Thanks for the reviews. They are, as always, well appreciated. Sorry about the double first paragraph, didn't know about it. Got it fixed though!
I hope you all like this chapter. I'm no expert on the FBI or any kind of math or much of anything along those lines for that matter so don't take any of this to seriously!
Thanks for reading and don't forget to R&R so I can put up the next chapter.
Charlie is usually late, thought Don as he stared hungrily at the food in front of him. This is like the part of Pinocchio when Gipetto says nobody eats a bite until he finds his son who has run off to join Stromboli's carnival. He smiled at the thought of Charlie as a little wooden boy and then tried to keep the smile off his face when he came to his feet and his brother came through the door.
"Charlie where were you?" Don asked with incredulous on his face as Charlie moved things on the table to make room for his laptop which he quickly sat up and had running in seconds.
"Something came up that you have to see." Charlie didn't look up from what he was doing. He laid his backpack against the kitchen doorway and unrolled the somewhat crinkled papers in his hands.
"Obviously."
"Charlie what are you doing? We're supposed to be having dinner here." Their father joined them now.
"I know, I know but I really have to show you this."
"Now? Can't it wait till after we've eaten?" Don eyed the food again, his mouth beginning to water from the smell. Charlie walked over to him and all but shoved the papers up his nose.
"A girl came in to my room looking for some of her work earlier today. These are some of her papers . . ."
"Charlie I only see scribbled numbers" Don responded while bringing these papers down to a readable level.
"That's what I thought at first. That's what she thinks as well. She said that she just sees these numbers when she looks at groups of words like bits and pieces of stories that she writes. When I was packing my stuff to go I realized she had left some on my desk. Something about them caught my eye so I punched it into my computer."
Charlie was now sitting in front of it with his father and brother standing behind him waiting to find out if their wait was really worth it. Charlie punched in the numbers like he had earlier and the same thing happened. Their eyes grew big and their jaws dropped just like his had.
On the screen was the FBI data bank. Charlie started pressing the buttons on the page. Nothing was locking them out. Everything was open even rewriting capabilities. With the click of a button they could change an upstanding citizen into America's most wanted. This was higher clearance than either of the Eppes brothers had and would probably ever have in their lifetime.
Charlie chose another set of numbers and pressed them in again. This time they were let into the CSI. He pressed in another and was let into the controls for the traffic center of the city. Each set of numbers they put in led them to some system that was strictly off limits to civilians.
"Y-you said a girl in the university just came up with these numbers from looking at a paragraph from one of her stories?" Don was stuttering with the shock.
"Yes. I don't know if they all came from one paragraph but that's how she said she got it. She doesn't know how she does it. She told me she had brought these in to see if anyone could answer that question for her. Someone told her that they were in my room and she came to get them."
"She says she doesn't know how she does it" Don said standing before Charlie once again. "How do we know she isn't using this information for something or someone? What if she is getting these codes from someone?"
"Then why would she bring this to anyone's attention?" Allen pointed out with his hand on Charlie's shoulder.
"I don't know but how could someone just find this stuff out of thin air? It doesn't make any sense."
"Look, if you have so many doubts about her you could always bring up her profile at work. I'm going to talk to her tomorrow and see if there's anything else that goes with this."
"What's her name?"
"Angie, um . . . Angelina Bronta."
"Good. Now that you have some idea what to do with this girl from school we can sit down and eat." Allen sat down at the table and placed a glob of mashed potatoes on his plate.
Charlie closed his laptop and placed it and the papers next to his backpack before taking the bowl his father held out to him. Don sat down and was about to take the potatoes from Charlie when his phone rang. It was Terry. He sighed and walked into the living room while Allen and Charlie continued to fill their plates.
"Terry?"
"Don we have an address and we're going in for the bust. Meet us in twenty minutes to suit up."
"I'll be right there." He put his cell phone back in his pocket and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair at the table.
"Work?" his father asked, his plate full.
"Yeah Terry says they've found the address for the bust and we're going in tonight."
"That the case you've been working on for the past few weeks?" Charlie asked after hastily swallowing his red snapper.
"Yes. With any luck we'll catch them tonight and be done."
"Be careful then" Allen said with a clap on his arm.
"Yeah we need you around here" Charlie smiled.
"I'll be fine." With one last mournful look at the dinner he had missed out on he turned and walked out the door to his car. You owe me dinner Pinocchio.
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