aleo_70 | Numb3rs Fic: Shock, Chapter Seven/8

Title: Shock
Author:

aleo_70
Rating: PG 13+
Genre: Gen
Characters: Don Eppes with cameo by David
Challenge: Clue Challenge #12, June 2010 at

hurt_don . Prompts: Who? Don; What? TASER; Where? Police precinct.
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: (more mention than spoiler) Chinese Box, Rampage, Graphic, Janus List, Trust Metric and Two Daughters.
Warnings: violence
Word count this chapter: 2619
Word count total: ~21,200

Summary: It starts as a bid for freedom from a police precinct but after being taken hostage Don learns things are not quite as they seem.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Within a few minutes sirens could be heard approaching, the nearest uniformed units detailed to attend their location. Other sirens were further back. It was several more minutes after the initial sirens stopped before shadows appeared at the edges of the roller door.

“LAPD!” A man shouted. “Everybody down on the floor.”

“We’ve got prisoners under guard.” Crowd shouted back. “It’s clear.”

There was a pause as the officers worked out their approach. Without any further warning officers made their way in, ducking around both sides of the roller door to come in from two angles with their weapons up and ready. As Don had earlier found they too discovered that there was precious little cover available inside the warehouse. Aware that they would be exceedingly nervous Don made sure his weapon was visible and just as visibly aimed downwards rather than at the approaching officers. Crowd also turned so that he also presented a less threatening appearance.

“Identify yourselves.” The same man demanded once they’d closed in. Don could see the rank insignia identifying him as a sergeant.

“LAPD undercover.” Crowd responded first.

“FBI.”

“ID?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Crowd retorted.

“Here.” Don answered, twisting so the man could see the flash from the badge clipped to his belt.

“Your collars?”

“Four dead. Three here, one over there.” Don explained. “Three in custody.”

“Alright, we got them.” The sergeant stated, nodding at the officers to move in as he sent one over to check the bag man.

Don shifted aside and waited a little longer until he was sure that the prisoners were covered. Now was his opportunity to resolve the last outstanding issue. He swung his weapon up and across to point directly at Crowd. “Put the gun down.”

“What?” Crowd demanded in shock as he saw what the agent had done. He stayed frozen in his previous pose as he continued. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Drop the weapon.”

Crowd’s face took on the defiant look he’d had back in the detective’s dayroom before he’d made his move that had set this whole chain of events into play. “No.”

Don set himself. It didn’t escape his notice that the man’s gun had started to move his way. The approaching LAPD officers slowed, weapons that had been aimed at the prostrate gun runners started to swing as a standoff developed.

“I will shoot.” The agent promised.

“I’m a cop.”

That argument didn’t wash with Don. Few of the man’s actions today had been those of a sworn police officer. He perhaps owed the man his life but given that Crowd had forced him into the situation in the first place he didn’t feel any loyalty for it. “I don’t care. You are under arrest.”

“What are you doing, Agent?” The uniform sergeant interrupted.

“What for?” Crowd demanded at the same time, turning now to face the agent front on. The gun that had been aimed downwards at their prisoners was now aimed at Don’s feet. “I was doing my job.”

“You went too far.”

“Suck it up, Feebee. Can’t take a few TASER hits?” The tone was now scornful.

“I can’t take you having another cop shot.” He explained, angrily taking a pace forward. What the man had done to him was not something he was going to forgive, the tasering pretty much being the least of it, but having Mortensen shot was well beyond the pale. He just barely managed to not pull his trigger when the other’s gun came up sharply. Crowd's aim was now potentially life threatening, the muzzle pointed just below Don's waist.

“They won’t let you do this.” Crowd flicked his eyes at the surrounding LAPD officers. The expression on his face conveyed his thoughts as if they’d been spoken out loud, they were fellow LAPD, they would support him over a feebee any day.

Not willing to remove his full attention away from Crowd Don could just make out the confused expressions on the uniformed officers’ faces in his peripheral vision. It was clear to him that they weren’t sure who to side with or why the agent was trying to arrest the undercover officer. Their briefing from dispatch was unlikely to have been detailed enough to link the bust to the incident at the precinct.

“Agent,” The sergeant again interrupted. “You need to explain yourself.”

About to reply he stopped as he was distracted by the appearance of more shadows at the roller door he was basically facing. Sirens had been constantly sounding since the first group of officers had arrived and now others were making their way in. As they moved deeper into the warehouse and away from the bright sunlight Don was able to recognise FBI windbreakers amidst the new group as well as a familiar face amongst the plain clothes officers, Detective Samuels.

