Title: The Nautilus
Author: Ryo314
Rating: T
Spoilers: Breaking Point
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs. I wish I did, but alas, I simply own all four seasons on DVD.
Summary: Charlie knew things were going to get interesting the moment he saw a very nervous Liam Keller enter his office.
Note: I'm glad you are reading the third chapter, and I hope you all enjoy. Chapter 3/4.
The Nautilus
Chapter III
"Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure." Edward Eggleston
Four sets of eyes were staring at the map of LA on the large screen while a fifth set stared at a laptop screen. All of them were hoping that in just a few seconds they would have an idea of where Amelia Keller would be. The parameters had been set up by where Emmy had been previously and by close bookstores.
With a few more clicks of the keyboard, Liam let out a long sigh and hit the enter key. There was a pause and then a few spots were marked on the map. Amita turned away from the large screen and started working on a laptop that was set up behind her. With just a couple seconds of typing, the three spots marked on the paper suddenly had addresses.
"It looks like there is a possibility that she is at a comic book store called Inked..." Larry gave the name of the shop a strange look. "An Internet cafe or a Barnes and Noble."
"How good of a possibility?" asked Don.
"Well..." started Charlie, "that's kind of complicated."
Larry decided to take over. "I believe what Charlie is trying to say is that even though this model is good and we have a strong pattern, we're still trying to predict a single human being's behavior, and that is always subject to change."
Don looked back to his brother, who had decided it would be best to go over and look at Liam's computer.
"If I know Emmy, she's somewhere surrounded by books," said Liam, looking up from the computer. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure how well I know my sister anymore." He looked back down at the computer; it was obvious that his mood was getting worse the longer Emmy was missing. They caught him several times trying to call Emmy's phone; she'd yet to answer.
"We just need to get to these places around noon; she seems to log on at places like this most in the afternoon," said Charlie.
This was what Don had been dreading. He really didn't want to tell his brother that even though he was an FBI agent, there wasn't much he could do about Emmy. Basically, what Don didn't want to tell his brother was that he was on his own.
Don set his hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Um...Charlie, can I talk to you outside for a moment?"
Charlie stared at his brother. "Um...sure."
The two brothers stepped out of the room and took a few steps down the hall. "Uh...Charlie...I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this, but the FBI can't go find Emmy."
Charlie's brows creased in confusion. "What?"
Don shook his head and sighed. "Since the FBI was never officially looking for Emmy, we can't send agents to those locations, especially if you don't want the NSA to take over before you even find Emmy."
"So what are we going to do?"
"I can go, but I can't necessarily send anyone else."
Charlie shook his head obviously not happy with that option; unfortunately, he didn't have much of a choice. "Alright."
The two were about to join Larry, Amita, and Liam when David hurried up to Don. "Sherwood cracked. He's going to tell us all he knows about who hired him to make that bomb."
"Can't it wait?"
David shook his head. "Sherwood is willing to talk now or not at all."
Don sighed as he looked between Charlie and David. "Sorry, Buddy, but I've got to go take care of this. Look, make sure everything is ironed out, and after we talk with Sherwood, we'll go find Emmy."
Charlie sighed; this was definitely not what he wanted to hear. "Okay."
"Alright. I'll be back soon."
Don walked off with David, and Charlie returned to the workroom. Larry, Amita, and Liam were all staring at him as he entered. Amita was the first to speak. "Well?"
Charlie really didn't want to the bearer of bad news, but at the moment, he had no choice. "Um...well...the FBI can't send agents to look for Emmy."
Liam turned pale. "Why not?"
"Because they never officially took on her case. Don was going to go to the locations, but the guy who built the bomb at CalSci is finally talking."
"So...what's going to happen?" Liam looked incredibly nervous.
"We could wait till Don is finished," replied Charlie.
"What if it's too late by then?" asked Amita.
"Or I could go," continued Charlie.
All three of them stared at Charlie, and for a moment the mathematician wondered if he had grown an extra head. Larry finally broke the silence.
"I'm sorry I can't find a better way to phrase this Charles, but you can't be serious?"
"I am."
Amita jumped in. "Charlie, it's dangerous."
"And if you go, I'm going with you!" added Liam; the danger aspect apparently hadn't occurred to him.
