Unavoidable Truths
folder
M through R › NUMB3RS
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
12
Views:
6,675
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
M through R › NUMB3RS
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
12
Views:
6,675
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own NUMB3RS, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 7
Unavoidable Truths - Chapter 7
Charlie just made it to his office with five minutes to spare, thankful no students were currently waiting for him. Down the hall in one of the classrooms, he could make out the sounds of another exam being proctored and was very thankful his had all been given early in the schedule. Charlie left his door propped open and sat his bags down on his desk. He was reaching in to remove the last batch of exams to be graded when he heard what sounded like automatic weapons firing from the hallway. Charlie grabbed his cell phone from the bag instead, and flipped it open and pressed the speed dial for Don's cell phone. Before he could lift it up to his ear, he saw from the corner of his eye someone enter his doorway and he promptly dropped his phone down next to his bag, but out of sight. He covered the top end of the phone with his hand, when he saw a ski-masked covered face and a gun in the man's hands. Charlie hoped Don had answered.
"What do you want? Why are you here firing off shots?" Charlie wanted to panic. Seeing someone with a gun, possibly ready to fire, reminded him too much of that moment at FBI headquarters when the one man had just come in shooting. He hadn't been able to go near Don's office for days, too scared and emotionally paralyzed with fear.
"Are you Professor Charles Eppes?" a rough, altered voice asked.
"What if I am? Are you here for me?"
Charlie's entire body shook, this was not how he wanted to die and especially not now. He was still too young and had many things he wanted to accomplish yet.
"Actually, we're here because of your brother. We're holding you and unfortunately, the rest of the students on this floor as hostages in exchange for him. We've sent him a message demanding his surrender and now that we've secured you we'll let him know when and where. When he does bring himself in, well... we'll just see about letting you and the others go." Through the mask, Charlie could see the lips twist into a parody of a smile. The man came closer and waves his gun at Charlie, indicating that he wanted the professor to move into the hallway. Charlie could already hear the rest of the terrified students being herded into the narrow hallway. Charlie hesitated for a moment wondering what to do about the phone. He didn't think he could slip it into a pocked without being observed, so he left it where it was and followed the man. He decided it was best not to enrage the hostage taker into doing something rash by disobeying him.
Charlie noticed immediately three other men with semi-automatic guns patrolling the hallway, using their weapons to effectively cow and subdue the students lining the walls. The fourth man, the one who had retrieved him, pushed his gun into Charlie's back and told him to sit with his back to the wall. Charlie was more than willing to follow the command, not sure if his legs would have held him up much longer anyway.
With his arms wrapped about his legs, he hugged them to his chest; he willed for things to be resolved soon, without anyone getting hurt and the hostage takers getting due justice.
Don's morning had started out on the wrong foot; what with too little sleep from having tossed and turned all night, to getting a phone call demanding he come into work ASAP just as he was about to step into the shower.
After hastily getting dressed instead of taking the shower, Don drove to work as fast as the speed limit would allow. All the while, he wondered if something major had come up.
The moment he stepped through the main office doors, David and Megan waylaid him. "Don, a call came in twenty-minutes ago demanding you in exchange for some hostages. They said they'd call back on the hour to give us the final details," David got out in a rush as he shoved a copy of the transcript from the first call.
"Were you able to trace the call? And why the hell would they take hostages if they were after me? Why not just try to grab me directly?"
Don listened as Megan explained that the call terminated before they could get a lock on it. As to the other questions, his team could only speculate. "A publicity stunt perhaps? Or maybe they want to draw our attention away from some other event?"
Don nodded when he heard the latter suggestion. "Most likely they have another heist planned or something. I wonder who they've got as hostages."
The FBI agents sat tensely by the phone while they waited for the call to come in, and they all jumped when two minutes before the hour Don's cell phone rang.
Don looked at the call display and saw it was from Charlie. For a second, he debated if now was the appropriate time to have a conversation with his brother, but decided to at least let Charlie know he'd call him back when he had the time.
"Charlie, can I call..." Don stopped as heard from a distance Charlie talking. '... you want? Why are you here firing off shots?'
Don paled and immediately covered the end of the cell phone. "They've got Charlie. He's probably at his office."
