O2 9/18
Chapter Eight:
As flawless as the kidnapping of the DAG was it was nothing compared to the perfection of the Secret Service and FBI when it came to the recovery operation. The CII license plate had led them to a house in a remote area and the textbook raid turned up a shaken but unhurt DAG and all of the perpetrators shown on the videotape.
Despite Don's insistence that Olivia and Charlie were to be credited with the breakthrough clue, Kim had made sure that both he and Charlie had been recognized for their work on the case. They'd even received a phone call at home that night from the Attorney General himself, thanking them on behalf of the President and the entire DOJ for ensuring the safe return of their friend and colleague.
Don refused to take any of the credit, passing it off to Charlie, who knew Don likely felt guilty at the idea that the DAG had spent more time in the hands of the kidnappers than necessary because of his misunderstanding with the fives in the sequence.
"He's safe now, Don, and none the worse for wear for a couple extra hours," Charlie had assured him. "The rest of this? It doesn't matter."
Don had found comfort in this but failed to tell Charlie what was really bothering him: Olivia.
Now that the DAG was safely home with his family, Olivia no longer had an agent posted to her room. Don went to visit daily but she never showed any signs of moving or waking.
Charlie visited Olivia as well. He liked to read to her and Don found it soothing to listen to his brother read aloud. He had never realized how pleasant Charlie's voice could be and he found himself relaxed to the point of falling asleep on more than one occasion.
Finally, a week and a half after the kidnapping, she started to open her eyes.
"Don! Come quick!" Charlie was breathless, not quite believing what he was seeing.
Don and Charlie stood over her bedside so she could easily see them.
"O!" Don said gently. "Welcome back! How's this for a surprise? No, you're not hallucinating, it's really the Brothers Eppes."
Olivia seemed confused at first and looked back and forth at each of them several times. Finally, she smiled when she realized who they were.
Her smile melted two men's hearts.
After a second or two though, her expression started to show signs of pain.
"Don?" Charlie looked to his brother, not sure what to do for her.
"Go find a nurse, let them know she's awake and needs pain meds right away."
Charlie nodded quickly and ran down the hall to the nurse's station for help.
Don tried to get Olivia's attention before she lost consciousness again. "O, listen to me. You're in the hospital. You're going to be fine. You were shot in the head during the kidnapping of the Deputy Attorney General. I used the sequence you tapped out for me a few days ago to locate a car with that license plate, which lead us to the DAG. He's fine, you helped save him, and a lot of people are going to want to thank you when you get out of here."
She seemed to understand all this and made a motion with her hand as if to write. Don pulled out his notebook and pen and placed them carefully into her hand. Her printing was painfully slow so when she got through just the letters A and L Don went ahead and answered her. "Yes, we got all of the kidnappers. We were able to ID them from a videotape of the abduction by using a video enhancement algorithm that Charlie created for us."
Olivia had kept writing even though Don had explained. She finished her second L and added a 1 and a 2.
A little chill went through Don and his instincts told him not to ignore it.
"There were eleven kidnappers on the tape and we got all eleven of them."
Olivia merely tapped her pen over the number twelve repeatedly.
Don snapped open his phone and dialed his former fiancée as quickly as he could.
"Kim? It's not over. Olivia's saying there was a twelfth man on the team."