Before Jurassic World

Chapter 5

It was raining and humid.  Not unheard of for Texas this time of year, but it presented challenges considering the circumstances.  The rain was fogging up the sites for the snipers, and making a difficult shot near impossible.  The SWAT breach team had little chance of achieving stealth in these conditions, but it didn't matter.  I could talk this guy down; we didn't need to go in guns blazing.

Richard Hayes was a wealthy, and by all accounts, stable father of three.  Happily married to his college sweetheart for 15 years, paid his taxes, and even coached his son's T-ball team.  Utterly and completely normal until it had been discovered he had stolen millions of dollars from his company, Exxon Mobile, over the course of several years. T his white collar criminal behavior resulted in Richard barricading himself and his family of four inside their suburban home on the outskirts of Sugarland at gunpoint.

"Mr. Hayes, I need you to stay calm.  I want to help you, but hurting your family is going to make it very difficult for me to do that.  Do you understand?" I said, speaking rapidly into my phone.

"You listen! I  said I wanted a car and guarantee of safe passage out of here.  I want a plane that will take me wherever I want!"

Why do they always want a plane? I  blame it on television, they always ask for crap like that on TV, and now everyone thinks I can just snap my fingers and produce a Learjet

"Mr. Hayes, is your family OK?  Can I speak with them?"

"No!  You do what I say!   I can't go to jail, do you hear me!"

"I understand Mr. Hayes.  Listen, I want to come inside.  Is that OK?  I think I can help if we could talk face-to-face."  I needed inside that house.  I needed to ensure the family was still alive, needed to know exactly where they were in case we needed to go in.  I knew Richard loved his family, but he was desperate, and that made him unpredictable.

"No, you'll try to trick me!  I want my car and my plane dammit!"  He was escalating, losing all sense of rational thought.  I had to act, now.

I turned to my partner.  "I'm going in there," I told him, handing him my gun.

"Are you fucking insane.  That guy is off his rocker.  You can't just walk up to the door and knock." Martinez had a solid point, but time was running out.  The longer this drug on the more danger the family was in.

"I can and I am.  Take this and make sure you keep the SWAT team back.  Nobody goes in without my say."

"This is crazy Jo," Martinez pleaded with me.

"That's why I'm going in.  I'm crazy, remember." I smiled, stepping around him starting towards the house.  At the door I knocked calling out, "Mr. Hayes, it's Agent King.  Can you open the door please?"

The door opened almost immediately, but it wasn't Richard Hayes who answered.  It was his 10 year old son Luke.

"Hey Luke, I'm Agent King with the F.B.I.  Can I come in?"  The boy opened the door and I slowly stepped into the house shutting the door behind me.

Luke ran by back to his mother who was doing her best to shield all the children from Richard with her body.  Richard was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace mumbling incoherently under his breath.

"Mr. Hayes, I'm Agent King with the F.B.I.  We spoke on the phone," I stated calmly with my hands in the air.  He whirled around on me pointing the gun at my chest.

"I told you not to come in.  I said no!" he roared as he approached me.

"Mr. Hayes, I'm here to help.  Why don't we sit down and talk about this.  We could let your family go and I'll stay with you.  No one will hurt you with me in here, you don't need to keep them," I said, pointing to the couch where his terrified family huddled.