Chapter 23

Amita was frustrated that after she handed Joe the phone, he turned the speakerphone option off so again she was forced to only hear Joe's side of the conversation.

"Hello Charlie…What is it with you and your brother needing to know who I am? That's not important. I understand that you're the one that came up with a complex equation to trace my actions…A little sure of yourself?… SHUT UP! Do you want me to kill them both!…" Amita saw him pull out his gun. She started praying that she and Terry would be safe "Then do as I say. Leave me alone. Me and my men will leave California, and you won't follow…Then I can't guarantee their safety anymore" Time slowed down as she realized that he was going to shoot Terry. She made the spilt second decision to protect Terry. The gun fired and Amita screamed as the bullet lodged in her shoulder. She had never felt pain so intense. She looked at her t-shirt and saw that it was already beginning to saturate with blood. She was brought back from her world of pain when Terry stirred in her lap.

"Ow…" Terry murmured trying to sit up. Amita put her hand on Terry's chest forcing her back down

"Terry just lie still" Amita said through gritted teeth. She never thought that getting shot would hurt THIS much

"What happened?" Terry asked putting her hand to her throbbing head

"Remember we were going to meet in the bathroom to talk about my date? You told Don you were getting coffee, and he asked for some, so then we really did have to go get coffee. We walked down to the café…"

"…and there was a hostage situation!" Terry yelled sitting up abruptly. Her head pounded, she got dizzy, and her vision was blurred for a moment but then it cleared. Her head still hurt, and she was still dizzy so she leaned against Amita, which caused her to elicit a VERY loud yell

"OW!" Amita yelled as Terry leaned on her bad shoulder. Terry sat up quickly again and turned to see what had caused her friend to yell out in pain. It was then that she noticed the gunshot wound to her left shoulder

"Oh my god Amita! I am so sorry! " Terry exclaimed looking at her shoulder, she noted the amount of blood "Amita it's a through and through we're going to have to get you to the emergency room"

Amita smiled as words from a long time ago came to her lips "Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch…No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world…A plague o' both your houses! They have made worms' meat of me: I have it, And soundly too: your houses!" Amita didn't think she would remember those lines from Romeo and Juliet, after all she did learn them in high school. Doug, Joe and Jack all looked at each other, afraid that maybe the blood loss had affected her grip on reality. Terry however noticed what she had recited.

"Romeo and Juliet? Never pictured you one to recite Shakespeare. The numbers in pie maybe, but not Romeo and Juliet"

"We…we did it in school. There weren't enough guys to play all the parts, so I was cast as Mercutio. It was my hardest scene. I apparently didn't sound like I was angry enough or something. I don't remember the cause, but the effect was acting it out at least five times every time we did the act" She was babbling. She knew it. It was something to do other then focus on her shoulder

"You an actress, I never imagined" Terry said joking with Amita. She knew that her shoulder was in pain and with that knowledge she was trying to distract her. Amita opened her mouth to tell Terry about her "acting" career when Joe interrupted them

"Hey girls, this isn't social hour! Shut up! You-" He pointed to Terry "- call back your friend Don. Tell him that I want to talk to him"

"Sure" Terry answered looking slightly unsure and sounding even less. Amita tried to figure out why. She was trained to be in this situation, she would NEVER show herself as being unsteady

"Terry" Amita whispered. Terry had started to dial but slowed as she heard her friend trying to get her attention

"Yeah"

"What was that?"

"He sounds…familiar" Terry answered then turned her attention back to the phone as it stopped ringing. Terry mercifully had put on the speakerphone option

"Terry?" Don answered his voice sounding an inch from being frantic

"Hi Don"

"Oh thank god you're ok. How's your head?"

"How did you-" Terry started

"Amita called and told me. I'm just glad you're ok…however I think that you didn't call to just have a pleasant conversation"

"Always perceptive, agent Eppes" Joe called out. Don almost dropped the phone. He hadn't realized that he was on speakerphone

"Ready for negotiations?" Don asked as coolly as he could. He knew that his voice betrayed his feelings for Terry and that (the knowledge of his feelings) could be a very dangerous thing for those in charge of the hostage situation

"Yes. I want your little brother to hand over that equation he's working on. I have a mathematician of my own to decipher the equation so don't try to give me a fake one. I'll give you some time to think" Joe made a slashing motion at his neck, which Terry knew signaled her to hang up. She looked down at the phone wishing that she could comfort Don but knew that she couldn't talk, so she wished a silent goodbye to Don, told him to be strong in her head and hung up the phone.