I know I haven't replied to everyone yet. I'm going to try and do it today: I'm off sick – in bed with the flu. (I'd rather be in bed with Don, believe me. Oh did I say that aloud? This is so not like me! I'll blame it on the fever and my headache

Chapter three is slower in pace. I thought I could give the Eppes some slack... You know, just enough to give them a false sense of security (he! he! he!)

Chapter Three

Don ran nervously a hand in his hair.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He looked at the doctor next to him.

"You don't have a concussion, just a deep cut in the scalp but still, try not to touch your head for a while. If the headache intensifies, take two more pills. Do not exceed six a day. If the pain has not decreased by tomorrow morning, or if you feel dizzy or... "

"Yes I promise, I'll come back. I really need to go back to work now."

He jumped off the examination table, put his jacket on, grabbed the plastic vial with the painkillers, signed some papers and left after thanking the Doctor. To his surprise, Alan was waiting for him in the corridor.

"How's Charlie?" he asked him.

"He's fine. Bruised but nothing serious, thank god. What about you?"

"I'm good" Don mumbled, a little impatiently as he walked to the elevators.

Alan pursed his lips, unconvinced "Hmm, you don't look like it to me."

Don sighed deeply. "Dad, I let a criminal escape today. How do you think that makes me feel?"

The doors of the elevator opened and both men walked in.

"First, you did not let him escape. He wasn't your responsibility. There were other agents involved in that operation. Special Agent Fuller was in charge, wasn't he?"

"Yeah but we had agreed on a plan. We all had a part of the restaurant to cover."

"Yes, and from what I saw, you took care of yours."

"Yes but..."

"Not Buts Donnie. You were busy enough wrestling with that huge guy. You could have chosen a smaller one by the way."

"He was the closest to me, Dad. And anyway, we can't pick who we are going to fight with. Believe me, if I'd had the choice, I would've gone for a skinnier one."

"Oh! So it was pure coincidence that you took on the man who hit your brother?"

Don looked at him but didn't reply. Alan nodded forcefully. "That's what I thought. Anyway, that's not the point. What I was trying to say was that you were busy enough without having to check on what the others were doing."

A 'ding' informed them they had arrived. The doors opened and they entered the bullpen.

"But" Don tried again, showing his pass to the guard, while his father was given a visitor's pass.

Alan raised his hand. "I'm not finished. They all knew what they had to do. One of them screwed up. It wasn't you so stop feeling guilty. It was not your operation."

"Yes I know" Don replied, kneading his forehead. "But they're all good agents so I don't understand how he managed to get away."

"Vu wink ov an infide yob?

Don and Alan whipped around, surprised.

"Oh my god, Charlie" Alan muttered, a hand in front of his mouth. Don's jaw dropped as he stared speechless at his brother. The left side of the professor's face had now turned deep purple with some shades of yellow and almost doubled in size, preventing him from pronouncing properly.

"A co't walk" He said with an apologetic shrug, holding an icepack against his cheek.

"You can't walk?" asked Alan, puzzled.

"I think he means Talk" Don corrected. Charlie nodded slightly. "Okay, try again. What did you say?"

Charlie took a deep breath and repeated slowly "Wu –wink – ov – an – infide – yob."

Don squinted and frowned as he concentrated to decipher his brother's sentence. Then his face lit up "You think of an inside job!"

Charlie blinked emphatically, grateful beyond words that his brother understood. If he had dared, he would have hugged him.

Don made a face "Yeah, I must admit it did cross my mind." Don remained silent and pensive as he headed to his desk. "Everybody knew where the HTs were and how many they were." He shook his head and scratched his left temple. "Either someone seriously screwed up or he got some help to break away. Either way, the FBI is involved. " He looked at his father. "Liz is going to take your statement Dad. Yours too Charlie," He pushed the icepack gently away from Charlie's cheek to examine his brother's face and grimaced. "You know what? You're gonna do it by writing."

"A vink fo" Charlie agreed.

Alan and Don tried not to smile and Don patted sympathetically his brother's arms.

.

"We've interrogated all the witnesses. No-one saw him leave" Colby sat on the side of the table "All the clients were evacuated and-"

"He must've paused as a customer." Liz suggested

David shook his head. "The other diners would've recognised him"

"Mabe not. In ve cobusion"

All eyes turned to the door as Don, Charlie and Alan came in.

