11:15 PM NEW ORLEANS

Kari struggles against her attacker, but he pulls her up against the wall, illuminated by the moonlight. Her eyes widen as she recognizes Jason Merriman. His grip loosens and she tries to push him away.

“Let me go! I have to save Richard from Gerard.”

Merriman holds her back. “It’s too late for that. Do you want to throw away your whole career?”

“I don’t care.” She pushes him away.

He tightens his grip on her arm as though trying to squeeze sense into her. “Think about it, Kari! How can you help Kimble if you’re in jail yourself?”

She stops struggling. “God, what have I done?”

“Nothing we can’t salvage, I hope!”

She fingers the jumpdrive in her pocket as though it were a talisman. “What can we do?”

“Just follow my lead.”

AT THE FRONT OF THE WAREHOUSE

Gerard slips the handcuffs on Kimble, hearing them close with a satisfying click. “I’ve waited a long time for this. The only thing I will enjoy more is arresting Holmes.”

Kimble rolls his eyes and says, “Holmes had nothing to do with this.  I forced her to help me.”

“Oh, and I thought she was forcing you to help her. Nice try, Doctor. But Holmes will pay for this!”

“Don’t you even want to know what we’re doing here?”

Gerard smirks. “I’m sure it has something to do with the one-armed man.”

“Charnquist is dead. His wife killed him 10 minutes ago. You might still be able to catch her.”

“No dice. I’m afraid that’s outside of my jurisdiction.”

“You don’t want to find out the truth, do you?”

“I already know the truth! Now where is Agent Holmes?”

Behind them, a defiant voice calls, “Right here, Captain!”

Gerard turns while still keeping his gun trained on Kimble . “AD Merriman, I’m glad that you got here.” He looks at Kari. “Agent Holmes, you’re under arrest for aiding and abetting.”

Kimble turns around as AD Jason Merriman walks up to Gerard without saying a word and gives him a good left hook, knocking him to the ground.

“I warned you, Gerard, about going after my agent.” 

Gerard gets up holding his jaw and says, “Agent Holmes destroyed herself. She assaulted a fellow officer of the law and even tried to kill me and aided and abetted a fugitive. I have witnesses that they were together at the Majestic Hotel since yesterday.”

“Oh please Gerard, I’m an expert markswoman and Olympic Gold Medalist remember?” Kari says. “I shot the gun out of your hand!  I’m insulted that you would think that was an accident!  If I had wanted to shoot you, believe me I would have shot you!”

Merriman silences her with a look and turns to Gerard. “Agent Holmes was there on my orders! You interfered in a major government sting operation.  Why do you think you got no backup from the NOPD or from the FBI field office here in New Orleans? The government has been wanting to get their hands on Charnquist and a leader in organized crime by the name of Palazollo for a long time.  Kimble made the perfect bait for it. Fortunately, Agent Hilliard called me and told me what you were up to. If this operation fails, it will be on your head.”

“I gave that woman strict instructions not to call anyone. I’ll have her fired for insubordination.”

“I don’t think so.  You’re orders were that she wasn’t to call Holmes, you never said anything about calling anyone else. Besides, I was already on to you.  That little ruse you used to find out where Holmes was by telling the FBI operator that Kyle had been in a car accident…”

Kari interjects, “Say what?”

“Holmes, your brother is fine.  The operator made a procedural mistake.  He was supposed to check out your status before he gave any information to Gerard.  He didn’t realize that you were under cover until after he gave the information out. He called me immediately about Gerard’s call. Between that call and Eve Hilliard’s, I knew it only meant one thing.” He looked pointedly at Gerard. “Captain Gerard was butting in where he had no business, which is why I grabbed the first flight out of DC that I could get.  Gerard called me while I was in baggage claim.”

“I’m head of the task force. I should have been informed!”

“We had our reasons.”

Gerard rolls his eyes.” “You expect me to believe that Holmes was on to this the whole time and using Kimble just to get Charnquist?  I don’t buy that for a minute.”

“I don’t care what you believe. That’s what’s going down into my official report.”

“I still don’t believe that Holmes only motivation was getting Charnquist.  Her specialty is cold case files, not finding people involved with organized crime.”

Kimble interjects, “You’re unbelievable Gerard, you’re questioning Holmes’s motives when you invited her to be on your task force in the first place?”

“Shut up, Kimble!”

“Why don’t you take these cuffs off of me and make me!”

Gerard looks like he’s going to hit Kimble in his cuffed state when Kari steps forward and says, “Captain Gerard, there’s something that you need to know.  You’re right, I haven’t been completely honest with you where Charnquist is concerned.”

Jason says, “Holmes..don’t.”  Kari looks at Richard and even he is nodding negatively to her.

Kari takes a deep breath and says, “No, it’s all right.  He’s dead.  He can’t hurt me or anyone else ever again.  He’s the one who did something wrong, not me.  Captain Gerard, Charnquist is a cold case file for me…he’s my cold case. When I was not quite nineteen years old, I was attending Tulane University and one night after staying at the library too late, I was attacked on my way back to the dorm.”

“Attacked?”

“OK, I’ll say it.  I was raped.”  Gerard looks at her questioningly.  Kari goes on and says, “My attacker was Ben Charnquist.  That’s why I got sick in the hotel room in California when I saw his picture.  My motivations were somewhat personal here.  I wanted to get the person who had harmed me years ago and get him off the streets.”

