Don sits in the briefing room with David and Liz when Colby enters. "I ran the plates we pulled off the Suburban," Colby begins. "They belong to a blue Honda Civic," he says almost not believing it himself.
"Stolen plates?" Liz asks, surprised.
Don is annoyed by this revelation. "So, what then, we got nothing?"
Colby shrugs, he has no answers. "Where's Reed?" he asks, noticing Reed's absence.
"I sent him over to the house to see if Charlie's got anything," Don replies as his phone rings. "Wait," he continues looking at the phone. "Here they are now." Don answers the ringing phone. "Hey Charlie."
Charlie stands in front of the blackboard in his garage with agent Reed. On the blackboard are pictures of the bank robbers as well as pictures of Victor and his son. The two groups of pictures have lines drawn up to a box with a question mark in it.
"Don," Charlie says excitedly. "I've been analyzing the data you gave me on Victor Romanoff and I don't think he was behind the robberies."
"What do you mean?" Don asks. "Like the robberies weren't related?"
"No, they were," Charlie states sure of himself. "It just wasn't Victor."
"Okay, then who?" Don asks.
"That I can't tell you," Charlie sighs. "But I think whoever it is has been playing both sides."
"What do you mean?" Don asks.
"Whoever planned those robberies likely," Charlie begins but is interrupted by Amita's scream. "Amita?"
Don looks worried as he listens through the phone. "Charlie? What's going on?"
Charlie heads towards the house but Agent Reed grabs him holding him back. They both stand there watching nervously as Amita enters the garage with her hands up. Closely following her in is a gun.
Don stands unsure of what's going on. "Charlie?" he continues, listening for any response. The line goes dead. The other agents look at each other realizing that something is going on. "Call LAPD and have them meet us at the house," he continues quickly.
Several police and FBI vehicles sit outside of the Eppes home. Don stands at the back of an ambulance speaking with Amita who has an ice pack on the back of her head. She looks shaken up. "There were four of them," Amita continues nervously. "They took Charlie." Her eyes begin to well up.
"It's okay," Don says. "We'll find him."
David approaches in a hurry. "Neighbors saw a beige van sitting out front for just a few minutes. They didn't get the plates." David notices the furious look in Don's eyes. "Reed's with him," he continues trying to comfort Don. It doesn't help.
Two masked men with guns open the sliding door of a beige van, revealing Charlie and Reed, hands tied behind their back. Charlie appears scared while Reed remains relatively calm. "Move," one of the men says, motioning with his weapon. The two exit the vehicle.
Charlie and Reed, followed by the men with guns, enter a large abandoned warehouse. "Please, just let us go," Charlie pleads, frightened beyond belief.
One of the men pushes Charlie from behind, "Shut up," he says, angrily. He grabs Charlie by the collar and drags him along as they pull Reed into a side room.
In the small room, Agent Reed stands with two of the masked men, both pointing automatic weapons at him. One of the men lowers his weapon and drags the agent, slamming him down in a chair. The agent sits there staring directly at a video camera. "Read this," the man says holding a piece of paper in front of the agent. Reed looks at the paper and then back up at the men.
Charlie sits in a chair in the middle of the large warehouse when they drag Reed out of the room. The men toss him in a seat across from Charlie. They tie his legs and body to the chair before all of the men head off.
"You okay?" Reed asks concerned. Charlie manages to nod, fear written all over his face. "Whatever happens," Reed continues as Charlie looks away nervously. "Hey look at me." Charlie focuses on the agent. "Whatever happens, you don't say anything. Understand? Not a word." Charlie nods his agreement.
Don paces frantically around the briefing room with the rest of his team. Alan and Amita sit in with them. Everyone is concerned, Don looks outraged. Colby interrupts the silence, "Okay, let's think about this," he begins. "Charlie said someone was playing both sides. The people we're looking for are probably the same people that made a play for the chips at the warehouse."
"Which means they're probably looking to make a trade," David adds hopefully. Colby nods his agreement, but Don seems to be ignoring them.
"Donnie," Alan says interrupting them. "You need to stay calm. Your brother needs you right now." Don looks at his father, thinking. He nods.
"Okay," Don says bringing his attention back to the world. "Whoever it is knows an aweful lot about us, I mean," he sighs.
"They use the first crew," David adds, "to raise the money."
"Then they kill them to cover their tracks," Colby reasons.
"Okay, yeah," Don follows. "Then they hit Victor's crew next."
"Didn't they try to blow you up?" Alan asks bluntly.
"To keep the FBI busy while they made the buy," Colby answers.
"Maybe," Liz states, thinking.
"What do you mean?" Don asks curiously.
"Well what if the bomb wasn't intended to buy time," she reasons. "What if the purpose was to get the guidance chips back on the street?"
"You think they knew we had them," David follows.
"But the first robbery happened a few days before the chips were recovered," Colby says.
"Well like I said, they knew an aweful lot about us," Don continues as the pieces begin to fall into place.
