Chapter Seven

Don's mind was swirling with thoughts as he guided his car down the busy road. He knew he should pay attention to driving, but he couldn't help it as his mind slipped back to the look on his brother's face when he had asked about Danny.

Flashes of memory assailed him from long ago. Danny had been one of his best friends. When others would ridicule him for having a 'freak' for a brother, Danny was there, standing beside him, willing to be his friend. While Don knew that he had said and done some things to belittle Charlie as a way of building his friendship with Danny, he still couldn't believe that the man he had believed to be his friend had taken it to different level.

Shame washed through him. He should have been a better brother back then; he knew that. Don didn't know if he would ever be able to make up to Charlie all the years of hurt and ridicule that he had helped to put on his younger brother. Charlie, for some reason, didn't hold that against him, but he didn't have to. Don felt bad enough on his own.

On the tail of his shame came a fresh surge of hot anger. Anger at Danny for terrorizing and threatening his brother, and anger at himself for turning a blind eye while it happened. He didn't know who he was more angry with, but there was plenty of the feeling to go around.

Suddenly, Don had to see Danny. He had to look the man in his face, the man he had thought he had known, and see for himself if he was truly the monster that Don was beginning to suspect he was.

He made a sharp left turn onto the next street, ignoring the blaring horns that indignant drivers sent out at him. His decision made, he found his way to his friend's motel easily. Don had barely parked his car when he jumped out, slammed the door shut, and ran up to the door that he knew led to Danny's room.

Don's insistent pounding was answered within moments. Danny frowned in concern at Don as soon as he opened the door, tucking his weapon into his holster. "Don? What the hell? What's wrong?"

Don pushed his way past Danny and turned to face him. "Danny, I have to know something."

Danny shut the door and folded his arms at Don. "Well, don't let me stop you. What is it?"

Don looked closely at the face of the man he had known since adolescence. A sudden vein of doubt wound through his brain. What if he was wrong? What if Danny really was innocent? He would be destroying one of the best friendships he had ever had.

Another image of Charlie's wide-eyed terror while at the mercy of Blaze steeled his resolve. "Did you try to make Charlie back off of this case?"

Danny raised his eyebrows. "What's this about, Donnie?"

"Answer the question," Don ordered.

Danny sighed and dropped his arms to his sides. "I thought this case was too dangerous for a civilian to be working on. A lot of people have gotten hurt, and I knew you'd feel responsible if something happened to Charlie. I was only trying to get him to back off of this case for his safety."

"And that's all?" Don pressed. He wasn't sure he believed Danny. Something was setting off a warning bell in his head. "You didn't do anything else?"

Danny's hands went to his hips. "All right, Don, what's going on? Why are you in here giving me the third degree? Has something happened?"

Don felt weariness sweep through him, and he sank down on the end of one of the motel room's beds. "Charlie's in the hospital. He collapsed after being dosed with Blaze a couple days ago."

Danny's jaw dropped, and he gaped openly for a minute in what Don wondered was genuine shock. "Is he okay?"

"He's in pain while his body's trying to throw off the rest of the effects of the drugs," Don replied, feeling his anger build once more. "I swear to God, when I catch the son of a bitch who did this to him . . ."

"Hey, hey." Danny approached Don and rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll get them, Don, I swear. They won't get away with this. Have you got any leads?"

Don shook his head. "Not yet. The team is still looking into the drugging, but we haven't come up with anything yet."

Danny nodded. Something flickered in his face too quick for Don to catch. "Listen," he said to Don. "I was just on my way to a contact I've managed to establish with a supplier. I'm going to be out of touch for a while, but as soon as I'm done, I'll give you a call. Why don't you head on over to the hospital and look after that brainiac brother of yours?"

Don studied his friend's face, then slowly began to nod. "All right. Let me know how things turn out, okay?"

"Of course." Danny grinned broadly as Don stood. "Tell Charlie I said hi, and the next time he decides to drink coffee, order out."

Don's body tensed ever-so-slightly, but he let out a weak laugh. "I'll pass that along. Be careful out there, man."

Danny patted Don on the back as he opened the door, escorting Don out of his room. Don headed back to his car, feeling numb all over. He slid into the driver's seat, but instead of turning the ignition, he gripped the steering wheel and stared blankly at the parking lot in front of him.

He hadn't mentioned the coffee.

Don couldn't believe it. Danny was his friend . . . had been his friend. Even now, standing in the motel room, Danny had acted like nothing more than a concerned and supportive friend. It was impossible to think that he was responsible.

