Chapter 13

Don had gone home with Alan, because he didn't want his father to be alone. He didn't want Charlie to be alone, either, but he didn't really have much to say about that. "I'm sure he meant 'don't come back tonight', Dad." The older man looked so heartbroken, Don felt as if he had to say something.

"You don't think he'll do something stupid do you? Go after her?"

Geez. Some FBI agent — he hadn't even considered the possibility. Don grabbed his cell, walked into the solarium, and made a call. When he came back out, he found his father in the kitchen. "I called in a favor. I've got a watch on his passport. He can't try to board an international flight without being detained."

"Thank you." Alan opened the refrigerator. Closed it again. "You hungry?"

Don sat at the table and closed his eyes. "Nah. Is it really only 6:30?"

"Been a long day, son. Been a long day."

It was about to get longer. He didn't tell his father about the second phone call he had made.

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"This time it isn't just my career," she hissed, her back pressed tightly against the wall. They were in the stairwell, but had heard footsteps approaching. They froze, but the steps kept going past the door. "This isn't even my hospital. I could get freakin' arrested, here."

"Don't worry," he said, and flashed his badge at her. "You'd be surprised how many people this impresses."

"I don't know why you needed me, anyway."

"I told you, Katie. You know your way around here, I could tell that this afternoon."

"All right, so I worked here once. I could have drawn you a map."

"Besides that, I need someone medically trained. To help."

A quiet sigh of frustration. "Let's just do this."

Don quietly opened the door, peered cautiously down the hallway, then beckoned for her to follow him. They were carrying their shoes, to cut down on the noise. Footsteps again. Don grabbed Katie's arm, opened the first door he came to, and dragged her in. They waited. The footsteps stopped directly outside the door, and they held their breath.

"Dammit," they heard a soft mutter. "Forgot the key."

Key? What key? The door hadn't been locked. Don took out his flashlight to see where they were. His intake of breath was louder than he'd intended. "I thought the morgue was in the basement."

"This isn't the morgue, stupid. It's a research lab. There are live things locked up in there. Someone's probably coming to feed them. To feed us to them."

"Then let's get out of here."

Again, the hallway. Three corners turned. Things were finally starting to look like the middle of the night. They paused for a moment in the shelter of the last corner they had to turn, and it was a good thing. Don watched someone leave Charlie's room.

"That should have been her 3 o'clock," Katie whispered. "No one will be back for an hour, unless Charlie calls them."

Sprint across the hallway, Katie's socks slipping so that Don had to support her. (At least that's what she had intended, when she picked out these socks earlier, while they were planning their commando raid.) Don pushed the door open just far enough for the two of them to slip through. He snapped the flashlight on again. Charlie, startled, started to sit up in bed, started to speak, but Don pushed him back down while Katie clapped one hand over his mouth.

When he was sure Charlie was awake, and had recognized them…when he hoped Charlie wouldn't yell, he signaled Katie to lift her hand.

"Okay, Charlie," he said. "Spill it. What the hell happened last night?"