FIC: In the Arms of the Wicked, 20 (Ian/OMC, Don, Liz, Charlie/Colby, David, Megan,Larry, OCs,PG-13)
Title: "Feeling the Heat"
Series: In the Arms of the Wicked, Part 20/?
Characters: Ian/OMC, Don, Liz, Charlie/Colby, David, Megan, Larry, OCs.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: The members of the team move to different locations to work on the case.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (characters, situations, etcetera) except my OCs.
Beta: The wonderful fredbassettand the fantastic twins_m0m. Extra thanks to twins_m0mfor providing me the title for this chapter.
Previous chapters: Click here.
Previous chapter
Next chapter
Part 20: "Feeling the Heat"
The SUV was burning and the heat left very little air to breathe. In a reflex movement, Ian kicked his door, opening it instantly, and got out. He was numb and confused by the explosion and it was difficult for him to manage his movements. He shook his head violently and went back to the SUV. The back of the vehicle spat flames and everyone had to get away from it as soon as possible before the fire got to the tank and a bigger explosion occurred.
Looking inside the SUV, he saw Farrow kicking his own door. He clearly couldn’t get it open, and Ian wanted to assist him, but the ones in the backseat needed more help.
Sergio was trying to drag out the bodyguard that lay beside him, but apparently, he was too heavy for him.
“Sergio!” Ian called.
Farrow kicked the door one more time and turned to the backseat. The flames were getting closer and closer to his friends; there was no time to waste.
Shaking his head one more time, Ian broke the glass of Sergio’s window, reached for him and pulled him out of the SUV. Sergio fought against leaving the others behind, but he stopped once the sniper got him away from the vehicle and returned to try to rescue them.
Ian looked inside again and saw Farrow trying to make his bodyguard react, but he got the feeling that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by himself.
“He’s unconscious!” Farrow yelled.
In response, Ian tried to open the door; but he found it was stuck.
“I can’t get this open! Push him towards me, I’ll take it from there!” he yelled at Farrow, who quickly cursed as he tried to get the bodyguard closer to Ian. He was definitely using a lot of the energy he had left; his arms trembled and he was sweating heavily. But he did it. Soon, the unconscious man was near Ian’s hands, so he could take him out of the vehicle. “Now you, get the hell out of there!”
He knew that Farrow would be able to get out; people with a character like his didn’t give up easily. Once Ian saw Sergio walk desperately towards him, he allowed him to take care of the bodyguard. He looked back at Farrow trying to save his own life.
The fire was getting worse. Its light made the SUV seem more and more disturbing with each passing second. Farrow was hitting the glass of his door. However, he seemed too exhausted to escape the vehicle by his own means.
Thinking that he couldn’t lose him, Ian started running, but he stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Farrow was sliding himself out through the window of the SUV, his briefcase in tow. He breathed hard and approached him, letting Farrow put an arm around his waist. They walked together towards Sergio, who was using CPR on the bodyguard.
The butler suddenly stopped and rolled on his side next to the man. “He’s… He’s dead. I’m sorry, Chris,” he muttered, staring at the deceased man. “I’m so sorry…” he told the bodyguard, leaning over him and whispering prayers.
Farrow watched the scene in complete silence, with eyes full of regret. He never moved from beside Ian, but the sniper could feel how the grip on his waist got tighter and he could see little drops of sweat sliding down little portions of singed skin.
“What is this?” Farrow whispered. “What is this, and how can I stop it?” He was obviously talking to himself.
Ian looked at the people around him and glanced at the fire a few meters away. Fifteen minutes ago, he wouldn’t have even imagined that someone would put a bomb in the SUV’s trunk. He hadn’t seen it coming, and now Farrow’s face and words reminded him of himself several years ago, when he had witnessed Marah’s death.
The crackling of the flames surrounded the tragedy for a moment. Farrow suddenly looked up, disturbed by another sound - the sound of a vehicle coming down the road. Ian could see the figure of a car that was going to pass near them, so he let go of Farrow and ran towards it. “Hey, FBI! Stop the car!” he yelled at the driver, taking out his badge and gun.
