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Don sighed. The techs weren't getting anything now that could be processed at the scene. They had to take it all back to the lab. He ran hand down his face as he walked down the hospital hall. He had called Robin a few minutes earlier and she said that she'd convinced the others to go home and get some rest. Don was tempted to go too, but knew that work still needed him and Charlie would need him when he woke up.

"Ugh! Why did I think of that before?" Suzie yelled out suddenly. In the war room with her was Colby, Ian, and Nikki. Nikki had to a repress an, 'I don't know, why don't you tell me?' in response to Suzie's outburst. "We've been looking at this whole case the wrong way!" Suzie continued.

"What do you mean?" Colby asked.

"We've been looking at this as an attack on Charlie." Suzie explained.

"Ya because Charlie was the one who got shot." Nikki replied dryly.

"And we know the motive too." Ian said. "They were purposely shooting at Charlie to get at Don psychologically."

"That's not my point!" Suzie said with exasperation. "There was someone who was being purposely aimed at, but it wasn't Charlie. It was someone who was near Charlie at the airport when he was shot, someone who if he recovered quickly would have been collecting security videos where an ambush was waiting for him, and someone who had a bomb exploded in their hospital room if they hadn't recovered so quickly."

"Don." Colby said suddenly as the lightbulb flashed above all their heads. The pieces had all just fallen into place.

"And that someone is alone at the hospital right now." Ian replied.

Liz suddenly burst into the room. She quickly started rattling off the facts about Don's encounter with Swarrid that Don had neglected to mention and the fact that he had killed his brother and had seriously injured one of Swarrid's best pals.

"We have to get over to the hospital now then." Suzie said quickly. "This guy is not gonna stop until Don's dead."

Don heard a commotion down the hall and instantly got twitchy. At first he blamed it on exhausted nerves. But it sounded like it was coming from Charlie's room. As Don got closer he heard Robin cussing someone out rather loudly. He pulled his gun out and shoved the door open without hesitation. He braced himself for what he would find.

"Don!" Robin yelled in distress as the door burst open.

Don had his gun up facing Robin. Robin had a knife pressed to her throat. Don clearly recognized the man holding the knife as Nate Swarrid. "Well hello, Don. Nice to finally see you face to face again."

"Let her go." Don growled.

"Put down the gun first."

Don did as he was told without hesitation. If he hurt Robin he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. Fury was burning through his veins as he kept a careful eye on the knife at Robin's throat.

"Kick it away." Swarrid demanded.

Don did. He watched it slide under the bed his brother was in. Charlie was still on sedatives. There was no chance of him waking up.

"Good." Swarrid chided and started towards the door with Robin.

"Look, you want me, okay? Switch us." Swarrid kept backing up towards the door. Don was sure his heart was going to leap out of his chest. "STOP, okay? You can do anything you want with me as long as you let her go!"

Swarrid stopped and smiled slowly. "If you say so." He pushed Robin forward into Don. "Handcuff her to the bed."

Robin was shaking and tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Don't do it, Don." She whispered.

"I'm sorry." He whispered back and kissed her on the forehead. He reached back and pulled out his cuffs. He took one of her petite hands and cuffed it loosely.

"Don." Robin pleaded. She looked him in the eyes. "You can't do this. He'll kill you."

"I know." Don said and sat Robin down at the foot of Charlie's bed. He cuffed the leg of the bed. "Call someone." He whispered quietly.

"Actually she can't." Swarrid said. "I have her phone."

Don resisted the urge to cuss. Instead he kissed Robin on the lips. "I love you." He whispered. He knew they were both thinking about the same thing. The wedding. It was only three weeks from now.

"Love you too." Robin said. She envied Don's ability to stay calm and cool in these situations as her voice rose a couple octaves.

Pain suddenly burst from the back of Don's head. Black spots played in his vision as he heard Robin yell something. He reached back and felt something wet. Then he felt himself being pulled into a standing position. His legs felt like jelly as he tried to support himself. "Let's get going, Don." Swarrid said.

Robin saw when Swarrid hit Don with the butt of the knife. She started yelling at him about being a coward and hitting a man when he wasn't looking. She could see Don's eyes fluttering as he tried to stay conscious.

Just as Swarrid and Don made it out of the room Don's phone rang. " 'f I don' answer that you're gonna 'ave… FBI… and SWAT… on you." Don slurred.

Swarrid seemed to understand the half muttered words. He pulled Don's cell out and put it on speakerphone.

"Eppes." Don answered automatically.

"Don, it's Colby. We found something new we think you should take a look at."

"Can't… right now." Don was fighting hard against unconsciousness now. His head jerked as he listened for Colby's response.

"Alright." Colby said.

"Hey… tell Megan… not t' leave for Mexico… before I say goodbye."

Colby didn't miss a beat. "Sure thing, Don."

Swarrid clicked the phone shut and after popping the batter out threw it on the floor. He knew he had used a code word in there somewhere. "Get going, Eppes." Swarrid said and started dragging Don forward.

"Can't." Don managed before his legs gave way and his vision went totally black.

Only moments later the elevator Swarrid was heading for opened and FBI and LAPD poured out. The elevator beside it also opened and SWAT came out. All of them were yelling their own variations of, "Put your hands in the air!" and "Put the knife down!" Swarrid hefted up the unconscious Don and held him up as a shield. He also pressed harder with the knife.

"Back off or I slit his throat!" Swarrid yelled. This quieted the yelling officers. Swarrid had one hand holding Don's unconscious head back and the other pressing the knife to Don's throat.

"Calm down, Mr. Swarrid, we just wanna talk." Colby called out.

"Hah. Nice one, Colby. Now get out of my way." Swarrid threatened.

A shiver went down Colby's spine as Swarrid spit out his name. "We're not going to let you walk out of here with an injured agent."

Swarrid started to back up while dragging Don with him. "Yes you are. Your boss is too precious to you to risk injuring more."

Colby was tense. He glanced at Agent Liz Warner to his left and Lt. Gary Walker to his right to try and get some help from them.

"What do you want him for?" Liz questioned. "If he's unconscious he's no good for information."

A smirk spread across his face. "I don't need him conscious."

*cue dramatic music and commercial break*