Mistakes
By Childhood Aspirations
Disclaimer: Own them? Nope. Wish I did? No duh...
Chapter 1
He should never have done it.
He should never have let his brother come along.
But he had, and now it was too late to fix it, or anything else, for that matter.
Don Eppes was a rather imposing figure. He looked like the kind of guy who knew his way around, who knew what he was doing and was comfortable with it. He wore his bulletproof vest like some people wore sweats and a t-shirt. He was accustomed to them; they were like second skin, almost. The sun glasses, the automatic gun in his hands, the gum… Well, the gum was different. He almost always chewed gum when he was on the field, about to bust up some operation or the like. It was a comfort thing.
Yes.
Don Eppes was an FBI agent, and he looked the part. He was the part. He fit it perfectly, and it fit him. When his friends, his father, even his brother looked at him, they couldn't imagine trying to fit into any other mold. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that being an agent was what the oldest Eppes son was meant to do.
It was like looking at Charlie and knowing that he couldn't be anything but a mathematical genius.
Sort of.
Perhaps not exactly the same, but pretty close…
Anyway…
Today just wasn't one of those days when Don was so confident. He ran his fingers through his short hair, frustrated, irritated, and worried. That last one sat in the back of his mind, nagging at him, annoying him.
It was hard to concentrate knowing that Charlie was sitting in a car on the edge of the perimeter, clicking away on his laptop, calculating last minute details of the operation. They wouldn't be needed, necessarily, but Charlie always liked to finish things.
Which was one of the reasons why Don was so irritated at the moment…
He had immediately opposed the idea of bringing Charlie along. Not only was it dangerous, but it was against protocol. Well, maybe it wasn't. Charlie was involved with the case. It seemed like lately he was involved with every case, something Don normally appreciated, but not at a moment like this. This should be against protocol, especially when the person in question was his younger brother.
When it came to Charlie and danger…the two didn't mix very well, and the combination didn't sit well with Don either. At all. He didn't want his brother getting hurt. Period.
Yeah…which was why Charlie was practically apart of his team now…
Uh huh, that makes perfect sense…
"Don, I can handle this. I need to come and make sure that everything goes smoothly. What if there's something I missed that could be rectified at a moment's notice?"
Don had wanted to ask Charlie how many things in this operation could go wrong and then be fixed in the last second. He didn't think anything could be. It was just Charlie's excuse to come along.
"Come on, Don. I want to see how it goes." He watched Charlie's hand comb back his unruly black curls, an almost unconscious gesture. It was habitual, mostly because the curls needed combed back most of the time. He sighed.
"Alright, alright, but you're not coming any closer than the edge of the perimeter. Got it? That's as close as you come, okay? I don't care if you can't see everything, or if you lose sight of it. You stay in that car and don't even think about getting out."
"Relax, Don. What do you think I'm going to do? Make the whole thing blow up in your face? I can take this just as seriously as you can. I am taking this just as seriously as you are." Charlie looked offended that Don doubted him.
"I know you can," Don said, trying to make amends. He rubbed his eyes. "Come on, man, let's go. The team's ready." They left to climb into the car.
Don shook his head. There was really no reason for Charlie to be here. Cool it, he told himself. Nothing's going to happen. Just cool it.
"Everything okay?" Megan asked, coming up behind him.
"Yeah," he muttered.
"I see Charlie convinced you to let him come along," she remarked lightly.
He glanced at her. "Yeah." She smirked at him knowingly and readjusted her earpiece. They both looked at the hangar below them. Perfect place for criminals to set up base. Perhaps not so perfect a place for FBI agents to come and nab them, but nothing's perfect.
Charlie looked up from his laptop, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. Nervous habit. He could see Megan's position from where he sat in the car; he couldn't see Don. That didn't really make him worried, per say, just a little…anxious.
Anxious. He was always anxious whenever he knew Don was out doing an operation like this. Dad worried too, he knew, but maybe not as much…which was strange in itself. Maybe Alan Eppes had learned to trust his sons to take care of themselves. They were who they were, and they probably wouldn't be changing anytime soon, therefore…
Charlie shook himself out of his thoughts and focused on the screen in front of him. It was a map of the area, the positions of the units represented by beeping red dots. A layout of their planned routes sat off on the side of the screen. It looked like a normal setup to him, though Charlie would be the first one to admit that he wasn't an expert when it came to this stuff.
No, it was mathematics in which he excelled. That was his forte.
He could trust Don to do his job, just like Don trusted Charlie to do his. In fact, as far as Charlie could tell, Don trusted him implicitly in that aspect, but in everything else…not so much. Don didn't like it when part of Charlie's life crossed over into part of his. Which explained why he hadn't wanted Charlie to come with him to observe.
It was rather annoying how Don treated him like a kid.
Don will always treat you like a kid. That's just how it is. You're his younger brother and he's always going to want to protect you, no matter how old the both of you get.
In his own way, Charlie could understand that.
"Megan?" She'd outfitted him with an earpiece of his own so he could communicate with her. He'd wanted to be connected to Don, but his older brother was too distracted. Charlie didn't want to make it worse.
