Fic: Numb3rs - Crosshairs, Chapter Nine/14

[aleo_70]

Title: Crosshairs
Author: ALEO aleo_70 
Genre: Gen
Characters: Don, David, Colby, Charlie
Rating: PG 13+
Warnings: violence
Spoilers: nil

Summary: One year on and Brad has not forgotten the FBI agent he blames for putting his father in prison.  When their paths cross he takes advantage of the opportunity.

Status: Chapter 9 of 14
Wordcount (this chapter): 3179
Wordcount (total): ~42,000

NB:  This is a sequel to a previous fic - Flight .  Crosshairs can still be read alone as I have provided some background explanation as we go along.

Disclaimer:  I don't own them, I just borrowed them.  Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them.  No copyright infringement intended.  No financial reward gained.  All real places and organisations are used in a fictional sense.  Original characters and the storyline are mine however.

 

CHAPTER NINE

-100-1111-1110-

They were moving at little better than a snail’s pace as Nelson continued his conversation.  They’d not quite reached the nearby freeway by the time Nelson hung up.

“Allied Auto Park on South Spring Street between ah, West 6^th and West 5^th Streets.  You know it?”

“The parking lot, no.  But I can find the general address.”  He took the next right.  “Its a few blocks over from the square.”  He didn’t think it was a wise move, heading back towards the area that was flooded with police and probably more than a few agents.

“I didn’t want this.”  Nelson said by way of apology.  “But I can’t find my way without your help.”

Don waved at the device mounted in his dash.  “I can program that to take you right there.”  The GPS unit was on but in map mode only showing the area for a few blocks around them.

 “Can it get me there without being stopped?”

“I can’t guarantee it.”  He was thinking that was why both Jack and Brad had been at the square, one could pack up and make his escape whilst the other provided continuing cover to ensure Nelson was away free.  He queried Nelson on that.

“Jack’s staying in place.  He says he has to wait until nightfall to leave so he won’t be spotted.”

“Then you don’t need me any more.”

“No, I can’t risk it.”

With a little difficulty, his coordination was still not what it should be, he manoeuvred the SUV around a double parked car.  “So I get you to the parking lot, what then?”

“Brad’s going to be waiting there with a car.  I’ll go with him and we’ll leave you behind.  You’ll have a LoJack or something on this so it shouldn’t be long before they find you.”

David would have had the tracking system on his SUV activated long before they’d left the square.  He expected that there were bureau vehicles shadowing their path already, most likely a block over on parallel roads.  David would probably delay ordering an intercept until there was some more distance between them and the square or at the very least until some more time had passed.  Instigating another standoff while a sniper remained in place at the square would be counterproductive.

He had to go another couple of blocks before he could turn west due to the one way streets.  By now the traffic was thinning somewhat and moving freely allowing their speed to increase.  It was less than a mile to the parking lot and he figured it would only take a few minutes to get there.  It wouldn’t be long now before it was all over.

“Have they told you where they are planning on going from here?”  Don asked, he still had a job to do.

“No.  Jack’s taking it all one step at a time.  Can you give me your cell number so I can call you?”

“You’ve got my cell.”

Nelson dropped it into the centre console.  “I’m going to leave it with you.  I doubt they’d let me take it as it can be tracked.”

“Paper and pen in the glove compartment.”  He waited until Nelson had retrieved the items before giving him his cell number.  Jack had his number but Nelson could hardly ask him for it without arousing suspicion.

He slowed and changed lanes as he saw his destination ahead.  Turning into the parking structure he was directed up to the third level.  Not knowing what he was looking for he slowed to a crawl and worked his way along the rows until Nelson’s hand on his arm caused him to stop.  Following Nelson’s pointed hand he saw set of spaces that had been taped off. 

“Park in there.”

It was never easy manoeuvring the large vehicle in parking lots, especially the multi-level ones but having several empty spaces together made the job easy even in his less than ideal condition.  He even got the SUV almost straight between the lines, the vehicle mostly within one space.  The tape he simply drove through.  Immediately after pulling on the park brake he grabbed the bottle of water from the drink holder and drained it.  He had no idea what was going to happen next, at best he would be restrained and abandoned leaving him no access to water until he was found.  When he finished he copied Nelson’s move and released his seat belt. 

