GWOT No Hostage Facility
Feb. 13th, 2019 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyGWOT No Hostage Facility
I can't sleep. I should be able to sleep. In fact I have to sleep. I took two patrols out this evening, I have to take another rescue convoy out at gray dawn, it's 3 AM. I sleep now or I don't, for another full day of this.
I toss in the stolen sleeping bag. I've been sleeping in a different spot each time. This time I'm curled up in a void space halfway up the stairwell between the third and fourth floor of H building. The cheap key lock (think mailbox key) has been disabled carefully by yours truly - but if someone did lock it on me, I could kick it open anyway.
A radio earbud in my ear lets me half-listen while sleeping. I've woken up to violence over the radio before. Also violence nearby.
I deliberately relax parts of my body in turn.
Nope, it's not working.
I hear shouting. Then the distinctive hollow BANG of a gunshot indoors.
I key up on the radio while kicking the sleeping bag off.
"Echo 18, gunfire, H4. React, react."
I ignore acknowledgments as I crawl to the access door made of thin metal and look out through the hole where the lock used to be. Clear. So I clamber down and make my way up the stairs, drawing my handgun as I reach the stairwell door.
I peek.
I find myself banging the stairwell door open with my left hand while my right hand comes up of its own accord, pointing the barrel of my handgun like a laser at the tableau.
A man in a business suit has fired a handgun into the ceiling. He is holding someone in front of him. I don't recognize either - not my Client, not Corporate Security, not someone who should be armed.
This is a hostage situation. Back off, set up a perimeter, call for assistance ...
I start shooting immediately.
I side step and reload, aim downward, and shoot the hostage taker twice in the head. He has already been shot at least three times in the torso with my first magazine of ten.
Then I turn to the hostage.
"Turn around!" I roar. "Hands on the wall! Do it now!"
They are frozen in immobility as I first holster then shove them back by the shoulders. They start to keep their feet and I shove one shoulder the next time, spinning them. They catch themselves against the wall and I push their arms away from their body, then using a booted foot to kick their ankles apart.
I start searching them for weapons. My touch is impersonal, rough and rude. "Clear," I announce to the small crowd that is gathering, none of whom are armed.
Two more security staff run up. One takes up a cover position on the downed attacker while the other asks, "Who else is there? Who is outstanding?"
The crowd is confused. I ask the hostage.
"Was it just him or is there anyone else?"
She is still shocked. She thought she was going to die, then she thought her rescuer was going to kill her.
"It's OK, I understand," I find myself lying to her, "We need to know if there's anyone else who is a threat."
Meanwhile the attacker is handcuffed and searched, his other weapons removed, with blood and brain matter oozing from the missing half of the back of his head. One guard starts to take a pulse with her off hand, shakes her head, and holsters.
"I need a stretcher bearer team to respond to H4, Code 2," I call on radio.
The entire concept of stretcher bearers is brand new. There are employees who think Security should be doing all that. Prior to the Firecracker, we did all initial response to fire and medical emergencies. Now there is just too much going on to put it all on us.
This is not a medical emergency. This is a body removal. Secure the scene, start a crime scene log, allow no one to enter or to leave ...
Yeah. About that.
A security supervisor shows up and I let her - Sharon - take over the incident. I report that I have fired twelve rounds at one suspect, that there are no suspects outstanding,
The hostage is interviewed. The employee was insistent on speaking to whoever was in charge and picked a very bad way to go about it - kidnapping another employee and making threats. That's why he'd been allowed past the guard desk in H1 and into the elevator. The executive receptionist in H4 had promptly locked the doors in his face and walked away, which had prompted his gunshot. Good for her.
"Attention to orders," I called on the radio after hearing this.
"Attention to orders," I repeated again. "This is now a No Hostage Facility. Under no circumstances will anyone be permitted to hold anyone else hostage. I need Control to verify acknowledgement from all guard posts. A memo will follow."
I went downstairs, across the yard and over to the logistics area in C building. We were starting to accumulate necessary items as we could get them. In a corner devoted to Facilities we had spread out a few tables, some markers and stencils and spray cans, some butcher paper and tarps, and a stenciled sign that read "SIGN SHOP."
I filled out a request form for the morning crew to make and then go put up.
Priority: IMMEDIATE
Reason: life safety
Location: North Gate, South Gate (both large), approaches to all exterior lobby doors.
Font: Impact
Wording: NO HOSTAGE FACILITY. DEADLY FORCE ORDERED. [CLIENT] SECURITY.
Approval: Echo 18
Then to borrow the antiseptic terms of a report, I proceeded to the H1 guard desk and counseled the guard on duty. After our counseling session, I covered the post so that he could go to the infirmary, and so that I could explain the new No Hostage Facility policy to his relief.
