the woman and her daughter before. They frequented the coffee shop I stopped at every morning before my shift. On several occasions, I’d spoken to the woman while we waited in line for coffee and even bought a cookie for her little girl a few times. People always trusted a man in uniform, and it was easy to get them to open up to you, even if you never exchanged names.
Now, standing outside of their home, guns drawn, I knew their names from the intel my captain had given me. The wife’s name was Alyssa and the little girl was Lucy. I wished more than anything when I saw her getting coffee two days ago and she mentioned her husband had been behaving awfully towards her—constantly yelling and accusing her of cheating on him—that I would have told her not to go home, to take that precious little girl with the blonde head full of curls and wide blue eyes and go somewhere for a few days.
There were so many things I should be saying to the maniac holding a gun on them right now, things that would reassure him we weren’t out to get him so he would put the gun away and we could charge him, but my mind was blank.
All I could think about was the young, beautiful wife clutching her little girl tightly and how just that morning I had thought about her and wished she wasn’t married. She was sweet and polite, and her little girl was the spitting image of her and had charmed the pants off of me when she called me “Ociffer.” I knew I was too close to the situation and should tell Eric that I needed someone to come in and take my place, but I couldn’t make my mouth open or my feet move. I stared at the woman I’d been daydreaming about for weeks, and I knew that if we got her out of this situation, I would make sure no one ever hurt her or her daughter again.
“Mr. Franklin, how about you let Alyssa and Lucy go?” I finally managed to say softly, my eyes pleading with Alyssa to stay calm and not make any sudden movements. “Just let them walk away. Then we can sit down and talk about what’s bothering you.”
The guy, Joe, flashed his angry eyes in my direction and his lip curled up in a snarl as he shoved the nose of his gun roughly into Alyssa’s side. She cried out in pain, and I flinched at the sound of fear in her voice.
“How the fuck do you know my wife and daughter’s name? Is this the guy you’ve been fucking behind my back, Alyssa?” he shouted angrily at her.
Lucy cried even harder as she hugged her mother’s leg, and I wanted more than anything to just shoot a bullet through his brain and end this once and for all.
“No! Joe, I told you, I’ve never cheated on you. I swear!” Alyssa cried.
“Bullshit! I can see the way this guy is looking at you. You spread your legs for him, I know it.”
Eric inched slowly away from me, closer to the situation, and my hands shook with anger. I should be moving with Eric. We were a team and I was supposed to be sticking to him like glue, but I couldn’t move. All I could think about was pulling the trigger.
“No one can have you but me, do you understand me?!” Joe screamed as he put his face right up to Alyssa, spittle flying from his mouth with each word.
Before I could react, shots flew out, piercing the quiet night with their explosion of light and sound. I didn’t hesitate before jumping into action. I ran past Eric and tackled Joe to the ground, not giving a second thought to the gun in his hand. I only knew I couldn’t let him hurt Alyssa and Lucy.
I hadn't hesitated to jump into the action, but I let myself get distracted. I let myself care too much about the subject I was paid to protect. I was paid by the city of Nashville to protect and serve all of its citizens. I let a few small conversations and a silly connection I thought I felt get in the way of doing my job. I forgot about all of my training and what you should never say and emotions you should never give away during a hostage stand-off. After I tackled Joe to the ground