My Beautiful Doll
Warning: Nothing. It's a safe chapter guys!
A/N: Well, I know I just posted like two days ago, but here I am with another chapter, yayyyy! After this, I should (key word being should) be back to my upload schedule of every Monday (that is if I don't get impatient again, which is more likely to happen). But I'm pretty sure that's a good thing for you guys, so enjoy me being impatient and putting my carefully crafted schedule out of whack, again. Have a nice day!
Ian decided to drive over to the hospital where Megan said Lt. Gary Walker was. Something told him that Don wasn't being entirely truthful and that Lt. Walker knew what he was hiding. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, he weaved in between the stream of cars, not caring about how it'll look like. The only thing that mattered now was making sure that Don would be safe. Everything else came second for him.
Due to his mad driving, Ian made it to the hospital in record time. Slamming the door behind him, he made his way towards the room number that Megan had given him earlier. Everyone in his vicinity avoided him, most likely due to the murderous intent that came off of him in waves. Ian didn't give a shit. If he could get answers faster by scaring the shit out of everyone, then by god he's going to scare every single living being within a hundred foot radius from him.
As soon as he got to the door, uniformed officers blocked him off, holding out their hand. "Sorry, you can't come in here".
Ian glared and they both stepped back a bit, looking at each other in apprehension. Growling in annoyance, he dug his hands sharply into his pocket and pulled out his badge. "Special Agent Ian Edgerton from Fugitive Recovery" he said coolly, "Now will you let. Me. Through?"
One of the officers gingerly took the badge away from him and examined it, cross referencing the name with the list he had in his hand and gave Ian's information to someone else on his earpiece. Ian tapped his feet impatiently on the floor, ignoring the mental voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Don talking about being polite and will you stop being an ass for once? If it was any other day, he might've listened to it. But not today. Today, he was a man with a mission.
Both officers looked at each other and nodded. "Alright, we've verified you and you're on the list" then they both stepped aside, "you can go right in Sir".
Ian rolled his eyes at the overly formal tone and walked inside.
"Took you guys long enough" a gruff voice greeted him. Looking at the bed, Ian could see an older man laying on top, surfing through channels on the television.
"Lieutenant Walker" Ian greeted back, crossing his arms. "Why did you put my name on the list?"
Gary Walker stopped on the sports channel and placed the remote on his side. "Figured one of Eppes's people are going to come by and ask me questions so I put you all on the list. Just in case, you know?"
Ian nodded approvingly, "Smart move".
Gary Walker snorted, "Definitely the only smart move we've made in the last few days" he muttered under his breath.
Ian let out a bark of laughter, "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you Lieutenant Walker. Don tends to be a bit of a dumbass when it comes to his own safety".
Gary Walker grinned, "Don't I know it" he shook his head in exasperation, "Also, just call me Gary. Any friend of Don's is a friend of mine".
"Call me Ian".
Gary nodded as he leaned back, "So, have any questions for me?"
Ian took a deep breath as he calmed himself. "I think Don is lying to us and I wanted to know the truth".
Gary raised an eyebrow, "Why do you think he's lying to you?"
Ian decided to tell Gary what Baker told him earlier. Once he was done, he said, "As much as I hate him, something is telling me that he was being truthful. He just seemed too smug not to be".
Gary pinched the bridge of his nose, looking extremely annoyed. "Dammit Eppes!" he growled, "I thought you were smarter than that".
That made Ian worry. "What?" he demanded.
Gary gave him a pitying look. "You're not wrong. Don did leave a few things out" then Gary winced, "Well…more than a few things if I'm being honest."
"Tell me everything".
Gary let out an exasperated sigh before he told the story, the whole story. He even told Ian the true state that he found Don in after his first encounter with the Artist, something that Don neglected to tell them earlier.
"That fucker" Ian growled under his breath. "I thought we got through to him".
Gary shook his head, "When it comes to himself, Don will plant his feet in the ground and not budge for anything. You should've known by now never to assume".
Ian rubbed his temples, "Can't believe we fell for it…" he groaned.
"Well, now that you know, what are you going to do?"
Ian straightened up, looking pissed. "I'm going to drag that idiot back to the office so that he can explain himself".
Gary let out a small huff of amusement. "Good luck with that" he said leaning back into his bed.
Ian smiled at him. "Thanks for the info" then pointed his chin towards Gary's bed, "If you want, I think I can pull some strings to get you out faster".
Gary grinned. "Honestly? That would be great. I think I might start bouncing off the walls if they keep me here any longer."
Ian laughed. "Amen to that". Then he held out his hand to shake Gary's. "Nice meeting you Lieutenant Walker".
Gary shook his hand warmly. "You too, Special Agent Edgerton". Ian gave the man one last nod before walking out, determination fueling his every step.
