SO sorry for the wait, I meant to have this up earlier, but my brain refused to cooperate with writing this update. Don't worry, I don't think that even *I* can drag this out for too much longer ;-)
Disclaimer: *sniffles* They still won't give me the characters! *sobs*
Megan checked each corner of the room, but no one else was there. Harrington was on the floor, his neck at an angle that told her he was already dead, and Alex was bleeding from a shot to the gut with a nasty bump on her temple. Charlie's bed was empty.
She kicked open the door and screamed for a doctor, putting pressure on Alex's stomach with Charlie's blanket. After a team came into the room, she sat back, and looked at her hands. Once again, they were covered in dark red blood, and she was shaking something fierce. How could this keep happening? One thing was for certain: when this was all over, she was going to have a serious talk with Bethesda about upping their security.
Looking over, she saw that Alex was already out of the room, but they were putting a sheet over Nathan's body. She stifled a sob as she watched them wheel him out. She was the one that had sent him to Charlie's room, so she couldn't help but blame herself just a bit, though she knew that Harrington would never think of blaming her for this. Shaking her head, she went to the sink, scrubbing hard at her hands.
Realizing what she needed to do right then didn't help. She tried to clean her hands as best she could, but knew from experience that it would take longer to get all of it out from under her nails. Trying to control the shaking, she pulled out her cell, and made possibly the hardest call of the entire case.
Ian was putting the car in park the shaking, she pulled out her cell, and made possibly the hardest call of the entire case. under her n when Don's cell rang. He was about to ignore it, but saw that it was Megan, who had probably finished interrogating Pickering. He flipped it open. "You have about one minute, Megan, we're about to get moving on Bray," he said quickly.
"Charlie's gone, Don," Megan said bluntly, knowing that would get his attention fastest.
Don felt ice plummet his insides. "Word choice, Reeves," he forced out, knowing that he was paler than a corpse right then. "Gone as in dead or missing?" he croaked. The car went eerily silent as he said that, and everyone tensed.
Megan cursed herself, knowing she should have worded it better. "He's missing, Don."
Don growled low in his throat, and gripped the phone so tight, it was a wonder that it didn't snap. "Explain. Now." He put the phone on speaker so that everyone could hear.
"Pickering said that he didn't think Bray was done with Charlie, or with you since he knew you two were related. By the time I realized what he meant and made it back to Charlie's room, Nathan was dead, and Alex is in bad shape. Charlie was taken. I'm going to take a look at the security tapes and find out what the hell happened."
"Son of a bitch," was muttered around the car.
"I don't know what time it happened, but by the blood, I must have missed them by a few minutes at most, Don. Whoever took Charlie might be on his way to you guys, so that Bray has a hostage."
"Get Pickering out of there, the last thing we need is for them to eliminate someone else," Don said automatically, the Special Agent in him taking charge while the brother was shattered. "As soon as Alex is stable, get her lifeflighted to another hospital, it might throw off whoever is keeping tabs on us."
"Got it, Don," Megan said. "Pickering also said that he thinks there are about 6 others with him, but he's not entirely sure about that."
"Right, I'll call you when we get things figured out from here," Don told her. "If you find out anything else, call." He snapped the phone closed and looked at the team, who looked as shell shocked as he was feeling. "David, call Gibbs and tell him what we know. Ian, get up there with your scope and let me know what we've got in there," he ordered, and the two hurried to obey.
When Gibbs got off the phone with David, he was beyond furious. Would this case never end? He briefed his agents as well as Fornell and Saks, who had ridden with them instead. Their reactions were the same, but with one piece of relief, which was that at least McGee hadn't gotten to the hospital yet. He had gone to grab dinner for everyone, but Gibbs called and told him to leave everything and get to the hospital, stat.
They all hurried to pull on their vests, and double check their weapons. Gibbs, like Edgerton, was going to be in position as a sniper, but on the other side of the building. This was one case where they knew they couldn't take any chances.
Within a few minutes, they were all ready to go, and checked through the comms that the others were ready as well. They were entering at different sides of the building to keep anyone from escaping.
"Hold, hold!" Don whisper-screamed through the comm, seeing a white van entering the parking lot and driving quickly inside the warehouse. "Damn, that's got to be Charlie. We officially have a hostage crisis."