Without using the walls.
I can't sleep. I should be able to sleep. In fact I have to sleep. I took two patrols out this evening, I have to take another rescue convoy out at gray dawn, it's 3 AM. I sleep now or I don't, for another full day of this.
I toss in the stolen sleeping bag. I've been sleeping in a different spot each time. This time I'm curled up in a void space halfway up the stairwell between the third and fourth floor of H building. The cheap key lock (think mailbox key) has been disabled carefully by yours truly - but if someone did lock it on me, I could kick it open anyway.
A radio earbud in my ear lets me half-listen while sleeping. I've woken up to violence over the radio before. Also violence nearby.
I deliberately relax parts of my body in turn.
Nope, it's not working.
I hear shouting. Then the distinctive hollow BANG of a gunshot indoors.
I key up on the radio while kicking the sleeping bag off.
"Echo 18, gunfire, H4. React, react."
I ignore acknowledgments as I crawl to the access door made of thin metal and look out through the hole where the lock used to be. Clear. So I clamber down and make my way up the stairs, drawing my handgun as I reach the stairwell door.
I peek.
I find myself banging the stairwell door open with my left hand while my right hand comes up of its own accord, pointing the barrel of my handgun like a laser at the tableau.
A man in a business suit has fired a handgun into the ceiling. He is holding someone in front of him. I don't recognize either - not my Client, not Corporate Security, not someone who should be armed.
This is a hostage situation. Back off, set up a perimeter, call for assistance ...
I start shooting immediately.
I side step and reload, aim downward, and shoot the hostage taker twice in the head. He has already been shot at least three times in the torso with my first magazine of ten.
Then I turn to the hostage.
"Turn around!" I roar. "Hands on the wall! Do it now!"
They are frozen in immobility as I first holster then shove them back by the shoulders. They start to keep their feet and I shove one shoulder the next time, spinning them. They catch themselves against the wall and I push their arms away from their body, then using a booted foot to kick their ankles apart.
I start searching them for weapons. My touch is impersonal, rough and rude. "Clear," I announce to the small crowd that is gathering, none of whom are armed.
Two more security staff run up. One takes up a cover position on the downed attacker while the other asks, "Who else is there? Who is outstanding?"
The crowd is confused. I ask the hostage.
"Was it just him or is there anyone else?"
She is still shocked. She thought she was going to die, then she thought her rescuer was going to kill her.
"It's OK, I understand," I find myself lying to her, "We need to know if there's anyone else who is a threat."
Meanwhile the attacker is handcuffed and searched, his other weapons removed, with blood and brain matter oozing from the missing half of the back of his head. One guard starts to take a pulse with her off hand, shakes her head, and holsters.
"I need a stretcher bearer team to respond to H4, Code 2," I call on radio.
The entire concept of stretcher bearers is brand new. There are employees who think Security should be doing all that. Prior to the Firecracker, we did all initial response to fire and medical emergencies. Now there is just too much going on to put it all on us.
This is not a medical emergency. This is a body removal. Secure the scene, start a crime scene log, allow no one to enter or to leave ...
Yeah. About that.
A security supervisor shows up and I let her - Sharon - take over the incident. I report that I have fired twelve rounds at one suspect, that there are no suspects outstanding,
The hostage is interviewed. The employee was insistent on speaking to whoever was in charge and picked a very bad way to go about it - kidnapping another employee and making threats. That's why he'd been allowed past the guard desk in H1 and into the elevator. The executive receptionist in H4 had promptly locked the doors in his face and walked away, which had prompted his gunshot. Good for her.
"Attention to orders," I called on the radio after hearing this.
"Attention to orders," I repeated again. "This is now a No Hostage Facility. Under no circumstances will anyone be permitted to hold anyone else hostage. I need Control to verify acknowledgement from all guard posts. A memo will follow."
I went downstairs, across the yard and over to the logistics area in C building. We were starting to accumulate necessary items as we could get them. In a corner devoted to Facilities we had spread out a few tables, some markers and stencils and spray cans, some butcher paper and tarps, and a stenciled sign that read "SIGN SHOP."
I filled out a request form for the morning crew to make and then go put up.
Priority: IMMEDIATE
Reason: life safety
Location: North Gate, South Gate (both large), approaches to all exterior lobby doors.
Font: Impact
Wording: NO HOSTAGE FACILITY. DEADLY FORCE ORDERED. [CLIENT] SECURITY.
Approval: Echo 18
Then to borrow the antiseptic terms of a report, I proceeded to the H1 guard desk and counseled the guard on duty. After our counseling session, I covered the post so that he could go to the infirmary, and so that I could explain the new No Hostage Facility policy to his relief.
Without using the walls.
