we have a hostage situation. Duvall is holding Dr. Hodges, a nurse, and Officer Janko in the office and is threatening to kill them. Says he isn’t going back to Red Onion prison and he’s ready to put slugs in the heads of all three of them. That’s all the Porterville dispatcher knew.”
Savich grabbed his leather jacket off the coat rack. “Ruth, we’ve only got the Porsche, so follow in your car unless you want Sherlock on your lap. Sherlock, you call Chief Collette, let him know we’ll be there as soon as we can. And I’ll concentrate on getting us to Porterville in one piece and in record time.”
Thirty-four minutes later, Savich pulled his Porsche behind a Crown Vic on High Street, on the edge of a heavily wooded area three blocks off the small Porterville downtown, Ruth’s silver Audi behind him. The area was cordoned off by four cop cars, an ambulance, and a gaggle of police officers and EMTs, all focused on the medical building. And someone who looked to be the hostage negotiator had a cell phone in her hand.
Ruth said, “All these trees, even with next to no leaves, are so thick it’s hard to see clearly. Hard for Duvall, too. We should be able to get close.”
A tall man in uniform, fit and straight as a flagpole, broke away from a group of cops and strode quickly toward them. He was in his late forties with thick graying brown hair, no doubt Chief Walt Collette himself. Savich would bet he was ex-military. Collette snapped to a stop, looked at them with a dispassionate eye before he quickly introduced himself. He only glanced at their creds. “The cock-up is our own fault. We can’t try a direct assault, can’t take the chance he’ll kill all three hostages.”
“Tell us what happened, Chief,” Savich said.
Collette said, “A nurse who got out, Glennie Franks—she’s standing over there by her mother—told us Duvall came dragging in through the side door, bent over, holding his side and moaning. She said he screamed at her to get a doctor and to keep the other patients away or he’d shoot them all. He pulled a gun, she said, waved it around, and Glennie saw thick gauze wrapped around his middle, black with dried blood. It was obvious he’d tried to take care of the wound himself but was afraid he might die unless he got himself to a doctor. Dr. Hodges was already treating Duvall when Teddy, Officer Janko, came rushing into the office reception area, waving his weapon, asking questions, and ordering everyone in the office to leave. That’s all she could tell me.” He paused a moment, his jaw working. “I can see the young idiot rushing in and getting himself in trouble. His mom will skin him, after I get through with him. There’s been one shot, about twenty minutes ago, only one, with a lot of loud cursing and a scream. It was probably Jenny Connors, the nurse, who screamed. I’m praying Duvall hasn’t already hurt her. He’s hardly talked with our hostage negotiator, Eliza, keeps hanging up, but he sounds violent, screams at her he’s not going back to Red Onion prison. He sounds like he’s near the edge, could go off at any time.
“Come with me, and I’ll show you what we’ve got.” They trotted through the woods to the side of the medical building. Collette continued in his clipped sergeant major’s voice as they walked to the edge of the oak trees, “As you can see, the building is older, built in the eighties, two floors. The medical suite on the second floor has both a front and a side door. You see the upper floor overhangs the patients’ parking and more than half of the ground floor. Thankfully, there are only a few cars since it’s late in the day and our people finished clearing the building. There’s an elevator and stairs that go up to the second floor. We might get as far as the office door using the stairs before Duvall would know about it, but that would be dangerous. He’s probably barricaded in one of the exam rooms, which means we couldn’t get to him before he shot the three hostages. We called the SWAT team from Richmond, but they’re still a ways out. I don’t know how useful they’ll be, too many trees in the way, no clear shot even if Duvall pressed himself against a window and called out.”