10:30 PM
The hotel manager stands outside the hotel door, fiddling with the keys. “Stop the banging. It may be Halloween, but enough’s enough.” He swings the door open angrily, only to stop short as he spots Gerard through the bathroom door, still handcuffed to the sink. He takes the keys from the table and unlocks the cuffs on Gerard’s wrists. “Get out of here. I don’t allow no kinky stuff here.”
Gerard pulls the tape from his mouth, flinching at the pain. He pulls out his badge. “Captain Phillip Gerard, Fugitive Task Force, Chicago.” The man gives him a worried look but Gerard ignores him, taking out a pocket knife and freeing his legs. Like a madman, he begins to search the hotel room, throwing its contents helter-skelter, until he stops abruptly. He grabs the papers on the floor, staring at the Mapquest directions to Crystal Clear. He then picks up the gun that Kari shot out of his hand.
“I’ll see you both in jail!” he says, running from the room with the directions clenched in his fist.
Behind him, the night manager calls helplessly, “Who’s going to pay for this?” But Gerard is already gone. As he walks out of the hotel, he takes out his cell phone and dials a number. “AD Merriman? This is Capt. Gerard. I think you’ll be interested in knowing what your star agent has done!”
10:45 PM AT THE WAREHOUSE
Charnquist smiles menacingly at Kari. “Take your gun out and drop it,” he says as he’s pointing the gun right between her eyes. Kari, still with rubber gloves on her hands, very slowly reaches for her gun and drops it. “Now let’s go find your boyfriend,” he says, pleased at the look of surprise on her face.
He motions for her to start walking. He
decides to taunt her. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue? You weren’t
one for words that night at the university either, were you, Agent Holmes?”
As Kari stops in shock, he prods her with the gun. “Yeah, I know who you are.
Its been bothering me ever since I saw you and Kimble buddy-buddy outside
that school in
Kari’s eyes narrow with raw hate. She turns around and confronts her attacker once and for all. “Listen, you piece of filth. What you did to me was many things, but a character building experience it was not! And while we’re talking about character, what about yours?
“What are you talking about?”
“Your dismal life. I know all about it. How your mommy left you and granddaddy abused you, your drug abuse, your pathetic record with the CIA.”
“Shut up! You don’t know anything. I did some pretty awful things in the name of God and country and those self-righteous sons-of-bitches turned their backs on me. So I went with the highest bidder. It’s the American way.”
“Oh you’ve got a rationalization for everything don’t you? The fact is, you’re a washout who couldn’t even handle a simple kidnapping…why does Palazollo keep you around?”
“Shut up and walk!”
Kari turns around with her hands still up in the air and continues to walk. “Tell me Ben, I’ve always wanted to know. Why me on that night? I looked at your psyche file and while you were the perfect candidate to handle assassinations in covert operations, you were never deemed an out of control sex predator…so why that night?”
Charnquist’s eyebrows raise and he says, “What can I say? I was having a bad day and a bad drug trip and I always wanted to know what it was like.”
“You’re a real piece of work, I’m going to enjoy taking you down!”
“Who’s got the gun, Holmes?”
Kari stops walking, turns around and says, “Why haven’t you shot me? You’ve killed before. What about Helen Kimble?”
He smiles and says, “Helen Kimble shouldn’t have tried to be Superwoman.”
“So you killed her.”
“She was causing trouble.”
“So you killed her.”
“Palazollo had plans for her.”
“No he didn’t! They wanted Becca, but you screwed up. First you went after the wrong daughter and second, you killed her.”
“Shut up!”
Kari hears the anger in his voice and senses she has gone too far. Sensing the blow coming, she ducks and swerves away.
All of a sudden, a shot rings out and the lights above Kari and Charnquist go out, leaving them both in darkness. Kari sees the quick flash of a flashlight and runs for cover, but Charnquist hears her movement and shoots in her direction. She shudders and falls too far in front of Kimble for him catch her. He sees her head hit the concrete floor with a thud as blood spurts from her back.
Kimble screams. “Kari!” He has a look of horror on his face as he reaches for her, but Charnquist uses the distraction to wrench Gerard’s gun from his hand and toss it into the darkness. “Don’t grieve Kimble, you get to join her and Helen right now!” He fires but his gun is empty. He has a perplexed look on his face.
