Title: Shall We Play A Game?

Author: FraidyCat

Disclaimer: per diem re all Numb3rs characters and characterizations. The "main hospital" featured in this fanFICTION is a work of FICTION and does not really exist in any location other than my mind. Ditto the "downtown Y", as well as whatever else I decide to make up.

A/N: The Cat refers those still reading to any other chapter.

My Name is FraidyCat, and I'll be your hostess this evening. Today's special…

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Chapter Twenty-Four: Plan B

Sarah clutched the cell phone tightly and whispered angrily at Aaron. "Where the hell have you been? I thought you were bringing me the stuff this afternoon!"

Aaron had parked his butt on the bench of the bus stop. He still had to walk over half-a-mile to get back to the loft and the rest of Planet Green, but he wanted to make this call first. Still, he found himself stalling. "Did your guy call?"

"Yesss," Sarah hissed dangerously. "It went just like we planned. I gave him Cracker and Dawn, and convinced him to meet me at 8 in the morning." She chuckled humorlessly. "I told him he was the only pig I trusted, and I wanted him to bring me in – but he had to give me one last night with my lover, first. Not just a murderer – an idiot, as well."

"You told him the alley, right?" Aaron asked after a moment of silence. "The one we scoped this morning, between the Red Light and the condemned apartment building?"

"Of course I did," answered Sarah impatiently. "I'm not the one who didn't follow through on the plan. Are you bringing it to me in the morning? We should probably set up behind the dumpsters by 4 a.m. at the latest; we want to be ready to get the drop on him if he shows up early – or with other pigs."

Aaron sighed, and closed his eyes. They popped back open as he sighed again. "Sarah, I think maybe you'd better abort."

She couldn't believe her ears. Oblivious to the curious looks she was attracting from others in the rail station, Sarah started screaming into the phone. "What?! Are you crazy?! You know how long I've waited for this, we agreed…."

Aaron raised his own voice and cut her off. "I couldn't get it, Sarah! By the time I got to the house, there were pigs in the sty!" His tone became wheedling. "That's why I didn't bring it to you. Just abort; do you have enough money to hole up somewhere for the night? After Cracker and Dawn get busted, I can take over the coalition just like we planned, and I'll come and get you. We'll put Planet Green back on the right path, together. Just like we said, Baby."

Sarah was up now, pacing the area near the public restrooms, and seething. "Don't 'baby' me," she spat.

Aaron tried again. "We'll create another opportunity, to make sure he pays. We won't let him get away with it, Sarah."

Damn straight, she thought, not responding to him verbally.

Aaron waited a moment, and then went on, tentatively. "I have to get back – Cracker thinks I'm bringing the product to him, as well. When he hears the pigs have already discovered the house, he'll lock us down tonight. I won't be able to get away – probably not until we all leave in the morning. I'll keep this phone with me; if you call me at 3 tomorrow and tell me where you are, I'll come for you. I should have a vehicle by then. Patty and Marcus might be with me, but they'll fall into line when they hear about Cracker and Dawn getting busted."

Sarah still couldn't bring herself to speak, and emitted a grunt instead.

"We'll make him pay," Aaron repeated, trying to soothe her. "I promise. This is just a postponement." Sarah grunted again, and Aaron was tempted to roll his eyes. "I've got to go," he reiterated. "Cracker is expecting me. 3 o'clock tomorrow."

"Fine," she finally managed, flipping the phone closed and heading for the bank of lockers on the east wall. She had 17 dollars left – 15 after she paid to retrieve her duffle from the lockers. Another night at the Red Light would be 20, so that was not an option. She could go to a shelter, but they would search her duffle there, and her back-up – the black-handled Buck® knife whose 6-inch blade she intended to bury in Ian Edgarton's gut at 8 in the morning – was inside.

She decided to backtrack a few blocks, to where she had seen a Catholic church. She would light a candle for Joe before she found a women's restroom or an abandoned confessional to hide in for a while.

She only needed a few hours. By 3 a.m., she would be back on a bus bound for East L.A., and the alley that separated the men from the boys. By the time she was finished with Ian Edgarton, he wouldn't be either one.