Charlie sighed; he'd been expecting this kind of reaction. "Liam, you can't go. The second you step out of the offices without an agent, the NSA are going to take you into custody."
Liam was not to be deterred. "But she is my sister."
"I know, but you can't-" Before Charlie could finish his sentence, Amita had cut him off.
"I'll go!"
Liam, Larry, and Charlie turned toward Amita. "What?" they all said in unison.
"You're certainly not going to go on your own; it's dangerous, Charlie. Besides, you can't check all three places in time to find Emmy."
"She's right," agreed Larry. He paused for a moment. "So I'll go too."
"You guys-"
"It's simple math, Charles. Three people to check three locations."
"I can't ask you guys to do this," said Charlie.
"You didn't ask," corrected Amita. "Now, if we don't leave soon, we're going to risk missing Emmy."
"What am I supposed to do?" asked Liam.
All three looked toward the young man; they couldn't take Liam with them and risk the NSA taking the young man into custody.
"You're going to have to stay here," said Charlie.
"But-"
"I'm sorry. I really am, but if we find your sister, but the NSA has you, what's gonna happen?"
Liam looked down at him hands. "Okay."
Amita looked back at the map. "I'll take the comic book store. Larry, do you want to check out the Internet cafe?"
"I suppose."
"I guess that leaves me with the Barnes and Noble," said Charlie. He turned toward Liam. "We should be back in a couple of hours at the most. Promise me, you're not going to leave."
Liam shook his head. "I'm not going to leave."
"Good," said Charlie. He turned back to Larry and Amita. "Let's go find Emmy." Something suddenly dawned on Charlie; the only person who had any idea what Emmy looked like was the one person who wasn't going. "Um...Liam?"
"Yeah?"
"What does Emmy look like?"
Liam seemed kind of surprised by the question. "Um...well...she's kind of short...she has short hair. Wait! I have a picture of her." Liam turned back to his laptop and started typing away. Only a few seconds later, Liam apparently had found what he was looking for. "Here's a picture of her."
Amita, Larry, and Charlie stared at Liam's computer after he turned it around; he'd brought up his sister's Facebook page, and on the screen at the moment was a picture of four girls standing in front of the Bean in Chicago. "Emmy is on the right," added Liam.
A short young woman-a little on the chubby side-with bleached out blonde hair and a spray of freckles smiled back at them from the screen. Up until now, Charlie had no face to put with the girl he'd been looking for; all he had been focusing on was setting up the model. Everything seemed different now. Now, Amelia Keller had a face.
XVIIIIV
Amita stood outside of Inked wondering whether or not to go in. If she waited outside, she had a chance to catch Emmy before she entered the shop, but if Emmy was already inside, she was going to have to wait till Emmy came out to catch her. However, if she went in, she ran the risk of Emmy changing her mind of coming to the shop.
Amita considered her options for a couple of moments, all the while watching the people who passed, entered, or exited the shop, and then she decided to enter the shop. Inked wasn't a particularly large shop which made looking for Emmy pretty easy. She walked around for a few moments carefully studying the people in the shop. After a moment, it became obvious that Emmy was not there. Before leaving, Amita decided it would be best to ask the person at the counter if they'd seen Emmy.
She walked up to the counter and waited for the kid that was paying to finish.
"Can I help you?" asked the guy behind the counter after the kid was done.
"Um...yes. I was wondering if you had seen a particular person today?"
"We get quite a few people in here, so I can't say for sure," replied the guy.
Amita gave him an odd look and glanced around the shop; it wasn't exactly what most people would call "busy." Amita turned back to the guy. "Can I just ask? It's very important."
The guy shrugged. "Sure. What did they look like?"
"Well, she's short...umm..." Amita tried to remember the photo. "Kind of chubby. Very short blond hair."
The guy shook his head. "I haven't seen anyone like that. Sorry."
Amita frowned. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. "That's okay. Thanks anyway." She knew she couldn't leave yet and risk missing Emmy. "I think I'll just look around for a little bit." She turned away from the counter and started to "browse" the racks of comic books.
XVIIIIV
Larry had never quite understood the draw of Internet cafes. Whenever he felt the need to work on something, be it on the computer or not, he never felt like going to a crowded and public place where people were talking all around him. Maybe it was just him, but that did not seem like an ideal working environment.
