The Omega Team: Assisting Aimee (7 page)

“As you can see, there’s really no place to hide any kids…especially not two classes of them,” May fretted.

Jones studied the layout of the gym and turned to Fletch. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah.”

Jones turned to the police captain. He liked the no-nonsense attitude of the man. It almost felt as if he was back working on the teams again. Being on a Delta Force team was akin to working with brothers who had grown up together. They seemed to get each other without having to explain their thoughts. That was one of the reasons he enjoyed working with Grey. There was just something about the way a Delta Force Operative’s mind worked. They were in sync and it felt great.

“They’re in the lockers,” he told the captain, who blinked back at him in disbelief. “The teachers obviously had enough time to stash them there before the shooter arrived.”

“How do you know that?” Captain May asked incredulously. “There’s no way those kids would fit in there…would they?”

“There’s nowhere else they
could
be,” Jones said definitely. “They aren’t under the bleachers, the shooter would’ve found them by now. The teachers could’ve hid under the bleachers themselves, but they didn’t. And I figure they had to have had a reason not to do more to try to hide.”

“God.
Damn
,” the captain breathed.

“Yeah,” Jones agreed. “The entire situation is a time bomb waiting to explode. All it’ll take is one sneeze or cough from one of the kids, and their hiding spot will be compromised. We need to end this now.”

“I’m making you our official hostage negotiator,” Captain May declared. “The guy we usually use is about thirty minutes out, and we don’t have that kind of time. Come on, you can use the microphone in the principal’s office. It’s connected to the speakers in every room in the building so announcements can be made. There’s a two-way speaker in every room too, we’ll turn it on in the gym so you can talk to him directly.”

“Lead the way,” Jones responded immediately, knowing as well as they all did that time was of the essence.

As they exited the command vehicle, Jones looked back at Fletch and Ghost. They nodded at him and turned to the rest of their team to bring them up to speed about the situation. Jones breathed out a relieved sigh. The Deltas would take care of security, and he could rely on them to be right where he needed them,
when
he needed them. Of that he had no doubt.

Following the police captain, Jones entered the principal’s spacious office and settled himself behind the desk. Someone had called up the live feed of the gym on the computer already, and the microphone was there, ready to be used.

Jones nodded at the captain as he backed out of the room. He took a deep breath. This was what he did, what he’d trained for. Grey and Athena back in Florida believed in him. His Omega teammates believed in him. And Mr. Santoro, Miss O’Brien, and two classes of kids were relying on him. He wouldn’t fail.

He cleared his throat and pushed the transmit button on the microphone. He’d start out with the easy and expected line and go from there.

“My name is Jones. We have the building surrounded. Come out with your hands up.”

Chapter Eight

Aimee winced as Bill’s grasp tightened around her neck when he heard the voice over the loudspeaker. She kept her eyes on Tony, wanting to be ready for anything. She had no idea what he would be able to do, but she’d trust him with her life—
was
trusting him with her life at the moment.

“I want two million dollars and a helicopter,” Bill shouted back at the unknown person on the other end of the speaker.

“You know that’s not going to happen, man,” the person responded, sounding almost amused. “I want to help you, but I can’t if you make unreasonable demands. All I want is for you, Mr. Santoro, and Miss O’Brien to come out of this alive. Okay?”

“How does he know your names?” Bill hissed into Aimee’s ear.

“I don’t know,” she managed to squeak out. “I’m guessing the principal told him we weren’t outside and they assumed it was us in here.” Aimee knew good and well there were cameras in each classroom, and the gym. She’d resented them when she’d first started, feeling as if she was being spied on, but had quickly lost interest in them. It wasn’t as if the principal or anyone else was sitting around watching her teach, they had their own work to get done. Besides that, they really were a good tool when people had to observe the class, or in cases of emergencies…like this one.

“I guess we’ll see how much they like you then,” Bill mused before raising his voice to respond to the mystery man on the other end of the electronic device. “You don’t give a shit about me, so don’t pretend you do. You cops have no clue what life is really about. You sit in your fancy-ass cars, with your fancy-ass houses, with your fancy-ass wives, and look down on the rest of us who are struggling to get by. You’re so clueless, you have no idea your wife is probably fucking the neighbor the second you leave to go to work.”

