Chapter Eleven: Unprecedented Trepidation

Don was gripping the phone so hard his knuckles were white. Somehow he had just managed to convince Alan that he needed to stay home in case Charlie called. He had spared his father the exact details of Charlie's disappearance, but he was unable to mask the anxiety in his voice.

"How bad is this, Donnie?"

"Dad….."

"I want the truth."

"Its pretty bad."

"Can you find him?"

"I'm going to try."

"This isn't your fault, Son. You've blamed yourself for..."

Before his father could finish Don had hung up. He couldn't let his father forgive him. Not yet. So soon and so easily. Not until this was over.

Don got up from his desk when he saw David walk out of the interrogation room. He and Megan were showing the witnesses mug-shots and surveillance photos of everyone they thought might be involved with the Sandoval family.

"We got a hit, Don."

"Tell me."

"Ricardo Estevez. Just did thirty-six months in San Quentin for aggravated assault. He's been out about twelve weeks. He didn't report to his P.O. on Thursday morning. We've put out a BOLO with his description to local hospitals."

Don looked at the mug-shot.

"The bleeding blond guy?"

David nodded.

The picture showed a large, muscular man in his early thirties. Hair looked like a dye job. Fierce grey eyes stared out of the photo. Don shuttered as he imagined Charlie trying to take this guy on.

Not just this guy, Don reminded himself, the witnesses said three.

What did they say to him? For Charlie to have panicked to the point where he would physically attack three men that he didn't stand a chance against? What would it take for him to do that? Surely he had believed he was fighting for his life.

Don's phone rang. He gave David a somber smile.

"Dad really wanted to come in here. I told him it wasn't a good idea. Hold on a second."

He grabbed the receiver.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ready to negotiate now, Agent Eppes?"

At the sound of the voice on the phone, any fear or guilt that Don had been feeling quickly dissolved and was immediately replaced with unyielding, furious anger.

"WHERE IS HE YOU SON OF A BITCH?"

Ramón Sandoval spoke in a calm and authoritative tone. His voice was completely impassive.

"Now, now. Don't get hostile. We would have called sooner, but the professor had some issues he wasn't willing to drop. It took a while to work them out. But he is reasonably docile now."

Don recalled the scene at Charlie's office. How much of that blood was his brothers?

"What did you do to him? Put him on the phone, let me talk to him."

Ramón continued with his response not waiting for Don to finish.

"He wasn't very obliging when we invited him to come and stay. One of my associates was a little upset with his lack of cooperation. Then when he tried to leave the party early, well, I'm afraid tempers got a little out of check. I don't believe there is any permanent damage, but he's really not able to talk at the moment."

Don was breathing hard, trying to fight off the burning sensation that had just crash landed in his gut. If this bastard really wasn't going to let him talk to Charlie, surely that could only mean one thing. Suddenly Don had to hear his brother's voice. He had to know that Charlie was still alive.

"You put Charlie on that phone right now or I swear to God I will walk into Diego's holding cell and put a bullet between his eyes. Put my brother on the phone!"

"Agent Eppes!"

Ramón's tone changed completely. His nonchalant, apathetic manner vanished and was quickly replaced with one of indisputable menace.

"Making non-consequential threats will get us nowhere! I know the law Agent. Harming my brother when he is in your custody will only turn your laws against you. I know how things work. You cannot harm your prisoners. I, on the other hand, can and I quite frequently do."

Behind Ramón's words, Don could hear scuffling followed by a loud whimper of pain.

Charlie.

What are you doing?"

The whimper grew louder.

"Stop hurting him!"

Don heard a loud gasp and then Charlie screamed.

Ramón continued his tirade over Charlie's howl of pain.

"There! Now you know he is alive. I'm afraid I still can't allow him to speak with you, but I can let you hear him scream."

The sound cut through Don like a knife and he felt as if he, himself would die before that scream would end.

"STOP IT! GOD DAMN IT….STOP!"

The scream abruptly ended followed by a soft sob.

Ramón spoke again. His cool and collected manner had returned.

"Was it worth it Agent Eppes? That's what you wanted to hear yes? He's a little more…..uncomfortable now, thanks to you, but he is still alive. How long do you want him to stay that way?"

Don let out the breath he did not know he was holding and he lowered himself back into his chair. The audible tremor of defeat in his voice was unmistakable.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I WANT my brother back, Agent Epps. And based on your reaction, I think its safe to assume that you would like to see yours again as well. I want you to work something out. You have six hours."

Don leaned forward in his chair.

"That isn't enough time to process a prisoner release. I can't just……"

But the line was dead.

He put his left elbow on his desk and ran his hand through his hair. His set the phone receiver down slowly, staring at it as if it could tell him something, anything, that he needed to know right now. Don started banging his right fist on the desk repetitively, resisting the urge to hurl the phone across the room. His anger and frustration quickly evolved to a rolling boil. With a shout of unqualified rage, Don stood and kicked his chair across the room and into the wall.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

The entire bullpen was completely still. Megan stood in the door, her hands firmly grasped together. David stood unmoving next to the desk and Colby was standing in the hallway. Nothing moved. No one spoke.

A ringing phone from across the room broke the spell of silence and instigated the return of speech and movement.

"There wasn't enough time for trace. Don? What happened?"

Colby was talking to him. What was he saying? Words didn't seem to mean anything right now. All he could hear was his own heart beating loudly in his ears.

"Don, we need to know what he said. We didn't get the call."

Megan was talking now.

Why were they talking to him? Don suddenly felt light headed.

NO…I am not going to pass out.

He leaned against his desk and lowered his head, trying to breathe deeply. When David grabbed his shoulder, he jumped as if he had been hit with an electric current. Don felt his anger dissolving.

Every abduction recovery he had ever participated in played through his mind, the faces of every victim still sketched in his memory.

Fear, uncertainty and the first hand experience of how these situations can end knocked him off his feet and Don found himself kneeling on the floor next to his desk, surrounded by the three stunned members of his team.

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Authors Notes: Please, Please continue to let me know what you think.

Thank you for all of your comments thus far!

Next Chapter Unfathomable Acceptance