by Natasha West
Gina reached her hands out and grabbed Ashley by the shirt lapels and pulled her tighter. Ashley got the hint and twisted around to get closer. But they were still sitting side by side, so Gina kept pulling until she’d slid onto her back and Ashley was astride her. That’s when things began to get blurry, hot, sweaty, and so very, very good.
Until a voice said, ‘What the fuck is this?’
Gina and Ashley’s heads swivelled to the door that had opened without either of them noticing. Rick was standing in the doorway, gun in hand as ever. ‘Hi Rick,’ Ashley said, from on top of Gina. ‘Umm, how’re things going out there?’
‘Not as good as in here, obviously,’ Rick noted. For a horrid moment, Gina thought he might be thinking that porn had taught him correctly and that catching two women snogging was some sort of invitation to a three-way. But he didn’t look at all like he was thinking about that. He seemed a bit envious, actually. She understood why in a flash. He was pining for Kara Malone, who was outside and yet still far from his reach, and here Gina was, getting some hot reporter action. It had to sting Mr Big-Shot-With-a-Gun.
‘We were just…’ Gina began but really, what could she say? That she’d been choking, and Ashley was giving her mouth to mouth? What Rick was looking at was undeniably the latter stages of foreplay.
But as ever, Ashley was ready to take up the baton. She began to clamber off Gina, standing up and straightening her clothes. ‘I’m sorry. I just needed to… I needed to relax,’ she said with a cheeky shrug. ‘You know how it is?’ she said, giving Rick a woman of the world wink.
Gina was startled. Did she mean that? Was she just blowing off steam? The way Ashley had been talking earlier, it had seemed like more. But maybe Gina misinterpreted things.
Rick shook his head. ‘Whatever.’ And then his face broke into a big grin. ‘Oh, I see.’
Ashley cocked an eyebrow. ‘See what?’
‘That was…’ Rick stopped and chuckled. ‘That’s what that look into the camera was all about, right? Signalling her? Giving her the old wait till later look?’
Ashley and Gina swapped a quick glance during which a crucial agreement was formed. Run with whatever Rick wants to tell himself.
Ashley started to laugh. ‘Oh, yeah. That’s why I… You didn’t think it was anything else, did you?’
Rick laughed along with Ashley. ‘Oh, no, I didn’t think anything else at all. Actually, I think I knew all along what was going on,’ Rick blustered. ‘It was obviously just a bit of flirting. Right?’
‘Yes,’ Gina and Ashley agreed in harmony. ‘Flirting,’ Ashley added. ‘Yup,’ Gina concurred.
Rick’s relief was palpable. ‘Yeah. Knew it. Right, Ashley, you’re needed. The fucking copper won’t stop ringing, and it’s doing my head in. I need you to deal with her.’ He turned from the door and stomped off.
Ashley turned and gave Gina a lingering gaze. ‘I better get out there,’ she said.
‘Yeah,’ Gina agreed.
But before she walked out, she grabbed Gina’s hand. Just for a second, she squeezed it. Then she let go and was gone.
Gina followed her out, trying to shake what had just happened. Her entire being still crackled, sparks of electricity jumping through her body, but she ignored it as best she could. Because it seemed like Ashley was about to go into the next round of negotiations on Rick’s behalf. Thank god he’d decided to rewrite what had happened, that he would rather blind himself to the truth than think his lieutenant had betrayed him. It was a miracle, one everyone in Jimmy’s Pizza needed, whether they knew it or not.
But Gina could only hope there were no further incidents like that. Because even a man like Rick could only fool himself so long. But she had faith. Ashley had barely made a wrong move all day. Especially in that cupboard… No! None of that, Gina told herself, as Rick handed her camera back to her in the dining area. There was no time for those kinds of thoughts.
She watched Ashley and Rick slide into the booth with the phone on the table, readying themselves to talk to the detective. Gina sat down across from them and did the only thing she could think to do, the only thing she was good at; she switched on her camera, framed up Ashley and Rick, and focused her lens.
‘Action,’ said Rick.
Gina hit record.
Twenty
Ashley was back at the right hand of Rick. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but somehow, Rick walking in on her and Gina in the cupboard had led him to the conclusion that the look she’d thrown to the camera was not a betrayal, nor a judgment on him. Ashley had been more than happy to accommodate that delusion so here she was, back on the phone, Rick next to her, Gina across from her.
Gina.
Anyway, never mind all of that. Rick was banging on about his next set of demands. ‘Right…’ he began. He seemed to be addressing Ashley, but his eyes kept flitting to the camera. God, if he could only stop ‘Jimming’ to the camera for a second, he’d appear a lot more genuine. ‘I gave them some people back. They know I’m legit. And of course, I want everyone to get out tonight, I know people have families to get back to.’ More Jimming. ‘Now I want to go for it. I want to leave.’
Ashley nodded, glancing back across the room at the tables with the remaining hostages. Most of them seemed too tired to be quite so scared anymore. The two bros, Greg and Sam, were having a game of Hand Slap. Sam looked a bit too into it. Lily was in the process of having a squabble with her dad, and it ended with her flipping him off. Leanne and Tina were sat at either side of the clump, studiously not making eye contact with each other. Ashley was amazed. In the middle of all this, not one of them could get over their beefs. Still, as petty a collection as they were, Ashley had charge of their lives. She had to see them get out—every one of them.
