‘She hasn’t come all this way to talk to anyone else,’ said Fletcher.
‘Will you stay with me?’ asked Bates.
‘You bet, Billy. You know exactly where I stand on gun control. When we last met you told me you had read all of my speeches on the subject.’
‘Yes I have, but what good did that do?’ asked Billy. He took his arm off Mary Hudson’s shoulder and began walking slowly towards Fletcher, the gun pointed directly at him. ‘The truth is, that you’re only repeating exactly what the chief has told you to say.’
Fletcher gripped the sides of the desk, never taking his eyes off Billy. If he was going to risk it, he knew he needed to draw Billy in as close as possible. He leant forward slightly while still holding firmly on to the lid of the desk. The phone by Miss Hudson began ringing. Billy was now only a pace away, but the ringing sound caused him to turn his head for a split second. This gave Fletcher the chance to jerk the lid of the desk up in a sudden movement, crashing it into Billy’s right hand. Billy momentarily lost his balance, and as he stumbled, he dropped the gun. They both watched it hurtle across the floor, coming to a halt just a few feet away from Miss Hudson. The children began to scream as she fell on her knees, grabbed the gun and pointed it straight at Billy.
Billy rose slowly and advanced towards her as she remained kneeling on the floor, the gun pointing at his chest. ‘You’re not going to pull the trigger, are you, Miss Hudson?’
With each step Billy took towards her, Miss Hudson trembled more and more violently. Billy was only a foot away from her when she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. There was a click. Billy looked up, smiled, and said, ‘No bullets, Miss Hudson. I never intended to kill anyone, I just wanted someone to listen for a change.’
Fletcher slid out from behind the desk, ran to the door and yanked it open. ‘Out, out,’ he yelled, his right hand gesturing in a sweeping movement at the terrified children. A tall girl with long pigtails stood up and ran towards the open door and out into the corridor. Two more followed closely behind her. Fletcher thought he heard a piping voice say ‘Go, go,’ as he held the door open. All but one of the children came rushing towards him, disappearing out of sight within moments. Fletcher stared towards the comer at the one remaining child. The boy slowly rose from his place and walked to the front of the class. He leant down, took Miss Hudson by the hand, and led her towards the door, never once looking at Billy. When he reached the open door, he said, ‘Thank you, senator,’ and accompanied his teacher out into the corridor.
A loud cheer went up as the tall girl with long black pigtails came charging through the front door. Search-lights beamed down on her and she quickly placed a hand over her eyes, unable to see the welcoming crowd. A mother broke through the cordon and ran across the playground to take the girl in her arms. Two boys followed closely behind, as Nat placed an arm around Su Ling’s shoulder, desperately searching for Luke. A few moments later, a larger group came running out of the door, but Su Ling couldn’t hold back the tears once she realized Luke was not among them.
‘There’s still one more to come,’ she heard a journalist reporting on the early evening news, ‘along with his teacher.’
Su Ling’s eyes never left the open door for what she later described as the longest two minutes of her life.
An even bigger cheer went up when Miss Hudson appeared in the doorway clutching on to Luke’s hand. Su Ling looked up at her husband, who was vainly attempting to hold back the tears.
‘What is it with your Cartwrights,’ she said, ‘that you always have to be the last out?’
Fletcher remained by the door until Miss Hudson was out of sight. He then closed it slowly, and walked across to pick up the insistent phone.
‘Is that you, senator?’ demanded the chief.
‘Yes.’
‘Are you OK? We thought we heard a crash, maybe even a shot.’
‘No, I’m just fine. Are all the children safe?’
‘Yes, we’ve got all thirty-one of them,’ said the chief.
‘Including the last one?’
‘Yes, he’s just joined his parents.’
‘And Miss Hudson?’
‘She’s talking to Sandra Mitchell on Eyewitness News. She’s telling everyone that you’re some kind of hero.’
‘I think she’s talking about someone else,’ said Fletcher.
‘Are you and Bates planning to join us sometime?’ asked the chief, assuming he was just being modest.
‘Give me a few more minutes, chief. By the way, I’ve agreed that Billy can also talk to Sandra Mitchell.’
‘Who’s got the gun?’
‘I have,’ said Fletcher. ‘Billy won’t be causing you any more trouble. The gun wasn’t even loaded,’ he added, before putting the phone down.
‘You know they’re going to kill me, don’t you, senator?’
‘No one’s going to kill you, Billy, not as long as I’m with you.’
‘Do I have your word on that, Mr Davenport?’
‘You have my word on it, Billy. So let’s go out and face them together.’
Fletcher opened the classroom door. He didn’t need to search for a light switch as there were so many megawatts beaming in from the playground that he could clearly see the door at the far end of the passage.
He and Billy walked down the corridor together without a word passing between them. When they reached the main door that led on to the playground, Fletcher opened it tentatively and stepped into a beam of light to be greeted by another huge cheer from the crowd. But he couldn’t see their faces.
‘It’s going to be all right, Billy,’ said Fletcher turning back towards him. Billy hesitated for a moment, but finally took a tentative pace forward and stood by Fletcher’s side. They walked slowly down the path together. He turned and saw Billy smile. ‘It’s going to be all right,’ Fletcher repeated, just as the bullet ripped through Billy’s chest. The sheer impact threw Fletcher to one side.
Fletcher pushed himself up off his knees and leapt on top of Billy, but it was too late. He was already dead.
‘No, no, no,’ Fletcher screamed. ‘Didn’t they realize that I gave him my word?’
38
‘Someone is buying our shares,’ said Nat.
‘I do hope so,’ said Tom, ‘we are, after all, a public company.’
‘No, chairman, I mean that someone is aggressively buying them.’
‘For what purpose?’ asked Julia.
Nat put down his pen. ‘To try and take us over would be my bet.’ Several of the board began to speak at once, until Tom tapped the table. ‘Let’s hear Nat out.’
‘For some years now, our policy has been to buy up small ailing banks and add them to our portfolio, and overall that has proved a worthwhile enterprise. All of you know my long-term strategy is to make Russell’s the largest banking presence in the state. What I hadn’t planned for was that our success would, in turn, make us attractive to an even larger institution.’
‘And you’re convinced someone is now trying to take us over?’
‘I most certainly am, Julia,’ said Nat, ‘and you’re partly to blame. The most recent phase of the Cedar Wood project has been such a massive success that our overall profits nearly doubled last year.’
‘If Nat is right,’ said Tom, ‘and I suspect he is, there’s only one question that needs to be answered. Are we happy to be taken over or do we want to put up a fight?’
‘I can only speak for myself, chairman,’ said Nat, ‘but I’m not yet forty and I certainly wasn’t planning on early retirement. I suggest we have no choice but to fight.’
‘I agree,’ said Julia, ‘I’ve been taken over once already, and I’m not going to let it happen a second time. In any case, our shareholders will not expect us to roll over.’