Chapter 47

Don and his team were in a conference room listening to Megan's profile of James Reynolds when a tech came running in to tell him that Reynolds was calling. "Patch him through to conference room five," he barked out. "David, run a trace on this."

David whipped out his phone and called down to trace. A deep baritone voice came over the speaker. "Am I speaking to the agent in charge of tracking me?"

Don grimaced. "You are speaking with Special Agent Eppes."

"Agent Eppes. Before you waste your time and try tracing this call, you are not going to be able to. My signal is being bounced off several towers and it will be at least seven minutes until you'll be able to come within five miles of where I am and another two minutes to get with in two city blocks. I only plan to talk to you for around four minutes, so don't waste your time."

Don snapped, "What do you want?"

"I'll get to that in a minute but I want to tell you a little story first, because I am sure the NSA and CIA have told you nothing."

"What do the NSA and CIA have to do with this?"

Reynolds laughed a low laugh. "Oh, they are keeping so much from you." He laughed again. "Well, let me enlighten you, Agent Eppes." Reynolds told them all about his time in the NSA over the last ten years and then he told them about Turkey and how his county let him down. He stopped and sighed. "Oh, what good times they were until Turkey, but I'll make the ones that are to blame for leaving me there pay for it. But now I want something else. And you and your little friends will give it to me or—well, let's just say the suffering will increase by means of perhaps a WMD or something else. In the files that I have just emailed your offices you'll see all the things I am capable of doing. In the email are also my demands. I want to know the locations of five people. I'll call in four hours to make sure you've found them." With that he hung up.

Another agent came running in with the printouts. She said, "Agent Eppes, this came for you. It is at least a 150-page email. Here are the first 50 or so pages. The printer is still spitting out the rest."

Don divided the pages between Colby and David. He turned to Megan and said, "So does this change your profile of him?"

She gave him a quirk of a smile. "Yeah, maybe. Let's see what he wants."

After a few more minutes the same female agent came in with more pages. Don took them from her and began to flip through them. He stopped when he came to the photos.

Megan looked up from the pages she was looking at and asked with concern in her voice, "Don? What's wrong?"

Don looked up, a strange look on his face. He said, keeping his voice controlled, "Here are the photos of the people he wants." He tacked them up on the wall.

Megan, Colby and David all gasped at three of the photos. They were photos of an older man, Toro and Elisabeth.

Colby said, "What the...?"

Don said, "Reynolds must have been on a covert NSA op team like Elisabeth was." He swore, "Damn." He took out his cell phone and called her.

Elisabeth answered the call as she read the caller ID. She immediately felt the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up.

"Don, hey."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at home fixing Maggie some cereal before I take her over to your dad's. He's going to baby-sit Maggie for a couple of hours."

He was silent for a minute. "Elisabeth, I want you and Maggie to come down to the office ASAP. I'll explain everything when you get here."

"Uh—ok. What's going on?"

"Please, Elisabeth, don't argue with me. Just do as I ask this once." He paused again. "I need to know if you have had any contact with Toro or anyone else on your own team?"

Uncertainty filled her reply. "Um, yeah, I have."

"Okay. When you get here I'll need that. I want you to leave now."

"All right, if that's what you want. I'll leave now."

"Yes, please. Get here soon." With that he ended the call. Elisabeth immediately grabbed her purse and the diaper bag and took Maggie out of her bouncy chair. She then made her way quickly to the car and secured Maggie before getting into the front seat. She tried to figure out why Don had called her. He must know about Reynolds. Why else would he want to know if she knew how to contact the others?

She pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialed Toro. She waited for him to pick up. "Yeah?" she heard him snap into the phone.

"Toro. Don just called me. He wants me to go down to the FBI office and he wants to know if I know how to contact you."

He swore under his breath. "Didn't think the feds would put the pieces together that fast and figure out Reynolds' agenda."

"Toro, it's over. We've been working for over a week and we've failed to locate him. Maybe we should team up with Don and his team or turn it over to them completely. I doubt we're gonna find him before he kills again."

"Elle we have our orders."

"Yeah, well, to hell with those orders! They make no sense. There are too few of us to find him even if we are the best to do it."

"You lack faith."

She barked a harsh laugh, "Has nothing to do faith. I know when to admit defeat."