Ashley turned to Rick. ‘So you want a straight swap now? Everyone out in exchange for…’
‘The plane,’ Rick finished.
Ashley paused. She was going to have to put this tactfully. ‘You still want the plane, then?’
‘Why wouldn’t I? I can’t grow wings and fly out myself, can I?’
Ashley nodded. ‘No, right, of course. I was just wondering if it might be better to maybe…’
‘What?’
‘Rick, I guess I’m just thinking that it’s going to be difficult to get to the plane without…’ Ashley stopped, trying to think of a diplomatic way to say this. But there wasn’t one. If he tried to do it this way, Ashley was sure that it was going to go wrong and someone was going to end up hurt. Maybe one of the hostages, maybe a police officer, maybe just Rick. But even that, Ashley didn’t want. She kept thinking about that son he had. The boy would be watching all this on the news. As awful a father as Rick had been to him, the kid would be utterly, irreparably traumatised if he watched something bad happen to his dad on the news. Ashley had to make one last appeal to his common sense. ‘The truth is, I can’t guarantee your safety if you try to escape. I still think it’s a better idea to hand yourself over.’
Rick eyed her, his face inscrutable. She was tempted to backpedal. But in the end, she held her nerve and waited.
And then Rick started to cry.
Ashley was shocked, but she tried not to show it, tried to seem as though career criminals wept in front of her all the time. She patted his shoulder. He looked up at the touch. ‘Oh, Ashley. I don’t know what I would have done without you, love. You’ve been a rock.’
Ashley smiled. ‘I… Yeah. I’ve tried.’
‘And I think it’s so nice of you to look out for me like this, but you just don’t understand. You’ve never been inside.’
‘That’s true,’ Ashley was forced to admit.
‘I can’t do another stretch. It’ll be me last. I’ll never come out, I know it. I gotta go for it. I gotta live me dream.’
Ashley felt like this was the most honest conversation she and Rick had had to date, and she had to push forward. ‘But isn’t alive and in prison better than… the thing you’ve been worried abou
t?’
‘The thing?’ Rick asked.
Ashley was gonna have to say it. ‘Getting shot.’
Rick nodded. ‘I’m not up for one in the dome, I’ll grant you. But I reckon I can avoid it. I’ve been googling this bloke, name of Cooper. He hijacked a plane, got two hundred grand, and got away. They never found him. If he can do it, I can do it. After all, I’ve gotten this far, haven’t I? I got you two in here, which was no small thing.’
Ashley had to agree with that. He was crafty alright, and he’d had some luck on his side. But it couldn’t last forever. ‘I know, but what if…’
Rick wiped the tear from his cheek, and his face abruptly hardened. ‘Ashley. I said no. It’s my way or nothing, alright?’
Ashley closed her mouth. She’d thought she’d found an in. But Rick’s tears were meaningless. They were for the camera, as ever. She started to feel a familiar feeling, that heat in her neck that came just before she gave someone a real hard blast of truth. ‘Rick-’
‘Ashley?’ said Gina from behind the camera, surprising both her and Rick. ‘I think we should go ahead with what Rick wants. He seems to know… he knows what he’s doing.’ Ashley felt Gina kick her beneath the table. Not hard. Just a light tap. But Ashley got the message. Down girl.
Ashley took a deep breath and forced down the desire to give it to Rick extremely straight. It took a lot. ‘I’m sorry. You’re… right. I’ve read about that guy before, DB Cooper. You’re right, he did manage to achieve all that. You could too.’
Rick’s hard face melted. ‘I knew you’d see it my way.’
He proceeded to detail his desires to Ashley. She nodded as if she were listening to a perfectly sensible plan of action, not the ravings of a delusional fool.
Once he was finished, he gave one last instruction. ‘Make the call.’
Ashley sighed and rang DI Conway. ‘Hi, Ashley?’
‘Yep, it’s me. Rick’s ready to release the rest of the hostages.’
‘That’s great news,’ DI Conway said with no relief whatsoever. She was waiting for the caveat. Ashley gave it to her. ‘So, here’s how Rick would like this to happen. He wants you to get him a small private plane, with a pilot.’
There was a long pause. ‘OK...’
‘He wants it parked in the car park, the door as close to the entrance of the restaurant as possible.’
‘Well, I’ll… see what I can do. Anything else?’
‘Yes, he wants a hundred grand waiting for him on the plane. He wants you to know he could have asked for more, but he’s not greedy. He just wants start-up money for his new life.’
‘That’s certainly…’ the detective did an audible swallow, ‘very reasonable. But I’m sure you know, that’s a fairly big ask. I’m going to have to talk to my superiors, and even if I get the OK, it’ll take some time to arrange. But in the meantime, could I ask when Rick will be letting everyone go?’
‘Everyone’s going to come out with him. He’ll jump on the plane, and once the door’s closed, everyone can go. That’s when Rick will give instructions to the pilot.’
