Red Tape

by Michele Lynn Seigfried

  “I was going to buy you paint so you can change your house color again, but since you need new siding anyway, my idea was a bad one.”

  We both laughed.

  “Thank you,” she said to me. “This is perfect. I love Woody’s.”

  I went to the kitchen and made myself some coffee. After settling in at my desk with my hazelnut decaf and opening up my emails, I heard the unthinkable. Pop, pop, pop, scream. I ran to my office door and saw Bonnie lying on the floor covered in blood. She glanced at me, then at the window, and she closed her eyes. I heard the crack of the office door being kicked in, but couldn’t see it from where I was standing. I panicked, but thought enough to run to the back office, where Rodney happened to be and lock the door. He looked at me in horror.

  “What is going on?”

  I couldn’t speak. All the blood drained out of my face and my hands shook uncontrollably. I picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

  Pop, pop, pop.

  “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

  More shots rang out; more screams of terror could be heard.

  “Someone is shooting, Bonnie was shot, please hurry,” was all that I could manage to say. There was a loud bang, then the door to the back office burst open. We found ourselves staring at Robert Triggers, all decked out in military fatigues, holding a rifle in his hand, and with at least two guns in holsters at his sides. He had shot through the door lock, then kicked in the remaining door. I froze. Rodney gasped.

  Triggers’ angry voice boomed. “Put…the…phone…down!”

  I could hear the dispatcher saying, “Are you hurt? Hello? Are you there?”

  I slowly placed the receiver back on the hook. I could hear Rodney whisper, “Please.” I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I was trembling and my heart was pounding so wildly I could feel the pounding in my head.

  “Sit!” he demanded.

  With his gun aimed directly at me, we both slowly took a seat.

  Sirens blared in the distance. Mr. Triggers made his way over to the window to look out, then he closed the blinds.

  I was thinking, Can I run for the door? Probably not, I was shaking too hard and I didn’t think I’d be able to outrun the gun. Rodney looked like he could faint at any moment. I supposed that no amount of marijuana would make someone feel calm enough to get through this.

  Triggers was silent for what seemed to be an eternity. I could hear the commotion outside with police cars, but I couldn’t see what was going on since the blinds were closed. I felt a little relieved that the police were here and that they probably knew Triggers had us, due to my 9-1-1 call, but I still couldn’t help the feeling of dread that poured over me. My mind wandered to my daughter, and how I would soon be dead. How I wouldn’t be able to see her grow up. How she wouldn’t remember me telling her I loved her, how she wouldn’t remember anything about me. How she would have to grow up without a mom.

  My poor parents, I thought. Having their daughter die and having to raise their grandchild. How they would have to explain one day what happened to her mommy. I choked back my sobs. Don’t cry, Chelsey, don’t cry. He’s more likely to shoot if you cry.

  Triggers finally broke his silence. “I want my dunes and you are going to help me get them!” He glared at me. I remained silent. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Did...you…hear…me?!”

  I whispered, “Yes.”

  I wasn’t sure why he still wanted his dunes at this point. His house was gone. But, we were talking about someone with a gun; chances were, he wasn’t thinking clearly.

  The phone started to ring. Rodney and I glanced toward the phone, then toward Triggers.

  “Don’t answer that.”

  We sat silently. Triggers started pacing. The phone continued to ring. He started banging his forehead with the palm of his hand and repeating, “Think, think.”

  Rodney said he could answer the phone. Triggers screamed at him, telling him to shut up. The phone stopped ringing.

  “You!” he shouted, pointing his finger at me. “You call public works and tell them to make arrangements right now to have dunes installed or else!”

  I normally didn’t think very quickly on my feet and maybe it was more of a survival instinct than anything, but I picked up the phone and dialed 555-2400, which was the non-emergency police number. I prayed that Triggers couldn’t hear it when the voice on the other line said, “Sunshine Police, Dispatcher Forty-one.”

  “Hi, it’s Chelsey. I need you to make arrangements to install dunes on Fourth Street.”

