line of fire. That irked Ashley quite a bit.
‘Good, good,’ the detective said. ‘And is, er… Is he with you? Mr…’
‘Rick,’ Ashley told her. Though she didn’t think that was his real name.
‘Rick, great to have a name. Is he with you?’
‘Yes, he is. And he’s ready to release three hostages,’ Ashley explained.
‘I’m very pleased to hear that,’ DI Conway said with too much cheer. She sounded like a kid’s TV presenter trying to jolly up proceedings. Ashley wished she would be a bit dourer about it all. Rick wasn’t likely to take kindly to being patronised.
‘Before he releases the three, he wants some assurances first,’ Ashley explained, trying to make sure she remembered everything she’d been told to say.
‘I’d be happy to give Rick whatever he-’
‘He also wants you to know that this conversation is being filmed and the footage is going straight to KTN. So anything you agree to right now, if you go back on it, people will know.’
DI Conway paused. ‘Understood,’ she said, somewhat less jovial. ‘So maybe I could hear what Rick would like?’
‘He wants the rest of the press to be let into the car park. To shoot what happens out there.’
DI Conway sighed. ‘I don’t know if I can do that, Rick.’
Rick pursed his lips and gave Ashley a look of dark encouragement.
‘You’re talking to me, Detective. That’s the way he wants it,’ Ashley informed her.
‘OK, Ashley. I don’t know if I can do that. I’d be risking the lives of further civilians.’
‘That’s what he wants. That’s the only way those three people are coming out,’ she told the woman. ‘And if it’s any consolation, Rick says he’s got no intention of firing out into the car park.’ Rick nudged her. ‘Unless you make him,’ Ashley added quickly.
DI Conway paused. ‘I’ll have to think about it.’
‘Don’t think too long,’ Rick suddenly barked and killed the call. He sat back in the booth, a look of satisfaction on his face. He stared into the camera. ‘You see that? Classic tricksy bullshit. They think you’re stupid, these types. They think they can fool you into walking into a cage and saying thank you when the door slams shut behind you. Well, fuck that. I’m not stupid. I’m gonna have a whole…’ He glanced to Ashley, ‘Waddya call it?’
‘A media circus,’ she told him quietly.
‘A media circus, yeah!’ Rick said into the camera. ‘Because I’m not an idiot! And I’m not going back to prison. I’m gonna walk out a free man,’ he declared with a bravado that Ashley didn’t buy. ‘And every eye in the country will be on that detective, making sure she goes along with it.’ He stopped. ‘You can cut there,’ he said to Gina. She switched off the camera and put it down on the table.
‘So, what now?’ Ashley asked.
‘We wait.’
Gina coughed. ‘Hey Rick, while we wait, might be a good idea to feed everyone?’
Rick looked at his watch. ‘I suppose it is teatime. Should I ask them to send food in?’
Ashley couldn’t believe he could be so media savvy while being so astonishingly dense. ‘It’s a restaurant. You’ve got all the chefs here.’
Rick glanced at the kitchen. ‘Oh. Yeah. But I’ll have to be watching carefully. Don’t want anyone getting any funny ideas about using the knives for anything other than chopping food.’
***
Everyone was crowded into the kitchen, including the soon to be free members of the group. The two hostages in chef whites were working away, one of them on dough, the other prepping toppings. Rick had a gun on them the entire time. ‘Do a meat feast first,’ he told them.
They both nodded and soon they had a huge pizza loaded with every animal under the sun, baking away.
‘What should we make next?’ the female chef asked.
He looked around. ‘Anyone got a preference?’
Lily stuck her hand up. ‘I’m veggie.’
Rick snickered. ‘Of course you are,’ he said to the teenage girl. She gave him a filthy look, which he ignored, turning back to the chefs. ‘Do a veg pizza, then. I’m not a monster.’
One of the chefs set to work constructing the next pizza, as the bell dinged on the meat feast, and the other slid it out and divided it up with a pizza cutter. Rick grabbed a slice and stood back eating it, pizza in one hand, gun in the other. ‘Stuff your faces,’ he instructed the crowd. People tentatively began to step forward and collect pizza, Ashley and Gina among them. Ashley was starving. She hadn’t