XxX
“Megan, are those kids going to get here or what?” Don asked the agent when he saw her walking near him. A second later, he realized that he’d chosen the wrong words to express himself, just like he’d done it before with Charlie. The last few days definitely hadn’t been good ones when it came to his communication skills.
He felt even guiltier after he realized that she’d been walking around with a bunch of papers and pulling her hair the entire time. Megan wasn’t okay and he’d noticed it hours ago. He’d even told her to go home, but after the news on Farrow’s jet and Richard Peyton being missing, she’d had to come back to the office and keep doing her job. She always did her best, and it wasn’t fair to treat her badly.
“I’m sorry, I’m worried about this. I didn’t mean to say it like that…” Don apologized.
Megan looked at him with tense lips; then she put down the papers, took off her glasses and leaned on one desk. “I know, I know. We’re all like that.”
“You’re doing a great job.”
She smiled and looked behind Don. “There are your witnesses.”
When he turned around, he saw two young men being accompanied by an FBI agent. They looked around like they were ashamed of something, until Don waved his hand and approached them. “Hey, guys… Why don’t you come with me?” Silently, he guided the way to the interrogation room. Megan walked there with him, watching the witnesses tug at their sleeves and take deep breaths. “So, you are CalSci students and you were there when the shooting happened,” he started, but his cell phone interrupted him. “Excuse me. I’ll be with you in a minute,” he said as he made a gesture for Megan to take care of them until he was back.
Once he’d put some distance between himself and the others, Don picked up the call. “Eppes.” A familiar voice startled him. “Ian?” Something bad had to have happened for the sniper to call so soon.
“Don, we have a problem.”
“What is it?” Don could hear the sound of people talking very near Ian’s phone - people telling others to hold on. “Where are you?”
“In a car, on the way to the hospital.”
Don’s heart beat hard. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“A bomb happened. Someone put a small one in the trunk of Farrow’s SUV,” Ian responded. “Farrow, Sergio and I, we’re fine, but a bodyguard didn’t make it.” He took a breath and lowered his voice. “It’s got to be someone who’s close to Farrow. It was the same SUV we used to get to the house from the airport, and we haven’t been anywhere since then.”
“Okay, okay…” Don tried to think fast. So many things were in his head at the moment - the jet, Carl, Cameron, Liz, Charlie, Ian, the bomb... “Look, two CalSci students are here. Apparently, they saw something during the shooting and they want to share it.”
Ian’s sarcastic voice didn’t take him by surprise. “Well, finally someone’s started talking.”
Don ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah.” He remained silent, trying to think straight again. “You know you gotta be extra careful, don’t you?”
“It’ll be fine. But I’m starting to see some things I don’t like here.”
“I’ll take your word for that. I’m going to send David and Colby to Arizona so you have backup in case you need it.”
“Sounds good.”
“All right. Bye.” Overwhelmed by the situation, Don went to the war room, where Colby, David, Charlie and Larry were working on the equations and the video of the jet crash. One of their closest techs, Matt Li, was with them, enhancing the tapes.
They all looked at Don when he entered the office, but Charlie seemed to be still mad at him.
“What's up?” David asked.
“A bomb exploded in Ian and Farrow’s SUV.” Larry’s expression said it all; he brought his hands to his face and became suddenly pale. “A bodyguard got killed, but the rest of them are okay.”
The physicist uncovered his face, revealing relief. “Oh, thank you. I’m not experiencing any joy about the death of that man, but I’m certainly glad Ian and Christopher survived,” he muttered. Charlie put a hand on his shoulder.
Don watched that hand and missed talking to his brother like civilized people, with no lies and no worries. “They have someone inside, very close to Farrow. We don’t know who it is yet.” With that, Larry definitely looked worried again. “We’re going to make sure that person doesn’t get to him. That’s why I want David and Colby to go to Arizona and stay there. If anything happens, Ian will contact you.”
Charlie looked at Colby, who glanced at him and said, “Okay.” David nodded and soon the two partners and their boss were out of the room.
“We’ll be ready in ten,” David informed Don as he and Colby went to the gun locker room.
