After driving away from the barber shop in the direction of LA's center, Ben accepted a call to an active hostage situation at 7th & Hill - the LA jewelry district.
"*All nearby units, 417BH in progress at 751 7th Street, Diamond Emporium. Four known gunmen with automatic rifles.*"
Ben switched the channel on his police radio and gave his and Erin's badge number to dispatch to show that they were attaching themselves to the call. He quickly called Captain Cortez at SWAT to let her know about the developing situation and his own involvement and floored the gas as he made his way through the busy streets of LA.
"Get your vest from the trunk when we get there. Remember to also wear the plate. I have an extra helmet in there too, wear it," Ben ordered, talking loudly over his siren as he navigated the traffic at fast speeds. "I want you to do your best to keep civilians out of harm's way. Once you know neither you nor anybody else that you can help is in immediate danger, find the officer in charge at the scene and listen to their orders even when it turns out that isn't me."
"What will you do?" Erin asked with a poker face to hide her own increasingly taut nerves.
Dodging oncoming traffic with a rather reckless maneuver, Ben answered, "I'll be the first detective on scene. I will do my best to confirm the number of hostages and the danger they are in."
Moments before Ben hit the breaks, Erin managed to scold, "That's not procedure!"
With the car stopped between two other patrol cars, Ben looked at her for a short moment before shrugging. He hurriedly grabbed a scope from the glove department and ran toward the meticulously arranged shrubbery near the luxury store. There weren't any shots fired but it was clear something was going on inside the high-class building.
"Those civilians over there filming! Get them away from the store!" Ben shouted to his rookie while pointing to the side and started running toward the hiding place that could give him a proper vantage point at the same time. He added some instructions for the two patrol officers hiding behind pillars with guns drawn and ineffectively shouting for the regular people to go away that were there before Ben.
They behaved like total amateurs without training.
"Detective Weiss at the scene. I confirm four masked gunmen in tactical gear with M4s in the store's showroom. Black masks, black long-sleeved shirts, dark cargo pants, combat boots. Two suspects around six feet, caucasian, no discernible traits. One suspect around five foot eight, unidentifiable tattoo visible at the neck, left side, tan complexion. One suspect at least six foot four, caucasian, he's at least two-hundred fifty, maybe three-hundred pounds of muscle, no other discernible traits," Ben quietly said while pressing his uniform's radio once he got behind cover and got a good look inside.
"*Detective Weiss, please be advised that mobile command is en route. Do not engage,*" dispatch ordered in reply.
The young detective was about to comply without issue, but he heard shots from inside the store.
"Three shots fired inside, not in my field of vision," Ben spoke into his mic, now visibly tense. "I heard the cry of one woman and shattering glass. Possible GSW."
"*Noted, Detective Weiss,*" dispatch answered.
"HEY YOU!" Someone shouted from the storefront after opening the heavily secured bullet-proof glass entrance a bit more. "Yeah! I mean you, cop! Drop your weapons and come inside or we're going to shoot another hostage!"
Ben, who was the only officer in the field of vision of the robbers, hurriedly dialed his phone to call Hondo, muted the call and hid the phone at his back between his shirt and vest. He told dispatch about the order of the robbers and even though dispatch told him repeatedly not to acquiesce until backup arrived, Ben stood up from behind his cover.
He didn't fear getting shot at, the bulletproof glass made it impossible to shoot anybody on either side of the glass. Plus, despite the robbers looking to be army trained veterans by how their gear looked and how they wielded it, Ben was sure he was of more help inside than he was outside.
It was why he hid so badly from the start, even if the robber's order to get inside so quickly was outside of his expectation.
Watching Ben walk over with raised hands, the masked man at the door ordered, "Keep the radio but put your weapons and other shit on the ground!"
"Let three hostages go for me," Ben negotiated as he unholstered his pistol with two fingers and laid it on the ground in front of him when he was close enough to the store's entrance that he didn't have to shout. "I've seen at least nine hostages inside. I'm worth more than one civilian and I'm not going without some good faith from you guys. Start with the woman I heard scream and anybody who's wounded or in need of medical assistance."
The masked burglar at the door leaned back inside and discussed something with one of the guys holding a rifle in the general direction of the hostages that Ben didn't catch. But he kept unholstering two more hidden knives from his vest and cargo pants, as well as his taser and back-up gun to show that he was still complying. A show of good faith from him.
