Captive Hearts

by Natasha West

  Rick smiled, relieved. ‘Yeah, I mean, I’m not fucking crazy. I know it’s not going to be easy. But I reckon I just improved my odds.’

  ‘I’d say that’s possible,’ Ashley said. Technically, anything was possible. Would aliens land on earth tomorrow and announce they were gonna solve the climate crisis? It wasn’t likely. Was it possible? Sure.

  ‘I can’t wait to see the news!’ Rick said. ‘But I guess we better make sure they’ve got some solid gold footage, hadn’t we? Gina, you know what to do.’

  Gina nodded and managed a cheeky salute. ‘Yes, boss.’

  Rick gave her the thumbs up and went to the bar, grabbing himself a beer. He flipped the lid off and took a swig. ‘Yeah. I think it’s gonna be a good show,’ he said to himself.

  Ashley thought so too. If only she wasn’t living it.

  Eighteen

  They were watching telly together in the dining area, Rick caressing his gun while everyone else sat quietly. What they were waiting for was KTN’s nine o’clock broadcast. Bernie had been pleased to agree to show the more intimate (and completely staged) footage.

  Meanwhile, Rick was watching Kara Malone on Channel Seven talking about the releases as she showed a montage of all three hostages legging it to freedom on repeat. Rick had enjoyed it at first, watching Kara describing the big moment. But they kept replaying the releases, and Rick’s pleasure faded. ‘They didn’t need to run like that,’ he said grimly.

  But then Kara Malone started talking to the camera - behind her fancy bulletproof shield - about Rick, speculating wildly about who he was. ‘A desperate man with a gun and nothing to lose,’ she called him. Ashley thought that was far too dramatic and totally uninformed, which was on-brand for Kara Malone. Rick wasn’t happy about it either. ‘Desperate?’ he muttered to himself. ‘I’m not desperate. And what does she mean, nothing to lose?’

  Ashley leaned into him. ‘She’s making stuff up because she doesn’t know you yet.’

  ‘But she must have seen my interview at six?’

  ‘It’s just better telly to talk like that. She doesn’t necessarily believe a word she’s saying,’ Ashley assured him. He went quiet, apparently calmed. But Ashley felt a rumble of nerves in her belly at his soured mood.

  But then she felt a nudge in her side. She glanced over to see Gina. She was pretending to watch TV, not acknowledging the nudge. But the reassuring touch had definitely happened.

  It was funny, every time Ashley felt like she was going down the plughole, Gina seemed to know it. She seemed to know how to buoy her.

  ‘It’s nine,’ Greg told the room.

  ‘Christ, turn over!’ Rick said.

  Ashley grabbed the remote and switched to KTN. Graham Naismith was excitably talking about the new footage they had. He mentioned that Ashley and Gina were ‘Behind enemy lines.’ Ashley wished to god he’d cool it. She didn’t need Rick hearing words like ‘enemy’.

  Then it cut to the releases. The words of encouragement, the handshakes, that bloody awful hug, it was all there. Ashley chanced a look at Rick to see if he was happy. By god, he was. He was smiling with true pride. Ashley felt like he might be happier now.

  That’s when it happened. The shot that fucked everything. Gina whipped her camera to Ashley as Polly was being released. Ashley turned right to the camera and gave it a disgusted look before Gina whipped back to Rick saying his little end speech.

  In real life, Ashley peered over at Rick. He wasn’t saying anything, still watching avidly. But his smile had slipped.

  They watched the whole show until the end, and then Rick turned the telly off. ‘OK, everyone. Sit at the tables in the corner for a bit. I gotta plan my next move.’ Everyone began to walk over. Ashley and Gina went to join them, but Rick stopped them. ‘Not you two,’ he said tartly.

  ‘Did you want to do another interview?’ Ashley asked with a small measure of hope. But she knew. Oh, she knew.

  Rick shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think so. I want you two back in the cupboard. Now.’

