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aleo_70Author: ALEO
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aleo_70Genre: Gen
Characters: Don Eppes, Charlie Eppes, Dean Winchester, and cameo by Sam Winchester
Fandoms: Numb3rs/Supernatural - crossover
Rating: PG 13+
Warning: violence, supernatural themes, horror
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs, Supernatural and associated 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. Anything you don't recognise comes from my imagination.
Spoilers - Numb3rs: Hot Shot & Thirteen; - Supernatural: nil.
Status: Chapter 4 of 9
Wordcount (this chapter): 2118
Total wordcount: ~21,400
Summary: Investigating a series of occult related murders in Los Angeles FBI Special Agent Eppes has another encounter with Dean Winchester.
CHAPTER FOUR
David listened with amazement as Don laid out more information on their suspect in a few minutes than all the rest of their investigation had netted them to date.
“Okay. Everyone got their assignments?” Don asked once he’d summed up. “Good. Let’s go people, the clock is ticking.”
David stood and waited as the rest of the agents filed out. Ordered back into the office in the middle of the night some of them were clearly still trying to wake up. They were tired, they all were having pulled longer and longer hours as the next serial killing loomed ever closer. Finally after some tempers had frayed Don had eased off, ordering most of them home to rest for the rest of the night, to return fresh in the morning. David and a couple of other agents had stayed to run the incident room desk overnight but now the entire squad assigned to this investigation had been called back in.
“Don? Can I have a word?” David asked as the others finished filing out.
Don closed his eyes for the briefest of moments but he should have expected this, David was too good not to realise something wasn’t right. There was no option but to bluff it out so he calmly glanced up at his subordinate as he tidied up. “What’s up, David?”
David closed the door and walked over. He stood waiting as Don shoved some papers back into a pile. Finally Don stopped and turned his full attention on him. Now David asked his question, “Where’d all this come from? A few hours ago we had nothing and then you come back with this.”
Don saw the narrowed gaze directed as him as David waited for his reaction. He tried to keep all expression from his face as the guilt at what he was doing returned but he was ready now for the question and able to answer smoothly, “One of my informants came through.”
“Which one? You said you’d spoken to everyone, we all have.” Every agent on the case, even some not on the case had shaken down their confidential informants in an effort to dig up a lead. No one had come up with anything useful, aside from wild rumours that made no sense.
“I hadn’t been able to find this one. He found me tonight.” The best way to tell a lie was to tell as much of the truth as you could right along with it.
“Anyone I know?”
This was an outright lie, “No.”
“How does he know so much? Sounds like he’s in on it.”
“He’s not.” Don felt a pang at that, how did he know Dean and Sam weren’t just playing some game on him?
No, he decided, Dean wouldn’t have left himself virtually helpless and vulnerable at the agent’s mercy if things weren’t as he said. Away from the older Winchester and any threat he could potentially muster against him there was nothing stopping Don from calling in a SWAT team to raid his apartment and take the fugitive into custody. Dean would have known this yet he’d allowed himself to sleep and thus leave himself open to whatever the agent might do. It seemed the witch had been right, Dean did trust him. Don in turn wasn’t sure that he trusted Dean but he did need him. For now that would do.
“You got to admit it is a bit suspicious,” David pushed. He’d seen something Don’s expression that needed explaining. He couldn’t call his boss directly on it but he could demand some answers. “No one else has come up with anything useful and yet this informant of yours suddenly has The Hunter’s real name and background. We need to get him in here and sweat him for everything he knows.”
“We do that and we’ll get nothing more from him,” Don said.
“So what, we have to accept that he finds you tonight and just gives us everything we need? Just like that?” David demanded.
“Yeah David, just like that,” Don snapped as he rounded on his agent. He hated taking this out on David, his fear from earlier in the night and his precarious situation was fuelling his anger, but he had to shut this down and fast. “We need intel, he’s got intel. We run it out. Any problems with that?”
“Hey, man. No problem,” David said as he took a step back. His boss may also be his friend but the vibe that was rolling off him now told David he was on dangerous ground and needed to let this go.
Don was probably even more tired than everyone else working the case and clearly more than a bit cranky. David could understand it, to a point. As the agent in charge of the hunt for the serial killer Don was under more pressure than the rest of them. Without a profiler Don was pulling double duty trying to get into the head of the man they were after. Still, it was a touch odd that this mysterious C.I. would suddenly provide exactly what they needed. But then he had to remind himself that this was Don’s C.I. and he would know whether or not the information was solid. His boss was also right on another point, they had to run it out.
David held up his notes as he backed up towards the door, “We’re on it.”
“Good,” Don snapped and forced himself to hold his posture until David had left, closing the door behind him. Letting out a long sigh Don continued watching as David walked across the bull pen, knowing that he’d only backed him off temporarily.
The thought of calling in SWAT again crossed his mind. He’d obtained a lot of information from the fugitive, but was it enough to enable them to track and bring down Best? That was the problem, Dean and his brother had found and confronted the serial killer when the best efforts of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office had failed even to identify who they were chasing. He needed Dean, needed the critical insight he could give him into the mind of the man they were after.
That gave him his next step, he had to go back to his apartment and wait for Dean to recover enough to give him what they needed. Even with all that Dean had given him there was still more that he could learn about their quarry. The better he understood the killer the sooner they would track him down.
He left the conference room, striding across the bull pen to his cubicle. For the first time he wished he’d taken the office he was entitled to rather than staying out on the floor with his agents. He felt David’s eyes on him as he collected his keys and jacket and turned to face him.
