Disclaimer: Don't own Numb3rs or any of the characters. Jasmine; Sammy; Jenny and Xavier are mine.

A/N: A warning for those who are fed up with Colby whumping! There is more. Why? Because I find it strangely therapeutic after a hard day at work! lol

Chapter Twenty Three – Xavier

"Colby!" Cried David, he was briefly relieved to see his partner move until another shot was fired narrowly missing his prone form. Knowing that the next shot might actually hit its mark David dashed out from behind the door, grabbed Colby and practically threw him to where he would be somewhat shielded. The shots stopped as suddenly as they had started. Colby glanced into the car to see Jasmine squashed into the foot well on the passenger side, seemingly uninjured.

"Where the hell did the shots come from?" Queried David as he inspected Colby's leg.

"Over in that direction, behind the tree." Colby responded through gritted teeth as his partner took off his jacket and pressed it onto the wound in his leg.

"We need to get you outta here."

"As much as I'd like that, if you stick your head round this door your likely to be shot as well."
"I'm willing to risk that if it means getting you out."
"Well I'm not." Growled Colby. "Anyway, here comes the cavalry." He nodded down the road where Don and Megan were cautiously approaching, guns drawn, having clearly heard the sound of gunfire. David pulled out his cell using the radio to contact them, he let them know that Colby was down and where he thought the shots had come from.

"Stay put, we'll check it out." With that the other two agents dashed across the road and disappeared behind the row of houses opposite Sammy's.

"Colby, David? Are you guys OK?" Liz shouted from the doorway of the house, worry tingeing her voice.

David knelt up far enough to see through the tinted windows of the car. "Colby's hit but he's OK, stay in the house with Sammy and Jenny." He called back, he was gratified to see the other agent disappear from view. Knowing Liz as he did he was confident that she had found somewhere safe for them to wait this out.

After a few minutes a call came through on David's radio. "Eppes for Sinclair."

"Go ahead Don."

"We're all clear here, the shooter has gone. Back up and medics are on their way."

"Copy that." He sighed with relief, he turned to Colby who was looking a little pale and had his eyes shut. "You still with me bud?"

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm going to secure Jasmine and let Liz know the coast is clear."

"Tell her to stay inside with Sammy and Jenny, just in case."

"Don't worry, I know how to do my job, you just keep that jacket pressed on your leg." David rolled his eyes at Colby's bossiness.

Leaving Colby sitting on the ground he went round to the passenger side of the car and pulled Jasmine up on to the seat, putting one cuff round her wrist and the other round the steering wheel. He didn't even bother to look at her, she had caused his friend so much pain he wasn't inclined to be polite. He hurried into the house, when he came back to the car he had Sammy in tow, much to Colby's disgust.

"I thought I said to keep her inside." He grumbled.

"It's not David's fault, it's mine. He told me you were injured and even though I am a paediatrician I can help, now stop bitching and let me have a look."

David grinned at his partner's look of discomfort. "You tell him." He said, earning himself a filthy look from Colby.

Sammy knelt down next to him and took away the jacket. "Oh, that's not good. The bullet has embedded deep into your leg, you're going to need surgery to remove it. It's bleeding quite heavily too." She wrapped the jacket back round his leg. "I'm going to get some bandages from the house."

"Can I please get up off the ground at least, my butt is getting wet and it's not particularly comfortable." It hadn't long stopped raining when they first arrived and the ground was still damp.

"Let me get this straight, I've just told you that you need surgery and you're more concerned about getting a damp ass?"

"Yup."

She shook her head and called David over from where he was talking with Don and Megan. "Can you help me to get him sitting on the edge of the car seat? He's moaning about a wet backside." She rolled her eyes. David gave her a sympathetic smile, followed by a 'what can you do' shrug then lent down and assisted his partner up from the ground to rest on the edge of the seat. "Better?" He asked.

"Yeah, thanks man." They watched as Sammy hurried back into the house to get the bandages she had mentioned.

"Where is that ambulance. Should be here by now." Grumbled David, he turned as he heard sirens approaching, but it was the back up they'd requested, they parked up behind the car Jasmine had been driving so that the road would be clear for other traffic. Several agents piled out of the cars, one of them turned towards Don and David heard him apologise for the delayed response, apparently there had been an accident on one of the freeways and traffic was jammed. At least David had an explanation as to why the ambulance was delayed.

Sammy came back out and gently removed the jacket from round the wound, she put a pad over it and then secured it with a bandage. "There that should hold you over until the ambulance arrives."

