Chapter 15:
Don jumped into the back of the ambulance followed closely by Agent Simmons.
"Like it or not Charlie is still a prisoner. I have to come along."
"Fine, Terry call my dad and have him meet us at the hospital."
"I will…" Terry barely had time to respond before the doors were slammed and the ambulance was rolling.
Terry hung up the phone with a heavy sigh. She thought about following the group to the hospital but wasn't sure what she would do when she got there. Instead she replayed the minutes before Charlie collapsed. He had been fine. If anything he was calmer right before he collapsed then when he entered the room.
That means there must be something we are missing. Terry glanced around the room for what could have caused this. Something caught her eye, the cup from Charlie's water. It was not the little white plastic ones from the water cooler, this one was blue, on impulse she lifted the cup and sniffed at the little that was left inside. Barely noticeable was a strange sweet scent.
Don's blood was boiling. He couldn't believe that Charlie had been poisoned. The call from Terry and a quick test of Charlie's blood had confirmed that Charlie had not had a heart attack. Someone has slipped something into Charlie's water. The doctors said Charlie was stable… it had been touch and go there for awhile. If Terry hadn't found that cup… no, Don would not go there.
"Don… Don!"
Don broke from his thoughts as David sat down next to him. He could see the guilt in his eyes. "You couldn't have known there was anything wrong with that cup. Tell me again where you got it…"
"I didn't really think about it. All the plastic cups were gone from the side of the cooler I asked one the secretaries if she had a cup or anything and she pointed to a small blue cup on the edge of her desk. I filled it with water myself right then and there. It couldn't have been the water cooler, we all drink from that. It had to have been that cup."
"Did you talk to that secretary?"
"She says she didn't know where the cup came from. She was on the phone when I asked her for one and saw it sitting on her desk. She just pointed. I believe she didn't know anything about it either."
Don rubbed his forehead with both hands. "So it had to be someone inside the office… they must have seen Charlie arrive."
"How did they know he would drink water?"
"Damned if I know… maybe they heard me send you for it. It just seems too perfect somehow. We don't even know what we are we up against here."
"Is Charlie alright?"
"The doctors say he will pull through. He hasn't woken up yet but I doubt he can… wait I doubt he WILL tell us much… we just proved we can't protect him."
"He's not worried about himself, he is worried about you…"
"Well I am worried about him. And we still haven't given him much confidence have we?"
"It kills me that there is someone inside our own office that we can't trust. How are we supposed to investigate this?"
Don looked over at David wondering for the first time who he could really trust. Other than Terry there were not many people in the office that he could be sure of. Could he trust David? That's where the water had come from. On the other hand he had seen the look on his face when he found out where the poison had come from. David wasn't that good of an actor was he? Don shook himself. No, I will not let this monster tear my team apart. Of course I can trust David, I trust him with my life. And Charlie's life? He questioned himself quietly.
"We need to keep this as quiet as possible. We can't tell anyone what we are investigating nothing goes beyond me you Terry and Agent Simmons."
"Right, where do we go from here?" David straightened his tie ready for his next order.
"Even with the information from Charlie we don't have anywhere to go. Charlie probably won't be able to tell us anything for a while so we need to go back to the drawing board. I will get Simmons to let us take a look at Charlie's home computer. We should also check our computers at work. We don't know where Charlie might have accessed… or what he accessed." Don stopped wondering if any of this would really do any good.
"I'll do what I can…" David paused for a moment as if he was searching for the words.
"I know… he will be fine." Don sighed as David headed for the doors at the end of the hallway. When he was out of earshot Don whispered "Who can I trust?"
"Trust me, and trust your family. That will have to be enough for now." Terry said from the doorway. "Your dad needs you" she pointed towards the door.
Don nodded and stood as if prepared to face the firing squad. Now that all the dust had settled he had explain to his dad how he had let Charlie get poisoned right under his nose.