Sons of Fortune

“I’ll decide who he talks to,” said Culver. “No one dictates to me.” He disappeared through the door and almost ran back to the principal’s study.

“This is Chief Culver. Now listen, Bates, if you imagine…” The phone went dead. “Damn,” said the chief as Fletcher walked back into the room. “He hung up on me, we’re going to have to try again.”

“Perhaps he meant it when he said he would only speak to me.”

The chief removed his cigar again. “OK, but the moment you’ve calmed him down, you pass the phone over.”

Once they’d returned to the playground Fletcher spoke over the megaphone again. “Sorry, Billy, can you call again, and this time I’ll be on the other end of the line?” Fletcher accompanied Don Culver back to the principal’s study to find Billy already on the speaker-phone.

“The senator’s just walked back into the room,” the principal assured him.

“I’m right here, Billy, it’s Fletcher Davenport.”

“Senator, before you say anything, I’m not budging while the chief has all those rifles trained on me. Tell them to back off if he doesn’t want a death on his hands.”

Fletcher looked at Culver, who removed his cigar once again before nodding.

“The chief’s agreed to that,” said Fletcher.

“I’ll call you back when I can’t see one of them.”

“Right,” said the chief, “tell everyone to back off, except for the marksman on the north tower. There’s no way Bates could spot him.”

“So what happens next?” asked Fletcher.

“We wait for the bastard to call back.”

Nat was answering a question on voluntary redundancies when his secretary came rushing into the boardroom. They all realized that it had to be urgent as Linda had never interrupted a board meeting before. Nat immediately stopped speaking when he saw the anxious look on her face.

“There’s a gunman at Hartford Elementary…” Nat went cold, “…and he’s holding Miss Hudson’s class hostage.”

“Is Luke…”

“Yes he is,” she replied. “Luke’s last lesson on a Friday is always Miss Hudson’s art class.”

Nat rose unsteadily from his chair and walked toward the door. The rest of the board remained silent. “Mrs. Cartwright is already on her way to the school,” Linda added as Nat left the room. “She said to tell you she’ll meet you there.”

Nat nodded as he pushed open a door that led into the underground parking garage. “Stay by the phone,” was the last thing he said to Linda as he climbed into his car. When he nosed up the ramp and out onto Main Street, he hesitated for a moment before turning left instead of his usual right.

The phone rang. The chief touched the speaker and pointed to Fletcher.

“Are you there, Senator?”

“Sure am, Billy.”

“Tell the chief to allow the TV crews and press inside the barrier; that way I’ll feel safer.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” began the chief.

“No, you wait a minute,” shouted Billy. “Or you’ll have your first body in the playground. Try explaining to the press that it only happened because you didn’t let them inside the barrier.” The phone went dead.

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“You’d better go along with his request, Chief,” said Fletcher, “because it looks like he’s determined to be heard one way or the other.”

“Let the press through,” said Culver, nodding to one of his deputies. The sergeant quickly left the room, but it was several minutes before the phone rang again. Fletcher touched the console.

“I’m listening, Billy.”