Hope everyone has gotten off to a great start in 2020! Let’s dive right back into whatever the fuck is going on with this hostage situation in Trigger Warning.
Trigger Warning Chapter 31:
One of the gunmen tells Jake and Natalie to get up and move. You’ll all be pleased to know that our return to Trigger Warning immediately presents us with one of Jake’s clever quips.
“Where are we going?” Jake asked as he pushed himself up. “Disneyworld?”
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 255). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
Oh, Jake. How I’ve missed you.
Anyway, the gunman is like, “That’s a fucking great idea!” And then they all head off to Disneyworld the end.
Jake realises that perhaps now is not the time to be making jokes. Too much is at stake.
He didn’t want the gunman going unhinged while Natalie was right there in danger, so he climbed carefully to his feet and said in a calm voice, “No trouble. Just tell us what you want us to do.”
Being so cooperative went against the grain for him, but there were innocent lives to think of.
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (pp. 255-256). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
Which raises the question…why did he even make the joke in the first place to this guy? Did he honestly think the most likely reaction was anything besides pissing the gunman off more?
A glance to his left showed him that Pierce Conners and the people he was with were being marched toward the middle of the lower level, too. Jake caught Pierce’s eye. He had no idea if he could count on the young man for anything, but instinct told him that if he had any allies in here, Pierce was the most likely to be one of them.
Maybe the quick look Jake flashed toward him would be enough to tip him off that something was about to happen.
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 256). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
I’m guessing that Pierce will absolutely turn out to be a mind reader of epic proportions in order for the “plot” of this book to progress.
Jake stopped short and said in a loud voice, “Wait just a damned minute. They’re bluffing.”
[…]“You’re not crazy enough to blow yourself up along with everybody else,” Jake said. “I can tell that by looking at you. You’re no martyr. You don’t believe there are ninety-nine virgins waiting in heaven for you.”
The Middle Eastern–looking guy standing with Pierce glared at Jake when he said that. Jake ignored him.“Keep talking,” the leader said. “You’re smart. I want to hear your thoughts.”
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 257). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
I don’t even think that guy is being sarcastic, and I’m living for it. Where did he get Jake being smart from? This is incredible.
Jake apparently truly believes the guys are bluffing, but they prove him wrong by detonating a bomb…somewhere that’s not the library.
He’d been wrong about that, Jake supposed. But he still didn’t believe that this man intended to die today. The leader wasn’t doing this to make a point. He was doing it because he wanted that ransom money.
But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t slaughter dozens, maybe even hundreds, of people to get his hands on it.
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 259). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
No fucking shit, Jake? Why did you take that risk by egging them on? And then he’s not even like ‘oops they set a bomb off shit i hope ppl r ok????’ Fucking Jake!
But the leader’s anger, as he got caught up in his own ranting, had led him to make a mistake. He had stalked forward, gesturing with the gun in his hand, until he was only about ten feet from Jake now. And that was too close.
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 260). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
Jake lunges for the leader’s gun, and they begin to rummmmbleeeee.
Jake was vaguely aware that a lot of shouting was going on around him, but no guns had gone off—yet.
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 261). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
Why is no one intervening given he DOESN’T ACTUALLY HAVE THE GUN YET? Jake says it’s because they don’t want to shoot and hit their leader, but they could…lunge on Jake and physically overpower him…since he doesn’t have the gun yet?
Because of this confusing display of ineptitude, Jake manages to get the gun and take the leader hostage.
BUT THEN. Natalie stands up, and even though Jake tells her to sit down and get cover, she ignores him.
Natalie was crowded close beside him with an intense expression on her face the likes of which he had never seen from her before. He could tell from the way the gun dug into his side that she was the one holding it.
“Stop it, Jake,” she said. “Let him go and drop that gun. I don’t want to kill you.”
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (pp. 262-263). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
Everything about Natalie suddenly makes way more sense. Of course she wasn’t actually into Jake and all their weirdly political flirting!
We find out that there’s an even bigger twist:
He turned his head enough so that Jake could see the triumphant grin on his face as he said, “Good work, Lucy.”
Johnstone, William W.. Trigger Warning (p. 263). Kensington. Kindle Edition.
HOLY SHIT HER NAME IS LUCY WHAT THE FUCK I NEVER SAW THAT COMING!!!!!!
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If I understand this scene correctly, Lucy just organized the terrorism and bombings and hostage-situation to get out of dating Jack, right? I mean, I can understand and respect that reasoning, but wouldn’t it have been cheaper and maybe also faster to just put a “Vote Hillary”-sticker on her car or something like that?