"You just don't want the Fed to find out."

She glanced into the rear view mirror to see her daughter had gotten off her sock and was chewing on her bare foot. "Yeah, well, he knows something and I am really tired of hiding this crap from him. Listen Toro, I don't expect you to understand, but I promised that I wouldn't hide things from him again and I think this may fall under that realm."

"The brass is gonna go through the roof."

"Since when do you care what brass thinks?"

"Fine, you can work with the Feds but you can leave me out of this. I'll find him myself." With that he hung up his phone.

She muttered to herself, "Damn male ego." She started the car to head to the FBI office and thought, "Time to face the music." As she put the car in gear she heard a knock on her car window. She looked up and her heart froze. She hissed, "Jamie."

Reynolds gave her a cold smile, "Hello Elle. How ya been? Oh and whose is this little angel sitting in the back?" With that he turned his gun on Maggie.

Chapter 48

Elisabeth's eyes went wide as she watched him turn the barrel of the gun toward her daughter.

"I've been looking for you." He waved the gun at her. "Keep your hands on the wheel where I can see them," Reynolds snarled.

Elisabeth gripped the wheel so hard her knuckles were turning white. "What do you want?"

Reynolds eyes flicked back to the baby. "She yours?"

"Yes. She is."

"How old?" He looked at the baby who was babbling to herself and trying to get her whole foot into her mouth.

"A little older than five months."

"What's her name?"

"Jamie…"

"I said Elle, what's her name?"

She answered in quiet fury, "Maggie."

His eyes clouded over with some memory. He repeated the name under his breath. "Maggie." His eyes returned to their normal cold selves. He snorted a cold laugh. "I can't believe you of all people have settled down." He saw the ring on her finger and spat, "Love to know what this man did to break you."

Feeling rage start to build in her blood she asked, "Jamie, what do you want?"

"Do you know where I've been, Elle?"

"There were rumors but by the time I heard them I had quit," she lied, hoping he did not know when she had quit working for the NSA.

"Well, what you heard is the truth. They left me there to rot. They will pay for it," he spat out.

"Who are they?"

His eyes turned feral as he said, "You know who they are and I want you to help me. They will know the consequences of leaving a man behind."

Elisabeth watched as her daughter, oblivious to the pending threat, happily babbled to herself as she starting prying off the sock on her other foot. Afraid of what he would do should she refuse him outright, Elle decided to play along. "Jamie, listen, I understand why you would want to get even. You taught me everything, but I'm afraid that I've been out of the game too long. Please understand that I can't join up with you. I have to think of my daughter now. Can you understand that and forgive me?"

She watched his eyes cloud over again and held her breath. He seemed to consider what she had said. "Ok, Elle. You don't have to join me but if you change your mind use protocol delta five to contact me."

Elisabeth carefully replied, "Ok, Jamie."

He turned and gave her a cold smile. "Oh, and Elle, don't get in my way. I could always change my mind."

She felt a chill go up her spine. She nodded. "I won't."

Reynolds started to walk away when he turned and said, "One last thing. If you talk to Mario you can tell him the offer stands for him too. I wouldn't mind having him around. But if you talk to Toro you can tell him that there is no place to hide in this world." She watched him get into an old beat up Chevy Impala, and promptly memorized the tags. Probably stolen; his rage could be making him sloppy.

After watching him drive east Elisabeth blinked back hot tears and tore out quickly to the FBI office. She arrived at the building in less then twenty minutes and thanked whatever god was on duty that day that she was not pulled over. She quickly got out of the car and unbuckled Maggie from her car seat. She walked as quickly as she could to the entrance where she showed her NSA badge and was admitted upstairs. She held on to Maggie as tightly as the infant would allow. Elisabeth's chest was tight and felt like it was on fire. What she couldn't decide what she was most anxious about—her confrontation with Reynolds earlier, or the reaction that Don would have when he found that she had lied about what she had been working on over the last week.

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Elisabeth stepped off the elevator and walked as quickly as he could over to Don. She put her free arm around Don's neck and hugged him as tightly as possible with the baby between them. Don, a little surprised by Elisabeth's unusual display of public affection, said, "Elisabeth, what's wrong?" He pulled away from her and saw her lips and face were drained of all color. Her eyes were wild and held a slight note of fear. He watched her shake her head as if trying to rid herself of some demons. "Don, I can't do it anymore. I need to talk to you." She looked around and spotted Coop. She turned back to Don and said, "In private."

