Chapter Nine
Ian cut his eyes to his reflection in the mirror, and noted how pale he seemed. Leaning against the sink, he squeezed the sides of the counter so tightly that it hurt. Often enough he found that thinking about his situation blocked out his physical pain. Here and now he was using pain to block out the sickness he felt stirring in the pit of his stomach, at the situation that he had brought upon himself.
He picked up his phone as it rang, and looked at the ID, still in a daze. It was Nikki, and he didn't know whether to be nervous or relieved.
"Nik?"
"Hey, Ian it's me."
"So have you found anything yet on Wright? There are no leads on where your professors are." Ian stared at his reflection while he lied, the severity of what he was saying grating down on his conscience as it screamed in his head.
"Yeah, we found something on Wright. It looks like he's been taking money from a distribution fund. We're looking into the details now, but it definitely looks like he's dirty." Ian of course knew that she would find that. He was the one who had put those records there. "I guess you were right."
"Don't thank me yet, there's still a lot of work we can do before we can present the evidence to AD Easton." Her silence unnerved him. "Remember Nik, we need to keep this on the down low until Easton approves that the evidence is real. I don't want anything to happen to you and Don just because I wanted a favour." Ian took a deep breath. "I just wanna keep you safe." That last bit wasn't a lie.
"Yeah, you too Ian." She hung up first, leaving Ian to his silence.
As soon as he had picked up the phone, he had known there was something wrong. The signal was fine, but there was a lot of interference. If he had still been in the office, he would have thought nothing of the interference, but in the empty mens' restroom, he somehoe doubted he had too much proximity to other electronic devices. Which meant that he had something on him that was causing the interference.
Patting himself down, trying to remember a time when anyone could have planted anything on him, he pulled out the contents of his pockets and dropped them on the counter next to his cellphone. There was the usual - car keys, his gun, his badge, a few scraps of paper and a receipt, but there was also a small device, looking a little like a cellphone sim card. Immediately, he snapped it into two smaller pieces, and watched as those pieces tumbled down the drain.
Someone had been listening to him.
Ian gritted his teeth as he shoved his gun back into his waistband. He had suspected that Easton may pull a stunt like that; a dirty agent trusts no one, even the person he was leaning on to cover his lying ass.
Bad move, Easton.
Don was sitting with his head in his hands opposite his brother's empty chair when David sidled up, careful not to startle him and pulling up a seat for himself.
"Hey, Don." His boss merely grunted in reply. "Colby just called in to say that people are easing up on the security. They're not looking for us anymore, but he's off of Edgerton's account, and he's managed to get into the Internal Affairs database; he knows a guy who's on a sick day. They have higher security, and the point is that no one can get a lock on what he's doing. Also, level five clearance." Once more, Don offered no more proper English than a neanderthal. "But of course that might change as soon as Edgerton reports that we bugged him." Don merely rubbed his head, exhausted.
"Do the undergrads have the files yet?"
"They loaded the files fine within the time limit and we've copied them into everyone's servers, including a couple of people who I trust completely on a different mainframe, just in case something happens to ours. They'll get the case evidence as it comes to them, and they'll keep it safe." The glance that Don threw David was indisputably proud.
"Good work. What does the file say?"
"The printouts - ah." He accepted a wad of papers from Liz, who returned to her space next to Nikki. She was still angry for what Don had said to their newest agent, not because she was particularly close to her, but because he was way out of line.
"It's financial data." He was surprised. Would this come down to something as simple as money? "Money flow patterns indicate there's something severely wrong with the financial system."
"How do you know that?"
"I'm department head, David. I have to deal with all this crap otherwise we would have to buy our own staples. This is the stage before it hits the finance deparment and is divided up to be sent to the other departments. I've never seen it all showed out like this."
"Don, do you think that Easton was taking money?"
"Get Colby to send over the official sheets. If he has IA clearance, he'll be able to access them no problem."
"Why don't we just go to see Wright? If he's investigating money flow, there's a good chance that it's connected to this."
"Or it could be a complete coincidence and we've wasted four hours following the wrong leads." Don shook his head. "We wait until we've compiled everything, and compared this against officially channeled money flow charts." The last thing they needed now was a false connection. That wouldn't help him find Charlie.
Don surveyed the printouts analytically, as David watched in. They had been working together for almost exactly four years now, and he liked to think he had a good read on the older agent. Almost without even looking at his expression, he could tell that the department head was worried. Not about the evidence as such. He was worried about what the evidence would mean, in terms of Charlie and Amita. David did not miss the anxious glance Don threw at his brother's empty chair, across the desk loaded with graphs and scribbled equations in Charlie's distinctive handwriting.
"We'll find Charlie, Don. And Amita. Easton won't hurt them." The missing word - 'yet' - hung heavy in the air. "Plus, once you phone the DA-"
"We can't involve the DA without ensuring Charlie and Amita's safety first. The truth is that we don't back a bloody clue how Easton will react to us finding this. He might try to kill them and pin it on someone else, maybe even Wright. I still think that he'll pull out a hit on him as well, but we can't exactly tip him off without looking pretty damn guilty ourselves. All we have right now is circumstantial evidence, and Easton has the resources of the entire FBI." Don rambled, his voice increasing in both volume and pitch. His second in command winced, having already silently contemplated this.