Don only got the chance to give them a thumbs up. His head was a mess, and the idea of Noah Cameron listening to Charlie and Colby’s tapes obsessed him again. Of course, now he had an extra thing to worry about - Liz's curiosity certainly wasn’t going to let this go.
When Don returned to the interrogation room, Liz was there. She fixed her eyes on his, but he had to do something before talking to the CalSci students. He asked Megan to come out, then told her, “Megan, I’d like you to go to Farrow’s L.A. house, the one Ian visited a few days ago. I get the feeling we could find some interesting stuff about the guy’s social circle there. Liz and I can take over the students' interrogation.”
She nodded immediately, always ready to do her job even if she was feeling bad. She was about to leave when Charlie and Larry approached her and Don. “Hey, I’m going to Farrow’s house…” she explained.
“The one in L.A.?” the physicist asked. “May I join you? I believe that being surrounded by an archeological atmosphere would very much collaborate to my thought process on the Horus-eye.”
“Sure, go…” Don muttered, and then he looked at his brother. “Maybe you should go, too, Charlie. You see things others don’t most of the time.” He tried to be gentle, but Charlie didn’t react and just left. The worst part was that Don wasn’t expecting the scene to be any different.
So, tired and worried, he entered the interrogation room again and glanced at Liz. He knew she’d understood his message. There was a case to solve before they discussed any other issue.
XxX
Colby watched David finish loading his gun. Again, he was going to be apart from his lover, and he didn’t know for how long it would be. The case wasn’t progressing, it thickened and thickened, and there were almost no strong leads…
“Are you all right, man?” David asked, startling him. “You’re staring at me and I know that look on your face.”
It was nice to have someone to talk about such things, someone who could sense when Colby was feeling low. “I don’t know. I guess I just want this case to be over so that I can finally focus on fixing what I have with Charlie.”
David’s smile comforted him; obviously, he was happy that Colby had followed the advice he’d given him for days now. “That’s awesome.”
“We’ll see what happens,” Colby responded. “So, it seems that you’re feeling better about… you know, things?”
Taking an extra gun from the locker, the other man smiled again. “A bit, yeah. I’m trying to take it easy.”
“Good…” There was a question Colby needed to ask after the conversation he’d had with everyone at the house. He remembered the lilies topic very well. “Does it have something to do with Liz?”
The only response he got was, “Maybe. She’s been a good friend to me lately.”
“A friend.” When David turned to him and shook his head, Colby thought that maybe this wasn’t the best moment to try to get a confession from his partner. “All right, I believe you. She’s a nice girl. She’ll be good for you.”
“Colby.”
“Okay, I’m not saying another word. My lips are sealed.” Colby laughed for a second until he saw Charlie coming into the room. “Charlie, what’s going on?”
Looking nervous, the mathematician stood in the middle of the room. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
David looked at them and started walking towards the door. “Um, you two talk, I have to… you know… do something I should have… done before…” he babbled before leaving the lovers alone.
Charlie stared at the door. “Well, that was subtle.”
“Yeah,” Colby agreed. “What did you want to talk about?” He waited for his lover to look into his eyes and say something, but Charlie remained silent. “Okay, what is it? You’re scaring me. I…” He suddenly received a warm kiss and responded to it. He wasn’t going to complain. They hadn’t kissed each other very often since they’d got together again. However, when it was over, he didn’t know what to say.
“You’re going to Arizona,” the mathematician whispered close to his mouth.
“I know.” So they were thinking about the same thing. Just the idea of it made Colby think of how much he cared about his lover.
Caressing the agent’s hair, Charlie rested his forehead on his. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too,” Colby whispered back. “I’ll call you.”
“If you don’t, I’ll call you.”
“Deal.”
Charlie kissed his lover’s lips again and with that, he turned around and left. Once he was alone, Colby wondered if the distance could actually erase what they felt about each other. So far, they seemed to be able to overcome it all somehow, but he could never be too sure.
