Title: Bad to Worse

Author: Evenstar656

Disclaimer: The "Numb3rs" characters belong to CBS and unfortunately I'm just borrowing them for this story, and all of the other characters are mine.

Summary: A gunman gets away during a firefight and he goes after Don, and he may not survive. Sorry, I'm really bad at summaries.

Author's Notes: Sorry I removed "Repercussions", I made a big mistake and it wasn't going where I wanted it to go. I don't like the idea of Charlie getting hurt because he doesn't have a dangerous job, so this is about Don.

Bad to Worse

Chapter 1-A Bad Day

The firefight had been going on for a half hour with no clear winners. Don and a team of FBI agents were trying to take down multiple gunmen at Loehman's Plaza in downtown LA. The gunmen were going to steal weapons software until Charlie's equation had pinpointed their target. The agents were crouched behind pillars, cars, and stone walls. The gunmen were directly across from the agents. So far 3 gunmen had been taken out; there were only 4 more gunmen left.

"Aren't they going to give up?" Don asked Terry as he reloaded his weapon.

"At this rate, no."

David nodded in agreement. Don, Terry, and David were crouched behind a stone wall that was used to make a flower box. Don repositioned himself and took down a gunman. Five minutes went by until another gunman went down. Charlie was watching the events unfold on a TV monitor in the back of the tactical truck that was safely parkedin the parking deck to the adjacent building.

"Don?" Charlie said while zooming in on a gunman behind the flower box on the other side of the plaza.

"Yeah Charlie?" Don said having to push his earpiece in to hear.

"There is a gunman behind the flower box; he's directly across from you."

Don moved so that he could see the gunman. Terry was looking at him questionably. Don ducked down as the gunman started shooting his way.

"There is another gunman behind the other flower box."

Terry rose up and looked. She fired one round and took the gunman down. Don rose to see the gunman go down. He just looked at her.

"Wow, nice shot."

"I thought so too. Thank you Charlie."

"No problem Terry," Charlie said while smiling to himself.

The both took cover as another gunman started firing at them.

"Good, only two more left," David was saying as he reloaded his weapon.

The firing had been going on for about an hour. Everyone was physically and mentally exhausted. It took another ten minutes for another gunman to be taken out. Once the gunman went down there was no more firing. All of the agents rose up to look. What hey saw surprised them; there was no one left in the plaza.

"Where did the last guy go?" David asked Don.

"I don't know. Charlie, what happened to the last guy?"

Charlie sprang into action looking at the TV monitors. He saw the same thing the agents saw, nothing.

"I don't know; he is no where in the plaza."

"Did he go into the building?"

Charlie rewound the tapes and watched intensely. He saw no one go in or out of the building. He also looked for someone leaving. He caught it; he could see a man running towards the side of the building and around it.

"No one went inside the building, but there was a guy who ran towards the back of the building."

"Thank ya Charlie. Everyone check the perimeter, the guy was last seen running towards the back side of the building."

Once Don issued the order, everyone scattered. Don, Terry, and David went over to where the gunmen were laying. They paused briefly to make sure they were all no longer a threat.

"I don't get this, why would he run?" Don asked Terry.

"Maybe he got scared or who knows?"

The three agents continued to walk cautiously around the skyscraper. The three agents ran into others at the back of the building. Don threw his hands up in frustration. After several more minutes of searching, Don called the search off. The rest of the agents gathered around him for debriefing.

"All right, put out an APB for this guy. See if we can get a clear picture off a security camera. Alert local PD and tell them to be on the lookout for this guy. We don't know if he ran to regroup or got scared. Tell them that this guy is armed and extremely dangerous. All right people lets get to work; we got a lot of paperwork coming."

The agents dispersed and Don and Terry headed for the parking deck. After getting Charlie and taking off his tactical gear he got inside his suburban. Terry was at the trunk taking her tactical gear off. Don turned around to talk to Charlie, who was in the backseat.

"Nice work out there Charlie."

"Thanks."

While the brothers were talking, the last gunman crept up to the front of the SUV. The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. He took aim and squeezed the trigger of his machine gun slightly sending off one round hurdling into the atmosphere towards Don. The round caught him in the side of the chest. At first Don did not know what hit him until he turned around to face the gunman. Their eyes locked and the gunman sent another round in to the atmosphere. This round caught Don in the neck. His hands immediately flew to his neck and he arched back against the seat. The gunman took aim for another shot, but Terry took him out with one round to the chest.

"Don!" Charlie yelled as he watched the horror unfold.

He was frozen with horror as he watched his older brother shut his eyes in pain. He tried to get out of the vehicle, but his legs were frozen. Terry immediately ran to Don's side and opened the door. She pulled him out and laid him on the concrete. She moved Don's hands and held pressure on his neck. By that time several agents had rushed to the scene and they were all yelling for help.

"Medics!"

"We need EMTs now!"

"Officer down! I repeat officer down!"

No…this cannot be happening