Taken aback by the vehemence in her words, he replied, "Okay Elisabeth, I need to talk to you too. Here, I can have Jill from Forensic Accounting watch Maggie while we talk."

"No, she stays with me." He watched her very possessively hold Maggie.

"Elisabeth, at least let me take her for a minute. You look like you are about to collapse." Don put his hands out and lifted his daughter out of her arms. He started to walk toward an empty conference room, beckoning her to follow. "Let's go in here."

Maggie squealed and started talking, "Bwhwbwa bhwa bywa." Don smiled as he listened to her talk. Maggie grinned at Don while she proceeded to try to grab the pen out of Don's pocket. He shook his head at her, taking the pen out of her little hands. Maggie gave Don and indignant look and then tried for the pen behind his ear. When he thwarted those efforts she started to flail her hands around. She then tried to lean towards Don's face and grab his hair. "Hey, little girl; stop." He closed the door behind Elisabeth. After she walked in he sat down in one of the chairs and settled Maggie onto his lap. He turned the frustrated infant around forward on his lap so she could see her mother. Elisabeth went to take Maggie back into her arms.

"Elisabeth, let me hold her. I think I can handle my own daughter. What's got you so worked up?"

Elisabeth nervously played with her ponytail. "Don, why did you want me to drop everything and come here?"

He looked up from playing with Maggie and cautiously replied, "Elisabeth, we received some intel today that leads me to believe that your life is in danger. A man named Reynolds has made some threats unless we give in to his demands."

Before Don could finish she blurted out, "I know what he wants. He already found me."

"What?"

She continued as if not hearing him, "He wants me and Mario to help him with his plans for revenge." She took a deep breath before continuing. "Don, I know all about Jamie Reynolds but I suspect that you know that I knew him too. I can't hide it from you anymore but the NSA asked me to help Toro track Jamie when his rampage started a week ago. The NSA had already received intel that he was heading out to California to act out his own personal revenge on those he perceived as failing him."

His jaw clenched as he growled, "You've been doing what?"

"I, uh, I'm sorry but the NSA wanted it dealt with quickly without outside involvement and they knew that I knew Jamie Reynolds better then anyone." She swallowed hard before talking. "He trained me when I first joined the teams. He considers
me his protégé."

A dark look passed over Don's eyes. "I thought we were beyond you lying to me." Don's mind whirled with questions and rage at her actions.

Elisabeth voice trembled. "I know, Don. I didn't want to, but I felt I had no choice. NSA protocol demanded that we keep it under wraps. I thought we would be able to take care of this swiftly, that I could find him quickly for Toro and eliminate him as at threat."

He asked with contempt, "So why are you telling me now?"

"Because I know we can't do it by ourselves. We don't have the man power." She tried to blink back tears. "Please, Don. I didn't want to keep this from you anymore. I've had enough."

"Does Toro know that you've broken your protocol?" He couldn't believe what she was doing. He trusted this woman and once again she proved that she couldn't be trusted. Don felt his anger build to a pinnacle as she answered him.

"Yes, but I've always done what I want. He told me to do whatever but he was going to find Reynolds himself."

Don snorted at what she said, "Yeah, you always do what you want. But do you ever think of the consequences? No, Elisabeth, you don't." He stood up from the chair, handed the baby to her and said, "I'll have you go over your intel with David before you go into protective custody. I've already sent my dad and Charlie there in case Reynolds learned that they were close to you."

She snapped, "Protective custody? You got to be kidding. I am not going in to custody."

Don grabbed Elisabeth by the elbow and walked her out of the conference room. "This is not up for discussion. You will go into protective custody until we get this mess cleaned up."

Before she could retort back, Coop sauntered over with David following him. "Don, we got a tip that Reynolds was spotted at a bar on 90th and Reading. I was going to take David to go check it out."