XxX
That subtle vibe you’re sending me is useless, Don. Yeah, there’s a case and we have to work on it. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been suddenly brain-washed. Trying to keep up, Liz walked around the interrogation room, making her presence felt. She had questions and she was going to get answers. These CalSci students seated at the table had come to talk about what they’d seen, after all. “Sean and Tom… You guys said you had something for us,” she said, glancing at Don, who was in front of them, with his arms folded. “I wonder why you didn’t come here sooner.”
The two young witnesses looked at each other and Don added, “What did you see?”
“We… We were being… careful,” the guy named Sean explained, but Liz didn’t think it was very clear.
“You mean scared, don’t you?”
The student swallowed. “Yes. Tom and I were talking at the campus when we saw a man hiding behind one of the university buildings. It was weird. He was wearing a hooded t-shirt. We followed his moves, trying not to catch his attention.”
“And he turned out to have a gun,” Don assumed, as he sat on the table, closer to the boy who hadn’t talked yet and looking into his eyes. With that, he got him to raise his voice for the first time.
“When we saw it, we tried to warn the people around us, but it was too late. The shooting started and we got down on the floor… There were too many bullets, so we thought there were more men like the guy we saw…” Tom explained.
Liz went to the point. “What can you tell us about him? Height, clothes, some body feature that can help us identify him?”
Like they had done it before, both students shared a look and the one who had spoken first took out his cell phone. “We have a picture of him.”
Don’s eyes lightened and he reached for the little device. When Liz stood beside him and saw the picture, she muttered, “We’re gonna need to enhance that.” The image wasn’t very good, but if the techs got their hands on it, they’d be able to find out a lot of relevant details.
“He saw us,” Sean continued. “He caught me taking the picture when he was leaving and came towards me. I panicked but I recovered and sent it to Tom. I’m glad I did, because the man grabbed my cell phone threw it against the wall. Then he left.”
“Did he say anything?” Don asked.
“No… He put the barrel to my head and played with the trigger, but obviously he didn’t shoot me. He didn’t tell me keep my mouth shut, but I think he was pretty clear about it.”
“Did you notice if he had a target?”
“Not really… The shooting seemed to be random.
Tom nodded. “We waited until it was safe for us to get up again. Since then, we’ve been thinking about what happened. Yesterday we talked about it and we decided to come and tell you.”
“No matter how scared we are… there are things that have to be done. If this is going to help someone else not to get hurt, so be it.”
Liz watched Don frown and run his fingers over the keys of the cell phone. “That was a very good decision,” she told the witnesses, first watching Don, then turning to the students to give them a polite smile.
“Yeah, thanks for everything. This is very helpful, guys,” Don added, getting up and shaking the students' hands. Liz did the same and soon they were both out of the interrogation room.
They found out that McGowan had been monitoring the entire conversation. “I’ve heard that Sinclair and Granger are going to Arizona. I’ll take care of jurisdiction matters,” he said, and his eyes landed on Don. “Good job. Work on that picture.” Then he left.
As Don and Liz walked down the corridor, his expression kept her attention. He didn’t say another word until he saw the tech Matt Li and handed him the cell phone. “This image here, we need to take a better look at it. We gotta get an ID from it.”
“All right, I’ll take care of it,” Li said before leaving to do his job.
Don turned to Liz. “We’re closer to the bottom of this. I can tell.”
“So what’s the plan? What do we do next? We wait? What…?”
“We should make sure David and Colby get to Arizona ASAP, keep a track on Ian and Farrow’s situation and wait for Charlie, Larry and Megan to pick up a lead in his house. In the meantime… I need to do something.”
Now? “Something? Don, if you’re going to…”
“It won’t take long. I’ll be here in less than two hours. Li won’t have that picture done before that.”
“But…”
“I’ll be back soon…”
“Don!”
“Keep me updated on what happens here!” Don yelled as he went towards the elevator.
Astonished by his attitude, Liz went into the other elevator and followed Don to the FBI building’s front door. There, she saw him get in his car, and she couldn’t help worrying even more about him. You want to go on with the case and then you leave like this? What are you thinking about, leaving like that for an unknown location?