"Yeah, Charlie?" Her voice sounded a little bit tense, but she worked as hard as she could to put on a cheerful cover up.
"How's everything?"
"I can't really talk right now, Charlie. We have to move. See you in a few minutes."
"Right," he murmured. She didn't respond. He heard the different units sound off in reply to Don's commands. Idly he wondered how Don could do something like that: rattling off orders like that with such calm.
Charlie focused on the screen again, tense with apprehension. Now, if everything would just go as planned…they could go home and forget about it, just like they did with all the other cases…to some extent.
Well, it really isn't forgotten. It just sits in the back of your mind, a load that one day you'll have to reconcile yourself to.
Charlie blinked. That was a disturbing thought. He automatically tried to calculate the reason for it. It didn't work as well as it might under different circumstances. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to Megan and her team. Don was still out of sight, around the corner of the hangar.
Megan moved forward, smoothly, stealthily. She reminded Charlie of a cat, in a way. A cat with more deadly weapons than just her claws. Her use of a gun was a knock out. She disappeared through the entrance to the hanger and after a moment, Charlie heard Don's terse command in his earpiece.
"All units move it now. Go, go, go!"
That command, as commonplace as it was, sent fear sneaking down Charlie's spine in the form of a chill.
Don bit down hard on his gum, narrowly missing the inside of his own cheek. He muttered something under his breath and thought he heard a snort from somebody. Probably David or Colby. They were situated on the other side of the hangar, closing in.
Don walked farther into the hangar, slowly, gun clutched firmly in his hand. "Sightings?" he whispered into his mic.
"Negative," was the unanimous response.
That was not a good sign.
And then they appeared out of nowhere and opened fire, about split second after he finished his thought.
Organized chaos reigned.
Charlie snatched the earpiece out of his ear, wincing at the loud retorts of the automatic guns going off. The fear that'd been going down his spine spread. A tiny bit of panic gnawed at him. He fought it off, typing away madly. What was happening? He resisted the urge to ask Megan, knowing she would be preoccupied.
Had he miscalculated somehow?
Don ducked behind a mountain of old equipment, pausing for a moment before leaning out into the open briefly and firing off a few rounds. He caught sight of Colby dodging bullets from one pile of junk to another, trying to get close to where the ambush originated. David was being himself, playing it safe, taking no risks, leaning over the top of hiding place and aiming carefully before he fired, then disappearing again behind his makeshift barrier.
"Megan."
"Right here."
"Any idea where they came from?"
"From whatever hole they were hiding in like little rats," she said tightly. "Little rats with big guns. Bad combination."
"Are you close to them?"
"Closer than you are."
"You and your unit move in. Got it?"
"Copy that."
"Don." It was David this time.
"Are you holding out?" Don asked, popping up again to squeeze off a few more at the ambushers.
"Well enough. My unit got caught up outside by the entrance. They have more guys here than we thought, Don. More guns too."
"Hang in there. Colby?"
"Present and accounted for, though wishing I wasn't," came his team member's flat voice.
"Status."
"I'm hiding behind a box and shooting at criminals I can't even see. I've been better, but heck, this is why I took this job, right? The uncertainty, the danger…hey, I live for it."
"Granger…"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. My unit's at the south entrance. Sounds like there're more guys over there too. No word on an estimation of how many."
Don bit down hard on his gum. Dang. "Get as close to them as possible. I think the ringleaders are over by the north entrance, just over there. Megan's getting close to them. Wait for her signal, 'kay?"
"Copy that."
Charlie stopped and twisted a lock of curly black hair around his finger agitatedly. This was not good, whatever it was, and it was even more frustrating because he didn't know exactly what it was.
This didn't make sense. How had they managed to get so many guys in there without Don's units noticing? It didn't make sense.
"Megan?"
"Can't talk, Charlie," she said shortly.
"What's happening?" he demanded, ignoring her. So she ignored him. That proved it. Something was definitely wrong here. He stared at the laptop in frustration.
And then it caught his eye.
The little blip on his screen. The one he hadn't noticed before. The one that Don and his team must not have noticed either, because it was giving these criminals a chance to slip away at that moment.
"Megan!" he shouted into the mic.
"Charlie!" she returned, trying to control her temper. "I'm kind of busy at the moment!"
"You don't understand! There's something there! There's some way that they're getting out! There's something I missed, something you guys missed! You should get out of there!"
Megan's heart jumped into her throat. She couldn't know for sure how accurate Charlie was on this account, but what he said did explain the bad feeling she'd had since they got here and the bad taste in her mouth.
This was not good.
"Is it rigged?" she demanded.
"I…I don't know," Charlie stammered. She could hear him tapping incessantly on the keyboard. "I can't tell. There's a high probability that it is though." He was silent for a moment. A bullet whizzed past her head and she ducked instinctively, bringing her gun up in the next instant and firing in the general direction of the shots. She was too occupied to aim more than on instinct.
She heard Charlie's sharp intake of breath in her ear, over the noise, and Megan knew then that they were in serious trouble.
She didn't' even wait to hear what Charlie had to say. "Don, we're in trouble," she said urgently. "Charlie says they have it rigged. It's a trap. They ambushed us, and in more ways than one!"
