For those people who were confused, the camera watching Don is only in Don's car so O'Brien has no way of knowing what is going on inside. Hope that helps.

Chapter 27

O'Brien stared at the computer screen in frustration. Don had not returned to his car and the wait was driving him crazy.

Charlie had his chin on his chest trying to rest. The poison was out of his system but he still felt a little dizzy and wished he could lie down. He settled for leaning awkwardly against the pillar.

"What are you going to do with me when Don doesn't kill your boss?"

"Given up on him already? Or do you just have a higher opinion of him than I do? I am still betting your life is more important to him than that bastard Shepherd. For me it would be an easy choice, but then again I would kill you both for fun."

"Why didn't you just kill Shepherd to begin with? Why bring Don into this?"

"Distraction… simply put, I have led the FBI into believing that Don is the killer. Between that list of dead agents I had you gather and poor old Agent Young they will be so busy searching for that noble brother of yours I will be out of the country before anyone thinks to look for stuttering O'Brien. They might even think Don killed me too."

"What about all that other information you had me gather? How can you sell it if Shepherd is dead? Wasn't he the one with the contacts?"

"For now yes, but I still have most of the information and I know for a fact that those contacts hate Shepherd as much as I do. If I kill him they'll gladly work with me. They won't care where I work from and some nice sandy beach soundsgood to me."

Charlie had to bite his tongue to control his anger. "What will you do with me?"

"Oh, I have always planned to kill you Charlie. You are just too smart to leave behind following me. I will keep you around until I am certain your brother is out of my way and then…"

Don rubbed his hands on his wrists grateful to be free of the cuffs. He'd have to remember just how intimidating it was just to be wearing those things. He looked back at Terry and David and there was an uncomfortablesilence as he tried to decide if he should take charge. Technically he wasn't their boss anymore, he knew that at the very least he was suspended. Terry and David were doing him a favor just by not hauling him in.

"I uh…" Don started, not sure how he was going to finish his sentence.

Terry smiled slightly, "What do we do first Agent Eppes?"

Don smiled back and stepped back into work mode, "We need that tape and our witness."

"Is that voice on the tape who I think it is?" David asked as Terry radioed to the car to have Shepherd brought inside.

"Its hard to identify without the stutter, but yes it is O'Brien."

"Damn it, I thought you were just paranoid thinking it was someone inside. So he killed Young…"

"and he was planning to have me kill this Shepherd for him. I don't know if I was supposed to take the fall, or if me and Charlie were next. Who is this guy anyway, and why would O'Brien go to so much trouble to have me kill him?"

"You were planning to kill him then?" Terry asked hesitantly, still not sure she wanted an answer. She was kept from getting one anyway as an officer brought a tall man in a sleek business suit inside.

He tried unsuccessfully to shake free of the man's grip. "I want my lawyer… I haven't even been read my rights… What am I being arrested for?"

"At the moment your not under arrest…" Don answered with a cold glare.

"Then what…?" the man stumbled over his question as he fell under the shorter man's glare.

"Let's just call this protective custody." Don folded his arms across his chest.

"Protection…" the man spat the word as if it was something dirty. "Protection from what?"

David smiled and moved into position to the man's left. "You may not realize this but you are not very popular with someone."

"No one would dare try to hurt me, in fact if you know what's good for you will release me right now." He turned especially to look at Don as he said this a sly smug smile pasted to his lips.

Don paused at the possible meanings behind that look. How much did this man know about him… and more importantly, how much did he know about Charlie? Don's eyes darted over to Terry, she nodded and held out the tape player. Don took is wordlessly and pressed the play button.

The smile did not slip as Don played the beginning of the tape. Butthe grinstarted to slip as O'Brien's words started to sink in. By the time Don hit the stop button Shepherd was as white as a sheet.

Terry watched Don's eyes as she heard the tape again she couldn't see any emotion on his face, but Don was intent on getting as much as he could out of his only lead on Charlie.

"Did you come here to kill me?" Shepherd said quietly. This soft voice seemed to echo through the empty warehouse.

"What do you know about my brother?" Don side stepped the question again.

Shepherd haunted eyes never left Don but he didn't respond. He acted as if he hadn't heard the question. "Why does someone want you dead?" Don tried again.

This seemed to wake him from his state, be he still opened and closed his mouth several times before he responded weakly, "He works for me. Or at least he did…"

"He works for you? You're the brains behind all this?" David said incredulously.

"Well… maybe not the brains… more like the money…"

Don might have drawn his gun and killed the man right then if he didn't needhim to give information. Don couldn't really have done it anyway as David still had the gun he had dropped when he entered the building.

Thank you for your infinite patience, my own brother was in the hospital and I just couldn't go there emotionally with this story for awhile. He seems to be on the mend now and here is another chapter for you. I will hopefully post more this weekend. Please send comments :)