Simon opened up his door and yelled, “Ellison, my office, right now!”
“What’d you do this time, Jimbo?” Connor wondered aloud.
“I swear, it was Sandburg,” Jim teased as he walked into Simon’s office.
“Sit down, Jim. We have a slight problem,” Simon stated.
“With what?” Jim asked.
“One of the students at Rainier took Sandburg hostage about an hour ago. They weren’t sure about who it was or where it was until now. The Hostage Negotiators have been called out on this, but I called in some favors and you’re going to be riding with them. They’re leaving as of now, so get downstairs and tell Captain Mason who you are and that I sent you,” Simon ordered.
“Thank you, Simon. Are they certain he’s all right?” Jim asked nervously.
“Why don’t you take Connor to help control your senses while you’re out in the field? I don’t want you zoning out and scaring the men you’re working with.”
“Good idea, sir, I’ll grab her on my way out. Any word on how he is?”
Simon shook his head and answered, “No word, Jim. Just that he was alive about two hours ago. Now, go and find your partner and bring him back safely. We’re sort of used to the kid around here.”
Jim knew that he would do everything in his power to bring his partner back alive and unharmed. Now he needed to find out who had him and what they wanted. He walked out of Simon’s office and said, “Connor, you’re with me.”
“Alright, finally, this has been the slowest damn day, hasn’t it?” Megan asked and noticed that Jim wasn’t even listening to her. “What’s up, Jimbo?”
They got into the elevator and Jim said, “Do you have extra ammo and everything you’ll need for a take down?”
Connor felt her pockets, smiled and said, “I have six clips. That should do us for awhile. What’s going on?”
Jim sighed. He hated this part. Why couldn’t she just know already? “Someone took Blair hostage and they haven’t heard from him in two hours.”
“Someone took, Sandy? And we’re just finding out about it now? Why is that, Jim? Why weren’t we called at the very beginning of the situation?”
“I have no idea, Connor. Now, let’s get downstairs, they’re waiting for us,” Jim said as he shoved her out of the elevator and pushed her in the direction of the front door.
“Who is waiting for us?”
“Stop asking questions and start moving, Connor.”
Megan did just that. She followed Jim outside and saw the Hostage Negotiators waiting for them and knew then that they were just along for the ride. Then the SWAT team came out and joined them and they all got into the huge panel van.
Jim told Captain Mason who he was and that Connor was his partner. Mason said, “Get into the van and don’t make me sorry that I took you two along for this.”
“You won’t be sorry, sir,” Jim swore.
Mason somehow believed Ellison to be an honest man and knew that he was here to help in some way.
*
They climbed into the van and they all handed Megan and Jim vests and various other type of gear they would need to help out.
“Ever shot someone long range, Ellison?” the man that seemed to be in charge asked.
“Yes, sir. I’m a very good shot and if I see a chance, I’ll know before you all do,” Jim said.
“Well, you don’t decide those things on your own, Ellison. My name is Carter and I want you to remember that you are following my orders today. And what is this woman doing here?”
“Carter, this woman is my partner. She’s very good at what she does and she helps me with what I do. So, please don’t call her that again,” Jim said angrily.
Jim took his gun out of his holster and checked his weapon. Connor watched him look at the gun, like it was the only thing that could possibly help.
“Carter, have you heard anything about the hostage?” Jim asked.
“We hear that he’s some hot shot ride along for Major Crimes. What he’s doing at the university is beyond me,” Carter answered.
“But have you heard how he is?”
“No, no one has seen him in two hours. It took forever to get this call and when we did, we had to slow down to pick you and your partner up. We would sure like to know why,” Carter asked.
“He’s our ride along. He’s an observer from the university and we take care of our own,” Connor said quickly.
“Well, why didn’t you just say as much? We do take care of our own, so I expect you to stay in line and follow my orders at all times,” Carter reminded both of them.
Connor finished putting her gear on and said, “Understood, sir.”