David had walked over to speak to one of the agents who had just arrived, the man looked back towards the car and nodded then carried on down the road with the other agents, including Don and Megan to where the shots had been fired from. David turned back to Jasmine and uncuffed her from the steering wheel then secured her hands behind her back with them, he then started to walk her towards one of the recently arrived cars to secure her in the back. He had enough on his plate without having to worry about what she might be up to. If he hadn't been worrying about the delay in his partner getting treatment he may have noticed the car coming down the road towards him.

Luckily for David his partner was a bit more attentive and spotted the car heading in David and Jasmine's direction, he pulled himself from his sitting position and despite the pain shooting through his injured leg ran towards them, he didn't have time to call out, he pushed them out of the way but wasn't fast enough to get out of the way himself and was thrown up onto the hood of the vehicle, slamming into the windscreen which cracked with the impact. Sammy screamed as he landed on the road with a sickening thud, before she could hurry towards him a man got out of the car wielding a gun, torn between helping Colby and self preservation she froze and watched in horror as the man grabbed the lifeless agent and hauled him up effortlessly and threw him in the back of the car. She could hear voices behind her and the sound of running feet. The man then turned his attention to Jasmine and David, he saw that the FBI agent was no threat as when he was pushed out of the way he was unprepared and had caught his head on the kerb, knocking him out, the man grabbed Jasmine and pulled her towards the car flinging open the door and shoving her unceremoniously in. Sammy felt someone grab her and push her into the shelter of the car, she heard shots being fired and a car pealing away.

"Megan, check on David. You," Don pointed to one of the agents who hadn't long ago arrived on the scene. "Lets go." They ran to the car and took off down the road after Colby and his captor.

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David sat on the kerb, his head in his hands, he couldn't believe he had been laying unconscious whilst his injured partner was being taken. Paramedics had checked him over, they had wanted to take him to the hospital but he had refused, no amount of cajoling by Sammy and Megan would make him change his mind so they cleaned up the cut on his forehead and he signed the waiver they stuck under his nose. He was also angry that Colby had still been at the scene, if the ambulance response time had been quicker his partner would have been on his way to hospital. He knew it wasn't the paramedics fault, but he had to be angry at someone. He looked up at the sound of a car pulling up and saw Don, he pushed himself up and hurried to meet him.

"Are you OK?" Don asked.

"Fine. What happened?"

"We lost them in traffic."
"Shit."

"Yeah, I know. There's an APB out on the vehicle, but who ever that guy was I have no doubt he'll have dumped it quite quickly considering he has an FBI Agent hostage."

"Have you got a picture of that Xavier you were looking for?" Asked Sammy timidly. She had been inside with Jenny when she saw Don pull up and she wanted to find out what was happening.

"Yeah, why?"

"I got a good look at the guy before Megan shoved me in the car, I just have a feeling it may have been him from what little Colby told me."

"Can't hurt to have a look. I'll go and get the file, why don't you go back into the house and I'll come find you." Don suggested kindly. The woman looked extremely pale, it's not every day that there is an OK Corral kind of shoot out in front of your house after all.

Sammy turned to go in, as soon as she stepped over the threshold Jenny threw herself into her arms sobbing. "Where's Colby?"

"I don't know honey. Don and the others are looking for him, they'll find him." She reassured her 8 year old daughter. She didn't want to tell her daughter the truth, that the man was likely seriously injured and had little time to get help, besides this team were so close they would leave no stone unturned until they found their missing member.

"Sammy?" Megan spoke softly behind her. "Why don't I take Jenny whilst you talk to Don and David."

Sammy nodded and spoke to Jenny. "I need to help Don, will you go with Megan and Liz for me?"

"Will it help find Colby?"

"Yes."

"OK then." The little girl went off with Megan to find Liz.

Sammy, David and Don congregated in the dining room. Don produced a file and laid it in front of Sammy. "Take your time."

When he opened the file there were a group of six pictures. Sammy didn't hesitate and pointed at one of the men. "That's who was in the car that hit Colby."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely positive. I know he was waving a gun around, but he wasn't paying any attention to me so I managed to get a good look and I remember the scar that ran from his eye to his chin." She pointed it out on the photo.

"Thanks Sammy, you can go back to Jenny now."
"Don, there is something I need to say, but I don't know how to tell you."

"About Colby?" Don asked. Sammy nodded in response. "Just say it if you think it's something that we need to know."