“They will.” Don corrected Crowd. “Time to end this.”

“This is ended, Feebee.” Crowd snapped after a quick look around. He jerked his chin at the prisoners. “I brought them down.”

Don couldn’t spare the attention to glance at the prone men, shadows in his peripheral vision. Crowd was still too much a danger for him to shift his attention that far. Glancing down at the man’s gun he saw it was slightly higher than before. As he firmed his own aim and grip the cuffs he was still wearing clinked slightly, hardening his resolve. “Put it down.”

“Detective Crowd,” Samuels started. Even now, with the targets of the undercover operation within earshot LAPD procedure demanded that the undercover officer be referred to by his assumed name even if Samuels added his police rank.

“You knew who he was?” Don interrupted, incredulous.

“I just found out.” The detective explained tersely. “Crowd, stand down.”

“I don’t take orders from you.” Crowd’s attention remained focused on the agent holding him at gunpoint.

“I know who you take orders from but she isn’t here right now. You will stand down. You shot one of my men.” Samuels added, making his position on the matter more than clear.

Hearing something in the detective’s tone Crowd shifted his attention away from the agent again to see other weapons being aimed at him, held both by FBI agents and LAPD detectives. Crowd’s fingers flexed on his gun as dangerous thoughts flashed across his face. He suddenly seemed to relax, releasing his stance and lowering his gun until it hung by one hand at his side.

“What the hell, I’ve done all the work. Someone else can do the mopping up.” Crowd announced with a cocky grin. He raised his arms out to his sides and allowed his gun to swing until he held it with one finger through the trigger guard.

Don kept his guard up even as he lowered his gun to avoid having agents in his line of fire as they moved in to arrest the undercover officer. The sudden switch had Don on edge and he barely breathed until the man was wearing cuffs. The undercover was then searched. Don spent that time caught in Crowd’s stare, finding that the cocky grin didn’t reach the man’s eyes. Instead there was warning and promise and Don knew he better not find himself alone with the man in an uncontrolled environment any time soon.

“Agent Eppes?”

Don blinked, snapped out of the stare by someone approaching him. He glanced back over at Crowd to see the man being pulled away by some agents. Allowing his weapon to drop further he turned to acknowledge the officer. “Detective.”

“May I?” Samuels held a hand out towards the gun.

“Uh, yeah.” Don said. Lifting the gun and pointing it safely away he managing to drop out the magazine. His hands suddenly shook with reaction after the sudden end to the danger and he struggled with the next stage of clearing the weapon.

“I got it, Agent.” Samuels stepped in and cautiously placed his hands over Don's.

Don relinquished the weapon and saw the detective remove the round from the chamber before handing the gun off. Samuels then dug into a pocket and came up with his keys. Don held up his wrists and the cuffs were removed. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Rubbing at his bruised wrists Don went blank for a moment before remembering the breach on the dayroom. He knew of at least one injury and started there, not noticing Samuel's concerned expression aimed at him. “Detective Mortensen?”

“In surgery. He’s going to be fine. Agent, you-”

“Anyone else hit?”

“One of ours took a round in the shoulder.” Samuels reported as he got the agent moving towards the exit. “We took out two of the gang before the others surrendered with no other losses on our side. We found the rookie down in the garage, he’s going to be fine too.”

“Good.” Don acknowledged. They'd been incredibly lucky, the offenders had seemed pretty much to have the advantage. Realising the detective should have been tied up back at the station with the aftermath he turned away from watching Crowd. “How’d you get here so quickly?”

“One of them told us where the buy was and we were heading in when we got the call.”

So back-up had been on the way in, just not called in by Crowd. Don looked over as they exited the roller to see Crowd being placed into the back of a black sedan. That reminded him of another point. “You said you just found out who he was. What were his bosses playing at sanctioning this?”

“The op was sanctioned but not what happened today. Believe me they were just as shocked as I was.” Samuels answered, steering the limping agent towards an ambulance. He continued with his explanation. “Right after the breach we got a call from his boss. His cover name had finally set off an alarm and they were on their way down to try to recover their op. They couldn’t believe what he’d done. Apparently they'd been having trouble contacting him lately and with this they'd figured he’d gone over.”