Don is definitely going to pay for deceiving them, he thought to himself as he got into his car and drove away, this time to the Craftsman.
It didn't take long for Ian to rush to the Craftsman, breathing like a madman. After evading traffic once again, he somehow managed to get to his destination in one piece.
Paying no mind to the police cars that were on both ends of the street, Ian stalked up to the familiar door, pounding furiously. "EPPES! GET YOUR ASS OUT NOW!" he shouted. He didn't even care if he disturbed Alan or Charlie. In fact, he was a hundred percent sure that they would be on his side once they realized why he was angry. They tended to think alike when it came to Don and his propensity to be a dumbass when it came to his own safety.
He was greeted with nothing by silence. What the hell? He thought to himself. There was no way no one heard him, especially not Don. The man was one of the lightest sleepers on the planet, even after days of no sleep. Walking around to look at the parking lot, he could see that Alan's car was still in the driveway. And since Don's car was still at the office, that meant that everyone should be home.
Ian tried to look into the windows, but that resulted in nothing. The house was completely empty. Sensing that something's wrong, Ian decided to go to one of the cars that were monitoring the place, just in case they knew where everyone went.
As soon as Ian walked up to one of the cars, he rolled his eyes in annoyance. Of all the- he cursed, shaking his head at the officers that were asleep. Coming up to the side, he banged his hand on the window, hoping to wake them up and catch them off guard.
They didn't wake.
Ian was instantly on high alert. There was no way these officers missed that. He tried to open the door but it was completely locked. Then he ran to the other police car on the opposite side of the street. Peering into the window, he could see that these officers were in the same state as well. Ian grabbed the door handle and yanked it open, surprised to find it unlocked this time. Reaching in, he checked the pulse of one of the officers, letting out a sigh of relief as he felt a weak pulse underneath his fingertips.
He tried to gently slap one of their faces only to find that they were unresponsive. Ian instantly reached out to the radio that was in the hand of one of the officers. "This is Special Agent Ian Edgerton, badge number 4329" he said promptly, "I have four officers down. Request EMTs here immediately".
There was silence on the other line as control on the other side went to check his identity. "What are their conditions, Agent?" the operator asked calmly.
Ian looked them over. "Unconscious and unresponsive. Pulse is there but weak". Then he looked over at the foot of one of the officers and saw a device. Taking it, he sniffed it and promptly placed it far away from him. "I just found a device in the car. I can smell some trace chemicals from it, most likely some form of sedative" he reported.
"Understood. EMTs are on their way. Please stay on the line Agent"
"Roger that" he replied, then Ian grabbed the radio from the nerveless fingers, clipping it onto him. After he did that, he got out of the car and quickly ran towards the house, now certain that was wrong.
Keeping close to the wall, he peeked inside the window. Once he was certain it was empty, he took a deep breath and broke the window with his gun. The glass gave away with a loud CRASH! He started breaking down pieces of the window so he could wriggle his way inside.
As soon as he was inside, he brandished his gun. "FBI!" He screamed, looking around. The familiar house, one that he's been to so many times in the past now feels like an entirely different place. It feels cold, hollow, and empty, like it knew what happened to its inhabitants and is now giving out a warning or a cry for help. Going from place to place, he slowly looked around, making sure no one had a chance to sneak up on him. Looking in the dining room, he could feel his heart drop.
There on the handrests of two chairs were duct tape that had been ripped in half. The Eppes were taken hostage, and there's only one person right now who would do this…
Ian instantly got back to work mode, carefully clearing the area before moving up to the second floor. There, he canvassed the area as well, taking note of the messy state of the rooms. It was clear that they didn't expect to be ambushed like this. Then he got to Don's room, the only room whose door was closed shut. There, tapped on the door in clear tape was a bullet, one that Ian had seen in the crime scene photos following Don's first abduction. Gripping his gun tightly, he shoved the door open, pointing his gun at the room. As soon as he saw what was inside, he cursed and quickly picked up the radio again, requesting for backup.
On the wall was a message scribbled on in red ink.
He's mine now~
The Artist
"Shit!" Ian cursed once again, gripping his gun in anger.
We're too late…
A/N: Welp...looks like everyone is in the loop now. Also, I have no clue what Ian's badge number is so I made it up. I'm also assuming that the "3695" that Don says IS his badge number, which it could very well not be. It could be something else entirely and totally expose me for being even more of a dumbass (which in all honesty, none of you guys should be surprised). At this point, I'm just throwing information and possible procedures onto a wall and hoping it would stick.
Side-side note, the fact that I remember Don's number by heart and not things like people's birthdays or Uni related stuff really tells you what my priorities are and what kind of person I am. AKA, a mess :)
