He Wants to Chat

38.

Time, as it speeds through eternity, is now painfully, ethically and morally slow. 

Five…..Davis sees the bigger picture, the one of jihad against the infidel Americans who hold a different allegiance to a different prophet. He flips the morality card showing the carnage of a hundred-thousand innocent people sacrificed for the cause of vengeance, a vindictive and violent secular retribution for the felony of freedom. He sees and smells the two towers spitting sparks like a roman candle on his uncle's birthday. Any collateral damage, no matter how heinous or horrible will likely save thousands from a similar fiery fate. 

Four….As if a coming attraction for the main feature to follow, he sees Harry Truman sitting at a giant mahogany conference table surrounded by the birds of war; Ravens, falcons, crows, hawks and doves. They chirp and caw in a cacophony of fear. Killing a thousand civilians to hasten an end to a world at war with itself is the prudent choice. It is the humane decision, one that will surely save countless American lives. It is putting the definitive end to man's inhumanity to man. 

Three…He must keep his eyes unblinking and locked on Prince. There cannot be the slightest hint of a bluff. If Price sees, hears, intuits or senses anything but absolute cold-steel resolution, the game is over. 

One of the captives yells for Prince to talk, finishing his plea with a head gesture indicating that the girls life is worth way more than any proprietary information. Prince eyes a raft of daggers in his direction, but does take a quick glance towards his daughter and then back to the frozen, ambivalent gaze from Davis.

Two..For emphasis Calahan fires a pair of shots into the ceiling. THERE ARE TWO SECONDS BETWEEN NOW AND YOUR INNOCENT DAUGHTER'S MEET-UP WITH YOUR GOD, MOTHERFUCKER. Davis slides the safety release on his semi-automatic assault rifle and is about to beg forgiveness when he hears Neumann in a command voice call "Abort, abort."

One. Calahan hears it as well and immediately points his piece skyward awaiting further instructions. 

Neumann is reporting that Prince must've been on a conference call just prior to the raid and that his computer is still open and unsecured. In the ten minutes since they assumed control of the situation he has been opening files, gathering intel and amassing enough data to render any live confession redundant. Neumann ends the saga with a guarantee that he has what they need.  He is also saying that he has Prince's boss, who he believes to be either the number one or two guy on a Skype video call. 

And that he wants to chat.