Don heard what she said and ground his teeth in frustration. "Granger, David. It's rigged. Get out, get out!" he shouted into his mic. He heard a curse sound off in his ear. That would be Colby.
What happened next seemed surreal.
The gunfire stopped instantaneously and there was a split second of silence.
The silence immediately gave way the deafening sound of an explosion. The whole hangar trembled as half of it began to give way under the tremendous force of the explosives.
Don made a dash for the exit nearest him, the one he'd come in by, dimly catching sight of Colby and David as they followed his lead and made for their escapes as well. "All units pull out," Don shouted into his microphone, doubting they could hear him.
He was almost to the exit when a mountain of equipment on his right came tumbling down, knocked about by the dissembling of the building around it. Don was partially buried in the landslide of heavy boxes.
He blanked out.
Charlie sat there in speechless horror, staring at the hangar as half of it collapsed in on itself.
Don…?
There was nothing but static in his earpiece, at least for now. He turned to his laptop in sudden anger and smacked the screen. What had he missed? Why hadn't he seen that one little detail, that tiny little area that changed the entire dynamic of the operation?
How could he have been so stupid?
Don…? Don? Don!
Charlie gritted his teeth. This could not be happening. The same question pounded into his brain over and over and over again.
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
I don't know!
He stared at the layout of the hangar, his eyes scanning every inch of it. And finally he found it.
Perspective.
Perspective had hidden that detail from him, creating a blind spot for the suspects who'd set up camp here. They'd known of the spots advantages and they'd used it to the fullest.
It had worked.
DON! DON! Don?
"Charlie!" It was Megan.
"Megan! Are you alright? Is everyone alright? Where's Don?" he demanded, leaning forward in his seat, hands clenched into fists of apprehension.
"I'm fine, and I think Granger and David are. I don't know where Don is. He's not responding to communication."
Charlie's heart fell into his stomach. He couldn't make any words come out of his mouth, or any sounds, for that matter. It occurred to him after a moment that he wasn't breathing anymore.
"Charlie? Charlie?" Megan called his name, sounding worried. "Are you still there?"
"I…I'm, I'm here," he stammered, gulping in oxygen.
"I'm going to go find Don now, okay? Are you hearing me? I'm going to find Don. Just stay where you are and we'll come find you. Okay, Charlie?"
"Yes," he whispered, despite the fact that he wasn't really sure what he was saying yes to. He just knew the word was appropriate at a time like this.
Megan kept a firm grip on her gun as she moved around the side of the hangar, following Don's route inside. She could practically hear her heart pounding in her chest. Not Don. Please, not Don. Don was her friend and she didn't want anything to happen to him.
Besides, what would Charlie do without his brother?
Charles Eppes was one of the most brilliant men in the modern world, unsurpassed when it came to the arts of mathematics, a beyond-intelligent professor, and all of this from someone under 30 years old. To look at him, you would not think that he would need to rely on anyone other than himself.
But Megan knew different.
What could Charlie do without Don?
…Charlie would go all to pieces, that's what Charlie would do…
She caught sight of the pile of machinery blocking the side entrance and was trying to decide how to proceed in when she noticed the boxes and spare parts shifting. She ran forward and shoved it all aside. Don pushed himself up and squinted up at her dazedly.
"Are you okay?" she asked hurriedly, stuffing her relief over seeing him alive.
"Yeah," he murmured. "I think I hit my head…" It was bleeding. He was having difficulties getting up and Megan stooped down to help him.
"David's sending for paramedics," she told him. "Charlie's having a heart attack in the car. Now would be a good time to tell me that you don't have a concussion." She added something under her breath as he swayed on his feet, leaning against her.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Don said, managing a wry smile.
"Fantastic," she said. "Come on, let's go."
Perspective.
They'd got him with perspective.
It still hadn't ceased to astound him. It was almost embarrassing, but he still didn't know whether Don was alive or dead, so the whole humiliation bit wouldn't show up till a little bit later, if at all.
"Perspective," Charlie murmured, shaking his head.
"That's right, Whiz Kid. Perspective. Shocking, isn't it?" The cold barrel of a gun pressed to his head. "Take that lovely piece of equipment out of your ear and set it on the dashboard, if you would be so kind." The person speaking paused until Charlie had done so. "Thank you. Now set down your laptop. No quick movements. I've been told that I'm a little trigger-happy. I may shoot you before stopping to verify the facts of the situation." The voice, belonging to a man, was smug and confident. Charlie was relieved to realize that it wasn't Colby, who'd taken up referring to him by that nickname.
"Who are you?" the young professor inquired, climbing slowly out of the car under instruction, back to his new acquaintance.
"Someone who beat you with perspective," the voice said, even more pleased. "My goodness, you have no idea how much satisfaction I'm going to be getting out of this in the days to come." The chill of fear Charlie had been experiencing had now moved into the stage of shaking and trembling. "Good night, Professor Charles Eppes," the voice said, almost cheerfully. "Sweet dreams."
Something hard came down on his head. There was a flash of light, pain, and then nothing but blackness.
