Chapter Twenty-Five
Don opened his eyes slowly and looked around in mild confusion. He was obviously in a hospital so he must have been injured, probably on the job. At least for the moment that is all his sluggish mind would register.
He turned his head slightly to the right and saw his father sitting in a recliner reading a booklet entitled Post Sternotomy Wound Care.
'What is that all about?'
He turned his head to the left and saw Charlie sitting right next to him with his eyes closed. Don got the distinct impression that he wasn't asleep, just resting his eyes. He looked terrible. He had dark circles under his eyes and he seemed paler than he should be. Don noticed the bandage that was peeking out from under the collar of his shirt and felt a pang of concern and perhaps guilt.
A not so dull pain in his own chest flared as he tried to move and he brought his hand up to his chest. Charlie was startled by the movement because he had been resting his hand over his brother's and he opened his eyes and focused on Don's face.
Don felt the bandaging on his chest and his eyes opened wide as the memories from the afternoon came flooding back to him.
Charlie saw the shock register in his brother's face and stood quickly over him. "Don, it's ok; you're safe now."
Alan came over to his oldest son, placing a gentle hand on his brow. "Charlie's right, Donnie, it's over now. That woman is in custody; she'll never hurt anyone again."
"Custody? She's not…"
Don looked at Charlie. He thought he had heard a gun shot. He was sure that he had.
"No, she's not dead."
Don remembered the last thing he had said to his brother before he passed out. Had he reached him? He couldn't read the look in Charlie's eyes but there was something there, uncertainty, relief, shame. He didn't really know, but he knew they would need to talk about this.
"Charlie, stay with your brother. I'm going to go and get the doctor." Before Alan left the room he bent down and kissed Don's forehead. When he stood up again he looked as though he would start to cry but he only smiled warmly at his son and turned to leave.
Don watched as his father crossed the room and disappeared through the door. He knew that his family had come very close to losing him today and those emotions showed clearly in the older man's eyes. He looked back at Charlie who had taken a seat again in the chair next to the bed.
"Are you all right, Buddy?"
Charlie let out a harsh laugh and looked incredulously at Don. "Are you joking? Don, I'm not the one who was nearly butchered by that woman. I should be asking you that question."
Don didn't say anything for a moment as he studied his brother's features. Charlie was not looking him in the eye. He was avoiding the question and talking around it. He wasn't ok with any of this, how could he be?
"Charlie, you know what I mean. Are you all right?"
Charlie still wouldn't look Don in the eyes but tears began to well up. He sat back in his chair and looked away from his brother. Don reached out his hand and took Charlie's in his own. When Charlie spoke it was almost a whisper.
"I almost lost you today. It's what I have feared ever since this whole thing started. I've been angry for so long; ever since Jon; and now…
…now I don't know what I'm feeling."
Don squeezed his brother's hand and Charlie finally turned to face him. His eyes were shining with unshed tears.
"I just need some time to come to terms with everything that happened; we both do."
"You're right Buddy. We both need some time." Don smiled at his younger brother and said, "Thank you."
Charlie looked quizzically at him. For a genius, his brother could be really thick sometimes.
"For saving my life. Charlie, my hero."
Don chuckled slightly at his quip and regretted it immediately as a hot pain burned his chest. He let go of Charlie's hand and brought both of his own up to the bandage on his chest just as Alan and the doctor both walked into the room.
The look of pain on Don's face brought both men over to the bed quickly. The doctor took a small flat pillow and lifting Don's hands he placed it against his chest.
"When you want to sit up, roll, cough or sneeze use this pillow. What you do is hug it to your chest to apply direct pressure over the wound to help with pain as the chest muscles strain."
Don laid his head back against the bed as he clutched the chest pillow to his torso. "Thanks doc."
The intensity of the pain eased up quickly and Don relaxed his grip on the chest pillow. The doctor removed the pillow and pulled the gown that Don had on up exposing the bandage over his chest wound. He examined the edges of the bandage before lifting the top edge of the bandaging material to examine the actual wound.
"If you had to rate your pain on a scale of one to ten with ten being unbearable, what would you rate your pain at right now?"
Don thought about that for a moment. At the moment while he wasn't trying to move the pain was there but bearable. "I'd have to say about a four or a five."
The doctor frowned slightly and checked the wound again. "Mr. Eppes, if the pain gets up around a six or seven I want you to tell the nursing staff, any higher than that and I want to be informed. For right now I will get you some mild pain medication. For the next twenty four hours, you need to remain flat on your back. I will come in and check the wound regularly. If you have no problems and the pain management works then you may be able to go home on Saturday. That is if we have no complications."
Don liked the sound of going home but he didn't like the way the doctor said 'if we have no complications'
"What kind of complications are you talking about?"