His door was suddenly pulled open and he was yanked out to land sprawling on the concrete.  He rolled and clamped his right hand over the bullet wound on his left arm.  It was this exact spot that his attacker had grabbed when pulling him out of the SUV.  He searched for his attacker and found a figure looming over him.  Seeing the way the man was moving he rolled but was not in time to prevent the kick that struck him solidly in the ribs.  He started to curl into a ball as Nelson called out.

“Brad, stop!”

“Hey, Dad.  We did it.”  Brad sounded cheerful, no indication he was in the middle of kicking an injured man.

“What are you doing?  Leave him alone.”

“Just making sure he doesn’t try anything, Dad.”

The second kick that he believed to be coming never eventuated.  Despite that Don felt it a sensible move on his part to stay exactly where he was.  He told himself that being unsure whether or not he could move if he wanted to didn’t factor into his decision.

“He won’t.  I told him Jack’s still at the square.”

“Good, that’s what we wanted him to think.  Here he is now.”

From his position on the ground Don heard some footsteps approaching.  A voice he recognised only too well from his cell phone called out.  “Hey, Scott.  Great to see you at last.”

“Jack.”  Nelson’s voice was a little cool.

Don once again dragged his eyes open and saw the three men standing together.  Jack, looking somewhat leaner and missing the developing paunch from a year earlier, was wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase that he was just now placing on the ground.  It very likely contained a broken down sniper rifle.  The suit was the perfect disguise allowing Jack to move freely in the downtown LA area. 

Brad was a little more casually dressed, but very neat all the same and upmarket enough to be able to move in this part of town without suspicion.  There was no sign of a rifle, just a large bore semi-automatic handgun, aimed at the agent.  Looking at the young man Don realised Brad had changed markedly.  A year ago Don had described him as medium build now he’d have to describe him as muscular.  Brad had obviously spent some time working out, his shirt stretched tight around his upper arms and across his chest.  The black jacket he’d been wearing during the robberies had served to hide his physique quite well. 

His face had also changed, taking on a certain hardness that could best be described as dangerous.  His weapon was being held rock steady and it was obvious that dealing harshly with a federal agent was not a problem.

“You don’t sound too pleased.”  Jack sounded a little petulant.  “We got you out of that jail.  You’re free.”

“Yes, but at what cost?”

“Him?”  Brad said, moving his gun slightly as he indicated the prone man.  “That was a small price to pay.”

“No, not him.  Well, yes but not just that.  What about the robberies?  The people that died?”

“It was their choice.”  Brad argued back, his voice harsh.  “We told them to do as we said.  If they didn’t then that was their lookout.”

“Brad, Jack, what’s happened to you?  The guns, the killing, it’s not like you, either of you.”

“We did what we had to do.  We needed the money and that was the only way we could get it.”  Jack put in.  He glanced at his watch.  “We don’t have time for this.  Come on, we’d better move.  I’ll get the stuff.”

Jack headed off with Nelson following.  “What stuff?”

“We’re going to torch the fed’s truck.  That ought to shut down any GPS trackers he might have.”

“They’ll find it all the more quickly when the fire alarms go off.”  Nelson countered.  “We’ve been here a few minutes now, they probably already have the location.  Let’s just get out of here.”

“Fine.  Brad, come on.” 

Don turned his head as Brad approached.  From the look on the young man’s face he prepared himself for another kick or two as a parting gift.  He didn’t expect what happened next.  Although perhaps, based on the way everything else had gone today he should have.

“On your feet, Fed.”

Moving painfully Don slowly rose to unsteady feet, warily keeping an eye on the gun.  The muzzle then flicked to one side indicating the path he was expected to take but it wasn’t to the right towards his SUV.  He was being directed towards their getaway vehicle, a red van parked a few spaces over.  When he didn’t immediately move he was given a hard shove that sent him stumbling before he tripped and fell a few yards closer to the van.  He managed to break his fall and rolled to his side ready to get back to his feet but Brad already loomed over him.

