Disclaimer: I don't own nothing save the OC's so don't sue, its all the property of CBS and whatnot.
Chapter 5: Countdown
By the time the private plane had reached California airspace, evening had begun to settle. How ironic thought Charlie. While his two companions had been swallowed up by the welcoming light of the sun, he was left to be greeted by the darkness of night. Charlie heaved a small sigh as he looked out the window at the city of Los Angeles, his city, his home, one he'd been away from for far too long. He wouldn't have to worry about his other job at CalSci, three months earlier, a letter had been sent to the administration, informing them that Charlie had been called away on a " project" and would be absent for a few months.
" What am I gonna do? Was the question repeating itself nonstop through is mind as the plane slowly made its way down from a now dark heaven, smoothly touching down on the runway.
The plane lazily came to a stop near the airport building. Charlie heaved a small sigh as he unbuckled his seat belt and picked up his duffle bag, there was no one left to hug goodbye and in absolute silence, he walked out of the plane, the darkness the arms welcoming him back home.
Unlike Julio and Christian, Charlie had wasn't going home immediately, the reunion with his family and friends would have to wait till morning, by then his father would've received the letter from Bob that basically ordered them not to ask him anything. Charlie would be spending his first night back in the states in a hotel room Steele had booked for him. Charlie climbed into the black SUV waiting for him, the car pulled away from the private jet and headed for the LA street. The drive was thankfully undisturbed, Charlie was glad that they'd be too far away from the FBI building, if they'd passed by that place, he would've jumped out of the car while it was still moving to get to his brother, it was 8:00 PM, Don would definitely be there, probably working on a case. After ten more minutes, they were pulling up to the hotel, a. eleven floor building, his room was on the tenth floor. Charlie got out of the vehicle, the two agents weren't going to go up with him, they knew Charlie wouldn't like that and the man deserved some privacy. Charlie walked through the hotel lobby and walked up to the check in desk where a blonde clerk greeted him.
" Good evening sir, welcome to the Wilcot Hotel, how may I help you? She asked.
" Hi, my name is Langdon Fischer, I have a room booked for one night. Said Charlie, the alias was for security measures.
The clerk nodded and typed up something on her computer before getting up and heading over to the key rack. She picked up the set with the number 1024 engraved on the keychain. She handed the keys over to Charlie.
" We hope you have a pleasant stay here sir. She said with a smile.
" Thank you. Said Charlie as he gave the woman a sad smile of his own. He got into the elevator and leaned heavily against the wall, feeling the exhaustion he'd kept at bay for two months slowly triumphing over him. Charlie stared at the increasing number of floors, 6, 7, 8, 9, and finally coming to a stop at ten. The door slid open and he got out and made a right where room 1020 to 1028 were. He watched the number on the door steadily increase as he passed by until finally coming to stop at room 1024. He opened the door with the key and stepped across the threshold. He dragged himself to the single queens sized bed and let his duffle bag slid off his shoulder. With a low groan, he collapsed face first onto the bed and just lay there for the better part of five minutes before the shrill sound of his cell-phone snapped him out of his exhaustion, if only momentarily.
" Hello? He grumbled.
" Nice to see you made it back to the states in one piece. Came an amused voice on the other end.
" Hi Bob, did you get my request? Asked Charlie.
" Signed and sealed, it'll be delivered first thing in the morning. Answered Bib Thompkins.
" Thanks man. Said Charlie quietly.
" Don't mention it, it's good to have our top consultant back from his other job. Said Bob.
" Good to be back. Thanks again. Said Charlie.
" See you. Said Bob.
" Bye. Said Charlie as he ended the call.
Charlie set his cell-phone down on the nightstand and then got up, a shower was in order. Charlie toed off his shoes and socks, unbuttoning the black dress shirt as he went. He shrugged off the shirt revealing the body he truly had, gracing the back of his neck was a tattoo of the Japanese character for " Ghost ", solid black with a bright-red outline. On the right side of his lower back were five lines of a Buddhist prayer. A few scars also graced pale, toned flesh. Over his right hip was a thin line scar, a bullet graze from a job in Russia, just below his navel was a horizontal scar from the time when another man tried to disembowel him when he got into a sword fight with an enemy agent in Japan. Over his left shoulder was a jagged scar from when a piece of shrapnel had caught him when a car bomb went off in Istanbul. On the inside of his left arm were four neatly spaced scars, these were self inflicted, a daily reminder of his more unstable times, back when he was a tortured young prodigy going to the same high School as Don, a part of him had wanted so badly for the pain to go away forever, he'd kept them a secret from everyone, including his mother. Everything got better though when he graduated from high school and went off to college.
Charlie stripped off the rest of his clothing, pulling his hair free of the ponytail and pulling off the platinum ring on his right hand and carefully placing it on the sink. He stepped into the shower and turned on the water. He let out a low groan as the steaming hot water cascaded down onto his aching body. As the water warmed his body and relaxed his fried nerves, Charlie felt the emotions he'd pushed down slowly beginning to fight their way to the surface. The floodgates opened and everything came all together all at once. Charlie slammed his back against the shower wall, sliding down the wet tiles till he was sitting on the shower floor, violent sobs racking through his whole body as he let the anguish finally take complete control of him, his heart shattering into a billion pieces.