"My biggest concern at the moment is infection. You sustained your wound in less than sterile conditions and non-sterilized equipment was used. If you have a dramatic increase in pain that could be an indication that an infection has set in. So don't even think about being stoic. If you are in pain I want to know about it."
Don nodded his head in understanding and promised not to be a butt-headed male. After a few more minutes of being poked and prodded and thoroughly examined by this doctor Don had hit a wall where exhaustion was concerned. The pain medication that the doctor had promised was brought in by one of the nurses and injected directly into his IV.
Don was beyond tired, his body had been so thoroughly traumatized and coupled with the surgical repair of his injuries, the after effects of the anesthesia and now the pain medication for his incision he closed his eyes for a moment and before anyone realized it he had fallen asleep.
Dr. Hammell told Alan and Charlie that Don would probably sleep through the night and sent them home. It was passed visiting hours and he was still mildly concerned about Charlie. He had donated nearly two pints of blood which had saved his brother's life but that is enough blood to have put an enormous strain on the young mans own system. He instructed Alan to make sure that Charlie drank some orange juice and got a solid night's sleep.
They were surprised to see Colby standing out in the hallway when they left Don's room.
"Hey, Colby, what are you doing here at this hour?" Charlie asked.
His mind immediately jumped to all of the worst case possibilities; like Shelly had escaped custody and was out there waiting for a chance to finish Don off. Charlie suddenly had no desire to leave the hospital and wanted to stay right here with Don.
"How's Don doing?"
Alan stepped closer to move out of the way of a nurse pushing a cart down the hall.
"He's sleeping now, but the doctor thinks he might be able to go home on Saturday. Did you bring my car?"
Charlie who had been staring intently at Colby waiting for some sort of bad news relaxed a little. He had forgotten that Megan had driven their father and Larry to the hospital. He had taken his father's car that afternoon and the last time he had seen it; it was still parked outside of the math building at Cal Sci. Larry had left with Megan after they had received word that Don was coming out of recovery and being moved to a private room. He wanted to let the family have some time alone and promised to come by the hospital in the morning.
"Actually your car is back at your place. I'm here to give you gents a ride home."
Charlie wondered why he hadn't just brought Alan's car, but he supposed it didn't really matter. He did want to know what had happened with Shelly and once they gained the privacy of the elevator he turned to Colby with a stare that clearly stated 'Don't give me any BS.'
"What happened with Shelly Arbury?"
Colby shifted uncomfortably. He could see that Charlie wasn't going to back down without a satisfactory answer.
"She was treated at Pasadena General for the gunshot wounds. David's bullet went right through her hand. It broke three of the bones in it but the doctors figure that she will recover with full use because it was a clean through and through. She had to have surgery for the wound in her shoulder. No major arteries were hit but the bone was broken pretty badly, so they had to put a plate and some screws in."
Colby looked closely at Charlie to gauge his reaction to the news that he had seriously injured this woman. His dark eyes were usually so expressive but at that moment Colby couldn't read what was behind them. He wouldn't blame Charlie at all if he felt contented to hear of her injuries but that was not the type of man that Charlie Eppes was. He just hoped that the young professor didn't feel guilty about shooting her. He personally would have shot her in the head and taken her out of the equation all together if he had been in Charlie's position.
"When will she be moved from the hospital to the detention facility?"
Alan raised his eyebrows at Charlie's question. For a moment he sounded like Don and that disturbed him on a deep level. Charlie wasn't an agent, he was a math teacher. He was glad to see how close his sons had become since they started working together, but his feeling that Charlie's circumstances were being forced in a different direction that what he had chosen for himself reasserted itself. He was about to say something when the elevator opened to the hospital lobby.
The three men stepped out of the elevator and Colby glanced around to make certain that no one was close enough to hear their conversation.
"That won't be at least until tomorrow. She is recovering from the surgery but the doctor says that the surgery went well and she can be incarcerated as long as she is given pain medication regularly and the prison medical staff keeps an eye on the wounds."
As they approached the front doors of the lobby that led out to the circular drive of the hospital, Colby looked around and up at the parking structure to the left before he opened the door for the Eppes men. His state of alertness was not lost on Charlie and he wondered why Colby was acting more like a bodyguard than someone who just came by to give them a ride.
When they got back to the house Charlie noticed a dark sedan parked on the other side of the street with a man sitting in the driver's seat. He was sure that it was an agent but that didn't make sense. Colby's car was parked directly in front of the house so he obviously didn't need a ride. Shelly Arbury was under guard at Pasadena General, so why was there an agent watching the house?
