A/N - I would like to repeat what I said in my author's note at the beginning of chapter one.
This story is not designed to offend anyone, it is not meant to be disrespectful of the Indian culture or the Hindu culture or any other culture. If I have offended anyone out there, I apologize.
The subject matter that is a part of this story is emotionally and politically charged and if this is not in your comfort zone you should not continue to read.
For those of you who want to know what my sources were for research I have listed a fair few of them at the bottom of my profile page. Simply click on my name and scroll down to the end of the page.
I sincerely appreciate the support of the readers who have taken the time to leave reviews and who have not judged this story or my integrity as an author based on a single chapter. I do hope that you continue to enjoy this tale.
Thank you
Alice I

Chapter Two

The fatigue that Charlie was feeling made the elevator at the far end of the math building cross his mind, but with a resigned sigh, he turned and headed for the stairwell. His office was on the third floor which was well within his physical abilities, and his therapist would frown on his temptation to use the elevator. The situation with Amita was only a part of what had been causing his sullen mood of late. One of the things his physical therapist had told him to watch out for were bouts of depression, which were often associated with an ischemic injury. When a perfectly healthy person lost the ability to move or function normally it was not uncommon for that person to lapse into depression. Charlie's loss of fine and gross motor function was relatively minor, yet it still produced a feeling of inequity with his world. As petulant as it sounded in his own mind, Charlie often found himself thinking 'Why me? This isn't fair.'

Larry didn't attempt to coax conversation out of Charlie, feeling that in order for the young man to gain true peace with his inner thoughts he needed quiet companionship. The amicable silence that often characterized their evening trek from Charlie's office did actually give the young professor a sense of relief. He knew that he need not explain himself to Larry, nor was he burdened with the necessity of engaging in idle conversation when that was the last thing he wanted to do. Charlie was fully aware that his mentor was subtly trying to convert him to a routine of 'conscious walking' that he had learned in the monastery. At the same time, Larry knew that Charlie would not ask for help but needed it at the end of his longer teaching days, so he had adopted the practice of peeking in to see his young friend at the end of each day. They fell so naturally into their roles that neither of them questioned it and therein lay the true comfort of their relationship.

Stepping out into the warm evening air was refreshing. The campus was oddly quiet, and it took Charlie a moment to remember that the absence of the several dozen students usually seen in the area could be attributed to the Linkin Park concert that evening downtown. Most of his students had been talking about it all day. As they approached the end of the Math and Physics building and the parking lot beyond both men looked up and exchanged a confused frown at the smell of gasoline that wafted on the breeze. As they rounded the corner, Larry stopped dead in his tracks causing Charlie to turn his attention to what ever had caused the horror stuck expression on the older man's face, and what he saw galvanized the younger man into action.

Amita lay on the grass between the sidewalk and the building with a figure dressed in black looming above her. Charlie, who had been leaning somewhat heavily on the cane, started forward lifting the cane from the ground as the man held his hand up, said something inaudible, and then he spit on her. The strong smell of gasoline was thick in air, and Charlie felt his heart jump into his throat as he saw the man open and ignite a small silver lighter in his hand. Equations flew through his mind at the speed of light calculating trajectory and angle of descent even as he raised the cane he was now carrying to throw at the hand holding the lighter. He screamed "No!" which startled the man and drew his attention just as Charlie threw the cane.

The sturdy exquisitely crafted Wenge wood shaft made the perfect projectile; it hit the man's hand, dislodging the lighter, which flew up into the air, went out, and dropped harmlessly to the sidewalk. The cane continued in its flight, blinding the man momentarily when it struck him across the bridge of his nose. Charlie never slowed down as he charged directly into Amita's attacker, tackling him to the ground with the force of a linebacker, and knocking the wind out of him. Surprise mingled with anger flooded through the man giving him enough of an adrenalin edge to land a vicious punch across Charlie's cheek, and throw the professor backward onto the sidewalk where he landed hard enough to send a wave of pain through his back. The man used the opportunity to roll to the side, gain his footing, and make a dash for the van that was running. Within seconds, the vehicle peeled away from the building and tore off out of the parking area before Charlie could even get up to pursue him.

The sound of Larry's voice brought Charlie's attention back to the immediate situation when he heard his friend exclaim, "Oh, God! I don't think she's breathing!"

Charlie quickly scrambled over to Amita who was lying on her side with her hair covering her face. The smell of the gasoline drenching her was so strong it was nauseating. Charlie gently rolled her on to her back, pushing her hair aside. He could see that her skin was already beginning to turn red where her soaked clothing clung to her.

Larry stood there with shock apparent on his face. "My God! She's covered in gasoline, Charles."

