Disclaimer – I don't own them, I just borrowed them. Numb3rs and its characters are the property of those that created them. No copyright infringement intended. All real organisations are used in a fictional sense. Original characters and the storyline are mine however.

CHAPTER THREE

-100-1111-1110-

After a minute or two Don finally lowered his arms and risked a look to see where Spinks was. He could feel Cam's knee back against his shoulder so he knew where that man was. Cam wasn't the threat at the moment, Spinks was. Don found the threat sitting on the bunk nearest the door, a grin on his face, rubbing at the reddened knuckles on his right hand. He was happy at his handiwork.

After a brief glare which only caused Spinks' grin to widen Don looked away, not wanting to add to the drug runner's enjoyment of the moment. He carefully touched his face where Spinks' first punch had connected. His left cheek was stinging and starting to swell. He would be lucky if his eye didn't close up, but that along with the knot on the back of his head were fortunately the worst of his injuries. For the moment at least. He expected more of the same if Cam couldn't keep Spinks in line. Either way he was going to have a good collection of bruises for the next week or so both from Spinks' assault and from the earlier attack in the corridor. To his probing fingers the gash to his forehead from Spinks' gun didn't seem too bad and the bleeding should ease soon. Head wounds were always messy, the blood was already dripping onto his jeans. He brushed the side of his head against his sleeve to wipe some of the blood away.

As he seemed to be safe from Spinks for the moment Don stretched his legs back out to better keep his balance and pressed his bruised arms to his aching stomach. What he couldn't figure out though, was why Cam had stopped Spinks. But, finding that he wasn't really up to deep thoughts yet Don let it go as he tried to get his strength back.

The steady tone of the Seahawk's twin diesels suddenly dropped and Don felt the vessel lose way and start to wallow. A few minutes later the engine tone rose along with the Seahawk's speed until they were going somewhat faster than before. The motion of the vessel also changed, both from the increase in speed and the new angle that they were taking the seas, they were on a new heading.

There was a knock on the door a few more minutes later and Tom's voice asking to be let in. Anton slid the door open and let his boss in. "What happened?"

Tom glanced at their hostage before doing a double take at the agent's battered state. "That's what I want to know. He have a go?"

"No." Cam said when Spinks smirked.

Tom turned back to Spinks. "We need him in one piece. When we're on the other boat you can dump him over the side for all I care, but leave him alone for now." The fact that they would be taking the agent with them was a foregone conclusion, without him the Coast Guard would be free to open fire with their .50 cal deck guns.

Don didn't miss the light in Spinks' eyes at Tom's suggestion to toss him overboard. Spinks obviously hadn't thought of that and sure seemed to like the idea. In these conditions he would drown long before he could possibly be found. He really hoped Dylan came up with a plan sooner rather than later, she was sure to have realised his life expectancy was short if he was transferred.

"So what happened?" Cam asked, repeating Spinks' question.

"I got onto Carlos and got their new position. They'd already started to head south as close as they dared to the coast. Our good captain decided to play along. Carlos is gonna turn back to meet us."

"Just like that, Carlos is going to meet us?" Cam didn't seem to believe it would be that easy. Neither did Don. "He knows we're on a Coast Guard boat, right?"

"Yeah, he's not happy." Tom admitted. "It's gonna cost us double and we won't get any gear, but he'll get us south of the border."

"Why did we stop?" Spinks demanded.

"The captain cut loose our boat. We're in a hurry."

"How'd she explain that to the crew?" Cam wondered.

"FBI emergency." Tom jerked his chin at their prisoner.

"Aren't they going to figure it out when he doesn't show?"

"Nah. She made this deck off limits, said he was working on some stuff. That's the beauty of paramilitary outfits, they follow the leader."

That would work for the crew and the students but Don knew that Charlie was probably pestering the lieutenant for details. He thought she would tell him the real story in an effort to make sure he kept his head down. The last thing Don wanted was this lot to find out his baby brother was on board. That went double for Spinks.

"How long?" Cam asked.