"Three people for you," the burglar at the door agreed. "Call it in."
Ben pressed the mic on his radio and did as the burglar asked. Dispatch didn't reprimand him again. This situation was already beyond their authority since only his commander or the LAPD's chief of police could now chastise Ben for his actions.
After all, Ben didn't just risk his life for nothing. The robbers actually let three people go and wanted him to go inside with his radio on. It seemed they wanted to open a channel of communication. With how organized they were, it was obvious that it was part of a plan, but Ben inwardly judged that this meant these robbers had a plan meant to ensure their escape.
A plan that likely didn't involve killing everyone inside - otherwise they wouldn't ask for a cop wearing a radio to enter the building. The death of an officer would mean enormous resources for the eventual investigation that followed, lowering the odds of these criminals getting away with it. Especially if it was ruled as premeditated since they invited Ben inside so easily.
Half a minute later, a woman with a small gash on her forehead and a well-dressed boy with tears streaming down his face were running out of the store. Ben quickly directed these hysterical civilians to run to the police barricade that was slowly getting erected by the patrol cops who answered the call first. The first two hostages were out.
Ben saw his rookie for the day talking to her original T.O. in the distance who had been close to the hostage situation when he looked back.
"Alright, now you show some good faith," the man at the door ordered and Ben nodded as he turned to the store once more after the hostages were welcomed by paramedics and a plain-cloth officer Ben knew was a sergeant working at the Hollywood division.
A third hostage was already waiting behind the robber inside the store, so the detective made his way to them with his arms raised.
"Tell my daughter that I love her," Ben said into his radio just before entering.
It was a way he hoped to humanize him in the eyes of the criminals - as well as something he really wanted to tell his daughter at this moment.
At the door, the third hostage chosen by the robbers gave Ben a deep look and unhurriedly walked out after the store's entrance was fully opened, allowing both men to walk shoulder-to-shoulder past each other.
The masked robber started patting the officer down after closing the door and locking it again. He quickly found a small push-knife that Ben didn't discard on purpose.
"Let me just tell you that any attempt at heroics will be met with an unequal amount of violence in response," the tallest of the four visible gunmen threatened with eloquence and charm unbefitting his impossibly large frame. He looked like a star player from the NFL but spoke like a debate team captain at an Ivy League university. To Ben, this small reprimand sounded like a promise and a welcome meant just to set the tone. "We are not inherently unreasonable people. But we aren't here for niceties either."
Them finding the knife was part of Ben's plan, he was reasonably glad they did. But the man at the door discarding the cuffs Ben hoped they would use on him since he knew a trick to get out of them was not.
That didn't matter much because finding these two items did distract the criminal patting him down from finding the phone he had wedged at his back in his bulletproof vest. He had placed his personal phone at the door outside, even loudly dropped it on purpose to highlight the item's presence - it seemed they didn't suspect him to bring a second device.
Now, Hondo could listen in from the outside even when the gunmen didn't think the LAPD could.
"What are your demands?" Ben asked as he was cuffed with zip ties, his hands behind his back at an uncomfortable angle.
The largest man in the room stepped forward, pressed the radio with familiarity that didn't escape Ben's eyes and spoke, "This is one of the men holding your officer inside the jewelry store. We have eyes on every entrance. We know your every move before you order your men to make them. All we need for the lives of the hostages and your officer is three hours of no police in a one-block radius."
Ben, straining his neck to look up at the tall gunman, studied every detail that he could. The man who would have looked like a star athlete on any defense in the NFL who was winning bodybuilding competitions as a hobby was impossible to read, though. The ski mask that was hiding everything but his eyes didn't help.
The detective didn't glean any information like he hoped.
"Was the woman with the gash the hostage that screamed earlier at the sounds of gunshot?" Ben calmly asked when the man stopped pressing his radio.
"No," the tall man answered and used his large hand resting on Ben's shoulder to lead him further into the store.
Ben looked at every hostage present, branding every detail into his mind as best he could. These details would matter if he would live another day. He calmly reassured them as he was dragged away through the rows they were made to sit in, hands bound. But it couldn't go past reassuring nods, they were walking rather briskly.
