Chapter 19

-All right, for this simulation we need someone to play the hostage – said one of the officers on charge of training

-Why? – Asked Ben, one of the trainees

-To make it have higher stakes, we are using rubber bullets, those hurt a little and it would make you all be more careful when it comes to the hostage, at the end of the day you’re supposed to protect it and get it out save – explained the officer

We looked at each other wondering who would be the hostage, and before we knew it I had been chosen to play the hostage and I heard a few jokes about “we’re rescuing a kid then” I found the comments funny, but I noticed Aldahir didn’t find it funny. We heard the instructions, they were handed their weapons, I was placed behind some sort of barrel which worked as a hiding place and the simulation started.

The other trainees were split into two groups and were assigned a leader, Ben was the Leader of group one and Aldahir was the leader of group two, they were also given a twenty minutes time limit and the first group was told to go. The first group rushed to my position takin down some of the officers who were standing as the kidnappers, when one of the trainees got to me one of the officers came up from behind and shot them, he then grabbed me and placed me in front of his body as if I were a shield.

-You all just made one mistake that could cost the life of the person you’re trying to save – said the officer that was holding me – who evaluated the situation to count how many kidnappers there were?

Ben and another girl looked at each other realizing they hadn’t done it.

-Ok, we made that mistake, what is the right way to go about it now? – Asked Ben

-In a good situation, negotiation – answered the officer – the kidnappers agree to talk with the police, they place the demands and conditions to release the hostage…

-The complicated part – said another officer cutting in – is deciding whether or not you will meet those demands, most of the times is pointless and the hostage, or hostages, ends up dead anyway so let’s say… The kidnappers demand a get away car to scape with the three million dollars they had just stolen

-Okay… They have just one hostage, right? – Asked Ben

-Correct, they have a ten-year-old whose mother is breathing down the neck of your partners begin you to save her little girl – answered the officer who was with me

-Someone stays behind to calm the mother down – said Ben making a gesture with his hand and one of the trainees stayed behind – the rest go forward surrounding the place where they are holding her

The whole group, minus the one who was told to stay behind, kept moving forward and slowly formed a circle around me and the officer, who nodded seemingly approving of their approach, when Ben was close enough to get a shot at the “kidnapper” the officer moved me again and crouched down hiding completely behind me in a way that if anyone were to shot at him, I would be the one getting hit.

-What’s your move now? – Asked the officer behind me – are you willing to risk the hostage by shooting? Or you can move back, meet the demands and hope they let go the hostage

Ben took a deep breath and held to his gun harden than before placing his finger on the trigger, a few seconds later one of the other trainees shot at the floor right next to us and the second the officer behind me reacted to that shot Ben took his shot, he shot twice, the first rubber bullet went into the shoulder of the officer, the second one went straight right into my eye, I couldn’t help but let out a grunt in pain and put my hand over my eye.

-Hey, are you okay? – I heard Aldahir asking me

-I’m bleeding – I whispered to him – get me out of here before they see it

Aldahir nodded and grabbed me by the arm helping me stand up and guided me to what he said was the kitchen so we could get me some ice and therefore have an excuse to keep my eye cover.

-Let me see – said Aldahir when we were alone

I removed my hand and opened my eye feeling the blood drip from my upper eyelid, Aldahir held my head looking at it concerned and grabbed a napkin to clean off the blood.

-I’m okay – I said looking at him – you should get back, I’m sure they’re waiting for you to lead the second group

-Well, they can keep waiting – he said crouching in front of me – I can’t help but feel like Ben did it on purpose

-You really think he shot me on purpose?

-No… Not really, but he surely didn’t think anything through

-No, I don’t think he did… I would have distracted the kidnappers with a long conversation related to their demands and have some of the team, maybe three or four people sneak in, unnoticed

-I don’t know if I’m supposed to thank you for confirming the strategy I have in mind is good or get even more mad at Ben for not thinking about it – said Aldahir chuckling

-Thank me and then go out there to show them how is done

Aldahir smiled, kissed my forehead and left, I stayed behind for a few minutes waiting for the blood to stop dripping and then went back outside to watch the simulation, I sat next to Ben who apologized immediately, I accepted his apology knowing he didn’t mean to hurt me and then placed all my attention to the simulation being led by Aldahir. Just like he said we would do he asked for a line of communication with the kidnappers and assigned one of the guys to keep the conversation going until he told him to cut it off.

Then Aldahir waited until the communication was fully stablish to move his group, he ordered two of the girls to move from behind, then one of the guys moved from one of the sides and he waited until they were closing in to move in himself and told the others to move around as if they were waiting for instructions to move in, by doing this Aldahir was clearly hoping to confuse the kidnappers and make loose count of the officers so they would think every single one of them was outside.

Aldahir ordered them to stop, made sure the officer who was holding one of the girls who was part of the first group was not looking behind him and ordered the two people from behind to move in and a few seconds later one of them was holding the weapon against the back of the head of the officer and Aldahir jumped in front of him taking the girl from the officers grip, as soon as the girl was outside of his reach the other two people jumped in and cuffed the officer, ending the simulation.

-Very well – said the officer getting back up and getting uncuffed – that was a really well executed strategy

-One that Ben should learn from – said another officer – even though his idea could have worked in another situation, it wasn’t the right one for what we did today… Okay, let’s go have lunch everybody

We all celebrated the successful simulation and went to the dinning room area of the academy, but right before leaving I noticed Aldahir stop to talk with Ben, I didn’t think much of it until I heard Aldahir growling as low as he could, I immediately ran to them rushing Aldahir to join me for lunch.

-Do you really need your girl to come defend you? – Asked Ben to Aldahir

-It was her strategy that beat yours actually – said Aldahir through his teeth

-So you weren’t even able to think of a strategy yourself – said Ben chuckling

-But I’m able to beat your ass if I want to – said Aldahir and moved towards Ben

I forced myself between them before Aldahir would jump on him and I had to physically hold him back, he was about to transform into a wolf, which terrified me for so many reasons and I couldn’t think of anything other than dig my nails into Aldahir’s stomach, hoping the pain would snap him out of the moment, it worked a few seconds after I felt Aldahir’s blood drip onto my hand, he walked back holding my hand under his shirt, apologized to Ben and we walked together to the dinning room, after a quick stop in the bathroom were we both cleaned off the blood.