A/N: Thank you to my new reviewers! I am glad people are liking the story.

Something to note- midway through I switch to a more reflective style and I am writing in the past tense. It was easier to write this section in the narrative form instead of making the entire thing a dialogue.

This is the pinnacle chapter. I hope that it is clear and makes sense to everyone as much as it did in my head! I am only planning on one more chapter.

Don flew into the room, hot on Edgerton's heels. He grabbed onto Ian's shoulder. "Let him go Ian." Ian shrugged Don off of him, never letting go of Charlie, and used his free hand to push Don back. Looking Don square in the eye, Ian dared Don to try it again.

"You know Eppes, I changed my mind. I do have a minute to educate the professor here on why everyone is SO…PISSED…OFF" spat Ian, pushing Charlie harder into the locker with each word.

"Okay, okay let's just take it easy now Ian, let's talk about this huh." Charlie knew that tone, it's the one Don reserved for talking suspects of the ledge or before they did something completely stupid. Ian knew it to.

"How to talk suspects down 101, real cute," came Ian's scathing reply.

"...Please Ian, you're hurting me" choked out Charlie.

Ian raised an eyebrow but backed off Charlie a little, he wasn't being pushed into the locker anymore but Ian hadn't released his hold either. Ian leaned forward and whispered in Charlie's ear. "You have no idea what the meaning of hurt is Professor. My niece does though."

Don took in some air, relieved that Ian had backed off just a little. He took a step forward, only to be deterred by the poignant glare Edgerton threw his way. And just as fast as it had happened, Ian released his grasp on Charlie, who remained rooted to the spot. As Ian stepped back Don immediately moved to put himself between Ian and his brother.

"You okay buddy?"

"Yeah" mumbled Charlie, still in shock.

Silence descended on the three as Ian paced in front of the door with his hand rubbing his chin. It was Ian that spoke first. "Funny thing is I'm the one that vouched with you to that Judge. You helped your brother in the past, helped us solve cases. Told him you were just a well-meaning kid. And now, it's my niece in a hospital bed and you get to carry on like nothing happened."

"Ian…please, just tell me what happened. I'm completely lost…what did I do" mumbled Charlie.

"The genius is lost huh, I guess we're all in trouble then." Ian straddled the locker room bench, staring at Charlie. "Did you really think the CIA was just going to let Pakistan have that information?"

Charlie's heart began to race and started to take a step forward, only to have Don place his hand in front of him, keeping him back. Don hadn't taken his eyes off Ian, not knowing if the man would pounce on Charlie again. "Those professors were innocent. I sent them the information to help their people. Please tell me they're okay," trailed Charlie.

"That's what you're worried about?" Ian shook his head. "Sit down Professor, it's story time."

xxxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxx

Fifteen minutes later, it was over. Ian was back sitting by his niece's bedside. Charlie was sobbing against Don inside the safety of the rental car. Ian had told them what had happened all right, every detail despite its likely classified nature. When Don had asked if Ian should even be telling them this, the agent snorted. "What does it really matter now?"

It turned out that when the CIA had learned that information that could potentially be used in creating a bioweapon had been sent to Pakistan, they flipped. Despite reassurances from the FBI that they had reevaluated what Charlie had sent, the CIA's people believed it still had the potential for application to a weapon and they weren't going to risk it. So they deployed teams in an effort to recover the data.

Charlie has sent that information to four professors. They had to act extremely fast given the fact this information could be retransmitted at a moment's notice. There was no time to properly prepare, no research at the ready to tell them who they would face when they arrived. Instead, the team was thrown together at a moment's notice. The CIA agents going in to recover the sensitive information were supported and protected by a small Navy Seal team.

Ian's niece was part of the three man CIA team. The other two on the team had contacts in the area and knew the lay of the land. They were seasoned agents, use to mixing it up when need be. She was the only one near the area that the Agency could get in fast enough that had the knowledge to be able to identify the material that the team was seeking, confirm that all the material had been recovered and be able to tell the likelihood of the material having been disseminated elsewhere before they arrived. Ian finally said her name. Isabel, 28 years old. She was all Ian had left. His sister's daughter. Isabel's parents had been killed when she was 17 by a drunk driver. She was already half way through with college, despite her age, when her parents died, and Ian did everything he could to be there for her when he wasn't out chasing down some dirtbag for the FBI.

"She's an analyst. Another overachiever," Ian had said with a small grin. "She was never meant to be out on a mission like that. But when they asked her, of course she said yes. I never liked the fact that she was working for the Company. But she was so proud of what she was doing. She didn't want to sit in an ivory tower somewhere, she wanted to work."

The words had stung Charlie but he took them. He had sat hanging onto every word Ian said. Neither Don nor Charlie had ever heard the man speak so much, and they didn't want to interrupt, afraid they wouldn't get the end of the story if they had cut him off.