  Ashley pushed down her terror. ‘Alright, then. Whatever you say, Rick.’

  ‘Yeah. It is whatever I say,’ Rick said sourly. He gave Ashley an unfriendly little shove in the small of her back, and she began to walk to the kitchen, Gina scuttling to keep up.

  At the cupboard door, Rick held his hand out, and Gina passed him the camera. ‘Might have a play with this, see if I can just use it myself.’

  Gina was disgusted at the thought of Rick putting his filthy hands all over her cam. But she nodded. ‘By all means.’

  They walked into the cupboard, and Rick paused at the door, giving Ashley a disappointed look. ‘Might come back for you later, if I remember.’ He shut the door.

  Ashley and Gina were plunged into darkness.

  ‘I’ll stay still this time, you find the light,’ Gina said.

  ‘Good plan,’ she said and reached out.

  ‘What the…’ Gina muttered.

  Ashley took her hand back. ‘For god’s sake, what did I just touch?’

  ‘Left boob,’ Gina said.

  ‘Can you go and stand in the corner or something?’ Ashley asked, mortified. ‘This is getting ridiculous.’

  Gina shuffled away, and Ashley found the switch on the wall. She looked at Gina in the bright light. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Easily done,’ Gina said with an embarrassed smile.

  Ashley scanned the room until she spotted it. Her half-finished bag of chocolate chips. She didn’t bother picking out a handful this time. She poured the bag directly into her mouth.

  ‘Stressed?’ Gina asked.

  ‘Mmm,’ Ashley replied with a mouth jam-packed full of melting chocolate. ‘Berry shtressed.’

  Gina sighed. ‘He didn’t like it, did he? Seeing you give me that look.’

  Ashley shook her head as she managed to swallow the large mouthful.

  ‘It’ll be ok,’ Gina said weakly.

  Ashley barely heard her. ‘I should never have… Why the fuck didn’t they edit that out, the idiots?’ Ashley cried. ‘If they’d just thought about it for a second, they’d have seen how thick it was to leave that in. But of course they didn’t. And now they’ve buggered me, completely buggered me. They’ve bent me over and just rammed it in!’

  Gina’s eyes widened. ‘You really know how to paint a word picture.’

  Ashley leaned - or perhaps it was more accurate to say collapsed - against a wall, spent. Because the truth was, it wasn’t down to anyone else. She was the fool. ‘I was going to… I was trying… I mean, he was listening to me, wasn’t he? Like you said, he trusted me. Trusted us. And now it’s fucked. I fucked it because I couldn’t keep a poker face during his little play.’ Once her rant was over, there was nothing else to say. She just stood there, propped against the wall, loose grip on her bag of chips, staring at the floor, waiting for god knows what came next.

  Ashley didn’t dare look at Gina. She’d made it clear what she expected of Ashley. To save the day. But she’d wrecked her shot. Her rapport with him was ruined. Because Ashley had shown him in one ill-advised second that she found his charade pathetic.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Gina said.

  Ashley looked up in surprise. ‘What on earth are you sorry about?’

  ‘I put too much pressure on you. I mean, you’re not a bloody superhero, are you?’ Gina said miserably.

  Ashley shook her head. ‘You had it right, though. If I could have just kept it up, I might have had everyone out soon. But now Rick’s gonna do what he wants. And he’s so mean and so stupid. Worse, he absolutely believes he’s clever and right. It’s the worst combination. I don’t know what will happen now. To them out there, to us.’

  Gina sighed. ‘Look at us in here, blaming ourselves. But you know whose fault this is?’

  ‘DI Conway?’

  Gina tutted. ‘Rick.’

  ‘I know, I know,’ Ashley nodded. ‘But the thing is, he’s just the bomb. The job of diffusing him became mine.’
/>   ‘Despite having no training in bomb disposal whatsoever,’ Gina reminded her. ‘And there’s me saying, “Go on, cut one of the wires. Take a guess which one won’t blow us the fuck up.”

