Disclaimer – I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. All real organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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Don's cell phone suddenly rang. As Don pulled it from his pocket he saw that Wachowski was fully alert, his own cell in his hand.

"Eppes."

"Hello, agent." It was the electronic voice again.

Don signalled to Wachowski that it was the call he thought it was. Wachowski pressed a speed dial button. Don turned away, concentrating on his own call. "What do you want?"

"I have some demands. Write them down. Ready?"

"Yes." Don scribbled quickly trying to get the information word for word. Fortunately years of speaking to witnesses had taught him to write fast, if not legibly. At least he could read it, mostly, and that was all that mattered.

"Got that?"

"Yes."

"You will go public with that information."

"What?" Don couldn't help but object.

"There is no arguing, agent. You know the stakes."

Once again Don was sure the voice was Telford. It had his style. "Alright. When?"

"The sooner the better, it will go out live then give the late night news something to re-broadcast. Your other news grab is getting boring." The line went dead.

Don looked over his notes as Wachowski finished his call. The younger agent tapped him on the shoulder. "MIR, now."

The room went silent as they entered. Some agents were giving back the results of a tasking and were unceremoniously sent out. The door was closed and a 'no admittance' sign put up.

Don started to speak but halted at Merrick's raised hand. "Wait."

A few seconds later he saw the reason for the delay, Ryder opened the door and stepped in taking a place beside Merrick. At Merrick's signal Don started speaking. "I've just had a call from Zuheen. He's made his demands. He wants one hundred million dollars in gold. Delivery to be advised but it must be ready by 1000hrs tomorrow." He had to stop at the stir in the room.

Ryder held up a hand and the stir subsided. "Go ahead, Eppes."

"Sir. He said that the gold was to be taken from the Federal Reserve, he didn't care which one, and put on display. He will be calling us with delivery instructions after he's seen the gold on television."

"How much gold is that?" Ryder directed his question at the Secret Service representative who'd been searching the internet for gold prices.

The agent made some quick calculations. "At today's price that's over 155,000 ounces. Nearly 9,700 pounds."

"He doesn't care what depository?" The Secret Service agent asked.

"No. The gold just has to be outside, ready for transport. He wants it on television."

"Doable." The Secret Service agent commented.

"What else?" Ryder asked.

"He wants the following persons released from Guantanamo Bay." Don read out the list he'd made, ten names in all.

One of the CIA agents stepped up. "I'll take that list."

Don handed it over.

"He has to know that won't happen." The CIA agent commented, reading down the list.

"Anyone important?" Ryder asked.

"I have to check. The clearance for this will be very high."

"Let me know when you get the information." Ryder's clearance would be high enough. "Anything else, Eppes?"

"I have to give a press conference. He wants his demands public."

"No." The CIA agent said immediately. "This list must not go public."

"The names no, but he wants it known that he's asked for the release of ten detainees." Don clarified.

"Very well. The news conference will go ahead." Ryder decided. As lead agency the FBI had the ability to make such a call. "Is there a time frame?"

"As soon as possible." Don glanced at the monitors around the room. He saw that most channels were conducting continual broadcasts from the mall anyway.

"Thank-you, Eppes. We'll word up the release and arrange the media."

Don was dismissed again. He left the MIR along with his shadow.

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Colby suddenly sat up. "Got him. East entrance, 0951hrs."

The three of them watched on the monitor as Don walked into the mall. Colby switched to the next camera and one camera at a time they followed Don's progress from shop to shop. With the benefit of fast forward they managed to compress an hour of time into thirty-five minutes. As time went on however, they were less able to use fast forward as it was getting harder to distinguish Don out of the thickening crowds.

"Wait, go back." Megan said suddenly. "What happened there?"

Colby used the mouse pointer to pull the time marker back a minute. When he released the marker the camera image started playing in real time. They watched as Don moved with the flow of the crowd but then started to angle off to the right.

"Look, there!" Megan tapped the screen. Don was jostled and started to turn sharply before stiffening up. It was obvious even with the crowd. Don then started to step sideways before a hand appeared on his shoulder. After that they saw that their boss was being steered towards the edge of the concourse with a man wearing a hat standing closely behind him. Close enough to be holding a gun on him.