When Don’s car started to move, she got into her car, hit the gas and told herself she’d hammer some sense into his head before it was too late.
Series: In the Arms of the Wicked, Part 20/?
Characters: Ian/OMC, Don, Liz, Charlie/Colby, David, Megan, Larry, OCs.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: The members of the team move to different locations to work on the case.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (characters, situations, etcetera) except my OCs.
Beta: The wonderful fredbassettand the fantastic twins_m0m. Extra thanks to twins_m0mfor providing me the title for this chapter.
Previous chapters: Click here.
Previous chapter
Next chapter
Part 20: "Feeling the Heat"
The SUV was burning and the heat left very little air to breathe. In a reflex movement, Ian kicked his door, opening it instantly, and got out. He was numb and confused by the explosion and it was difficult for him to manage his movements. He shook his head violently and went back to the SUV. The back of the vehicle spat flames and everyone had to get away from it as soon as possible before the fire got to the tank and a bigger explosion occurred.
Looking inside the SUV, he saw Farrow kicking his own door. He clearly couldn’t get it open, and Ian wanted to assist him, but the ones in the backseat needed more help.
Sergio was trying to drag out the bodyguard that lay beside him, but apparently, he was too heavy for him.
“Sergio!” Ian called.
Farrow kicked the door one more time and turned to the backseat. The flames were getting closer and closer to his friends; there was no time to waste.
Shaking his head one more time, Ian broke the glass of Sergio’s window, reached for him and pulled him out of the SUV. Sergio fought against leaving the others behind, but he stopped once the sniper got him away from the vehicle and returned to try to rescue them.
Ian looked inside again and saw Farrow trying to make his bodyguard react, but he got the feeling that he wasn’t going to get anywhere by himself.
“He’s unconscious!” Farrow yelled.
In response, Ian tried to open the door; but he found it was stuck.
“I can’t get this open! Push him towards me, I’ll take it from there!” he yelled at Farrow, who quickly cursed as he tried to get the bodyguard closer to Ian. He was definitely using a lot of the energy he had left; his arms trembled and he was sweating heavily. But he did it. Soon, the unconscious man was near Ian’s hands, so he could take him out of the vehicle. “Now you, get the hell out of there!”
He knew that Farrow would be able to get out; people with a character like his didn’t give up easily. Once Ian saw Sergio walk desperately towards him, he allowed him to take care of the bodyguard. He looked back at Farrow trying to save his own life.
The fire was getting worse. Its light made the SUV seem more and more disturbing with each passing second. Farrow was hitting the glass of his door. However, he seemed too exhausted to escape the vehicle by his own means.
Thinking that he couldn’t lose him, Ian started running, but he stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Farrow was sliding himself out through the window of the SUV, his briefcase in tow. He breathed hard and approached him, letting Farrow put an arm around his waist. They walked together towards Sergio, who was using CPR on the bodyguard.
The butler suddenly stopped and rolled on his side next to the man. “He’s… He’s dead. I’m sorry, Chris,” he muttered, staring at the deceased man. “I’m so sorry…” he told the bodyguard, leaning over him and whispering prayers.
Farrow watched the scene in complete silence, with eyes full of regret. He never moved from beside Ian, but the sniper could feel how the grip on his waist got tighter and he could see little drops of sweat sliding down little portions of singed skin.
“What is this?” Farrow whispered. “What is this, and how can I stop it?” He was obviously talking to himself.
Ian looked at the people around him and glanced at the fire a few meters away. Fifteen minutes ago, he wouldn’t have even imagined that someone would put a bomb in the SUV’s trunk. He hadn’t seen it coming, and now Farrow’s face and words reminded him of himself several years ago, when he had witnessed Marah’s death.
The crackling of the flames surrounded the tragedy for a moment. Farrow suddenly looked up, disturbed by another sound - the sound of a vehicle coming down the road. Ian could see the figure of a car that was going to pass near them, so he let go of Farrow and ran towards it. “Hey, FBI! Stop the car!” he yelled at the driver, taking out his badge and gun.
