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"Hear what?" returned the leader, agitated.
"The door of the room to our left. It opened and closed just a second ago. And the one to our right did the same a half an hour ago. I'm not sure, but I swore I heard the one across the hall. Maybe ten minutes ago. Something's up," explained another of the men. That got a reaction out of their leader. Why would the occupants of three rooms be leaving, all within one half-hour? He didn't want to admit it to any of them, but he had thought it rather strange that he kept hearing people in the hall outside the room.
"The bitch!" the first man whispered angrily. "That girl you let in here must have told! I bet their evacuating people now. Making sure they are all safe before they approach us. We're fucked!"
"You watch it! It isn't my fault if the girl told, but she will pay for it all the same! We will get out of this! Remember what we originally came to do. We completed our mission. If we choose to leave now, it won't matter. If you don't start thinking before you speak, maybe I shall have to dispose of you the same as to that fat old man! What think you of that?" the leader threatened. All of his men fell silent. He nodded to show that their fear pleased him.
"Well, what do we do now? I mean, there is no way out through the window. There are no balconies, and we didn't think to bring rope to climb down."
They all looked at the man who had said that. He hadn't spoken yet. He was always one to keep quiet unless it really mattered. His voice was filled with anger and fear now, proving that he realized their jeopardy.
"We go through the halls," ordered the leader. All the men looked at him, stunned. "Don't give me that. We have no other choice. Since the police already know we are here, if we wait till the guests are gone, the police will have us. We will just have to order them back into their rooms. We can use them as hostages." The men thought over this for a short moment before nodding their agreement.
"Let's go then, before they all get out," suggested one of the younger, frightened men.
"Right," replied the leader, "and someone find me a phone."
****************************
"Damn" muttered the police officer.
"What?" ask another one. Then he saw the hall monitors on the fifth floor. They all went out. "Damn."
"What?" ask someone from across the room.
"The terrorists have discovered our plan. They must have disconnected all the monitors on their floor. I imagine the several guests on that floor that didn't get out in time are now being held hostage in their rooms. Not to mention those two rooms on the eighth floor with some guys that we couldn't wake up," answered the second officer. "It was too risky to go up there and fetch them," he rushed out when he saw the anger in the face of his captain, the person from across the room.
"Shit. Well, all we can do now is move in on the terrorists-" the captain was cut off by a ringing phone. He realized it was coming from the front desk in the other room, and shoved through his men to it. "Let me get that..." he picked it up slowly, "...Hello?"
"Fuck you! You think you could trick us? Well, now we have quite a collection of scared people up here that are all going to die if you don't leave the building right now..." the captain glared at one of his men when he started to interrupt his concentration, "...and don't think you can check in on them! We've taken care of that! So why don't you just get your men out of here now, and I will get back to you then!" The phone went blank.
"Taken care of it.....?" the captain muttered to himself. Then he turned to his man, furious. "What was it you had to say?!"
"Uh..sir, every monitor on the fifth floor went out. Not just in the hallway, in every room on that floor as well."
"Damnit! Well, I don't know how we will get through this, but we should probably relocate to the outside of the building," the captain suggested. They all looked at him incredulously.
"Why would we leave?" one of them asked.
"Because he threatened to kill all those citizens if we don't! Trust me, I don't like negotiating with this type of scum, but I think those people's lives are important! Let's get moving!" As soon as Officer Harper heard the news about the terrorists and their hostages, he left the building, feeling that it was his duty to tell Heather and Angie. He found them huddling together beside his patroller. Eerily, it had started to ran ever since more of the police had arrived, giving their situation a worse feeling.
"Heather... Angie. The terrorists know. When we were only a few rooms away from finishing, they realized what was going on. They now have those people held hostage, and anyone else on the other floors that didn't get out when we told them to," he confessed, feeling he had let them down.
"NO!" screamed Angie. "They mustn’t kill anyone! I thought you were going to make sure no one else died!"
"Now, Angie! We're doing all we can. We are going to try to get to the terrorists before they know it. You said there were only five men. You must believe me. Why don't you and Heather go home or something," he suggested. Heather seemed in full agreement.
"I will not leave my brother."
"Your what?" the Harper asked, clearly shocked.
"My brother. He works here, like us. If he isn't coming with me, then I'm not leaving," Angie threatened. Heather turned white. She hadn't remembered till now about James. The officer also turned white. There was one employee left in the building. He had been on the fifth floor helping a family out when the terrorists had left their room. Harper had a sinking feeling that the employee was her brother.
"What was his name?"
"James," Angie and Heather answered in unison. They didn't think it possible, but Harper turned even paler.
"He's in there, isn't he? He got trapped in that building with those murderers!" Angie shrieked. Before Heather or the officer could realize what she was going to do, Angie was running back toward the hotel doors. She got through them before any other officers could reach her. Once she was completely inside, the hope of stopping her was lost as none of the men could follow. They had orders to stay outside.
"ANGIE!" Heather's scream echoed through the street as they all watched through the glass doors. Angie disappeared into the stairwell.
Unlikely Allies