I don't own any of the characters from Numb3rs. Please don't sue.
CHAPTER ONE
He was lost in thought as he pulled into the driveway. It was just past midnight after an extended book club meeting that had taken place across town.. Wearily, he opened the front door and tossed his keys onto the table before hanging his jacket up. So many things had changed in the past three years. So many changes and not all of them for the best. Tomorrow would mark the three year anniversary of her departure from their lives. Three years and the gaping hole in his heart had not come close to being healed.
Alan sighed and headed up the stairs, making a mental note that Charlie was not home yet. His youngest was probably with his brother at FBI headquarters. This latest case seemed to be keeping
Morning brought forth the ache in his heart that he knew would. A trip to the cemetery was in order and he wanted to get some fresh flowers to place at her grave.
Morning rituals completed, Alan took a load of laundry out to the garage to throw into the washer before he left for his outing. He would put them over into the dryer when he returned. He was about to turn the washer on when he noticed something odd behind one of Charlie's chalk boards. It looked like his son had hidden something back there and tossed a sheet over the object to cover it up. Normally this wouldn't seem off to him, however there was something on the sheet that looked a lot like a blood stain. So help him, if one of his sons had been hurt and failed to tell him about it again, there would be the devil to pay. .
Alan pulled the board out of his way, bending to pick the sheet up for closer examination and let out a startled cry as he was met by the sight of a girl. An unconscious girl that looked like she had been beaten and Lord knew what else. His plans for the morning were changed as he rushed to call 911 and then place a call to a certain FBI agent that he was rather fond of, if not often exasperated by.
Alan decided that Don must have sprouted wings and flown as fast as he and Megan arrived. The police and EMTs had only pulled up moments before.
"Dad, what happened? Are you alright?" Don demanded.
"Yes. Yes. I'm fine. I was just startled to find someone hiding in the garage. That poor girl. I hope she makes it. She looks pretty bad off.
"She was hiding? Is anything missing?"
"No. Nothing is missing. The only damage done was the sheet she was hidden under. It is stained with her blood. This is very upsetting. Who would want to hurt someone like that?" Alan then looked around and nodded a belated greeting to Megan before he asked Don where his brother was.
"Back at the office. He's close to finishing up the equation that we hope will crack this case. I told him that I would call him as soon as I knew what was going on here."
"Don, I'm going to take a look, see if I can help." Megan Reeves headed into the garage. She approached the emergency response team and introduced herself. "How's she doing guys?"
"Numerous contusions and abrasions, GSW in the upper left arm, went straight through. Shock and blood loss are the real issues right now. The paramedic answered her question. "So, why are the feds responding to this, if I may be so bold?"
"This is the home of one of our agent's family. We have a special interest in finding out what happened here." She smiled at him. "Does she have any ID on her?"
"Negative. Pockets are empty."
"Has she been conscious at all?"
"I Hate to keep disappointing you Agent Reeves, but I do have to give you a negative on that one as well."
Megan grinned. This one was doing his best to flirt with her. "How long before you guys are ready to transport?"
"Maybe five minutes. Then we'll take her over to Community General. Will you be coming with us?"
"Maybe." She was noncommittal. Taking in the scene, she noted the girl to be in her late teens, early twenties. Ash blond hair, very pretty. This was someone's child and Megan vowed to herself to find out where she belonged and who had committed this inhumane act. Walking back outside, she saw her partner hovering while Alan was giving a statement to the local police. "Don, I'm going to ride in with the vic. She might regain consciousness on the ride in. If not, I can at least get prints and try to find out who she is."
Don looked carefully at his partner's face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to find out what happened to this kid that she ended up here in a stranger's garage instead of getting medical attention. I'm thinking that the monster that she's hiding from must rank as pretty scary if she'd rather bleed to death than go somewhere that she might be found."
"All good questions. Let's see if we can find some answers." He glanced back to Alan who was still speaking with the police officer. "I'll meet you there as soon as they finish up here."
Megan nodded and proceeded into the ambulance where the medic was waiting for her. Don watched as the vehicle took off down the street with flashing lights and sirens.
Two hours later, Don found Megan in the waiting room of the OR. She seemed distracted as he approached.
"Hey, any word on the girl yet?"
"She's in surgery for the GSW as well removal of her spleen. Don, this attack was vicious , very personal. She woke for a minute on the ride in."
"She say anything?"
"Not in words, but she's terrified Don. Maybe she witnessed something, knows something, I have a feeling that whoever did this will want to finish what they started. She needs to be protected."
"Based on what, Agent Reeves?" Don questioned.
"Call it intuition. This girl is still in danger. She needs help."
"OK, we'll put a guard on her, she's in protective custody as of now. Let's solve the mystery as to who she is and go from there. I need to get back to the office, see what Charlie's come up with."