"No, Coop. I'll go with you to check it out. Elisabeth needs to give her statement to David." Don turned to David and ordered, "Take her statement." He then turned and spoke to two other agents at their desks. "After Ms. Grier gives her statement you, Agent Rose, and Agent Davis will immediately escort my fiancée and my daughter into protective custody." Don snatched Elisabeth's car keys that were dangling out of her jeans pocket and handed them to David. "Lock these in my desk." David stood in shock at the interaction that was going down between Don and Elisabeth. Don saw David start to hesitate. "Now, David," he barked out.

Elisabeth's eyes blazed as she retorted, "Just who the hell do you think you are? We're not married, and you're not my keeper!"

Don mirrored her tone as he replied, "I'm the Agent in charge of this case and I'll do whatever I think is necessary to safeguard potential witnesses."

"You need my help. I know Reynolds better then anyone."

Don replied with sarcasm, "Yeah, well, if that's true how come you don't have him yet?"

Elisabeth opened her mouth to reply but Coop interjected, "Getting into trouble again, Elle?"

Elisabeth turned a cold glare at him. "If my daughter wasn't here, Coop, I would wipe that smug look off your face so quick you'd wish your mother never conceived you."

Don said wearily, "Knock it off you two. Coop, let's head out. David, take the statement and see that Agents Rose and Davis follow my orders." He shot one more look at Elisabeth and said with as much control as he could muster, "We'll talk about this when I get home." With that he grabbed his coat and headed out, leaving her fuming in rage.

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The tip that they'd received about Reynolds being at the bar had been a dead end. After going back to the office and reading Elisabeth's statement, Don decided that anything else would need to be worked on in the morning. Don arrived at the location that was being used to safeguard Elle and his family. Don showed his badge to the guards at the door and stepped into the house. He found Charlie working on some equation on a white board. As usual he didn't hear Don come in and continued to work.

"Charlie, it's after midnight, don't you think you should be sleeping?" Don said wearily.

Charlie slowly took his eyes away from the board. He blinked twice before responding. "Oh, hey Don. After midnight? Yeah, I'll go to bed. I've almost worked out the equation for you to use in your manhunt. I need maybe ten more minutes."

"Ok, Charlie. Where's everyone?"

Charlie replied, "Dad went to bed an hour ago. Elisabeth and Maggie are in that bedroom." He pointed to the door on the left. "Hey, Don, Elisabeth's been in there almost all evening. She only came out once to get something for Maggie. Don, she's really angry."

'I'll bet." He ran his hand through his hair.

"I've never seen her look this dangerous. What's going on?"

Don sighed. "Charlie, don't worry about it, okay? I'm gonna go to bed. Promise me you'll go to bed soon."

"Yeah, Don, I promise; ten minutes tops."

"Ok, then. 'night." Don squared his shoulder in preparation for the coming storm that was behind the bedroom door. He was still fuming at her for yet again lying and hiding this from him. He thought, "How dare she be pissed at me for putting her in
protective custody. I only did what was best for her and our daughter. She can be so selfish."
Sometimes he just wanted to shake sense into her and tell her to stop thinking of what she wanted and start thinking about what would be best for all.

He stepped into the bedroom and saw Elisabeth sitting on the edge of the bed. She had on purple pajamas and her hair was tied up in a bun. She looked up when he walked in. He felt her eyes bore into him. As he walked into the room he saw that Maggie was asleep in a crib. He paused, watched her for a moment. She was sucking her thumb and dreaming happily, her eyelashes framed her closed lids making her look like a sleeping doll. He couldn't help but smile at her little form; he reached out and ran his finger on her cheek softly so as not to disturb her. Don had hoped he would get home before she was put down for the night to rock her to sleep and enjoy a few peaceful minutes with her. After a minute he turned back to Elisabeth.

She continued to glare at him. He could feel the anger seething out of her. He stepped towards her and started to say,
"Elisabeth…."

She gave him a nasty look before climbing into the bed. She pulled the blankets up and turned on her side facing away from Don.

Don shot his own look of anger back at her as he quickly undressed to his undershirt and boxers. He stalked towards the bathroom to brush his teeth before climbing into bed next to her. Two things occurred to him as he pulled the sheets up, first that she was not undressed and nude waiting for him and second that she did not immediately slide over to snuggle against him. For a quick second he almost reached out to pull her against him, but staring at the back of her head only made his anger deepen, so he mirrored her actions. Turning on his side away from her tried to will himself to sleep.