Ben wasn't placed with the other hostages from the store. Instead, he was brought into a closed-off showroom. An exhibit for a spectacular series of diamond necklaces and other valuable items. Stores like these didn't show price tags, but Ben was sure most of what he saw in this room to be worth seven figures each at least.
Still, only one show-case in this room lining the wall instead of boldly sitting at the center of the room was broken and emptied.
Next to it was a gorgeous red-head in a green dress, tied to a chair.
She didn't look frightened, she looked pissed.
Seeing no visible wounds, Ben calmly noted that she was the likely hostage that screamed earlier because the broken show-case was clearly 'opened' by gunshots. The usually bulletproof door for this room that would silence the shots was wide open.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," the tall man ordered and forced Ben to sit on his ass right in front of the woman.
Three more masked criminals were in the room that the police didn't know about and Ben was trying to figure out how to conveniently bring it into conversation to inform Hondo outside.
"Could you please sit me somewhere else? This showroom is so big, no need to make me peek up the skirt of this lady until you're done with whatever you're doing," Ben calmly requested without breaking eye contact with the woman.
They really just made him sit in front of her giving him ample chance to see up her form-fitting knee-length dress.
His request gave him the chance to inform Hondo that he was in a backroom since SWAT very likely had the blueprints open for the store already, and it gave him the chance to tell them that there was one additional hostage on the scene minimum.
The large man nodded and dragged Ben to sit next to the woman instead of in front of her, and Ben for the first time saw something he hadn't before. The mountain of muscle looked pleased. Like he accomplished something with Ben's help.
"Thank you," the redhead quietly said without stopping her frown for the criminals as she side-eyed the officer next to her between blinks.
"No problem ma'am," Ben replied unhurriedly.
"Did you just give yourself up? Or are you the chivalrous kind of stupid and here to save me specifically," the hostage whispered to the side with an almost teasing tone of voice, her venomous glare for one of the robbers not breaking.
It seemed like it wasn't her first time in a situation like this, Ben judged.
"I got three people out," Ben answered, glad to be given a chance to talk about the number of hostages compared to robbers. He still couldn't make it too obvious, though, "Had I asked for four hostages we could have made it a fair fight."
The detective was sure that Hondo and the SWAT command listening in was smart enough to figure out the number of criminals with the addition of the known hostages, himself and the unseen hostage. It was as round-about as he could get without showing his hand.
Eight hostages including himself and seven robbers.
It was an unusually large crew for a simple heist. It was weird that they didn't seem in a hurry to flee, either.
"Stop talking," one of the men tinkering on a show-case's lock ordered.
"Why?" Ben asked to keep the man talking and possibly revealing more than he wanted. It was a dangerous game because Ben as a hostage would only survive if he didn't know enough to identify the robbers since they went to such lengths to conceal their identities. But he still couldn't reign in his curiosity. He still didn't know what they were after specifically.
After all, they hadn't just shot all the show-cases here and robbed the place clean. They took a bunch of pricey but affordable items in the front, no more. And since nobody was assaulting the gorgeous woman next to him, it made no sense to keep her here away from the other hostages if she didn't serve a different purpose.
No organized crew of this size would keep her around as eye-candy, no matter how stunning she was.
"Because I said so," the lockpick among the group spat, stood up from the electronic lock with frustration so visible Ben could see it despite the mask and heavily back-handed the detective in the face.
"Now, Miss Ellis. I require your help after all," the criminal ordered, undid the sash that bound her torso to the chair, and yanked her up by the arm. "Enter the code!"
The zip ties on her were cut, the redhead quickly entered a pin and took a step back. The glass case opened with a beep… and nothing happened. The criminal who brought her over didn't grab the contents but merely ordered one of his men to tie her back up.
"Don't worry, Miss Ellis," Ben promised in a small voice when she was roughly tied up again and the man who did it walked over to the newly opened case to join the 'lockpick'. "I'll get you out safely."
She looked at the detective with amusement as her gaze stayed on the red handprint on his face. But she didn't call him out. Her smirk suggested she appreciated the sentiment, however.
"Please, just call me Sara," she whispered back instead of ridiculing him.
"I'm Ben," the cuffed police officer replied with a reassuring smile.
He didn't notice the large man standing behind them, observing their interaction, and raising one of his brows when he heard Detective Weiss' first name. So far they had only known his last name because he had a name tag on his vest.
