Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs, its particular characters, or the plots of its episodes. All I own are the plots of my specific stories and a few original characters.

"Valentin!"

For a moment Valentin did not hear his name being called. Nearly half of HRT's Red Team was gathered for morning sparing practice in the huge, single-room that was half-exercise room and half-practice arena and spanned the whole basement floor of HRT's Headquarters. With good natured hoots, jibes, and encouragements flying from one side of the ring to the other, it made it quite hard to hear a call from half-way across the room.

"Valentin!" This time Valentin heard the louder, more piercing call. He looked up and around, catching sight of his boss, Dan Torre, standing by the staircase that led up to the main floor. Torre motioned for him to come, but Valentin hesitated momentarily. He was next up in line for practice and, liking sparing, did not want to lose his place. After a second, however, obedience won over his wish to spare, and he jogged away from the practice arena toward his boss.

As Valentin got closer and closer, his heart began to sink, and a knot began to form in his stomach. Torre's whole body was tense, and his face was grave, very grave, the kind of grave that usually preceded someone getting called to his office to get awful news. Valentin's mind immediately flew to his mother and younger sisters. Could something have happened to them?

"Yes, sir?" Valentin asked, sliding to a stop.

"I need you to go find Asha," Torre replied, his voice just as grave as his face, "and send her to my office."

Valentin felt mixed relief and horror: relief that his own family was okay, horror that one of his best friends was about to get some of the worst news of her life.

"Ian?" Valentin choked out.

Torre nodded.

"Dead?"

"Not yet."

Valentin heard a clear emphasis on the word yet. His heart by now was at the level of his boots, and the knot in his stomach felt like a bowling ball. "What on earth happened?" He hissed, only at the last moment remembering to keep his voice low.

"Ian was arrested for murder," Dan replied, roughly scrubbing a hand through his spiky hair, "He's been tossed in the LA Federal Penitentiary where he has been dumping criminals for the last 20 years."

"If he gets tossed into Gen Pop or one of the people he's tossed in there gets a hold of him, gets close to him, …" Valentin trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought that both agents knew the answer to much too well. Unless something drastic happened, Ian's lifespan had probably just decreased from years to days, if he was lucky, or hours, if he was not.

"His arrest has already made the news in LA. I don't want Asha to see it on the news when it breaks here, and it will eventually." Torre said.

"I'll go get here."

"Thank you," Torre replied, squeezing his shoulder briefly, "once you have, go find Juan. You're both excused from your duties for the rest of the day unless we get called out. I need you to keep an eye on Asha. If she wants to be left alone, leave her alone but keep an eye out. If she wants to go somewhere, drive her. The media is going to figure out eventually, if they haven't already, that Ian and Asha are married. I don't want her getting called by them or getting microphones shoved in her face."

"Agreed!" Valentin answered, his voice grim.

The Russian dashed off up the stairs, leaving his boss to follow at a slower pace. Several of his teammates called out to him as he jogged through the station, but he only stopped long enough to ask if they had seen where Asha was before heading on. Within a couple minutes, he found her on the range outside where Connor Ross was supervising morning practice.

Stopping long enough to grab a pair of ear muffs so he did not go deaf from the gunshots, Valentin came up beside Ross and tapped him on the shoulder. "I need to borrow Asha. The boss needs her," he yelled to make himself heard over the gunshots.

Ross nodded and gave a thumbs up: permission granted.

Valentin made his way to Asha's lane, waited until she finished a mag and put her gun down, and then tapped her on the shoulder, carefully trying to keep his face neutral.

Asha turned, raising an eyebrow in question, but didn't speak.

Valentin jerked his head back towards Headquarters. "Boss needs you," he yelled.

Not expecting bad news, Asha did not recognize the look on his face that he was valiantly trying to hide. Asha smiled and nodded. After quickly reloading her empty mags, she reholstered her pistol, tossed the empty ammo box, and made her way inside.