Final Deadline by Derek Catron

Author:Derek Catron [Catron, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Minorca Publishing
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

The captives were released from the conference room for the occasion. Rosemary and Patricia dug out paper plates and napkins from a supply cabinet while Ray led Renée and Doyle to fetch more sodas and waters from the busted vending machines.

Becket looked at his watch; though he had worked later without eating on many occasions, he couldn’t recall being hungrier. He wasn’t alone. Diet conscious women who never would have eaten more than a slice or two of pizza helped themselves to at least three. Jake nearly finished off a pepperoni by himself. Ray shoveled a single slice into his mouth one-handed, still holding his rifle in the other. Afterwards, he paced about the newsroom like a big cat in a zoo cage, apparently too wound up for more of an appetite.

Dalton seemed uninterested in food. After coming upstairs from Tankersley’s office with Walter, he contented himself with only a few bites from a slice of cheese pizza. Then he started going through each of the boxes as if taking inventory. Becket wondered at first if he sought the Hawaiian pizza Colton seemed determined to finish by himself, but his actions appeared too methodical for that.

An air of conviviality Becket wouldn’t have thought possible three hours earlier settled over the room. The change in atmosphere was due to more than the food, though that helped. Becket sensed an easing of tension among the captives. The gunmen had made their demands. Some, even if they were as trivial as a pizza delivery, had been met. Their stories had been published to the newspaper’s website. While danger still loomed—Colton had reminded him of that—the fear of dying had been replaced with hope that this would be over soon. Becket could inhale again without his breath catching in his chest.

Only Walter seemed unmoved by the change of spirits. He looked unnaturally pale and stood at a distance from the others, refusing the pizza offered to him by Patricia and Rosemary. Fearing part of Walter’s sour mood was a reaction to Becket defying him by publishing the gunmen’s story on the newspaper’s homepage, Becket sidled over while the others trained their attention on the newsroom televisions, waiting for the next news break about their ordeal.

“Walter, about earlier. I’m sorry I disobeyed you. It’s just—”

With a hand on his arm, Walter stopped him. “You did me a favor, Becket. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and a foolish one at that, to think I could accomplish anything with such an empty act of defiance. I was angry and allowed an old man’s pride to get in the way of my judgment. You’ve been right about a lot of things today.”

Even though Becket hadn’t thought he needed Walter’s approval, the words were a salve. That still left the mystery of Walter’s appearance and lack of appetite.

“Are you feeling all right? If you’re ill, maybe we can convince Dalton to let you go. No one—”

“No!” Walter gripped Becket’s arm with an intensity that struck him silent. “I won’t abandon all of you.

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