"I'll stay here until someone can relieve me." Megan gave an appreciative nod to her partner. "Thanks."
"See you back at the office."
Chapter Two
"Hey, Don. Is Dad alright?" Charlie looked up as his brother entered the office.
"Yeah, he's fine. Hell of a day for all of this drama. He was headed over to the cemetery."
A sadness crossed Charlie's features before he continued. "Do you know who the girl is yet?"
"Not yet. Megan seems to think that she must have witnessed something big for her to have been hiding out in some garage instead of getting herself to the nearest hospital for help. I'm going to check and see what kind of police activity was going down in the area yesterday evening when we think this would have happened. How are doing?"
"I handed off my findings to Colby and David, they're running names against the files right now."
Don sighed as he opened the folder that had been placed into the box on his desk while they were gone. "She's so young."
Charlie glanced over his brother's shoulder at the photograph that pictured the victim and all of the vivid bruises. "Hey Don, I know this girl."
"What? Charlie, are you sure?"
"Yes. She's a student at CalSci. Doctoral candidate in Physics. Larry and I have both had her in classes over the past few years. Her name is Sasha Mancini."
"Mancini. Do you know anything about her? Where she lives, who she hangs out with?"
"She has a friend that I always see her with, Robin Garner. I think her family is local, although she really never speaks about them. I always get the impression that she was afraid of something."
"Does she have a boyfriend, one that might be abusive? Maybe he could have done this."
"I've never seen her with a guy. But that doesn't mean anything. I don't keep track of my student's personal lives."
Don seemed to be lost in thought. "Mancini. I wonder if she's any relation to Francesco Mancini?" He booted up his computer as his cell phone began to ring."Eppes."
It was Megan, "Don all hell just broke loose. This girl, her father just stormed the place with about a dozen of his enforcers. It's -"
"Don't tell me, Francesco Mancini. I'm on my way." Don picked up his coat and made his way to the elevators. "Charlie, thanks for your help. I'll hook up with you later."
By the time he arrived at the hospital, the waiting room looked like a police convention. Don spotted Megan faced off with Mancini himself. He smirked when he heard what she was saying to the crime lord.
"Mr. Mancini. I understand that you are concerned for your daughter's welfare. Right now, she is still in surgery and in also in protective custody. In case you have forgotten someone beat her pretty severely and shot her."
"I understood you the first three times that you explain this, Agent Reeves. However, I need to remind you that this is my family and I am more than capable of hiring protection for my daughter." Mancini fumed.
"Yes sir, I understand that. What you don't seem to comprehend is the fact that this is an open investigation. I don't care how many rent-a-cops you employee, the bureau will keep your daughter in custody until she gives her formal statement and her safety is no longer in question."
"I will be arranging for my daughter to be moved to a private hospital as soon as possible."
"You feel free to do so Mr. Mancini. We will still have agents on her."
Mancini looked like he was about to continue the argument, however, he signaled two of his men to stay in place and retreated with the other ten, stating his intentions of returning after he spoke with his lawyers.
"Thanks for the back up there, Eppes." Megan commented as Don moved closer.
"Hey, from where I was standing, it was Mancini that needed the back up." He smiled. "Any word on the girl's condition?"
"She's in recovery. Doctor says we should be able to speak with her in a couple of hours."
"What I want to know is how he found her so fast. She was listed as Jane Doe. The only way I found out how she was so fast is because Charlie saw her picture and identified her. She is one of his and Larry's students. Doctoral candidate."
"Another child genius. What do they put in the water at that particular university?" Megan joked. "So, I'm thinking we should move her to a safer location. One where Daddy dear doesn't know how to get to her. Then we figure out what the hell is going on."
"Any ideas on how to make that happen?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
Even though the hospital had never had such a request before, they cooperated and made the transfer in less than an hour. Before she was even out of the general anesthesia, Sasha Mancini was settled into a highly secure location with a medical staff that was very competent. Megan sat at her side waiting for signs of consciousness and smiled as the brown eyes of her young charge did open. Eyes that were full of confusion and pain.
"It's okay. You're safe." Megan assured her.
"Who are you? Do you work for him?" It was a pained whisper.
"I'm Megan Reeves with the FBI. I know you're hurting, but I need to know what happened. Why were you hiding out in the Eppes' garage? Did you know that you could possibly bleed to death internally from the beating you had taken?"
"I heard them arguing. Went to break it up – they're always fighting about something. Francesco, he's always so full of rage."
"Sasha, who was he fighting with? One of your father's associates? Your mother?"
Megan thought she heard a slightly bitter laugh. "She's not my mother. That's what they were fighting about this time. It turns out that Samantha Mancini stole me from my parents when I was a baby." Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes."They were arguing about how to get rid of me."