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Colby glanced up as Don entered the conference room and stopped to talk to David and Ian. Eppes looked beyond exhausted, and he was favoring his infected arm. Granger, who had been leaning over the surface of the conference-room table studying a set of blueprints, made a decision and straightened. He sauntered slowly across the room, letting loose an exaggerated yawn. "Don, we've got to be at the Y by 5 in the morning – less than twelve hours from now. There's not much more we can do tonight, anyway – the tech guys are setting everything up. What d'ya say we call it a day?"

Don glanced at him and raised his good arm to massage the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess…" he agreed, reluctantly.

Colby went in for the kill. "Dude. You sent me home last night because you wanted me at the top of my game today. Something tells me that's gonna be even more important – for all of us – tomorrow."

Don sighed and dropped his hand to his side. "Agreed," he responded. "It's just when I think of what they were going to do to those kids…I want everything perfect, ya know?"

Ian reached up to squeeze Don's shoulder quickly. "Look, I can hang here for a while, Eppes. Keep an eye on things – my meet-and-greet with Sarah isn't until 8. Besides," he finished, removing his hand and shoving it in the front pocket of his jeans, "I'm sure you want to get to the hospital."

Don frowned. "Not like I can even see Charlie, but yeah…I'm sure my Dad is sitting in the waiting room driving everybody crazy by now." His expression softened and he looked at Ian gratefully. "Did I thank you for finding him?"

Edgarton laughed. "Couple of dozen times, Eppes." He tossed his chin toward the door and addressed his next words to Colby. "Go on – get him outta here."

Colby snickered and started to move, but Don stubbornly held his ground, as well as Ian's attention. "You've got your back-up set, right?"

David answered for Edgarton. "I'm on it, Don. I'll stick around for a while myself, and we can go over the plan a couple of more times if it will make you feel better. I'll even give Ian a ride to his hotel – at a decent hour."

Don grinned. "Okay, okay." He turned toward the door. "Let's go, Granger." He glanced back over his shoulder when they reached the hall outside the room. "Edgarton!", he called. "Sinclair!" The two agents lifted their heads and Don regarded them solemnly. "Watch each other's backs out there," he advised seriously. "Consider it an order."

Ian nodded. "This time tomorrow, Eppes, I'll be playing chess with Charlie." Then his face split into a grin. " 'Course, you'll still be stuck out in the waiting room, but whatever, dude."

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Alan paced from one side of the small waiting area to the other. At the wall, he turned around and started back, only to stop midway and peer down at Amita. "Are you sure this is a good idea? It might not be good for your…condition."

Amita smiled up at him. "I'll be fine, Alan. If it makes you feel better, we'll tell the doctor when she gets back that I'm pregnant."

Alan nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, that would make me feel better." He looked anxiously toward the door. "Of course, I wish that someone could go in to see him. I can't, Larry can't, Colby can't…even Don has a staph infection, now, and he can't."

"The faculty dinner will be over by eight," offered Amita helpfully. "Millie will be here as soon as she can. But I'm sure the doctor will let me in – Charlie's already had plenty of opportunities to infect me, and he hasn't yet."

Alan had done enough research and asked enough questions to know by now exactly how Brucella was transmitted between humans, and he blushed furiously. "Right," he choked, changing the subject as quickly as he could. "I'm just so thankful that this Edgarton fellow found him so quickly, and that Dr. Havercamp arranged for a medflight here to UCLA. Charlie has some very influential friends, thank God."

Amita agreed and started to say so, but stood quickly at the sound of footsteps approaching. Alan turned in time to see Don and Colby enter the small waiting room. He smiled widely and moved to take his eldest in his arms. "Don! I wasn't sure I'd see you tonight!" He pulled back, and started looking toward Don's arms. "Let me see this terrible wound of yours…"

Don pulled his arms back, embarrassed. "It's no big deal, Dad. Just a little sore – that's why I rode with Col. How's Charlie?"

Alan glanced at Colby, smiled, and suddenly reached out to envelop him in a hug as well. "How are you feeling, son?" he asked. "Still no problems with the medication?"

Now Colby was as embarrassed as Don. "I'm good," he confirmed, when Alan finally let go of him. Desperate to deflect attention, he looked at Amita over Alan's shoulder. "Hey, Amita."

She dimpled and returned the greeting. "Charlie got help just in time," she shared. "His oxygen saturation was very low, which is why he got so confused, and lost, and let himself be shuffled around. It started to improve as soon as they got him back on O2."

