CHAPTER 8
The police officer moved the barricade aside and waved through an unmarked car followed by the Special Crimes Unit van. The car pulled to a stop at the curb and the van pulled to the side. As the back of the van open and a squad of armored police officers jumped out a tall woman with short hair and body armor matching those of the other officers got out of the car.
Maggie Sawyer was having a bad day. She had forgotten to take her blood pressure medicine this morning, had been late for work due to traffic and was a month behind on staff evaluations. Now on a day she had set aside just for paperwork some idiot decided to stage a crime serious enough to call out the Special Crimes Unit. Correction, not just some idiot, but the deputy mayor, himself, who was currently holding his secretary hostage.
“What’s the matter, Bill” Sawyer said approaching a middle-aged man in a gray trench coat and matching hat from behind, “can’t you even serve an arrest warrant without letting things go to hell in a hand basket?”
“Har-dee-har-har, Sawyer,” Inspector Henderson replied turning to the SCU commander. “Who the hell knew the twerp even had a gun let alone the stones to use it?”
“You mean no one checked to see if he had one registered?” she asked amazed.
“He doesn’t show up as ever registering one so I’m assuming it’s illegal unless he snagged it from someone else in there. God knows every idiot in City Hall that qualified for a concealed weapons permit got one the day after they were hired. That’s why it stuck out that he didn’t have one registered.”
Sawyer shook her head and looked around the scene.
“News people got here awfully fast,” she commented.
“That one was our fault,” Henderson said. “They arrived to set up for some kind of press conference just as we were going in to serve the warrant. Renee Guest from channel 6 recognized me and had her guy start filming before we got in the front door. We think that’s what tipped off Maxwell because he had the gun out and already had the secretary when he got to his office.”
“Wonderful,” Maggie grumbled her gaze zeroing in for a moment on the blonde with the channel 6 microphone talking into a camera.
“We know who the secretary is?” she asked looking back at Bill.
“Jennifer Bowers,” Henderson said looking at his notepad “single, 26 years old, she’s worked for Maxwell for the past year.”
“Hostage negotiator here yet?” Sawyer asked.
“Just got here. The tech boys are splicing into the office lines now so the media can’t listen in. If Maxwell will answer he should be on the phone in just a couple of minutes. You got a fall back plan yet?”
“Simmons is deploying the men now. Snipers are heading for the adjacent roofs, but the rest are just for show. We dropped Turpin and a team a couple of blocks back. They’re heading for the sub-basement through the sewer system. They’ll set up inside near Maxwell’s office and await deployment orders there.”
“A squad’s going in and you didn’t want to join them?”
“I’m the new media darling,” Maggie said with a scowl. “If I wasn’t in plain view of the cameras everyone would know something is up.”
Henderson laughed and turned back to watch the building looking for any sign of movement from Maxwell’s window.
“Any sign of the big guy yet?” Maggie asked after a moment glancing briefly up at the sky.
“Not yet, but it should be any time now, what with all of the media on the scene. But, hell, he could be somewhere in space stopping an asteroid or fighting a flood in China for all I know. His beat’s a pretty big one.”
“Well, we shouldn’t get too used to him anyway,” Sawyer replied. “We don’t need to get soft.”
“’Soft’,” Henderson said, “is not a term I think you ever need worry that someone will apply to you.”
Maggie barked a laugh as she headed toward the hostage negotiator with Bill at her side.
“Now, you’re just gonna make me blush,” she said.
************
Across the street away from the police cordon a tall man with a patch over one eye stood slightly apart from the crowd looking up toward the Deputy Mayor’s window. His face wore a sour scowl and he shook his head slightly as he took a cell phone from his pocket. He flipped the phone open and pressed the “send” button without even bothering to dial a number.
“Yes?” came a voice from the other end.
“He’s barricaded himself in his office and has his secretary hostage.”
“Damn!” the voice grunted. “What’s the police situation like?”
“They have the place locked down tight and the SCU just arrived. Standard deployment, but I’d bet the SCU has another team working to get inside for a more direct assault.”
“Any sign of ‘outside’ interference?”
“No sign of him yet,” the man replied knowing exactly to whom the other was referring, “but, I doubt that’ll be the case for much longer.”
“Can you neutralize Maxwell?”