"Don, there's no way we could know where they are without Easton's cooperation. He doesn't want to get the death penalty. He'll definitely make a deal-"
"We don't know that." Angrily, Don lurched off of the chair, with such force that it skidded backwards away from his body "If you could just keep looking into Easton's background, we could find where he's keeping Charlie!" Only Nikki, who remained bitter after his earlier jibe at her relationship with Ian, had the heart to reply.
"Eppes, you know as well as we do that their best chance is if you call the DA! Think about all of your other cases-"
"This isn't any of my other cases!" They were shouting now, even though they were metres close. "This is my brother we're talking about. My little brother. I swore to protect him when he took the consulting position at the FBI, and I promised that nothing would even happen to him because of it. Now, I don't know where he is; even if he's alive or not! You want me to do something which I know might result in his death. Like I said, Nikki, this isn't alike any of my other cases. I can't live with having to make that choice."
Broken, shaking and scared, he stared at Nikki and the desperation in his eyes reminded her that he was just as human as the rest of them. Ridiculously fragile. For once he didn't know what to do. While his brain told him to do one thing, his heart told him another, and that terrified him. Not knowing, terrified him.
The undergraduates averted their eyes, knowing that this was none of their business, as his partner walked slowly forwards, hands out in front of her like she was showing him that she had nothing in her hands. No weapons, she just wanted to talk.
"I know that you're frustrated right now, but there's nothing else that we can do." She bent slightly to see his face, reading his expression correctly as one of frustration and fear. "This is your baby brother so you're right. This is not just another case. But we still need to do whatever we think has the best chance of success. To get him, back, good and safe." David had wordlessly and obediently retrieved Don's chair and pushed it close behind him so Nikki held his arms as he sat down, staring into space helplessly.
"I think I can help with that." A soft yet steady voice came from the doorway. Everyone jumped, and the agents' hands all twitched automatically to their waistbands.
Ian sighed, and placed his weapon slowly on a nearby table, before backing away from it, the whole time trying to obtain eye contact with Nikki, who seemed as surprised as the rest of them.
"What are you doing here?" Don's tone could have sawed through steel, but Ian seemed unaffected.
"You want Professors Eppes and Rumanujan back?" Ian shrugged, careful to keep his hands fully visible. "You're not going to be able to do it alone."
"Who cares, Eppes? He's doing the right thing now!" Nikki hissed, knowing that Ian could no doubt hear her, but keeping her voice low all the same.
"He might just be covering his own ass, 'cause he realised that we were onto him." Looking around at the rest of the team, Nikki noted that they avoided her eye contact. They agreed with Don, and rightly so. Was she deluding herself in thinking that Ian was trying to redeem himself? Or was it so simple as she wasn't ready to admit that she was wrong in their first place?
"He's doing this because he thinks that Easton bugged him. He feels betrayed." Nikki's words revealed as much about her feelings to her as they did to Don. Her boss' expression softened slightly, as he realised why she was really objecting. It wasn't because she believed that Ian felt betrayed. It was because she felt like she was the one who betrayed him.
"Don't feel guilty for what you did, Nikki." He muttered, moving closer to her, and blocking out the rest of the world. "It was the right thing to do."
"But what if-"
"Let it go. You've done what you've done, and no one thinks any less of you for doing so but yourself." The boss tone was creeping back, like an overactive defense mechanism. "Regardless, if Edgerton can be trusted, he can earn it." There was a certain sharpness to his tone which woke his partner up. She couldn't hold them up like this while Charlie and Amita were still out there, and while they were still in danger. She swallowed hard.
"Do you still think that Easton will pull out a hit on Wright, then try to destroy the evidence?"
"Now that Easton has no one to run his dirty errands for him, he might go to a last resort. I don't know exactly what they means, but it definitely doesn't sound good." Don's voice was once again a normal volume, and he broke away from the controlled, private conversation he and Nikki were partaking in. "Which means, people, that we need the financial data to be enough for a conviction."
The agents all looked at one another. They were all too aware that it wasn't going to be enough for a conviction.
"It's not enough to put him away, but it's enough tto hold him until you find more." Ian voiced what they were all thinking. "Once you find Charlie, and the men who took him, connections will be made." No one looked all too convinced but Ian's argument.
David, who had been lingering by the printer, suddenly re-entered the fray and handed Don a bunch of papers. Don blinked, slightly thrown off guard.
"What is this?" He flicked through the first few pages, brow creased in confusion. "This is a case file for that guy who died last year. The one in Internal Affairs."
"Agent..." Liz snapped her fingers, trying to remember the name at the corner of his memory. "Duncan. Lyle Duncan, right?"
"Yeah, that's the one, but it was closed a good while ago. By AD Easton." Don leaned back in his chair, eyes wide in disbelief. "This is the evidence that we're hedging our bets on?"
