See Chapter 1 for disclaimer

A/N: So here's chapter 4, finally. I had a little trouble with this one. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 4

Don was already driving faster than he should, but he increased his speed anyway. They were only a minute away, but he knew that anything could happen in a minute.

Colby was still talking to Amita. "Amita have they seen you?"

"No Colby. I'm down on the passenger side of the car. What do I do?"

"Go into the trees but be careful they don't see you. We're almost there. We'll deal with them before they can do anything." Colby hoped that what he was saying was true. He didn't know how long it would take the men to reach the car and discover that Charlie and Larry were still alive.

Don turned off the lights and siren as he approached he wanted to catch these guys, not scare them away. Before Don had the vehicle stopped, David and Colby jumped out of the SUV and ran to the top of the embankment. The two men, guns drawn, had almost reached the car. David called out, "FBI, drop your weapons!"

Both men turned and started shooting at the agents. David and Colby returned fire and the men went down. Don had slid the SUV to a stop and now jumped out. Sliding down the embankment at breakneck speed he kept pace with David and Colby who were headed towards the two men. Don ran past them straight towards the car.

Don immediately went to the passenger side. His first sight of Charlie scared the hell out of him. Charlie was very pale. His breathing was shallow. The worse part was the amount of blood soaking Amita sweater and the front of Charlie's shirt. The branch pinning him to his seat was hampering his breathing. There were also a number of cuts on his face from the branches.

Amita came running out of the trees and fell to the ground beside Don. "Don. What're we going to do? There're so many branches. How're we going to get him out?"

"Amita, the emergency vehicles aren't far behind us," said Don, trying to sound calmer that he felt. "But David, Colby and I'll try to get Charlie out. You're hurt too, here sit down and rest."

With Don's help Amita turned and leaned back against the car, holding her injured shoulder and resting her head on her knees. She knew Don would do everything he could for Charlie, and she was feeling so tired now that help had arrived.

Don looked at Amita and realised that the adrenaline rush she'd been working on was draining away and she might pass out. Lifting her up in his arms, he carried her around the car and laid her on the grass. He took off his jacket, folded it into a pillow and gently laid her head on it. He could see the blood on the side of her head and knew that her shoulder was hurt from the seatbelt. "Stay here Amita. Rest. I'll look after Charlie for you."

"Thanks Don," Amita said smiling weakly as she closed her eyes.

David and Colby had cuffed the two men and both agents were working on the driver's door trying to get it open so they could check on Larry.

Going back around the car Don saw Charlie was now semiconscious and moaning in paid. "Hey buddy. Don't try to move. You're pinned in the car by a branch. We need to find a way to move it before we can get you out."

"Don?" A bewildered Charlie asked, "What happened?"

"You were run off the road Charlie. I got a voicemail from you just as it was happening, scared me to death. Amita called us when she came too, so we were able to trace her cell and find you."

"Amita? How is she? Larry, how is he? It all happened so fast."

Charlie was trying to push away the branch that was constricting his breathing. Don reached in and held him still. "Charlie stop, we'll get you out soon."

"It's hard to breathe Don. Oh God Don, they shot at us! Larry. They shot Larry! Why?"

Don didn't know, but David did, so he answered Charlie's question from the other side of the car. "They're the two missing enforcers from the drug gang Charlie. We caught the rest of them right were you said they'd be, but those two were missing."

With a stunned look, Don said, "What? How did they know about Charlie? Ward. He must've told them Charlie was working the case. That explains his smug remark. Wait 'till I get my hands on him."

David and Colby had managed to open the driver's door and were checking Larry over for injuries. Seeing only the head injury and a possible broken right leg, they lifted him out of the car and laid him on the grass next to Amita. David took off his jacket and folded it into a pillow.

Colby went back to help Don with Charlie. From the little he'd seen it didn't look good for his friend. "Colby, let's see if we can move this branch and get Charlie out of here."

Colby climbed in the driver's side of the car and looked over at Don. "You're going to have to push the branch away from Charlie while I try to pull it out, Don."