Larry walked around the cafe once, trying his best not to look suspicious, but he didn't see Emmy anywhere. No one in the cafe seemed to be paying attention to anyone else; even the cashier was hard at work on a computer. She only seemed to pay attention when someone came up to the counter. Larry doubted it would do him much good to ask the young girl at the counter if she'd seen Emmy.
After a moment, Larry decided it would be best to try and wait for either Emmy to show up or for Amita or Charlie to call him with good news of their own. He took a seat at a table facing the door and silently hoped the young woman would show.
XVIIIIV
Charlie couldn't actually remember the last time he'd been to a Barnes and Noble; even with his book release, he spent most his time in smaller book shops. Until he had entered, Charlie had forgotten how big these stores were; it was not going to be easy to find Emmy.
As he walked through the store, Charlie spotted the information desk and thought it would be a good idea to ask one of the workers if they'd seen Emmy. He waited in line for several minutes, all while studying the people who walked past him. When he finally got to the desk, Charlie was faced with a very exasperated Barnes and Noble worker.
"How can I help you?" asked the worker, giving Charlie a tired smile.
"Um...I am looking for a person," replied Charlie.
"Person?" said the worker, obviously confused.
"Yeah. A college-aged girl with short-"
"Sir," said the worker, cutting him off, "I help people find books, not other people."
"This is really important though."
The worker shrugged. "I'm sorry, but we're very busy. If you're not after a book, I can't really help you. Next please."
Charlie sighed in frustration; he was not going to get anywhere talking to the employee, so Charlie decided to start his own search for Emmy. He tried his best to remember what kind of books Liam had told him Emmy liked. After a moment or two of trying to remember, Charlie decided to start in the most obvious section: mathematics.
The single bookshelf that was crammed with books that varied from old mathematical theories to modern approaches was lacking a certain aspect: Emmy. He wondered around the math and science area for a few moments before deciding that Emmy was definitely not there. He racked his brain for another area to search. If he remembered correctly, Liam had said Emmy liked to read comic books and similar things.
Charlie began wondering somewhat aimlessly around the bookstore looking for the comic books when someone in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Quickly turning his head, Charlie spotted what appeared to be a young girl sitting in front of a bookshelf reading. Next to her was a bag and what appeared to a two wheeled skateboard. Charlie hurried toward her, not thinking that probably wasn't the best thing to do to a girl that was on the run.
When he reached the girl, she jumped and turned around to see who was behind her; Charlie instantly recognized her as Emmy, but it was obvious that the young girl did not recognize him. She quickly grabbed her bag and skateboard type thing and got up off the floor. Before Charlie realized it, Emmy had taken off.
"Wait, Emmy!" shouted Charlie, running after the girl. Emmy, however, did not stop, and before Charlie could catch her, she'd ran out of the doors. "Dammit!" thought Charlie as he pushed through the store doors.
Emmy was nowhere to be seen in the right direction, but Charlie spotted her riding the skateboard thing. However, Emmy lost her balance and went crashing to the ground. Charlie put on an extra burst of speed and caught up to the young girl lying on the ground. She panicked when she saw him and tried to get back to her feet, but she felt back with a hiss of pain. Charlie noticed that her hands were now badly skinned. His luck would have been better had Emmy not gotten hurt.
"Are you alright?" asked Charlie, kneeling down on the ground. Emmy didn't respond; all she did was stare warily at Charlie. "You're Amelia Keller, right?"
"Maybe," she replied, swallowing convulsively.
"My name is Charlie Eppes. I'm here with the FBI; you're brother, Liam, asked me to help find you."
"Charlie Eppes," said Emmy, giving him a suspicious look. "As in Dr. Charles Eppes?"
"Yeah."
Emmy seemed in intrigued if still a little suspicious. "Can I-can I see some proof?"
Charlie nodded and pulled his FBI ID from his pocket. He handed it to Emmy, and after a moment of studying it, she handed the ID back to Charlie.
"You're really Dr. Eppes," said Emmy. "I'm sorry, but what with everything that's happened...I'm sorry, Dr. Eppes."
"You can call me Charlie."
