, he will release one of us.”

“Tell him to release one of you now and we’ll consider the offer.”

I relayed the message. Triggers would not allow it and told me to hang up. I hung up the phone like I was told. I felt hopeless. We sat without speaking for the next several hours. The sun was starting to set. It was getting dark. Triggers did not want the lights on. It was growing darker and darker. I had to pee again, but was afraid to ask.

“Would you consider letting us go?” I finally asked.

“No,” Mr. Triggers said. “Not until I get my dunes and I get my revenge on Bitch-face O’Donnell. If it takes days or weeks, then we’ll be here for days or weeks.”

The only hope I thought we’d have was if Triggers fell asleep and we were somehow able to sneak out. I didn’t have a choice but to wait it out.

By ten p.m., the day had taken its toll on me. I was spent. I didn’t have an ounce of energy left. I wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep, but my nerves wouldn’t let me take even a small catnap. Mr. Triggers was sitting behind Rodney’s desk and he had kicked his feet up. At the moment he put his head back and I thought he had dozed off, I saw a small red light appear on his neck. I looked around to see where the light was coming from. It appeared to be coming from the small square window in the door to Rodney’s office. I squinted my eyes in an attempt to see better in the dark, but I couldn’t tell what was making the light appear.

A moment later, Mr. Triggers lifted his head and the small, round, red light appeared in the middle of his forehead. It was then that I recalled seeing such a light many times on TV and in the movies. I sunk down into my seat and closed my eyes as tightly as I could. My heart started pounding in my chest. I thought,
Please don’t miss.

With a single shot, a sharpshooter took out Mr. Triggers with a hit between his eyes. My ordeal was over. Mr. Triggers was dead. Law enforcement rushed into the room, grabbing Rodney and me by the arms, and escorting us swiftly out of the municipal building. It all happened so fast. I was thankful it was still dark in the room when they pulled us out. I didn’t want to see the gory scene that was left behind. Rodney and I were taken to an ambulance, wrapped up in blankets, and given a once-over. Within a few minutes, I saw my mother being escorted by an officer through the police caution tape. My father was a few steps behind.

I stood up and collapsed into my mother’s arms. Dad came up and embraced the two of us tightly. We all cried.

“Where’s Mandy?” I asked.

My mother took my face in her hands, and wiped the tears from my cheeks. “She’s fine,” she said. “She’s with your cousins, Daisy and James. They drove here when they heard the news.”

“Bonnie?” I asked while I sobbed. “Is she dead?”

“Bonnie was in surgery last we heard, to remove a bullet,” my father reported.

“I want to go to the hospital. I need to see if she’s okay.”

My parents didn’t argue with me. They knew I had been through an ordeal like never before. My father wrapped his arms around me and walked me over to where they were parked. He drove directly to the hospital.

I saw Jayce immediately in the waiting area. He looked distraught. I walked up to him with tears streaming down my eyes. He hugged me and started to cry.

“Is she okay?” I asked with my voice shaking.

“She’s still sleeping off the anesthesia, but she’s going to make it,” he said. “She was shot in the shoulder and chest. She managed to drag herself out of the building to safety. It was touch and go there for a while. Her lung collapsed. She lost a lot of blood.”

Bonnie was in the ICU, so we were not permitted in to see her. I told Jayce to give her my love and tell her I was concerned. I wiped my tears on my sleeve, then I gave him another big hug. My parents drove me back to their house. I immediately checked in on Mandy. Normally, I wouldn’t want to wake her, but I had to hold her in my arms. I lifted her from her crib and carried her to the rocking chair. I gave her a little kiss on the head and said, “Mommy loves Mandy.”

She looked up at me with her big eyes and said, “Ba ba.” Her tiny eyelids closed and she nestled into my chest to fall back to sleep. I rocked her and cuddled her for over an hour.

After I put her back in her crib, I took the longest shower of my life. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that there was blood on my skin, even though I washed myself over and over. I also could not get the brutal images of Bonnie lying in a pool of her own blood and the dead bodies in the lobby out of my head.