Chapter 10 Tuesday, 1330 hours (1:30 PM)

Jack and Joshua were walking to Brian's office, Joshua a few steps in the lead. Jack wondered what he'd say about beating the kid. He had no particular problem with inflicting pain on his contemporaries, nor indeed on himself. But hitting a little kid didn't feel right.

Brian had been in his office in Zoo Central and was annoyed when he heard of the escape. He was going to release the kids and now he couldn’t. A few minutes later, Brian heard about Jeffrey's beating. He was livid. There went his shoot. Brian phoned for Jack to come and explain himself.

A few minutes later, Jack and Joshua arrived.

"So now we beat up little kids," said Brian hotly. He was looking directly at Jack. Brian knew of Joshua's complicity in the beating, but he didn't feel strong enough to confront Joshua directly.

"I’m sorry," said Jack. "I just lost my temper when I saw that the scouts weren’t there and the little brat wouldn’t tell me where they’d gone."

Joshua didn’t say anything.

Brian shrugged his shoulders and sat down at his desk. "Perhaps we should surrender. We’ve made our point," he said.

"What?" exploded Jack.

Joshua put a reassuring hand on Jack's arm.

"Don’t be silly. We haven’t BEGUN to make our point," said Joshua.

"I’m with Joshua," said Jack, "I'm not a quitter. You can leave if you want, but I'm going to see Operation Zoo through to the end."

Joshua transferred his reassuring hand from Jack's arm over to Brian's shoulder.

"Brian, I understand your feelings," said Joshua. " You're frustrated. You shouldn’t have to deal with the police negotiator. You're a gifted film director and should be concentrating on the videography. If we're going to get our message across, we need your brilliant talents. You're being wasted now."

Jack looked over at Joshua, wondering just what the man was up to.

Joshua went on. "Look. You do what you're great at, videography, and why don’t you let me handle the broadcasts and the negotiations. I’m good at that sort of thing."

While watching Brian thinking it over, Jack started to comprehend what Joshua was doing.

"Yeah, OK. You can do the broadcasts," said Brian, "Anyway, I feel more comfortable filming the talent than being it. Sure. It's OK with me. You do the talking and I’ll handle the film work."

Jack tried not to smile. Even though he liked a more direct approach himself, he had to hand it to Joshua. The guy was good, and with Joshua in charge of negotiations, things could get interesting.