Fic: Numbers - Crosshairs, Chapter Eleven/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 11of 14
Wordcount (this chapter): 2634
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 ELEVEN

-100-1111-1110-

Nelson had just lifted a fresh bottle of water to the agent’s lips when there was a knock on the door.  Don only got a single mouthful before the bottle was put aside as both Nelson and Brad looked to the door and then each other.  Brad pulled his gun out and with a pointed lift of the weapon indicated that his father was to do the same.  Nelson drew the Glock from Don’s holster that he was now wearing before standing.  Still not satisfied Brad jerked his gun hand at their hostage.  Nelson reluctantly responded by pointing the Glock in the general direction of the agent at his feet.

Brad peered cautiously through the spy hole in the door.  He backed up a pace obviously surprised and just as obviously not happy at what he saw.  There was no immediate alarm however so Don knew it was not a team of heavily armed SWAT agents that waited outside.  The knock had been far too polite for that anyway.  As Brad hesitated there was a second knock accompanied this time by a male voice.

“Let us in.  We know you’re there.”

The gun was lowered but not put away as Brad turned the lock and opened the door.

The two men entered quickly, swinging the door shut behind them.  They both looked around the room in a way that Don recognised as a threat assessment.  Their eyes barely skimmed over the man on the floor, their attention drawn to the two naked weapons.  As one the men moved their hands to rest on the grips of their own guns under their shirts.

“What do you want?”  Brad demanded, his voice less than friendly.  He made no move to introduce the two men.

“Turner’s not happy.”  The first man said.

Don instantly recognised the voice as one of the robbers from the bank.  That meant these two men were the other members of the AK-47s.  He found it worrying that Brad did not want to talk to them, wondering if there had been a falling out.

“He got paid.”

“Not enough.”  The man Don had earlier dubbed ‘Three’ responded.

“It was more than what we agreed.”

“Yeah, for the banks.  But not enough to cover the rest of the job.”

From what he’d seen in the bank Brad and Jack had been calling the shots, the other two robbers simply obeying instructions.  This conversation now was proof that the two men were hired hands, perhaps mercenaries judging by their military bearing and references to this Turner character as if he were an employer.

“You’re not doing the whole job.  We got Dad out without your help.”

The men glanced at the subject of the discussion.  Nelson for his part said nothing, clearly out of his depth.  He probably knew even less about who these men were and what they wanted than the agent did.

“Turner had already made arrangements in New Mexico.  They cost money.  He wants to be paid.”  Three continued having immediately returned his attention Brad.

The other man however had locked eyes with Don.  There was a moment of recognition.  His hand came away from under his shirt holding a .45 calibre semi-automatic.  The gun was raised and aimed at a point between the agent’s eyes.

“What are you doing?”  Brad demanded.

“That’s the fed.”  ‘One’ stated, his thumb pulling back the hammer on his gun.

“Wait!  He’s our ticket out of here.” 

His sudden step towards One had the fourth man pulling out his own weapon.  Brad froze and there was a tense moment as each of the four men looked at each other.  When no-one moved a delicate balance was restored and the threat of immediate gunplay eased.

“He’s dead.”  One corrected as if nothing had happened.  His gun had never wavered.

“He will be, when I’m ready.”  Brad insisted.  The statement was completely matter of fact.  Don’s fate had long been determined.  “Don’t worry.  He won’t identify you, either of you.”

One considered Brad’s words.  Helpless, Don could only stare up at the weapon aimed steadily at him.  With no argument that he could present, they knew who he was and it didn’t matter, he maintained his silence.  His only consolation was that it would be quick, from this range One couldn’t miss.  A single round through his head would do the job.  Based on what had happened so far, if he was left to Brad’s mercy he had no such guarantee that his death would be so kind.

“West, stand down.”  Three ordered a moment later.  “We neutralise him here someone will call the cops.”

West reacted immediately to the order, releasing the hammer and lowering the gun.  It was clear he was a professional, his desire to kill the agent stemmed wholly from the need to remove a witness that could identify them.  There was nothing personal about it, unlike Brad’s threatening promise.

“You can keep the fed.”  Three granted generously.  “You pay us what you owe and we’re gone.  You just make sure that the fed is dead when you’re finished with him.  If you don’t we’ll take care of him, then you.”

“Fine.  How much?”