"First of all, two weeks ago, Easton tried to delete the personnel file, and the case file. But, the programmes that Amita adapted for us, Colby was able to restore it. Look at the second page. It says no open assignments, but Colby also checked Duncan's supervisory logs in the archives, and it says that he was investigating someone in the Bureau."
"Like most Internal Affairs agents do." Don added, scathingly, then winced. "Sorry David, keep going." While an agent who did not know Don as well would have backed off after his dry comment, David, who had known him for long enough, appeared unaffected by the remark.
"It's okay. It just proves that someone lied in the write-up of the file."
"Which was done by Internal Affairs?" Don skimmed to the bottom of the page, where his eyebrows shot up and he was proven wrong. "AD Wright personally oversaw this case."
"Which could explain why Easton wants Wright to look dirty: he knows that something was up with Easton." Nikki added from the sidelines from where she was thinking hard. "Did Idaho get us the finance records as well?"
"Yeah, Idaho's pretty good at paper trails." Liz grinned at Colby's new nickname, and made a mental note to try it out sometimes later on. "They're printing now." Nikki ambled over to the printer, the wound across her back beginning to suck away the agility and alertness that she usually possessed. Don noticed, but decided that her judgement was not impaired, and hoped that he had made the right call.
"Here." She rounded the desk to sit by Don, helping him spread out all of the evidence they had, putting Duncan's file to one side, and comparing the official money flow to Wright's version. Things were starting to come together when they realised that they were very different.
"About point seven-five percent of the resource disappears between the board grant and the finance department." Nikki told the others, who were waiting with bated breath. One of the students made a face.
"I don't wanna seem obnoxious here, but that doesn't seem like a lot, considering that he's risking his career and freedom for it." Kelly Cotton voiced, and in response, Don leaned over the desk and showed her the numbers. "Oh."
"Yeah. That's a lot of money at that stage. I can't believe that no one's noticed this in the finance department." Nikki said, incredulously, but her partner shrugged.
"They assume that they get it how the board gives it. Easton handles the money, Wright handles the media - they don't generally both look at money flow. The finance department isn't in correspondence with the board, so they only know what the AD tells them." Don shook his head. "It's a good system with clean agents."
"Yeah, but with dirty agents, it's a genius scam." Nikki said, sounding almost appreciative. "No seriously," She continued, as her partner frowned at her. "Who would think to check that?"
"Easton's a smart guy, and this explains everything." David cut in, still looking through his copy of the Duncan file. "Easton's getting money from his scam, and everything seems fine, until Agent Duncan becomes suspicious of most likely the change in numbers, voices his concerns to AD Wright. Easton finds out and he has Duncan killed, before any real evidence can be given, but Wright doesn't let it go. So he investigates, making sure that the files are protected so even Easton can't read them. Easton can't pull a hit on Wright like he did with Duncan; he's too high profile, so he tries to erase the evidence, and frame him for the very thing that he was doing in the first place. It'll look just like it was Wright all along. People don't dig too deep in on a dirty agent because it shames the Bureau."
"But Wright could tell the truth." Liz countered, nervously. "Nik said that Easton could be pulling a hit on Wright." Nikki looked both surprised and pleased at her own new nickname. Although it seemed small and trivial in comparison to the situation at hand, it was a small comfort that she was now accepted. She was part of the team.
"Then, there would be an investigation into his death." She contributed.
"Not if it looked like an unrelated event, or even a natural death." Liz shot back, and Nikki nodded.
"Yeah, that makes sense, but something else doesn't." Everyone looked at her intently, waiting for her input. She had the floor now. "I mean, why would he kidnap Charlie and Amita? They weren't the easiest of targets. Also, why did they leave Larry behind?"
"Larry was out cold, and you and Edgerton were advancing fast. There's a good chance that they simply didn't have time." David offered, but even he didn't want to say the obvious, glancing sideways at Don. "Maybe they were just distraction targets." The other agents seemed unconvinced.
"But you're right, this probably has a connection to Don, or even Charlie himself." Ian added from the side. He was standing a while away, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Clearly distancing himself. "Amita was taken because she was Charlie's girlfriend. Professionals always take a plus one, a woman if possible. They're easier to break."
The students visibly shrank back, shocked equally by the implications of Ian's words, and the coldness in his voice when he said them. Don froze, and David, who was sitting near him, almost felt the anger rising. His whole body was tensed. Nikki sat up, also tense, determined to diffuse the situation. The last thing they needed was for Don to shoot Ian now.
"If he needed something that Charlie knew to disappear, then why would he have someone kidnap him? I can't figure what he has to gain, here." Which only meant one thing.
Don visibly paled, further than he had at Ian's harsh comment. His little brother had information that a dirty agent wanted, which could only mean one thing: that dirty agent would be trying to get it back.
By any means necessary.
Long chapter, I know, and I hope that you didn't get too bored. I realise that I'm moving quite fast, so if anyone has any questions about the plot or the conspiracy, don't hesitate to review or PM me and tell me your issues. I've tried to keep things simple, but my mind works a little differently to everyone else's, which causes a lot of problems in everyday life. I've also tried to keep things American, but because I'm British, I don't know how that's all going. Tell me how I'm doing. Thanks.
-Seven x x
