When Fabian and the others arrived at the scene, they discovered the tense atmosphere looming around the police officers.
"General!"
"General!"
The police officers greeted the Chief Superintendent as soon as they saw him. He was a Police Brigadier General and Chief Superintendent was merely a title.
"Tell me what's going on." The Chief Superintendent muttered in a solemn tone.
"General, Diego and his men infiltrated this hotel and took everyone inside as their hostages. They even killed the security personnel of the hotel!" A police officer reported.
"What about our casualties?"
"Two of our men died while chasing them here and six were critically wounded. Seven more officers are lightly wounded. They are receiving treatment now as we speak."
The Chief Superintendent nodded his head upon hearing this and he heaved a sigh of relief that the casualty count didn't increase.
"General, now that they have taken those people as hostages, all we can do now is negotiate with them." Fabian muttered.
The others nodded their heads in agreement.
"How could we negotiate with those bastards?! They killed two of our brothers! We have to kill them!" A police officer spat out coldly. One of the officers who died was his close friend so he wanted nothing more than to kill Diego and his men.
"Enough! I'm also furious, but we have to remain calm in this situation. If we do something wrong, those criminals might harm the innocent civilians inside the hotel. We don't want that to happen." The Chief Superintendent muttered.
"General, what should we do?"
"Lieutenant Fabian is right. We can only negotiate with them. We have to make sure that they won't harm more civilians. Get someone good at talking to negotiate with them."
"Yes, Sir!"
***
While Diego was racking his brains to search for a way for them to escape, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure on the screen.
"Fabian!" He muttered in a cold voice as he stared at Fabian.
A subordinate barged inside the room and reported. "Boss, the telephone at the front desk is ringing! I think the police are planning to talk with us now."
Hearing this, Diego stood up and glanced coldly at Fabian on the screen. "They finally want to talk with us, huh?"
Diego walked out of the control room and headed to the lobby.
The hostages were taken to the lobby area and all of them were huddled together, shivering in fear as they looked at their hostage takers.
Diego walked towards the front desk and grabbed the ringing telephone.
"Hello! This is... from Manila Police District. Please don't hurt the civilians. We are willing to listen to your demands. As long as you guys ensure everyone's safety, we are willing to compromise."
"Is that so? I can promise you that we won't kill the civilians, but you have to provide us with three things. First, we need five armored vehicles. You must not do something funny with the vehicles or we'll kill everyone here!" Diego demanded.
"This... Alright. We can agree to this, but you have to at least release half of the hostages in your hands."
Veins protruded on Diego's face when he heard this. "Do you think I'm an idiot?! At most, we can release five hostages!"
"Please don't make things difficult for us. Five hostages in exchange for five armored vehicles is just... How about this? Release ten hostages and we will provide you with the armored vehicles."
Diego smirked coldly as he responded. "Alright, but you have to make sure that the armored vehicles you give aren't problematic. If we see anything wrong with the vehicles, we might get angry and accidentally kill some hostages in a fit of rage. You don't want that to happen, right?"
"No! No! Absolutely not! You can rest assured about this."
"Then cut the crap and deliver the vehicles to us as soon as possible!"
"Yes! I've already notified our leader about your demands and the vehicles will be delivered to you shortly. What are your two remaining demands?"
Diego's face turned cold as he muttered. "I want all of you to move out of the way for us and allow us to leave. We will bring some of the hostages with us and if you block our path, I'll kill them one by one!"
The other line was silent before they answered. "...Alright. We promise you this..."
"Good! As for my last demand... I want you to send Fabian here and if I see any weapon in his possession, you should know what will happen!" Diego's eyes flashed with a ruthless glint while saying these words.
"That won't be appro-"
"You want me to come to you?" The voice on the other end of the call changed and this voice was very familiar to Diego.
"Fabian!" Diego muttered through gritted teeth.
"You can take me as a hostage, but you have to release all your hostages." Fabian's grudge against Diego was deep. After all, he was the person in charge of raiding his headquarters.
"Who do you think you are to negotiate with me?! Listen well, Fabian! If you don't want these people to die, come to me and accept your death! You only have ten minutes to consider my words!" Diego shouted before disconnecting the call.
***
Fabian furrowed his eyebrows when he heard Diego's last message.
"Sir Fabian, there is no need for you to endanger yourself. We will try to speak with Diego again."
"Sir Fabian, that bastard will only kill you if you go there! Don't listen to him!"
Fabian's frown deepened upon hearing their words. He knew that Diego wanted to get back at him, but if he didn't agree to Diego's demands, the guy might really start killing the civilians.
"No! I have to go there! We can't risk it! There are over forty civilians inside that hotel waiting for us to save them. There is no other way..." Fabian muttered with a grim look.
The others became silent at his words.
"Sir Fabian, how about asking for Sir Khalon's help? If it's him, we might be able to save those civilians without sacrificing anyone." Zenny suddenly said.
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