“We’re not going to get friendly.”
“No. But at least I’ll know who I’m talking to.”
His kidnapper nodded and again shifted the rifle in his arms. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m Page.”
Joshua nodded, feeling his chest expand. This was a good thing. Thirty seconds into the conversation, and Page had already entered into an agreement with him. A small agreement. Hardly worth noticing. But a hostage negotiation, at least a successful one, was simply a series of small agreements, entered into one at a time. Joshua now began to search his mind and his training.I have to look for every possible way to get this guy to agree with me.
“I appreciate a man who values truth,” Joshua told him. “But listen. If I speak the truth, you might hear things you don’t like hearing. If you do, are you going to shoot me with that thing?” He nodded toward the rifle in Page’s arms. “Because I’d like to postpone that part of our conversation for as long as possible.”
He saw a slight smile curve Page’s lips.That’s good!Joshua thought. “What kind of rifle is that?” Joshua asked.
Page studied him for a moment, then glanced down at the rifle. “It’s an AR-15,” he said.
“An AR-15,” Joshua repeated, deliberately mirroring Page’s words. “Is that an assault rifle? I’ve never seen one.”
“Yeah,” Page said in a half-snarl. “A 223.”
“Hmm, 223. Is that the caliber?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“Stole it.”
“It’s interesting looking.”
Page’s eyes narrowed, and Joshua felt a sharp twinge of fear. “You won’t think that when it’s pointed at your head.”
“I completely agree.”Another agreement.“Do you plan to use it on me?”
“On youandon my piece-of-shit sister.” He turned away. “Then probably on myself.”
“Can you tell me why you want to kill your sister?”
“She snitched on me to the police!”
Joshua took a moment, seeming to digest this information, then shook his head. “That fuckingsucks!”
“Right?” Page said, nodding. “What a bitch,right?”
Another agreement.
Joshua nodded. “I’ve been betrayed by people I trusted,” he said. “That’s hard to take.”
“Don’t act like you know how I feel!” Page blurted out.
Joshua drew in a deep breath. “You’re right.”Another agreement.“I don’t know how you feel. Your feelings are your own. I’m just telling you howIfelt when that happened tome.”
“I don’t give a fuck how you felt. You’ll be dead soon, so it doesn’t matter anyway.” Page’s upper lip drew back over his teeth, and he began to rock back and forth while cradling the rifle in his arms.
Joshua forced himself to control his breathing. Forced himself to draw in slow, deep breaths, counting to six between each one. Forced himself to control his fear and remain silent, turning his swollen, inflamed eyes away from the high-powered rifle Page held in his arms as he rocked.
This kind of rocking signaled an attempt to relieve stress, and the last thing Joshua wanted was for Page to feel stress. It could trigger an impulse to act. He didn’t know what kind of damage a rifle like this could do to a human body, but he suspected it was a lot. So, the less inclined to action Page felt right now, the more likely Joshua was to remain alive.
And not just me, he thought.It’s him too! And his sister.
* * *
