Chapter Ten

Charlie and Jon spent the rest of the morning in the computer lab. Larry came by between his other campus commitments to look over the new data that Charlie was running through the encryption models but they were making very little progress.

Larry took a hold of Charlie by the arm and began to pull him away from the main screen that was still running yet another encryption algorithm. He had been standing there staring at the process running as if that would make the answer to the problem appear magically on the screen. "Charles, I do this under strict orders from a higher authority, actually two higher authorities…"

Charlie turned a confused look on his friend. "Larry, when did you get here?"

Larry rolled his eyes at the young man for he had been working with one of the other encryption programs for the past hour. "In the grand scheme of the cosmos it doesn't matter."

"What higher authority?"

Larry chuckled. "You need to eat Charles. I promised both your father and older brother that I would drag you from the lab at least once this afternoon to eat. The cafeteria is serving Sloppy Joes today." he said, in an alluring tone of voice.

"I can't leave right now, Larry. This algorithm is almost… Sloppy Joes?"

"Come on lets go before they are all gone. It's nearly one in the afternoon already. By the time we come back the programs will have finished running."

Charlie seemed to be thinking that offer over. The college cafeteria's food was only all right but they did make a great Sloppy Joe. He wasn't particularly hungry at the moment but by the same token, if he didn't eat something soon, he would start to get light headed. After another moment of thought he scooped up all of the files and stuffed them in his satchel.

As they walked out into the afternoon sun, the campus felt oddly empty. The semester was over, and even though there were students who were finishing up finals scattered around the broad campus lawns as they made their way to the cafeteria, it still felt a little lonely. Charlie enjoyed the bustle of people moving quickly from building to building during classes. When the campus was full and abuzz with activity everything seemed to hum along at a pace that more closely matched the speed of his own thoughts. It gave him a stronger sense of connection to his academic world. The slower pace around campus between semesters had always accompanied a slight sense of loss for him as his internal thought processes never slowed down to match the slower campus pace between semesters.

"I don't know what else to try if the programs running don't yield any results." Charlie couldn't turn off his mind going over the puzzle of decoding the number sequences.

"I only took one course of cryptology at Quantico so I am no expert but is it possible that the different sets of numbers are just parts of a larger message. You know like pieces of a puzzle?" Jon had been watching all morning as Charlie's frustration level mounted at the dead end results he was getting.

"That's a good thought Jon, but I have already tried stringing these numbers together in every way I can think of including in order of the deaths, in order of the age of the victims, even in order of their graduation from the academy. I can see that these numbers are not just random but so far nothing I have tried is revealing their pattern. As a matter of fact that is the program running right now; the sequences in order of the graduation dates."

The three men walked into the cafeteria which was also abysmally empty in Charlie's opinion. As much as Charlie was anxious to get back to the lab, he was forced to sit down and eat in the cafeteria. There was no food or drink allowed in the lab for obvious reasons.

"You know we are just not looking at this thing the right way. If those numbers are not a code or an encryption for anything then what else could they be?"

Larry tapped his fork on his upper lip in thought for a moment before he said, "They could be simply raw data. What is a six digit number?"

Jon cocked his head to the side and said, "Well dates can be six numbers, some files numbers are six digits."

"Some IP addresses could be six numbers long. Or perhaps a combination of the number strings could be the clue. If the first victim had two sets of numbers then perhaps we should be looking for twelve digit possibilities."

Charlie seemed lost in thought for a moment. "You know Larry that could be true. If Michael Carter was the first with twelve numbers maybe every victim after that would be either the first or second part of a single clue."

"So if we knew what the numbers of the first part of the clue are then we could determine what the next part will be and possibly who the next victim would be?" Jon couldn't think of any twelve digit numbers off the top of his head.

Charlie stared down at the Sloppy Joe on his tray. He was bone tired and his eyes became unfocused. The bun with the sauce poured over it began to resemble something else. A cold sweat broke out on his face as a full all out anxiety attack began to bubble up inside of him like lava from the mouth of an active volcano. Both of the other men seated with him noticed the terrified stare in Charlie's eyes as he stared down at his untouched food.

"Charles?"

Charlie didn't really hear Larry. His voice seemed to be coming from a great distance. All he could hear was the thumping rhythm of his own heart as his pulse pounded in his head. As he stared at his try the food seemed to begin to beat in time with the quickening beat of his own heart.

"Stop this!" Charlie's mind screamed at him. He began to try and breathe more slowly forcing down the fear that was threatening to completely engulf him. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated only on his breathing.

"I am calm, I will find the answer, Don is all right. I am calm, I will find the answer, Don is all right. I am calm, I will find the answer, Don is all right."

Charlie repeated his mantra over and over in his mind as he began to regain a grip on his run away emotions. Larry and Jon were becoming increasingly concerned as the both called Charlie's name but got no response from the young man. Finally Larry could take no more and took a hold of Charlie's hands which were balled into fists on either side of the tray in front of him.

"Charles!"