“Yes, sir.” Jim just stood and listened to where they were. He realized they were almost to the university already. Then he would be able to listen for Blair and see if he was all right.
The driver parked in the parking lot-they all started getting out and finding a spot to be in. The cops were already there and taking some control of the situation. Connor could tell that Jim was listening, so she put her hand in the middle of his back, just like she had seen Blair do a million times, and hoped she would be able to help him concentrate.
Jim cocked his head and listened for a long while. Carter walked up and saw the expression on Jim’s face and wondered what was going on. “What is he doing?” Carter asked Connor.
“He’s trying to listen for Blair Sandburg. Jim has really good hearing and we’re hoping that he’ll be able to tell us if Blair is in there or not.”
Carter looked like he was on video for the stupidest person in the world. Then Jim un-cocked his head and said, “Blair is there with two other people. One of them is a student of Blair’s by the name of Mitch Evans and the other is a woman by the name of Misty Bane. Blair is trying to talk Mitch out of shooting anyone, but he isn’t hearing it right now. He’s angry at Misty and says that he’s going to take out one person every hour until she agrees to what he asked her to do,” Jim said.
“How in the hell do you know that?” Carter asked, unbelievably.
“I’m telling you, he’s able to hear a great distance. He can tell you exactly where they are at this moment,” Connor assured him.
Carter still looked skeptical, but knew he had to listen until he found out differently. His walkie-talkie went off at that moment and the person said, “There are three people in the room. One of them has long curly brown hair and he’s talking to the man with the gun. He seems to be on a mission. He’s talking the shooter’s leg off. Then there is a woman, who is sitting on the other side of him, crying. What do you want us to do, sir?”
“What does this Blair Sandburg look like?” Carter asked quickly.
Jim pulled his billfold out and showed the picture of Blair in his wallet and Carter raised his eyebrow but said nothing to Jim about it.
“It looks like the long haired young man is Blair Sandburg and he’s a teacher here at the university. Do we have any demands?” Carter asked.
“He said he has explosives up there and that they’ll all blow up if he doesn’t get what he wants,” the voice said.
“Well, how in the hell are we going to know what he wants?” Carter wondered.
Jim pulled his cell phone out, put it on speaker and called Blair’s number. After two rings, the shooter answered and asked, “What do you want?”
“My name is Jim Ellison. Blair Sandburg is my partner. Do you think I could talk to him for a moment?”
The young man handed the phone over to Blair and kept the gun on him. “Hi, Jim. What do you need? I’m sort of busy right now. Mitch is trying to get a hold of someone that knows where his baby is at.”
“What has this got to do with you, Chief?”
“He was trying to hurt Misty and I intervened. I’m sorry, but I had to do it, man.”
“Understood, Chief.
“What do you want us to do, Jim?”
“Let me talk to Mitch again. This time, I’ll see if I can get through to him. Are there any explosives up there?”
“You could say that. The entire room is filled with detonation devices. He doesn’t plan on letting us out alive, Jim.”
“Let me talk to him, Blair.”
“What do you want, pig?” Mitch Evans asked, hatefully.
“Why do you hate us so badly, Mitch? What have we ever done to you?” Jim asked.
“The state took my kid when Misty put him up for adoption. They didn’t even ask me about it. I was never given the option of being a father or not. They took him right away from me. When I went to you pigs for help, you all told me to go to someone else, you couldn’t help. In the meantime, he’s getting older and older and doesn’t even know who his father is. I got a lawyer and he said I didn’t have a leg to stand on. What was I supposed to do?” the young man asked.
“You lost it, and I totally understand that, Mitch. But this isn’t the answer. Blair would be able to help you with finding the answers, but you didn’t give him a chance. By law, you have to sign papers saying you gave up your right to your son. There is no question about it, they did you wrong. Now, what are you going to do to fix this?” Jim asked softly.
“They’ll never give him to me now. I’m acting like a lunatic. I blame Misty. She told them she didn’t know the father’s name,” Mitch said sadly.