“Get up!” 

The young man didn’t wait but grabbed at the agent’s left arm, once again Don was sure he intentionally targeted the wound.  With a firm grip and no visible sign of effort he hauled the agent back to his feet.  Don couldn’t help the grunt of pain that he made; he was not in any sort of shape for this type of handling. 

Brad’s gloating voice hissed in his ear.  “That was a good shot wasn’t it?”

He started to turn his head to respond but another shove had him at the side of the red van before he could say anything.  Catching at the door frame to get his balance didn’t help him any against the blow between his shoulder blades and he found himself propelled into the van, falling and rolling until he came to a stop against the far wall.

“What are you doing?”  Nelson demanded as Don groaned and rolled onto his back.

“Taking him with us, what does it look like?”  Brad started to climb in but was pulled back by his father.  Jack was already starting the engine.

“No.  We’re leaving him here.  You got what you wanted now we let him go.  We don’t need him any more.”

“Do you know how hard they’ve been making life for us these last few weeks?  If we’re going to have any shot of getting out of the city we need him.”

So, something had been going right.  Don was pleased by that.  Their investigations had not seemed to be yielding any real results but now at least he knew they had been having some effect.  Their actions had obviously been curtailing the AK-47s to some extent.  He could see that their paths had been about to cross within the very short future.  At least, that was until Brad and Jack decided to very effectively branch out sideways and play sniper.

“Scott, Brad’s right.  We need the fed.”  Jack contributed.

Nelson hesitated, appearing to be considering his friend’s point.  Brad, impatient, once again started to jump into the back of the van but was again pulled back by his father.  “I’ll ride with him.  They’ll be looking for me anyway, they’ve got my mugshot.”

“They don’t have ours yet?”

“I didn’t see any.”

“Heh!  They’d be old anyway.”  Brad sounded pleased as he stepped back, making room.  The windowless van would effectively conceal his father as well as their hostage.  “Don’t go soft on us, Dad.  Keep the fed’s gun handy.  If we get stopped be ready to use it.” 

“I got him here.  I know what to do.”  Nelson said curtly.

The van moved off, making its way down the levels and onto the street.  Don couldn’t help but compare it to last time.  Back then Nelson had been calling the shots from the front passenger seat, now it was Brad.  While Don trusted Nelson to a certain extent he could not say the same about the man’s son.  He looked up to see Nelson sitting beside him and staring speculatively down at him, clearly he had some idea of the agent’s thoughts.  Their eyes met for a few seconds before Nelson gave a slight shake of his head and turned away.

Unsure exactly what that meant, he could only lie back and try to conserve his strength.

 

-100-1-10110-1001-100-

Seeing Don’s small wave as he drove past, his own gun at his head, David could only return the gesture before the voice in his headset demanded his attention.

“No interference.  Everything will stay as it is until I hear that they are clear and at the place I want them to be.”  Jack was ordering.

“How can I trust anything you say?  You keep changing the rules.”  David demanded.  The SUV had reached the first barricade and was making its way through at a crawl.  The sudden shot had David reflexively ducking as the sound of shattered glass reached him.  Frantically he looked to see what happened and saw the pieces of glass still falling from the shot out plate glass window on the building at the corner.  He saw movement and was relieved not to hear any cries of ‘man down’ or ‘I’m hit’.

“I could have killed that cop, but I didn’t.”  There was a click and the line went dead.

David remained a while longer, watching as the SUV passed through the outer cordon and joined the traffic moving slowly around the scene.  He realised he’d lost almost all control of the situation, if ever he’d had it to start with.  They had one thing left. 