"Sasha, are you saying that Francesco Mancini did this to you?"
"Francesco wanted to kill me. Samantha, she was trying to convince him not to. My father – Francesco is a very powerful man. I didn't know where to go. He's kind of untouchable, you know? I don't know what I was thinking, maybe I was starting to loose touch with reality a little bit. I remembered that Dr. Eppes had a brother with the FBI and I went to wait for him, to see if he could help me, but he never came home."
"It's okay Sasha. You did the right thing." Megan gave her a smile of encouragement. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to get your finger prints and run them against the missing persons data base." Sasha nodded her consent. "In the mean time, you're safe here. Even Francesco Mancini couldn't get into this hospital. You have my word. Alright?"
"Thank you."
"Get some rest."
Chapter Three
"Man, this case just keeps weirder and weirder." David commented as Megan revealed what she had learned from Sasha
"You haven't heard the best part yet." Charlie grinned.
"Well, the best part, as Charlie so aptly puts it, is this. Sasha Mancini was kidnapped eighteen years ago by Julia Stevens, AKA, Samantha Mancini. When we ran Sasha's prints, and Charlie don't get me started on your issues with fingerprinting, okay? We found that they were a match to a missing child by the name of Sasha Terrinova. Parents are Cruz and Katherine Terrinova." Don explained.
"Cruz Terrinova being the director of CX-5, a special ops branch of the CIA." Colby expounded on Don's information.
"Yeah, that's a phone call that I never want to have to make again." Don rolled his eyes.
"Statistically speaking, the odds of you having to make a phone call of such a nature again are -"
"Spare me the statistics Charlie." Don groused. "It turns out that Francesco didn't know that Stevens had abducted Sasha when they hooked up. He only found out recently what she had done and each time Sasha's accomplishments would make news in the academic community, he would become more and more nervous about being found out. The last straw was Sasha's win of the Norman Nitzberg award in experimental Physics. Turns out it's a big deal and made national news. Francesco went nuts and tried to kill her."
"We're getting warrants for Samantha Mancini on kidnapping charges and Francesco Mancini on attempted murder. Sasha will be reunited with her real family by the end of the day." Megan was happy to have been able to help the girl.
"Yes. And this time you didn't need my help. I think I feel neglected." Charlie laughed.
"Hey sometimes we feds can manage to crack a case without the local math genius. Just don't get used to getting off so easily." Don informed his brother.
Except things didn't go off quite as easily as they had expected. Francesco and Samantha had disappeared before the warrants could be executed. Sasha had been taken by her parents to Santa Barbara and was being kept in seclusion until the Mancinis could be found. Three weeks went by before Mancini made an appearance and when he did, it was at the CalSci campus in the office of one Charles Eppes.
"Larry, you and Amita need to leave now." Charlie instructed as Mancini and two of his enforcers entered the room.
"Not so fast Professor. I think that your guests need to stay for a little longer." Mancini picked Charlie's cell phone up from the edge of his desk. "I need for you to make a phone call Dr. Eppes. Dial your brother's office. Tell him that he has two hours to bring my daughter here to me or all three of you will die."
"Eppes."
"Don."
"Charlie, what's going on? We're kind of busy here." Don sounded distracted.
"Don, Francesco Mancini is here in my office. He requests that you bring Sasha here within two hours."
"Charlie, are you alone with him?" Don was no longer distracted.
"No. No, Larry and Amita are here as well. Mr. Mancini has two associates with him. Don, if Sasha isn't here within the two hour time frame, we will die."
"Charlie – Charlie!" Don shouted into the phone. He was desperate to hear his brother's voice, but the line was dead.
Less than thirty minutes later, the campus was empty, except for the swat teams and snipers that surrounded the math building and of course the six people that waited inside of Charlie's office. No one had spoken since the phone call. The two enforcers stood beside the door, each with a gun in their hands, waiting for orders from their boss. Mancini himself had not taken his eyes off of the CalSci trio since he had entered the building.
"Mr. Mancini," Charlie began, "What do you hope to accomplish with this stand off? Surely you realize that the FBI will not bring Sasha here. They would not endanger her life that way."
"I think they will. You see, you have family that would do anything to keep you safe. I gave your brother instructions and I expect that he will follow them. If not, the next bullet will end your life."
Mancini raised his gun and fired.
Charlie felt the white hot pain and had the sensation of falling. He thought he heard Amita scream before darkness took him. Larry quickly moved to his colleague's side and removed his jacket to use it to stop the bleeding.
Mancini pulled the cell phone from his pocket that he had taken from Charlie earlier and redialed Don's number.
"Eppes." Don barked into the phone.