XxX
“Megan, are those kids going to get here or what?” Don asked the agent when he saw her walking near him. A second later, he realized that he’d chosen the wrong words to express himself, just like he’d done it before with Charlie. The last few days definitely hadn’t been good ones when it came to his communication skills.
He felt even guiltier after he realized that she’d been walking around with a bunch of papers and pulling her hair the entire time. Megan wasn’t okay and he’d noticed it hours ago. He’d even told her to go home, but after the news on Farrow’s jet and Richard Peyton being missing, she’d had to come back to the office and keep doing her job. She always did her best, and it wasn’t fair to treat her badly.
“I’m sorry, I’m worried about this. I didn’t mean to say it like that…” Don apologized.
Megan looked at him with tense lips; then she put down the papers, took off her glasses and leaned on one desk. “I know, I know. We’re all like that.”
“You’re doing a great job.”
She smiled and looked behind Don. “There are your witnesses.”
When he turned around, he saw two young men being accompanied by an FBI agent. They looked around like they were ashamed of something, until Don waved his hand and approached them. “Hey, guys… Why don’t you come with me?” Silently, he guided the way to the interrogation room. Megan walked there with him, watching the witnesses tug at their sleeves and take deep breaths. “So, you are CalSci students and you were there when the shooting happened,” he started, but his cell phone interrupted him. “Excuse me. I’ll be with you in a minute,” he said as he made a gesture for Megan to take care of them until he was back.
Once he’d put some distance between himself and the others, Don picked up the call. “Eppes.” A familiar voice startled him. “Ian?” Something bad had to have happened for the sniper to call so soon.
“Don, we have a problem.”
“What is it?” Don could hear the sound of people talking very near Ian’s phone - people telling others to hold on. “Where are you?”
“In a car, on the way to the hospital.”
Don’s heart beat hard. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“A bomb happened. Someone put a small one in the trunk of Farrow’s SUV,” Ian responded. “Farrow, Sergio and I, we’re fine, but a bodyguard didn’t make it.” He took a breath and lowered his voice. “It’s got to be someone who’s close to Farrow. It was the same SUV we used to get to the house from the airport, and we haven’t been anywhere since then.”
“Okay, okay…” Don tried to think fast. So many things were in his head at the moment - the jet, Carl, Cameron, Liz, Charlie, Ian, the bomb... “Look, two CalSci students are here. Apparently, they saw something during the shooting and they want to share it.”
Ian’s sarcastic voice didn’t take him by surprise. “Well, finally someone’s started talking.”
Don ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah.” He remained silent, trying to think straight again. “You know you gotta be extra careful, don’t you?”
“It’ll be fine. But I’m starting to see some things I don’t like here.”
“I’ll take your word for that. I’m going to send David and Colby to Arizona so you have backup in case you need it.”
“Sounds good.”
“All right. Bye.” Overwhelmed by the situation, Don went to the war room, where Colby, David, Charlie and Larry were working on the equations and the video of the jet crash. One of their closest techs, Matt Li, was with them, enhancing the tapes.
They all looked at Don when he entered the office, but Charlie seemed to be still mad at him.
“What's up?” David asked.
“A bomb exploded in Ian and Farrow’s SUV.” Larry’s expression said it all; he brought his hands to his face and became suddenly pale. “A bodyguard got killed, but the rest of them are okay.”
The physicist uncovered his face, revealing relief. “Oh, thank you. I’m not experiencing any joy about the death of that man, but I’m certainly glad Ian and Christopher survived,” he muttered. Charlie put a hand on his shoulder.
Don watched that hand and missed talking to his brother like civilized people, with no lies and no worries. “They have someone inside, very close to Farrow. We don’t know who it is yet.” With that, Larry definitely looked worried again. “We’re going to make sure that person doesn’t get to him. That’s why I want David and Colby to go to Arizona and stay there. If anything happens, Ian will contact you.”
Charlie looked at Colby, who glanced at him and said, “Okay.” David nodded and soon the two partners and their boss were out of the room.
“We’ll be ready in ten,” David informed Don as he and Colby went to the gun locker room.