“Certainly, but not without attracting a lot of attention while I’m doing it. And if the ‘interference’ arrives while I’m in the middle of it I might have some trouble getting away even with my ‘insurance’. It’s probably best to let the police solve our problem for us.”
“And what if they don’t take care of it? We can’t afford to have him taken alive.”
“I have an independent contractor that can take him out after he’s in custody if it comes to that.”
“Independent contractor?” hissed the voice. “Can’t you do it yourself? I thought you were supposed to be the best?”
“Mind your tongue. You might be paying me money for my services, but never make the mistake of thinking that I work for you. The contractor’s expendable and doesn’t know anything about your organization. I don’t fit either of those categories. But, if you don’t think I’m the best perhaps I need to provide you with a personal demonstration.”
“No, no,” the voice said quickly, “I didn’t mean anything by that. I just don’t want anything to go wrong. You were hired because you’re the best. I just want the job done right.”
“Then trust that you’ve spent your money wisely and let me do what I was hired to do. If I need to act directly then I will, but until then I have other avenues I can pursue.” After a brief pause the man continued, “Just remember, I don’t like to be second guessed.”
“Yes, of course,” the voice on the telephone said. “As I said, you’re the best. I trust you’ll take care of matters.”
“Exactly,” the man said.
Before he could add anything else though a heightened mummer and pointing from the crowd drew his attention skyward.
“Uh oh, gotta go. ‘Interference’ has just arrived,” he said as he ended the phone call.
**********
Clark had left the conference room on Lois’ heels, but had turned toward the direction of the stairwell rather than the TV. After ascertaining that no one was looking in his direction his pace increased and he became a blur of motion. His departure into the stairwell was so quick that the opening and closing of the stairwell door was as a single, brief sound barely distinguishable from the normal background noise of the building.
Once in the stairwell he never touched a step, but became an airborne blur changing clothes as he ascended toward the roof door and out into the sky above.
As he approached City Hall Superman replayed the conversation with Lois in his mind. Was he bothered by some of the things he encountered on the job? Sure it could be pretty gruesome at times, but most of his activities involved preventing things from getting to that point.
He shook his head. Lois was just overreacting. He’d been doing this stuff since he was thirteen. If it were going to get to him it would have done so a long time before now. He didn’t feel any different than he always had except possibly just some wiriness from the weight of continued experience. Surely he would notice it if he started feeling “stressed.”
He laughed to himself as he spotted Bill Henderson and Maggie Sawyer and dipped down toward the police command post. At least that is if he felt anymore “stressed” than was normal for a man living two lives, working to meet deadlines, fighting criminal AND dealing with Lois Lane.
**********
Robert Maxwell was in a panic. He had been tipped off several days ago that his connection to the whole stadium fiasco was being investigated and when he had turned on the TV to watch Renee Guest’s commentary on the impending news conference about the proposed citywide budget cuts he knew the jig was up.
Maxwell had passed Guest earlier setting up for her newscast just outside of City Hall. When he saw her interrupt her cameraman to have him follow a couple of policemen and a grim faced Inspector Henderson as they passed behind her he was startled. When he saw them turn down a particular hallway after entering the building he knew they could only have one destination.
Before he had even realized what he was considering he had grabbed his gun from his briefcase and headed toward the outer office where his secretary Jennifer sat. He reached it just as the door opened and Henderson stepped through. Maxwell grabbed Jennifer and put the gun to her head before Henderson could even say a word. The two officers trailing him quickly pulled theirs and within seconds all were engaged in a standoff.
“Maxwell,” Henderson had said holding his hands up palms outward, “you don’t want to do this. It’ll only make matters worse. Put down the gun. No one’s going to hurt you.”
“Damn right! At least not as long as I’ve got Jennifer here, now back off. I want you out of the building. If I don’t see you out on the front lawn in 3 minutes I’m going to blow her head off!”
“Ok, Ok, we’re going. But you know it isn’t going to be that easy.”
“Whatever, just back the hell off!”
Henderson and the other officers had left and Maxwell pulled Jennifer into his office to watch out the window as the situation rapidly grew out of his control and the crowd outside had grown.. He knew his options were becoming limited because this was Metropolis and no hostage situation lasted long here and the clock was ticking. With the arrival of the SCU the lump in his chest grew and he knew his chances were dimming even more.
The descent of Superman from the sky a few moments later didn’t improve his anxiety.
TBC…
