Larry Fleindhart stared at the men and women cluttering the Eppes lawn as he made his way to the door. The call from Don's partner had come as a surprise, but he had agreed to come right down to Charles' home when he heard that his former student had been kidnapped, along with his brother.
More men and women crowded the home, making it seem much smaller than Larry knew it to be. He tried to ask where he could find Agent Lake, but no one paid much notice to the stammering, twitchy math professor. Sighing wearily, Larry moved into the living room.
He saw Alan Eppes sitting on the couch, holding his head. In front of him was a large pile of books and notes that Larry knew had to be Charles'. Carefully, he made his way across the room and stopped across the table from Alan.
"Mr. Eppes, hello," Larry said. "I heard what happened. Is there something I can do to help?"
"Actually, there is." Terry Lake appeared beside Larry as Alan lifted his head. "Can you tell us what you and Charlie have been working on?"
Larry shifted uncomfortably. "We had a consulting project to do with a few other people in our field. I really can't say; it's pretty sensitive stuff."
"You can't say?" Alan echoed. "My boys have been kidnapped, are at the hands of God knows what, and it might be over some stupid school project that you can't tell us about?"
His voice had begun to rise towards the end. Terry placed a calming hand on Alan's arm, then turned to Larry.
"Please," she told him. "Whatever you can tell us will be a big help."
Larry looked at Alan's pleading eyes and sighed. "It's not a school project, exactly. Charles asked me to help him with a consulting gig for NASA. I had to go through red tape to get clearance to work on it."
"NASA?" Alan repeated. "Why the hell is Charlie consulting for NASA?"
"They wanted him to confirm some discrepancy in some of their satellite transmissions," Larry answered. He picked up Charlie's notebook. "It looks as though Charles nearly figured it out. I think he was going back over his data to be sure."
"Does this have to do with that press conference NASA called for next week?" Terry asked.
Larry nodded, still looking at Charlie's notes. "Yeah, they wanted to announce their findings. They just need us to confirm them."
"And what findings would those be?" Alan asked.
"Either illegal transmissions being made through the use of our satellites, or a signal from extraterrestrial life," Larry answered.
Terry and Alan stared at Larry, speechless for a moment. Finally, Terry said, "Either one of those reasons would be enough to kidnap Charlie. To see what he knows, and maybe what he told NASA."
"But why take Don too?" Alan asked.
Terry shook her head. "Maybe he interrupted them. He might have tried to help Charlie, and ended up getting taken along as insurance."
"Now that we know, what do we do now?" Alan wanted to know.
Terry looked at Larry. "Dr. Fleindhart, using Charlie's notes, could you finish what he started and determine the source of the satellite transmissions?"
Larry nodded. "Charles is a lot further along than I was. I should have an answer for you relatively soon."
Terry nodded. "Good. In the meantime, we'll start scouting around. Someone might know something. The minute you have the answer, call me. It'll help narrow the focus of our search."
She turned to Alan. "We're going to find them, Mr. Eppes. I promise."
Don hid a yawn behind his fist and looked at his watch. It was now going on eleven o'clock at night, and Charlie had been working on the number sequence with Reed nonstop for the past eight hours. Sarro was sitting in one corner of the room, gun ready in case Don decided to try anything. He needn't have worried; Don wasn't about to do anything to put his brother in any danger unless he was certain of victory.
The boards in the room had been completely filled with Charlie's familiar scrawl, detailing some complex equations that Don couldn't even begin to understand. Reed seemed to be able to follow along well enough, but it was clear to the agent that Charlie's intelligence and gift for math left Reed in the dust.
As Charlie worked on the equations, Don had settled into his chair and had studied their surroundings. Left with little else to do, he had surreptitiously examined the entire room for any possible weaknesses that they could use to their advantage. All Don had been able to decide in the last eight hours was that Reed was a pompous ass who thought he was better at math than he really was, and that Sarro had dull reflexes but sharp eyes.
Don's eyes fell on his brother. He had given Charlie as much information as he could on their location before their captors had returned, half-wondering if Charlie's plan would work. Charlie had seemed convinced that it would, so Don had given him the benefit of the doubt.
Now, Charlie's shoulders were tight with tension. His hand shook as it spit out number after number. Don knew that Charlie needed to take a break, or at least quit for the night. The strain of their situation coupled with the monumental task before him was going to be enough to deal with without Charlie making himself sick on top of it. Don decided to intervene.
"Hey, you guys planning on working through the night, or are we going to be allowed to sleep sometime?" he asked.
Charlie didn't react to the sound of Don's voice. He continued to write number after number on the board before him. Reed, however, stopped what he was doing and glanced at his watch.
"I guess time really does fly when you are enjoying yourself," he commented. "Yes, I think we've done enough for one day. We will start again tomorrow morning, after a fresh night's sleep. Good night."
Reed left, and another man entered to help Sarro herd their prisoners back to their cell. Standing, Don crossed over to Charlie and gently relieved him of his chalk. Charlie stared at the board for a moment, then blinked up at Don in confusion.
"Time for bed, buddy," Don said softly. "Come on."
Charlie didn't respond. Nodding, he allowed Don to steer him out of the room and back to their cell, their captors in tow with guns carefully aimed at them.
A slight gust of cool air met them as they opened the door, and Charlie shivered. Don ushered him inside, not bothering to turn around as Sarro shut the door behind them and locked it securely from the outside. The two brothers wearily walked over to the bed, still not speaking.
Don pushed Charlie down onto the bed, then reclined beside his brother. He let out a breath as he drew the blanket up over them, resigning himself to the fact that they would be stuck in the hands of their captors for awhile.
"Don?"
Don looked down at Charlie, who was hugging himself tightly beneath the thin blanket. "Yeah, buddy?"
"Do you think anyone's looking for us now?" Charlie asked softly.
Don wrapped an arm around Charlie's shoulder and pulled him closer. "I know it, buddy. I saw Dad as we were driving away from the house. I'll bet he's called everyone from the police to God, looking for us."
Charlie rested his head against Don's shoulder. "He must be going crazy, worrying about us."
Don sighed. "Yeah, probably."
There was silence, then Charlie's voice rose through the stillness once more. "Don?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think we'll get out of this okay?"
Don tightened his hold around his brother. "We're going to get out of this just fine, Charlie. Dad's probably got a ton of people out looking for us, and we've got a plan to escape. I think we'll get out of here in no time."
Silence ensued once more. Don felt Charlie relax ever so slightly beside him, and he believed his brother was finally starting to fall asleep. He felt himself grow more tired, his eyes more heavy, and was nearly asleep himself when his brother called his name one more time.
"Don?"
It was soft, barely audible, but Don heard it all the same. "Yeah, buddy?"
There was no reply, and Don wondered if he had imagined his brother's voice after all. Finally, Charlie spoke again.
"I'm scared."
Don was suddenly struck by a memory from the past, when Charlie would crawl into his bed after a nightmare. His brown eyes would be wide and filled with some unmentionable fear that only Don seemed to be able to chase away, and Don had done just that. Now, years later, it seemed as if those monsters were coming back to haunt Charlie once more.
Don squeezed Charlie's shoulder and lightly rubbed his back in soothing circles, the same way he had done when they were younger. "I know, buddy, I know. Go to sleep. I'll be here to watch out for you."
He felt Charlie's head grow heavier on his shoulder. Before long, Charlie's breathing had evened out, and he slipped into the calming waves of slumber. Closing his eyes, Don soon followed his brother into oblivion.