“Five hundred thou’.”

“But we’ve already given you one mil’.”  Brad protested.

Don couldn’t believe the amount demanded.  It was way above what he would have considered the going rate for what the mercenaries had done.  Even when he factored in the apparent preparations their boss Turner had made in New Mexico for a jailbreak.  No wonder they’d been trying to take as much cash as possible during the robberies.  Brad and Jack had needed every dollar to cover the exorbitant fee.

“So?”

“We need that money to get out of the country.”  Brad argued.

“Ramirez is only charging one hundred each.  You’re using our pipeline, you pay a cut for that as well.  You owe four hundred for our expenses in New Mexico, the other hundred for our introduction to Ramirez.”  Three calmly explained the costs as if it were a simple business transaction.  All that was missing was a printed invoice. 

“It’s not fair.  We’d agreed on a price.”

“So make a complaint.”  Three’s tone was now amused as he gestured at the agent.

Brad’s teeth bared in an impotent snarl, there was nothing he could do about it and he knew it.  There was no civilised process of resolving contractual disputes where mercenaries were involved.  He moved towards a bag stopping when two weapons snapped up to aim at him.  “I’m getting your money.”

“Nice and easy.”  Three ordered, lowering his weapon only slightly.

Looking at the size of the bag Brad was now reaching into Don understood the reason for the mercenaries’ extra caution.  There was enough room in it to conceal a Kalashnikov. 

“Just the used notes.”  Three added as Brad started randomly pulling out stacks of notes, still bound by the bank wrappers. 

The younger man put one stack of new notes back, carefully selecting the rest and counting until he reached the demanded amount.  He cast around for a moment before grabbing at the small wastepaper basket.  He pulled the plastic liner out and used the bag to put the cash in.

“Here, take it.  We’re fully paid up now.”

Having got their way the two men tucked their weapons back into their belts, draping the loose shirts over the top.  Three stopped at the door as West headed out.  “Don’t try hiring us again.  Turner’s blacklisted you.”

The door closed firmly behind the men before Brad could make any comment.  From the furious look on his face that was probably for the best.  Saying the wrong thing to those type of men could easily have gotten them all killed.

“You’ve gone too far.”  Nelson said rounding on his son who was repacking the bag.  “Hiring people like that.”

Brad was still angry but unrepentant.  “We needed them.  They had the connections to get you out.”

“You were going to raid the jail?  I had just seven months left.  You probably would have got me killed.”  Despite La Tuna being a minimum security facility it was a federal correctional institution and would be well defended.

“They’re professionals, you wouldn’t have been hurt.  Besides, you wouldn’t have lasted seven months.”

“La Tuna wasn’t so bad.  I would have been okay.”  Nelson tried to sound confident but didn’t quite pull it off.

“No, you wouldn’t.”  Brad insisted, zipping up the bag and turning around.  “You’re out.  That’s all that matters.”

“No, that’s not all.  The FBI did everything you demanded and yet you’re still threatening Agent Eppes.”

“I just stopped them killing him.”

“Yes, you did.”  Nelson’s voice changed and took on a deeply bitter note.  “But only because you want to do it yourself.” 

Don couldn’t remember ever hearing anyone sounding so disappointed as Nelson now did about his son.  He could only listen with increasing concern as the argument between father and son became more serious.  Both men still had weapons in hand.

“So what?  That’s between me and him.  You may have forgiven him but I haven’t.”

“No.  This is all my fault and I won’t have it.”  Nelson turned his back on the subject of the argument, placing himself between the agent and his son.

Brad stepped closer to his father, his voice lowering and taking on a dangerous tone.  “You planning on stopping me?”

 

-100-1-10110-1001-100-

SWAT wasted no time, starting to prepare their equipment.  The EMTs from the two ambulances also started to prepare their equipment.  Any action involving SWAT could easily result in multiple casualties with major trauma if the targets resisted.  King stepped up into the command centre with the motel blueprints.  Using the magnets he pinned the blueprints up on the board.

“Which room is it?”

“This one, number ten.”  David answered, his finger circling the room, its location described to him by Suffolk.

“Just the one way in or out.”  King mused.  There was only a small bathroom window on the back wall, too small to be used as an effective entry or exit.  The room had a solid wall on either side, there were no adjoining doors with the neighbouring rooms.  The only entry point was through the front, either through the door or the large fixed window.