Inside the command centre he found Sommers speaking into his own headset, directing the vehicles they had organised to shadow Don’s suburban.  The screen showed a map, zoomed out to a two block radius.  A red dot with a rim of yellow was steadily moving away, a block either side and a little behind were two blue dots.  If he were to zoom the image out he knew he would see several more blue dots keeping pace nearby.  If traffic opened up they would move some vehicles in closer to visually tail the SUV.  Relying on technology that could so easily be blocked was more than a little stressful.  When the SUV was ditched, which he knew would have to be on the cards, they would only have Nelson’s yellow dot to follow, assuming that the prisoner kept to his deal.

“He’s turned right onto Figueroa.”  Agent Sommers reported.

“Not the freeway?”

“Definitely Figueroa.”

“Where are they going?”  David mused.  The highway had been the obvious choice, a high speed escape route often used by fleeing criminals to good effect.  Don and Nelson had been heading right for the Harbour Freeway just as he’d thought they would.

“Keep following?”

David nodded.  “Make sure they stay close.”

They stayed glued to the screen as the dot again changed course, turning right onto First Street.  Another minute passed and another right turn, now onto Spring Street.

“They’re coming back?”  Sommers speculated.

There could only be one reason for that, David thought.  They were returning to collect at least one, if not both of the snipers.  “Bring the pursuit vehicles up as close as they can without being spotted.  If something goes down I want them able to respond.”

David’s hope was to time it to the second, Don released and the snipers together with Nelson but far enough away to not have Don available to them any more.

“Tango One, FBI.  Are you in position?”  David called into the radio handset.  He hadn’t heard or seen the helicopter while he’d been outside but then the pilot’s orders had been to remain high and in the sun.  For the last two hours they’d had a helicopter orbiting in that position, cameras trained on the buildings in what had been a futile move to track the sniper, now snipers.  Tango Three had swapped out to refuel a short time earlier.

“FBI, Tango One returning.  We’re tracking your vehicle down Spring Street.  Appears to be slowing and turning into an above ground parking lot.”  The pilot reported.

“Charlie Two, 7591.”  Their own radio announced.  It was one of their vehicles shadowing the SUV.  Glancing at the whiteboard David confirmed that Nikki was with this car.  He’d split Colby and Nikki up, assigning each to a different vehicle involved in the pursuit.  “Do you want us to follow?”

“Negative.”  In such a confined area it wouldn’t take too long for it to become obvious that the SUV was being tailed.  Whilst in theory Nelson should be expecting it and not react, David was more concerned that one or both of the snipers would be waiting.  “Keep the exit under surveillance.  I want the tags of each and every vehicle that leaves recorded.  Take photographs if you can.”

“7591 received.”

David zoomed the map out and spent the next couple of minutes rearranging their pursuit vehicles in a pattern that would best cover the exit and possible escape routes.  As they worked he kept one eye on the twin red/yellow dot waiting for it to separate as he knew it must.  Finally it did and the FBI units were placed on stand-by.

“7591.  Vehicle exiting is a red Toyota delivery van, no windows.  Two male occupants.  Los Angeles tags one-Lima-Alpha-Zulu-seven-six-two.”

David watched as the distance between the yellow and red dots on his screen slowly increased.  “Any other possibles?”

“Negative Charlie Two, no other vehicles exiting.”

He waited a moment longer to be sure on direction.  Another glance at the whiteboard and he picked the unit containing Colby.  “9214 take up position, acknowledge contact but wait for my go.  7591 enter parking lot and locate Agent Eppes.”

There was a tense period where they could do nothing but let it play out, the only interruption 9214 reporting that they were tailing the suspect vehicle.  As per David’s orders one vehicle was to maintain a visual at all times, three other bureau vehicles were shadowing on parallel streets as before, ready to take over the tail on a random basis.  All were prepared to move in and intercept the suspect vehicle when the word was given.

 “Charlie Two, 7591.  We’ve located the SUV, stand-by.”  Nikki reported in a whisper. 

Several more anxious minutes passed before her urgent voice was next heard.  “Charlie Two, negative on Agent Eppes, repeat negative.  Vehicle is unlocked with the keys in the ignition and engine running.  My partner is searching the area but all we’ve found is a smear of blood on the ground beside the SUV.  He’s gone.”

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