Everyone cursed at the timing. The latest kidnappers must have driven like the wind to get there so quickly, though the building wasn't too far from the hospital to begin with, and it wasn't rush hour. "Let's do this right, guys," Colby practically growled, adjusting his grip on the assault rifle he was carrying.
They crept up to their respective doors in near silence, with David and Tony ready to kick them in. "Ready? Three, two, one, execute!" he said, and the doors banged open simultaneously.
Screams of "FBI!" and "NCIS!" filled the air as the seven agents flew through the doors. Later, they would realize that there was Bray, Charlie, and 8 others in the room, but they didn't have the time for a head count right then.
There was instant chaos as everyone went for a gun, and the two snipers picked off anyone who was about to shoot, though neither could get a good shot on Bray, who was holding a gun to Charlie's back. He had positioned himself well, and was covered by enough steel and Charlie's body that no one could get a shot without risking hitting Charlie directly or by a ricochet.
"Hands up, drop your weapons!" the agents were still screaming, not wanting to kill everyone in the room. Only two of the younger ones seemed to realize that it was all over for them, and hurried to obey, getting on their knees. The other six were taken out quickly by both the snipers and the agents in the room.
Ziva and Colby slapped cuffs on the ones that surrendered, and kept them on their stomachs as they resumed their position of keeping Bray on the other side of their guns. David and Tony had made sure to kick weapons away from the ones that were done, double checking that they were, in fact, dead. It wouldn't do to think they were safe and get a bullet in the back for their troubles. Then they, too, were back in position, making sure that they had Bray covered on all sides.
Within only a few moments, the only ones left on their feet were the agents, Bray, and Charlie. Don felt his heart skip when he saw Charlie. His brother was in street clothes, probably to get him out of the hospital with ease, though they were much too large. He didn't seem to have any more injuries other than another bruise on his face, but he was white as a ghost, and shaking like a leaf.
"Charlie?" Don yelled to get his attention.
"I'm fine, Donnie," Charlie said, though it was more of a hiss. He was getting seriously tired of all of this, and just wanted to be on the couch at home.
"I'd think about this for a moment, Agent Eppes," Bray said, digging the gun deeper, causing the professor to gasp in pain. "I know you want your little brother to make it out of this. Just like I want out of this."
"You aren't getting out of this," David spat. "Every officer and agent within 500 miles has your photo and a copy of the warrant. Put that gun down, and you'll at least make it to a trial."
"Yeah, and spend the rest of my life in Guantanamo Bay? I don't think so," Bray sneered. "Now, we can do this the easy way. Just turn around and get back in your cars. Dr. Eppes will be returned to you soon enough."
Don didn't even twitch. "If you think I'm going to leave here without my brother, then you are seriously insane," he said in a dangerously calm voice. "He's coming with me, and you are going to pay for the number of people that you've killed."
Charlie was starting to sag. The stress on his body was seriously getting to him, and he knew it was only a matter of time before he passed out again. He was just grateful that the kidnappers had waited until only a few minutes after his latest shot of morphine. How considerate of them.
Trying to remember something, he blocked out the voices of his abductor and the agents, and focused on what he was going to do.
"Ian?" Don whispered, hoping the snipers might have news for them.
"No shot," Ian said, his finger never moving from the trigger in case the guy moved even an inch, so that he could put a bullet in him.
"No shot," Gibbs echoed, doing the same.
Don was starting to sweat, and his eyebrows snapped up when he saw Charlie's eyes droop as he started to sag.
The pressure of the gun on his back lessened, and Charlie knew it was time to move. He twisted, ignoring the pains in his ribs at the movement, then brought his left arm across his body and grabbed Bray's wrist. With his right elbow, he smashed the guy's nose in, stomping on his foot at the same time, eyes tearing as fire shot up his casted foot. Hadar howled in pain, but years of experience had taught him to never focus on the pain, but to stay in the moment.
With his right hand, the mild mannered teacher snatched the gun away from Bray, turning it so that it was firmly in his palm, barrel towards the threat. When the other man shot his hand to the small of his back and brought out a weapon, Charlie didn't even hesitate. He pulled the trigger.
A/N: So, was it worth the wait? I sure hope so! I always knew that I would have Charlie being the hero and saving himself in the end, just wasn't sure how it would happen until I got there. Well, feel free to give me your opinions as always!