Charlie opened his eyes and looked from Larry to Jon and saw the concern etched into their faces. He pushed his tray away from himself. "I don't want this. I want to find an answer to these numbers now so that Don won't be forced into Merrick's plan. Let's get back to the lab."

Larry was frowning deeply. "Charles, you are started to scare me a little. What plan are you referring to?"

"Merrick wants to use Don as bait for this killer."

Larry sat back stunned for a moment then shook his head. "How would that work? If we don't know who the next victim will be then how can Don be used as bait?"

Charlie sighed, he had said too much. He had not planned on telling Larry about the prowler in the yard last night, but could see no way around it now. "Someone was at the house last night. David, Don and I were up in the solarium and I saw someone out in the back yard by the Koi pond looking up at us. They took off before we could get outside. Merrick thinks that it was the killer scoping out his next victim which would be either David or Don."

Larry looked very disturbed by this news. "And Don graduated from the academy within the same time frame as the other victims where David graduated much later. Do you think that this person was watching Don?"

"I don't know, Larry. What I do know is that I won't let Merrick use my brother that way. Don is pig headed enough to go along with this plan and I can not allow it."

With that Charlie stood up abruptly from the table and started for the door. Larry and Jon were taken by surprise by his sudden movement and rushed to follow. For the rest of the afternoon Charlie seemed to be working with a focus that was honed not by fear but by anger. He spoke only when it was necessary and Jon had to stop him from leaving the lab without so much as a word as to where he was going.

"Whoa, where are you off to professor?"

Charlie turned a furious glare on the agent who had stopped him from leaving by grabbing his upper arm. After a moment Charlie sighed as he glanced back at the computer screen showing a readout that stated 'no contiguous pattern discerned.'

"I need to get to my blackboards. This!..." he said waving his hand at the offending computer while frustration and anger warred for dominance in his tone "...is getting me no where."

Jon looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was nearly nine thirty. Larry had left for an appointment he had with one of his students and Charlie was simply put, dead on his feet.

"Charlie, you're beyond tired. You haven't eaten all day. You're the smart one right? You should know that if you don't get some food and some rest you will collapse and that will do Don absolutely no good. I'm taking you home. After you have had some dinner you can get back at it. I'm sure there must be at least one blackboard at your place. Am I right?"

The tone of Jon's voice was light, almost teasing and Charlie couldn't help but respond to it. He knew that Jon was right and his stomach growled loudly at that precise moment as if to confirm it. Jon just raised his eyebrows in a look of "I told you so."

"Ok, you win. Let's get out of here." Charlie took a few moments to collect up all of the case files and his laptop.

As they headed out of the building into the now dark campus and headed for the parking lot next to the east quad neither man was able to see the shadowy figure crouched down on the far side of Jon's car. As they drew closer to the vehicle Jon pointed his remote at the car and disengaged the alarm. A moment later the figure behind the car pointed a remote at a trash can that the men had passed on the walkway several yards behind them.

The sound of the blast and the force of the explosion threw both men to their knees. As they turned stunned looks back at the fire now raging in the over turned trash can the back door of Jon's Lexus opened and the figure got in.

Jon was up first and he pulled a still stunned Charlie to his feet. "Get in the car and lock the doors!" Jon pulled out his pistol and carefully approached the burning trash can looking around for any sign of the person who set it off.

Once he had determined that the area was clear of any immediate danger he pulled out his cell phone while still scanning the quad with his pistol raised.

Don's cell phone rang shrilly and he pulled it from his waist holster. "Eppes!"…
"What? Is Charlie all right?"

David who was still with Don at the office jerked his head up at that.

"We'll send a team to Cal Sci's east campus to investigate. We'll call the fire department as well." Don was motioning for David to get on the phone and get those calls made.

"Jon, get my brother out of there. Go back to the house. I'll meet you there after I leave the scene."

Don clicked his phone shut and picked up the phone on his desk. He could hear that David was dispatching agents to Cal Sci so he contacted the Pasadena fire dispatch. They had already received a call about an explosion at the college and two pumpers were on their way.

David and Don hung up the phones at the same time. Don grabbed his coat as he and headed for the elevators with David following closely. "Someone set off an explosion at Cal Sci. It happened a few yards from Jon and Charlie."

David looked grave as they stepped into the elevator. "Don that could mean that the prowler wasn't looking at you or me last night."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Jon rushed back to the car as the sounds of sirens filled the air. He quickly unlocked the door and started to get in, but stopped abruptly as he noticed that Charlie was unconscious and had a thin steel garrote around his neck. What stunned him even more was the identity of the person holding onto the device.

"Hello lover, it has been a long time." the woman's voice purred softly. "All I have to do is turn my wrist and the young professor's carotid arteries will bleed out all over your pretty car killing him in seconds."

As if to make her point she twisted her hand and the metal bit deeply into the young man's neck as blood erupted from the garrote around Charlie's neck and began to run down to his collar. "Get in the car and close the door, darling. We are going for a little drive."