"I know!"

"He... he was going to burn her alive!" Larry almost whispered this last statement as revulsion sickened him and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"Larry!" The stark shock quickly cleared from Larry's eyes and he focused on Charlie. "Larry, call an ambulance!"

Larry was almost right; Amita was barely breathing and Charlie could clearly see the bruises forming around her neck where she had been strangled. Without even realizing he did it, Charlie sent a desperate prayer to whatever God might be listening before he began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The taste of the gasoline nearly made him retch but he held it together as he focused all of his attention on forcing air into the woman's lungs. After only three rescue breaths, she shuddered uncontrollably before sputtering and coughing violently as she sucked in ragged lungfuls of air.

Charlie tried to comfort her but as soon as his hand touched her shoulder she squeaked and tried to crawl away from his touch, crying in deep throaty sobs and attempting to call for help in a coarse and strangled sounding whimper.

"Stop, Amita! It's me. It's Charlie! I've got you, it's okay; I've got you!"

Charlie enveloped her in a protective embrace not caring that he was also being soaked in the volatile liquid as he rocked her, repeating that she was safe now. Her breathing at that point was throaty and punctuated by husky puling with an almost croupy sounding cough, until she passed out again from shock.


Matt Laraby and his girlfriend Beth had passed by the parking lot next to the Math and Physics building on their way to the Bagel Bin Cafe across the street from campus only to find that Matt had left his wallet in his truck, so they turned around and headed back. The sound of screeching tires drew them out of their conversation and focused their attention on the parking lot next to the building. Neither of them could discern any characteristics of the nondescript vehicle other than its color. The license plate was unreadable at the distance they were from the vehicle. It was Beth who heard Professor Fleinhardt yell to Professor Eppes, and when she turned her attention toward the voices she saw a figure on the ground next to the building. She yanked on Matt's sleeve and pulled him toward the commotion next to the building as Professor Eppes began to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the figure lying on the ground.

Like the professors, the students also noticed the strong smell of gasoline before they even got close enough to make out who was on the grass. The woman had been revived but she was desperately trying to move away from Professor Eppes. Not knowing what was happening, Matt pulled out his cell phone and called campus security when he realized that Professor Fleinhardt was on the phone with 911 calling for an ambulance. Beth looked on, horrified when she realized that the now unconscious woman on the ground was her combinatorics professor. Professor Eppes was trying to stand up while holding Professor Ramanujan and having a hard time of it, so Beth rushed to his side to help.

"We need water; lots of water! I have to get her to the west quad - the athletics building has showers. We have to get this gasoline off of her, it's burning her skin."

Beth turned on her heel and ran straight over to Matt, groping in his jeans pocket for a set of keys. She pulled them out and took off at a dead run to the far end of the parking lot. Larry hung up with the 911 operator and approached a wobbly Charlie as he hefted Amita's limp form in his arms trying to get a better grip on her. He was about to insist that Charlie sit down again when the sound of screeching tires drew his attention to the parking lot again. For a heart stopping moment he feared that the attacker had returned, but instead he saw a bright red pick up truck pull up behind Amita's car.

Larry took Charlie's elbow and helped him get to the back of the pick up with Amita and pulled down the tailgate. Matt, who was relaying the situation to campus security over his cell phone, informed them that they were getting in his truck and headed for the athletics building. He disconnected, and hurried over to the truck to help Professor Eppes get the soaked woman into the bed of the pickup. This took some doing because as small as Amita was her dead weight combined with Charlie's waning strength made it difficult to get her up without hurting either of them. Once they rolled her onto the truck bed, Matt climbed in after her first and pulled Charlie up into the truck bed as well.

Charlie turned to Larry and said, "Direct the ambulance to the west field. Those are the closest showers and easiest to get to." He reached into his front pocket and pulled out his own cell phone and tossed it to his friend. "Call Don, he's number three on the speed dial. Tell him what's happened and ask him to come out here."

Larry reached over and closed the tailgate of the truck before he slapped the side twice. With that, Beth took off down the parking lot headed for the west quad of the campus, driving so fast that she nearly plowed into the approaching campus security car, which turned abruptly and followed the pickup truck with sirens blaring.

Matt was impressed almost beyond words with his girlfriend until she slammed the tires up over the curb near the athletic field. "Damn, Beth! Take it easy will ya!" He patted the rim of the truck bed uneasily and mumbled under his breath "She didn't mean any harm, girl."

Charlie was oblivious to everything; his full concentration was focused on Amita. The abrupt halt to their forward progress snapped him back to the present. Matt jumped down out of the back and opened the tailgate as the security car pulled up behind the pickup truck. The security guard ran over to help Charlie get out and pull the barely conscious Amita from the truck bed.

