Chapter 39

I awoke to the touch of a soft hand in my hair. I saw the beautiful face of my friend Jennifer. She looked like a visiting angel but I was glad that she wasn't. She probably was glad as well. "Good morning sweetie. How are you?"she asked.

I looked around the room before I answered,"It looks like a hospital room, what happened?"

"Whatever you paid for that vest, it was worth every penny,"she said smiling. That was the lawyer in her never give a straight answer.

"It depends on what the meaning of Penny is, I suppose. "I answered to play along. "So I assume some asshole finally shot me. " I said calmly.

"They tell me you didn't get the asshole who shot you, but you got at least one of his friends."

"Yeah I remember that fucking Buick and wishing I had a hand grenade,"I said it as the memory of the firefight returned in bits and pieces.

"It was only fair I guess. Someone said that there was a lot of fire coming from Luke's Hyundai. I had no idea they were armored cars. Those Koreans are tricky. "Jen said,

"So where are the policemen guarding me?"I asked.

"Out in the hall, I'm your shyster lawyer remember. I get to talk to you alone."

"Any suggestions on how to get me out of this mess?"

Jennifer, pulled the rolling bed tray over. On it she placed a digital recorder. "It's press statement time hon. But one thing I would advise is to stay as close to the facts as possible. You don't want them proving you lied. Also don't go into detailed as to the whys of it all. Leave me something to deal with. Start with the kidnapping, not what led up to it. I hear the FBI might be looking for witnesses."

"Let me try to remember before I start. "I played it all back in my mind a few times until I thought I had a plausible story. Then I motioned for her to start the recording. I knew Jen was smart enough to put the recording in context, so I just started.

"I'm not sure how long I have been out Jen?"I said.

Jen turned off the tape then said to me. "You have been in here overnight. It all came down yesterday early in the morning."

I nodded and she started the tape again. "Yesterday, we had a couple of TV people from Boston doing a ride along. There were there just to see, if there was anything of interest going on in our office. My partner Lucas left to start on the day's routine work, one of the TV producers rode along. There was nothing special in the plan at all. It was just another day at the office for us.

The other producer planned to ride along with me. He and I were planning to tour Reverend Archer's mission facilities. Luke had been gone about fifteen minutes, when the call came in.

"The kidnapper had taken my two employees, and a woman, not connected to my company in any way, as hostages. The third kidnap victim is a personal friend of mine. The kidnapper wanted to trade his victims for a piece of property in my possession. I came by the property as part of an interaction with one of his employees, I had no idea that the property had any significance at the time I took possession of it,

"He also stated at the time that he wished to trade his hostages for me. His purpose was clear, he intended to murder me. Actually he said he would enjoy making it last for days. To be honest I was terrified, Even so I knew that if I didn't act quickly, he would kill my friends.

"I removed some firearms from my legal collection, which I do keep at the office. I pressed the male TV producer into service to help me load the car. He decided on his own that he would go with me. I did not have a plan at that time. As I drove toward the place agreed upon for the exchange, the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Bank, my mind raced trying to think of a way to save the most lives. I did not have time to call the police and have them take half an hour to get into place. I had been told any interference or delay would result in the hostage's execution. I knew I could never live with that, so I had no choice except to go to the meeting immediately. On the way I called the Reverend Archer. It was a huge coincidence, that the Reverend was visiting a building just a block from the meeting. No one believes in them, but if they didn't exist, the word coincidence would not exist either. He agreed to help, without me having to give him a long explanation, which is also a miracle, which none of us believe in either.

"The plan came to my mind based on his actions at the Chinese restaurant, a week or so ago. It was a simple confront, confuse, and defuse plan. I can't say it went as well as I had hoped. Even though I wore a vest, I did not plan to get shot. I also didn't plan to kill anyone. When I tried to deliver the item in question, the kidnapper made a move toward what I thought was his hidden weapon. I had every reason to believe that he was armed. I shot him instinctively, then I heard gunfire. I have no idea where it came from. The firing from the Hyundai was meant to confuse the hostage holder, so that I could confront him. It was not meant to injure or kill him. Somehow a stray bullet must have struck him. I think he might have survived, but I really do not know for sure what his status is at the moment.

"That is the sum total of my knowledge of what happened yesterday. I am making this statement to the press to get the facts out before someone tries to confuse the facts from yesterday's incident."

I nodded for Jen to turn off the recorder. "That's the best I can do Jen,"I admitted.

"Sweetie, when I get through spinning this, the cops will be pinning a medal on you."

"I don't need a medal, I need clean clothes. I'm ready to go home and I expect mine are covered in all kinds of nasty things."

"Yeah, blow back of blood and brain tissue,"she admitted.

"Not to mention the mess in my panties. "I said with a smile.

"I didn't ask about that,"she admitted. "What sizes are you these days."

"Blouse8for my small boobs and pants10for my wide ass,"I replied.