Chapter Fifteen: Do You Feel Like Swimming?

"Come on, Charlie. Answer your phone."

After waiting for three more rings, Don slammed the phone shut in frustration.

Once he got the SUV on the straight stretch of Highway Ten, David punched the gas. He turned his attention away from the road to glance at his boss.

"Colby and Megan were way ahead of us, Don. They should be there by now."

Shaking his head, Don smashed his fist into the dash of the SUV.
"Damn it. How did I not see this coming? We should have had an agent on the Whitney family from the very beginning."

Bringing the SUV off the South La Cienega Boulevard exit, David hit the lights and sirens before merging into traffic.
"Don. There's no way any of us could have known."

Putting the palm of his hand against his forehead, Don took a deep breath.
"I should have known. I should have guessed."

David maneuvered the SUV though a red light as he tried to reassure Don.
"It's a party, right? So the place will be crowded."

Putting one hand behind his neck Don sighed.
"She was willing to drive two cars off a bridge to get this guy all to herself. She blew it the first time. I don't think a room full of people is going to stop her now."

David shook his head, his expression reflecting uncertainty.
"Wouldn't she realize that once he knows what she tried to do...….."

"She's too far gone for that to matter."
Don glanced at the road ahead of them.
"It's left on Holloway."

Yanking the wheel sharply to the left, David almost missed the turn.
"She may have just skipped town, Don. We don't even know if she's headed for the Whitney's."

"No. We do. When you 'love' someone enough to kill their wife and three kids………..you don't just give up and leave town."

The two agents exchanged glances and David gave a subtle nod.

"I'm sure Charlie's fine, Don. Hell, he probably didn't even go."

Don shook his head with certainly.
"No. He went. There's his car."

As they pulled up next to the luxurious apartment building, Don pointed out Charlie's small two door coupe in the limited parking on the street. Charlie didn't like to drive and the economical automobile spent most of it's time hidden behind the garage.

Parked at the rear of the car was a dark blue Tahoe with the front bumper smashed in.

Don grabbed his phone and hit number two on his speed dial.
"Megan? She's in there. And so is Charlie."

Her voice was strong and steady in his ear.
"We're in the elevator, Don. We'll go as far up as we can without the key. But then we'll have to take the stairs up to the penthouse."

"David's calling for backup, we'll cover the front."

Praying that Charlie was nowhere near this psycho bitch when Megan and Colby got to the roof, Don hesitated before he hung up his phone.
"Megan."

He didn't even have to ask a question or give an order before Megan replied.
"You got it."
………………………………...

Putting his left hand out in front of his chest, Charlie took a step toward Tabitha. Just as he expected her to, she reacted by swinging the pistol in his direction.

"Don't come any closer!"

Taking advantage of the distraction Charlie provided, Allison stepped sideways to put herself between her two children and the woman holding the weapon. With her hands behind her she grabbed her oldest daughter's shoulders and pulled her up close to her back.

Tabitha swung the gun back at Allison.
"Damn it! Stop moving!"

Charlie started to take another step toward her, hoping to redirect the gun again, but the elder Mrs. Whitney chose that moment to return with Charlie's drink. She opened the door and waltzed onto the balcony.

Any hope of talking Tabitha Karney down from the proverbial ledge she was balanced on was gone when Mrs. Whitney spotted the gun in her hand. She opened up her mouth and released a scream that the horror queens of cinema would be proud of. Dropping the glass in her hand, the older woman's shriek ended abruptly as she fell to the ground in a dead faint.

The party came to screeching halt as everyone inside the penthouse froze. Charlie could see the panic in Tabitha's eyes as she swung the gun in a wide arch. She hesitated as it passed in front of Allison and her children.

Without thinking, Charlie took that second step.
"Tabitha, don't"

She instantly swung the gun in his direction again.
"WHY THE HELL NOT, HUH?"

Knowing that two years ago he might have actually peed his pants in a situation like this, Charlie was surprised at the boldness of his own actions. Trying not to focus on the gun pointed at his chest, Charlie looked around at everyone who was still hovering in sight of the conflict. Several people inside were clearing the children out into a back room and Charlie could see a straight path through the penthouse to the elevator doors. Despite the fear that this unstable individual evoked in him, Charlie took another step forward trying to imagine what Don would say to her.

"Because nothing is worth this?"

"That's where you're wrong. This…."
She motioned around her.
"This is all I ever wanted."

Terrified of saying the wrong thing, Charlie forced himself to keep up his end of the conversation. Don would try to keep her talking.
"And this is how you're going to get it?"

"Yes! NO! I…..I DON'T KNOW!"
Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked intently at Charlie.
"He'll find out now, won't he? He'll never forgive me. Robert was never supposed to know. He would have thought it was an accident."