Kimble screams, “YOU MURDERER!” He lunges
at Charnquist and begins to beat him, all his pent-up anger let loose. He
gets Charnquist in a choke hold and begins to choke him as he did in
Kimble keeps his hand on his throat and says, “I’ve got nothing left to live for!” In desperation, Charnquist finds the strength to break loose and roll on top of Kimble. Suddenly a gunshot goes off and Charnquist shudders in Kimble’s arms and his body grows slack. As Kimble looks around in shock, he spots a glimpse of a woman with red-hair pointing a gun out of the darkness. “Renee!”
Renee
stares calmly at her husband. Charnquist gasps for air and manages to say,
“Hey, Baby, you got here just in time.”
“Sorry, Ben, I’m going to paradise, but you can go straight to hell!”
“Renee, what are you talking about? You’re my wife!”
She raises her eyebrows and says, “Not anymore!” She fires three times, twice into Ben’s chest and once between the eyes. His lifeless body falls to the floor.
Kimble looks at the scene in horror, staring at the one-armed man on the warehouse floor who died without confessing to killing Helen. Renee is unfazed. “I’m afraid the time has come for us to part company, Doctor.” She aims the gun at Kimble. “Palazollo wants ALL the loose ends tied up!”
All of a sudden sirens are heard in the distance. Renee fires the gun at Kimble as he dives behind a crate into the darkness.
Renee looks frightened. As the sirens move closer, she makes her decision. She turns and disappears around a corner.
Kimble runs over to Kari’s body. As he gets close to her, he stops in shock as he hears her moaning and saying, “Sonovabitch! That hurt!” Kimble kneels down next to her and sees that the blood is actually fake and she was vested the whole time.
He runs his hand over her face and she smiles at him. He hugs her to him. “I thought I lost you… like I lost Helen!”
“Richard I told you not to tell me how to do my job…if you’re going into a sting operation and there’s a chance that you could be shot, make sure the perp thinks he’s killed you.” She looks around and sees Ben Charnquist’s dead body. “What happened?” she asks in shock.
“Renee. She killed Charnquist. She was going to kill me but the sirens...”
The sound of sirens pierces the air, coming closer. “Gerard!” Kari staggers to her feet. Kari says, “Where’s that other gun that you had?” He reaches over and hands it to her. “Which way did Renee go?” He points toward the back of the warehouse and Kari says, “I’ll go after her, you get out of here before Gerard shows up.”
Kimble quickly hands Kari the jump drive. “Here, these are all the files I could get. I hope I got to them before Renee did.” Kari nods and Kimble grabs her and kisses her and then runs out of the warehouse through the other side.
Kari leans down to take one final look at Charnquist, she lifts his wrist to feel for a pulse and there is nothing. She shakes her head and says, “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” She heads in the opposite direction.
THE BACK OF THE WAREHOUSE
Renee is starting to get in her car when she hears a gun cocked behind her head and a woman’s voice say, “FBI, Renee! Put your hands up!” She puts her hands up and slowly turns around and is shocked to see Kari Holmes.
“Aren’t you dead?”
“Ah Renee, don’t believe nasty rumors. Turn around, put your hands on the car and spread your legs.” Renee complies and Kari begins to give her the standard pat down. She finds the gun. She then says, “Renee Charnquist, I can’t believe what I’m about to do but you’re under arrest for the murder of Ben Charnquist and the attempted murder of Richard Kimble. You have the right to remain silent, if you give up the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided to you by the court. Do you understand these rights?” Renee nods affirmatively as Kari slaps the cuffs on her.
All of a sudden Kari hears a voice say, “Agent Holmes do you need some assistance?”
Kari is surprised to turn around and find two FBI agents. “Yes, take this woman into custody. There’s a dead body in the warehouse that belongs to Ben Charnquist. Run this gun through ballistics and I think you’ll find it was the gun this woman used to kill Ben Charnquist. Run a nitrate test on her hands.”
“No problem Agent Holmes…and AD Merriman is here and he’s looking for you.”
Kari raises her eyebrows and says, “AD Merriman is here now?”
“Yes, apparently he was called by Capt. Gerard and requested backup.”
“Oh no!”
11 PM AT THE FRONT OF THE WAREHOUSE
Kimble is checking to see if the coast is clear when all of a sudden he hears Gerard’s voice right behind him yelling, “Kimble, it’s over! Put your hands up!” He fires a warning shot close to Kimble’s head to emphasize the point. Kimble has no choice but to comply.
At the other end of the warehouse, Kari has re-entered it, hears the shot and stops in her tracks. A hand reaches out of the darkness, holding her mouth shut and forcibly dragging her into a side room.