Vendetta
By BeckyS
April 2005-2006

The Eppes family and the characters and situations from the TV show "NUMB3RS"
are the property of the Scotts and the creation of Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci.
No infringement is intended, and no profit is being made.

Megan's legs were long enough that she could normally keep up with Don unless he was flat-out running, but whether it was her aching shoulder or her partner's mood, she didn't catch him the next morning until she got to the AD's secretary, who was physically guarding Merrick's door.

"Annie," he growled. "Let me see him."

Annie Monroe was a petite woman whom he could easily pick up and move, but she nonetheless glared at him, completely unimpressed. "Agent Eppes. Sit down." She turned her attention to Megan. "Agent Reeves," she said in a conversational tone. "How nice to see you again. The Assistant Director will be with both of you—" she glared at Don "—in a few minutes."

"Don," said Megan, pulling on his arm, "calm down. He's probably in the middle of something important."

"Important!" Don turned on her. "And finding my brother's murderer isn't important?"

If he hadn't phrased the question as if Charlie were dead, Megan would have been completely taken in. He was playing a part, but Megan knew the emotion was real. The fear and anger were finally coming out, even if he thought he was acting.

"Don! Shhh!" She dragged him over to the reception area and collapsed into a chair. "If you want to prowl around like a caged tiger, that's fine, but I'm going to sit down before I fall down."

He stopped abruptly and dropped his head. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "It's not right to take it out on you of all people."

"Agent Eppes?" Merrick's voice came from his doorway.

Don extended his hand. "You up for this?" he asked, concern coloring his voice.

She smiled at him, all forgiven. "You bet."

They followed the AD back into his office, Don's body stiff with anger, but once the door was closed, he relaxed. "Sir," he said, emotion clogging his throat, "thank you."

Simply said, it was accepted with the equal simplicity of a nod. The two men needed no more. Merrick waved at the two armchairs chairs in front of his desk, and they all seated themselves.

"All right," said Merrick, "fire away."

Megan and Don looked at each other, and Don gave her a little nod. She raised an eyebrow, surprised, but asked the question that had been driving her the craziest. "Sir, why were you on the scene in the first place, and how did you get there so fast?"

Merrick leaned back in his chair with a faint air of approval. "Because Dr. Eppes called me."

Don shot her a look. "You didn't tell me about that."

"Charlie didn't tell me – could be he didn't remember. He only said that we should ask the Assistant Director about the project he was working on."

"Sir?" asked Don. "What's really going on here?"

Merrick leaned back in his chair. "Treason, kidnapping, theft, attempted murder, retribution . . . it's quite a package." He tapped a button on his phone. "Annie, would you please bring in the file, along with another carafe of coffee? Thanks."

She appeared in a moment with the same tray as before. This time she let Don pour his own coffee, saying, "Feeling a bit better today, Agent Eppes?"

"Much better, thanks." He set his mug on the little table between his and Megan's chairs, then took the folder she held out to him, too.

"Will there be anything else, sir?" she asked Merrick.

"No," he sighed. "Field all my calls, though. I don't want any interruptions."

She left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Don opened the folder, then looked up at his boss, startled. "This is military – Air Force. Why isn't their OSI handling it?"

"This 'special investigation' has gone a bit beyond what their people are equipped to handle. An Air Force scientist, Doctor Jason Rosemont, flew out here last week from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to have your brother validate some of his research."

"Rosemont?" asked Don. He frowned in concentration. "Charlie didn't mention a name, but I know he had a visitor coming in from out of town. He could hardly wait to meet the guy, and apparently this Rosemont felt the same way. He called the house from the airport to let Charlie know he'd arrived. Didn't even wait to get to his hotel."

Merrick said, "Rosemont went straight to CalSci, and apparently they worked well into the night, and then your brother took him back to his house."

So that was who'd slept in his old room. "What happened?"

"Rosemont disappeared. When they went back to CalSci the next day, he went out to get sandwiches for lunch, and never came back. Left your brother with all of his papers and a lot of questions."

"And that's when he came to you?"

"Yes. You and your team were up at Tehachapi on that field exercise, or I imagine he would have asked you to find out who in the Air Force he should report this to. When I contacted them, they refused to let me tell anyone else what was going on." A grimace appeared briefly. "Your brother was not happy about that."

