A/N - This one is a little short and I am not too happy with Larry's dialogue. I may change it at a later time. Larry is one of my favorite characters but he is hard to write.
Chapter Nine
Agent O'Donnell caught up to Charlie just as the elevator doors opened. "Doctor Eppes, do you have a car here?"
Charlie just shook his head. He was having difficulty controlling the rising anxiety that had flooded his body ever since he walked out of the interrogation room followed by Don. He had spent an hour looking over the materials that David had given him and tried to mentally apply some of the calming techniques to keep his breathing under control. The last thing he wanted was to have a full blown anxiety attack in front of this agent that he had just met.
Charlie was careful to keep his back to Agent O'Donnell by stepping forward in the elevator car so that he was standing right in front of the button panel. He could feel the perspiration running in tiny rivulets down the back of his neck.
The car stopped on the seventh floor and two women got on talking animatedly together about a movie that they had gone to see.
"Oh that Tom Cruise is such a good actor and gorgeous to boot."
"Personally I don't think that hack can act his way out of a paper bag, Amy. His portrayal of an indifferent father turned loving and protective was wooden at best, and he is only ok looking."
Amy, who was smartly dressed in a skirt and suit coat with a flowering blouse was wearing far too much perfume to suit Charlie's taste reached in front of him to push the Lobby button.
"I suppose you prefer the original War of the Worlds. Besides, if anything I thought you would love this movie. You are the one who is into sci fi flicks right? I mean you couldn't wait to get out and see Serenity when it hit the theaters."
"That is because I was curious about the series Firefly, which I have never seen and because one of my favorite actors was in it."
"Oh let me guess that David Crum-something?"
Charlie was trying as hard as he could to remain calm and breathe slowly but the smell of Amy's perfume made him feel like he was suffocating. The sound of these two women's voices was boring into his skull like a drill and he reached out to the waist high rail around the wall of the car with a white knuckled grip to steady himself. The air in the enclosed compartment felt close and stale. His pulse was pounding in his ears but he remained as still as possible.
"Well, whatever his name is, he can't hold a candle to Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise is a huge box office name after all and he's smart. He actually bought an ultrasound unit so that he and his wife could watch the growth of their baby during her pregnancy. I read that he is researching everything about these ultrasounds so that he can understand what he's looking at and he is going to donate the unit to a charity clinic after the baby is born."
"Amy, are you kidding me! The fact that he has money and can afford to purchase that equipment doesn't negate the fact that it is wrong to just use it anytime they want a peek at the baby. I mean really, that is wrong medically and ethically and on every other level. I wonder what he'll do if that little wife of his ends up with post partum depression!"
"Don't get me going on that subject, Diane. He makes some very valid points about that."
"How on earth would you know, Amy? You have never had a baby. You haven't got a clue what these women go through, and neither does that over inflated self righteous ego maniac."
"God this is taking forever!" Charlie thought to himself as the car stopped on three other floors so that people could get on or off. At least as the car began to fill up, Amy and Diane moved to the back and had suspended their Tom Cruise argument. By the time the elevator opened to the Lobby, Amy and Diane had resumed their discussion on the merits of the famous actor's views on the use of anti depressants.
Charlie automatically held his breath as Amy passed by him but he was now light headed from trying to breathe slowly and shallowly at the same time. He could feel Agent O'Donnell's gaze on his back and he was sure that the man had noticed his death grip on the rail.
Once they had reached the garage level and the door opened they were alone again. Charlie just stood still for a moment as the cool air rushed into the stuffy elevator compartment. He didn't want to begin panting but he couldn't seem to help himself as his lungs got a taste of the fresh air coming from the open air parking garage.
Agent O'Donnell moved forward to stand in the threshold of the elevator so that the doors wouldn't close. It was obvious that the young professor was having some difficulties and he wasn't sure what he should do.
"Please, just give me a moment. That woman's perfume was…
…she was wearing a little too much."
The agent could see how pale and clammy Charlie's face was and he had noticed the young man's grip on the hand rail. He suspected that it may have been more about the argument that he had with his brother than the woman in the elevator, although her perfume was strong enough to draw his attention.
Charlie straightened up and stepped out into the parking garage. The air was cooler because they were shaded even though bright sunlight drew long streamers of light along the cement floor between the support posts. He noticed that his hand was stiff and a little sore where he had taken a hold of the rail. He glanced down at it, and saw a deep impression along his palm that was the same width as the railing. This did not go unnoticed by the agent.
"My car is over here Doctor Eppes." Agent O'Donnell stepped off to the right and pointed his keys at a black Lexus that beeped in response to his remote.
"Please call me Charlie, Agent O'Donnell."
"All right, Charlie, you can call me Jon."
As Jon moved around to the driver's side Charlie wiped his sleeve across his forehead as nonchalantly as he could to wipe the sweat off. He wasn't sure if the agent had noticed or not. He decided to imagine that he had not seen anything amiss and ignored it as well.
Neither of the men saw the silver Taurus that started up two isles over. The driver squinted in the morning sun at the Lexus as it started up and slowly backed out of its parking spot. A malicious smile spread across the lips of the driver in the Taurus as it also slowly pulled out and followed at a distance.
After they passed the toll booth at the front of the garage, Charlie turned to Jon with what he hoped was a calm expression. "So did you know Don at the academy?"