  Ashley wanted to accept Gina’s comfort, but it was impossible. She was so bloody angry with herself. ‘Well, he’s gonna go off on his own timetable now.’

  Gina nodded. ‘Look, that detective is the one in charge of negotiating with him. Maybe she’ll get everyone out.’

  ‘Yeah, and maybe she’ll find the Loch Ness Monster when she’s done. Ride him right into that car park,’ Ashley said. Gina’s face fell. ‘Sorry, I just… I don’t know what to do now.’

  ‘Not a lot we can do,’ Gina told her.

  Ashley sighed and settled herself cross-legged on the floor. Gina walked over and sat down next to her, asking, ‘Can I have some of those chips?’ Ashley tossed her the bag. ‘Knock yourself out.’

  They sat in silence for a while on the floor of the cupboard, passing the chocolate back and forth.

  ‘What time is it?’ Gina asked.

  ‘About half nine,’ Ashley answered.

  ‘God, I was supposed to go on a date tonight!’ Gina remembered.

  ‘You were?’ Ashley asked.

  ‘Yeah. Eight o’clock at a bar in town. She’ll have gone home now.’

  ‘All she has to do is put on the TV, she’ll know why you’re late,’ Ashley told her. ‘Your picture’s probably all over the news by now.’

  ‘That’s a good point. She won’t be able to hold it against me, will she?’

  ‘No, she won’t,’ Ashley assured her. ‘She’s bound to give you another shot, and then if it all goes well, it’s a great story for the grandkids. How grandma one and grandma two missed their first date because grandma one got caught up in the robbery of a bloody pizza restaurant. It’s gold.’

  Gina chuckled. ‘Yeah. I don’t think I’m gonna reschedule, though. I’m just gonna take the out.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘It was a blind date thing. I wasn’t that up for it, anyway.’

  ‘Why’d you say yes, then?’ Ashley asked, baffled.

  ‘I don’t like to make a fuss. Sometimes it’s just easier to go along with things than to say no.’

  Ashley chuckled. ‘We are very different people.’

  ‘You’d have never said yes in the first place, right?’ Gina asked.

  ‘Nobody sets me up on blind dates anymore, actually,’ Ashley admitted.

  ‘Oh?’ Gina said.

  ‘You gonna pretend you don’t know precisely why?’ Ashley asked with a dry smile.

  Gina shook her head. ‘I don’t.’

  Ashley cocked her head. ‘Oh, really? After you called me an arsehole the last time we were in here?’

  ‘In my defence, you were sort of being one,’ Gina pointed out.

  ‘Of course I was,’ Ashley shrugged, accepting the criticism easily.

  ‘But so was I. Because I judged your family,’ Gina pointed out. ‘We were both arseholes for a minute. But that’s not all of us, is it? It’s not all of you.’

  Ashley shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I’ve gotten comfortable with the title. Fits me pretty nicely now.’

  ‘Arseholes don’t risk their own lives to save others,’ Gina pointed out.

  ‘I didn’t really give that any thought. I just acted. Nothing to do with being a good person,’ Ashley argued.

  ‘I think it’s got everything to do with being a good person,’ Gina said philosophically, putting more chocolate in her mouth and swallowing quickly. ‘It was your instinct to help. You didn’t think about whether you’d look heroic, or if anyone was watching. You just did it.’

  Ashley didn’t feel comfortable with this praise. Why was Gina doing it? There was no point propping her up anymore. She was out of the game, out of the circle of Rick’s trust. It was just them in a cupboard. Why was Gina saying all these nice things? An answer to that question popped quickly into her mind. Not a very nice one, either. ‘Oh shit, you think we’re going to die, don’t you?’ Ashley said in horror.

  ‘What?’ Gina said, spinning to look at Ashley.

  ‘You’re being nice to me because it’s the end.’

  Gina laughed. ‘You know what, you might not be a total arsehole, but you’re definitely a complete headcase. You think I just said you were a good person because I thought it was the last thing I was ever going to say? Jesus. You really have been in the rough end of social interaction for a while now, haven’t you?’

