Chapter Five
The Next Day
Don hung up his phone and wearily rubbed his forehead. More victims were being reports each day, and it felt like they were no closer to solving this case than when they had started. Charlie's tentative hot spots had been staked out since the day before, and while they had managed to arrest a couple of dealers of the drug, the men they had busted were so low on the totem pole that there was no chance of getting a lead through them. If they didn't find a break in the case soon, Don and his team were going to be pulled off of the case.
"Headache?"
Don opened his eyes and found himself staring at two small white pills in the palm of a hand. Accepting them, he tossed them into his mouth and swallowed them dry. "Thanks."
Megan leaned against his desk. "We're going to find them, Don. Just give it time."
"Unfortunately, that's not up to me," Don replied. "The brass are screaming for results, and I don't have much to give them."
"How about a possible connection between the lowlife dealers we picked up to the top of the food chain?" Megan asked.
Don sat up. "What are you talking about? Those guys know nothing."
Megan smiled. "No, but your brother does."
Don glanced around the bullpen. "He does? What? Is he here? I didn't see him come in."
"He's in the conference room," Megan stated. "He came in while you were busy on the phone, and he said he didn't want to disturb you."
Don stood and gestured to the conference room. "I think, in this case, that a disturbance would be most welcome."
Megan's smile widened as she followed Don through the bullpen and into the conference room, where Charlie was already at home with the boards and markers. He occasionally consulted some of the papers he had brought with him in his ever-present backpack, but his attention, for the most part, was riveted on the board in front of him.
"Hey, Buddy," Don greeted. "I hear you've got good news."
Charlie glanced back at his brother. "Oh, hey, Don. Er, not exactly good news. Well, not yet, anyway. The data I got on the guys you arrested was good. I'm tracking both of their last known activities over the last forty-eight hours, looking at where they've both been, and hoping to find mathematical evidence of commonality."
Don and Megan exchanged looks. "Charlie, we've gone over their stories, and there was nothing in their past activities that matched."
"That they told you," Charlie pointed out. "But I believe we'll find that, while they claim they were nowhere near each other, we'll find anomalies that will lead us to their true locations."
Another figure stepped into the room. "Is the runt at it again?"
The three occupants turned to face Danny as he moved further into the room. Charlie tensed and stepped back, inadvertently placing Don between himself and Danny. Don didn't seem to notice as he smiled a welcome at his old friend, but Megan did and she leveled a cold look on the DEA agent.
Danny was unphased as he smiled brilliantly at her. "I thought I'd stop in and say hi before I head out. I'm going to check out a hunch on a possible dealer hot spot, so I won't be in for the rest of the day."
"Do you need back-up?" Don asked.
Danny waved his hand, unconcerned. "Nah, I'll be fine. I'll call you if I change my mind, though."
"All right," Don said reluctantly. "Good luck."
Danny nodded, flashing him a brilliant smile.
Don and Megan turned back to Charlie. Charlie had been staring at the marker in his hand, shifting from one foot to the next, nervous. At the sudden silence, he glanced up and flushed slightly. "Ah . . . it'll probably take me a couple hours to really dig into these variables, but I should have something for you relatively soon."
"Any preliminary thoughts?" Don asked.
Charlie turned back to the board. "Well, so far it looks like they're telling the truth as to where they've been, but I still have a lot to sort through. I'll let you know."
"Okay." Don slapped Charlie on the back. "We'll be here. Thanks, Buddy."
Charlie smiled bashfully and turned back to the board, already dismissing the agents from his mind. He reached for his coffee mug on the table near his laptop and took a sip as Don and Megan headed back out into the bullpen.
More than an hour went by as Don and Megan reviewed all of their notes on the case. They barely spoke as they reread reports, witness interviews, and forensic evidence for each victim. With each passing day, the death count was climbing. It didn't matter that the team was out on the streets, giving one hundred ten percent; all that mattered was that the case hadn't come to a close yet.
David and Colby had joined them halfway through their search, adding the most recent reports on the latest victims. So far there didn't seem to be more of a link than the commonality in the cause of death.
"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way," David finally said.
Eyes turned to him. "What do you mean?" Colby asked.
"Well, we're trying to track down the drug ring responsible for the distribution of this stuff, but it's becoming clear that only very few people know all the players," David pointed out. "Maybe we should start taking a closer look at the manufacturers of this thing."
"We've already got people checking it out," Don reminded him. "The chemicals involved are easy enough to trace, but living in a city the size of L.A., a lot of people have access to them."
"What about labs?" Megan spoke up. "They gotta make the stuff somewhere."
