CHAPTER TWO
Don took out his cell phone for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes and glanced at the display to check for missed calls. "Look," he said with an exasperated sigh. "Why don't I just let you know when Charlie calls back?"
FBI Director Paulson shook his head. "We would prefer to hear your conversation with your brother."
"Charlie's not under arrest," Don protested.
"Special Agent Eppes," Director Paulson began somewhat condescendingly. "You are well aware of the depth of this fraud investigation. You brother is a person of interest."
It took all of Don's self-control not to roll his eyes. "Can I at least bring my team in here so they can update me on progress they're making on our latest case?"
Paulson looked over at his CIA counterpart, Director Peters, who until now had been silent in the meeting. "Of course," Peters said with a nod. "All we're trying to do here is contact your brother to clear up some…inconsistencies."
Don flipped his phone open and speed-dialed Colby, advising him to bring his case files in to the conference room. Colby and David arrived moments later with notepads and file folders in hand.
"What's going on?" Colby asked, sitting down.
"Director Paulson asked me to get in touch with Charlie," Don told him. "But I had to leave a message, so while we're waiting for him to call back I thought we'd go over the case."
David and Colby looked at each other dubiously and spread their paperwork around the table. They didn't have a chance to get started before Don's cell started ringing. Don looked at it in surprise. It was Charlie.
He flipped open the phone. "Hello?"
"Don? It's me," came Charlie's hurried response. He sounded slightly out of breath and like he was walking.
"Hey, thanks for returning my call. Listen, do you think you can come by the office?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Hold on a second," Charlie said.
Don waited patiently as Charlie covered the phone with his hand and spoke to someone he was with. It sounded like a woman, Anna perhaps, though the voices were too muffled. "Sorry," Charlie said a moment later. "You want me to come in to the office?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind."
"It's not that I mind, Don. Do you need my help with something? Maybe you can just send it to my laptop…"
"I don't really need you help with anything; it's just the fraud case…" Don glanced over at Paulson and Peters who were watching him with interest.
"Can't really help you with that," Charlie said, sounding somewhat annoyed. "And anyway, I'm in Prague."
"You're in Prague?" Don repeated incredulously.
"Yeah, I told you I was going, like twenty times. Anna's with me."
"What are you doing in Prague?" Don asked, ignoring Charlie's exasperated sigh.
"I had a conference to go to. UN, if you need to know. Some people still appreciate my help with things."
"Whatever, Charlie."
"So, if you don't actually need my help, why do you need me to come in?" Charlie asked. There was a slight suspicion to his tone, Don noticed. Charlie knew he was a suspect.
"The CIA and the FBI want to ask you some questions," Don admitted.
It was silent on the other end for a few moments. Then muffled voices again. Charlie was telling Anna something. Her reply was laughter, and that really annoyed Don.
"Look, Charlie, it's not funny," he snapped.
"Yeah, I know that, thanks," Charlie replied. Irritated again. "Did they ask you to call me?"
"Yeah."
"Was the intent to ambush me, Don?" The tone was accusing. Don was furious, but he knew he needed to keep it civil for the benefit of the others in the room. Charlie didn't have the right to be angry, and certainly not angry at Don.
"No, I-"
"Who is with you in the room?" Charlie interrupted.
"Director Paulson, and the local Director of the CIA, Peters."
"Give the phone to Peters."
"Charlie…"
"Just do it, Don," Charlie snapped, angry. "And don't do that again."
Don handed the phone to Director Peters, who took it with mild surprise.
"Doctor Eppes," he began before being interrupted. "Yes, Doctor Eppes, the CIA-"
Don watched and couldn't help being a bit pleased with the rant Charlie was currently unleashing on Director Peters. The man was trying to interrupt a few times with no success, and finally just handed the phone back to Don. "He hung up," he said with a slight smile. "Doctor Eppes does not appreciate the way we are handling this investigation."
Don couldn't help but laugh, his anger at Charlie momentarily put aside. "Yeah, tell me about it."
