“She’s right here, Armstrong.”
“I’ve got Piggy. Release the woman.”
“Where’s Sulke?”
“He’s not in his room.”
“What! What are you pulling, Armstrong?”
“It’ll have to be Piggy. Sulke must have gone out somewhere. I don’t know where he is. Now release Pamela or I slit Piggy’s throat.”
“You got two minutes, Armstrong. Give me Sulke or Piper gets it.”
“No dice, Colderon. We got your guys surrounded. They won’t be any help to you. You kill Pamela and you just signed your death warrant.”
“What are we going to do now?” Moon asked, a Squad member working with the Hogs.
“Let me think.”
“We’re trapped in here,” yelled Moon.
“This was a lousy plan from the start,” Murph said; another Squad member.
“Shut up!” yelled Colderon.
“I told you we should have one guy in the truck.” Colderon gave him an evil look, but Murph just continued. “Now we’re all boxed in here. Fucking mess.”
An angry Carlos stared at him. “I told you we couldn’t keep a guy in the truck because he’d be a sitting duck for those two guys on the roof, not to mention anyone outside. So long as we have Piper they can’t do anything. Bring her over to the door.”
Turning toward the door, “Hey, Armstrong. You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m still here.”
“Listen, the Piper woman is right at the door. You storm the room and you sign her death warrant. Got it?”
Armstrong pulled the limping Piggy along back to the gurney, and then he gave a hand signal to Ray and Cassandra. He held up his two index fingers side by side. Then he moved one finger away from the other, to the back of the other hand. Ray understood, and separated from Cassandra, circling around behind Sandra’s car. Armstrong yelled over to Colderon. “Listen up. Let Pamela go, and then we’ll let you leave freely. If you don’t, we kill Piggy and your two men outside. Got it?”
Colderon steamed, but didn’t answer. He looked at Moon and Murph, and figured they’d be no help. He needed Piggy, but it would mean trading Piper for him. Another option would be to wait for the motel manager to come and force the issue. A third option would be to call the police. It was the riskiest of all. The police might believe they’re on orders from Casimir and turn all of them over to him or arrest all of them.
Armstrong called over to Colderon. “Let Pamela go now or I will take out the two guys outside. Make your decision in the next two minutes.”
Colderon knew if he let Pamela go he’d have no bargaining power. The two outside were little help to him now. “I want Sulke!”
“Foote, it’s Armstrong. Are you sure no one else is in the back?”
“No, Chad. They’re all in front.”
“Send Wrenn down at the other end of the building. I want three people on those two ground Hogs and you on the roof.”
The three began closing in on the Hogs, who began to panic.
“Hey, wait a minute,” one of them called out.
“Come out of there,” yelled Armstrong, who stepped out of Ray’s room, next to Colderon. “Come out and you won’t be hurt.”
The two came crawling out of the cargo van and surrendered. They were disarmed, handcuffed, and put in the same room with Piggy. Colderon saw what was going on, but figured they were expendable. He still had Pamela Piper, and she was his ticket out now.
“Hey, Armstrong, you let us out with Pamela and give me Piggy, and the rest of you can go free. How ‘bout it Armstrong? Chad?”
“Let me think about it.”
With the outside Hogs, who he was calling ground Hogs, out of the picture Chad called Ray, Cassandra, and Wrenn over for a little pow wow. He still wanted Foote on the roof for extra security. They met in the parking lot behind the Suburban.
A few minutes later Armstrong came near the room. “All right. We’ll get Piggy, but you surrender Pamela as soon as you’re free.”
“Sure,” came the answer; both sides sure the other was lying.
Armstrong went over to Schmidt’s room and gave the secret knock, but no one answered. He called for Schmidt, but there was still no answer. Suddenly three shots were fired from inside through the door, just missing Armstrong. Ray and Cassandra came running over to see what was going on. Wrenn watched for Colderon. They all looked at each other in bewilderment. Armstrong called Foote and let him know to watch that door too. At once Colderon came barreling out of his room, pushing Pamela in front. Moon and Murph followed and shot upwards toward Foote. Foote took cover, but Moon and Murph were shot at from the four on the ground. Moon panicked and dropped his weapon. Murph shot back and was killed. Colderon then sped out of the parking lot, but drove erratically and then stopped. Pamela came screaming out of the van. Colderon then jumped out and began shooting at Pamela. Pamela went down, and then Colderon went down in a hail of bullets. They all rushed to see what happened to Pamela, but she was all right.
Pamela was breathing hard, but was calming down. “He put his gun away, and so I opened the door to jump out. He tried to grab me, and then pulled his gun out, but I jumped out when he hit the break.”
“That’s why he was driving so erratically,” Wrenn said.
“Yes. I knew I had to act fast. I figured I’d be as good as dead anyway, so I tried to jump out. Then he shot at me. I knew he would, so I ducked and just lay on the ground.”
Ray and Cassandra went after Moon, but couldn’t find him. The weapon he dropped was gone too.
Ray came back to report to Armstrong. “I don’t know where he is, but he’s armed. Should we go after him?”
“We may have a bigger problem in Schmidt’s room. Be on the alert.”
Chad called Foote. “I was shooting at Colderon,” Foote said. “When I looked back for the other guy, he was gone.”
The five carefully made their way toward the room of their captives and found the door wide open. Inside, the two doctors were dead. Schmidt had his throat slashed and Grifton had been shot. The assassins and Piggy were gone.
Armstrong went to Eugene’s room and gave the secret knock. “That you, Armstrong?” came a voice from someone, but not Eugene. “You gave away the secret knock. Here’s the new deal—ha ha—let us go and I don’t harm your friends; otherwise, I’ll kill them.”
Armstrong recognized Piggy’s voice. It appeared they were in an even worse position than before. Now they had Eugene and Sandra, and an armed pointman on the loose.
Armstrong needed to do something quickly. It was now five o’clock and the manager or owner would be coming in at six. There was no telling what he’d do when he found out what was going on. Armstrong had to make a quick decision, and conferred with his comrades. Pamela was sent to her room so as to be out of danger. Wrenn was sent to Colderon’s white van. Armstrong called Foote, and everyone understood what to do. Foote stood right over the door with his rifle trained on the area just outside.
“All right, Piggy. We’ll do it your way. Come on out.”
“It’s a trap,” yelled one of the ground Hogs.
“Shut up!” Piggy yelled, but he was still wobbly from being shot, as well as the chemicals the doctors used on him.
“Put your weapons down on the ground where I can see them,” Piggy demanded. The four did so. Sulke, with hands tied behind his back, emerged first, followed by Piggy, holding a piece to Eugene’s back. Then came Sandra, followed by the two ground Hogs.
“Anybody tries anything, and Sulke dies. Understand?” Piggy yelled.
“Everything’s cool,” Armstrong said, reassuringly.