Charlie’s palms were sweating. She couldn’t do it. This was crazy. Absolutely insane. Anne was going to see right through her. Officer O’Reilly, as she had come to know, looked at her with sad eyes. In the couple hours she had spent with him yesterday at her apartment and then at the station she had come to like him. He was a family guy, with a heart of gold. His two daughters meant the world to him, and he would do anything for them. He reminded her of her own dad. She trusted him. The two had developed a special bond in those few hours, especially after he found out she was dating one of the city’s finest athletes. He was a die-hard Flyers fan, just like she was, and they spent a lot of time talking about the team. She didn’t mind talking about them with him because she could tell he wasn’t a crazy stalker or anything. He just loved the sport and the team, and wanted to know everything he could. She couldn’t help but giggle at his shocked expression when Sean offered him tickets for his whole family for any home game of his choice.
“I know this is going to be hard.” He said. “Just do your best, okay? We have to be silent, but we’re here if you need help.”
She nodded. “I just wish Sean was here.” She admitted. Unfortunately their reunion only lasted the night, since he had to be on a plane this morning to Chicago. He was her comfort, and now she had to go through this without him. He had offered to ask to be a healthy scratch for the game to stay home with her, but she refused. He was not going to let her mess get in the way of his job.
“It’ll be alright.” He promised. With shaky hands she grabbed the generic cell phone from the desk and dialed the familiar number.

Wait. What if she didn’t answer? Was she supposed to leave a message?

“Hello?” Anne’s voice came through the speaker.
“H-Hey Anne. It’s Charlie.”
There was a pause. “Hello Charlie.” Anne was nervous, she could tell.
“Um. I was just wondering if you were around or anything?”
“Why?” Now she was a bit defensive.
“Well. Someone broke into my apartment yesterday. They took just about everything. I- I just need someone to be with.”
“Oh uhh- um. What- Did you call the police?”
This was going to be the hard part. Lying.
“Yeah but they’ve been absolutely no help at all.” She tried to sound frustrated. “They basically said that since there was no evidence of who did it, they couldn’t really help me. They let me file a report but that’s it.”
“No evidence at all?” Charlie could hear the enthusiasm in her voice. Bitch.
“No. There aren’t any cameras in my building and the door wasn’t busted in or anything. So they pretty much have nothing to go on. They said the lack of evidence is basically making it impossible for them to get any leads or anything.”
“Well... When would you want to get together? And where?”
“It doesn’t matter to me. Today, maybe? Sean is in Chicago and the other girls are busy with their own stuff. I really just need someone to have lunch with or something.”
“Okay. How about the restaurant we went to last time? Two o-clock?”
“Sounds perfect. Thank you so much.”
“See you then.” The line went dead.

“Do you think she believed it?” Charlie finally asked, looking up at Officer O’Reilly.
“I think you did a fantastic job. It sounded real to me.” He responded with a smile.
“What if she doesn’t show up?”
“Then we track her down another way. It’s not impossible. This is just the easiest way we can think of. You did your job. You’ve convinced her that we have no idea who did it. She’ll be feeling confident. And as soon as she gets comfortable, we’ll come in and arrest her.”
“You know this will work?”
“It has before. I don’t know why it wouldn’t this time.”
She knew he was doing his best to reassure her, and she was appreciative of his efforts. But it still just didn’t feel right.

---------------

“We’ll be right around the corner, Miss Coleman.” Detective Beck said as the female officer finished putting the wire on her.
“Why do I have to wear this?” Charlie asked.
“It’s just a precaution. If she says anything that could incriminate herself, we have it on record. We’ll be listening in to the conversation and that will help us know when to come in.”
“And if anything happens to me, you’ll know what was said.” Charlie deadpanned.
“I’m not going to lie to you, Charlie.” Officer O’Reilly said. “That is one reason why we do it. But this is standard procedure now. Any undercover operation, the person going in has to wear a wire. It’s more for the operations that are extremely dangerous, like a drug bust. We’re not expecting anything to go wrong. But we do have to cover our own asses in case it does.”
Although she still wasn’t completely comfortable, his words helped her calm down a little bit. They didn’t think this was too dangerous. She was going to be alright. Maybe.
“We’ll give you like 5 minutes. Then we’ll be coming in.”

She took a deep breath and exited the van. Her hands were shaking like crazy on the two minute walk around the corner to the restaurant. ‘Pull yourself together, Charlie.’ She thought to herself. ‘You saved hundreds of lives in Afghanistan. You’re one of the best at what you do because you don’t let your emotions effect you. You can do this.’ She reached the door and could see Anne seated at the same table they were at last time. “Here we go.” She mumbled.

“Hello, darling.” Anne said as Charlie took her seat. She looked as nervous as Charlie felt.
“H-Hey Anne.” Charlie stumbled. Shit. Pull it together!
“How are you?” So it was going to be formal.
“I’m doing okay, considering...”
“Right. How’s that going?” Anne was definitely nervous.
“It’s the same as before. They think they might have a lead, though.” That wasn’t a lie. Anne’s face flashed with fear. “Some homeless guy who apparently has been living behind the building said he saw some people hanging out that night.” That was a partial lie. There was a homeless guy living behind the building, but he wasn’t there that night.
“How much did he see?” She was digging. She wanted to know how much the police knew.
“Not much. He said there were four people. He kinda described two of them, but he wasn’t much help otherwise.” These were the longest five minutes of her life.

Anne’s eyes flickered to the door behind her and she jumped up. Charlie heard shouts and before she could process what was going on, Anne had her arm wrapped around her shoulder and a gun pointed to her head. “I knew I had to be prepared. You stupid bitch.” Anne said, pressing the barrel to her temple. Charlie could see the fear in the officers’ eyes. In the blink of an eye, this routine set up had become an incredibly dangerous situation. And Charlie was in the middle of it.

Fear paralyzed Charlie. But surprisingly, not for herself. Fear for her boyfriend. If Charlie was to die right now, at least Anne would still be arrested. But who would tell Sean that his girlfriend was shot? Who would comfort him when he realized she was dead? How would this affect his game? Hell, how would this affect all the guys’ game? He would probably blame himself for going to Chicago instead of staying with her. Her poor Sean would be devastated.

“Anne Johnson, put down your weapon and put your hands behind your head.” Officer O’Reilly said in a calm voice. Charlie felt the barrel press harder into her head. “I’m not going to say it again, put the gun down.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” Anne responded. “I had a feeling you were lying to me” She said to Charlie. “So I brought some insurance for myself.”

The crippling fear finally started to subside in Charlie. Why was she acting like such a pussy? She was military trained, specifically in dangerous situations like these. PJ’s constantly find themselves on the wrong side of the battle lines, fighting to save someone else’s life. This was no different, except this time it was Charlie’s life on the line. She knew what she had to do.

Trusting her instincts and her years of training, Charlie swiftly ducked her head and sent her elbow backwards into Anne’s chest. She heard the gun go off and Anne suck in a deep breath, doubling over. Her grip on Charlie’s shoulders loosened and she spun around, grabbing her wrist. She squeezed and brought her knee up to meet Anne’s face. Anne dropped the gun and her hands flew to her face, blood dripping from her nose.

Suddenly they were swarmed with police officers, pinning Anne down and hand cuffing her. Charlie stumbled backwards in shock, finding herself in Officer O’Reilly’s arms.

“You okay?” She half nodded. “You did good, kid. You did real good. Let’s get you home.”

Notes

THIS IS THE FINAL CHAPTER.

Except the epilogue.