"Sir can you hear me?"
An annoying light dragged Don's mind from an abyss. Pain immediately electrified his body again. He remembered the pain. That's all.
"He's up. Sir, can you tell me your name?"
What's going on? Don didn't answer. He didn't have the strength. He also didn't have the answer. His brain was holding on to that information until someone provided relief for the pain.
"Unresponsive. BP real low. Let's move quick Ok."
If Don wondered who these voices were his brain wasn't letting him know. All he felt was excruciating pain. Stop it. Please stop it.
"Move move."
The voices sounded further away than any he'd heard before but he didn't have time to contemplate that. Sweet sweet relief from the pain came, in the blackness he remembered something. It's Don.
ooOoo
"Colby, any John Doe matches?"
Megan marched across to Colby's computer where he was searching a database of accident victims. And the morgue.
"No. Least not yet."
"What about his phone?"
Colby tore himself away from the computer and pulled out a folder. "Only one call on his cell since we last saw him. 8:48pm 2 nights ago, last night of the case. To Robyn Brookes. Why would he be calling the DA? She wasn't even on this case was she?"
Megan looked at Colby over her glasses she had put on to read the report. "No."
"Ok. Well at least we know who he was seeing then. I assume you called her?"
Megan didn't glance up from the paperwork, she continued to read for a second before responding. "Yes, and if you tell Don I told you about this when we find him you are dead meat."
Colby smiled. "Hey, you didn't tell me. That paperwork did. And I'm real good at my job."
Megan smiled again. She hadn't actually told any of them it was true. They'd all found out. In fact she was probably the only one who hadn't picked up the signs. She had simply caught Don and Robyn at a café near the DA's office. Don's look had told her enough to know if she mentioned a word to anyone he'd kill her. Of course, Megan understood. Relationships were hard at the FBI. It was hard enough to find time for someone let alone privacy to decide if it was going to go somewhere. It was the unwritten code. No comments until you start telling people. Of course that had backfired on her when she went out to dinner with Larry. She'd accidentally let it slip and boy had Don jumped on that opportunity to comment. It was part of the reason she didn't feel so guilty about letting Alan prize the information from her. He'll wait. He'd slip up soon. If they found him.
"Megan?"
Colby had clearly said something to her and she didn't hear. Focus Reeves. "Sorry, my mind wandered."
"Hey, trust me, I understand. I'm having a hard time focusing too. Images just flash in to your mind right?"
"Yeah."
"Anyway, like I said, no calls from his landline for like 5 days. And that was to order pizza."
"Hey." David brushed past Megan and patted Colby on the shoulder before slinging his jacket over his chair.
"Hey David." Megan didn't need to say anymore, he'd already told them Don hadn't been seen.
"Like I said, it's like he disappeared. This isn't good is it?" David sighed.
"No. The other team understand we're concerned. I feel bad. I know they don't feel he's guilty but someone has to investigate this new angle." Megan let that hang in the air for a second. "Guess, in a way we've got the good job."
Colby and David understood. At the worst, as far as they were concerned, Don was dead but innocent. To the other team Don could not only be dead but guilty. It affected everybody and yet it was odd to see a room full of agents feeling but not speaking this.
"Right, well I've still got a few more searches to do. I'll update it again in case there were any new reports in the last few hours. 2 hospitals and 3 morgues have already called but they didn't match."
Colby turned back to his desk. He had to do something, he didn't like to sit and think. There simply wasn't time.
Suddenly Agent McAdams strolled in to their workstation area looking solemn. "Megan."
Megan startled at the voice and turned away from looking at a folder with David towards the agent. He was heading up the case against Don. He was a fellow agent but at this moment, he was the enemy. It broke her heart to feel this but she knew it was normal. Perhaps the only normal thing in this. "Yes Robert."
"The team has searched Sarah Peckham's house. We thought you should see this."
Agent McAdams passed Megan the report he was referring to. As she read it, David sidled up to her to read over her shoulder. His face dropped. Colby looked on waiting for the information.
"Oh God." David startled as he realised he had said that out aloud.
Agent McAdams spoke, mostly for Colby's benefit. "Yeah, his phone and badge were found at her house. In her garden. It appears he was watching her from the garden through the window. I repeat 'appears'."
Megan was thankful for this slight window on his thoughts. "Thanks. Of course, this only adds to the evidence we are compiling that Agent Eppes' has been targeted. It links Sarah Peckham definitively to whatever scam is going on. This is good. Don is not the kind of guy to lose his badge and cell - guilty or innocent."