She took a deep breath knowing that they didn't need any more pressure to find their friend, but they also needed all the facts regards his condition. "The bullet wound was bleeding profusely when I bandaged it, he needs to receive treatment. Add to that the injuries he was likely to have received by being hit by the car…."

"What are his injuries likely to be and how much time do we have?"

"I don't really know, but an educated guess, lower leg injuries, possible neck or spinal injuries. He was unconscious so he may even have a head injury. It's all speculation, but between that and the bleeding from the bullet wound he could easily go into shock. As for time, it could be as little as a few hours."

"Then we best get out there and find him." Don stated solemnly.

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Xavier dumped the car he had hit Colby in just a few miles from Sammy's house he wouldn't have been able to drive much further with the huge crack in the windscreen caused by the agent's head, there was an SUV with stolen plates waiting where he had left it. He dragged the unconscious form of Colby out of the back seat of the car, went through his pockets and found his key for the handcuffs, which he then used to remove Jasmine's cuffs.

"What did you think you were doing Jas?" He asked.

"I just wanted to see him, keep an eye on him to ensure he wasn't getting too close to our operation."

"I told you to stay away from him." He snarled.

"I know and I'm sorry, I needed to know what he had found out."

"You should have left that to me. I'm going to make sure he's out of your life for good now."

"What are you going to do? If you kill him you'll bring the whole of law enforcement down on us."

"We'll be long gone by the time they find him."

"What are you planning?"

"You'll see my love."

Jasmine glanced at the crumpled body of Colby laying on the floor at their feet. She still cared about what happened to him but she needed to keep Xavier on side. "Lets get out of here before we are located."

Nodding Xavier grabbed Colby and dragged him to the SUV, opened the trunk and threw him in. Then he opened the passenger side door for Jasmine before sliding behind the wheel and driving off.

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"Don, LAPD have found the car Heller was driving." Called David.

"Lets go."

"Please call me when you find him." Said Sammy.

Nodding the two men along with Megan and Liz climbed into the cars they had arrived in and made their way to the nearby location of the dumped car. When they reached the scene LAPD had taped it off, they knew this was linked to the abduction of an FBI Agent and were taking no chances. On seeing the teams identification they allowed them under the tape where they were met by none other than Lieutenant Walker.

"Eppes. We really do have to stop meeting like this. It seems that your man, Granger, has a target on his back." He held out his hand for Don to shake.

"Hey Gary. Didn't realise you'd be here."

"As soon as I heard what was happening I thought I might be of some use. This Xavier Heller is suddenly big news amongst the gangs, even though nobody would tell us much of any use."

"We're happy to have you on board. What can you tell us?"

"Nothing you're going to want to hear."

"Tell us anyway."

"There is a lot of blood on the backseat of the car, more on the ground here." He pointed to the ground where Colby had lain. "There was another vehicle here, from the wheel base the techs tell me it's an SUV. More than that we just don't know yet. The techs are getting access to any CCTV footage in the surrounding area as we speak, but it could be a lot of footage."

"Gary, I have to tell you we don't think that we have a lot of time. Apart from the gun shot wound he could have multiple serious injuries from the impact with the car. We need as many people on this as can be spared."

"You've got as many as you need. My team have already taken some of the footage back to LAPD to start reviewing and they'll work with you until you find him. You hit one law enforcement officer, you hit them all, regardless of the agency."

"We appreciate it Gary."

"You'd do the same."

Don nodded. "Well Charlie has said he'll meet us back at headquarters, I don't think there is anything more we can do here, so I suggest we get back there and start searching for clues and nail this SOB once and for all."

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"No, no, no. That won't work." Sighed Charlie, he desperately wanted to help Don locate Colby but nothing they had come up with so far was of any use. When they got the agent back he was seriously thinking of suggesting to Don that they implanted him with a microchip, if he was going to keep attracting trouble at least they'd always be able to find him.

"Hey Chuck. Thanks for getting here so quick."

"Bro, no worries. I just don't know that we're going to be able to help."

"Just the fact you're here helps." Don assured him. He wouldn't admit it to Charlie but just having his brother near helped to settle him and focus his mind. He knew that once the right information was to hand his brother was the man to sift the wheat from the chaff.

David and Liz had gone to the AV room to start sifting through the mountain of CCTV that LAPD had managed to collect, the FBI and LAPD techs were going through some as well. They hoped to find the vehicle that Heller was using and then track it through the city to it's destination, but all this took time, something that Colby quite possible didn't have a lot of.