Charlie looked at the security guard as he pulled Amita to his chest so he could carry her over at the athletics building. "Do you have keys to that? We need to get her into the shower."

The man didn't need to ask any questions. The situation was obvious and the smell of the gasoline was so strong that he'd caught the scent of it as he drove behind the truck. He jogged ahead to the door fumbling with a huge ring of keys that were clipped to his belt. Charlie was having difficulty keeping from limping heavily at this point, so Matt and Beth flanked him, supporting him by the elbows, and by the time the awkward group made it to the building the guard had the door open. It only took them another minute or two to get her into the shower room and lay her gently down on the floor, supported against Charlie who knelt beside her.

Beth stood up and pushed both Matt and the security guard out of the shower room. "Professor Fleinhardt is sending the ambulance here. Get towels and blankets from them."

She didn't give either of them the opportunity to object as she literally shoved them out and shut the door. Then she moved quickly over to where Charlie knelt on the floor cradling Amita in his arms.

"Take her clothes off." Beth started the shower going with a mixture of hot and cold water. She took care to make it lukewarm; she didn't want to shock the professor. It took a moment to adjust the temperature and as soon the water hit Amita's head she began to stir.

Charlie wanted to make Amita aware of her surroundings before he started trying to remove her clothing. He was acutely aware of her fear and how she had desperately tried to flee from his touch when he first revived her, so he stroked her face and spoke into her ear.

"Amita, it's Charlie. Amita, wake up sweetheart. Can you hear me? Amita I'm here, I've got you."

Amita started to struggle in Charlie's arms and whimper weakly but quickly calmed as she focused on Charlie's voice, his reassuring words, and his gentle touch. She tried to say something but her voice wasn't cooperating and the only thing that came out was a hoarse sob.

The water was helping a little with the smell but it permeated her clothes and the only way to deal with it was to remove them. Charlie talked Amita through it, explaining gently that they needed to get the gasoline off and that meant taking her clothes off. As he unbuttoned her shirt and peeled it back, he was able to see the redness of her skin where the gas-soaked cloth had lain against it, as well as a deepening bruise in the center of her torso.

Her attacker had obviously kicked or punched her ruthlessly, which caused an all consuming rage to flare up in Charlie's chest. He knew in that moment that the primal fury he had felt when he tackled the man was not some fleeting emotion. If he were to come face-to-face with the man who had done this to her he would do more than break his nose with a thrown cane.

The water hitting her body caused her to cry weakly, but there was no other way to prevent further burning. With Beth's help, Charlie was also able to get Amita's jeans off, until she was clad only in her panties and bra under the stream of tepid water. A loud knock at the door announced the arrival of the ambulance crew. Beth went and pushed open the door admitting two EMTs and shooing Matt away as she closed the door behind the emergency personnel who had entered.

Amita's clothes had been tossed aside but the fumes emanating from them were making the air in the shower room rank with the odor. At the direction of one of the EMTs Beth turned off the water. Amita clung to Charlie and curled her legs up in a fetal position shivering, but she jerked away from the touch of the tech who wanted to examine her. She seemed to be trying to melt into Charlie's body in and attempt to find protection in his arms and he had to try to calm her by stroking her wet hair and telling her to let them do their jobs. She began to shiver more and more so the second tech pulled out a towel to hand to Charlie and asked him to try to pat her dry. The tech then pulled out another towel and was awkwardly trying to wrap her hair in it when Beth stepped forward saying, "I'll do it. She knows me."

Once Charlie and Beth had Amita patted down and her hair wrapped up in a towel, Charlie stood up, bringing Amita to her feet with him. A blanket was wrapped around her for warmth but she wouldn't let go of Charlie, nor would she let the EMTs touch her. Her gait was even more unsteady than Charlie's making the pair so ungainly that they threatened to topple over so while one EMT supported the pair the other wheeled the gurney into the shower room and Charlie managed to get Amita onto it just as her strength and his leg were about to give out.

Charlie held on to the side of the gurney using it for support as they maneuvered out of the building and into the cool evening air. Amita seemed terrified to let anyone else near her, so when the gurney stopped for as moment, Charlie held her face in his hands and kissed her gently.

"Let these people take care of you, baby. They need to get you to the hospital, but I'll be right behind you, all right?"

With tears streaming down her face Amita nodded, still unable to voice anything other than a hoarse sob. The emergency personnel seized the opportunity to whisk the gurney away and over to the waiting ambulance. Charlie tried to follow but his leg had been taxed beyond its endurance and he dropped heavily to his knees when it finally buckled. Strong hands gripped his upper arms and he looked up into the worried face of his brother.