Hey! Okay, so I don't have time to write anything, cause I'm leaving in 5' and I have people yelling at me..

So, as always, thank you very much for reading and reviewing. Now, since I'm leaving…right now, it's gonna be a while for the final two chapters, but good thing is that I'll finish them while I'm gone and post them when I get back.

Don't own Numb3rs or anything…

Enjoy!


"Here we are! You see, pal…How nice and comfortable we're here at the FBI. Bright office, friendly people..So, tell me. Was it really necessary to open fire at us? Is it so bad here? Don Eppes pushed the drug dealer one last time and King chuckled once, amused. When the man in custody refused to answer, the FBI agent continued with an ironic smile appearing on his face. "Girls, why don't you take our guest to one of the small, cozy rooms we have? I'll pay him a visit in a while."

"Sure thing, boss," Nikki replied as she and Liz led the handcuffed man to the interrogation room.

"Good job, everyone," Don said loudly as the agents around him scattered all over the office. King gave the senior agent a friendly pat on the back and followed his team.

Finally able to relax, Don made his way to his office. It was pretty late and he wanted to take Colby back home. He knew that being able to return here had been good for his friend, he could see it in his eyes , but that didn't mean much. Colby was still healing both physically and, even more importantly, mentally. The physical therapy for his shoulder was a long, tiring and often painfully process and the doctors had strongly advised him to take it easy. And then it was Bradford. The psychologist had clearly said that Colby's mental and emotional state, although improving, was still something to worry about. He had pointed out certain things to Don in order to prepare him, signs that would suggest that something was wrong with his agent and in which case, according to Bradford, the solution was one and only: Call me immediately!

Aware of all these things, Don had every reason to believe that the young agent had to call it a day and head home. He was ready to have a strong argument over this fact, when he noticed that his desk was empty. Frowning, he turned around to find Colby's desk at a similar state. Not that he was expecting to find it occupied. The fact that Colby was avoiding his working space like a cat avoids water was make perfectly clear the minute they had walked in. Truth is that Don already had a plan to solve this problem. He would wait for a little while and then he would give Colby the desk across of his own. It was the only solution he could think of and frankly, being only a couple of meters away from Colby when they were in the office, would make him feel better as well.

Right now however, none of this mattered, because his agent was nowhere to be seen. Scanning the office, his eyes fell on his brother.

"Chuck," he said, entering the war room.

"Hey, you're back! Are you okay? Did you get him?" Charlie exclaimed in one breath, turning his attention from the board to his brother.

"Yeah, we got him. Everything went fine, don't worry. Hey, listen.. Do you know where Colby is?"

"What? What are you talking about?" the mathematician's face frowned with confusion and he pointed to Don's office. "He's right…," he stopped suddenly when he saw that his brother's desk was empty. "He was right there," he offered, looking around.

"Yeah, well, where is he now?" Don was starting to feel uneasy and his voiced raised automatically.

"Hey, easy, man. Maybe he went to the bathroom. Hold on a sec, I'll go check," Charlie left the room in a hurry.

Maybe he went to the bathroom. Maybe he went for a walk around the office. Don't be paranoid, Don tried to reassure himself without much result. The door behind him opened and he turned around, quicker than he thought possible.

"He's not there," Charlie was panting. "Don't freak out, man, he could…"

"Who's freaking out?" Nikki's voice came from behind them as she and Liz walked in.

Don didn't bother answering. "Have you seen Colby?"

"No," Liz replied, looking from one brother to another. "Why, what's going on?"

Charlie glanced nervously at Don. "Well, we're not sure where he is at the moment."

"Maybe he went across the street, to grab something to eat," Nikki offered half-heartedly. "Why don't you call him, Don?"

Don's phone was already in his hand. "Someone should go check upstairs. Maybe he went to wait at King's office," he suggested as he brought the phone to his ear.

He noticed Liz exiting the room and then his attention was on the monotonous ringing tone. Pick up, pick up, he begged silently as a familiar feeling settled on his chest. Fear.


A high pitched noise broke through the fog in his mind. For a few seconds he tried to understand what it was and where it was coming from, before settling for the fact that it didn't matter what it was. The moment he reached this conclusion Colby couldn't hear it anymore. He looked ahead of him, without really seeing what was there. He wasn't driving fast, he hadn't even turned the sirens on. He drove like a man who simply knew where he was going and what would happen when he got there. And Colby did know where he was going. It felt like a knowledge he had all along, but was, until now, afraid to use.

He reached his destination ten minutes later. It was a small house with a well kept garden. It was exactly what he expected. Hidden in the shadows, invisible during the night, without making a single sound, he stalked toward the back door.


John Mercer turned his TV off and went to his spotless kitchen. He opened the fridge and stood there, trying to decide what to have for dinner, at the same time making a mental note to himself to stop by the grocery store tomorrow. That's when he felt it. It wasn't a sound, it wasn't something he saw, it was simply a change around him. He saw a knife placed on the kitchen table, too far away to be of any help.

"That's a nice place you have here, Mr Mercer," a voice said. It was low, yet perfectly audible in the stillness of the night and it held so many emotions he couldn't begin to decipher them. He span around just to see two green, bottomless eyes staring back at him. It was the last thing he saw before something cold and hard collided with his temple. He knew nothing else.


"He's not answering," Don said for the tenth time, desperation clearly evident in his voice. "Why isn't he answering? Where is he?"

Ignoring the déjà vu feeling he was getting, Charlie tried to comfort his brother. "Maybe he just went for a walk and doesn't hear his phone. It could be nothing, man, don't freak out."