Don nodded as the group began to move back toward the chairs. "Good. What about his tube?"

Alan took over the report. "The doctor was here about an hour ago – lovely young woman. She said that the existing tube was not large enough to adequately drain Charlie's pericardium." He frowned. "Also, the incision has become infected."

Colby frown with him. "So what're they gonna do?"

Alan smiled, albeit somewhat tremulously. "There was an emergency procedure to clean up and enlarge the incision, and a larger gauge tube was inserted. He's back on an IV, and a third antibiotic has been added; the doctor seemed to think he would show fairly rapid improvement."

Don sighed, and a weight he didn't even know was there lifted from his shoulders, leaving him somewhat light-headed. "I know you can't see him yet, Dad – Amita, have they let you?"

She shook her head. "Dr. Staab asked us to let him spend some time in recovery, and then get settled into a room, first." She caught sight of a familiar white lab coat approaching the door, and started to move toward it. "Oh! Here she comes, now!"

All three men, still standing, turned toward the door again. Alan smiled broadly at the short redhead who entered. "Dr. Staab; these are my other boys, Don and Colby."

The afore-mentioned Granger felt his knees wobble and dropped hard into the plastic chair behind him. "Hey," he said feebly, waving a hand toward the physician.

Don glanced at Colby, suppressed a grin and looked back at the doctor. "How's my brother?"

"Nice to meet you both," answered the doctor – somewhat tiredly, Don thought. "Charlie is settled in a room, now – I'm sorry, with the influx of patients, we only had a semi-private available. He needs his rest, so I'm going to have to insist that only one of you visit, and that you keep it short. He'll be up for more tomorrow." She raised her eyebrows in surprise when all four fo the individuals before her started laughing.

Alan was the first to pull himself together. "Excuse us, Dr. – we're all a little rummy." He pointed to himself: "Influenza." He touched Don's shirt sleeve: "Staph." He leaned over a little and pointed at Colby: "Brucella." Finally, he winked at Amita. "I'm afraid only one of us is allowed to see him – for the next several days, at least."

The doctor allowed herself an uncertain smile, then pulled rank. "I understand your need to be as near to your son as you can, but I hope you'll understand that the entire city is experiencing a health crisis right now. I'm going to have to insist that you all wear masks when you're in the hospital. I'll send the nurse down with some."

She started to turn to leave, but Amita rushed forward and stopped her at the door. "Dr. Staab, wait, please." She glanced nervously at Alan over her shoulder, then turned her attention back to the doctor and lowered her voice. "I just have one question."

Colby had found his feet again. Alan and the boys were muttering about breathing masks when Amita's sudden wail startled them all into silence. "Oh, no!" the young woman cried. "Please, don't say that!"

"I'm very sorry," the doctor answered softly, reaching out to touch Amita gently on the arm, "but I really feel that it's best to err on the side of caution." She looked once more at the men standing near the chairs. "I'll send someone with those masks," she promised again before she turned and started back down the hospital corridor.

Amita was crying when she turned away from the door. Alan started moving toward her, and she began to move toward him, melting into his arms when they met a few feet in front of Don and Colby. "Dear God," whispered Alan fearfully. "Is it Charlie? Is something wrong?"

Amita sobbed into his shoulder and shook her miserable head. "N…no," she stuttered, her voice still clearly audible in the quiet room. "Sh..she said I sh…shouldn't ex…ex…expose the baby to active B…B…Brucella! I can't s…see him either!"

This time, Don lost his knees and dropped heavily. Unfortuately, he wasn't as close to the chairs as Colby had been, and he almost hit the floor before Granger managed to grab his good arm and manhandle him backwards into a seat. "Dude," huffed Colby as he finally seated Don and started to back off, "lay off the pizza…"

Don just lifted confused and shocked eyes to meet the junior agent's. "Did she just say 'baby'?" he whispered, as if it was some kind of secret.

Colby, still leaning over Don, grinned and slapped him on the knee before crashing into the chair next to him with a groan. "I think so, Uncle Don."

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Oh, no! Sarah is still planning to off Ian, who will drag an unsuspecting David with him! How will the Team stop Cracker and Dawn? Colby and Don have joined the list of people who know that Amita is pregnant, and Millie and David are the only two people still allowed to visit Charlie! Does the angst ever end??