"Pause that. I'll see if we can get another angle." David asked after carefully noting the camera number and time, 1112hrs.

Colby paused the camera they were watching and waited as David checked the schematic for the nearest cameras on his computer. But the other cameras were not of any real help, their viewing angle was fixed, with most pointing directly downwards. The only one that was a possible, in that it was pointing towards Don's face, was too far away to make out any detail. He tried the zoom but it just pixelated out into meaningless square blocks. David noted that camera's number down for their techs to try to improve the image. He nodded to Colby and he started his camera playing again.

Don was hustled into what looked like a service entrance way and out of view. They then saw another man stop at the corner and lean against the wall facing into the alcove. He put something down. A little time later he picked something up and melted into the crowd. Don and the man in the hat didn't reappear.

"Note that, we'll have to follow his path later, it could show us where at least one of the bombs are." Megan said. She then got back onto what their assignment was, Don's movements and interactions with the terrorists as seen under video surveillance. "This all matches what Don told us. But the time is wrong. This should nearly two hours later."

They looked at each other as the implications of that sank in. Don wasn't telling them everything. They'd suspected, but now they had proof.

"He'll have a good reason." Megan added.

"We know that, but they won't see it that way." Colby said, jabbing a thumb back over his shoulder. They all knew who 'they' were.

"Alright. Parking lot cameras, got anything we can use on those?" Megan directed, heading back to her own computer and typing in the time that they arrived. The camera views they saw were from high up allowing for maximum area coverage per camera. She scrolled forwards until they saw Don pull up to their group in his SUV. She then reversed the feed and they watched, switching cameras as necessary, as Don went backwards around the perimeter of the building, to the makeshift LAPD command post, to the east entrance, to his SUV and finally back to a white SUV. She froze the image just as the white suburban containing Don started moving backwards.

"This is not good." David said.

"Don was driving." Colby pointed out.

"There was someone else in there though." Megan moved the slider across causing the image to jump forwards. She froze it again at 1324hrs. Don was heading away from his black SUV as the white suburban drove off up the row. She jogged the footage back and forth but the other person in the white SUV didn't get out, obviously switching from the passengers' side to the drivers' side by sliding across.

She wound the footage back again noting the times between Don getting out of the SUV to when it first pulled to a stop. "Six and a half minutes. Don must have been in the white SUV when he called mall security."

"He said he was with Zuheen's man when the bombs went off at the entrances." David reminded them.

"Yes, but not about being in their car." Megan pointed out. She wound the footage back further, following the SUV until it left the range of the cameras at the road leading into the parking lot. They again exchanged glances, this was a major development. "And he never said anything about leaving the mall completely."

"They took him somewhere." Colby stated the obvious.

"But where and why didn't he tell us?" David asked.

"Because he's not allowed to."

Colby shook his head. "They are definitely not going to like this."

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The glare of the lights in the FBI media room was almost overwhelming but Don had to let his eyes adjust and try not to look directly at them. As he'd expected the room was full with both local LA and national media agencies. They'd been clamouring for just such a conference and were quick to arrive. A bank of television cameras were lined up at the rear of the room, the seats were all full. Print media were busily snapping photos even before he started. Sound techs fiddled with the array of microphones spread out across the table in front of him. He waited impatiently for the go ahead.

Finally they were ready and he read from the prepared text. When he finished the questions began, but he'd been given strict instructions not to answer unless directed to do so. He sat silently as the LA field office's media liaison officer, Beth Fordham, fielded most of them.

"Agent Eppes, why have you been singled out?" A reporter asked. The liaison officer indicated he could answer this. The question had been expected. The FBI media section had even provided the media with a very short bio on him listing his age, years and location of service. Nothing in that could explain why he'd been singled out. He had no affiliations with any terrorist task forces nor had he participated in any high profile terrorist related investigations, at least not that the media were aware of.

"I don't know. I was at the mall when the bombs were planted. Aside from that I have no idea."

"You've seen the bombs?" Another voice called out.

"Yes."

"What are they?"

"Agent Eppes can't answer that. It's part of an ongoing investigation." Beth interrupted.

