Standoff

Standoff (Book on 6 CD's), Sandra Brown, read by Enid Graham, 2000 , Simon & Schuster Audio.

Tiel McCoy was a high-powered television reporter for a mid-range station in Texas. As she was driving to her vacation destination in New Mexico, she heard a report on her car radio and decided to see if she could get a scoop. A high school couple are on the run. The report stated that the boy, Ronny Davidson, had kidnapped the girl, Sabra Dendy. Tiel found herself in a convenience store in Rojo Flats, a spot that is not even on the map. She was intending to interview Ronny's father but she is now lost. While she is in the store, on the pay phone talking to her boss, Gulley, a cowboy comes in. Also with her are two Mexican men, the first whom she names Juan and the second Two, an elderly couple, Gladys and Vern, who are on their honeymoon. The clerk's name is escapes me. Then, in comes a young couple, he brandishing a pistol, she eight months pregnant. This is how she meets the subjects of her story. The girl goes into labor, which causes the standoff. Her father, a multimillionaire used to getting his own way, has passed the story she heard on the radio but actually, they are in love and want to be married. The cowboy was once a doctor who had a bad case of negative publicity. He delivers the baby. The two Mexicans are noted people smugglers (and the one nicknamed Juan) is actually an undercover agent who is trying to bring the other down. The FBI agent who hold them at bay outside, a decent level-headed fellow works with the local Sheriff, also a decent level-headed fellow. At the end of the standoff, as the hostages were being released with no one hurt, Dendy, the girl's father, pulls out a deer rifle and shoots the boy. The Mexican agent is the only one who sees the rifle and he breaks his own cover to tackle the despot. The boy is seriously shot not mortally. And, in the end it appears that Tiel and the cowboy, who goes by the name Doc, will be more than just trauma mates.

19-Jun-2001