  Detective Texidoro picked up the phone. I almost started to cry again when I heard his voice.

  “Chelsey, it’s Tex. Good job. You are going to be fine, just stay calm. Can you tell us who is there with you?”

  “Rodney is here and he can approve the purchase order for sand for the dunes. Can you please make the arrangements?”

  “Is Robert Triggers there with you?”

  I guessed it wasn’t that hard to figure out that Triggers was the nut case that kept asking for the dunes.

  “Chelsey, can you tell me how many guns he has?”

  “Three truck loads of sand would be good for starters.”

  “Three guns? Are they machine guns?

  “No.”

  “Hand guns or shot guns?”

  I could see Triggers, seemingly irate, telling me to wrap it up. “Yes! If you could put a rush on it, that would be good. Thanks, bye.” I quickly hung up the phone.

  Unknown to us, there was a huge gathering outside. Flashing lights from emergency vehicles filled the parking lot. Police crime scene tape encircled the building, creating a boundary between law enforcement and curious onlookers. SWAT teams and FBI agents set up an emergency command station at the senior center. Various news vans were arriving. Reporters holding microphones and cameramen with headsets were awaiting information that could be released on air.

  My thoughts turned to Bonnie. Was she alive or perhaps badly injured? I pleaded with God to let her live. She had two young children and didn’t deserve to die. Could the EMTs get to her or were they afraid it wasn’t safe for them to enter the building? I kept praying until the phone rang again. Triggers told me to answer it.

  “Hello?”

  “Chelsey? This is Agent Salvatore Romeo of the FBI. I will be acting as your hostage negotiator. Please see if Mr. Triggers will take the phone.”

  I motioned toward Triggers. “They want to talk to you.”

  “Tell them I have nothing to talk about.”

  I relayed the message.

  “Ask him if he has any demands,” Romeo said.

  I asked.

  Mr. Triggers flipped out. He began screaming and carrying on like a maniac. “Do I have any demands? Do I have any demands?” He grabbed the phone out of my hand and screamed into it, “I want my dunes and get me that wench Frita O’Donnell while you are at it!”

  He slammed the receiver down and grabbed the entire phone, violently ripping it out of the wall, then slamming it to the ground. He then jumped on it and kicked it clear across the room.

  Rodney and I traded glances. We were both terrified and we sat there silently. I found myself holding my breath from time to time. I was afraid to exhale. Triggers started pacing and smacking his head with his hand again.

  “We are going to stay here until I have dunes installed and until Frita O’Donnell shows her ugly face,” Triggers said.

  “How will you know when the dunes are installed?” Rodney asked.

  “Good point,” Triggers said. He pointed the gun directly into Rodney’s face, aiming it between his eyes. “Is there a TV in here?”

  “In my office,” Rodney hesitantly replied.

  “Let’s go,” Triggers said, motioning toward the door with the gun.

  He marched us at gunpoint out of the back office. When we reached Bonnie’s desk, I saw a large smear of blood on the floor where I last saw her lying. It appeared as if someone had dragged her out. I couldn’t c
ontrol myself as I let out a whimper.

  “Shut the hell up!” Triggers screamed. “I killed her and I’ll kill you too.”

  He told us to move into the lobby. The floors and walls were covered in blood. There were three people lying dead. I had never seen anything so gruesome in my life. They didn’t look like any of the employees of Sunshine. I assumed they were residents doing business in the town. It was sickening to know these poor innocent individuals had met their fate as a result of this madman by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I silently wondered if Bonnie made it out, since I didn’t see her body anywhere.

  Through the glass doors, I could see a S.W.A.T. team with guns pointed directly into the building. “Hold your fire,” was shouted by someone I couldn’t see.

  Triggers grabbed Rodney and used him as a human shield to get through the lobby and down the hallway to Rodney’s office. Inside Rodney’s office, I was instructed to turn on the TV. We were all over the news. The volume on the TV was down, so Triggers instructed me to turn it up.

