Disclaimer: The characters of Charlie, Don, Alan, Terry, David, Larry, etc. They do not belong to me.

Sorry about the wait guys! I went to Mississippi last weekend to help with Hurricane Relief and when I got back I spent the next couple of days trying to catch up on school work. I finally finished this chapter during class yesterday. I'll try to get the next chapter up today as well to make up for the wait. Hope y'all like it.

Chapter 16

I'm dead.

That was the first thought that ran through Charlie's mind.

He didn't regret what he had done but that didn't stop the fact that his heart was pounding in his throat and his stomach was in knots. He could feel the pulse hammering in his throat.

Jim hadn't looked at him yet. When he realized what Charlie was doing he jerked the phone away while trying to hit the END button. He wasn't sure how much the other end had heard.

He wasn't an idiot.

He knew that the FBI had a trace of the agent brother's phone already.

Charlie looked up at Jim's back. Although he was hunched over his body was extremely tight. He was breathing heavily.

It all happened so fast.

Jim swung around fast and hard smacking Charlie on the side of the face with the cell phone. He hit him so hard that Charlie was knocked over.

The pain switched from his head to his shoulder as it made contact with the floor. There was even more pain as his binding pulled at his wrists and he was held in place in the chair.

Charlie felt disoriented for a few seconds. His head finally stopped spinning and he realized that he was staring directly at Jim's feet. He tried to look up at Jim but his position and his bindings made it to awkward and uncomfortable. So Charlie just looked at his shoes.

He felt a dread of what Jim would do next. Jim moved suddenly and Charlie flinched as he thought as he thought that Jim's foot was coming for his face. But Jim walked by Charlie and out of the room. Charlie heard the two sets of feet walking and then the door slamming.

He let out a breath of air when he heard the lock turning in the door.

On the other side of the door Jim stood clenching and unclenching his hands. His assistant finished locking the door and turned to face his boss uneasily. None of the other mathematicians had ever been so difficult.

Then again Jim had never actually used an outside contact to coerce the man into doing what he wanted. Had it been a mistake to egg on the agent brother on?

But Jim doesn't make mistakes. Has he gotten lax after so long?

"Jim," the man began tentatively, "What are you going to do?"

Jim glared at him, "What do you mean what am I going to do?"

The man shifted uneasily, "You can't let him get away with what he did."

"I still need him alive Garrett."

"I know that sir."

Jim turned and started walking down the hallway. Garrett followed; did Jim not see the danger of his actions?

"Sir, excuse me, but maybe we should think of moving up to the house in the hills. The Feds had that phone call traced…"

"You know they can't trace the location."

"But they have your name!" Jim pulled up short at this exclamation. He turned and faced the man. "They have your name, at least part of it and how long do you think it will be before they figure out who you are!"

The silence hung in the air as Jim stared at the man. Finally he began to speak, "I have no criminal record. A couple of stupid, childish things I did as a juvenile, but no felony charges. They'll find my name as a mathematician, which will raise a couple of eyebrows and I might get a visit from the FBI. But what are they going to find? A 40-something old math guy doing his meager work."

"How did that meager working mathematician pay for his little more than meager house?"

"This house was built by my mother and father and left to me when they passed. It's true, look it up. Look don't worry"

Jim turned and hit the release button. The wall slid back to open the way for them. Jim and Garrett stepped into the main foyer of the house and after one last look at each other went their separate ways. Behind them the wall slid back into place to hide where they had just come from.