299 Days: The Restoration

Chapter 308 Under Arrest

“What’s your name?” the man asked Nancy Ringman, this time in a softer tone because she’d just admitted to being the ringleader. He already had what he needed on her. Besides, she was an overweight woman in her sixties. She wasn’t exactly a tactical threat. But it was a little after midnight at a big school facility so there could be threats everywhere.

“Nancy,” she said timidly, starting to realize what was happening. She was being captured by the teabaggers. This was the most terrifying thing that could happen to her. She had heard stories about what the so-called “Patriots” did to prisoners.

“Nancy what?” the man asked, in a kind, almost a sympathetic, tone.

She started to give her last name and then it hit her: she was guilty. She’d done horrible things. Sure, the people under the football field were teabaggers and they needed the room at Clover Park for the good people who needed a place to stay. But they were people and she ordered them to be… she couldn’t finish that thought.

“Ring…” she started to say.

“Ringleader?” the man asked.

Then she fully realized what she’d done. She was the ringleader. She had been a moment away from killing herself when the soldiers came. She might as well have the teabaggers do it for her at this point.

“Ringman,” she said. “My name is Nancy Ringman and I ordered the killings.” She felt a biggest sigh of relief of her entire life.

The man was silent. He was trained to let people confess without interruption.

“Thank you, Nancy,” the man said. “My name is Chad. Stephenson. My friends call me ‘Otter.’” He was giving her a tidbit of personal information as a goodwill offering. This helped build rapport with a suspect.

Nancy started crying again at the thought of whether she could call him “Otter.” She didn’t feel worthy of being his friend and calling him that because of what she’d done. Finally, she summoned up the strength to talk to him.

“What’s going to happen to me, Mr. Stephenson?”

Otter noted that her use of his last name meant she didn’t trust him as a friend. That’s okay, he thought. Whatever works.

“You’re under arrest, Nancy,” he said. “We need to find out what happened here. Can you help me with that, Nancy?”

She was still on her knees with her hands at her sides. Her head was down, and she stared at the hard concrete below her.

She looked up meekly at Otter and said, “Sir, I need to stand up. My knees hurt. This concrete is killing me.”

“A couple more minutes,” Otter said. “Can you do that for me, Nancy?”

Still looking up at him, she nodded.

“Thanks, Nancy,” he said. “We’ll get you out of here soon, okay?”

She was relieved. These teabaggers weren’t so bad after all. So far, at least. She had the oddest feeling that, even though he was pointing that terrifying gun at her, Otter wasn’t going to shoot her. She started to realize that he was pointing it at her because he didn’t know if she had a gun herself.

Nancy heard some people running up to her as Otter was saying “Over here” into his radio. She was looking up at him and swerved her head to the left where she heard people coming. They were more soldiers like Otter, dressed in military contractor clothing.

“Got her covered,” one of the other soldiers said.

“Copy,” Otter said.

Suddenly, Nancy was scared again. She had just started to feel like she could let her guard down, but now there were other people pointing guns at her. She felt like the safe minute or two she and Otter had together was over.

“This is Nancy Ringman,” Otter announced to other soldiers. “She told me she ordered the…” he hesitated to say “killings” because that might spook her. “She ordered the events at the football field.”

Nancy looked down at the ground in shame.

Seeing that her eyes were down, Otter allowed himself to smile to his teammates.