Fic: Target, Chapter 2 (Numb3rs, Don / Martin, David / Ian / Bobby)
Title: Target, Chapter 2
Pair: Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger,
Don Eppes / Martin Fridegord,
David Sinclair / Ian Edgerton / Bobby
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
NUMB3RS Main List
Chapter 1
“Morning.”
“Morning.” Bobby staggered into the kitchen, still half asleep and slumped down on one of the chairs. “What time is it?”
“Almost ten. Think you can handle some food?”
“I think so. Any coffee?”
“Yeah, I just made a new pot.” Martin got up to pile some scrambled eggs and bacon on a plate and placed it in front of Bobby. They were followed by a steaming cup of coffee. “How are you feeling?”
“Like a smoked ham.” Bobby downed as much of the hot liquid as he could before the scorching in his throat became too much. “Thanks for the clothes. And bed.”
“Are going to go back to sleep? Your doctor made it clear you’ll be resting for few days.”
“I should call my insurance company, and maybe go to my place. See if anything survived.”
“They’re still investigating the fire, so you’ll have to wait. I talked to your handler, she landed couple hours ago.”
“She’s here?”
“Don will talk to him when he gets to the office and he’ll call when he knows something.”
“Thanks.” Bobby took a careful bite from the piece of buttered toast that had appeared next to his eggs. “Where are you going?” He made as mall gesture at Martin’s sleeveless T-shirt and running shorts.
“I was going to go for a little run. A week stuck in meetings and then a weekend at my parent’s house, I need to move a bit or I’ll go crazy.” Martin grabbed his keys and slipped his iPod to the pocket of his shorts. “I would ask you to go with me, but I don’t think your lunges would appreciate it.”
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“Is she here?” Don walked out of the elevator and into the bullpen. Megan was waiting for him at his desk.
“Got here maybe ten minutes ago.” She pointed at the break room. “How’s Bobby?”
“Alive and breathing. Did she have anything new?”
“I’ll let her tell you herself, I’ll go check some names she gave me.”
“What names?”
“Know associated of those men Bobby testified against. If it looks like they might be here…”
“Then it’s serious.”
“Yeah.”
Don walked to the break room and knocked on the door.
“Agent Wilson? Agent Eppes, we talked on the phone.”
“Nice to meet you face to face.” She practically inhaled a cup of coffee before she fixed attention on Don. “People always complain about airline food, but their coffee is even worse.” She sat down and pulled few papers from her briefcase. She placed them in front him.
“Court papers?”
“The men Mr. Desmond testified against are trying to get a retrial , because of a technical error in the original trial. Some paperwork that the DA should have made available for the defence got lost on the way.”
“Maybe it was lost in the mail?” Don suggested innocently.
“Maybe. We know some of their men are still free, we couldn`t connect them to the same case. If they get a new trial, and the key witness isn’t alive to testify…”
“They’ll walk.”
“About a month ago our local database was hacked, the person or persons behind it copied several data files about our cases and people in the witness protection.”
“And you didn’t relocate him after that?”
“They didn’t get to the actual detailed information. The only useful part was that he was located in California. No names, no addresses.”
“You think it has something to do with the appeal?”
“The appeal was filed last week, so they have to have a reason for their timing.” Wilson pulled few more papers from her briefcase. “This article was published last week. We got the paper to withdraw it from their website, but physical copies were impossible get rid of.”
Don took the photocopy of an article and read the headline.
“Momma goes X-rated. Controversial courtroom looser returns to porn.”
“They are doing a porn parody of her life. If I’ve understood correctly, the man connected to that custody case is working in your team.”
“That’s right.”
“And Mr. Desmond has been closely associated with him and his family.”
“Yeah. Where are you going with this?”
“Look at the pictures.”
Most of the page was dominated by a large picture of the dame in question, posing in a leather corset. At the bottom of the page was a smaller picture of David in what looked like a parking garage. He was getting into a car and sending a murderous glare at the camera. Don took a better look at the man behind the wheel. His head was covered by a baseball cap, but his face was clearly recognisable.