Don only got the chance to give them a thumbs up. His head was a mess, and the idea of Noah Cameron listening to Charlie and Colby’s tapes obsessed him again. Of course, now he had an extra thing to worry about - Liz's curiosity certainly wasn’t going to let this go.
When Don returned to the interrogation room, Liz was there. She fixed her eyes on his, but he had to do something before talking to the CalSci students. He asked Megan to come out, then told her, “Megan, I’d like you to go to Farrow’s L.A. house, the one Ian visited a few days ago. I get the feeling we could find some interesting stuff about the guy’s social circle there. Liz and I can take over the students' interrogation.”
She nodded immediately, always ready to do her job even if she was feeling bad. She was about to leave when Charlie and Larry approached her and Don. “Hey, I’m going to Farrow’s house…” she explained.
“The one in L.A.?” the physicist asked. “May I join you? I believe that being surrounded by an archeological atmosphere would very much collaborate to my thought process on the Horus-eye.”
“Sure, go…” Don muttered, and then he looked at his brother. “Maybe you should go, too, Charlie. You see things others don’t most of the time.” He tried to be gentle, but Charlie didn’t react and just left. The worst part was that Don wasn’t expecting the scene to be any different.
So, tired and worried, he entered the interrogation room again and glanced at Liz. He knew she’d understood his message. There was a case to solve before they discussed any other issue.
XxX
Colby watched David finish loading his gun. Again, he was going to be apart from his lover, and he didn’t know for how long it would be. The case wasn’t progressing, it thickened and thickened, and there were almost no strong leads…
“Are you all right, man?” David asked, startling him. “You’re staring at me and I know that look on your face.”
It was nice to have someone to talk about such things, someone who could sense when Colby was feeling low. “I don’t know. I guess I just want this case to be over so that I can finally focus on fixing what I have with Charlie.”
David’s smile comforted him; obviously, he was happy that Colby had followed the advice he’d given him for days now. “That’s awesome.”
“We’ll see what happens,” Colby responded. “So, it seems that you’re feeling better about… you know, things?”
Taking an extra gun from the locker, the other man smiled again. “A bit, yeah. I’m trying to take it easy.”
“Good…” There was a question Colby needed to ask after the conversation he’d had with everyone at the house. He remembered the lilies topic very well. “Does it have something to do with Liz?”
The only response he got was, “Maybe. She’s been a good friend to me lately.”
“A friend.” When David turned to him and shook his head, Colby thought that maybe this wasn’t the best moment to try to get a confession from his partner. “All right, I believe you. She’s a nice girl. She’ll be good for you.”
“Colby.”
“Okay, I’m not saying another word. My lips are sealed.” Colby laughed for a second until he saw Charlie coming into the room. “Charlie, what’s going on?”
Looking nervous, the mathematician stood in the middle of the room. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
David looked at them and started walking towards the door. “Um, you two talk, I have to… you know… do something I should have… done before…” he babbled before leaving the lovers alone.
Charlie stared at the door. “Well, that was subtle.”
“Yeah,” Colby agreed. “What did you want to talk about?” He waited for his lover to look into his eyes and say something, but Charlie remained silent. “Okay, what is it? You’re scaring me. I…” He suddenly received a warm kiss and responded to it. He wasn’t going to complain. They hadn’t kissed each other very often since they’d got together again. However, when it was over, he didn’t know what to say.
“You’re going to Arizona,” the mathematician whispered close to his mouth.
“I know.” So they were thinking about the same thing. Just the idea of it made Colby think of how much he cared about his lover.
Caressing the agent’s hair, Charlie rested his forehead on his. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too,” Colby whispered back. “I’ll call you.”
“If you don’t, I’ll call you.”
“Deal.”
Charlie kissed his lover’s lips again and with that, he turned around and left. Once he was alone, Colby wondered if the distance could actually erase what they felt about each other. So far, they seemed to be able to overcome it all somehow, but he could never be too sure.