A loud crash interrupted their conversation, followed by a muted yell. Don's blood turned to ice at the sound. He doubted anyone else recognized the source of the yell, but the voice was one Don knew all too well. Without a sound, he took off for the conference room, barely registering the footfalls chasing after him.
Don burst into the conference room and skidded to a halt. His jaw dropped in shock at the sight before him. Papers, folders, and pictures littered the floor, interspersed with markers and other office supplies. Several chairs had been upended, lying on the floor near the table. The marker boards were half-filled with mathematical nonsense, marred by strange, abrupt scribblings.
"Oh my God," Megan breathed. "What happened here?"
"No!"
"Charlie!" Don spotted his little brother, huddled in the far corner of the room with his arms drawn up over his head. He hurried to Charlie's side, mindfully stepping around the shards of what had once been a coffee mug. He knelt down and grasped Charlie's arms, gasping in surprise as Charlie violently tried to shake Don's hands away.
"Charlie, it's me," Don tried. "It's Don. I'm here. What's wrong?"
"Stay away from me!" Charlie shoved Don back onto the ground and surged to his feet, skirting around the edge of the room. He let out another strangled cry, shoving aside anything in his way. He grasped a forgotten eraser and threw it as hard as he could at David, who was trying to approach the agitated young man.
"Charlie, take it easy!" Colby exclaimed, his hands out in what he hoped was a placating manner.
Don moved to push himself back to his feet and inadvertently put his hand into the remains of lukewarm coffee. He lifted his hand to shake it free of the liquid when he registered the grainy feel of the coffee against his skin. A horrifying thought entered his mind, dropping a chunk of ice into his stomach. He looked back up at Charlie, took in his brother's terrified gaze and crazed yells, his erratic behavior . . .
"Oh my God," he said, hushed.
Megan glanced quickly at Don. "What?"
Don pushed himself to his feet and took a few slow steps closer to Charlie. "Get what's left of that coffee and the mug and send it to the lab to be tested."
"You think somebody poisoned Charlie?" Megan asked.
Don swallowed thickly, his eyes never leaving his brother. "I think someone slipped Blaze into his coffee."
The stunned silence that followed his words filled the room, leaving only small whimpers coming from the young professor, who was now pacing anxiously near the far wall of the room. Don took another step closer. "Charlie?"
Charlie shook his head violently.
Another step. "Charlie, do you know who I am?"
Charlie hugged himself tightly, but didn't stop pacing. "I-I-I . . ."
"Charlie." Don moved until he was a couple steps away and stopped. "Charlie, who am I?"
Charlie slowed his pacing, his head turning toward the sound of Don's voice. "D-Donnie?"
His voice sounded so scared and lost, sending a fresh wave of anger and protectiveness through Don. Whoever had done this to his little brother was going to pay. "Yeah, Buddy, it's Donnie. I need you to calm down, you hear me? You're sick, and I want to help you feel better."
Charlie shook his head and quickened his steps again. "N-No, not sick, can't stop, he wants me to stop, can't stop, can't let him make me . . ."
"Who, Charlie?" Don pressed. "Who wants you to stop?" He could dimly hear Colby ordering other agents away from the conference room. He was peripherally aware of Megan collecting the evidence, and of David on the phone with someone, but Charlie remained the center of his focus.
"No!" Charlie screamed, darting forward as if to seize his laptop.
He never made it.
Don jumped forward and grabbed him, holding him in a tight hug as Charlie thrashed against his grip. It pained Don to hear his brother's terrified yells and demands to be released, but he tightened his arms around Charlie.
"Charlie, it's okay!" he yelled into Charlie's ear. "You know me! You know I'll never let anyone hurt you! I'll protect you, Charlie. You know that."
Charlie's struggles lessened as his brother's words registered. Shaky hands came up to grip the front of Don's shirt, twisting the fabric. "D-Donnie?"
"Yeah, Buddy?" Don asked.
"I-I don't feel so good." His voice trailed off into a whisper, and he went limp in Don's arms. Startled, Don could only support his brother's weight as he lowered the younger man to the ground.
"Charlie!" Don looked up from his brother's pale face. "Call 911! We need an ambulance!"
"Medics are on their way," David replied, kneeling across from Don. "ETA 5 minutes." He glanced down at Charlie, then turned his gaze on Don. "How could someone get Blaze into a federal office building and into the coffee?"
"Good question," Don answered, his expression hardening. "I want everyone trying to track down the source of the Blaze. I want to know who has had access to our office and who's been near Charlie. Whoever did this to him is going down."
David nodded. "We've got some guys already working on it. I swear to you, Don, whoever did this to Charlie won't get away with it. Charlie's one of us."