“I’m not a cop,” the voice said, seemingly not ruffled in the least. “My name is Jones, and I work for an investigative agency in Florida.”

Aimee was just as confused as Bill obviously was.

He muttered under his breath, “What the fuck?” before saying it louder. “What the fuck? What is someone from Florida doing talking to me here in Texas?”

“I happened to be here on vacation,” Jones replied nonchalantly.

“Lucky me,” Bill said under his breath again. Then louder, he mocked, “Well, Jones, if that’s even your name, your wife is probably having a grand old time fucking your best friend back home on the beach while you’re here in this shithole of a town.”

Aimee had no idea what protocol was in these kinds of situations, but the man who’d called himself Jones seemed to have no sense of urgency in his voice. It was as if he was chatting Bill up at a party or something. She looked over at Tony. He was standing stock still now, but she’d noticed he’d moved about a foot closer to where Bill was standing with her in his tight grasp.

Tony’s shoulder was still bleeding, if the enlarging stain on his shirt was any indication. Amazingly though, he acted as if he didn’t even realize he was hurt. He wasn’t holding on to his arm, and didn’t even seem to be favoring it. Aimee had no idea how badly he was hurt, but surely it had to be superficial, because she figured otherwise he’d be swaying, or swearing, or something.

One thing she
did
know was that she’d never forget the way Tony looked right this moment. It was inappropriate as hell, but she figured God would cut her some slack if she died right now, because Tony was…glorious.

His hands were fisted at his sides, as if he was holding himself back by a mere thread. His eyes were narrowed, and focused on Bill and her. She couldn’t see his jaw under the beard, but she imagined he was probably clenching his teeth in aggravation. Amazingly, his hair was still up in a messy bun at the back of his neck, but she could see some strands of hair hanging loose around his face. He looked like an avenging angel.
Her
avenging angel.

But it was Tony’s eyes that fascinated her the most. He was standing about nine feet away from them at this point, but she didn’t think she was imagining the emotion she saw in his glittering brown eyes.

When he was looking at Bill, she could see determination and frustration in his eyes, but when he turned his gaze to her, she could see affection and reassurance in them. It was crazy, she’d tell anyone who tried to explain they could see emotions in someone’s eyes that they were being silly, but at that moment she would’ve bet everything she owned that she was right.

It gave her hope.

It gave her confidence.

It gave her the ability to stay calm, even as Bill’s arm tightened around her neck painfully.

She wanted that kiss from Tony. She wanted more than that, but she’d start with a kiss. Aimee knew she just had to be patient.

She wasn’t dumb. At any time, Bill could decide he was done with the back and forth and shoot her and Tony before any help could get to them, but she wasn’t going to call it quits quite yet. She wasn’t a quitter. She was going to fight for her life, and Tony’s, and the lives of the thirty-six children hiding across the room.

“Actually, Jones
is
my name.” the disembodied voice returned. “And yeah, I’ve been made fun of my entire life because of it. Having a last name as my first has been a pain in my ass, but my mama gave it to me, and I love that woman with everything in me. She was a single parent and raised me in Compton. You’ve heard of Compton, right, Bill? Every day I walked home from school past drug dealers and prostitutes. I knew how to inject meth and snort cocaine by the time I was nine. So yeah, I have some idea of what it’s like to struggle to get by.”

“But here you are, on the right side of the law. Aren’t you just the poster child for getting out of your poor poor situation?” Bill retorted, not willing to give an inch.

“I was arrested three times before I was eighteen,” Jones continued, as if Bill wasn’t insulting him with every breath, his voice echoing throughout the vast room. “The last time I did a stint in juvie because I hit a cop. I was forced to join the Army after that, and it was the best thing I ever did. I hated the drill sergeants yelling at me all the time, but I learned that sometimes it’s better to work as a team, to be quiet and act with professionalism. Life is a struggle, Bill. Every single damn day. I’m not married, but if I was, I wouldn’t stay with a woman who opened her legs for my neighbor or best friend. I deserve more than that. You do too. You deserve a woman who loves you for who you are, not for how much money you have or what you do for a living.”

