Chapter 8

Don rolled over in the bed and cringed as a beam of sunlight crossed his eyes. Slowly opening his eyes, Don found himself in his room at Charlie's house. Sleep had abandoned him and he rolled over to see the clock: 8:00am. Rubbing his eyes as he stood up and stretched. Looking around the room he noticed clothes lying out on the chair. Wonder when I left those he thought as he grabbed them and headed for the shower. As Don walked to the bathroom he could hear his father in the kitchen. Don turned on the shower and stepped inside as he stood in the stream he thought about last night. When Charlie was finished the program they had taken him to the hospital. Don didn't remember all of it because he had dozed in the waiting room while Charlie was being checked out. When the doctors had finished with his brother they had come back to the house. The youngest Eppes had stumbled up to his room and collapsed on his bed and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Don, on the other hand, had grabbed a beer and kicked back on the couch watching some TV. He couldn't even remember going upstairs.

Twenty minutes later Don stepped out of the bathroom and headed for the stairs. As he passed Charlie's room he was surprised to see his brother still sound asleep. Don chuckled as he saw the shambles Charlie made of his bed. Even in sleep his brother was never still. When they were kids Don remembered going camping and sharing a tent with Charlie. It had been a disaster, with his younger brother rolling over him and kicking him while they slept. Don stepped into the room and watched him sleep. It dawned on him that he could have lost his brother yesterday in the bank. The blow to his head wasn't severe, but the doctor did say Charlie had a minor concussion and should rest for the next few days. The cut also required five stitches, which he hadn't liked at all, considering he hated needles. As Don watched, Charlie moaned and he moved closer to the door. All he needed was his brother to wake up and find him hovering; he'd never hear the end of it. Charlie didn't wake as he rolled over to his other side.

"That's gotta hurt," Don commented when he saw the right side of Charlie's face.

"Yup, that's one hell of a shiner."

Don turned to see his father standing behind him. "Hell, dad, that's worse then a black eye. The whole side of his face is one big bruise."

"Yeah, well, your brother's tougher then he looks." Alan turned and headed for the stairs. "What can I get you for breakfast?"

"Don't drive yourself crazy," Don said, taking one last look at Charlie before he followed their father.

"It's no bother," Alan assured his son.

Fifteen minutes later Don was sitting with his father finishing breakfast and lingering over a cup of coffee.

"So what's your plan to get Charlie to take it easy?"

"Oh I'm sure I'll think of something, but I think it's time you got to work."

"I'll come over for supper."

"Maybe I'll keep Charlie occupied by teaching him to cook."

"Then I'll bring over take out."

Don heard his dad chuckle as he grabbed his keys and went out to his Suburban.

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The traffic wasn't as bad as Don had anticipated and he arrived at the FBI headquarters at 10:00 a.m. As he came into the bullpen he could see the flu was still keeping them understaffed. The first place Don went was the computer room to check on Charlie's program. Entering the room he saw that Tom had gone home and another tech was in his place.

"Hey, Mike, any activity on the bank heist?"

"Nothing yet," Mike said, turning from another computer he was working on.

"All right, but let me know as soon as anything happens."

Mike nodded as Don left the room. Don greeted the other agents as made his way to his desk. Terry was nowhere to be seen but David was on the phone. Sitting at his desk Don logged onto his computer and got back to work on the case he'd been working on before going out yesterday.

"Hey," Terry said, walking over to Don's desk and sitting on the corner.

"Been able to find anything on our robbers?"

"Worked with the sketch artist this morning. Figured it would be faster then trying to look through all the mug books."

"Let me see what you've got."

Terry handed Don the sketches. She watched as he flipped through them. Calvin's picture was on top and he nodded in satisfaction. Fritz was next and Terry could see the muscles along Don's jaw bunch as he ground his teeth. Sergie's picture was last, and Terry saw the pure hatred in Don's eyes.

"Those are great," Don said, handing them back to her. "You sent them out to all agencies?"

"Yup," Terry nodded. David had joined them and Terry handed him the pictures. "How's Charlie?"

"He has one hell of a bruise on his face," Don sighed. "This morning it's a spectacular color purple."