"About half an hour or so. Carlos had made a run straight inshore to avoid the weather before turning south. He's not that far away."

"How will we know when we've found them?"

Don stared at Spinks, when we stop, idiot. By Tom's expression he was thinking the same thing as he told his man that the captain would ring their cabin.

"So what d'ya think, Fed?" Spinks gloated. "Ready for a trip to Mexico?"

"Sounds more like I'm going swimming."

"Yeah." Spinks laughed.

Tom frowned at their hostage's resigned tone. He remembered off handedly making the suggestion but hadn't thought that the agent would take it to heart. But then there really weren't any other options. "You think you're gonna die, but you're not gonna give us trouble. Why not?"

"Not too hard to figure it out." Don said calmly. To protect Charlie he would do anything.

"He doesn't want us to take one of the college kids instead." Cam reasoned. "You can't let Anton kill him."

"What the hell else are we gonna to do with him?"

Hey, right here in the room! Don wanted to say but kept his mouth shut. For reasons he couldn't fathom Cam was on his side again.

"He's a goddamn fed! We kill him and we may as well just save everyone the trouble and shoot ourselves." Cam argued heatedly. "This whole thing has gone pear-shaped. If we had left well enough alone we would be stepping off this boat at the marina with no-one any the wiser."

"Carlos ain't gonna want to take him with us very far."

"I don't care what Carlos wants." Spinks said jumping up and delivering a savage kick to Don's outstretched leg. "Six months of my life. He's mine!"

Oh, yeah, definitely brave when the object of his hatred can't fight back. Yet. Tom had been right, he wasn't going to resist. But if he did get taken to the other boat they were going to find that their hostage was no longer compliant, that their guns would no longer be sufficient to keep him under control. Spinks was going to have a hard time exacting his revenge. Don fully intended to make a good account for himself, taking as many of them with him as he could. But for now…

Don suffered a second vicious kick to his thigh before he managed to pull his knees back up to his chest and made himself a smaller target. His injured leg responded more slowly. The next kick got him on the shin, numbing his foot. He anticipated more as Spinks had progressed from punches to kicks. He tucked himself firmly back into a ball. Although he still hoped Dylan would resolve this, he was glad that if it didn't work out he'd had this one last day with Charlie.

"Leave it." Tom ordered, pulling Spinks back before he could kick the agent again, shoving the other man back onto the bunk. "Plenty of time for that later."

Half an hour or so before his fate was decided. Nothing he could do until then. Don looped his arms around his legs as best he could with his bound wrists before resting his head on his knees. Cam had so far done a good job of keeping him wedged into the corner, he was going to rely on him to keep doing that. He took some deep breaths as he tried to relax. He wasn't going to let on to the drug runners, keeping silent and refusing to cry out when he was punched or kicked, but to himself he could admit that he was hurting. He closed his eyes.

The gentle buzz of the phone broke Don out of his almost meditative state and stopped the men's conversation. Tom answered it on the second buzz. "Get down here." He ordered after listening.

"What?" Spinks demanded.

"Carlos is quarter of a mile away, but not stopping for us until he hears from me again. I'm going back up. Get ready to move."

A couple of minutes later Don heard Lieutenant Dylan's voice at the door. Tom stepped outside and started to slide the door shut. A slim hand appeared on the edge of the door stopping its movement. "I'm not leaving until I see Agent Eppes."

The agent in question looked up as the Seahawk's captain pushed her way past Tom into the cabin. "I'm still here, Lieutenant."

Her mouth dropped opened at his sorry condition. She rounded on Tom. "What have you done to him?"

"He's still alive, that's all that matters." Tom said harshly. He grabbed her by the upper arm, pulling her back into corridor. "Let's go. We've got a boat to catch."

The door slid shut again as Don finally realised that the cutter wasn't pitching as much, they must have finally reached calmer water making a ship-to-ship transfer more of a possibility.

It was about fifteen minutes later when the phone buzzed. It was answered by Spinks who listened briefly before hanging up. He stepped over and kicked Don's foot, the one that had been numb but had since regained feeling. "Get up."