Once inside Charlie decided to get to the bottom of this once and for all and told Colby to take a seat. Colby was a little taken aback at the command in the young man's voice. Charlie realized that perhaps this was not the best tactic to take with Colby. He still didn't know him as well as the other agents on Don's team and decided to try a different approach.
"Colby, I'm sorry but there is something going on and I want to know what it is."
Alan who had not noticed Colby's behavior and who was so glad to be home he had not seen the sedan parked across the street looked at Charlie as if he had finally lost it.
"Charlie, what on earth are you talking about?"
Charlie looked over at his father then back at Colby. "I'm talking about the fact that we have been escorted from the hospital to home by an agent who was clearly on alert. I saw you checking the parking garage and other roof tops around the front doors of the hospital before opening the door. There is an agent parked outside on the other side of the street who is obviously watching the house. If Shelly Arbury is in custody, then why all the security?"
Colby sighed and thought that Charlie Eppes was sometimes too smart for his own good.
"Look, Charlie this is all just precautionary. Arbury had an accomplice, her cousin. She disappeared yesterday and we don't know where she is. With everything that has happened we just don't want to take any chances."
"Oh my God, you mean there is another person out there who is after the FBI?"
The alarm in Alan's voice was nothing compared to the look on his face. He thought that they could finally start putting all of this behind them and now he is finding out that there is a second killer out there who has not been apprehended yet.
"Mr. Eppes, we don't know that there is anything to be concerned about just yet. This cousin was in Virginia this afternoon and the likelihood of her getting to LA this quickly is remote. We have agents checking the airports and train stations for her. It's just that we underestimated Shelly Arbury and we don't want to make that mistake with her cousin. A little overkill where security is concerned makes sense. We didn't tell you about this because frankly, you have enough to worry about at the moment."
Charlie felt dizzy and turned to sit down at the kitchen table but nearly missed the seat of the chair. Both Alan and Colby were at his side immediately.
"I'm fine, I just got a little dizzy."
Alan went to the refrigerator and poured him a large glass of orange juice. "Drink this, Charlie. The doctor said that you might feel this way until you recovered a little more from the blood loss."
Colby looked up at Alan clearly confused by that statement. He was not aware that Charlie had been injured this afternoon.
"Charlie donated a lot of blood for Don when they got to the hospital. The doctor said that they would have Don's blood type available if it is needed by tomorrow but at the time he was brought in the only source of blood for him was Charlie."
Charlie was feeling better after drinking nearly half the juice and turned a mutinous glare upon the agent. "When did you find out about this accomplice?"
"We only discovered her involvement this afternoon. She has been working as an archive clerk at Quantico and we are pretty sure that she is the one who got Shelly Arbury's file to her. In that file there was a list of names of the trainee's who testified about Shelly during an investigation that eventually got her fired."
Colby saw that Alan was still confused and added, "Shelly Arbury was the librarian at Quantico when Don was a trainee there. She was a bit loose with the men and dated several of the trainees, but she was aggressive and intimidating enough that after a while there were complaints about her. Don knew her because he was in the library so often. She asked him out but he said no. She bothered him enough that he stopped studying in the library and when the CO asked him about her he told them what he knew and showed them a note that she had written in one of his folders. Shortly after that, the investigation wrapped up and she was dismissed. Don's name was listed as one of the trainees who testified against her."
Alan sat down at the table too and shook his head. "You mean to tell me that all of these men were murdered because she was fired from a job? That's insane!"
"I would have to agree with you, sir, but she is obviously not right upstairs considering how she murdered these men. Please try not to worry about this cousin. We are just being extra cautious until she is caught. So far there is no evidence that this person had any connection to the actual murders themselves. At this point when she is arrested she will be charged with theft of government documents and accessory to murder. She must have known what her cousin was doing with the information that she provided, but so far we still believe that Arbury acted alone in the actual murders."
Alan took the now empty glass sitting on the table in front of Charlie and stood up to put it in the sink. He turned to Colby and said, "Thank you for bringing us home, Agent Granger. Will we need an escort when we go back tomorrow morning?"
Colby also got up from the table and said, "I'll be back at seven thirty to drive you over. Try to get some sleep and I'll see you both in the morning."
Colby laid a tentative hand on Charlie's shoulder. He really didn't want to be the one to lay this extra worry on the young man but there was no way to avoid Charlie's questions.
Charlie looked up at him and said, "Thanks Colby. We'll be ready when you get here… and thank you for telling us the truth."
After Colby left both Alan and Charlie made their way upstairs, reeling from the day's events. Neither man was anticipating that they would get any amount of sleep but they said good night to each other and quietly made their way to their bedrooms. As they had feared both Alan and Charlie lay awake turning the events of the last 12 hours over in their minds while sleep eluded them.