"Did he need stitches?" David asked.

"Five," Don answered. "Doctor said he had a minor concussion and that he should take it easy for a few days."

"How's your dad going to manage that?"

"I'm sure my dad will think of something,"

"All he has to do is give Charlie some paper and he's all set," Terry said.

"Better yet, some white boards," David added.

"Doing math problems isn't taking it easy," Don argued.

"For your brother it is," Terry said, getting up off the desk and heading for hers.

"You know, you're right," Don said, shaking his head.

The rest of the morning was spent going over different case files. With the Bureau short because of everyone being sick they were going through the cases and just concentrating on the ones that were the most serious. Don had been stuck with a lead for a possible passport counterfeit ring. United States and European passports sold on the black market for thousands for dollars in Asia. Don flipped through some papers on his desk and pulled out two passports that had been sent over from customs. They were damned good, and Don was hard pressed to find the mistakes. They were going to need a forger for this. Don pulled his PDA out of the desk and opened his phone book. He knew just the right person.

"Don."

Terry just smiled as she poked her partner to try to get his attention. This was one thing the two brothers had in common. Once they got their mind set on a problem you had to try hard to get their attention.

"Don!" Terry yelled, punching his arm.

"What!"

"Lunch," Terry laughed when Don gave her a murderous glare.

"It's lunch already?" Don asked, looking at his watch.

"Yup."

"Do you mind if we call something in?"

"Afraid to go out?"

"Let's just say I don't want to push my luck."

Terry laughed and gestured over her shoulder to the conference room. "David brought back pizzas."

"Perfect," Don smiled and followed his partner.

Don sat down and pulled the pizza box towards him. Flipping it open he found the pizza was loaded with everything. He grabbed two slices and dug in.

"So is anybody as frazzled as I am?" David asked.

"I am," Terry said. "Going through and deciding which cases to concentrate on is kinda difficult."

"Wonder if we can get any help?" David asked.

"Actually Merrick put in a call for more bodies," Don said. "Might help to relieve some of the pressure."

"That'll help," Terry said.

"This is damned good pizza," Don said taking another bite.

"At least we don't have Charlie here stealing all the pepperoni," David laughed.

"Speaking of Charlie, I better call my dad," Don said wiping his hands and pulling his cell phone off his belt

"Eppes residence."

"Hey dad, I was just calling to see how Charlie's doing."

"He's fine."

"Has he been driving you crazy?"

"No, he's up in the solarium working on some equations for Larry."

"I thought he was supposed to be relaxing!" Don protested.

"He's doing math," David said to Terry.

"Hey, we told him that's what Charlie would do. Did he believe us?" Terry replied. Don just gave them a dirty look and Terry laughed.

"Dad, he should be on the couch watching TV or something."

"Charlie's fine, Don."

Don just sighed as his dad told him to hold on a second. Don could hear Charlie calling from upstairs and a few minutes later Charlie got on the phone.

"Hey, Don."

"Dad says you're working a problem for Larry."

"Yeah, I am," Charlie said enthusiastically. "It deals with Quantum physics."

"That's great, Charlie," Don said cutting him off. "But shouldn't you be resting?"

"I'm all right," Charlie protested.

"Uh huh."

"Okay, so it hurts some," Charlie admitted.

"Yeah, I figured it did," Don scowled. "I want you…"

"Agents Eppes!" Don jumped when Mike barged into the conference room. "They're moving the money!"

"Charlie, I have to go!"

"Don, what's going on?"

"Your programs working. They're moving the money."

"I'll have dad drive me over!" Charlie said excitedly.

"No!" Don yelled as he got up and followed Mike "You stay put!"

"But Don!"

"No buts, Charlie," Don said. "I'll tell you what happens tonight at dinner."

Terry watched as Don hung up. "He's not going to be happy."

"What part of rest doesn't he understand?" Don said, exasperated, as they walked into the computer room.

"It's another trait the two of you have in common," Terry said

"Whatever," Don commented as he leaned over Mike's shoulder. "So what do we got?"

"So far the program is taking money out of various accounts in small amounts," Mike began.