  Ashley sighed, too tired to deny it. ‘You’re right. I’m screwed up. And I never got to find out if there was a point to me being like I am; if it was going to take me anywhere because Rick’s gonna come in here sometime soon and shoot me. And that will be it, the story of me. Ashley Quick, a nothing-special reporter, talked her way into a hostage situation in the name of ambition and got a bullet in the head for her trouble. What a fucking great Wikipedia entry that’ll make.’ Ashley stopped ranting when she discovered a tear on her face. She wiped it quickly. But Gina had spotted it. She leaned a bit closer to Ashley. Not hugging her exactly. Just applying a little pressure with her arm. Contact. It had been a while since anyone had touched Ashley affectionately. It was nice. Ashley pressed back against Gina’s arm, just a little, as she wiped a second tear, feeling like she was pulling herself back together from her mini-meltdown.

  They sat there like that for a few minutes, silently touching arms. Eventually, Gina said, ‘Hey, you know what? You looked good on the telly.’

  Ashley arched an eyebrow at Gina. ‘Did I?’

  ‘Yeah. You’ve really got… er… that thing.’

  ‘What thing?’

  ‘That thing that makes you pop. I’ve shot a lot of actors. Most of them don’t have it. You do. Just saying.’

  Ashley was about to simply say thanks when it occurred to her that this particular compliment might be different from the last one. It seemed a bit more… flirty. And this time, she was pretty sure she had Gina’s motivation nailed. She was rather surprised. She’d have never thought Gina would look at her twice. She was very good-looking and in possession of an easy sexiness. Nothing about Ashley was easy.

  But… maybe Gina did think this was the end, secretly. And maybe she wanted to feel good before things got bad.

  Ashley wondered how she should feel about this. It didn’t take her long to figure it out. She was sort of, well… excited. Because if she was being honest with herself, she’d fancied Gina right from the start. Other emotions had clouded it, made it harder to acknowledge. But what was there to cloud it now? They were alone, in this cupboard, using up what might be the last little bit of life left to them.

  So Ashley would use it wisely.

  Nineteen

  Gina was pretty sure she was hitting on Ashley.

  She hadn’t really meant to, it was just happening. Maybe because the Ashley that Gina had started the day with was not the one who was trapped in this cupboard with her. The worst time and place in the world, but Gina couldn’t seem to help it. She wanted Ashley. She was sexy, childlike, hard, soft, sensitive, a brick wall. Gina was into the contradiction that was Ashley Quick. She really couldn’t say if the reverse was true. She was pretty sure that Ashley only saw her as a dumb camera operator.

  But then Ashley turned with a very focused look in her eye. ‘Gina,’ Ashley said.

  ‘Ashley?’ Gina replied with a small grin.

  ‘I like your arms and your bum,’ Ashley told her.

  Gina was thrown pretty hard by that. The only reaction she could find was a nervous chuckle. ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ashley said through slight embarrassment. ‘I thought so earlier, but I didn’t think you would end up liking me very much, so I was… I think I attacked you right off the bat to make it easier for myself. That was childish. But I think that things… Well, things have changed. Between us.’

  ‘I think they have too,’ Gina told her, her head spinning a bit.

 
; ‘I’m ready to stop playing games if you are?’ Ashley asked nervously.

  Only that wasn’t really what she was asking, Gina could feel it. ‘I’m ready,’ she told Ashley, looking her right in the eye. Ashley nodded, and Gina thought she was going to say something else. That was what Ashley did. She was a talker.

  But the answer wasn’t verbal, though it was expressed through Ashley’s mouth. Her very warm, soft mouth. She didn’t kiss the way Gina would have expected. There was nothing aggressive or pushy about it. It was soft, gentle, almost passive, yet… electric. Gina felt the kiss shoot through her entire body, lips to toes and everywhere in between.