Colby begins to understand. "So they knew we were coming for them, which means..."
"We have a mole," Liz states.
They are interrupted by an analyst that walks in the room. "Agent Eppes, this came for you." He hands Eppes the package.
"What is it?" David asks as Don opens it.
"A video," Don says looking around at everyone in the room.
Charlie sits quietly staring at agent Reed when one of the men approaches. The man is no longer wearing his mask. Reed winks reassuringly at Charlie before addressing his captor. "You must be the ugly one," he begins. The man ignores Reed, unrolling a cloth filled with various blades. "Hey, I'm talking to you."
The man smiles at Reed, knowing this one is going to be fun. He let's the sight of the blades sink in before approaching Reed. The agent smiles at his captor before a backhand strikes him across the face.
"Seriously?" Reed asks. "Open handed? Do I look like a woman?" The man stands above the agent smiling before his closed fist comes crashing down into Reed's face.
Don and the team sit in the briefing room watching the end of the video of Reed on the giant screen. "Follow the included instructions to make the drop or they will kill us both," Reed says.
The team looks on as the video ends. "We need to find out who the mole is," David says.
Don rewinds the video and plays it back. They all stare at it again, but as the video begins Don notices something through the glass wall. He heads out of the room with purpose. David watches Don as he walks off out of sight. His gaze is interrupted when Amita notices something on the video. "Does he always blink that much?" she asks.
"Not really," Liz states taking note.
Colby watches closer. "I don't believe it," he says amazed.
"Is that..." David begins, not believing it either.
"Morse code," Colby finishes.
Agent Perez walks down the hall of the FBI building when Don grabs him from behind. "Where are they?" Don yells as he pushes Perez onto a desk, holding him by the shirt.
"Are you crazy?" Perez asks, caught off guard.
"What was the plan?" Don asks, angry. "You kill a few FBI agents and this whole case falls under your jurisdiction, is that right?"
"I don't know what your talking about!" Perez exclaims.
"You couldn't get the chips back on the street without drawing attention, so you used us!" Don continues. Colby and David grab Don from behind and pull him off the agent.
"What are you doing?" David asks worried.
"You're out of your mind!" Perez continues. "I'll have your badge for this!" Perez backs off, walking away.
"I'll be seeing you again real soon," Don says as Perez walks away.
"Count on it!" replies Perez.
"Come on," David says pulling Don away. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Don says.
"We got something," Colby adds once he's sure Don has settled. "And you're not going to believe it."
Reed sits in his chair, bruised, bloody and laughing as Charlie watches on in horror. Their captor, standing above Reed, strikes him again. The agent grunts from the pain, but continues to play it off. "You hit like a girl," he says in obvious pain. The man winds up and strikes him again.
"You think you're tough," the man says coyly.
"Why don't you untie me and find out," Reed replies, enough anger in his voice to scare most men.
"You will break," the man says evenly. He wheels a cart towards Reed. "Do you know what this is?" he asks, curiously.
"Snow cone maker?" Reed jokes, knowing what it really is. He braces himself as the man pulls two paddles off the machine, holding them near Reed. Charlie can't help but look away as the electricity surges through Reed's body and his agonizing screams fill the warehouse.
Don sits looking at a piece of paper showing the message Reed passed on to the team. On it is written 'L, R, L, R, R, L 27'. His thoughts are interrupted by Amita. "So I plugged in the directions he gave us and tracing all possible 27 mile routes from Charlie's house I came up with the following search area." She presses a few keys and a section of map lights up on the screen.
"That's a residential area," Colby says doubtfully.
"That just doesn't seem like our guys," David admits.
"Okay, well the deal is supposed to go down in an hour," Don says taking control again. "Liz you and David take a SWAT team and get setup." The two agents nod and head out the door.
"What do you think Don?" Colby asks, regarding the map. Don considers the map but it doesn't feel right to him.
Alan notices Don's doubt. "How would he know how many miles they went?" he asks.
"What do you mean?" Colby wonders.
"Well," Alan continues, "sitting in a van, travelling through the city. It's not like there's mile markers or anything."
"So, what, maybe an address," Don wonders looking at the screen.
"Time," Amita says realizing. She punches in some keys and a new search area appears. "This is the area for 27 minutes."
Don analyzes the new search area when something catches his eye. "Here," he says pointing to a warehouse on the map. "Colby, you're with me." The two agents rush out of the briefing room.
Reed sits hunched over in his chair, breathing heavily. He slowly lifts his head up to face his captor. "Do me a favor," Reed says trying to catch his breath. "If you're gonna torture me," he continues, struggling with every word. "Let me know first; so I can brace myself."
The man smiles at Reed with respect. "I admire you agent Reed," the man says as he pulls a gun out of his waist. He points it at Reed.
"Go ahead," Reed says lifting his head with a new source of energy. "Pull the trigger," he continues.
"Reed," Charlie pleads, unable to control his silence anymore. "Stop it, please."