Don took hold of the branch as close to Charlie as he could. Seeing that Charlie was still conscious he said, "Buddy, this is going to hurt, try not to move, okay?"

Charlie looked first at Colby then Don. "Do it now and get me out of here."

Colby pulled as hard as he could while Don pushed, but they couldn't move the branch more than an inch. While that help Charlie breath a little easier it didn't give enough room to get him out.

David had gone up to the SUV for the emergency kit but was now back. Seeing the frustration and worry on both Don and Colby's faces he realised they weren't thinking very clearly. "Have you tried moving the seat back? We may be able to slide him out through the back door."

Don and Colby looked at each other, both feeling like an idiot. Don reached down and tried to move the seat without any success. Then he tried the lever to recline the seat which caused the seat to fall back and Charlie to cry out in pain.

"Sorry Buddy. The seat back is broken I wasn't able to hold it."

Don and Colby slid Charlie to the back seat where David was now sitting. Then going around, they pulled him out and carried him over to Amita and Larry. They were careful how they carried him as they knew he could have broken ribs from the tree branch. This time it was Colby who took off his jacket to make a pillow.

Don looked through the emergency kit for some kind of bandage to stop the blood that was still seeping from Charlie's shoulder. He found a gauze pad and pressed it against the wound. Then kneeling next to Charlie, Don looked at his brothers pale face. "Charlie I have to roll you over a little to see if there's an exit wound. It's going to hurt, I'm sorry."

"It's okay Don. Do what you need too." Charlie groaned in pain as Don, helped by Colby, rolled Charlie onto his side. Seeing the blood seeping from the back of Charlie's shoulder, Don pressed another gauze pad against the wound and then wrapped a bandage around to hold everything in place.

As they rolled Charlie back, Don realised that the pain had caused Charlie to pass out.

"I'm sure he'll be okay Don, he's tougher than he looks." "I know Colby, and I hope you're right."

As Colby turned to Amita, Don tightened the bandage around Charlie's shoulder. Taking Charlie's hand in his, he sat back to wait for help to arrive. He noticed that Colby was working on cleaning Amita's head wound, and David was doing the same for Larry.

It was another five minutes before the emergency vehicles arrived. Charlie was loaded into the first ambulance. The paramedics decided to move him before trying to treat him. It was going to take more that half an hour to reach the hospital and they didn't want to wait. Don went with them. He left David in charge of the scene. Another ambulance was used for Larry and Amita, with Colby accompanying them. The gang members were loaded into a third ambulance.

The paramedic immediately hooked Charlie up to oxygen and a heart monitor, and then started an IV.

Don retrieved his cell phone from the SUV before he got in the ambulance and now decided he'd better call his dad.

Alan answered on the first ring. Don figured he must've been sitting with the phone in his hand. "Dad…"

"Don, did you find them?"

"Yes dad, we found them. Their car had been run off the road and they're all hurt. We're on our way to UCLA Medical Centre. It'll take us another half hour to get there. Do you want me to send a car for you? I'm not sure you should be driving."

"Is your brother going to be alright Don? Tell me the truth. I need to know."

"I don't know Dad, he's hurt pretty bad. He was shot in the left shoulder and may have some broken ribs. The paramedics are doing all they can for him, but he's lost a lot of blood. Listen, I'm sending a car. You'll still get there before we do, so wait at the house until you're picked up. Please dad. Right now I don't need to worry about you driving while upset." Don could hear how fast his dad's breathing increased as he told him about Charlie. "I'm hanging up now dad. Wait for the car please."

As soon as he hung up with his dad, Don called the FBI office and arranged for a car to pick Alan up and take him to the hospital. Just as he hung up, all the monitors attached to Charlie started beeping as his heart stopped and he flat lined.

"No." Don whispered.

TBC

A/N: Please let me know what you think.

I have to make a 500km road trip tomorrow to drop a friend off. We're leaving early so I should be back in time to post the next chapter in the evening. If not it will be Monday.