“Why don’t you send Blair and Misty out and you wait for the social worker to come and talk to you. Her name is Megan Connor. She’s very nice and would probably be able to help a great deal with getting your son back. Keeping in mind that they will have to charge you for the things you do today, what are your plans, son?”
“I’ll talk to the social worker if you really think she can help,” Mitch said.
“Are you going to send Misty and Blair out?”
“Yes, I’m sending them out now. I’ll just keep his phone for right now. I’m sure he won’t mind,” Mitch said.
“Can I talk to Blair once more?” Jim asked.
Blair sounded frantic as he got on the phone. “Jim, things aren’t always what they seem to be.”
Jim covered up the speaker and told Carter, “He’s going to shoot them now.”
“We don’t have a good shot without hitting Blair Sandburg at the same time. He’s right behind him. Any suggestions, Ellison?”
Jim went back to the phone. “Chief, could you tell him you want to look out the window one last time and then get out of the way?”
“I could do that, Jim.” Blair handed the phone over to Mitch and said, “Mitch, do you mind if I look outside for a moment? Just one last look?”
“Go ahead, Blair. I owe you that much,” Mitch said, sounding every bit as insane as he was.
Blair took Misty and looked out the window and then pushed her down on the floor and a shot rang out across campus.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. “I got him, sir. He’s down and the teacher and other student are on their way out.”
At that moment, the top floor of the building exploded, taking a lot of rooms with it.
Jim spoke into the walkie-talkie, “Do you see the two hostages?”
The voice rang loud and clear, “Yes, they are coming down the staircase. They must have run; they left the room so quickly. They’ll be down in a moment.”
“Thank you,” Jim said gratefully.
Connor hugged Jim hard and said, “I knew he’d get out of it. I just knew it. I just didn’t expect it to be so close.”
“I know what you mean, Connor. Carter, do you mind if we go and find Sandburg?”
“Go…Thank you for all of your help,” Carter said as he shook both Jim and Connor’s hands firmly.
Jim and Connor rushed up to the building and saw Blair coming out. Connor was the first one to him and hugged him long and hard. “You are a sight for sore eyes, Blair Sandburg.”
“I must be if you’re not calling me Sandy,” Blair said.
Jim wanted to hug him in the worst way, but knew he couldn’t. They kept their private life and their working life separate. He patted Blair on the shoulder and said, “Let me call a cab and we’ll get out of here.”
“Jim, I think we have some questions to answer first,” Blair reminded.
“Of course, you’re right. I’ll get Rafe and Brown to bring my truck over here while we wait and fill out reports,” Jim suggested.
*
Once everything was done, Jim drove out of the parking lot in his very own truck instead of a cab. Jim was much happier about that.
“You’re sure you’re alright, Chief?”
“Well, I’m alive and so is Misty, so we did all right. Mitch couldn’t help that he was sick. Misty said the baby wasn’t his. She had never even slept with him. In his mind, he thought that they were this perfect couple and they would have a family,” Blair explained.
“I felt sorry for him, for a few moments, Chief, but then I realized he wasn’t going to let you go and I stopped having pity for him,” Jim said.
“Were you worried, Jim?”
Jim pulled over to the side of the road, put his truck into park and then pulled Blair into his arms. Blair could feel the tremors running through his lover’s body and knew Jim had been scared, not just worried. “I hate that we aren’t out, so that I could have done that at the university. I thought I was going to lose you and then when the explosion hit, I was afraid you didn’t make it out at all, until I heard your frantic heartbeat in the stairwell. I love you so much and I don’t ever want to go through this again.”
“I promise that some day we’ll be out, Jim, just not today. Today, we’ll go home and celebrate our lives together in our home and maybe go out for some dinner tonight.”
“I say we order something in and make love all night long,” Jim said.
“That sounds even better. I love you, man.”
“I love you too, Blair.”
Life was good.
The end