Her voice was hushed and mournful and she began to sob softly. Her attention was fully focused on Charlie now, and Tabitha didn't notice as Allison slowly started backing up, ushering her daughter further away from the scene.

Charlie tried to remember the times he had seen Don talking to witnesses, and sometimes suspects. The way he handled things…..the way he would try to let them know or make them think he was on their side. The elevator doors again got his attention and Charlie had a sudden burst of inspiration.

"Tabitha, I think we should leave."

"What?"
She blinked several times as if coming out of a trance.

Convinced that the main focus should be getting her and that gun as far away from the Whitney's as possible, Charlie tried again a little more forcefully than before.
"I think we should leave. Come on. I'll walk you out, okay?"

She nodded her head slowly, looking puzzled.
"Yes. You're right. I wouldn't want him to see me like this. I shouldn't be here right now."

"Right."
Charlie took a step, toward the door this time, moving slowly.
"Come on."

Almost like a lost dog tailing someone home, Tabitha followed Charlie towards the back door of the penthouse. Carefully stepping over the crumpled body of the inebriated matron on the floor, Charlie turned to back himself through the door. If she was going to crack and just start shooting, he wanted to at least see it coming.

The room cleared as they entered; those who had dared to stay and watch ducking into side rooms to stay out of the line of fire. With his heart pounding, Charlie reached around behind him with his left hand and hit the button that would call the elevator to the penthouse level. Facing the disturbed woman as she stopped almost directly in front of him Charlie tried to focus on her face rather than the gun that was now aimed at his stomach. Watching her eyes, he was startled to see them shift as if they were just coming into focus. She shook her head and glanced around the room.

"They won't let me just walk out of here, you know."

Trying to get her attention focused back on him, Charlie decided to continue his attempt to keep her talking.
"You haven't hurt anybody here today, Tabitha."

She shook her head frantically.
"That doesn't matter!"

The soft, confused voice was gone now and an angry assertiveness had taken it's place.
"I hurt Robert! He's the only one that matters!"

Charlie could see the woman literally coming unraveled. The hysterical pitch of her voice was almost as frightening as the gun she still had leveled at him.
"I have to get out of here."

It was the only thing she had said that made sense and Charlie nodded quickly in agreement. If he could just keep things calm around them, he might be able to at least get her out of the penthouse and away from the family she wanted so desperately to destroy.

Then something happened that he had not anticipated.
The bathroom door just down the hall from the elevator opened and Hannah Whitney walked out. The child was singing to herself and didn't even look up as she walked into the main room.

"Hannah!"
Allison Whitney's voice echoed through the room from where she was standing in the balcony doorway and the little girl froze in her tracks.

The sound of the mother's frantic voice seemed to push Tabitha over the edge. She took two steps forward and shoved the gun into Charlie's chest. Her sudden burst of aggression caught him off guard and he gasped, taking a step back.

"Pick her up!"

Shaking his head, Charlie looked at the little girl.
"No. You don't need………."

"I SAID, PICK HER UP!"
Tabitha was screaming each word at the top of her lungs.

Trying to keep his legs from shaking Charlie turned his eyes back to the gun shoved into his chest.

"O..okay."

The woman stepped to the side and shoved the weapon into Charlie's ribs. Taking a step forward, Charlie hoped that Hannah wouldn't try to run. The now six year old looked startled, but made no move to flee from him. Her eyes went from him to the gun and then back again. She obviously knew just what a gun was and just what it could do. Meeting the child's eyes, Charlie nodded at her and she nodded back. As Charlie picked her up with his good arm, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"Hannah, noooooo…….."
Allison's wailing voice cut through him as he tightened his one armed grip around Hannah's back.

It seemed that the more upset those around her got the more hysterical that the gun toting woman became.
"Shut up! Just shut up!"

"Mommy?"
The child was even more confused and frightened by the tone of her mother's voice and she turned her head to find her mother's face.
"Mommy?"

The elevator opened in front of them and Tabitha shoved the gun hard into Charlie's back prompting him to step in.

"TABITHA! PLEASE….NO!"
Allison made her way toward the elevator as the doors closed, but Tabitha paid no attention to her.

Just as the doors slid shut, Charlie heard several sounds at once.

There was a bang like a door being slammed open.

And a familiar masculine voice rang out in the room.
"FBI……don't move."

Then the door sealed and the elevator began its downward journey.

"Colby."

Charlie said the agent's name out loud knowing full well it was too late now. Hoping he knew FBI procedure as well as he thought he did, Charlie began to play over the possible scenarios when they reached the lobby and from there, the parking lot.

There would be agents down there, agents who knew him. Don might even be here if Colby was. Megan and David too.

And Tabitha was right about one thing.

There was no way in hell they were going to let her walk out of here.

………………………………

Chapter Sixteen: How Long Can You Hold Your Breath?