As he continued to listen, he watched as Megan and David called together a team. He heard Charlie walk away through the phone and knew that he'd have no way of getting a chance to talk to his brother alone and he could only home the hostage takers would let him talk to his brother when they called to give more details.
On the hour, the call came through to his desk phone and Don answered it promptly, "Agent Eppes."
"Ah, Agent Eppes. So nice of you to be available to take our call. As you're aware, we want you in exchange for the hostages we have here. What you might now know is that we have your brother and twenty students. You have one hour to get here to Cal-Sci. We've got the entire floor covered, so no surprises. And come unarmed Agent Eppes, otherwise we will hurt someone, more than likely your brother. One hour."
Just as Don was about to make his demand, a click was heard as the call terminated. Dan slammed the phone down onto the cradle, frustrated that he hadn't had a chance to ask to speak with Charlie. He looked to David and Megan expectantly. "The trace on the call from Charlie says that the it did originate at the tower nearest the university. So we can assume they have indeed taken Charlie hostage and the person we're dealing with is there with him. You're right, Don. It doesn't make any sense." David shook his head perplexed.
"One of you call the administration at Cal-Sci and alert them to the situation and have them find some blueprints to Charlie's building to see if there are any alternative ways in. If there are, we can possibly take them by surprise. I'll go in, unarmed just as they asked. David, I want you behind me. Megan you'll cover the hallways other entrance at the rear of the building. The rest of the team will canvas the sides and windows in sniper positions.
"Okay, everyone suit up and let's move."
The situation had turned to hell quickly. Don had gone in as requested, but the minute he stepped through the door, the main man lifted his gun and aimed to take fire. Charlie heard the safety click off and knew that the hostage takers weren't going to let anyone out alive, themselves included. Charlie stood up quickly and one of the other three men rounded on Charlie; he fired as Charlie pushed the shooter aiming at Don as hard as he could. Charlie took a bullet to the shoulder and he saw as he started to fall, Don get clipped in the leg after the man he had pushed had fired, thankfully his aim now skewed. After that, it all became a blur of motion, screams of terror and the sounds of bullets being fired. Charlie let the pain take over and he slipped into unconsciousness.
TBC
A/N: Chapter beta read by Separatrix. Thank you dear for going over it for me. Any errors remaining are my own. I have 4 more chapters written and beta read and I'll be posting them in the coming weeks.
Charlie just made it to his office with five minutes to spare, thankful no students were currently waiting for him. Down the hall in one of the classrooms, he could make out the sounds of another exam being proctored and was very thankful his had all been given early in the schedule. Charlie left his door propped open and sat his bags down on his desk. He was reaching in to remove the last batch of exams to be graded when he heard what sounded like automatic weapons firing from the hallway. Charlie grabbed his cell phone from the bag instead, and flipped it open and pressed the speed dial for Don's cell phone. Before he could lift it up to his ear, he saw from the corner of his eye someone enter his doorway and he promptly dropped his phone down next to his bag, but out of sight. He covered the top end of the phone with his hand, when he saw a ski-masked covered face and a gun in the man's hands. Charlie hoped Don had answered.
"What do you want? Why are you here firing off shots?" Charlie wanted to panic. Seeing someone with a gun, possibly ready to fire, reminded him too much of that moment at FBI headquarters when the one man had just come in shooting. He hadn't been able to go near Don's office for days, too scared and emotionally paralyzed with fear.
"Are you Professor Charles Eppes?" a rough, altered voice asked.
"What if I am? Are you here for me?"
Charlie's entire body shook, this was not how he wanted to die and especially not now. He was still too young and had many things he wanted to accomplish yet.
"Actually, we're here because of your brother. We're holding you and unfortunately, the rest of the students on this floor as hostages in exchange for him. We've sent him a message demanding his surrender and now that we've secured you we'll let him know when and where. When he does bring himself in, well... we'll just see about letting you and the others go." Through the mask, Charlie could see the lips twist into a parody of a smile. The man came closer and waves his gun at Charlie, indicating that he wanted the professor to move into the hallway. Charlie could already hear the rest of the terrified students being herded into the narrow hallway. Charlie hesitated for a moment wondering what to do about the phone. He didn't think he could slip it into a pocked without being observed, so he left it where it was and followed the man. He decided it was best not to enrage the hostage taker into doing something rash by disobeying him.