"Is he coming in?" Paulson asked.
"That's a no," Peters said. "He's out of the country, for one thing. And he's made it clear he feels we're harassing him with this case. We're to contact his lawyer from now forward."
"His lawyer?" Paulson said with a frown. "Does he have something to hide that would require a lawyer?"
"He's a very busy man," Peters said with a slight smile. "Apparently he doesn't have the time to deal with incompetence. Or so he said."
"Did he leave his lawyer's name?" Paulson asked, casting an irritated glare at Don, who returned it.
"Her name is Kate Angeles. She'll be contacting me shortly," Peters said. "Doctor Eppes and I have worked together in the past, and he feels the CIA is better equipped to handle the investigation into him. He would prefer the FBI stop handling it immediately."
"Does he," Paulson scoffed. "It's a good thing we don't ask criminals how they want their investigations handled."
"Charlie is not a criminal," Colby said angrily before Don had a chance to respond.
"Thank you, that will be all for now," Paulson snapped.
Don stood and after the cursory 'let me know what else I can do's' the team left the conference room.
"Awesome," Colby said gleefully as he sat down at his desk. "Totally awesome."
Don threw a mild glare in his direction and sat down at his desk to check his emails.
He had barely gotten through five of them when the elevator opened and Marjolie Cooper strolled out. She looked around the room uncertainly for a moment before spotting Colby and walking over to his desk.
Don watched carefully. Marjolie had been a girlfriend of Charlie's some years back, and in the last few months, she and Colby had been dating off and on. Marjolie, as it turned out, was a high-maintenance girl. Colby very much was not. Their personalities clashed quite a bit, and Colby complained to Don that Marjolie talked about Charlie far more often than he liked. At the same time, when it was going well, it was going very well.
Still, Don kept his eye on them just in case objects were going to be thrown. After a few minutes of heated whispered conversation, Colby and Marjolie came over to Don.
"Do you have a second?" Colby asked.
"Sure," Don said, moving some folders around on his desk to pretend he'd actually been working instead of spying. "What's going on?"
Marjolie sat down in one of the chairs Colby had hastily rolled over. "Is Charlie in some kind of trouble?" she asked, getting right to the point.
Don frowned in surprise. "No, why?"
"I think I'm being followed," Marjolie said. "These men keep showing up everywhere. Just like the time Charlie and I were in Europe. They show up at the barn, at my house, when I'm out..." she shrugged and looked over at Colby. "I'm getting a little scared."
"Has anyone tried to talk to you?" Don asked. "Asked you any questions?"
Marjolie shook her head. "No. They keep their distance and seem to think I don't see them." She rolled her eyes. "As if the big black SUV isn't a dead give-away."
Don couldn't help but laugh quietly. "Ok. Well-"
"I tried to call Charlie, but he wasn't home," Marjolie interrupted. "So I left a message with your father, and one on Charlie's cell."
"Oh, ok," Don said, glancing over at Colby, who didn't look pleased with that revelation. "When did you call him?"
"Just before I got here," Marjolie said. "While I was driving. I just thought I'd come somewhere safe. I have a few days off, so…"
"Without them having approached you, there isn't too much I can do," Don began. "But I do want to take this very seriously. Sometimes Charlie annoys the wrong people…"
"You mean pisses off the wrong people?" Marjolie said with a quick laugh. "Yeah."
"Yeah," Don agreed. "So just in case this is one of those times… Why don't you go get some coffee down the hall," Don made a vague motion with his hand in the direction of the coffee. "And Colby and I will figure something out."
Marjolie nodded and stood. "Either of you want anything?"
"No, we're good," Colby said, watching Marjolie disappear down the hallway. "Of course she called him first," he seethed. "You know, there is something really wrong about her obsession with Charlie."
Don couldn't help but laugh at Colby's outraged expression. "Come on, you know Charlie doesn't-"
"Yeah, Charlie doesn't have a problem with me dating her, because Charlie's moved on with Anna," Colby muttered. "Ugh. Anyway. What do you think?"