Don needed Cam's help, he had stiffened up considerably since he'd curled himself up into a ball in the corner. His leg protested when he put his weight on it but he was sure it was just bruised and should loosen up with use. Spinks reached over and pulled Don roughly to him by the arm.

"I'll take him. You get the bag." Spinks ordered. He wasn't about to let someone else look after his prize.

As Spinks pushed him out of the cabin Don hoped Charlie was tucked away safely somewhere and wouldn't see whatever was about to transpire. About a million things could go wrong in the next few minutes. They stopped at the base of the companion-way to the mess deck. Cam went up first, gun out and ready.

"There's no one here, come up." Cam called out a moment later.

Spinks shoved Don forward, following close behind as Don climbed up. As his head cleared the deck Don looked anxiously around and confirmed that they were alone, the mess deck was clear. No sign of Charlie or the other students anywhere. Cam helped him the rest of the way up, keeping him steady until Spinks once again took hold of his upper right arm. Spinks was now pressing the muzzle of his gun into Don's right side. They moved aft until they stopped at the door leading out to the rear deck.

The whole area was floodlit by the Seahawk's powerful lights. Another light was aimed astern where it picked up the shape of a large black power boat about fifty yards away as it rose on a wave before disappearing in the next trough. Two of the Seahawk's crewmen stood ready next to the mini-dock where the zodiac was waiting, one to launch it and one to drive it. The stern hull section was raised and all was in readiness. Both vessels were still underway, but only just enough to maintain steerage.

"Where's Tom?" Spinks asked.

"There."

They looked up and saw Tom descending the stern ladder to the deck from the bridge. He was following Lieutenant Dylan, Tom's gun now out and obvious. Tom turned and saw them waiting. He waved them out with his spare hand.

"Open it." Spinks ordered.

Don pulled on the latch and slid the door sideways, stepping through the opening and down to the slightly lower outside deck whilst Spinks maintained a tight grip on his upper arm. They moved the couple of yards to stop near Tom. Don looked back as Cam initially followed then hung back, seemingly reluctant to leave the cover of the bridge overhang. Don's eyes narrowed, there was something in the way that Cam was holding his gun, the way he was assessing the immediate area, weapon tracking his roving gaze.

The agent turned back to the Coast Guard officer, searching her face for a clue as to what might happen next. There was nothing and Don got a sinking feeling.

"As soon as we send your zodiac back you are to turn back to LA and keep going." Tom instructed the lieutenant.

"What about Agent Eppes?"

"He's coming with us."

"You don't need to take him." She argued waving a hand at the black power boat. "I know that boat, it can outrun us. She's done it before."

"It can't outrun your guns."

"Your friends are holding astern of us. Our deck guns are mounted on the forward deck." She explained. "We wouldn't be able to bring them to bear before you were out of range."

Don awarded the point to her. Tom seemed to be considering the lieutenants argument and glanced at Spinks. Despite his earlier words Don suddenly got the feeling that Tom really didn't want to take on the fallout of murdering a federal agent.

"We're taking him." Spinks insisted, tightening his grip and shoving his gun harder against the agent's ribs. Although the agent had been his prisoner for only a short time Spinks had grown attached to the idea of revenge and wasn't going to let it go so easily.

A moment of silent communication passed between Tom and Spinks. Tom finally nodded and turned back to the lieutenant. "He's coming with us."

Don realised something was missing. Where was Cam? Don had expected the man to argue the point, siding with the agent as he had already done a couple of times before. Don turned his head, searching. He finally saw that Cam was still under the bridge overhang and had stepped sideways slightly putting himself into the shadows under the stern ladder. It was starting to get way odd.

"Let's go." Spinks started to head to the stern, dragging Don with him.

The lieutenant suddenly dropped like she'd been hit. Don blinked, he hadn't heard a shot. The next thing he knew he also hit the deck, his legs swept out from under him by Dylan. Spinks had been unable to hold his hostage's sudden weight, his grip torn loose. Now came the shot, several shots.

--

A/N: This is a short story, only one chapter to go.