The three agents stared at the professor. Colby was the first to recover. "What?"

Don sat a little heavily on a chair whereas Charlie sank with extreme precautions into the armchair. Don brushed his face with his hands.

"That's the thing, Charlie. All the clients were identified on site and escorted by agents before making their statements. He must've disappeared before."

Colby leant toward Liz and asked in a low voice. "How did Don understand what Charlie said."

"Beats me. It must be a brother thing." Liz replied in the same tone.

"I identified five HTs but maybe there were more. And he or she helped him get away." Don stressed.

Charlie made a head movement to show his agreement but immediately regretted it as it triggered a new round of pain in his jaw.

"We prevented everybody from leaving the scene. We searched the restaurant and the surroundings. We should've found him." David pointed out.

"Well, we didn't, did we?" Don snapped back.

"It was not your fault." Alan reminded with force.

"Never mind whose fault it was, Dad. We have a suspect on the loose." He worked his shoulders to release the tension and turned to his men. "Ok, do we know who they are and what they were after?"

David approached and gave a file to his boss. "Woody Norman, Jose Rodriguez, Ray Timonson, aka Mad Tim, Bo Slader and Mindsie Miny, the waitress."

Don's eyesbrows shot up. "Mindsie Miny? You're kidding right?"

"Nope. It's her real name. I checked... twice." Colby confirmed with a smirk.

Don had a quick read through and stopped on Timonson's picture: he was the blond man who attacked his brother. "Any clues on their target? Anything on the fifth man?"

Colby shook his head, unhappy. "We checked the booking list but no name stood out. We've just started to interrogate the prisoners. They haven't said anything yet but we're working on it."

Charlie yawned noisily. Don looked at him then at his father then glanced at his watch: 11.30pm. Oh, it was going to be a very long night. He put the file on his laps and turned to his father "Dad, I'm going to call a cab for you and Charlie."

"And for you too. You look terrible. May I remind that you were hit on the head tonight? You need to rest."

"Dad, it's-"

"Not ok." Alan finished, leaning toward his son. "You're coming home with us."

Don didn't answer. He was tired but couldn't bring himself to leave and let his team do all the work. Seeing his son hesitating, Alan added. "Don, you are not the only agent in town. From what I know, Special Agent Fuller is the one who should worry, not you. Go get some rest, all of you, and tomorrow you'll be like new men. That villain won't stand a chance."

David smiled and glanced at Colby "Sounds good to me."

Don shook his head. "Sorry Dad. I wish we could, I really do but I can't just go home while that guy is out there."

.

Don poured himself a large cup of black coffee. He was feeling exhausted although he had managed to grab a couple of hours sleep at his desk. He stretched his neck from side to side to get rid of the cricks, stirred his coffee with a plastic stick, took a sip of the black beverage before chewing away at the stick.

"Don!"

He looked over his shoulder. Colby jogged to him, a file in his hand.

"We may have an ID on our escaped guy. His name's Josh Brown. He spent some time inside in Texas for robbery five years ago. We lost track of him since then but Rodriguez, Slader and Timonson were in the same prison at the same time."

"That's more than a coincidence" Don agreed, taking the file. He looked at the picture. "Oh yes! That's definitely our guy. He looks younger on this photo but that's him." He walked to the briefing room where David and Liz waited for him. "Okay, let's run-".

He stopped mid-sentence when his cell phone rang. He flipped it open. "Eppes."

"What a blunt way to answer, Agent Eppes."

Don frowned, puzzled "Who's that?"

"What? You've already forgotten me? It was a brief encounter but I would've thought I'd made a bigger impression on you. I'm hurt." replied the voice mockingly.

Don snapped his fingers to attract his team's attention. They looked at him, questioningly.

"Brown?" Don asked.

David grabbed immediately the phone to request a trace on the call. Don placed his cellphone on the table after turning its loud speaker on.

"Ah! Now I'm impressed. I know none of my men talked, how did you get my name?"

"We did our job. What do you want?"

"Just to talk to you."

"Okay. Let's meet. Where are you?"

"Thanks to you and your men, my employers are very unhappy." Brown replied, deliberately ignoring Don's question.

Don frowned. Employers, hmm? "I can't say I'm sorry to hear that... Who are they? I'd like to talk to them."