The questions moved on to the requested release of the ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The media got very little out of that line of inquiry. They then moved onto the gold. They'd been given the break down into ounces and pounds, along with a description of how such an amount of gold could be moved. They'd also already been given the standard line of not giving in to terrorists. They got it again.

"Zuheen has never made demands for money before. Why now?"

"We have no idea. He's always had an ideological reason before now. Why he has moved to more capitalistic goals is unknown."

"Agent Eppes, can you shed any light on that, you met him." A reporter asked.

"I never met him, just his men." Don clarified after receiving a nod. "They never discussed Zuheen's demands with me. I've only spoken to Zuheen twice on the phone. He didn't say what he intended to do with the gold."

"Surely such a demand just shows that Zuheen is just a common criminal after financial gain?"

"All terrorists are criminals." Don answered bluntly.

"How were you hurt? Did a terrorist do that?"

Don licked his sore lip. The swelling was starting to go down but a dark bruise was developing. "What happened to me is unimportant. There are two thousand people out there with bigger problems."

"So what is being done to get those people out of there?"

"Everything we can. This matter is at a delicate stage. We are working to resolve this as quickly as possible with no loss of life." Beth answered.

"How are the people in the mall coping?"

"They've been told what is happening. They have sufficient supplies from in-house food outlets to provide them with meals for now. They are as comfortable as we can make them. Mall management and security are doing their best for everyone." Beth explained. "We will get them out."

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Colby was right. The team delivered their results direct to the ADIC in a corner of the MIR. Part way through Merrick called the senior agent from DHS over and they had to start from the beginning. By the time they'd finished their presentation, they knew that Don was going to be in for a hard time.

The DHS agent took their hardcopies of the screen captures they'd made to illustrate various points. "How long before your techs get the enhanced images to us?"

"They weren't sure." Megan answered. "I told them it was top priority, especially the one in the mall. We may get to see the man's face in that one."

"Uh, hello?" A familiar voice came from the door.

They turned to see Charlie standing there. "I don't mean to interrupt but I have that data ready." He'd glanced at them initially returning their nods of greeting, but mainly directed his attention to the NSA contingent.

Megan noticed the NSA tag clipped to his pocket and realised that the NSA had brought him in. She also realised that Charlie didn't mean that he had interrupted their briefing specifically, but the room in general as various conversations were taking place at once.

"Come in Professor." One of the NSA agents invited. "Set up, when you're ready we'll start."

Merrick turned to his agents. "Chase up those enhancements. Get whatever footage you can and have it put together. Follow that other terrorist and find out where that bomb is located."

"Yes sir." Megan answered for the team. She gathered their notes and they left quickly, closing the door behind them. They stopped a short distance away from the door.

"We've got to warn him." Colby said. He looked across the floor towards their cubicle where they'd last seen their boss over three hours ago. There were too many partitions between their relative positions however so he couldn't actually see Don.

"We can't." Megan said. "He'll know it's coming anyway. If we are going to be of use to him we have to keep our distance."

When they got to the video lab they found out about the press conference. They sat and watched as one of the techs replayed it for them. Don was starting to look tired.

"Gold?" David mused. "What would a terrorist do with gold?"

"Not exactly easy to transport." Colby contributed.

"He's not getting it anyway." Megan said. "Let's get back to work."

A while later they were hovering over the techs as they enhanced the footage from the mall. They weren't able to do much with the long shot view of face of the man behind Don. Unfortunately the bright sunlight also worked against them getting a view of the man in the white suburban in the parking lot. They struck out all round on that.

Another tech was painstakingly constructing a visual timeline of events by compiling all the different camera views. Yet another tech was working hard following the second terrorist and the shopping bag he carried through the heavy crowd.

From time to time David, Megan or Colby would stifle a yawn, watching surveillance footage on computer monitors, no matter how important was tiring. It had also been a long day and was going to be longer yet. No sleep tonight, time was rapidly getting away from them.

Megan's cell rang. It was Charlie, finally able to talk to them, inviting them back up to their floor saying he had some information for them. They could leave the techs to their work for a while.

They hoped it was good news, they really needed some.