‘So at this point, the pilot will be a hostage. Can I just clarify that?’
Ashley looked at Rick, putting her hand over the receiver. ‘That’s true, isn’t it?’
‘Only until we get where we’re going. Then they can fly off home; no harm, no foul,’ Rick shrugged.
Ashley wasn’t happy about that. She wasn’t happy about any of it. Just for a start, you couldn’t just jump in a plane and go anywhere you liked. You had to file a flight plan and get permission from your chosen airport to land. Ashley wasn’t an expert on planes, but she didn’t think a small aircraft could carry enough fuel to get him to a different continent. But what could she do? She’d tried sense, but it wasn’t working. She took her hand off the receiver. ‘Rick has confirmed that’s correct. But he vows not to harm the pilot. They will drop him off at his chosen destination and then be allowed to take the plane back home.’
‘How can we be sure of that? Beyond a vow?’
‘Because there’s nothing in it for me to hurt them,’ Rick said, snatching the phone. ‘I’m flying out of your grasp. Fuck it, I might give you my new address once I’ve settled, nothing you could do with it, is there?’
DI Conway sighed. ‘Rick. Hello. Nice to speak to you again.’
‘Can’t say the same. You’ve done my fucking head in today, truth be told.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ the detective said. ‘The only thing I want to achieve today is a peaceful end to this for all parties.’
‘The only thing you want to achieve is getting me locked up. Or worse,’ he yelled. ‘Now fucking crack on with my demands. Alright?’ He slammed the phone down hard, panting, enraged. ‘Fucking arsehole. Thinks she can talk to me like a bastard kid!’ He began an awkward, angry shuffle out of the booth. Once he was free, he went behind the bar and grabbed a beer. But he couldn’t get the cap off quickly enough for his liking and tossed the bottle on the ground, smashing it. The whole room tensed.
Oh, and he’s got mummy issues on top of everything else, thought Ashley. Classic.
Rick took a few deep breaths and gathered himself. Once he was collected, he picked out another beer from the fridge and tried to pop the top off. But that one didn’t come easily either, and the bottle joined its predecessor on the floor, smashed to bits. ‘For fuck’s sake, what the hell is wrong with these fucking bottles?!’ he screamed.
Gina put down the camera and walked over to Rick. ‘You seem stressed, why don’t you sit down? I’ll get us all a beer.’
Ashley was surprised. Gina wasn’t really one for stepping out from behind the camera. But she was doing it now, bringing her take-it-easy vibe over to Rick, trying to keep him calm. She was doing exactly what she’d been asking Ashley to do. She was using what she had to help.
Ashley was so grateful, she wanted to cry. She wasn’t alone in this anymore.
Twenty-One
Gina loved to hide behind her camera, she always had. Ever since she’d recorded her first shot on an old video camera she’d found in a cupboard at her grandad’s. Her first shot was on shitty 8mm video, but Gina loved the way it looked, the way the camera felt in her hand. What she really liked, though, was how the world moved away through the viewfinder. Reality became a scene, and she wasn’t in it. It felt so safe.
Today had been the most dangerous day of Gina’s life, and the camera had been a wonderful comfort. Every minute her baby was sat on her shoulder, she could keep it together. She wasn’t really there. It was just another scene.
But Rick liked to take her camera away from her when it suited him. Then there was no screen between Gina and the world. She was rudderless.
But she realised she didn’t need the camera for protection. Ashley could make her feel safe too. It was a twist in the story she’d never have predicted. They’d kissed, and that had felt good. But the hand squeeze at the end? It was better. Even more comforting than the camera.
But who was there to give Ashley comfort while she tried to keep Rick on the rails? No one. She was alone. It was wrong, Gina knew now. Everything she’d told Ashley, all that pressure, it was too much for one person. Even for Ashley, who bore it well.
Gina decided she didn’t want Ashley to take the weight of these lives on her shoulders alone anymore. It wasn’t fair. So even though Rick had given her back her camera and she could have held onto its sweet safety for a little while longer, she chose to put it down, to step into the scene. Be there.
Gina waited to see if Rick would take her offer to sit and be waited on. He looked down at the shattered remains of his two attempts to open a beer and gave it up. ‘Fuck it, yeah. I’ve had enough. I could do with a sit down. Tiring business, dealing with pigs. They’re fucking with you constantly, trying to wear you down.’
Gina didn’t think that Detective Conway was sharp enough to fuck with anyone. She was quite clearly out of her depth. But as ever, Rick needed to blame someo
ne for his little meltdown, and she was a convenient scapegoat. ‘My uncle’s a policeman. By marriage,’ Gina offered. ‘He’s a right dick.’
Rick grinned. ‘Rozzer in the family? Fucking bad luck, that!’
‘Yeah. Don’t know what my aunt was thinking,’ she said, taking the lids off a few beers and handing one to Rick. He took a swig and set it down, already looking more tranquil. ‘I bet he’s always going on about rules.’
Gina took her own swig. ‘God, yeah. He once slapped me round the face because I cheated at cards with him.’
Rick raised an eyebrow. ‘What card game?’
