A world of hurt
Disclaimer: Don't own Numb3rs or any of the characters therein – character of Christine Dixon and story are mine, allllllllllll miiiiine!
A-hem…
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"On the roof! Two o'clock!" The crowd outside the building had scattered and the scream of sirens was already filling the air. A sniper attack on the federal building was enough to bring the LAPD running like Olympic sprinters. David, crouched behind a low wall that ran around the front of the entrance, had his gun drawn and was frantically scanning the skyline, looking for the sniper. Colby, back against the wall on the opposite side of the main walkway, had left his gun holstered. He knew that at this distance, a handgun would be useless. Christine Dixon crouched beside him, a look of fury on her face. Colby muttered darkly.
"Where the hell is Ian when you need him?"
"Ian Edgerton?"
Colby snapped his head around and stared hard at the woman, a look of surprise on his face. "Let me guess…"
"Oh, he's done some work for us on occasion." Christine frowned. "You didn't just hear me say that, CJ, okay?"
"Whatever." Colby cautiously peeped around the corner of the wall and pulled his head back in quickly. "Your two guys are down." The matter-of-fact statement was greeted with a grunt from Christine.
"I told you, didn't I?"
"I'm sorry."
"Time for that later. Right now we've got to get this son of a bitch under control."
"SWAT are here." He glanced towards his partner. "You okay?"
David nodded and indicated with the barrel of his gun to the building opposite. Colby frowned and shook his head. The building was too well guarded. He indicated right, to a smaller building half a block away. "Our man's up there." The years of training in the Rangers and with the Agency had given Colby a chilling intuition on sniper positioning. There was nothing they could do. Until they had a definite fix on the bastard, they were stuck here, pinned down. Colby watched the SWAT unit fan out quickly and efficiently. They knew what they were doing. All he and his partner could do now was wait it out. He scanned the plaza in front of the building. Everyone had managed to scramble to safety and the clean stone square was devoid of life. People had taken cover wherever they could. The only ones left out in the open now were the two CIA agents, lying dead on the steps leading down to the main pathway. A crimson pool of blood spread across the steps, staining the cream coloured flagstones. Colby turned back. They may have been assholes, but they didn't deserve that…
Colby's cell-phone chirruped. He scrabbled inside his pocket and pulled it out, flipping it open. Don's voice was clipped and sharp. "What's happening?"
"Sniper on the Lehman Brother's building. The two Agency guys are down. David's okay, so's Christine. I'm guessing he was aiming for her."
"You okay, Col?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Looks like we could be here for a while though. Any chance of sending out some coffee?" He let a flicker of a smile pass his lips.
"Stay put. SWAT are moving in now. As soon as we get the all clear, I'll get you that coffee."
Colby chuckled and snapped the phone shut. He glanced over at David and shrugged. David shot a look towards the building and, scuttling like a crab, made a dash for the wall that shielded Colby and Christine. He threw himself down next to his partner, his back pressed hard against the wall. David looked at his handgun and rolled his eyes. "Like that's gonna be any damn use at this range." He holstered his gun. "Okay, so now what?"
"We've got to make that bastard show his hand. Get a direct fix on him for SWAT." Colby glanced again at Christine, who seemed to be taking the whole situation with remarkable serenity. As if getting pinned down by a sniper was an everyday occurrence for her. Colby frowned. Probably was an everyday goddamn occurrence for her… He estimated the distance to the foyer of the federal building. No more than twenty feet. Trouble was, the building was in automatic lock-down. Nobody could get in or out of the front entrance. He swore quietly under his breath and glanced to his right. The low wall ran almost to the corner of the building, where it met a perfectly clipped box hedge. He had to get Christine and his partner out of range. Colby made his mind up quickly. He pointed to the corner of the building. "You two, down there and around. I'll draw his fire."
"What are you, nuts?" David stared in disbelief at his partner. "You couldn't hit him from here, I don't care how damn good you are with that gun!"
"I know. But SWAT are in position and we have to know where the bastard is. Go!" He shoved David hard and, taking a deep breath, stood up quickly, his gun already pointing towards the Lehman building. David and Christine belly crawled quickly along the perimeter of the wall, scrabbling the last few steps as Colby fired randomly towards the sniper's outpost. His gunshots were met with a distant pop and a puff of cement as a bullet embedded itself in the wall next to him. He dropped. Job done. SWAT had their target. He re-holstered his gun and followed his partner and the woman to the corner of the building. "GO!" He pushed the two of them in front of him as they made a last, desperate, crouching run to get around the corner of the building. Once they had turned the corner, they didn't stop. It was up to SWAT now to take the sniper out. His hand resting on David's back and still bent, they ran to the side entrance of the building. The guard inside instantly reacted to David's badge and pushed down on the emergency lock, letting them in. The door slammed behind them and they stopped, finally allowing themselves to breathe normally.
David, his hands on his knees and his head bowed, glanced up at his partner. "What the HELL were you thinking!"
"You're welcome." Colby ran a hand through his hair and glared at Christine. "You're game of roulette just got nasty, Chris."
Christine glared back. "Ya think?" She pulled out a cell-phone and hit a speed-dial number. Moving away from the two agents, she talked quietly into the phone. Colby focused on his partner. David shook his head and began walking towards the elevator…
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Don was in no mood to crack jokes. And he was certainly in no mood to play mind-games with the woman. Megan watched from the corner of the room, picking up on every emotion, every tell, every change in body position. Don was lashing out. First target was Colby.
"That was a dumb-assed move, Granger. I told you to stay put."
