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Don fired two times. He hit the gunman two times. He pulled out his phone and gave it to his stunned dad. "Call the FBI and tell them to send everything they've got over here now!" He holstered his gun, and then spun around and down to Charlie's side. Amita was crying heavily. She had enough sense to back off and let Don do his work though. Larry was shocked, but tried to comfort Amita.
Don ripped open Charlie's button down shirt. He cussed as he saw the entrance wound. He ripped off a part of Charlie's shirt and wadded it up. He pressed hard on the wound. Charlie winced and whimpered slightly. "How bad is it?" He slurred.
"They're already on their way." Don heard Alan say.
"It's not that bad, buddy." Don lied smoothly as he kept his voice calm. "Just hang in there, okay?"
Don didn't hear any sirens, but he looked back and saw two paramedics running toward them. 'That was fast… Almost too fast.' Don thought. He kept heavy pressure on Charlie's chest wound despite his suspicions. "Guys, get back." Don said quietly. Alan didn't know what was going on, but did as he was told. He trusted Don in a situation like this even though his fatherly instincts told him to run to his younger son's side. The two paramedics got close and Don turned his attention to Charlie for just one second. But that was all the fake paramedics needed.
"DON!" Alan yelled in warning.
Don launched himself sideways and started wrestling with the 'paramedic'. The other one joined in the fight. Don got his gun loose from its clip and didn't hesitate to shoot one of the men that were on him. The other paramedic clocked Don in the nose and Don saw stars. He had to fight hard to keep conscious from the blow.
"Amita." Charlie moaned from his spot on the floor. Amita knelt down beside him and held his hand.
"I'm right here, Charlie." She sniffled. "Everything's going to be fine, alright?" she wasn't sure if she trying to assure Charlie of this or herself.
The 'paramedic' knocked Don's gun out of his hand. Don kicked his feet out and planted his feet firmly in the remaining man's gut. He rolled over and scrambled to reach his gun as the paramedic was doubled over. He heard sirens. It wouldn't be long until his team was here and some real paramedics. That's when he felt a stabbing pain in his neck. He cried out as the paramedic pushed down the plunger of a needle.
"Don?" Charlie asked confusedly as he heard the cry of pain. Don wasn't supposed to sound like that. Alan was too stunned to make a move. So was Larry.
Don was seeing double as he felt his fingers touch his gun. He tried to grab at it, but kept missing. The stabbing pain pulled out of his neck. All the noises he heard seemed to slow down and warp. He started hearing his heartbeat very loud in his ears. There was something that sounded like a gunshot. He felt the man attacking him fall over limp. He felt hands grab his shoulders and roll him over just moments later. His dad was there. It looked like he was yelling. He looked over his shoulder and yelled at someone. He thought he heard him say something about Charlie. All the jumbled noises weren't making the least bit of sense to him. Then all of a sudden it felt like fire was burning through his veins. Every part of him felt like it was burning. He cried out in agony despite trying to hold it back. He squeezed his eyes shut and clawed at his skin. He felt more sets of hands pin him. He struggled against them. His back arched as the burning sensation intensified. His hearing started to clear up some and he recognized his dad's voice along with Colby's and Nikki's. Before he passed out from the pain he heard someone say that Charlie was already in the ambulance.
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Colby was sitting beside Amita in the hospital in the lobby of the ICU. "Who all knew what time you would be landing?" he asked.
Amita looked shocked. "You think someone purposely targeted Charlie?"
"We're not sure yet, but that's the way it's looking. Nikki is running pictures for IDs on the dead guys." Colby explained.
Amita took a shaky breath. "Everyone that took either Charlie or I's classes at Cambridge would know we were leaving. Maybe not the specific time or airport, but they would know. Um… Charlie called Don. So Don, Alan, and Larry knew. But that's everyone I can think of that would have known." Amita glanced over her shoulder. She was waiting for the doctor to come out and tell her that they were done with surgery. They had been told that the bullet hadn't hit anything vital, but Charlie had lost a staggering amount of blood and the bullet had lodged itself under one of his ribs. They said he was going to pull through.