XxX
That subtle vibe you’re sending me is useless, Don. Yeah, there’s a case and we have to work on it. But that doesn’t mean I’ve been suddenly brain-washed. Trying to keep up, Liz walked around the interrogation room, making her presence felt. She had questions and she was going to get answers. These CalSci students seated at the table had come to talk about what they’d seen, after all. “Sean and Tom… You guys said you had something for us,” she said, glancing at Don, who was in front of them, with his arms folded. “I wonder why you didn’t come here sooner.”
The two young witnesses looked at each other and Don added, “What did you see?”
“We… We were being… careful,” the guy named Sean explained, but Liz didn’t think it was very clear.
“You mean scared, don’t you?”
The student swallowed. “Yes. Tom and I were talking at the campus when we saw a man hiding behind one of the university buildings. It was weird. He was wearing a hooded t-shirt. We followed his moves, trying not to catch his attention.”
“And he turned out to have a gun,” Don assumed, as he sat on the table, closer to the boy who hadn’t talked yet and looking into his eyes. With that, he got him to raise his voice for the first time.
“When we saw it, we tried to warn the people around us, but it was too late. The shooting started and we got down on the floor… There were too many bullets, so we thought there were more men like the guy we saw…” Tom explained.
Liz went to the point. “What can you tell us about him? Height, clothes, some body feature that can help us identify him?”
Like they had done it before, both students shared a look and the one who had spoken first took out his cell phone. “We have a picture of him.”
Don’s eyes lightened and he reached for the little device. When Liz stood beside him and saw the picture, she muttered, “We’re gonna need to enhance that.” The image wasn’t very good, but if the techs got their hands on it, they’d be able to find out a lot of relevant details.
“He saw us,” Sean continued. “He caught me taking the picture when he was leaving and came towards me. I panicked but I recovered and sent it to Tom. I’m glad I did, because the man grabbed my cell phone threw it against the wall. Then he left.”
“Did he say anything?” Don asked.
“No… He put the barrel to my head and played with the trigger, but obviously he didn’t shoot me. He didn’t tell me keep my mouth shut, but I think he was pretty clear about it.”
“Did you notice if he had a target?”
“Not really… The shooting seemed to be random.
Tom nodded. “We waited until it was safe for us to get up again. Since then, we’ve been thinking about what happened. Yesterday we talked about it and we decided to come and tell you.”
“No matter how scared we are… there are things that have to be done. If this is going to help someone else not to get hurt, so be it.”
Liz watched Don frown and run his fingers over the keys of the cell phone. “That was a very good decision,” she told the witnesses, first watching Don, then turning to the students to give them a polite smile.
“Yeah, thanks for everything. This is very helpful, guys,” Don added, getting up and shaking the students' hands. Liz did the same and soon they were both out of the interrogation room.
They found out that McGowan had been monitoring the entire conversation. “I’ve heard that Sinclair and Granger are going to Arizona. I’ll take care of jurisdiction matters,” he said, and his eyes landed on Don. “Good job. Work on that picture.” Then he left.
As Don and Liz walked down the corridor, his expression kept her attention. He didn’t say another word until he saw the tech Matt Li and handed him the cell phone. “This image here, we need to take a better look at it. We gotta get an ID from it.”
“All right, I’ll take care of it,” Li said before leaving to do his job.
Don turned to Liz. “We’re closer to the bottom of this. I can tell.”
“So what’s the plan? What do we do next? We wait? What…?”
“We should make sure David and Colby get to Arizona ASAP, keep a track on Ian and Farrow’s situation and wait for Charlie, Larry and Megan to pick up a lead in his house. In the meantime… I need to do something.”
Now? “Something? Don, if you’re going to…”
“It won’t take long. I’ll be here in less than two hours. Li won’t have that picture done before that.”
“But…”
“I’ll be back soon…”
“Don!”
“Keep me updated on what happens here!” Don yelled as he went towards the elevator.
Astonished by his attitude, Liz went into the other elevator and followed Don to the FBI building’s front door. There, she saw him get in his car, and she couldn’t help worrying even more about him. You want to go on with the case and then you leave like this? What are you thinking about, leaving like that for an unknown location?
When Don’s car started to move, she got into her car, hit the gas and told herself she’d hammer some sense into his head before it was too late.