"You said my brother asked you to help find me?"
"Yeah. He did."
"Is Liam okay?"
Charlie nodded. "Good."
"I think it would be best if we got out of the middle of the sidewalk."
Emmy nodded, and Charlie, remembering the condition of her hands, grabbed hold of her arm and helped her to her feet. Emmy grabbed her bag, and Charlie picked up the skateboard thing.
"Um...do you mind if I ask what this is?" asked Charlie, holding up the object.
"It's a Ripstick," replied Emmy. "As you can tell, I'm not very good at it. All lot of students at my school have them, and they're pretty good for getting around. I just got mine." Emmy looked down at her feet, and Charlie could see her face turning red. "Sorry. This isn't exactly how I would have wanted to meet a famous mathematician...by running out of a bookstore."
"What exactly happened that made you run?" asked Charlie.
"Liam didn't tell you?" Emmy suddenly seemed very suspicious.
"He did. He said he called some plan, and that you took off. The guy who was supposed to go with you...was dead. I kind of meant back in the store?"
Emmy nodded in understanding. "My nerves are a little on high. I haven't slept much." She paused for a moment. "Are you sure Liam is okay? He seemed really upset when he called me the other night."
"That's because there had just been a bomb at CalSci."
Emmy's jaw dropped. "What? He...is...is everyone okay?"
"No one was hurt badly." Charlie looked down the street where he had parked his car. "We really need to get back to the FBI offices. You're brother was freaking out that he wasn't allowed to go with us to find you."
"Why wasn't he?"
"He's kind of in FBI custody to keep from going into NSA custody. If he left without an agent, the NSA would grab him."
"What did he do?"
Charlie looked down at his hands. "He may have punched my brother."
"What?!"
"It's a long story. He can tell it to you once we get back." Realization dawned on Charlie. "I need to call Amita and Larry. They're the other two people looking for you."
As Charlie got out his phone to make the calls, Emmy tilted her head to get a better look at something behind Charlie. He brought the phone to his ear, but Emmy grabbed hold of his forearm tightly.
"Where is your car?"
Charlie stared at Emmy. "It's down the road. I couldn't get a closer parking spot."
"We need to get there."
"Why?"
Emmy pointed behind Charlie, and he looked to see two very angry looking men walking towards them. Charlie turned back to Emmy.
"Walk slowly, but quickly in the other direction, okay?"
Emmy nodded, and she and Charlie began walking in the opposite direction. About every ten seconds, Charlie looked over his shoulder at the two men. On the third look, Charlie noticed that the two men were now running.
"Run!" shouted Charlie, grabbing hold of Emmy's arm. Even at the pace they were sprinting, Charlie swore he could hear the sound of the two men's footsteps. It was then that Charlie made the fatal error; he turned the corner, thinking that it was a threw street. Instead, Charlie and Emmy came face to face with a dead end. Before Charlie could get them turned around and out of the alley, the two men had caught up to them.
"Well...well...well...you are a hard person to find, Amelia Keller." The man who had spoken turned to Charlie. "Unfortunately, I have no idea who you are. Which is not a good thing for you."
Emmy was standing in a petrified silence, and Charlie stepped in front of her. "You're not taking her anywhere."
"My associate and I beg to differ." Both men took a step toward Charlie and Emmy. Suddenly remembering the heavy Ripstick in his hand, Charlie waited until the men got a little closer and then swung the heavy Ripstick. His first swing struck the first man across the face knocking him to the ground. The second swing hit the second man in the shoulder. While the man was leaning heavily against the wall, Charlie grabbed hold of Emmy's arm, and they both ran out of the alley.
"Come on!" shouted Charlie, pulling the frightened Emmy along toward the car.
XVIIIIV
"Drew," said Don, trying to sound calm and friendly, "are you sure there isn't anything else you can tell use about the guy who paid you to make that bomb?"
Sherwood shook his head. "The guy came into my garage and asked me if I needed any customers for my "alternative" business. I asked him a few questions to make sure he was a cop, and then I asked him what he needed. The guy told me he needed a bomb that would cause a lot of superficial damage but wouldn't actually kill or hurt anyone too badly."
"Then what happened?"
"I asked him what place he needed it for," replied Sherwood, like it was obvious.