"So? What are they after?" Ben asked when two of the criminals walked outside and left only the large man and another to guard the door. The smaller robber standing guard was busy browsing a computer, from what Ben could gather the man was watching the camera feeds all around. The bigger one observed everything, even his colleague.
"I don't know why, but this was obviously just a distraction. They took the second most expensive item in this room from that case I just opened, a random high five-figure ruby necklace from the case they shot… but the big ticket items that I brought for the auction are still under lock and key. The owner of the store who can open the vault is not here anymore. He had to leave an hour before these criminals entered," Sara replied with furrowed brows. "Unless… they know what's in the safe and have someone trying to crack it in the basement? That's got to be it, right?"
The large man looked back. He had heard Sara's guess and instead of breaking up the whispers between the two, he faintly nodded at Ben when their gazes crossed.
The detective narrowed his eyes. The large masked man was apparently not a legitimate part of his group, or he was trying to give false information to the LAPD through him for the investigation.
"Sounds like it," Ben quietly said to Sara, though intending for the information to reach SWAT. He mulled what he learned about the large man over and over, but still outwardly suggested in a different train of thought, "When they move both of us later on, pretend to twist your ankle."
"Why?" Sara whispered back with furrowed brows.
"They kept my bulletproof vest on. You're less likely to get shot if I'm carrying you. And it might help if they keep your hands in front of you," Ben replied while his eyes were glued to the large hostage guard.
The mountain of a man gave the detective a nod of respect with another short look back. It confirmed Ben's suspicion. It looked genuine, and it seemed he would have to bet his life on it if worse came to worst.
"What if you're shot in the back?" Sara asked a few moments later. "Or my dress rides up and I'm flashing those creeps as you give me a piggyback ride?"
"Remember to wear a longer dress or a sensible suit the next time you're taken hostage?" Ben asked with a small, disarming grin.
Sara let out a deep, nervous breath that she didn't even know she was holding as her lips faintly formed a smile.
"And don't worry. I'm not planning to let you die before me," Ben added, taken aback by the pretty face of his fellow hostage for a short moment.
—————
"Dad? Why are you home so early?" Haley asked with a distracted frown as she watched her father enter their home with a blissful smile on his face.
She sat on the couch in the living room, the TV muted when she saw her dad enter. She was dressed in yoga pants and a sweater covered in food stains.
Phil's smile immediately vanished.
"I-I… the open house, I… I canceled it," Phil stammered in reply, dodging his daughter's eyes as he failed spectacularly to hide a bag behind his back or tell a convincing lie.
"Okay," Haley muttered, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Eventually, as she studied the man, her eyes fell on the paperbag with an oversized duck plushie poking out of it.
"Who are you giving the bird?" Haley asked.
"What!? I would never flip someone off," Phil said as he gasped in fake offense.
"It's for Anna, isn't it?" The eldest daughter of the Dunphy family pressed, her eyes narrowing even more. Phil started to squirm.
"It's her birthday next week and she loves the duck Ben gave her, okay!?" Phil answered heatedly after finally breaking under Haley's unblinking stare. "I had it custom made! I even got to stuff it myself! Feel, it's extra plushy! And adorable! I won't apologize!"
Haley's glare broke, caught off-guard by her dad's outburst.
"I didn't want you to apologize," Haley pointed out. "I was just wondering why you're trying to hide it from me?"
"Honey, I know it's kind of a difficult topic," Phil deflected, calmly putting away the bag and sitting next to his daughter on the couch and placing a comforting hand on her knee.
"It's not, I'm over it now. I agree that I took much longer than I thought originally, but Ben and I are over," Haley firmly stated as she placed a hand on her father's in return.
"Honey, then why are you crying again?" Phil pointed out as his gaze rested on the tears streaming down Haley's cheeks. It was a welcome distraction from the food stains he didn't really want to look at. His daughter as he knew her would never let herself go like that… for this long.
Hurriedly brushing the tears away with both hands, Haley declared, "I'm not."
Phil gave her an understanding smile and agreed despite the obvious, "You're not."
As they sat there, Phil silently comforting his daughter, he eventually broke the silence asking, "Did you want me to tell your mom that you don't need the mommy-daughter spa weekend anymore?"
