Martin flashed a shark-like grin and shoved Alex to the floor as he turned to face Hawkins.

“Get your hands in the air and come over here slowly,” Martin motioned her over with his gun.

Hawkins raised her hands and approached him. As she got close, he stopped her,

“Get on your knees,” he commanded.

She knelt obediently. From his position, Ryan could see that Martin had turned his back to the boy, who lay sobbing on the floor. So, moving very slowly to avoid calling attention to himself, Ryan peered out around the shelf and motioned to the Pauling boy, hoping he would see and come over. But in the dark, the boy didn’t notice him. Martin was busy frisking Hawkins and removing her gun, so Ryan decided to risk it, he flicked his flashlight on again and flashed the beam across the room. This drew the boy’s attention at last. Alex looked over, surprised, and Ryan put a finger to his lips and then beckoned to him urgently. The boy rose cautiously to his feet and started to inch his way over to the bookcase. The terror on his face was plain.

“Who are you?” Martin demanded of Hawkins.

“I’m with the NIA. I’ve been looking for the kid. My badge is in me left pocket,” she said. From her vantage point in front of Martin, Ryan knew that Hawkins could see the kid inching away, so she would know to keep talking and hold Martin’s attention.

“Are you alone?” Martin asked.

“Yeah, I’m alone.”

“Why?”

“Partners are a liability,” Hawkins chuckled. “I mean, look what it got you.”

“What do you mean?” Martin growled. She had him interested now.

“It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? How do you think I found you?”

“Duane! That son of a bitch!” Martin pounded his fist into the wall. “I can’t believe that snivelling little bastard rolled on me!”

“Well, you better believe it,” Hawkins grinned. “He sang like a canary. Probably enjoyed it too, after all times you snitched on him. This place will be swarming with cops any minute.”

The boy was almost at the bookcase, Ryan held his breath. If he could just get him into cover, they would be home free. Ryan reached out his hand, but it seemed his bad luck was going to hold today, because just before he was able to reach him, the Alex stumbled over some debris and fell to the floor. The noise drew Martin’s attention instantly, he spun around, and Ryan couldn’t get back behind the shelf in time.

“You fucking liar!” Martin screamed, still watching Hawkins from the corner of his eye. “Thought you could get your partner here to spirit away my prize! Think again!” He trained his gun on the child, “If anyone moves, and I mean anyone! I will blow his brains out, you got that!?”

Well, this was not going according to plan. Ryan wasn’t sure what to do at this point. Maybe if he could get Martin talking, he could convince him that the police really were coming, he could get him to surrender. But frankly, he didn’t like his odds.

“Come on now, Andre,” Ryan began slowly. “There is no reason to fly off the handle here. We can work this out.”

“Oh, no need for that. I already have this worked out,” Martin sneered. “The kid and I will be leaving. The only thing we have to work out it whether I need to put a bullet in both of you before we do!”

Ryan cringed and looked over at Hawkins, she was still kneeling on the ground, if she made any sudden movements, Martin would be on her in an instant. She was the only one out of his direct line of sight and she had already given up her gun. He couldn’t believe this, if she had come out with her gun drawn initially, then maybe they would have been able to negotiate, now they had nothing to work with at all. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to his doubts. Ryan decided that all he could do was keep Martin talking and try to figure something out as he went.

“Now, now. There’s no need for that,” Ryan tried to soothe him. “You don’t want to kill 2 government agents, Andre; they’ll never stop hunting you if you do. You know that.”

“Shut up!” Martin shouted. “Just shut up. Here’s the thing, you two have seen me with the boy. You’ve already lied to me once, so I can’t trust you. The way I see it, I really don’t have a choice. I’ve been around the block enough times to know that letting a witness live always comes back to bite you in the ass,” Martin levelled his gun at Ryan’s forehead. “It’s nothing personal. I’d say better luck next time, but I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. Goodb…”

Martin was cut short as the bookcase next to him toppled over, slamming into his chest, and hurtling him backwards out the open window with a resounding crash. Ryan jumped to his feet and ran over to the spot where the shelf had fallen, it happened to be right where Hawkins had been kneeling just a moment ago. He was sure she hadn’t had time to move.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Hawkins, you alright?” he called.

After a tense moment, he saw her shimmy out from under the bookcase. She rose to her feet,

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just watch the kid,” Hawkins demanded.

Before he could stop her, Hawkins vaulted over the bookcase and out the window after Martin. Ryan sighed; she was too reckless. She had just put all their lives at risk. If they hadn’t gotten lucky just then… Well, he would have more holes in his head than he was comfortable with. With a deep sigh, he walked over and helped the boy to his feet.

“You’re Alex Pauling, right?” he asked gently

The little boy nodded, wiping tears from his eyes.

“You must have been really scared,” Ryan said softly, kneeling down to eye level with the boy. “But it’s ok now, your dad sent us to bring you home.”

“Really? Daddy sent you?” the little boy sniffled.

Ryan fished in his pocket and retrieved a handkerchief, he passed it to Alex.

“Yup, your dad is really worried about you,” he said, forcing a smile.

The kid blew his nose loudly. A moment later, Hawkins climbed back in through the library window,

“That son of a…”

Ryan cleared his throat loudly, nodding his head toward the 7-year-old standing next to him.