“I thought he’d made the whole thing up, especially when he set up my execution.” The words came out easily enough but the sudden emotion that flooded his thoughts immediately afterwards had him stopping in his tracks. He felt the blood drain from his head leaving him dizzy with his vision darkening at the edges and would have fallen but for the detective’s reaction.

“What the hell?” Samuels grabbed at the agent’s upper arm and spun him around to face him. “He did what?”

Staggering Don regained most of his balance, both physically and mentally. He saw Samuels’ face suddenly turn to concern as he steadied him.

“Sorry, Agent. I didn’t mean to snap. Are you okay?”

Don got a hand onto the detective’s forearm. “I’m good. I got it.”

The detective’s voice was softer now as he gently pushed the agent to the back step of the waiting ambulance and eased him down. “Here, sit. What happened? What did he do to you? No, wait, give me a sec.”

Samuels ducked away, heading for the cluster of FBI agents just as Don saw two that had just arrived head their way. After a brief word Samuels and the agents joined him at the back of the ambulance where he was now being fussed over by the EMTs.

“I’m fine.” Don tried to push the well meaning paramedics off as one prodded at his cheekbone.

“If you could see your face you wouldn’t say that.” Samuels commented. He looked at one of the EMTs as he turned his next statement into a question, “But, I’m sure they can give us a minute?”

“Sure.” The man nodded and they made room.

“Agent Eppes, I’m Kate Sullivan.” The female agent introduced herself as the other one, a young man, hung back.

Don nodded having met her several times. She’d been involved in a few of his operations when he’d needed more staff. “I remember.”

“Agent, I thought it best you only tell this once for now.” Samuels explained.

“Just give us what we need to work with for now, sir.” Sullivan added having been told of Don’s bombshell she could guess at how hard this was. “We can get the rest later.”

Reminded again of what Samuels was seeking it took Don a moment to gather himself and he flashed the detective an appreciative look before he started. It was hard but he got his thoughts in order and managed to give a basic, almost point form description of the day’s events from the takeover in the detective’s dayroom.

“Okay, that should do it.” Sullivan said with more than a touch of anger in her voice as he reached the point where the undercover had finished the apparent execution. The senior agent’s voice had trailed off and he seemed lost in recollection. “Sir?”

“Huh? Oh, okay.” Don again gave himself a mental shake, more than a little annoyed at how he was being affected by what had happened. Now that he had nothing else to worry about his mind kept replaying flashes of events he’d much rather not dwell on. The other agent started to walk off but he called her back, he had to be fair. “He also saved my life, taking out the bag man when he had me at gunpoint.”

“Okay, I’ll take that into consideration.” She said after jotting down the brief details he provided. “I’ll speak to you again soon. In the meanwhile Tony will ride with you.”

The other agent extended his hand, “Tony Wilcox, sir.”

Don shook the other agent’s hand. That he was going to hospital was not in doubt, he needed to be medically assessed by a doctor as part of the investigation. He wasn’t going to be staying there.

“Want me to notify your next-of-kin?”

“No!” The word was out in reflex before she’d fully finished the sentence. If he could have kept this incident from his father and Charlie he would have happily done so but he knew there was no way he could do that. Having the news come from another agent was unacceptable, he had to do it. “If I can borrow a phone I’ll call them.”

“You can have mine, sir.” Tony offered, handing his cell over.

“Thanks.” He made no move to dial, he’d wait until they were underway in the ambulance.

“Agent, if I could apologise on behalf of the LAPD I would.” Samuels said as Sullivan left and the EMTs moved back in.

“None of this was your fault.”

“I know but he’s LAPD, he’s one of us.” Samuels gazed out along the path the vehicle containing Crowd had taken when it left.

“He hurt one of yours.”

“I know. This should never have happened.”

“Not getting any arguments here.” Don agreed as he shifted from the ambulance’s rear step onto a gurney. At the EMT’s further insistence he reluctantly laid back.

“Alright, Agent. I better let them get you off to hospital. If there’s anything we can do for you don’t hesitate.”

Samuel’s guilt was understandable even if not warranted. It was hardly his fault that one of the LAPD’s undercover officers had basically gone rogue. It was clear that just as he’d felt responsible when Colby had apparently been working for the Chinese so Samuels was taking the blame for Crowd even if the man hadn’t been under his command. Arguing the point wasn’t going to change his mind so Don simply nodded his thanks.

In short order the gurney was loaded and they were on their way. Turning the borrowed cell over in his hands Don composed himself before dialling.

“Dad?”

Next chapter - here