"Only by reputation, I graduated before him. He and I didn't exactly hang out in the same circles. He was a serious student and trainee. I was a bit of a party animal." Jon looked over at Charlie gauging his reaction. "Don't get me wrong, I was as serious about my training as the next agent, but your brother was…
…almost driven. He spent most of his time either training on the obstacle course or studying in the library."
Charlie looked over at Jon with his mouth open. "Are you talking about Don Eppes? My brother Don was a study freak?"
"I wouldn't say freak, I would say dedicated. It's not that easy when your younger brother's theories on data encryption are used as course materials among your classmates. He was very proud of the fact that your work was used in the cipher and encryption courses taught to the future cryptologists at Quantico. He may have worked as hard as he did so that he wouldn't let you or your parents down."
Charlie frowned slightly and looked down at his hands that were resting lightly in his lap. When he spoke it was softly and under his breath but Jon heard him non-the-less. "He puts three thousand miles between us and he still couldn't get away from me."
"I don't want to speak out of turn, Charlie, but perhaps it was not so much a matter of getting away from anything. Maybe it was more like he was trying to find himself. Hell, he even managed to avoid getting talked into going out with Shelly Arbary, the librarian at Quantico. She hit on lots of the trainees including me. I think that may have been one of the reasons that she was eventually let go. She was a bit off, if you know what I mean."
Charlie had an almost pained look on his face, and he had spoken as though the brothers had experienced a huge rift in their lives. It was clear that the younger man felt that his brother had been trying to cut him out of his life, but when ever Don had spoken of his younger sibling it was always with pride in his voice.
"Don is probably a lot like you. He wanted to be the best at something. He told me once that he left the minor leagues because he didn't believe that he would ever be more that a mediocre player. The FBI has allowed him to shine in a way that baseball didn't."
Charlie looked quizzically over at the agent driving. "I thought you said that you didn't hang out with him at the academy."
"I didn't really know him at Quantico, but I did work with him in New Mexico. He is one of the best agents I have ever worked with. He's smart, has outstanding instincts and is an exceptional agent. He doesn't often make mistakes, Charlie."
"But if he makes on now it could be the last thing he ever does." Charlie frowned again and looked out the window not really seeing the busy streets as they passed through the LA traffic on their way to the highway. His thoughts were turned inward. "Merrick has no right to use Don as bait for this killer."
Jon turned left onto the 10 and merged smoothly into traffic, which was heavy with the morning commuters. Six car lengths back the silver Taurus also turned left onto the highway and moved over to the far left lane and was careful to keep several vehicles between itself and the Lexus.
"Charlie, if it turns out that this killer is targeting Don, we have the advantage. He would never be alone. We would be able to keep him under constant physical as well as electronic surveillance. It's like I said, Don is a very good agent. He wouldn't take chances with his own life any more than he would another agent's life."
Charlie looked at Jon and spoke with frustration and anger in his voice. "You don't think Don using himself as bait, is taking a chance with his life?"
Jon sighed. He knew that the young mathematician was worried about his brother and didn't take offense to Charlie's anger. "Anytime we work a case with this kind of perpetrator there is risk. That is the nature of what we do. What is important is to make sure that the risk is acceptable. If Don is a target, even if the killer knows that we are watching, he will still attempt to get to him. Our psychological profile tells us that much about him. Psychopaths can't help but to follow through on their intentions. We can use that pathological single mindedness to catch him, and stop him from killing again."
As they took the Pasadena exit off the freeway, the silver Taurus moved over to the middle lane and continued on to the next exit before back tracking to Cal Sci.
Megan and Colby arrived at the office by nine thirty. Don pulled them aside as soon as he saw them.
"So what did forensics find?"
Megan handed a thin file to Don. "Not much; there were footprints in the dirt near the Maple tree, but they were smudged enough when the perp ran that we couldn't get a readable cast."
"So there was someone there." It was more of a statement than a question, but it wasn't what either Megan or Colby had expected to hear Don say.
"Was there any question as to that fact? Didn't you say that Charlie saw someone?"
Don looked up at Colby and shook his head. "Look, I never really doubted what Charlie saw…
…well OK maybe I doubted it a little. He's been under a lot of stress because of this case. He hasn't been able to decode those number clues and that isn't helping."
Megan had a little better understanding than Colby as to what Don may have been talking about. She could tell that something had happened with Charlie that David was reluctant to speak to Don about, at least publicly.
"There were no finger prints on the gate or any of the structures that may have been touched. He was obviously wearing gloves. Given the size and depth of the footprints, I would say that Charlie's description of height and weight was accurate. There wasn't anything there that we could use to ID this person. The photographs of the footprints are in there." She said indicating the file she had handed Don. "This guy is very clever, and knows how to leave no trace evidence behind. We took samples of the dirt the prints were in and the lab is checking it now for anything that shouldn't be in your family's backyard."
"Well, if Charlie can't come up with something by the end of today, then we may have no choice."
Colby looked utterly confused now. "No choice other than…?"
"If our killer was outside the house last night, the chances are that he was watching me. I fit the pattern of victims more closely than David. Either way one of us is probably next on his list."
Megan paled a little. "You want to set a trap using you or David as bait?"
"Merrick suggested this, and I have to say that as much as I'm not very happy about being used as bait, it may be the only way to get this guy. We would have to set it up in two teams. One on me; and one on David. I want to give Charlie until tomorrow to come through, but if not; this needs to be set and ready to roll so lets get this put together. Megan you will be the tactical leader on David's surveillance and Colby you can take me."
They moved off to get their teams assembled while Don got David and went to Merrick's office e to apprise him of the plan.