“Err… son of a gun,” Hawkins corrected herself. “He had a motorbike stashed in the woods. He’s long gone.”

She smacked her fist into her palm, clearly frustrated.

“Are you serious?” Ryan snorted with disgust. She’d let him get away. But he remembered the frightened little boy next to him and changed his tone. “We’ll get him. Every cop in the area will be looking for him now. There’ll be nowhere he can hide.”

She rolled her eyes at him, then Hawkins looked down at Alex, who was now clinging to Ryan’s leg,

“Is he alright?”

“Are you ok?” Ryan asked gently.

“Uh huh,” the boy nodded, he looked like he was trying very hard not to cry.

“Good then,” Hawkins sighed. “Alright, call it in to Collins. We’ll need to put an APB out on Martin and have him send a team to secure and process this place. And while you are at it, you might as well ask him what we should do with our new friend here.”

“Shouldn’t we take him back to his father?”

“We can’t leave until the scene is secure, and we can’t just take Alex back to his father, not without protection.”

“Of course,” Ryan pulled out his cell.

Hawkins reached out and took Alex Pauling’s hand, drawing him away from Ryan.

“Make the call in the hall, Alex and I will have a little chat. And be careful where you step, eh?”

Ryan nodded silently and left the room.

“Hi there Alex,” Hawkins crouched next to the boy. “My name is Taylor.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alex replied politely.

“I know it’s been a really hard couple of days for you, but do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Ok,” he said softly. “I really want to help, but I don’t know if I can.”

“That’s ok,” she reassured him. “We’ll just talk for a bit. If you think of anything, you let me know, alright?”

“Ok,” he wiped his nose on his sleeve.

Hawkins pulled out the mug shot of Duane,

“Is this the man who took you from your house?” she asked.

“Yes,” Alex nodded, lip quivering.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“He came into my room while I was asleep. It was dark and I was really scared,” Alex closed his eyes, remembering. “He had a knife. He said he would hurt me, and my Dad, if I screamed. So, I didn’t, I went with him. I tried to get away, but he was really, really strong. He hit me.”

Alex had to stop for a minute to catch his breath, Hawkins waited patiently.

“He brought me to a van. There was another man driving.”

“The man from just now?”

Alex nodded,

“That man was scary. I didn’t like him, even though he let me watch cartoons and stuff. I just wanted to go home. He told me I could go, as long as daddy did what he asked, but he wouldn’t tell me when. Is my daddy ok?”

“He’s just fine, Alex. Worried about you, but we are going to fix that, aren’t we?”

The boy nodded.

“That’s very good Alex. Now did you meet anyone else? Anyone but the two men we just talked about?”

“No,” he shook his head.

“Did either of the men get any calls, send any messages? Anything like that?”

“Umm, the second guy…”

“Andre,” Hawkins prompted.

“Uh huh. Someone called him this morning, real early.”

“Did he say who it was?”

“He called them, ‘Cuz’. Does that help?” the little boy sounded almost desperate to please.

“Yes, that helps, thank you Alex,” Hawkins tried to sound upbeat, but she was disappointed, the conversation was with Duane, so it provided no new information.

“I just have one more question, and then I’ll let you have a bit of a break. When we came into the house to get you, I heard Andre say the no one was going to ruin his payday. Did he ever talk to you or to his partner about what money he meant?”

“I don’t know. He told the other man that I was going to make them both rich. He pinched my cheek really hard and called me his ‘golden ticket’, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. I’m sorry I can’t help,” tears welled up in his eyes again and he started sobbing into his hands.

“Hey, you have helped us out a lot, little man,” Ryan appeared in the doorway. “You have been really brave. So, leave the rest to us. We’ll find them, ok?”

“Ok,” Alex sniffled and blew his nose on Ryan’s handkerchief again.

“Did you get Collins?”

“Yeah. He was glad to hear about,” he nodded towards the boy. “But he is not happy that we let Martin slip away. We are supposed to wait here until more agents arrive to secure the scene. Then he wants both of us in his office.”

“Fu-” Hawkins coughed. “Fudge.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, this day just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” she grumbled.

Ryan glared at her. He could feel his anger building, an intense pressure building behind his eyes. She’d almost gotten him killed, and now she was acting like nothing had even happened? Like this had all been a minor annoyance to her? He was starting to understand why she had such a bad reputation among her former partners.

“Do I get to go home now?” Alex asked plaintively.

“Not just yet, buddy,” Ryan shook himself; he shouldn’t be thinking of himself right now. “But guess what? Your dad is coming here right now.”

“Really!?” the little boy’s face lit up.

“Yup,” Ryan smiled. “He’ll be here before you know it. In the meantime, do you want to help me with something?”

Alex nodded eagerly.

“Well, I am trying to play this game on my phone, and I can’t get past this one section. Your dad told me you are pretty good at games. Think you could help me out?”

“Yeah!”

Ryan pulled out his phone and he and Alex huddled in the corner. Hawkins rose,

“I’m going to go walk the perimeter, make sure our backup doesn’t run into any nasty surprises on their way in.”

“Gee, and deny them all the fun we got to have?” Ryan muttered sarcastically.

Hawkins shook her head and strode out of the room without a backward glance.