“Do we have a visual into the room?”

“No.  Agent Suffolk reports the blinds are drawn.”

“So we have four hostiles in with Eppes?”

“We don’t know anything about the two new men but we have to assume they’re hostiles.  That’s them there.  We haven’t been able to work up any ID as yet.”  David commented, indicating the monitor showing the photograph taken by Suffolk on his cell phone.  He handed over a copy of the image then pulled out Nelson’s mugshot.  “This is Nelson, he may or may not be a hostile.  He signed a deal to help us but we’re not sure any more.”

King shook his head as he checked the blueprints again.  As far as he was concerned a possible hostile was a hostile until proven otherwise.  “I don’t like the odds, there’s a high risk of collateral damage if we hit it with that many hostiles in such a confined space.”

“I know.”

“The one that left, that was the sniper?”

“Yes.  Jack Carpenter.”  David reached for two more mugshots.  They were old but the photographs taken by Nikki when they left from the parking structure in the red van and later by Colby as they entered the motel were not much better, both sets taken quickly and at full zoom.  He handed printouts of those over as well. “This is Jack, and that is Brad Nelson.”

“Where is this one now?”

“He’s just torched the van and swapped to a new vehicle, a green suburban.  Still headed generally east.”

“Has he got the rifle with him?”

“Colby didn’t see it, but it doesn’t mean he’s not armed.”

“Have you got enough people on him to take him at the same time we breach?”

The fact that their plan of attack was going to be a breach was a given.  Negotiation was over; there had been too many threats and broken promises to trust that line of attack.  The highly dangerous direct approach was the only way left to them.

“Four units with LAPD ready to back them up.”  They had to take the sniper at the same time, if they missed Jack would be able to take up where he left off targeting others in an attempt to rescue his friend and partner.

King pulled the blueprint off the board, collecting the magnets and a set of coloured Chinagraph wax pencils as he prepared to leave.  He needed them for his own briefing to his men.  “I’ll prepare our entry plan and we’ll get ready to go in.  Hopefully by then the odds will have changed more in our favour.”

David also hoped the two newcomers would not be staying.  If they left then Don would stand a far better chance.  He had a fair idea who the two men were and had already organised for more agents and some LAPD units to be ready to tail them.  Colby would take the lead if the men left.

It was just as King was reporting back to David that they received the welcome news from Suffolk that the two men had left.  They’d picked something up, leaving with a plastic bag they’d not had when the arrived.  The two men returned to their Chrysler 300C and drove calmly away.  For a minute they listened to the reports as the men headed south, there was no sign that they’d spotted their tail.  David had already briefed both sets of tailing agents that they were going to be hitting their targets simultaneously with the assault on the room.

“How are you going in?”

“The old fashioned way.  I can’t risk the flash-bangs, if they’re holding a gun on him the explosions could make them pull the trigger in reflex.”  King was unhappy but didn’t want to take the risk.  “If we go in hard enough we’ll be almost as effective.”  Their hope with that was the basic human instinct to turn and look at a sudden disturbance.

David had noted that King was fully kitted.  “You’re leading the team.”

“Yes.  Agent Torrel is my second, he’ll run things from out here.”

“When will you be ready?”  David asked even as he knew the answer.  The SUV was already running, four men standing on the running boards holding onto the rail bolted to the roof.  They were waiting for King to join them.

“We’re heading out now.  As soon as we get there we’re going in.  We got the go?”

He felt strangely reluctant, it was possible he was signing Don’s death warrant.  But there was nothing for it, they were out of options.  “You’ve got the go.”

David returned to the command centre truck and gave the stand-by signal to the agents on the mobile targets.  Even though each set of agents were working on their own frequency the selectors on his radio had been set to enable him to transmit and receive both at the same time.  SWAT, however, were on their own channel on their own separate radio unit.

“SWAT Commander to Charlie Two.  Action on.”  King reported.

“All units from Charlie Two, execute, execute, execute!”

There was an immediate flurry of radio calls, the agents coordinating their movements amongst themselves.  Then came the reports of shots being fired from the team on Jack, he was resisting their efforts to take him into custody.

There was nothing from the SWAT radio, they operated in radio silence until the need to report in.

All he could do now was wait.

Next chapter - here