The media circus that followed was incredible! Just incredible! The ticky-tock bomb did it's thing: forcing the bomb squad to decide between being safe and risking the hostages lives, and being bold and risking their own lives. The media got there the same time as the police, so they were eating this up with a spoon again, and forcing the police into a drama scene they didn't want to become drama.
The girls had talked about this time when we were discussing how to get them home. They decided that it was a wonderful opportunity to have fun. So, when they heard activity in the corridor, they hammed it up. Every so often one of them would struggle fiercely and moan and groan like her life depended on getting loose, then, after a minute or so, she would give up in exhaustion. A few minutes later, another one or two would start up their struggle. They would all freeze when they heard the walking on the recorder.
The media picked up on the open channel wi-fi within ten minutes of arriving, so these struggles were quickly going worldwide.
All these theatrics put tremendous pressure on the bomb squad to break in. But, they had brought their nitro sniffer, and they paid great attention to the pacing sounds that came through on the video. The positive sniffs and the pacing in the room were strong signals to go slow. I was having a ball! Even though they couldn't see anything at the time, I think the girls were, too. The police would yell to them every so often, and that kept their spirits up.
For a hostage drama, it was the perfect length. The police took a little over an hour to decide someone could sneak up and look in the window. That person saw nothing but the girls and the ticky-tock clock bag. Based on that, the police decided to simply open the door rather than smash in windows or blow the door to smithereens, toss flashbang grenades, and come in ready to shoot. The girls hamming, as they got untied, kept the end from being anticlimactic. Even I was touched. They cried, and hugged, and thanked everyone around them.
The media storm then raged for weeks around the girls. The parents wanted me brought in and hung up by my thumbs, and they dominated the media show for the first two weeks. We had decided during our planning that our best course was for the girls to say nothing but, "I'm not ready to talk about it." while the media, parents and community vented hot revenge steam those first couple of weeks. The media was hard on the girls, it wanted a story!, but the psychologists and lawyers supported their keep quiet policy.
I had been careful never to reveal my identity to the girls. They knew what I looked like, Oh yeah!, and how I kissed and hugged and did backrubs, but they didn't know my name. They knew I could teach well, but they never learned where I had schooled. They knew I had enough money to build a fairy castle in a magic mine, but not how I got that money. Melene and Suzanne might have DNA samples inside them, and the scratches on my back said that Shazeri and Cindy might have samples under their fingernails. But those would only help confirm me once I was found, they would not help find me.
In Week Three, the media stayed hot on the story, but with a new angle. They sensed something wrong when no description of the kidnapper was forthcoming, and no reason was given for not having one. The hostages had spent months with me, clearly there should be a better description forthcoming. The rumors of something "rotten in Denmark" got hotter when Melene, Suzanne and Beth started talking, and claimed they had not been treated badly. Shazeri and Young-gai still said nothing. The parents of Cindy and Soo-Min spoke for them saying their daughters' psyche's had been deeply damaged -- they wouldn't let their daughters speak directly to the media. The media was having a blast again, and this time the psychology pundits were all over the situation.
The girls did return to school that term, and they all did well on their finals. Melene and Suzanne's jobs had long ago been refilled, so they would cool their heels until next year. In the meantime, they started working together, and with the girls, on a group memoire. The media people were slathering for the rights to it. They got started by offering a half million, and when it became clear that just one book would come from the whole group, it went to two million.
I remained unfindable. At the beginning of the school year and at Christmas time I sent e-mails, and watched carefully for a media response. There was none. Good. My ladies were staying solid.
In February I sent them another mail, this time with a reply address. I got a reply from a nondescript free e-mail account. When I traced it back, it came from an Internet cafe account in a nearby city. It read,
"We are doing fine. The children are eagerly waiting for you to get home -- all of them. -- Enelem"
Hot Doggies!! I had won, and won big!!
It was time to set up a triumphal reunion.
-- The End --