Gerard then says, “Wait a minute, Holmes, if you honestly expect me to believe that Charnquist attacked you when you were in college, you’re barking up the wrong tree, this is way too convenient.”

“Do you honestly think I would lie about a thing like that?” Kari walks up to Gerard very fast and gives him a good knee to the groin as hard as she can give it and he goes down to the floor in agony.  “I’ll be happy to show you the police report!” Kari yells.

Merriman pulls Kari back. “Use your head, Gerard! Why do you think I agreed to let Kari join the task force? Kimble was looking for answers and we needed to find out what he knew. He and Kari trusted each other and they shared a common enemy. It was a gift! If you hadn’t asked for Agent Holmes on the task force, I would have suggested it to you myself!”

 In his agony Gerard groans, “OK, I believe you, but her behavior is not professional!”

“Really?  At least I went after the real person who raped me. You’ve been pursuing Kimble, pretending all these years that he’s Jackson Menzies III!  Why do you think I never worked sex crimes where the victim was still alive?  I knew I could never be objective!”

Gerard has no answer as he’s still in deep agony. Merriman looks over at Kari. “Gerard has more to answer for than that.”

As Kimble and Kari stare at him and Kimble says, “What exactly are you referring to here?”

“Dr. Kimble, I’m sure you know that a bounty hunter was hired to have you taken out.”  Kimble nods affirmatively. “Carl Vasick!”

Merriman continues, “What you don’t know is that Chief McLaren, Gerard’s former boss put Vasick in touch with your father-in-law, Matthew Ross, in this sick murder for hire plot.  When Gerard found out about it, instead of taking everything to the DA to prosecute all three of them, he simply used it to blackmail himself into the promotion as the head of the Chicago Fugitive Task Force.” He glares at Gerard who is staggering to his feet. “Your old friend, Linda Westershulte, will testify to that.  In fact, as we speak, she’s giving a full statement to the DA and internal affairs!  I woke them all up and demanded it!”

Both Kari’s and Kimble’s jaws have dropped to the floor as they are speechless.  Kimble finally says, “Are you telling me that Gerard had the opportunity to start investigating my father-in-law and his possible business dealings and he didn’t do it?” 

“Pretty much!”

Kari says, “I have never been so disgusted in my life.  Gerard, you are worse than a criminal!  A criminal is at least honest about who and what he is!”

Kimble is so angry he walks up to Gerard as he’s finally recovering from the groin shot and he kicks Gerard in the stomach and says, “DAMN YOU!  DAMN YOU TO HELL!”  He throws in one more kick to Gerard’s back for good measure.

Gerard now looks like he’s going to be physically ill manages to say, “DAMN ME, DAMN YOU KIMBLE! YOU’RE STILL GOING DOWN!”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t heard the fat lady sing for me yet but she appears to be singing for you!  Can I please make a request, Merriman!?”

“What is it, Dr. Kimble?”

“Can I please go back to Chicago with someone other than him.  I’m sick of his face!  In fact, if I ever see his face again…it will be too soon!”

Jason shrugs his shoulders and says, “You’ve got it. I’ll assign one of my agents.”

Gerard still on the floor recovering manages to say, “Wait, I’m still the head of the Fugitive Task Force and Kimble is MY PRISONER!”

Merriman turns back to Gerard and says,  “Sorry, Captain, I knew I was forgetting to tell you something.  As soon as I made the phone call your current boss put you on suspension and Eve Hilliard has been put in charge of the Fugitive Task Force.  I suggest you get yourself a good lawyer.”

 Kimble and Kari can’t help but smirk slightly at Gerard as they walk away with  Jason toward the police van outside the warehouse.  As they approach the van, Kimble says, “AD Merriman, in spite of the fact that I’ve been arrested, you have made my day!”

Jason says, “Dr. Kimble, I believe you’re innocent.  We’re going to work very hard to get you out of Joliet.”  Kimble nods and looks longingly at Kari as he gets into the van.

Kari reluctantly watches and says, “Jason, can’t I… ”

“Not a good idea, Kari. Besides I want you in Chicago first thing in the morning for the meeting between Ross and Palazollo. Kimble can’t be moved until we get the extradition papers.”

Kari looks back as Gerard walks past, the picture of defeat, “Aren’t you going to arrest him?”

“He hasn’t been officially charged yet. That will have to wait. Gerard’s destroyed his life over the pursuit of Kimble and he knows it. He’ll go back to Chicago or he’ll become just like the man he hated - a fugitive.  Speaking of a fugitive, what is going on between you and Kimble?”

Kari gets a look on her face and says, “I’m not sure Jason.  I guess we’ll figure it out once he’s exonerated.  Oh, Jason! I almost forgot, we’ve got Renee Charnquist in custody.  I arrested her and turned her over to your agents on the other side of the warehouse.  I gave them her gun to run through ballistics.  She’s the one who killed Ben Charnquist in the warehouse.”

“Good, here’s your redeye plane ticket back to Chicago. I’ll deal with Renee. He looks at Kimble in the car. “With Charnquist dead, we need her evidence to convict Palazollo and free Kimble.”

Kari reaches inside her shirt and retrieves a small tape player. “This may help you persuade her. And this.” She drops a small sparkling diamond in his hand.

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