  Video of the municipal building surrounded by law enforcement was streaming. The reporter was saying that police had reported a hostage situation. My Facebook photo flashed across the screen and the fact that I was a confirmed hostage in the situation was announced. I thought that was pretty darn quick that the reporters already got my picture off of Facebook.

  “Sit down!” Triggers yelled.

  I jumped out of my skin. For a split second when I was watching TV, I had zoned out. I swiftly scrambled into the closest chair. We sat there for a couple of hours without saying anything. Rodney’s phone started to ring. Triggers told me to answer it.

  “Town of Sunshine,” I said. It was a force of habit to answer the phones that way. It was someone trying to sell me a copier. I hung the phone up and said, “Sales call.” My thoughts turned toward the phone. I so badly wanted to call my parents and hear my daughter’s babble. I didn’t want to leave this world without telling her I loved her one last time. I wanted my last words on this Earth to be, “I love you, baby girl.” I began to think I had nothing to lose.

  “Mr. Triggers, sir. I was wondering if I could call my daughter and say good-bye to her.”

  “No,” he said in a booming voice.

  “She’s only ten months old and if you’re going to kill me, I would like to say good-bye to her.” A tear fell from my eye.

  “A ten-month-old baby?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said softly with my eyes cast downward.

  “So that was you in the grocery store!” he exclaimed.

  Oh lord. I had forgotten I told that lie and as luck would have it, it was coming back to bite me. I wasn’t quite as clever as I had thought.

  “Grocery store?” I asked.

  “Yes, you’re just another lying bitch!” he yelled.

  I panicked, but thought enough to say, “Is that where you had run into my sister? You told me you met my twin sister. Was her daughter with her when you saw her?”

  He looked sufficiently befuddled. He sat silently for a little while, staring at me. I was getting jittery. I wasn’t sure if he was buying it.

  “Fine,” he said to my surprise. “You have one minute to make your call.”

  Oh, thank heavens; he bought it. I picked up the phone and quickly dialed my parents’ number. Please pick up, please pick up was going through my head. I finally heard my mother’s voice. “Hello?”

  “Mom?” I said in a shaky voice.

  “Chelsey, oh my god, I’m watching the news, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  I took a deep breath. “Mom, please go get Mandy. I need to tell her I love her.”

  My mother let out a wail and burst into tears. My face was red, trying to hold back my own tears until I was done on the phone.

  “Thirty seconds,” Triggers said.

  “Please, Mom, quickly, I only have thirty seconds.”

  “The phone is near her ear,” my mother said.

  “Mandy, baby, Mommy loves you with all my heart. You be a good girl for Grandmom and Grandpop. I love you, baby girl.”

  I could hear Mandy say, “Ba ba.” That’s all she was able to say at her age, besides some other babbling.

  I broke down in tears as I hung up the phone. I could no longer control my sobs.

  “Why are you doing this?” Rodney asked softly. I could see the Rodney’s hands were trembling and he was sweating bullets. He looked like he was in bad shape. I figured he was way past due for his medications.

  Mr. Triggers grew incensed. “Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?” he shouted. “I’m doing this because you people messed up my whole life. You screwed me.”

  “How?” Rodney asked.

  I thought this was rather bold of Rodney. I feared Rodney was going to push this guy over the edge and the gun would start firing. My hopes of getting out alive were bleak, but I still felt there was a slim chance of someone saving us. If Triggers started shooting, our chances would be gone.

  I quickly butted in and said, “What he means is, what can we do to help you?”

  “You could’ve installed the dunes before the freakin’ storm took away everything I owned; that is what you could have done, but now it’s too late!” Triggers said in a very evil tone. “You took away my life and now I’m going to take away yours, but not before I make that Frita O’Donnell pay for all her red tape!”

  “The mayor took your life away, not us. She tried to take my life away too. I’d be happy to see you make her pay,” I said.

  I was trying to keep him focused on a different target. I hated the mayor, so why not keep his attention there? It was a fat chance he’d ever get to her after this hostage stunt, so I didn’t feel like I was putting another person in harm’s way by saying that.