“That was taken when agent Sinclair was leaving the courthouse here in L.A. Of course it was an accident that Mr. Desmond even ended up in the picture, but in his case the last thing you want is to have your face in the paper.”
“So you think they might have seen this? And when they had David’s name-”
“They could have observed him till they found Mr. Desmond. Then followed him to the apartment building and took action.”
“Wait a minute.” Don pulled his shrieking phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. “Eppes.”
“Don, it’s me.” David greeted. “Where are you?”
“At the office.”
“You better come to your house right now. Is that Wilson woman there?”
“Yeah, she’s right here.”
“Take her with you.”
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“Nice house.” Wilson commented as she got out of the car.
“Thanks.” Don grunted and marched to the front door. He walked in and spotted Bobby, Martin and David sitting in the living room. Don took a step closer and realised what David was doing. He was cleaning a large patch of cuts and bruises that went from Martin’s elbow to his hand. Several smaller cuts were visible on his half-clad legs.
“What the hell happened here?”
“Asphalt.” Martin hissed through his teeth.
“Someone tried to run over him.” David added. “About half a block from here.”
“What…” Don stared at them with his mouth open. “Why didn’t you go to a hospital, you could be-”
“I’m fine, Don.” Martin let out another hiss as David continued cleaning the cuts. “The car didn’t even touch me, I jumped out of the way. I’ll take some asphalt rash over broken legs any day.”
“How did it happen?” Agent Wilson interrupted. “Start from the beginning.”
“I went for a run, and I noticed that car on the other side of the road when I left. I put my iPod on, so I didn’t really hear much until it came closer. First I didn’t even realise it was following me. I heard it when it got closer and… I turned to look at it and they hit the gas. I jumped to the sidewalk and when I got up it was coming at me again.”
“But it didn’t hit you?” Don assured.
“No, but Mrs. Bushman’s roses didn’t look very nice after I landed on them.”
“And then they left?”
“Yeah, there was people coming outside to see what was going on. After that second time they just drove away.”
“I see…” Wilson stated, eyeing Martin’s clothing and the sunglasses that were hanging from the neckline of his shirt. She turned to Don and David. “Can we talk somewhere? Both of you.”
“Sure.” Don guided her to Martin’s home office and David followed after handing the first aid kit over to Bobby. Don closed the door.
“When I talked to Mr. Fridegord on the phone, he said Mr. Desmond spent the weekend at your apartment and returned to his home yesterday evening.”
“Yeah.” David confirmed. “He left around six.”
“What was he wearing?”
“I think… jeans, T-shirt, a baseball cap… And sneakers. Why?”
“What about after the fire?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t see him until later, at the hospital. It was in the middle of the night, he wasn’t wearing that much. The rescue workers gave him a blanket.”
“And when he left the hospital?”
“We got him some stuff from the lobby shop.” Don said. “Sweatpants and a hoodie.”
“Fits the picture…” Wilson stated. “I think I know what this was about. That was their second attempt after the first one failed.”
“It was in bright daylight, there was no way they could have mistaken those two.”
“Are you sure? Same height, Mr. Fridegord`s looks a little lighter than him, but a baggy shirt can cover that, sunglasses hiding most of the face-”
“And dark hair.” Don reminded. “If they followed him from David’s place they must had gotten a good look at him.”
“Wearing a baseball cap, and later wrapped up in a blanket in the middle of the night. And then wearing a hoodie. Mr. Desmond’s own hair colour is quite dark, we encouraged him to change his appearance as much as possible when we relocated him. That’s when he started dyeing it blond.”
“And in the newspaper picture he had a baseball cap on.” Don sighed and rubbed his face with his palms. “So they didn’t have a good look at him, and they assumed he looks the way he did before.”
“They’ve failed twice.“ Wilson stated. “They’ll make their third attempt soon.”
Chapter 3