"Oh god, yes please! I've been stressing out over how to say no all week! I thought winning that competition would get her off my back, but then those three judges turned out to be those huge super creeps who let me win because they wanted me to get into bed with them," Haley narrated, sighing in exasperation.
Phil's eyes narrowed coldly for a short moment that Haley didn't catch - he had told Ben's former boss Sergeant Grey about those three 'assfaces' at a BBQ at Ben's house that he sneakily went to after the competition to look into it to make sure those judges weren't using their position to harass innocent girls.
"I guess I'll just have to take your mom," Phil eventually whispered. "I deserve a spa weekend, too."
Haley laughed for a short moment, but quickly pointed out, "You won't be able to go to Anna's birthday. Mom booked it so I'd have something to do that day."
Phil paled. He hadn't thought about that. And there was no way he couldn't go. It would break him to break a promise he made with little Anna.
"You know," Haley said after silently laughing in her father's arms. "I think it's actually really fine-"
The teary-eyed brunette stopped mid sentence as she casually looked in the direction of the TV for a short moment.
"Honey?" Phil asked as looked at his daughter in worry.
"L-look," she shakily replied, pointing one finger at their TV and using her other hand to unmute the device.
"*Breaking News. A diamond heist in the Jewelry District on 7th Street turned into a hostage situation. Our very own Channel 12 weather reporter Rainer Shine is on scene to tell us more!*"
"*Thank you Diane. My crew and I wanted to film a segment on our forecast for the start of spring in the Center of LA when we heard shots down in the renowned 'Diamond Emporium'. Minutes after the first shots, our brave cameraman managed to catch this amazing moment as one of the police officers at the scene exchanged himself for three hostages! We have yet to learn his name, but this hero bravely stepped into the frying pan for innocent Los Angelites without any care for his own well-being and is sure to receive a glowing commendation whenever the situation resolves.*"
"That's Ben!" Phil shouted in horror when the segment repeated the recorded hostage exchange with zoom-ins for the hostages and the 'heroic police officer'.
Ben was then seen walking into the store with his arms raised after placing his weapons on the ground while a masked gunman pointed his automatic rifle squarely at Ben, who stepped into the line of fire to shield the last of the three hostages as they casually walked away from the store in the direction of the police barricade.
Haley put a hand in front of her mouth, gasping, when the thick bullet-proof glass door of the jewelry store was closed behind Ben.
"*It is yet unclear how many hostages or suspects are inside. But we do know that the vaunted showroom of the store is in its second of five days of showing priceless jewelry that is set to be auctioned later this weekend to create hype. Among the collection, a particularly contentious piece will be shown at the last day of the exhibit for wealthy clientele, known as the Baron's Blood Diamond,*" Rainer narrated as the active crime scene was shown behind him. Done with what he knew, he pressed a finger against his earpiece, concentrated for a short moment, and continued, "*We just learned that the heroic officer who stepped into the lion's den is none other than Detective Ben Weiss, the heroic undercover officer who was reported to have survived a shot to the heart at the end of a tumultuous five year undercover operation with the terrorist organization White Front last year. The LA native has since earned his detective rank at Metro SWAT. It's safe to say that no better man could have-*"
An angry older man in a suit stepped into the frame and wrenched the microphone from Rainer's hands and shoved the weatherman out of the shot. He could faintly be heard shouting, "*Are you trying to get him killed? What if they have a TV on in there you buffoon!?*"
"You tell him Commander Hicks," Phil cheered on in a small, dispassionate voice, his eyes glued to the screen. He had recognized the man immediately because the commander had visited Ben once while Phil was there playing with Anna, teaching her how to do magic tricks.
Hicks on the screen waved over two more reporters while still holding Rainer's microphone and explained, "*There are still seven hostages inside that we know about. The hostage takers inside are armed and trained. They used Detective Weiss' radio to tell us their one and only demand. To stay away for three hours. We have no point of entry and our efforts to negotiate different terms are not yet successful. We will do everything in our power to bring this to a peaceful resolution. When we know more, you will learn about it after we verified all the information.*"
"Ben will be okay," Haley whispered to herself. The news channel switched back to the anchors in the studio, a 'Breaking News' live ticker appeared at the bottom, and the anchors discussed the situation and restated the known facts. When they once more showed Ben step inside in exchange for three hostages, Haley repeated her whisper.
"Ben will be okay."