But somehow they all knew that this wasn't nothing. Something was seriously wrong and they didn't know what.

"Hey, Eppes," Tim King followed Liz into the room, "you ever heard of these chips the use, to track down lost dogs? Ever thought of using one?" They all stared at the SWAT leader, who surprisingly, seemed very serious. "What the hell happened now?"

"Granger disappeared," Nikki snapped, trying to hide her worry behind anger and failing miserably to convince anyone.

"I assume you tried his phone," Tim continued, but no one replied. It wasn't a question. They were all sitting there, trying to come up with an explanation when the phone on Don's desk started ringing. The senior agent reached his desk before the others even realized what was going on.

"Eppes," he said breathlessly.

"Agent Eppes," the Assistant Director acknowledged him.

"Oh, yes, sir," disappointment was evident in Don's face, as he recognized Wright's voice.

"I was wondering what your plans are?"

"My plans, sir? I don't understand wha…," he suddenly stopped and looked down. With slow moves he picked up the black sling from the floor and showed it to his team, his eyes filling with despair.

"Agent Eppes?"

"Sir, I'm sorry, can I call you back?" he asked and without waiting for an answer turned the phone off.

"What the hell," he started, but his brother interrupted him. "Hey, man, what's that?" he pointed at something under Don's chair.

"It's an address," Don replied as he straightened the small piece of paper. He was ready to throw it away, when Wright's words echoed in his head.

I was wondering what your plans are.

Suddenly, a terrifying idea dawned on him, knocking the air out of his lungs. He looked again at the paper he was holding, the paper that looked as if someone had trapped it in his powerful fist.

The CIA is tracking him down. When they come up with something you'll be the first to know. Please, no, Don begged silently.

"Boss," Nikki said, reminding him that he wasn't alone "what kind of address? To where?"

He didn't try to answer, he already knew that he wouldn't be able to. Instead, he raised his eyes and stared at King.

The SWAT captain looked back at him with a confused expression for a heartbeat. And then he realized.

"Damn it."


He was sitting in the dark, completely still when Mercer showed the first signs of waking up. The old man looked around him for a few seconds before his eyes landed on Colby. He smiled.

"I remember you," he decided to speak first, watching the agent's every move. "How's the shoulder?"

Colby rose slowly from his seat and approached the tied man. "I'm getting there, thanks for the concern."

"It's the least I can do," Mercer replied and was ready to continue when a low chuckle escaped his lips. He gazed directly into Colby's eyes. "Honestly, I'm surprised. I never expected to see you again. I never would have thought you were capable.."

"Of?" the agent's voice was low and calm.

"Murdering someone in cold blood."

It was Colby's turn to give a short laugh. "We have a completely different opinion on the definition of the word "murder". Wanna listen to a small story?" he asked and went on without waiting for an answer. "You ever seen this pictures from Overseas of some kids holding this huge weapons. You see, I had seen them long before I signed for my tour in Afghanistan and always thought "What the hell, man? Who can shoot a 13 year old kid even if he's carrying a gun. That's murder." I was there for three weeks when my team was ambushed in a city. And suddenly there's this kid in front of me, couldn't be more that 15, pointing a Kalashnikov at my head. He looked at the sky, shouted something and then turned his attention back on me. I didn't even realized when I pulled the trigger. That kid ,John, I can call you John, right, was innocent and there I was, ending his life. But no one even mentioned it, cause it was self-defense. They all moved on as if nothing had happened. So, that begs the question. If killing a kid can be "justifiable", what do you think they'll do to me if," he paused for a fracture of the second, "when I kill you? Hmmm…Worst case scenario, they'll have me seeing a shrink for the next few months. Nothing new there.."

Mercer wasn't smiling anymore. "What are you waiting for then?"

"I'm waiting, cause I wanna know why..Why did you kill all these agents? We pulled your file, you were a Fed as well. You used to be one of us. Why?"

"My brother," the old man replied quietly. "I joined the Bureau the same time my brother did. We were on the same team for five years and he always protected me. He was older than me, he thought I needed protection," Mercer smiled at the distant memory. "And then there was this bank robbery, almost fifteen years ago. They were hostages and my brother asked permission to talk to the robbers face to face. I told him not to do it, I asked from our superiors not to let him do this. He walked in anyway. And I never saw him again. Someone put a bullet in his head. The FBI went in, got all the hostages out alive, even managed to arrest the robbers without firing a single shot. Everyone called it a huge victory, the media praised the Bureau for weeks after the incident. And all I got was a letter, saying that my brother was a hero, that he would be missed. They couldn't protect their own agent and they called the operation a success," he screamed. "And now they're paying for it. How many deaths you think it'll take until they realize their mistake? You wanted to know why. Do you get it now?"

Colby opened his mouth to respond, when he heard the distant sound of sirens. Took you long enough, Don.

"Yes, I get it now. You're doing this for your brother, for the only person you could trust with your life. I understand. You wanted revenge," the sirens grew louder and Colby drew his gun. "One of the men who died in the explosion was my partner. He was my brother." He raised his gun. "So, do you get it?" Tires screeched on the pavement in front of the house and Colby heard people running. "Can you guess what I want?" he pressed the trigger slightly.

The door flew open with a deafening sound and a familiar voice shouted.

"Colby, DON'T….."


Okay, cliff hanger, you just have to be a little patient. I haven't really read this one many times, so there might be a few mistakes(I mean more than usual), sorry…Oh, and I'll reply to your reviews as soon as I can get my hands on a computer for a few minutes!

Really have to go now…

Have a nice summer!

: )