He had told the manager who to call at the FBI, giving her a special code to repeat to the operator before peeking out of the door. From his vantage point, he saw Lawrence shooting his first or maybe his second victim. Stephen knew it was a stupid move the minute he did it, but he could not sit by and watch another person get hurt. Instructing the director to stay put, he snuck out of the office, closing the door quietly behind him. He had no idea what the hell he was going to do, but he had better think of something, quick. Backup was on the way, but he didn’t know how long they were going to be.
“Hey, Lawrence,” he said getting the man’s attention. Lawrence turned around grabbing the nearest nurse who was standing beside him and holding a gun to her head. Both Lawrence and the nurse were visibly shaking.
“What are you doing here?!” Lawrence yelled. “You shouldn’t be here!”
Stephen could see the gun shaking in Lawrence’s hand. “What’s going on, Lawrence?”
Stupid question, dummy. He’s got a gun pointed at you.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Lawrence mumbled shaking his head.
“What, what didn’t you want to do?” He took a step forward.
“Don’t take a step closer or I will shoot her!” Lawrence screamed at him.
Shit, wrong move, idiot.“All right!” Stephen said, holding his hand up in surrender, taking a step back. His eyes scanned the scared people behind Lawrence, there was no way he would get them out of there. He noted that some of them are in wheelchairs before bringing his focus back on the hostage.
“What didn’t you want to do, Lawrence?” he asked bringing the conversation back to him.
“Kill her,” Lawrence said.
“Who did you kill?”
“My mother, I didn’t want to kill her, but she wouldn’t shut up! She kept yelling and calling me names.” He was yelling, and each time he yelled the gun in his hand shook, digging it deeper into the side of the nurse’s head. “Do you have kids?” he asked the nurse.
She looked at Stephen, asking if she should answer. He nodded, giving her the go-ahead to cooperate.
“Yes,” she whimpered.
“Are you nice to them?” He asked her another question. She nodded her head instead of speaking this time.
“You know what my mom used to do?” he asked. “She used to let me and Brian compete against each other. She said it would toughen us up. She… she would make Brian do things to me if I didn’t do things her way! I did my best, you know? I didn’t want to kill those women, but… but she and Brian made me do it. I just wanted a mother that would be nice to me,” he whimpered.
“Lawrence, where’s Brian now?” Stephen prodded. He needed to stall more, he had a feeling that his backup was on their way or already set up outside. But the question was how to get the hostage away from Lawrence.
“I… I don’t know, everything happened so fast,” he said lifting his head loosening his grip on the hostage and Stephen saw his opening.
In one swift move, the nurse stepped to the side, giving Stephen the chance to rush Lawrence, knocking the gun out of his hand and throwing the other man back a bit. It became chaotic as people began rushing out the door, but Stephen kept his focus on Lawrence, who punched him in the face and then the stomach. Stephen doubled over, grabbing his stomach and, immediately, received another hit to the face. He bit his tongue and tasted blood in his mouth.
Fuck that hurts.
Getting his footing, he punched Lawrence a few times in his stomach, aiming for his ribs, injuring him a bit, then kicking him in his kneecap to bring the bigger man to his knees. He was about to hit Lawrence again when the doors burst open, and agents came flying through the door with guns raised, aiming them in their direction.
“Everybody put your hands up!” one of the agents yelled. Stephen didn’t recognize him but did what he was told, so he wasn’t shot by some trigger-happy idiot.
“Hey, I’m one of you, I’m Agent Young!” he yelled to the officers barging into the room.
“Put your fucking guns down and secure the damn unsub!” Stephen closed his eyes and put his hand down sighing in relief the minute he heard Jaxson’s voice. “Hey, are you all right?” Jaxson asked, putting his hands on Stephen’s shoulders.
He opened his eyes and looked up at his co—worker. “Yeah, I’m good.” He licked his lips and winced at the sharp pain.
“Looks like he did a number on you,” Jaxson commented.
“Yeah, you should see the other guy,” he joked, pointing to Lawrence who was being handcuffed.
“Good job, Champ,” Jaxson said with a smile.
It was silly, but Stephen felt proud and fortunate that Jaxson was looking out for him. Jaxson treated him like a little brother rather than a co-worker. He touched his bottom lip and winced a bit at the pain.
