Just before eight o'clock, Agents Charles Richards and Tom Seldon and Assistant Director Peter Woods were getting ready to leave the FBI office in Los Angeles to head to the Richards' residence.
Charles suddenly felt a wrenching twist in his gut and heard the sound of his wife Diana's voice screaming his name inside his head.
Almost at the exact same moment, the phone at the front desk of the office rang. One of the evening duty personnel answered it.
"Agent Richards, it's for you. Detective Jonathan North."
Charles took the phone...already knowing he wasn't going to like what Jon was going to tell him.
"Charles, I just had a call from the other precinct. The patrol unit assigned to your house just radioed in. Hood is there...inside the house. He must've broken in earlier today and was waiting inside. I'm headed there myself as soon as I have Rick's precinct radio him and let him know what's going on. We'll meet you there as soon as we can!"
"Right. Tom and I are on our way there now. We'll see you soon. Thanks. Bye, Jon." Charles hung up the phone and explained to Tom and Peter Woods.
Woods said, "I'll round up a couple more agents and head there as soon as we can!"
Charles drove like a bat out of hell, arriving at the road he lived on in Brentwood in half the time it normally took. But they couldn't get to the house. Police cars already had the road in front of his house blocked off. He parked and they got out of their car and started toward the house.
A couple police officers immediately moved toward them.
"Hold it right there, gentlemen. You can't go any further. We've got a situation going on right now and we can't let anyone past this point. Please return to your vehicle and vacate the area."
Charles shrugged the police officer's hand off his arm and gritted through his teeth, "That's my house officer! Both of our wives are inside with the bastard who attacked my wife months ago! We're not going anywhere! Who's the officer in charge here? I want to speak to him!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Richards. I didn't realize who you were. Detective Thompson is in charge until Captain Nelson arrives. He's right over there."
The officer indicated with a wave of his arm as he let Charles and Tom pass.
"Detective Thompson, I'm FBI Special Agent Richards and this is Agent Seldon. We've been notified that this is a hostage situation. The FBI will be taking over now. We'd appreciate it if you'd give us an update."
Charles and Tom flashed their badges at the man, hoping he had no idea who they really were.
Detective Thompson raised his eyebrows. "Well...your arrival is certainly faster than we've ever experienced before. Kind of like a miracle, I'd say, seeing as how we haven't even had a chance to phone it in to the FBI yet. Just who are you two and what business do you have being here?"
Charles took a deep breath and exhaled raggedly. "Look, this is my house. Our wives are inside along with the wives of two other L.A.P.D. officers. We're not going to just stand around and wait while a bunch of bureaucrats argue over the best way to handle the situation! The bastard has already proven that he's a dangerous man. I don't think he's going to listen to reason and just let our wives go...especially not my wife! He's already attacked her once and I'm not going to let him get the chance to do it again...or possibly worse!
"Now, if you'll cooperate with us and have your personnel act as backup, we'd appreciate you letting us handle it. Agent Seldon here has reconnaissance and combat training and he'd be more than capable of coming up with a rescue plan. Now, will you help us or not?"
"Officers Daniels and Douglas...would you come over here for a moment, please?" Detective Thompson paused as the two officers he'd summoned approached. "Would you please escort these gentlemen back behind the established perimeter and make sure that they don't try to interfere in the situation any further! And will someone find out where Captain Nelson is and how soon until he gets here?!"
"You bastard..." Charles muttered under his breath at Detective Thompson as Officer Douglas indicated for him to move.
Charles and Tom both threw daggered looks at the man as they walked away.
"So, what the fuck do we do now?" Charles quietly asked Tom.
"I'm thinking. I'm thinking. Just give me a few minutes. Maybe when Jon and Rick get here we'll have better luck since they're L.A.P.D. Maybe they'll give them a little more leeway and they can convince them to let us handle things!" Tom said quietly as he paced back and forth.
A few minutes later, Jon and Rick both arrived and were even more upset when they were told by Thompson to stay out of it because of their personal involvement.
All four men were stalking on the sidelines like caged tigers when Peter Woods and a couple other agents arrived.
In front of the other police officers, Woods did his best to try to make the men understand that it was policy not to let any officer or agent be involved in situations that affected them personally. It only made sense to let non-interested parties deal with the perpetrator so they wouldn't say anything to provoke him.
Then Woods took the four men aside for a moment. "Look...let me work with the police so they can play their little power game out here and get that bastard preoccupied with thinking that we'll negotiate. While they're doing that, you guys come up with some way to take the bastard out. I don't care how you do it...just come up with something! I'll keep things dragging out as long as I can! Now, go on! Just try to get a signal to me somehow when you're ready to move!"
Woods slapped Tom and Charles on the shoulders and headed back over to where Detective Thompson was briefing Captain Nelson, who had finally arrived.
Woods told Thompson, "You won't have to worry about my agents trying to interfere any longer. I've calmed Richards and Seldon, but it's up to you guys to make North and Estevez do the same."
Detective Thompson snorted shortly. "Don't worry. They've been warned to stay out of it."
Woods bit his tongue to keep from muttering what he thought of Thompson's attitude.
You self-righteous asshole...
Charles heard one of the patrol officers mention that the perp must've gained entry through the back of the house somehow.
The only way we're going to have any hope of getting to the bastard will be in the backyard. But how will we get into the backyard without alerting him to our presence? There must be a way...
Charles told the others his idea and they all started coming up with plans and options to make it work.
**********
"Diana Maitland Richards, you will now state 'guilty' as I read off the list of your sexual offenses in front of these witnesses. Do you understand?"
Diana nodded numbly.