The entire mission had been launched around the time Charlie was in his hearing. Apparently the recovery from the first three professors went smoothly. One had been on vacation, and when they had hacked into his email they found that the professor hadn't even read Charlie's email. The other two had opened the email, so they were visited in person. Neither had wanted any trouble with the Americans, and quickly turned over anything they had printed out, along with their computers, and didn't put up a fight as their homes and work areas were searched. Ian hadn't said what they had told the professors to keep them quiet, or to cooperate, he may not have known.

Don wasn't sure how Ian knew any of this. From what he could tell, his niece was incapacitated and unable to tell him anything. If he hazard to guess, it was very likely that Ian had been loaned out the Company on a few occasions from the FBI. Given that it was his niece that was injured, the CIA probably read him in. That or one of Ian's many contacts had.

It had been the fourth professor that proved the problem. When they were unable to find him in Islamabad, the team quickly traced him to an area of the tribal lands a few days later. Unbeknownst to the CIA, The professor was connected to a man known only as Haswari. Haswari was a known terrorist on every agency's most wanted list. He was wanted in connection with several bombings across the globe. He had appeared in propaganda videos urging followers to perpetrate attacks on Americans wherever they could be found. It was only later, after everything was over, that the CIA discovered the professor was likely a second cousin of Haswari through his mother's side, and had probably taken him the research information himself in a bid to win Haswari's good graces. However, when the team had arrived in the tribal lands, they knew nothing of this.

Both Don and Charlie were white as sheets when they heard this information. Charlie had begun to shake and Don had to put a hand on his shoulder, to steady him.

When the team had located the professor, they fell back to let the Seal Team breach the home they believed the professor to be in. The Seal Team, finding no one inside called the agents in. Over the sat-phone Isabel had confirmed they had found the remaining material. There was no further evidence of it having been sent on to anyone else. The CIA had moved in fast enough to contain the information, which was no small miracle.

What was frightening though was that they had also found the names of known engineers and biologists, along with a timeline and list of potential targets. They clearly hadn't gotten very far in whatever they were planning, but whatever it was it was obvious that they were going to try to make use of the research that had fallen into their hands. The writing was on the wall that they were in the beginning stages of planning a large scale terrorist attack.

The only concern the agents had now was finding the professor to make sure he didn't have any information on him. Just as they were making their way out of the house with the information tucked safely into their packs, the house exploded. Bullets began flying everywhere.

Haswari had likely been surprised by the presence of the Americans, as he had clearly not prepared for their arrival. Only a small force of men had been with him. Given how quickly the team had moved in, there wasn't much time for Haswari to have been tipped off even if their presence had been detected in Islamabad. The flip side, however, was that the team hadn't been expecting to run into him either.

Mayhem ensued. Followers of Haswari opened fire as soon as they caught sight of foreigners coming from the house. One had climbed up on a roof and fired an RPG in the vicinity of the Americans, reducing the house they had just come out of to ruble. The Seal Team fought them back in a way only they could manage, and the two CIA agents tried to shelter Isabel from the onslaught. By the time the smoke had cleared, the Seal Team had managed to get the entire team onto a waiting chopper that had been sent in for an exfil, but they didn't make it out unscathed.

The mission to recover the research Charlie had sent cost the life of one CIA agent who had stepped in front of the enemy, taking the bullet meant for Isabel. It also cost a Navy Seal his leg from the RPG that had ripped through the house. Isabel had taken shrapnel wounds when the house exploded, and had been thrown into a brick wall by the force of it, hitting her head hard. She hadn't woken up since.

Through the various networks and accounts from the surviving members of the team, the CIA learned that the professor died in the mayhem, along with Haswari and the small band of men that had been with him at the time, another scourge gone from the earth. Despite their injuries, and having to protect the CIA agents, the Seal Team had cleaned things up nicely. Pakistan agreed to the CIA's cover story, tribal infighting. Pakistan didn't want to admit to its people that the Americans had managed to pull of another operation on their land.

Ian had stood up without a word and motioned for the brothers to follow him. They walked back into room 19 and stopped at the foot of Isabel's bed. Charlie's breath hitched in his throat as he looked at the young woman, who was even younger than him.

Ian placed a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "If you are going to continue working with us, you need to understand your actions have consequences. You aren't an agent, and you don't know everything. If you do decide to break the rules again professor, remember today, and think about whether you can live with the potential consequences. Ian spoke with no malice, no hatred in his voice. He didn't see the need; he knew his point had been made.

"And here endeth the lesson, professor. Go home." Ian had turned his back to the brothers and leaned over Isabel, moving a strand of hair off her face, and Charlie's heart broke then and there. Don had to help him to the car, and once inside, Charlie crumbled.