aleo_70 | Numb3rs Fic: Paranoia, Chapter Seven/10

Title: Paranoia
Author:

aleo_70
Rating: PG 13+
Genre: Gen
Characters: Don, Charlie, Alan, team
Challenge: Clue Challenge #7, January 2010. Prompts: Who? - Don. What? - Drugs. Where? - Warehouse.
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.
Spoilers: Checkmate, Primacy, Two Daughters, The Fifth Man, Backscatter
Warnings: violence, drug references
Word count this chapter: 2403
Word count total: ~24,300

Summary: A criminal's attempt to throw Special Agent Don Eppes off his case threatens to send the agent down a dark path.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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Don sat once again on the end of Charlie’s bed, bitterly disappointed in the news brought home by his father. Alan had argued with the doctor, insisting that Charlie’s actions the night before had meant he was ready to see Don but she had steadfastly refused to bring the promised meeting forward. Don had been waiting with his cell phone mounted in its holder on his belt so he wouldn’t miss the call no matter where he was in the house. He been too worried to jinx things by going with Alan to the hospital, he could call a cab if he was given the go ahead. But the phone hadn’t rung, his father waiting until he was home to deliver the crushing news in person. Now Alan was outside gardening as he allowed Don much needed privacy to recover from the emotional blow. He’d once again sought out his brother’s room, finding the familiar smell and mess soothing. He’d been out into the garage earlier in the week only to find it too empty, the chalkboards half filled with squiggles that were still mostly meaningless despite his brother’s efforts were waiting almost forlornly for their owner to return. At least here where he could almost touch his brother it didn’t seem like he was so far away, so unreachable.

When his cell finally rang it was unexpected until he remembered David’s promise. Sliding it out of the holder in record time he got it open and up to his ear. “Eppes.”

“Hello, Fed.”

This time he immediately recognised the voice. His hand tightened on the phone causing the plastic to creak. “Yuri.”

“I thought you would have learnt after that lesson.”

“You expected us not to react after that?” Don was incredulous. “Seriously?”

“You cost me a lot of money.” Yuri said angrily. “My contacts are not happy.”

“Good.”

“You should really be showing me a bit more respect. You know what I’m capable of.”

“And you know what we’re capable of.” Don snapped back. His long evening of introspection enabled him to add, “Hand yourself in.”

“I don’t think so. You made an offer before. Does it still stand?”

Now he was confused. “What offer?”

“You, unarmed, anywhere I say.”

Don held his tongue, the gloating was not as strong as the last time they’d spoken but there was a confidence there that didn’t bode well. Yuri was right, he did know what the man was capable of. There was an as yet unspoken threat, something that Yuri knew that he didn’t, something that the man was confident would bend the agent to his will.

“I know where your brother is.” Yuri started after the silence had stretched. “I know where your father is. I know where you are. I can get to whoever I want. Tell me who I should go for, Fed.”

“I don’t think so, Yuri.” Despite the confidence it had to be a hollow threat even as the shot of adrenalin through his body indicated otherwise. “We’ve got most of your men in custody. You can’t get to anyone.”

“Most is not all, Fed.” Yuri reminded him. “A locked hospital ward is no problem when you have your hands on a swipe card and your father shouldn’t be spending so much time outside. One call and one of them dies.”

“One call and I’ll have twenty agents between you and them.” He countered.

“Are your agents parked down the road watching your father weed? Are they hanging out in the hospital hallways?”

The ice that ran through his veins at that nearly took his breath away. Knowing that Charlie was in hospital was pretty much public knowledge, easily obtainable but knowing that his father was outside weeding was not so easy to explain away. It meant they were being watched at the house, even if the hospital was a bluff. Yuri could do it, could get to his father at least before he could react. The Russian’s confidence and his knowledge of how the man operated had him believing the threats were all too real, all too possible to carry out. He decided he had to play along, get the location for the demanded meet and call it in. The homicidal anger that had driven him earlier in the week had not totally vanished, but had reduced to a manageable level, allowing him to think clearly even if the opportunity to come face to face with Yuri was more than tempting. He no longer sought the confrontation but it was starting to seem that he didn’t have the choice. Given that he would try to do this right.

“Where?”

“Leave the house, start walking. Unarmed, Fed.” Yuri added in reminder. He gave it a moment before continuing. “This is a limited time offer. One more thing, don’t hang up, I don’t want you calling your fed friends. This is between us.”

“When you have me, what then?” Don demanded. There was actually no doubt what Yuri would do with him once he had him but, “What about my family?”

“I’ll leave them alone. You are the one I want, you are the one that’s going to pay.”

Don’s hand tightened on the phone in equal parts fear and anger. He knew how the Russian gangs operated, much like the Yakuza if there was failure blood was owed, the bigger the failure the more blood. Losing most of his men and stock was going to cost Yuri at least a life and the Russian would rather it wasn’t his own. Taking the cost out on the agent responsible paid the debt and showed his masters how dedicated he was to them by killing a federal agent, not a light thing. Once again the silence stretched.

“Someone’s going to die today, Fed. If you don’t have the balls for it to be you then-“

“Alright!” He interrupted with a near shout as his words from their last conversation were thrown back at him. “I’ll come to you.”

Now there was satisfaction in the voice. “The line stays open, the cell stays with you. If you don’t answer at any time I speak I’ll call my men and your family dies before you do. I’ve got enough men waiting outside to take the house.”

“I got it!” Don snapped.

