Had a little break from the action the last chapter. Time to start getting back on track.
When Granger had suggested that Charlie take his plan to David, the Professor had looked more concerned than Ian had ever seen him.
"Where's Don?" Charlie had asked sullenly.
"I'm not sure. He... left awhile ago." Colby had sounded as close to furious as Ian imagined the man ever got, but he seemed to be fighting to keep the emotion out of his voice to avoid completely disrespecting his boss. Especially to his little brother. "David should be at his desk. Don assigned him to look over all the reports of stolen vehicles and assaults in L.A. County for this morning."
Ian didn't even have to speak for Colby to know what he was thinking. What the hell, Eppes? No wonder David was so damn pissed.
David had embraced their idea excitedly, probably because they were desperate and had absolutely nothing else to go on, but when their attempts to reach Don and obtain the team leader's permission had failed, Ian had taken it upon himself, as the senior-most agent, to contact defense attorney Adam Benton and secure his cooperation on behalf of his client.
Granger and Sinclair were now escorting Benton to pick up Billy Rivers, and Ian, with nothing better to do, was still keeping vigil over the somewhat distraught math genius. Usually, after sitting still for so long on a single case, Ian's nerves would be frayed and he would be itching to get back on the hunt. But, in this instance, the expert tracker just felt exhausted. And pretty damn useless.
Ian glanced at his watch, wondering how long it would take the other two agents to grab Rivers and get back to the office. Hoyle had demanded that the hostage switch take place at 6p.m., and it was already a quarter to four. Ian was startled to realize just how many hours he'd spent simply sitting and watching Charlie work out his equations; as a sniper, he had long ago mastered the art of passing the hours doing absolutely nothing, but even his considerable patience had never extended much to the Professor's voodoo.
Not like it did to someone else's voodoo. Ian sighed softly, running his hand over his eyes and into his hair, trying to ignore the stress that was getting to him more than he wanted to acknowledge.
"Frustrated, huh?" Charlie warily inquired, noticing Ian's uncharacteristic display of discomfort.
The agent sighed again. "You have no idea, Professor."
Figures, Ian thought dreadfully when he noticed Eppes stalking his way over to Benton and Rivers as Sinclair and Granger escorted them through the bull pen to the interrogation room. He could see the desperate ire in Don's eyes, the conviction that he was going to get whatever information the man had, no matter what the cost. He better not be expecting a repeat of this morning. Winters was one thing, but this guy...
David looked on nervously as Eppes made one of the most tense and adrenaline-filled introductions Ian had ever witnessed. When it became clear that he was on the verge of going full-on hardass on Rivers right then and there, Edgerton finally decided it was time to intervene and keep Eppes from doing something stupid. He was grateful when Granger, who hadn't yet made it onto Don's bad side that morning, beat him to it. After a brief staredown, Don stepped aside to let David take them to interrogation and went into the adjoined observation room.
Colby, satisfied for the moment that he wouldn't be needed to play referee, briskly headed for the break room. Since Charlie had left to check up on his friend Fleinhardt, Ian sat alone in what he'd come to think of as the Professor's voodoo room, silently looking over various files pertaining to the case despite having no idea what he was hoping to gain from them. Exasperated, he shut his eyes and pushed away the psych profile he'd been reading, clenching one hand into a fist and bringing the other up to rub at his temple, hoping to ease the headache he'd felt coming on for the last hour.
He didn't notice anyone had entered the room until he caught a whiff of his favorite scent, and realized there was a steaming cup of coffee sitting in front of him. He didn't even look up to see who had given it to him, just picked it up and took a nice long gulp. He felt his headache subside a bit. Needed caffeine I guess.
"Finally figured out what looked off about you earlier," Colby said in something much closer to his regular friendly voice than anything else he'd spoken all day. "No cup of coffee."
Ian couldn't help the smirk that broke through the intimidating gloom all over his still-tired face. "You want me to carry my rifle around too, Granger?"
The other man's short laugh confirmed that he had been among the many soldiers in Afghanistan to hear about Edgerton's reputation for always having his sniper rifle with him in the chow hall, slung over his shoulder as if it were a part of him.
"Have you talked to Don?" Colby asked after a moment.
"Not since... this morning," Ian answered. "Don't get the feeling he wants to talk about it." A quick read of the younger agent's features told him that he had grown more worried over the course of the day. "He'll deal with it, Granger. It'll hit him hard after the dust settles, but... I made sure he knew that when he made his choice." Tried to, anyway.
"Guess you're right." He grinned at Edgerton's Why-Would-You-Ever-Doubt-That? look, but it quickly faded as he continued. "I tried to talk to him earlier. Almost got really out of line when he brushed me off again." Ian slowly drank his coffee, silently letting Colby vent his frustrations. "I mean, I want Megan back as much as anyone. But he's not helping her by cutting himself off from us, ya know?"
"Colby, Eppes is a good leader. You know that. But this case is much bigger than anything he's ever dealt with before. It's testing him. And he's afraid he'll fail. He needs you just as much as you need him right now."
Colby gave him an unabashedly stunned look, obviously not expecting such an eloquent speech from the usually quiet sniper. What can I say, Granger? You guys bring out the best in me. As he continued appreciatively sipping his coffee, an assistant came in and handed Colby a file, explaining that it had come in for Agent Reeves. The note on the folder identified it as an advanced background screening of murdered car salesman Pierce Brenner.
Ian looked over Colby's shoulder, skimming the information presented in the detailed investigation. They looked through Brenner's personal history, which was pretty standard for an adulterous white collar professional: business degree, married twice, two kids. He was arrested in 1984 on a misdemeanor drug charge, and again in 1992 for domestic battery, but had never been in prison. Only because he never got caught on the statutory rape. They had just about given up hope of finding anything useful when something in Brenner's financial history caught Ian's attention.
