In a way it's ironic. Whenever they call me in on a case, I'm as big a part of solving the case as any of them. Sometimes bigger. But there's no doubt that the team is named for my brother, and not for me. Megan, David, and Colby. Each excellent investigators in their own right, but together, under Don's lead, they were better. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Nonetheless, things still go wrong. And this time, it did.
"We couldn't have known that they would be using armor piercing rounds." Colby, the youngest and newest agent of Team Eppes. Brash and arrogant, sarcastic and full of himself. I didn't expect to ever get along with a jock like him. But, even he occasionally acknowledged the need for my help. Still, I could forgive him anything for his loyalty to my brother.
"None of the profiles indicated that the perpetraters would engage in this situation. We should have been able to negotiate without shots fired." It was difficult to say who Megan was trying to convince. Second-in-command and a tough a lady as I'll ever meet. Don had trusted her with his life. I had trusted her with my pain.
"We did the best we could. Sometimes, that's all we have to cling to." Intense, that was David. The fight for sense of self while he grew up in the Bronx turned him into Team Eppes' strongest and most reliable agent. Don would go anywhere with David at his back. As would I.
"It's time to go, Charlie."
I turn towards the sound of her voice, blinking a little at the light in my eyes. I looked back at my brother. "I'm sorry, Don. I should have listened to you and stayed in the car. It's not your fault."
I turn to her again. "I'm coming, Mom."