Shattered Secrets

Chapter 26: The beginning of the end

I sat in my bed alone. Aaron was just coming out of surgery and they wouldn't let anyone see him. The rest of the team was off working on the Phoebe lead. They claimed I was too close to it to work the case. That made my blood boil; Tilula was just as close and yet they didn't take her off the case. As if she had read my mind Tilula walked in and sat on the foot of my bed.
"I'm sorry for being such an ass about all this, I just didn't want to accept that's what she was capable of. We looked into her past few years further, she never went to Tokyo. She fell off the grid right after graduation and around that time Medusa surfaced. She was killing overseas and across state lines so it only got to us a few months ago. I'm sorry I didn't believe you." She stared at her hands while she talked spinning the ring on her middle finger.
"Lu I get it, you guys were close long before I came along. I would be worried if you hadn't disagreed with me. Does the team have any leads?" I reached out and grabbed her hand. I stopped her from spinning the ring and wanted to reassure her that it was going to be okay.
"I don't know they took me off the case, last I heard they were checking out an abandoned warehouse they thought she was hiding out in. I told them we should go and check it out a bit too aggressively. Next thing I know Rossi is kicking me off the case." She smiled a bit. The kind of smile that made me think she had an idea that would definitely get us in trouble. Before I knew it I was limping out of the hospital with Tilula not far behind me. She knew the address of where the team thought Phoebe was and we were going to get there first

We had both slid on FBI vests that were in the back of the car Penelope had used to get to the hospital. The good thing about the FBI is they would always be over-prepared.
"You don't have to do this you know." Tilula told me as we drove out of the parking lot. "I can take you home or you can stay here; wait for Aaron to be able to have visitors."
"I signed an against medical advice, if Aaron knew what we were about to do he would lose his mind. This is the best possible choice. If the team finds her they won't hesitate to take her down. We need to bring her in, alive." I knew neither of us would be able to kill Phoebe we were the best chance she had. We spent most of the drive in silence we were both lost in our own worlds. As we got closer I loaded both of our weapons. I hope more than anything we wouldn't have to use them but it's better to be safe than sorry. When we pulled into the warehouse parking lot my heart started to race; I could hear it echoing in my ears. I handed Tilula her gun with a small nod. One perk of being friends so long was non-verbal communication, we knew what the other one meant with just a look. We hopped out of the car guns drawn and approached what appeared to be the main entrance. I stood to the side of the sliding door and yanked in open as Tilula walked in.
"Phoebe, it's Tilula we need to talk." Tilula shouted. Her voice echoed and bounced off the walls. I heard the click of a gun and then felt the cool twinge of metal against my temple.

"Drop the weapons and no one gets hurt." I hadn't heard that voice in years but there was no doubt it was Phoebe. It was colder and harsher but still Phoebe's voice nonetheless. I raised my left hand and squared down to put my gun on the floor.
"We're just here to talk Pheebs." I said as I stood up. I kept my hands raised but slowly turned to face her. She looked almost the same as she did all those years ago. She had a scar above her left eye and her hair was significantly longer but she still looked like her.
"Where's the rest of your team? I figured most of you would be incapacitated considering your accident. She giggled after she said it. I was in shock, she showed no remorse and almost seemed excited about the disaster she had caused. Even if she looked and sounded the same this was a completely different person than the Phoebe I had known.
"They don't know we're here, it's just us Phoebe. We need to talk." Tilula kept her voice calm and steady. She always excelled at talking down unsubs, this was no different.
"Yeah let's talk, let's talk about how you two abandoned me! How you ran off and joined the BAU without me! You two bitches left me!" Phoebe yelled making exaggerated gestures with her gun. The way she was waving it around she could pull the trigger at any second.
"Listen what happened back then wasn't fair to you but you've killed people, so many people." I needed her to realize the severity of her actions. She looked at me confused.
"I did it all to get your attention, to get both of you to look at me for once! You never pay attention so I had to take matters into my own hands! And it worked here you are!" She smiled. She was far more off the deep end than we had thought. She started walking laps around the room carrying on about how we had abandoned her and how it was our fault she was doing this. I was able to quickly look at my watch realizing we had been gone for hours, the team had to have noticed. As if on cue I heard sirens growing closer and closer.

"Listen that's our team you have to options here. Either you stay with us and let us help you or you get the fuck out of here and you never ever let us see your face again." Tilula knew the same thing I did, that we had to stall until the team got here. So why was she giving Phoebe the opportunity to escape.
"Thanks for the warning TIls and don't you worry you will never see me again.' She yelled over her shoulder as she ran out of the room. The team burst through the doors seconds after Phoebe ran. I knew that we were about to get absolutely chewed out. Then I saw Aaron and realized I was way more screwed than originally thought.