A few odd things Charlie had recently said – or rather not said – came to mind. They hadn't seemed important at the time, but now they made sense. He'd been avoiding Don, probably feeling guilty because he thought he was working behind his brother's back. Don knew how it was, though. Secrecy was secrecy. When you got caught up in it, you accepted the rules. He made a mental note to tell Charlie it was okay. "But they handed it back to us anyway?"

"While AFOSI has some training in handling kidnapping cases, they tend to be more oriented to the military or political abductions that take place in foreign countries. We have a unit dedicated to it – we handle more cases in a month than they see in a year, or two years. They want Rosemont back, so they did the smart thing and asked us in. In the meantime, Dr. Eppes continued to work on the material Dr. Rosemont left with him, to try to determine if there was something there that could be a motive."

"Did he come up with anything?" asked Megan.

"He called and asked me to come out to CalSci to look at his conclusions." He glared at Don. "As soon as he's eligible, you get your brother to replace his drivers' license."

In spite of seriousness of the situation, the corner of Don's mouth quirked up in a grin. So even Merrick had joined the orbit of people who revolved around his brother's sun – Charlie at the center, everything he needed coming to him. "What did he say?"

"I never found out," answered Merrick. "That was Tuesday, and when I got there, he'd been attacked."

Only two days ago? "Any leads on the kidnapping?"

"Rosemont is at L.A. General. Whoever this is tried to drain him of everything he knew. We think they were only partially successful – he had a heart attack, and they dumped him on a hospital doorstep."

"Considerate of them," inserted Don, "seeing what they did to Charlie."

"It could be that they're on a deadline now," Merrick said. "Whatever it is that they need, it could be getting more urgent."

"Or it's when this got personal," suggested Megan. "Say they learned Charlie was involved from the scientist and recognized his name. They remembered some past contact with you, Don, that didn't turn out for them, and when Charlie didn't deliver either, they may have taken their past rage with you out on him."

"So it is my fault he got hurt."

Merrick shook his head. "Yours, your brother's, Rosemont's, mine – assigning blame isn't going to catch these people."

"Right." Don straightened in his chair at the reminder. "Did you find out what they wanted with the scientist? Did he survive?"

"He's alive, but he's in about the same condition as your brother." Merrick got up and paced to the window. "Not that any of us would understand what Rosemont was doing anyway, but he hasn't been able to talk to us enough for us to figure out just what the kidnappers wanted. And from what your brother said when he called, there was a flaw in Rosemont's reasoning. He wouldn't tell me over the phone what the end product was, only that what they were doing wasn't right, which could mean anything from a simple math mistake to ethical objections to the entire project." He rubbed at his forehead. "Not that I would expect him to give that kind of detail except in person."

Don glanced at Megan. "And it looks like he doesn't remember now."

"Or he wouldn't talk about it because of the classification of the project. If he knows that we're in the loop, though, he might tell us more."

"I'm hoping we don't have to bother him," Merrick said. "Did you come up with anything from the information on the laptop?"

Don shook his head. "A lot of information, but nothing fits. I don't want to bother Charlie, either; but if his memory is holding the key . . ."

Merrick stood up. "Go over the information again; measure it against what you know now. If you have to go talk with your brother, we'll arrange it."

"Rosemont might know something, though." Megan shifted in her chair, trying to get more comfortable. "Sir, it wouldn't be out of character for Don to insist on working this case in whatever capacity you'd let him. A visit to the hospital to check on David and talk to the professor who'd just been working with his dead brother would work. You'd allow him to do that much because you wouldn't expect it to pan out into anything, and it would let him bury himself in work while he waited for his father to get in touch."

Don shot her a glance at the burying himself comment, but had to agree with her assessment. "It might be more help than anyone would think if Rosemont and I could compare notes. I might pick something up from his descriptions that someone else interviewing him wouldn't."

"Colby could go talk with the local AFOSI office," Megan suggested. "See if they'll talk to him in person."

Merrick smiled ever so slightly. "It's handy having former active duty on the payroll."

"Yeah," Don said. "They might open up to him a bit more than one of us, or at least if they give off any unusual signals, he'll pick them up."

"Agent Reeves, you'll act as Agent Eppes' bodyguard. He's still a target."

"Yes, sir," she said, and they both rose.

"Be careful," Merrick said.

Don nodded, accepting the directive as both an order and a mark of concern. "We'll be in touch."