But where’s Joe? Fenton felt his heart thump crazily. He raised his binoculars to his eyes. Frank was getting agitated as he tried to break free, his face a mask of horror and terror. Fenton couldn’t see what Frank was looking at. Frank’s mouth moved, as if he was shouting something. But whom is he shouting at? What the hell is happening over there?

He snapped into the radio. "What the hell’s going on over there? Why aren’t you lot moving? Get in there!!!"

"The room’s sealed, sir. We’re working on it. Danny’s going around the outside of the building. He’s gone down the balcony from the room upstairs and he’s breaking in through the window." A voice answered.

Then Fenton saw it. His view blocked, he couldn’t see where she had come from. But now she was lunging toward Frank with a knife in her hand.

"NO!!!!!!" Annelie screamed again and before Frank knew it, she was on top of him, sending him crashing to the floor. Frank gasped in pain as the heavy chair toppled over with him, pinning one of his arms, still tied to the back, under its heavy weight. With one last burst of strength, Frank pulled at the knot with all his might, wrenching his wrists out. At last, he was free!

He lifted his head just in time to see a knife plunging down his face. With amazing agility he twisted his body sideways and rolled out from beneath her.

"You killed him!!! You KILLED HIM!!!!!" She screamed and screamed, plunging the knife down crazily. Adrenaline rushed through his blood, the rush roaring in his head as he moved his head to the right a split second before the steely blade plunge into the carpet where his head had been. Missed!

"You will PAY for this!!!" She screamed in rage, her eyes wild and crazed. Frank gasped when she suddenly threw herself on him, pinning him to the floor. With maniacal strength, she drove her knees into Frank’s torso, holding him down. Frank couldn’t move. Petrified, he could only stare at the tip of the knife staring at him right in the eye.

"Now I’ve got you," she hissed. "Say goodbye, Frank. You’re gonna die."

Frank closed his eyes.

Then for the second time that night, he heard glass breaking. But louder this time.

"FREEZE!!!!!!!!" Someone shouted from behind. Annelie jerked. In that split second, Frank brought his arms up and swung them toward her neck in a karate chop. The knife flew out of her hands and Annelie keeled sideways at the force of the blow. She flailed frantically, trying to regain her senses.

The police officer who’d come in through the window immediately lunged toward her but before he could touch her, she was on her feet.

"You’ll never get me," she spat out her last words.

No, don’t let her get away! Frank screamed silently. Somehow he knew what she was about to do. And she did just that.

With a fleeting smile, she ran toward the balcony, her long white gown billowing behind her. Bits of glass flew everywhere as she crashed through the broken window. Everything happened in slow motion. With the officer’s help, Frank scrambled to his feet and both of them ran for the balcony and as the curtains billowed around them in the evening breeze, Annelie hefted herself onto the balcony.

She turned her head sideways and threw him a smile.

"Goodbye, Frank." With that, she let herself drop.

"NO!!!!" Frank shouted. He lunged toward her and threw himself against the balcony, reaching out for her. His fingers grazed her ankle and he tried to grab her but she was too far gone. Frank closed his eyes as a long, wailing scream crashed through the silence of the night. He tried not to imagine her falling 20 stories down, tried not to think of how he failed to save her. But he could hear her. It was a solid, thumping sound. Frank could swear he heard the crack her head made when it hit the concrete floor 20 floors below.