Charlie noticed immediately three other men with semi-automatic guns patrolling the hallway, using their weapons to effectively cow and subdue the students lining the walls. The fourth man, the one who had retrieved him, pushed his gun into Charlie's back and told him to sit with his back to the wall. Charlie was more than willing to follow the command, not sure if his legs would have held him up much longer anyway.
With his arms wrapped about his legs, he hugged them to his chest; he willed for things to be resolved soon, without anyone getting hurt and the hostage takers getting due justice.
Don's morning had started out on the wrong foot; what with too little sleep from having tossed and turned all night, to getting a phone call demanding he come into work ASAP just as he was about to step into the shower.
After hastily getting dressed instead of taking the shower, Don drove to work as fast as the speed limit would allow. All the while, he wondered if something major had come up.
The moment he stepped through the main office doors, David and Megan waylaid him. "Don, a call came in twenty-minutes ago demanding you in exchange for some hostages. They said they'd call back on the hour to give us the final details," David got out in a rush as he shoved a copy of the transcript from the first call.
"Were you able to trace the call? And why the hell would they take hostages if they were after me? Why not just try to grab me directly?"
Don listened as Megan explained that the call terminated before they could get a lock on it. As to the other questions, his team could only speculate. "A publicity stunt perhaps? Or maybe they want to draw our attention away from some other event?"
Don nodded when he heard the latter suggestion. "Most likely they have another heist planned or something. I wonder who they've got as hostages."
The FBI agents sat tensely by the phone while they waited for the call to come in, and they all jumped when two minutes before the hour Don's cell phone rang.
Don looked at the call display and saw it was from Charlie. For a second, he debated if now was the appropriate time to have a conversation with his brother, but decided to at least let Charlie know he'd call him back when he had the time.
"Charlie, can I call..." Don stopped as heard from a distance Charlie talking. '... you want? Why are you here firing off shots?'
Don paled and immediately covered the end of the cell phone. "They've got Charlie. He's probably at his office."
As he continued to listen, he watched as Megan and David called together a team. He heard Charlie walk away through the phone and knew that he'd have no way of getting a chance to talk to his brother alone and he could only home the hostage takers would let him talk to his brother when they called to give more details.
On the hour, the call came through to his desk phone and Don answered it promptly, "Agent Eppes."
"Ah, Agent Eppes. So nice of you to be available to take our call. As you're aware, we want you in exchange for the hostages we have here. What you might now know is that we have your brother and twenty students. You have one hour to get here to Cal-Sci. We've got the entire floor covered, so no surprises. And come unarmed Agent Eppes, otherwise we will hurt someone, more than likely your brother. One hour."
Just as Don was about to make his demand, a click was heard as the call terminated. Dan slammed the phone down onto the cradle, frustrated that he hadn't had a chance to ask to speak with Charlie. He looked to David and Megan expectantly. "The trace on the call from Charlie says that the it did originate at the tower nearest the university. So we can assume they have indeed taken Charlie hostage and the person we're dealing with is there with him. You're right, Don. It doesn't make any sense." David shook his head perplexed.
"One of you call the administration at Cal-Sci and alert them to the situation and have them find some blueprints to Charlie's building to see if there are any alternative ways in. If there are, we can possibly take them by surprise. I'll go in, unarmed just as they asked. David, I want you behind me. Megan you'll cover the hallways other entrance at the rear of the building. The rest of the team will canvas the sides and windows in sniper positions.
"Okay, everyone suit up and let's move."
The situation had turned to hell quickly. Don had gone in as requested, but the minute he stepped through the door, the main man lifted his gun and aimed to take fire. Charlie heard the safety click off and knew that the hostage takers weren't going to let anyone out alive, themselves included. Charlie stood up quickly and one of the other three men rounded on Charlie; he fired as Charlie pushed the shooter aiming at Don as hard as he could. Charlie took a bullet to the shoulder and he saw as he started to fall, Don get clipped in the leg after the man he had pushed had fired, thankfully his aim now skewed. After that, it all became a blur of motion, screams of terror and the sounds of bullets being fired. Charlie let the pain take over and he slipped into unconsciousness.
TBC
A/N: Chapter beta read by Separatrix. Thank you dear for going over it for me. Any errors remaining are my own. I have 4 more chapters written and beta read and I'll be posting them in the coming weeks.