"Maybe you weren't paying attention when your brother called you earlier agent. I want my daughter brought here now."
"Tell me who's dead Mancini" Don demanded. "I heard the gunshot."
"No one.Yet. However, if Sasha isn't inside of this room within the hour, the next bullet that I put into your brother will kill him."
"Let me send the medics in to get him Mancini."
"You're not paying attention, agent. As soon as I have my daughter, you can have your brother and his friends back." He cut the connection.
"Damn it!" Don cursed as Megan demanded to know what was going on.
"That bastard shot Charlie." Even as he said the words, his head shook in denial. Don let himself indulge in a moment of self pity before taking a deep breath to regain his composure. "Red two this is read one." Don spoke into the headset that he wore.
"Red one this is red two. Don, I'm in position." Colby reported from his perch inside the ventilation system above Charlie's office duct. He held in his hand a bottle of fast acting sedative that, once released into the air, would render everyone inside of the office unconscious for at least sixty seconds, giving David and his team time to get inside of the office and subdue the three gunmen so that they could get the hostages out without any more gunfire.
"Red three are you in position?" Don questioned.
"We're ready when you give the order." David replied.
Don took a deep breath and said a silent prayer before giving the order. "Red two and three execute."
He and Megan entered the building right behind David's team. Mancini and his two enforcers were removed in record time. Don wasted no time in locating his brother while Megan checked on Amita and Larry who were both already regaining consciousness.
"Charlie, Charlie, can you hear me? Come on buddy, open your eyes." Don gently patted his brother's cheek. "Come on Chuck. Time to wake up."
"Don." It was a whisper. "Donnie, it hurts." Charlie moaned in pain.
"I know buddy. I know, but you've got to stay awake for me. Come on. Talk to me."
"Can't Don." His eyes were already closing.
"Yes. Yes you can. Tell me about something you're working on. Your new thing – the brain emergence thingy."
Charlie almost laughed, but it hurt too much. "Don't make me laugh Don. No fair."
"Yeah, well, it's not fair that you're trying to take a nap when we need you to stay awake either."
Don smiled down at him.
"Sir, Sir, you need to let us help him." The paramedics were moving in to help. Don watched as vitals were taken, oxygen and IV were administered, and pressure bandages were placed over entrance and exit wounds. Charlie stayed awake during all of this. Don snapped out of his revere when they started to roll Charlie from the room and he quickly dialed his father's number. "Hey, Pop. We've got the hostages out. - Charlie, well, he's been shot. They're taking him to Mercy General. - Dad, he's gonna be okay. He's awake and he was talking to me before the medics started working on him. - Yeah, I'll meet you there. I'm going to ride with him. Drive careful."
Three weeks later Sasha Terrinova made her second appearance at the Eppes home. Alan smiled as he admitted her into their house.
"Well, you look much better than the last time that I saw you." He grinned. " I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Alan Eppes. Don and Charlie's father."
"Sasha Terrinova." She returned the smile and shook his hand. " I wanted to thank you and your sons while I was back in town. I can never thank you enough for helping me that day."
"Well, we're just glad that you're safe and that you're back with your true family." Don voiced his opinion.
"So, CalSci is losing one of it's top scholars." Charlie noted.
"Yes. I need to be with my family right now. I will go back to school next semester, but right now I need to get to know my parents and my brother and sisters better. - I'm sorry that Francesco shot you, Professor."
"It's not your fault, Sasha. And thanks to a crack team of FBI agents that I know, we all got out of that situation alive."
"Young lady, would you care to stay for dinner?" Alan invited. "My sons and I would be happy for the company, unless you have other plans for the evening."
"That would be nice Mr. Eppes. I would love to have dinner with three of the heroes that gave me my life back." She gracefully accepted.
"Well, give me a minute and I'm sure that I can get Megan over here as well. I know she'd like to see how well you're doing." Don began to dial her number.
"Professor Eppes, my father, my real father, Cruz, he wanted to know if you would ever consider consulting for the CIA sometime." Sasha questioned.
"You'd better tell your father that Charlie has his hands full consulting with the FBI. I think we'll be keeping him pretty busy on cases for a while." Don was quick to answer for his brother.
Charlie just rolled his eyes at that one.
Alan sat and watched the interaction of the younger people in the room, thinking back to that day in the garage three weeks ago. He had been so depressed about how things had changed since Margret had passed. The truth was that things had changed and most of them were for the good. If his wife was still here, maybe Charlie wouldn't have purchased the home that they lived in. Sasha wouldn't have had a place to hide out that night. Mancini probably would have been able to kill her. She would have never known about the parents that had searched for her all those years, the brother and sisters that she now had to bond with.
He was so proud of his family. So very proud.
The End
thanks for reading.