"Shut up Charlie!" Reed yells, focusing on his captor. "Go ahead," Reed continues. "You kill me and you don't get to break me. You kill me and I win." Reed continues with clenched teeth.
"Maybe," the man says as he looks back at Charlie. Reed's face twists with fear and anger when he notices this.
"This is between you and me," Reed says, trying to hide the emotion in his voice.
"Yes it is," the man says as he lifts the gun up from Reed's head.
"No!" Reed yells, looking at Charlie with worry.
The man turns his full attention to Charlie. He aims the gun at Charlie, who looks away closing his eyes, paralyzed with fear.
"No!" Reed pleads with the man. "Charlie! Charlie! I'll kill you!" Reed struggles trying to free his restraints.
Charlie clenches his teeth in the darkness. He wants to open his eyes but the fear won't let him. The sound of the gunshot rattles him. It's immediately followed by another before the silence.
Charlie opens his eyes, looking at the body of his captor on the ground before him. He scans the room until he sees his brother Don lower his weapon. Colby, standing next to Don, speaks in his radio. "We got 'em."
Charlie stands outside the warehouse near the back of an an ambulance. He watches as they wheel Reed out on a strecher. "You okay Charlie?" Don asks worried.
Charlie watches as they load Reed onto the ambulance. He nods he's okay to his brother. "You know he's crazy," Charlie says referring to Reed.
Don looks at his brother lovingly. "It's okay, don't worry about it," Don says wrapping his arm around him.
Colby approaches the two. "You okay Charlie?" he asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he responds. "I'm fine."
"Liz just called," Colby continues, addressing Don. "Two of the men they were after at the drop are in critical condition, the rest were killed."
Don nods. "Okay."
"One of the men killed was ex-FBI," he finishes. "We think he was behind it."
Don nods at him again. "Come on Charlie, let's get you home."
Don sits at the head of the picnic table in Charlie's backyard. Reed sits at the other end with Alan, Charlie and Amita on one side, Colby, David and Liz on the other. "Well that was good, thank you," Reed says.
"Oh you're welcome," Alan replies.
Liz rises, "Amita, how about a game of pool."
"Yeah okay," Amita responds.
"You're gonna play pool," Colby asks the women doubtfully.
"Why not?" Amita smirks.
"No reason," Colby responds quickly.
"Better watch yourself there Colby," Don jokes, as the women rise and head inside.
"Well," Alan says raising his beer. "Here's to Agent Reed's speedy recovery."
"I still think you're crazy," Charlie says to Reed raising his beer.
"Oh yeah," Reed says as he takes a sip.
"Yeah," Charlie responds, "I've never seen anyone enjoy getting tortured before."
"Charlie, come on," Alan says. Charlie doesn't seem to notice his tone.
"Well, I bore easily," Reed responds, covering it up with a laugh.
"Charlie, why don't you help me clean up," Alan says interrupting the conversation.
Charlie rises. "Sure dad."
"We'll give you a hand, right Colby?" David says.
Colby rises with him. "Sure." He and David head toward the house with Charlie. Alan follows at a distance.
When Charlie gets into the house, Alan turns around to address Agent Reed. "You'll have to forgive Charlie. He's a genius when it comes to some things, but others..." he just shrugs. "Anyway, thank you." Agent Reed nods to him with a smile as Alan walks into the house.
Inside the house David and Colby help Charlie with the dishes. "Why do you gotta be so hard on the guy, Charlie" David asks.
"What, you should have seen him," Charlie responds. "He was practically asking for it."
"Well he was Charlie," Colby explains.
"But why would anyone want to be..." Charlie begins to ask but Colby cuts him off.
"Because Charlie," he says, unsure whether or not he should continue. "As long as they were torturing him..." he pauses giving Charlie a moment to realize the obvious for himself.
"They weren't torturing me," he finally realizes. He watches Reed sitting outside with his brother. Colby pats him on the shoulder, reasurring him.
Don sits outside with Reed in silence for a moment. "So you about ready to come back to work?" he asks as he takes another sip.
"To be honest, I was enjoying my vacation," Reed jokes.
"Yeah, well don't get too soft on me," Don says laughing.
"Wouldn't think of it," Reed answers.
"You know," Don says a little more seriously. "What you didfor Charlie, it was,"
"Don't mention it," Reed interrupts. "Anyway, he's part of the team right?"
"Yeah," Don nods. "He is." He looks in the window at his brother.
"Besides," Reed continues. "I been tortured before."
"Yeah?" Don asks curiously. Reed nods, laughing as he takes a sip of his beer. "Think maybe now you can tell me,"
"Not a chance," Reed interrupts, as both men laugh. Reed sits there a long moment staring at Charlie and the others through the window. "I got their back you know."
"Yeah," Don says, "I know." Don tips his bottle forward saluting Reed who reciprocates. Both men take a sip and stare at each other in silent admiration.
The End