Colby met his stare. "Staying put wouldn't have helped. We had to flush him out…"
"At the risk of your own damn life?" Don threw his hands in the air and turned away from Colby. He spun back and stabbed a finger at him. "You ever, ever disobey a direct order again…"
"It won't happen again." Colby's quietly spoken platitude was purely for Don's sake. Don knew damn well that Colby would do exactly the same thing again in a heartbeat if he had to. That's what he admired in the man most. He'd got his partner and the target safely out of the kill-zone. SWAT reported back that they'd found some empty casings and a few scuff marks on the roof. Forensic were over there now, combing the site for evidence. The sniper and his gun were long gone. Don focused his attention on the woman.
"So."
She glanced up. "What do you want me to say?"
"How about some kind of an explanation?"
"It's not FBI business."
Don exploded. "Not FBI business? Not FBI fucking business? I've got two dead CIA agents on the steps of a federal building and my people in the line of fire!" He scowled furiously at the woman. "Ya know? That kinda MAKES it my business now!"
"And I've got two dead colleagues, Agent Eppes! The sniper was aiming for me. Not your people."
"Irrelevant."
"No, Agent Eppes, utterly relevant. Your people are in no more danger from this operation than they were yesterday. Your part in this is done."
"No, no, lady, my part in this is not done. It's just beginning."
"I beg to differ."
Colby interjected quickly, attempting to prevent a full-blown war between the two agencies. "Don, listen. That guy out there was aiming for her and her people."
"He aimed at you, Col."
"Granted. But he missed. Waddya know, second time today," mused the man. "Anyway, Chris, I agree with Don. You owe us an explanation, if nothing else, you owe me." He crossed his arms and stared hard at the woman. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Okay. That little soiree you burst in on this morning was a deal for a shipment of two hundred semi automatic rifles. M16's, Klakers, XM8's, all high-calibre stuff. It was a sweetener deal. The main deal was going to be for surface to air missiles. The goon squad you arrested were just middlemen. The big name behind this is Sharif al Kalir. He's been on our watch list for three years. I've been working my way up the ladder and was this fucking close to making first contact!" She slammed her hand angrily down on the desk. "Now? Well, now, Agent Eppes, we're back to square one. And I might as well walk around with a goddamn target on my back from now on, hadn't I?"
"The sniper was one of his?"
"Oh, now, hmm. Let me think. I know, how about yes?" Megan picked up on the frustration in the woman's voice. It wasn't hard. The London accent had become stronger. The woman took a breath and continued. "Kalir has been running with a former Soviet Bloc outfit out of Afghanistan for a while now. Black market ex-communist heavy artillery. He sells to the highest bidder, regardless of politics. You'd be surprised how much of your urban decay these people are responsible for. If you hadn't have busted the operation wide open, I might just have been inclined to throw you a few titbits to sweeten the pot."
"Oh, how generous of you!"
The woman's head dropped and she was silent for a moment. Slowly she looked up. "Look. I've had a bitch of a day and I've just lost two bloody good men, Agent Eppes. So. Here's the deal. You back off this crew and I'll give you a file that'll improve your clear-up stats by a nice little percentage. How's that sound? A bit of inter-agency co-operation?"
Don folded his arms and sat on the corner of the desk. "I'm listening."
"Good. Wise. Very wise. One condition."
"Which is?"
"Colby acts as go-between."
Colby shot a look at his boss. Don met his look, puzzled. "Why Colby?"
The woman shrugged. "He's a known variable. Known to both our sides. Isn't that the kind of thing your unit likes, Agent Eppes? I'm sure your brother would approve."
Don was silent for a moment. He looked at Colby and jerked his head, indicating that Colby should follow him outside. The two men left the room and moved down the corridor. Don stopped and leaned against the wall, running his hand through his hair. He looked hard at his agent.
"Well?"
"What do you want me to say?"
"Col, they're steamrollering you. You can see that, right? Because I sure as hell can. This isn't inter-agency co-operation. This is a fucking recruitment drive!"
"We could use that intel, Don."
"There are other ways…"
"No, there isn't. Listen. She's right about the Russians. If we can get a way into that particular clique, then we've got a good chance at clearing up one hell of a lot of unsolveds. Murder, extortion, drugs, the lot." He held his hand up as Don opened his mouth to speak. "No, let me finish. You know where my loyalties lie, Don. They lie right here. Not with the Agency. There's no way they're going to drag me into that world again, okay? It didn't end well last time. They'll be expecting the CIA to keep gunning for them. If we can keep their foot soldiers busy on the ground, it'll give the Company a chance to go after Kalir again. This guy is a major league player. I'm willing to do it."
Don was silent. His concern for Colby ran deeper than just the man putting himself in the firing line again. Colby's psyche evaluation after he had recovered from the torture that had been inflicted on him, the charge of espionage, the whole damn mess, had red-flagged some serious concerns. Now? They were right back where they'd started. He looked up at the man and was met with a level, determined gaze. Colby was set on this. And Don knew the man well enough to know that there was no changing his mind on this. He sighed.
"Okay. You're sure?" Colby nodded. "Absolutely?" Colby nodded again. "Okay. But you keep me in the loop. All the way. No secrets, Col. Not this time. Agreed?"
"That's a given."
"Agreed, Col?"
A small, genuine smile flickered across Colby's lips. "Agreed. Besides, I wanna keep an eye on that bitch. I'd rather have her in front of me than behind me, know what I mean?" Colby raised an eyebrow and grinned. Don couldn't help himself. He felt his lips pull up into a smile.
"Yeah. I know…" Don pushed himself off the wall and walked back towards the room. Colby watched him for a second, that knot of uncertainty twisting in his stomach. What kind of a world of hurt had he just agreed to walk back into?
The two men walked back into the room. A new era of inter-agency co-operation had begun…
TBC…