David and Colby were glad Megan said this. For every piece of evidence they could gather against Don they would find out how it worked for him. Still without knowing where Don was things were going to be a lot harder to prove on either side.
When the Agent left the others let out a sigh simultaneously. Suddenly Colby's phone rang.
"Granger. Sure, put em through. Agent Granger speaking. Right. Describe that again. Thanks. I'll send someone down."
Megan stared at Colby for a second.
"We may have him?" Colby could not handle wasting time. "That was Grace Memorial. They have a John Doe which seems to fit Don's description. Injuries pretty bad, he's not conscious. Someone needs to go down right away and check it out."
Without waiting for a response Colby picked up his jacket to go. Megan stalled him with an arm to his shoulder.
"You'll have to take one of the other team with you. We have to do this right." Colby sighed. She was right. He could identify him but he couldn't speak to him.
"I'll ask McAdams." Colby looked back at the pained looks on both David and Megan that they were trying to conceal.
"If this is Don what can we expect. His injuries I mean?" David figured Colby hadn't said too much because they were bad.
"Stabbed. Knife wound to the abdomen, enormous loss of blood. Other internal injuries. He was also hit by a car, that's how they found him. Actually walked out in front of a car. Tried to stop but still, with a knife wound his reflexes weren't great so he was lucky he was hit at a low speed. And David." Colby had already started leaving the cubicles when he turned around. "If this is Don, someone's gonna have to go tell the Eppes'."
David nodded. Colby knew this was David letting him know to call as soon as it was confirmed so he could go to Charlie's. Two different agents in one day would be too much of a shock. David's presence would cause concern for a second trip but at least he would be able to tell them what was going on, why he'd been before.
ooOoo
Colby walked about 2 paces in front of Agent McAdams as he burst through the doors. He flashed his badge at the nurse on the reception desk, spoke briefly and had started to move off in another direction before the other agent had even made it to the first desk.
A short walk down the corridor Colby and Agent McAdams were greeted by a doctor. They were led in to a small office and quickly briefed. Special privileges were being granted due to the police nature of the investigation. At least that's what the doctor said. Colby knew the reality was the doctor clearly wasn't entirely confident the John Doe would survive the operation so they were being allowed in to identify whilst it was still in progress. The description was too accurate a match for all involved not to believe this wasn't Don Eppes.
Agent McAdams didn't speak to Colby as they gowned up, scrubbed and were prepped for entry.
"This is not only a sterile environment but a fairly demanding operation so please try to limit your impact on the room as much as is possible. For everyone involved." The doctor finished his prep and then escorted them to a theatre room down the hall from the corridor.
A knot in Colby's stomach grew as they walked down the corridor. It was deathly quiet and he prayed this was not an omen. Only the soft swish of the shoebags registered in the silence until they went through the door, oh so quietly.
Once inside the theatre was a hive of noise. Metal clinking and several people walking around behind implements and machinery. Only a couple of people directly over the green sheet seemed to be poised, silent and working slowly. The green sheet gradually fell away to reveal a form beneath it.
As they walked around to the anaesthetists side of the table Colby felt the knot tighten to the point of nausea. The anaesthetist acknowledged their presence by a nod of the eyes rather than any great physical movement. Only when she was certain both agents were directly in a good position to see the face did she remove the mask for a few seconds for them to judge.
The face that lay there was white. It was like so many dead people he had seen on the job. If it wasn't for the tape over the eyes Colby would have assumed it was. Still, this isn't what gripped him the most.
It was Don.
A very pale Don. God, even a dead Don. Shut up idiot! Don nonetheless. Instantly after a moment of relief Colby felt guilty. Still, at this moment he was alive.
Both agents nodded and the mask was returned. The doctor who ushered them in quickly gathered them to retreat.
Outside Colby drew in a deep breath and then rested his hands on his thighs, just above his knees, in an effort not to faint. The relief had hit him hard, but the reality of what he'd seen, the injuries, hit him harder and the corridor didn't seem as still as when he'd walked in.
"You Ok Granger?" Agent McAdams rested his hand on Colby's back and then turned to the doctor. "He'll be OK, give him a few seconds. I'll walk him out."
Colby instantly straightened and began to walk towards the exit, fast. Agent McAdams grabbed him and Colby reflexively went to punch him. "Woah. Let me call Agent Reeves for you. It'll take a minute." Agent McAdams said as he ducked from the potential fist.
"Thanks. But I'm calling her. I'll be back in the waiting area in 5."