"That's a lot of legal fees for a guy who never even spent a night in jail," Ian noted sarcastically. He didn't need the Professor's gift with numbers to realize that the multiple deposits added up to a huge payout.
"Yeah, you're right. There's almost fifty grand in payments here." Granger flipped ahead to a list of Brenner's associates. When he found it, he had to look over the name twice to ensure that he wasn't imagining the lead for which they had been so desperately searching. "Ian, look at this."
The two agents exchanged a satisfied look. Damn good call on bringing the lawyer in, Professor.
Ian couldn't recall a time in his life when he'd felt more impatient. It seemed it was always in the most urgent of times that the world decided to make things difficult. Time seemed to be passing at about half of its normal rate, and yet he felt like he was being constricted by not having enough of it. The sniper's demeanor was calm, his heart rate steady, his muscles carefully controlled. But he was having an exceptionally difficult time tamping down the anxiety building up inside him. The fatigue from the morning's events was still there, but it was gradually being pushed aside as his natural inclinations as a hunter reasserted themselves.
At this particular moment, however, all of Ian's attention was commanded by his current task, which was taking so long that it was actually making him twitchy. Easy there, Edgerton. Can't afford to lose your head now. Won't do anybody any good. God, I really am an addict. Ian sighed with relief, allowing a satisfied grin to chase away some of the lingering fatigue still evident in his usually stoic countenance, as he poured himself a cup of his freshly brewed coffee. Granger had been right that it was what he needed; his headache was gone and he felt much more like himself. Of course, the pot would be empty when I come in here to get more.
Just as he finished his cup, a loud bang from across the bull pen drew the sniper's attention. Let me guess... Eppes. By the time he had turned to search for the source of the noise, Don was literally dragging Billy Rivers across the office in handcuffs, with his attorney trailing behind them shouting threats at the agents. When Benton made the mistake of grabbing Eppes by the arm, Ian expected the worst. He hastily made his way out of the break room and toward the tense scene as Don made a show of deliberately handing Rivers off to David and ordering him to take the man to lock up.
For one brief moment, Ian and Colby, who had now joined him with the Professor in tow, thought that Eppes would hear out the lawyer's complaints without conflict. In the blink of an eye, they realized how foolish those hopes were. Don lunged at Benton, pinning him by the neck up against the glass wall of one of the office conference rooms.
"I don't give a damn about whatever it is you're hiding!" the infuriated agent shouted in Benton's face. "But if you're withholding the information that will save my agent's life, I promise you won't have to worry about paying for it, because you'll be getting a needle in your arm as an accessory to the murder of a federal agent!" To emphasize the last words, Don pushed his arm tighter against the terrified attorney's neck.
"That's enough, Don!" Granger forcefully told his boss as he moved to separate the two. When the Professor tried to follow after him, either out of habit or with the intention of trying to calm his brother down, Ian put a firm hand on his shoulder and warned him to stay out of it. He told himself it was simply because they didn't need a civilian involved in a fight, but some small part of him, seeing the uncontrolled rage in Don's eyes, honestly feared that he would hurt his brother. Got enough shit on my conscience. Don't need that added to it.
"Stay out of this, Colby!" Eppes said coldly as Granger approached him.
His anger imbued him with the considerable strength needed to resist Colby's attempt to pull him away; the young agent was built like a tank, but in this case Don had the advantage of positioning, as well as motivation. It took the combined efforts of the two former soldiers to restrain him. When Colby bent back Don's free arm, Ian used the opportunity to insert himself between him and Benton, roughly forcing them apart.
Once they'd gotten Don reasonably well under control, Granger hastily escorted Benton out of the building. Be nice if the bastard actually gave us something after all that. Ian felt Eppes sag against his strong hold as his anger subsided. The other agent stared at the floor and said nothing as he let Edgerton lead him toward the ward room, away from all the stunned and curious eyes in the office.
As they passed by Charlie, still standing in shock at the scene he had just witnessed, Don raised his eyes briefly to meet his brother's, immediately looking away in shame when he recognized the fear and disappointment in them. No need to lecture him. Pretty sure the look on the Professor's face just said it all. Ian felt a rare and unsettling measure of sympathy for the two Eppes brothers.
Once they were alone, Ian didn't immediately release his hold on Eppes. Not because he was afraid of any further outbursts, but as a gesture of comfort that was equally rare for him as his feelings of compassion.
"Feel better, Eppes?"
"Why would I? I'm no closer to finding Megan than I was the minute she went missing."
Don pulled away from the sniper, staggering over to take a seat on a nearby table. He put his feet on a chair and buried his face in his hands, trying to curl up and hide himself away from the world. Ian, knowing he had no words to assuage the fears of the distraught agent and recognizing that he wanted to be left alone, reached over to give his shoulder a light squeeze before turning and silently leaving the room.
As he walked across the bull pen, Agent Edgerton felt as though he were in a fog, isolated from everyone and everything as the guilt he felt over this whole case again started to tear away at the barriers between his mind and his emotions. Without any regard for who might notice, Ian screwed his eyes shut against the wave of pain that washed over him at the words that drifted up from his memory.
"No man can hold the weight of the world on his shoulders, until he realizes that he already does."
Two Daughters has a lot of time passing with nothing actually happening with the agents. Don is nowhere to be found until he goes off on Rivers, leaving David randomly in charge (though he disappears a few times too), and Ian is just completely gone during this entire time. I don't think he appears at all between exiting the room after interrogating Buck and the scene that will come next, with Charlie explaining the boats in the fog bank. There are so many gaps in this part of the storyline that it doesn't feel like there's enough for me to go off of. Guess what I'm trying to say is, sorry if these past two chapters feel a bit random.