“Where are you going?” David demanded before the senior agent could get a word in.
“To meet my informant,” Don answered. “He was going to sniff around a bit more. I’m going to see if he has anything else.”
David put down his folder and reached for his coat. “I’ll come with.”
“No!” It came out more forcefully than he intended and he saw David’s head come up. “Look, he’s skittish enough around me. If I turn up with another agent he’ll go to ground.”
Now David looked at him in concern. Sure, some informants were like that but David had the feeling again there was more to this than what Don was saying. Something was very much off about Don’s behaviour but he still couldn’t pin it down. There was something else he could try to get himself invited along, “You’re sure he’s not in on this? That it’s safe enough for you to keep meeting him alone?”
Don knew as well as David that it wouldn’t be the first time a so called informant was stringing along those he was supposedly helping, all the while biding his time to strike. He was sure it was far from safe to be in Dean’s company but he had a job to do, whatever the risk to him.
“It’s safe, David. He trusts me.”
“Yeah, but do you trust him?”
That he still wasn’t sure of and he had to figure it out soon or he’d be a wreck before too much longer. “I’ll be fine.”
David’s expression indicated he knew his question hadn’t been answered but again he had to let it go. “Will we be able to reach you?”
Don held up his cell before slipping it onto his belt. “Twenty-four-seven.”
Despite himself David smiled briefly. Don was chained to his cell even if he had previous for turning it off on occasion. This would not be one of these occasions.
Don escaped while the going was good. Suffering an attack of paranoia as he left the building he turned away from home and headed across town. When he stopped checking for a tail and concentrated on where he was he found he had unconsciously headed towards South Central. He took the next turn and headed away; he may be an armed federal agent but some areas of South Central were not exactly safe in the wee small hours of the morning for a lone agent. Naturally the address where the Winchesters had found Best was one of those areas. Finally satisfied he had not been followed he drove home but couldn’t help the last check for a tail before he pulled in under the building.
As he stepped through the door into his apartment he felt the cold press of something against his left temple. Freezing in place he slid his eyes left and saw Dean standing up against the wall beside the door, gun extended. The gun withdrew slightly and flicked bare millimetres but the instruction was clear enough. Don took a half step and was far enough inside his apartment that the door could be closed. The lock turned and Don carefully turned to face the other man.
Dean had his head cocked, trying to listen through the door. “You alone?”
“Of course I’m alone.” Don snapped back, less than impressed at being threatened for walking through his own door.
Ignoring the flare of anger Dean lowered the gun and stepped back. “Didn’t hear you go.”
“I had work to do.”
“You told them what I told you,” Dean stated as he shoved the gun back into his waistband.
“Of course,” Don said as he tried to regain his composure. His efforts to convince himself that he could trust the other man had not been helped any by being held at gunpoint once again. He moved deeper into his apartment after dropping the keys to his SUV into the bowl resting on the sideboard. “You wanted my help, this is my help. Besides, we want him as much as you do.”
“I doubt that,” Dean muttered as he made his painful way back to the couch.
“Should you be up?”
“What are you, my mother?”
“Hardly,” Don scoffed. “But you’re still badly hurt.”
Dean had been about to sit back on the couch but he turned to face his host. “You need to get one thing straight; I’m good to do whatever it takes to get Sammy back. You got me?”
“You’ll be no good to him dead,” Don argued.
“Not dying now,” Dean said as he finally settled on the couch. “Could be better though.”
Don bit back the first response that came to mind at that. Instead he took his seat once again on the opposite couch. “So, what more can you tell me about Best?”
“What, haven’t I given you enough already? You want maybe his favourite colour and star sign?”
“Sure. Whatever you can add would be good. The more of a profile we can build the quicker we should be able to locate him.”
“Profile. Whatever.” Dean said dismissively. He looked up as if he’d just thought of something, “What about that math-whiz brother of yours, the professor?”
For no real reason Don felt a surge of alarm at that but Charlie was safe at home resting at his insistence. Pushing away the memory of the last time his brother had met the Winchesters he kept his voice calm. “He’s been working on it and he’ll get the new data in the morning. Anything else you can give me to build a better profile will help us find Best quicker.”
“Did you tell them where you got this?”
“An informant.”
“Hunh, I guess there is a first time for everything. An informant. Never been one of those before.”
Next chapter ... here
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no subject
Date: 2 Mar 2012 13:09 (UTC)And, I'm not suprised that Don doesn't want to bring Charlie in to help. Ultimately, to save Sam's life, he may have to.
Still loving Don and Dean together - sigh. See you tomorrow.
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Date: 3 Mar 2012 10:23 (UTC)Don't worry, Charlie will make an appearance...
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Date: 3 Mar 2012 01:22 (UTC)I have been following this, and I have to say, it's wonderful. I don't know quite what to say. Don continues to be wary, and the Winchester brothers aren't exactly comforting, at least not the one he's working with... and Don being an agent will automatically get the rough treatment because the boys have been burned so much.
I love the characterizations here, I love your story forming, your plots are engrossing, you've managed to capture both fandoms, and I don't know how to say how good these are without missing something. Truly good crossovers are so rare. You've succeeded twice now, and I am along for the ride on the third. Thank your for sharing these truly wonderful stories. :D -SB
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Date: 3 Mar 2012 10:24 (UTC)Thank-you for the wonderful comment, so glad this latest fic is working out.
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Date: 1 Apr 2012 23:42 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Apr 2012 03:46 (UTC)