Title: Faith Never... Was Almost Rescued by the Feds
Author: Bug Eyed Monster
Rating: Teen
Category: General
Spoilers: End of season for BtVS, season 5 for Numb3rs.
Warnings: implied violence. Faith calling LEOs a bad word.
Summary: Don and team attempt to rescue a kidnap-pee.
Disclaimer: I don't own BtVS and only wish I owned the beautiful boys of Numb3rs. Sob.

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Don flipped open his cell phone. "Eppes."

Nikki spoke. "I'm not in danger of breaking my cover. But you might be able to catch Garson on something."

Don smirked. "Really?"

"Kidnapping."

Sh*t. "Who did he kidnap?"

"Whom." Nikki said. Don rolled his eyes. Nikki continued. "She said her name was Faith Lehane. Said she was from the SWC. She's been attempting lure a few street girls into their schools. The organization is legit- I checked. They have five girls' schools."

"That name, Faith Lehane.... it's familiar." Don typed the name into his computer. Don blinked at the record that came up. He rattled off Lehane's description and tattoos to Nikki and she confirmed.

"Nikki, she's an ex-con, why did he kidnap her?"

"He thinks she's a plant."

Don snorted.

"It's really funny. One of the girls she recruited for that school, Jennifer Hash, her father has been abusing the family. Someone from the school wired money to Lehane and she was assisting the family in packing up when hubby Oscar Hash came home. Hash is six-two, Lehane is *maybe* 5 feet tall. She put him in a hold, and then duct-taped him like a runaway pig." Nikki recounted.

Don had to smile at the image of a kid beating jackass hog-tied with duct tape.

"Hash is one of Garson's muscle boys. Now Garson and Hash think she's a snitch. I found out where they are holding her." Nikki rattled off the address.

"Thanks, Nikki."

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Don signaled to Shreve and Tzu to take the lead. Tzu used the battering ram on the door. The feds swarmed in and...

Three of Garson's men were on the floor. Don crept forward and checked the pulse on one.

"Don, look at his hands." Colby said. Fresh burns were on his hands. Don turned the man's hand around. There was something familiar about the shape of the burn... as if someone had heated his gun. Don checked the other two. Both had the same burns on their hands. Don very gently touched one of the guns as he and Colby collected them. They were warm.

They found other men also unconscious, again with burns on their hands, their guns warm.

The last set of double doors was kicked open, surprising a red-haired woman. "Freeze! F.B.I.!" She spun around to face them, her face darkened with anger, one hand raised.

She was wearing a frog pajama top, jeans, and was barefoot. Garson and two men were unconscious on the floor. A very battered Lehane was chained in a chair behind the redhead.

He could see the redhead's eyes spot the letters on their vests. She dropped her hand and blushed. "Oh, oh Goddess! Why didn't you tell me you guys were feds? Oh, Goddess." She flustered and blushed even more.

Don stepped over Garson and moved around the redhead to check Lehane's bonds. (Colby and David quickly cuffed Garson and the two men.) The chains were bolted to the cement floor. The chains themselves looked like something one might try to use to restrain a boat in a hurricane, and were coated with some unidentified fine white powder.

Don called in his ear-bug for cutting equipment, giving the tech a description of the chains and their coating. He was careful not to touch the powder.

The redhead was nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot. Lehane cracked a swollen eye, smiled gingerly with her bleeding bruised lips and rasped. "Thanks for introducing me to a genuinely new experience."

"And what experience is that?" Don asked.

"Being pleased to see you b*tches."

"FAITH! That's not very nice." The redhead turned to Don. "Don't mind her, she's had a couple of rather rough days." The redhead stuck out her hand. "Willow Rosenberg."

"Doctor." Lehane rasped.

Don was about to reply that an ambulance was already on the way when Rosenberg blushed and spoke. "I'm not used to the Doctor bit yet. Doctorates in Computer Programming and Mythology. So absolutely no good in advanced medical stuff, just first aid, speaking of which..."

Don blinked, Rosenberg had said all that in one breath. Dr. Rosenberg turned around and was now fussing over Lehane. Lehane snapped a bit but bore Rosenberg's fussing remarkably well for an ex-con.

"Oh, do any of you nice friendly F.B.I. guys have some water?" Rosenberg asked. It was funny, watching her direct the words "nicely friendly F.B.I. guys" towards Lehane.

Don stepped back for the gas mask wearing tech and his tools. "We've got an ambulance on the way." Don told Rosenberg.

"Oh, fu*k he'elle no... don' like hos'pi'als." Lehane squirmed and made a valiant effort to escape her chains. The tech stepped back, alarmed as some of the powder on the chains rose into the air. It drifted back onto Lehane, and she stopped, struggling to catch her breath. Don frowned, the powder seemed to be weakening Lehane and affecting her breathing.

Rosenberg leaned over Lehane and made soothing noises. "Faith, it's okay, just go for tonight and then tomorrow you can check yourself out AMA like you always do. Now behave and let the nice good looking F.B.I. guy cut you loose." Lehane eventually calmed down, though she continued to glare balefully at the tech.

Don tugged on Rosenberg's arm and pulled her back as the tech went to work on the heavy chains and the EMS arrived to work on Lehane. "You want to tell me what happened here?"

Willow Rosenberg glanced at the hand-cuffed men still unconscious on the floor. Now that they were cuffed, the burns on their hands were very visible.

Rosenberg looked at Don with a sunny smile. "Would you believe me if I said that I'm a witch and I cast a very strong heating spell on their guns and then a sleeping spell on the baddies?"

*fin*