Brown laughed briefly "Yeah, I'm sure you would. I'm not saying it won't happen but not today Eppes. Meanwhile," He added in a conversational tone. "I'm doing some sightseeing. I like Los Angeles, there are some very interesting buildings and houses. I'm visiting one right now with a lot of cachet. In Pasadena. I particularly like the Koi pond in the back garden."

Don felt his blood freeze. David and Colby looked at each other, in alarm.

"If you hurt my family-" Don started

"Easy Eppes. Everybody's alright... for now. But you're right: we're going to meet again. In the meantime, I leave you a present. I hope you'll like it."

The line went dead. Don looked at David questioningly. "Don, the call came from Charlie's. He used his landline."

"The son of -" Don swore under his breath. He grabbed his jacket and ran to the elevators, followed by his team. He dialled his brother's landline – no reply. He tried Charlie's cell phone but it went directly to voicemail. He breathed an exasperated and anxious sigh and tried his father's number.

"Hello?" replied Alan's voice

"Dad!" He closed his eyes in relief, he had never been so happy to hear his father's voice "Where are you?"

"At the supermarket- " Alan stopped and his tone suddenly changed. "Why, what's going on?"

"Listen, do not go home, okay? Stay where you are, I send an agent. Do you know where Charlie is? I've been trying to call him but he's not answering." The four agents sprinted to Don's SUV .

"Probably still asleep. He took a couple of strong pain killers last night. That knocked him out right away. Don, what-"

"Dad, do not move! Okay? " He ordered again while starting his car and turning his siren on.

"Alright." Alan replied apprehensively.

Seated in the front seat, next to Don, Liz softly shook her head "I don't get it. Why did he call?"

"Probably to check on what we knew. We've got his men. Maybe he wanted to know if they'd talked." Colby ventured.

Liz remained silent but she made a face and shook slightly her head, unconvinced. Don glanced at her just in time to catch her expression.

"What?"

"Why call you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why call you and threaten your family?"

Don didn't reply but tightened his grip around his steering wheel. Charlie was at home, alone. Only God knew what Brown had done. The 'Why' part could wait. All he wanted was to get home as quickly as possible. Liz saw his jaw clench and his eyes become harder as he pressed on the accelerator. She was about to say something about speed limit but decided to remain quiet.

Don pulled over in front of the craftsman house, putting more weight on the brake than necessary, making the tyres squeak painfully. The front door was ajar. He approached with precaution while reaching for his gun, imitated by his team.

Standing on the side of the entrance, he pushed the door gently and peered inside. The house was silent and apparently empty. He scanned the room, arm in hand. He waved to David and Colby to inspect the first floor while Liz checked the garage. Don headed to the kitchen.

David tried the first room- Alan's. It was empty and everything seemed in order. Colby went to the next one- Don's old room. It was weird for the agent to be there, looking at his boss's personal items, even if they were over twenty years old. Or was it because they were twenty years old? He had never really thought of what Don was like when he was a teen. And now, seeing the baseball and hockey trophies, the old photos on the wall, he had the feeling he was violating his boss's privacy. A soft call from David broke his thoughts. He turned around, anxious. The only room left was Charlie's. When he got to the door, David was checking Charlie's pulse. The young agent held his breath – David looked at his partner and smiled.

"Out like a light but alright." He whispered.

"Pfff. Good news." Colby replied in a soft voice. "Let's go reassure Don."

The two agents went back to the living room.

"Don, Charlie's alr-" David stopped short. Something was amiss. Don was standing still, very still, in front of the shelves separating the living room from the entrance.

"Don?" Colby enquired uneasily, as both agents stepped forward.

"Don't come any closer. Don't make any brisk movements." Don ordered in a low voice.

Both agents moved slowly around their boss and froze too, their hearts missing one beat or two.

"Jesus!" David muttered.

"What is it?" asked Liz anxiously as she entered the room, her phone already in her hand. "We need a bomb squad?"

"I'd prefer a snake handler, if you know one." Don replied, under his breath.

Liz frowned, unsure she had heard properly. She walked next to Colby and almost choked when she saw the swaying head of a rattlesnake, less than a meter away from Don. The animal was coiled on the third shelf and was obviously very upset to have been disturbed. It was hissing menacingly, its tongue sensing its potential victim.

Tbc