"So the banks don't get suspicious," Terry assumed.

"Right," Mike nodded.

"How much can they get?" David asked.

"Millions," Mike answered.

"But it has to be a reasonable amount that a bank can cash," Terry mused. "They just can't waltz into a bank and cash, say, twenty million dollars."

"They can if they put it in the right bank," Don said. "A large bank that deals with multi billion dollar clients could easily handle it."

"They could, but I don't think they'll do that," Mike said.

"Why?" Don asked.

"Because they'd -" Mike didn't get to finish as the program beeped. "Okay, they finished with the accounts. Let's see where they put the money."

"How much did they take?" Terry asked.

"Five million."

"That's all?" David asked, confused.

"I have a feeling they planned on doing this more then once," Don said. "With Charlie's program they could rob any number of banks."

"You're sure they have Charlie's program?" Terry asked.

"Harris' crew didn't find the disc in the bank," Don said.

"Here we go," Mike said. "Looks like they're splitting the money into three banks."

Don watched as the numbers scrolled across the screen. Finally they settled and Don could see two million had been deposited in two different banks and three million into a third.

"Get me the names and numbers for those banks," Don ordered.

Mike typed a few commands and the addresses appeared. "There ya go."

"Terry, David -"

"We're on it," Terry said as she took the printout from Mike.

Don stood up and smiled. "Way to go, Charlie."

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That evening Don pulled up to the house feeling great. He couldn't wait to tell Charlie his program worked. Then again Charlie wouldn't be surprised, because his math was never wrong. Don walked into the house and could hear his father in the kitchen. He walked passed the dining room and noticed everything was set for dinner. Alan came out of the kitchen and saw his eldest son.

"Donny, I didn't hear you come in."

"Hey, dad," Don said as he walked passed his dad and into the kitchen. "You want a beer?"

"Sure."

Don came back to the living room and dropped onto the couch. He handed his dad a beer and popped the top on his. Taking a swig he looked around the living room. He didn't see any papers and wondered where his brother was.

"He's out back," Alan said.

"What's he doing outside?"

"I kicked him out of the solarium," Alan explained. "It was a beautiful day so I made him go outside."

"Good, I'm glad he decided to relax."

"What Charlie, relax? He took his lap top out there and continued working."

"Dad!"

"Don't Dad, me. Charlie was out there for about an hour when he fell asleep."

Don just rolled his eyes and grabbed the sports section of the newspaper on the couch. Alan checked his watch, then picked up his book. They had been sitting in companionable silence for twenty minutes when Alan stood up and told Don to get his brother for dinner. Don went out to the yard to find his younger brother, under the awning, sleeping on the lounge chair. Charlie's unruly hair was hanging in his eyes and Don thought it was about time he got a haircut. Reaching down and he shook Charlie's shoulder. Charlie mumbled and tried to shake off Don's hand.

"Come on, Charlie," Don said shaking him again. "Time for dinner."

"Don," Charlie said, blinking owlishly at him.

"Yeah, Don. Who did ya think it'd be?"

"Wasn't expecting you home so early, that's all."

"It's not that early," Don laughed. "You fell asleep."

"Oh," Charlie said and stood up. As he got to his feet he swayed and Don grabbed him.

"You okay?" Don asked in concern.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said shrugging off Don's hand. "I just stood up too fast."

Don followed Charlie into the house scowling. Sometimes his brother could be a stubborn pain in the ass. Charlie sat at the table while Don went to help bring in the food.

"I made your favorite," Alan said, smiling at his youngest.

"Thanks, Dad," Charlie said as he scooped some macaroni and cheese onto his plate. "So the program worked?" Charlie asked helping himself to a chicken leg.

"It worked great, Charlie."

"So what do we do now?" Charlie asked eagerly.

"We eat, that's what we do," Alan admonished. "The case can wait until we're done."

"Yes, Pop," Charlie said, rolling his eyes.

Alan reached over and poked Charlie. Charlie smiled and Don noticed it was rather lopsided. His younger brother was trying hard not to use the muscles on the right side of his face. Don ground his teeth thinking about what Sergie did. Now came the hard part, waiting.