Colby put a hand on Amita's shoulder. "Everything'll be fine, Amita."
Amita nodded her head.
Meanwhile Don had woken up and was fighting with the doctor. "Look, I don't care what you have to do, but I'm getting out of here now." he said stubbornly.
"Mr. Eppes, please calm down. You still have a massive amount of drugs in your system. You need to be under observation for at least a couple more hours." One of the doctors said.
"Then one of your nurses can follow me around!" Don yelled back. Alan heard the voices from down the hall. He groaned. Him and Larry and been gone for five minutes and Don was already in another fight.
"Don sounds like he's recovered." Larry said.
"I'll say." Alan said sarcastically. He walked in the door to Don's room and found him sitting on the edge of the bed arguing with a doctor that was taking careful notes on his heart monitor ratings while a nurse was changing his IV bag.
"I don't care!" Don was yelling.
"Donny!" Alan interrupted. He lowered his voice down to normal level as he continued. "What seems to be the problem?"
"I need to get back to work and find out who did this to Charlie. That's what the problem is." Don said angrily.
Alan knew his son would be acting like this. "Donny, you're shaking." He said as he walked up closer.
Don held out his hand where he could see it. He was shaking, pretty badly too. "I'm just cold." Don lied.
Alan sighed. "Don, you're in no shape to be going back to work just yet. I know you're concerned about Charlie, but you can't push yourself too hard."
"I need too, dad." Don said. His eyes glistened. "You have no idea what this feels like." His voice was quivering with emotion that wanted to burst out.
Alan thought about it for a second. "Remember that time when you were six and you decided you were going to climb on top of the jungle gym?"
"Ya, I fell off the top and broke my arm." Don replied.
"Right after you got the cast off you didn't listen to your mother or me and climbed it again because you felt you had to prove yourself. What happened then?" Alan asked.
"I broke it again..."
"Just relax some, alright? Let the doctor's do their job and you'll be out of here quicker." Alan assured.
"Fine." Don grumbled and settled back down. He wouldn't admit it, but his skin still felt uncomfortably burning. More like a really bad sunburn now than the fire that had burned through his veins before.
That's when Colby stuck his head in the door. "Hey, boss." He greeted.
"Hey." Don replied dryly as a nearby nurse asked him to turn his head. He flinched as she prodded the spot where the needle had gone in.
"David's replacement came today." He said.
"Oh, good. Did you show her around?" Don asked.
"Ya, she's back at the office with Nikki right now." Colby explained. He made his way into the room as Alan and Larry walked out to go find Amita and see if there was anything new on Charlie. "How much experience has she had? Does she need the whole rookie training thing?"
"Granger, she's served three tours overseas. She doesn't need coddled." Don replied then winced again as the nurse applied something to the back of his neck.
Colby was shocked. "That tiny little thing served three times?" he asked incredulously.
"She's tiny?" Don questioned.
"Ya, barely five foot six." Colby responded. "And that's probably including the two inches of shoe."
"Don't underestimate her." Don warned.
Colby nodded and headed out of the room. As he walked down the hall he thought back to the airport. He'd read Don's tox report. That needle they'd injected into Don was some of the stuff that he'd had when he was being held on that freighter. It may have seemed like forever ago to everyone else, but he remembered it clearly. The drug in Don's system was a version of the one that made you feel like you were drowning. But Don had a different variant and obviously a much larger dose. He would never admit it, but when he saw Don yelling in agony and trying to claw at himself it had scared him. Like bad scared him. Don never showed pain. The only time Colby could remember that he had was when he had been stabbed. He really hoped Don would stay in the hospital for a little while longer.
Colby gave an encouraging smile to Amita as he passed. Larry and Alan were sitting on each side of her. Amita flashed a short smile back, but it was one of those smiles that was hollow and didn't really mean anything.