Agent McAdams nodded. He didn't think his offer would be taken up but he had to show that he was helping and not taking sides.
ooOoo
For the second time that day David drove the short distance to Pasadena. He kept his mind off the task by going through the details of the case. Ridley had confessed. He was a junkie, he fit the profile of the dealer and he just didn't seem smart enough to have any more accomplices. The guy used schoolchildren to sell drugs to schoolchildren once he'd gotten them addicted. To think anyone could believe an FBI agent would be behind such a straight forward case was unbelievable. Still, while he wasn't smart, maybe he did take orders. Orders from someone big enough and bad enough to make him confess to the FBI and face jail and a life sentence over whatever it was they could do.
The thing David needed to work out was what was more dangerous than a junkie dealing?
He didn't get a chance to consider this anymore as the car drove itself in to the Eppes' driveway again. David looked at the clock radio. 4:15pm.
This time when Alan opened the door he was not friendly. He was smart enough to know two visits in one day from an FBI agent who wasn't his son was not good news. He just stared at David, not wanting to hear whatever it was he was going to say.
Last time you were looking for my son. Don't tell me you found him. Just don't. Don should be telling me he's found, not you David.
"Dad, what's going on, you left the stove on. You trying to burn the place down, it's my insurance now not yours." Charlie bounded in to the lounge area to see Alan and David standing in the doorway not speaking.
"What's going on?" As Charlie said this a term paper fell from his hand and fluttered to the floor.
David had to say it. They needed to be at the hospital right now.
"Alan, Charlie. We found Don and there's no easy way to say this."
Then don't say it. Alan willed David not to say it. Don't say he's dead.
"Firstly he's alive." Alan breathed a sigh of thanks but didn't relent on his stare for information from David. "I don't know all the details but he appears to have been stabbed and he's in Grace Memorial."
Charlie and Alan began to head out the door. David put an arm up to stop Alan at the front. "I think we should turn the stove off first Ok." He looked straight in to Alan's eyes and then told him the part he dreaded the most. "There's more. Some allegations have been made against Don, criminal allegations. It's likely you will be asked questions by other members of the FBI. Please respect that we all have a job to do and that we, Megan, Colby and myself, we don't believe any of the allegations and are actively trying to clear him. I just want you to be prepared for that. I don't believe anyone thinks he is guilty but if we don't do this properly then it will only be worse for Don once he's pulled through this."
Charlie was about to ask a million questions concerning what the hell David was talking about when Alan raised his arm to quiet him. He looked at David and said "Thanks." He was only referring to the faith they shared in Don to not only come out of this alive, but innocent.
David handed him the keys to the car and motioned that he would lock and secure the house in the meantime.
ooOoo
A waiting room never contained so many people. Charlie understood how Don felt. With so many agents in the room he wanted to yell at them to give him some space to think. Megan perceptively had gauged this and ensured David and Colby kept the 2 other agents as far away from Alan and Charlie as possible. This was hard enough to cope with without the vultures ready to pounce once Don's status was revealed. We all have a job to do, even the family vigil.
When the doctor finally entered the room, slowly and with exhaustion etched on his face Charlie nearly cried. Alan stayed strong and stood to greet the man he hoped had saved his son's life.
"Alan Eppes?"
"Yes. How's Don?"
The doctor nodded towards the FBI agents and Megan and McAdams came forward and stood just behind Alan. Charlie remained seated, unable to look at the doctor, unsure if he should listen.
"He's stable. He's in recovery right now. He's a very lucky man. No organs were ruptured but the knife caused major internal bleeding. He is extremely lucky sir. At the moment he is not out of danger, there's the risk of infection always, but we are hopeful we stemmed the flow of blood internally and that the repairs we did to the region will hold. Thankfully the car did very little damage, a fractured leg." The doctor nodded towards the agents and then returned his face back to Alan. "We're flushing the last of the drugs out of his system now."
"Drugs?" By now Alan was seated next to Charlie again. Gravity had forced him down. He looked up to the doctor to question the drugs part again.
"He'll be out of recovery soon and in an hour we expect you can see him. But yes, there was quite a cocktail of drugs in his system. It affects surgery. We're lucky he isn't showing any signs of withdrawal."
As the doctor left, Megan sat next to Alan and placed her hand on his leg. Don wasn't dead, she felt the relief as much as anyone. She just wasn't sure how he'd cope when he found out the 2 strange agents in the room with them would have to see Don before family. No one could be seen to influence Don and so, despite it breaking her heart, the first people he would see when he woke up would be those agents with a list of questions.