"Why?"
"Different types of buildings require different types of explosives, especially if want a specific type of damage done. The guy told me it was for a ballroom type room at CalSci. Afterward, he told me that he needed it done in a week."
"Then what did you do?"
Sherwood leaned forward and glared at Don. "I built it. A week after our first meeting, the guy came back. He picked up the bomb and paid me."
"What did the guy look like?"
"He wore a hat and sunglasses at both meetings."
"Do you want the deal, Drew?" asked Don angrily.
"He was about six feet tall, and he had dark hair. Dark brown, maybe black. He was white, and he had plain accent."
"See, I knew you paid closer attention to your clients. What name did he give you?"
Sherwood leaned back and crossed his arm. "You don't want to know."
"I think I do," countered Don.
"Gregory House."
Don sighed. "And what did Dr. House pay you?"
"100,000 dollars," replied Sherwood.
"That's a lot of money."
"Which is one of the reasons I did it. With that kind of money, I wouldn't have to do much building for quite awhile."
"I've got one last question for you."
"What is it?"
"What kind of detonation did you make for that bomb?"
"The guy told me that someone was going to be in the room to do the detonation. They had to be within fifty feet of the bomb for the remote to work. Those are the cheaper bombs to make."
Don rolled his eyes. "Anything else you want to add?"
"No, Agent Eppes. I've got nothing else to add."
Don shook his head and stood up from the table. He left the interview room without saying another word to Sherwood and headed back down to the room where Charlie and the others had set up. He felt bad that the several interviews and bartering matches for a decent deal for Sherwood had taken so long, and he was hoping that the amount of time he'd taken to talk to Sherwood hadn't cost them their chance of finding Emmy.
Don entered the room but was somewhat surprised when he saw that Charlie was missing from the group. "Hey." He looked around for a second. "Where's Charlie?"
XVIIIIV
Larry and Amita were back at the FBI waiting with Liam for Charlie to return with Emmy. Charlie had called him both of them on his drive back to the offices. Liam was particularly anxious; he wanted to make sure his sister was okay.
"She's alright," Liam repeated over and over to himself. "She's alright."
"He said that she was in the..." Larry paused. "Manga section."
Liam nodded. "No surprise there. She has shelf at home completely full of of these Anime books. I don't know what she'll do when she finally moves out."
Just as Liam finished his sentence, the door the to the room opened. All three turned to face expecting see Charlie returning with Emmy; they were surprised to see Don.
"Hey." He glanced around. "Where's Charlie?"
Liam, Amita, and Larry all looked at each other. In all their planning for going to search for Emmy, they never once came up with a plan for what they would do if Don came back. Suddenly, that scenario was staring them right in the face.
"Well," said Amita, "he is..." She tried to come up with something reasonable; her mind failed her. "He is in the bathroom."
Larry and Liam both stared at Amita. "Yeah," said Liam. "He said he would be right back though."
"Well, good. I know I took a bit longer with Sherwood than I expected, but hopefully we can still catch Emmy." Amita involuntarily winced, and Larry and Liam remained silent. "Um...is there something going on that I should know about?" No one replied. "Where's Charlie?"
"In all honesty, Charlie is returning from the same place where Amita and I were not too long ago," explained Larry, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Um...Larry, no offense, but you're not making any sense."
Amita joined the conversation. "Charlie isn't in the bathroom."
"I gathered that," said Don. "Where is here?"
"Not here," Amita replied with a shrug. Don crossed his arms. "Charlie, Larry, and I went to look for Emmy at the places out model gave us."
Don blinked several times as if not believing what Amita had just told him. "What?! You guys went?!" Larry and Amita both nodded. "Without agents?" Another nod. "Do you realize how dangerous that is?!"
Amita and Larry didn't respond, so Liam took over. "Charlie found her."
Don turned toward Liam. "What?"
"He found her. They're on their way here." Liam looked down at his hands. "He said-he said she's okay, but I don't know...cause I didn't get to go." The last part came out a little bitterly.
Don opened his mouth to continue speaking but stopped when he heard the door opening. All four people turned to face the doors.
"I found her," said Charlie with a smile as he and a young girl entered the room. His face fell when he saw a very angry Don staring at him.
TBC