Chapter Nine
While David Ballard was waiting to board a plane out of the state, he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.
Whirling around he found a 9mm pistol pointed at his face with a young FBI agent looking at him angerily.
"David Ballard, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Special Agent Don Eppes, and Professor Charles Eppes." Colby said.
David turned and was about to run but he was stopped with a knee to his stomach.
"Bad move Ballard." Megan said as she landed on top of him and quickly cuffed him.
"How'd you find me?" David asked as he was roughly pulled to his feet.
"Your car. We got the lisence plate, found out you were the owner, and then checked with the students at Cal Sci. Seems quite a number of students remember you were there when you shot at Charlie that night." Megan said.
David rolled his eyes, but that earned him a shove by Colby.
"If either Don or Charlie die, I will see to it that you are put away for your natural life." Colby said through clentched teeth as he lead David Ballard outside to the patrol car.
Actually, finding David as fast as they had, had been a stroke of luck.
Since he had recently bought the car, they didn't have to dig much to find the records, then there was the trip to CalSci.
At first no one had recognized the car, but then one girl stepped forward and admitted seeing the car the night Charlie was shot at.
She also admitted seeing a man, carrying a breifcase jump out of a tree, get into the car and drive off.
With that information, it had taken only minutes to see if the car was David's.
After confirming their suspicions, they had ordered everyone to watch the airports and bus terminals, knowing that he would want to leave the country as soon as possible.
Finding him at the local airport was also another stroke of luck on Megan's part.
She and Colby had searched everywhere and asked around.
They had been just about to leave when Megan had spotted David, sitting on a couch reading the newspaper.
When David rose up to board his plane, Megan and Colby followed him.
They had stopped him just as he had handed his ticket to the airport worker.
After the police car sped away, Colby rejoined Megan in the FBI Chevy Trail Blazer.
"Any word on Don?" Colby asked.
"No. I tried to call Mr. Eppes, but he's not answering the phone, and I'm not even about to try the hospital." Megan replied.
"Well, let's swing by there on our way to the office." Colby suggested.
Megan thought about Colby's suggestion, decided it had merit and furthermore, decided that she would do just that.
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A low moan signaled that Don was slowly waking up.
With great effort Don opened his eyes and lazily looked around the room.
He quickly spotted his father sitting in a chair, snoring softly, but what slightly worried Don was that he didn't see Charlie!
Glancing at his father, Don whispered, "Dad...Dad.."
Alan Eppes woke with a start and smiled when he saw that at least one of his son's was awake!
"Donny!" Alan said happily as he gazed lovingly at his son.
"Dad..where's Charlie?" Don whispered.
At the mention of Charlie, Alan's face fell.
Don could tell from the way Alan avoided his gaze, that something was seriously wrong.
"Dad?" Don asked.
"Your brother was shot. He's in surgury right now so the doctors can repair what they can, but...they don't hold out much hope that he will survive." Alan said sadly.
Don just stared at his father in silence.
In a million years, Don had never expected to hear those words from his father's lips.
Closing his eyes, Don mourned.
He mourned for Charlie, and beat himself up over the fact that he had failed Charlie.
He had failed to keep his young, innocent brother safe, and now Charlie was fighting a battle for his life...and losing.
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A/N: Thank you all for being so patient with me.
I really didn't mean for it to take this long to get this chapter out, but here it is at last.
Injoy!