Aimee noticed two things at the same time. Something this Jones guy had said resonated with Tony. He suddenly lost some of his focus on her and Bill and his eyes started to subtly wander the room, as if he was looking for something. Secondly, Jones’s words seemed to be having an effect on Bill as well. His arm loosened a fraction, not enough for her to move away from him, or even break away, but enough that it took the pressure off her windpipe, allowing her to breathe a little easier.

She took deep breaths, filling her lungs with fresh air, readying herself for when he’d tighten against her again.

“I won’t lie to you, Bill,” Jones’s disembodied voice went on. “You’re in trouble here. We both know that, and I’m not gonna feed you a line about giving up and walking out of there a free man. But what’s happened doesn’t mean the end of your life. Yeah, you’ll do some time, but it won’t be forever. You’re young…what…twenty-three?”

“Two,” Bill answered absently.

“Twenty-two then. I don’t know what happened today to make you think this was the best solution, but—”

“You ever been ignored, Jones?” Bill interrupted. “Ignored so much in your life that no matter what you do, no one sees you?”

“Yeah, I have.”

“Bullshit!” Bill roared, scaring the shit out of Aimee and making her jump in his arms. “I’m not talking about a woman choosing your buddy to suck his cock in the back hallway of a seedy bar, I’m talking about every day of your life, by every single person you’ve ever met.”

“Then, no. I haven’t been ignored like that,” Jones said calmly.

“Right, then you have no idea what it’s like to walk down the street and not have one person look you in the eyes. To bring your items to the check-out line and have the lady behind the register not look up at you once. To be at a high-school dance and stand against the wall the entire time as if you’re not even there. I’m invisible, man. I’ve
always
been invisible.”

“That’s tough, Bill,” Jones commiserated. “Is that why you did it? So you’d be seen?”

“Damn right. I can’t be ignored now,” Bill said, the heat back in his voice. “Good job, Tina. You jumped so high in your cheerleading routine,” he singsonged, as if remembering the voice of someone else. “Wow, Tina, that cake you baked came out perfect. Way to go, Tina, you got all A’s this quarter. Tina, Tina, Tina. It was always fucking Tina. I brought home all A’s for an entire year, and I didn’t get one word of recognition. So I tried failing everything, but all I got was an eye-roll. I could’ve dropped out and that bitch wouldn’t have even noticed. Until you’ve been where I am, you can’t understand.”

“So you did something no one could ignore. Good job, Bill,” Jones said dryly. “You’ve got all the recognition you can handle and more.”

“Yeah, damn straight,” Bill agreed.

“So what now?” Jones pushed. “You’ve got two hostages and the attention you’ve always wanted. How do we get out of this?”

Bill raised the barrel of the pistol to Aimee’s head. “I’m
not
going to jail. I’ll be ignored there too…except when assholes want to make me their fuck toy. This ends here. I need to make sure I won’t be ignored even when I’m dead. Everyone’s gonna remember my name. William Walter Waters. I’m gonna be famous.”

Aimee refused to close her eyes. If she was going to die, the last thing she wanted to see was Tony’s face, not the backside of her eyelids. And she
was
going to die. She could feel the determination in Bill’s hold on her. The barrel of the gun pressed into her temple hard enough that she knew it was going to leave a mark. She chuckled morosely to herself; a bullet would leave much more of a mark, it was silly to even be thinking about what she’d look like when Bill pulled the trigger, but she couldn’t help it.

She vaguely heard Jones’s voice in the background, but had no idea what he was saying. Aimee kept her eyes on Tony. She had no idea if she had only seconds to live, but if he gave her any indication of something she could do to stay alive, she’d see it and act.

She wanted to live, dammit.

She
wanted
it.

With every fiber of her being.

Bill leaned down and whispered in her ear, his voice blowing her hair in a way that would’ve been seductive if it was a different time, a different place, and a different person.