Brutal Honesty-Part Fourteen

Right here. Right now. This has to end somehow. Thoughts raged in a storm in Casie Schwartz's head. But she needed to concentrate. She needed to focus. Her blurred vision cleared and she realized the scenery was different. The living room windows were shattered and an FBI Hostage Rescue Team was in the room, weapons drawn, but no triggers had been pulled. Yet. She realized she was being held, and that her mother was holding her. But not because she loved her. Not because she was trying to protect her daughter. Because Casie was a means to an end.

Unfortunately, now Marianne Schwartz had many more problems and many more loose ends than just Casie Schwartz and her partner, Natalie Schultz. Now there were thirty-five FBI agents in the room, not to mention Eugene Kaufman, a Secret Service Agent, who also happened to be her daughter's fiancé.

Dimitri Youngblood, too, was here. So where was Treali Storm? It was no matter. If the fugitive decided to leave, all the better, because then she would be gone forever from Marianne Schwartz's life. The living room in Casie's house was richly furnished, with immaculate white chairs and sofas and a pleasant fireplace, where even now a log was burning. On the walls hung art that Natalie had painted, and a grand piano graced the room at the other end. The lush carpet was imported from Persia, and the hardwood floors beautifully polished now were covered in broken glass. The carpet was covered with the muddy footprints of the HRT. Soft incandescent light fell upon the unusual group locked in passive conflict in the center of the room.

"Don't shoot!" Casie said to the FBI agents, casting a pleading glance around the room. Marianne pressed the barrel of her gun into the side of Casie's head.

"Listen to her," Marianne advised. "It is best you don't shoot. Because if you do, I will, too. And you won't be getting her back."

Two agents had moved closer to Natalie, who lay helpless on the sofa.

"Stop!" Marianne barked. "You take any step towards Natalie Schultz and Casie Schwartz will die. This will go my way. Not yours."

"Mom, don't do this," Casie begged.

"I'll do what I please," Marianne growled, not looking at her daughter.

"You can't," Dimitri interjected. "There's still me. I promise you I will testify against you if you kill either one of them. They'll know everything."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Yes. I would."

Marianne shrank back, not sure what to do or say. She dragged her hostage with her. No one moved. No one spoke. You might have heard a pin drop. Eugene glanced nervously at the agents to his left and right, sweat dripping off his brow. What to do, what to say, all logic left him. He stood, frozen in time, wishing so badly that he could run up to Marianne Schwartz and tear his future bride away from her, shoot Marianne down...But of course he wouldn't. Eugene Kaufman was a professional. He didn't act on raw emotion. He saw something moving, then, someone, behind Marianne. But she didn't notice.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the woman next to him jabbed her elbow into his ribs. Eugene remained silent. The mysterious figure behind Marianne moved, suddenly, so fast he almost didn't see it. Judge Yosef Schwartz was a powerful man, albeit nonviolent, but he caught his wife from behind, startling her enough where she dropped the gun. HRT didn't need a command; they rushed forward, putting both Marianne Schwartz and Dimitri Youngblood in handcuffs. It was over.

Treali Storm was alone, contemplating the life of Dimitri Youngblood. She knew he would face serious charges, and possibly even the death penalty. But she also knew that he would never go to trial. Dimitri Youngblood wouldn't be released, or pardoned, but he wasn't going to trial. Storm herself had nothing more to do with him. Still, she thought sadly, it would be such a waste, such a terrible sin, to cut off the life of Dimitri Youngblood. He will not be killed, she thought to herself. Not by another.

<a href=http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977219727> Part Fifteen, the Grand Finale</a>