  “Yeah, she did destroy my life,” he said. “But you work for her, so you are against me too.”

  “No I’m not,” I said. “I hate her. She put me in jail for no reason.”

  It was time to break my rules about being professional to those outside of my inner circle, and it worked. It finally got his attention. Maybe if he felt I could empathize with him, he would let me go.

  “What do you mean?” he said.

  “She falsely accused me of stealing and embezzlement. She made the police arrest me. I got thrown into jail. I got fired. I had to post bail and hire an attorney. I had no money to pay my bills. Then she tried to have me killed. Sent two goons after me. Tried to take my poor baby girl’s mother away. I have a restraining order against her.”

  “See! I knew she was evil. She ruins people’s lives.”

  “She does, but she is going to get hers. She was arrested for being the leader in an identity theft ring.”

  “Then why did I see her yesterday at the pharmacy?”

  “She didn’t have her day in court yet, but she will. She will be behind bars for a long time.”

  Mr. Triggers was silent. I didn’t know if I still had him relating to me or if I was losing him. It was around noontime. I couldn’t think of anything else to say about the mayor. I had to pee really badly.

  “Would I be permitted to go to the bathroom?” I asked.

  Mr. Triggers scowled at me.

  “You and Rodney could come into the room. There are stalls on the bathroom doors inside, but you’d be able to see my feet and see I wasn’t running away. I promise, I’ll be quick.”

  “I need to go too,” Rodney said.

  “Fine,” Triggers said. He motioned to us with the gun to move out of the room.

  He led us to the bathroom and we both took a stall to do our business, while Triggers waited watchfully in the doorway. I thought the fact that he let us use the restroom was a good sign. Maybe he would let us live too. We washed our hands and Triggers led us back into Rodney’s office at gunpoint.

  Rodney’s phone rang again. Triggers told me to answer it. The voice from the other end said, “Chelsey, this is Agent Romeo again. Is Mr. Triggers willing to talk yet?”
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br />   I looked at Triggers. “They want to know if you want to talk yet.”

  “No!” Triggers screamed.

  “He doesn’t wish to speak at this time. Is there any message?” I asked.

  “Has he hurt either one of you?” Romeo asked.

  “No.”

  “Has he told you his demands?”

  “He wants his dunes installed and he is watching the TV to see that it’s accomplished. He also wants Frita O’Donnell down here.”

  “Hang the phone up,” Triggers shouted.

  “He wanted to know if we had demands,” I said. I purposely included the “we” in that sentence, because I wanted Triggers to think I was on his side. I had nothing left to lose.

  “They know my demands,” Triggers replied.

  “Yes, but we should ask for more. Like food. Are you hungry? I could go for a pizza.”

  “Yeah, okay, fine. Food.”

  I picked up the phone and dialed the non-emergency police number. I wasn’t sure how to reach Agent Romeo, but I assumed they would be on the police lines. I knew the non-emergency line was a recorded line, so if Romeo wasn’t reachable this way, he would still be able to replay the tapes. I was surprised when Romeo answered. I assumed since they could see where the call was coming from, they knew it was us.

  “Agent Salvatore Romeo.”

  “There’s another demand,” I said.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Pizza and soda please.”

  “Are you and Rodney hurt?”

  “No.”

  “We will leave the food outside of the door. Try to get Triggers to pick up the food himself.”

  “Understood.”

  I told Triggers the food would arrive in twenty minutes. It was close to two o’clock in the afternoon when the food arrived. Triggers insisted I go to get the food. He threatened to kill Rodney if I didn’t come back. There was no way I was going to be able to convince Triggers to get the food like Agent Romeo asked and I wasn’t about to risk my life by trying.

  I made my way out of Rodney’s office and into the lobby. I moved slowly, stepping over a body and tiptoeing through pools of blood until I reached the main doors. I could see all the police cars and commotion outside. I slowly opened the doors. I heard a voice yell, “Hold your fire.”