Forced to keep the cell at his ear he stood and headed out to the hall. He eyed his own room for a moment, thinking of the pistol in the lockbox before resolutely heading down the stairs. At the side table he stopped and, pulling his arm from the sling, wrote a quick note instructing his father to call it in the moment he was gone. Spotting his father’s cell he made an addendum. Folding the note he slipped his arm back into the sling and swapped hands with the phone. Tightening the straps on the sling lifted his right arm up at a sharp angle above what was strictly necessary to support his collar bone but brought his right hand, and thus the phone, close enough to his ear he’d be able to hear Yuri if he spoke. His left hand was now free. Picking up his father’s cell he set it to silent and disabled the vibrate function before pushing it into his sling as deeply as he could between his arm and chest where hopefully it would be overlooked if he were searched.

“Fed.”

“What?”

“I said ‘limited time offer’.”

“I had to get dressed. I’m coming out now.”

“Now, Fed.” The impatient Russian demanded.

Don didn’t bother responding to that even as he moved quickly to the door and stepped outside having to squint against the bright sunlight before he could see his father. Walking down the front steps he moved down to stand beside the older Eppes who was on his knees pulling at the weeds that persisted in coming back no matter how many he pulled up the hard way refusing to use poison. Don glanced quickly up and down the street seeing a dark SUV parked in front of a house two doors up, the shadows he could make out inside indicated it held at least two men. It seemed those in the SUV knew they’d been spotted as the headlights flashed twice in quick succession. They were waiting for him, proof that Yuri’s threat was not a bluff. Don turned away just as his father noticed him and climbed to his feet, brushing the dirt from his hands.

“Donny? I thought you were resting.”

He twisted his right hand slightly, wincing at the strain to his wrist, to show that the cell was active. With Yuri’s order that this wasn’t to be called in he could hardly tell his father the truth which was why the note. “David just called. He needs me to come in.”

Alan frowned at that. There were several things wrong with Don going into the office, especially after the scene last night. Unless David showed up to take him in personally he found himself doubting that his son was telling the truth. “Don, he made it more than clear that you can’t go in.”

Thinking fast Don nodded at the waiting SUV. “He sent someone to collect me.”

Alan turned to see the indicated vehicle down the street. Something was definitely off kilter about this. “What are they doing all the way down there?”

The question required more fast thinking. “Yuri’s made a threat against you. David didn’t want to call attention to the house.” His father opened his mouth to argue so he took his father’s hand, pulling him round towards the house as his tightly folded note pressed its hard corners into both their palms. He tightened his grip briefly as he saw his father react. Alan’s eyes flicked to the phone Don was holding near his ear. With the faintest of nods Don confirmed his father’s dawning understanding. “I need you to go inside. Don’t open the door until David sends someone over.”

Releasing his son’s grip Alan palmed the note, skills learned in the sixties hadn’t faded with the passage of years. He headed for the front door reluctantly but had to accept that Don knew what he was doing. That was harder than it should have been given the wave of dark emotion his son had been riding this week since the attack. But the obvious improvement in his mood last night and this morning had given him hope that a corner had been turned. The fear and worry in his son’s eyes that he could now see in place of the all consuming anger made it clear this was not something Don was making up to escape the house to go on his own hunt as he’d wanted that first day. Something far more worrying was happening, Don was under duress.

“I’ll be careful. You going to be long?” He asked to keep up appearances, he had no doubt someone was listening in to the conversation.

“I don’t think so.”

“Time’s almost up, Fed.” Yuri’s voice came from the phone speaker. “Two seconds or my men hit the house.”

“I’m on my way now, David.” Don said into the phone, keeping up the pretence. His father couldn’t hear the words but would have heard someone speaking. “Bye, Dad.”

With a brief wave Don walked down the path, relieved as he heard the front door close behind him. Without looking back he turned when he reached the sidewalk and walked quickly towards the waiting SUV. Closing the distance he could now count four heads in the large vehicle, Yuri had been telling the truth when he’d said he’d had enough men waiting to storm the house. With no back-up and his gun secured in a lockbox he’d never have been able to fight them off. The phone in his hand abruptly went dead when he was just a few yards away. At the same time the rear doors opened and two men climbed out, the man from the far side quickly making his way around the front of the vehicle to join the first man in confronting him. Both men had hands under their shirts at their waists.

One stepped closer, glancing quickly around as Don stopped. His accent was stronger than Yuri’s but he was still easily understandable. “You packing?”

“No.”

The woman in the front yard of the house next door looked up curiously from her watering at the group of men despite not being close enough to hear what was being said. The observation was noted by both the agent and the criminal.

Yuri’s man took the cell from Don’s hand tossing it with a flick of his wrist against the fence a few feet away. He stepped away slightly. “Get in.”

His father was relatively safe but there was now an innocent civilian in the line of fire. He had no option but to obey the command. With slow steps he closed the last two yards to the open rear door, the first man moving to crowd in behind him in case he changed his mind and tried to back out of his deal. The other man returned to his side of the vehicle, climbing quickly in and drawing his weapon where it couldn’t be seen by the woman. Don climbed up and shuffled across to take up the spot in the middle working to keep the twinge from his sore ribs off his face. The first man crowded in after him, pulling the door closed before also drawing his weapon. Both guns pressed against his ribs as the driver started the engine and they pulled away from the curb. As they passed the house Don couldn’t help but look over through the heavily tinted SUV’s windows. He thought he saw a curtain move, his father getting a description of the vehicle spiriting his son away.

Don turned his head forwards and his attention inwards, ignoring the men beside him and in particular the weapon pressing against his broken rib. They were not going to harm him, Yuri wanted this one for himself. That said, he was heading towards probable death, a situation he’d walked into with both eyes open but one he wasn’t going to be able to get himself out of without help. The cell phone secreted in his sling was his only hope.

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