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AS PREDICTED
He would do this now. He had to. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to live with himself. He walked into the drugstore, conveniently situated just 1 minute from TV News. Trying to appear fearsome, he pulled out the machine gun and fired into the ceiling. Shrieks of terror. Ashen faces everywhere. The sound of a child crying, quickly muffled.
"You!" he yelled, pointing to the shopkeeper, "Call TV News and the police and get them down here NOW!" For a moment the shopkeeper looked completely perplexed, but a threatening motion of the machine gun sent him scurrying.
The cameras were there, as predicted, in under 2 minutes. The police, as predicted, took 15. In the meantime he explained to the customers cum hostages that he really wasn't a madman - he just needed to get on the TV to warn the world about an extremely dangerous preservative being used in a certain well-known food brand, made by the company for which he worked. He had tried to alert his superiors, he continued, but they were too focused on the profit margins to risk his claim being verified. The police arrived just as he finished.
****
"Good day," boomed a voice over the megaphone, "my name is Sergeant Erasmus. I am your negotiator. I am your only hope. Come out and speak to me."
As predicted, the suspect complied. His profile had been studied. He was a first offender. A factory worker. A quiet family man.
As predicted, the bullet hit him squarely between the shoulder blades. He was felled with one shot.