"We can't do anything officially," Don said. "I'm thinking the FBI or the CIA or whoever has been going over Charlie's bank records. He's bought Marjolie some seriously expensive things-" he ignored Colby's irritated huff. "So I'm thinking they're the ones tailing her in case she's some sort of spy or something. So we'll have to handle this diplomatically."
"I have some vacation days saved up," Colby said. "How about I take those and just hang out with her? Keep an eye on those guys."
Don nodded. "That's what I was hoping you'd want to do. I'll ask Charlie… Actually, he's probably not going to answer my calls anyway, so…" Don shrugged. At the moment he didn't care.
"What's going on with you guys?" Colby asked carefully.
"Nothing," Don muttered.
"Since he's come back you two haven't been the same."
"Eight months away will do that," Don said wryly. "And it's Charlie, not me."
Colby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, except not. You're both just as stubborn, you know. And you aren't cutting him any slack on anything."
"I shouldn't have to," Don replied. "Do you realize how difficult the Director is making things for me ever since this whole thing with Charlie blew up?"
"Just about as difficult as for David and me, I guess," Colby said smoothly. "We've both noticed that people seem to be checking on us an awful lot lately. Like we're hiding a couple billion dollars in the bank." He snorted derisively. "As if. Would I still be here if I had been an accomplice? I'd be rich. Of course I wouldn't be here."
Don laughed at Colby's exasperated expression and picked up his phone as it started to ring. He put it back down a moment later. "Director wants to see me."
"Alright," Colby said, standing and walking to his desk. "I'll put in my request for time off."
Don walked up the stairs to the Director's office and was waived right in by the secretary. Director Paulson was seated behind the desk, and Director Peters was sitting in one of the two empty chairs across from him.
"Have a seat," Paulson said. Don tried not to roll his eyes and sat down. Paulson had it in for him.
"Let me first say," Peters said quickly. "That this is with my objections. I don't believe there is a need for it."
"Well thank you," Paulson said somewhat snidely. "Special Agent Eppes, due to your brother's involvement with the current fraud case-"
"My brother has no involvement in the current fraud case," Don interrupted.
"That remains to be seen," Paulson said. "He's a prime suspect, regardless, so, because this office is primarily handling the case, I'm putting you on leave."
"You're putting me on leave?" Don repeated.
"Paid leave," Paulson said smoothly. "We want to be sure there is no chance of tampering-"
"Tampering?" Don repeated, getting to his feet. "Tampering? What in the world makes you think I would tamper with anything relating to this case?"
"It's your brother," Paulson said with a shrug. "We'd all probably do some stupid things to protect family."
"This isn't my case, I don't have access to the evidence, I don't even know anything about the case, except what's been said on CNN and every other news agency," Don argued. "And you have no evidence against Charlie."
"That's not entirely true," Peters said, ignoring the glare from Paulson. "There have been some developments in the case."
"What kind of developments?" Don asked, sitting back down.
"We can't discuss that with you," Peters said apologetically. "And it's all fairly circumstantial, to be honest. It will probably lead nowhere, but until it does, your Director feels it necessary to take extra steps to ensure the integrity of the case. Take a vacation."
"I don't want to take a vacation," Don muttered. "I have open cases."
"Those will be distributed to some of our other teams," Paulson said.
"David can take the lead-" Don said.
"David Sinclair and Colby Granger are also being put on leave," Paulson said. "Due to their friendship with Doctor Eppes. So is Lauren Allison, since she lives in the same house."
Don sighed and leaned back in his chair. "How long?"
"Until further notice," Paulson said somewhat gleefully. "Or until Doctor Eppes is no longer a suspect."
"Great," Don said, getting to his feet. "So it could be years."
"I'm sure a few weeks will be all," Peters said with an apologetic shrug. "We're checking into the new developments right now, it shouldn't be long before they're discredited."