But he hadn't mentioned the coffee.

Danny had been out of contact with the office since the day before, shortly before Charlie's drugging. There would have been no other way he would have known about the drug being in Charlie's coffee . . . not unless . . .

Unless, God help him, he put it there.

Don's cell phone rang, jarring Don out of his thoughts. Pulling it out, he flipped it open. "Eppes."

"Don." It was Megan. "I think you need to come back to the office. Colby and I found some things we think you need to see."

"I'm on my way."

Megan and Colby were in the conference room, pouring over several file folders at the table when Don burst into the room. He gave Colby a curious look. "I thought I sent you with David."

"I decided to give Megan a hand with all this paperwork," Colby replied. "David's still on him, though."

Don nodded, accepting the answer. His expression turned to one of determination as he pierced his agents with a steady gaze. "What've you got?"

Megan handed him one of the files. A quick glance through it told Don that it was Danny's personnel file with the DEA. He looked up at Megan in surprise. "How did you get this?"

"I have a few friends with the DEA," Megan replied blandly. "We've been going over Danny's previous cases and we've found a few interesting things."

Don sat in a nearby chair. "Like?"

Colby answered him. "Your buddy's service record has been spotless until about five years ago, when a bunch of negative reports started to appear in his file. Stuff like insubordination, reckless endangerment, compromising cases . . . all sorts of things that should have started an investigation, but he's been managing to dodge all that."

"What happened five years ago that would cause a dedicated DEA agent to suddenly snap like this?" Don wondered aloud, flipping through the file.

Megan passed him another file. "Five years ago, there was a major investigation into shipments of cocaine coming into the United States from South America. The DEA looked into it and found evidence that led back to several wealthy businessmen looking to pad their wallets further."

Don nodded slowly. "Yeah, I remember that case. Wasn't the ringleader a higher-up in Intell Corp?"

"The vice president," Colby confirmed. "Before they arrested him, though, there was a major firefight during one of the shipments. The DEA had moved too early and nearly lost the case. As a result, several lives were lost on both sides. Danny had argued with his ASAC not to go through with the bust. He knew that the suppliers were ready for them, but Danny's ASAC gave the order anyway, and that order cost the life of Danny's partner, who also happened to be his fiancée."

Don grew very still. "I didn't know . . . If I had . . ."

An awkward silence ensued. Megan shot a quick look at Colby, then turned back to Don. "It's from that point on that Danny's behavior skewed erratically. He's been shunted from office to office, never staying anywhere very long. It's within the last two years, though, that he started to seriously jeopardize some of his cases."

"How so?" Don asked.

"Evidence going missing, mainly," Megan replied. "Evidence that would have secured a conviction tended up getting 'misplaced' on more than one occasion. Danny's coworkers have also reported that an easy arrest turned into a chase, and a few times they lost their suspect. There's no proof, but a few people have expressed suspicions of Danny turning double agent, working with the drug dealers."

"That's ridiculous!" Don exclaimed. "Danny would never-."

"Maybe not back then, Don, but how can you deny this?" Megan waved another file at him. "The evidence is right here. Danny's put us all at risk, threatened Charlie's life, and he probably let the other suspect go the other day on 42nd! Don, he's going to lose us this case!"

Don opened his mouth to protest, but stopped.

He hadn't mentioned the coffee.

"Don?" Megan asked.

Don shook his head. "I went to see Danny. I had to know . . ."

When nothing further was forthcoming, Colby nodded. "Know what?"

Don sighed. "I . . . I wanted to know if he had bullied Charlie. He acted exactly how a concerned friend is expected to act. I told him that Charlie had been drugged, but when I left, he made some comment about Charlie ordering out for coffee. The thing is, I never said that it was his coffee that had been drugged."

"We gotta pull him off this case, Don," Colby stated. "We've been lucky so far, but that won't last forever."

Don didn't have the chance to reply when his cell phone rang again. He answered it quickly, hearing David's voice on the other end. Megan and Colby watched Don as his face hardened. The senior agent nodded, though David couldn't see him.

"All right," Don said into his phone. "Stay put, we're on our way."

He hung up and turned to the other two agents, a fire in his eyes that had slowly been simmering earlier. "David followed Danny to an abandoned electronics store a couple miles away from his motel. He saw a couple known dealers go in with him. It looks like they're holding a meeting. Get the team together and grab the surveillance equipment. We're going after him. It ends now."