A/N- Baby is doing well. The burn is gone and all is good. I have had some personal issues crop up but hopefully they are also resolved and I can get back to this story.
We are getting closer to a resolution but I am having a little difficulty figuring out how to get what I'm going to have Charlie do come across as believable both in reality and for the character. I've almost got it worked out but you know I hate plot holes so give me a little time to make it gel.
This is really more of a set up and exposition chapter than a real plot pusher but please enjoy it anyway,
Alice

Chapter Thirty

Becky sat forward in her seat and watched as the plane taxied up to the gate with a wistful hope that the flight would somehow be delayed indefinitely so that she could remain in her seat until this whole nightmare was over.

She had done as her cousin had instructed and took a hell of a lot of money out of her parents saving fund. Back when they were teenagers Becky's father had a stroke and her mother had fallen to pieces over it. It seemed to the doctors that he would not live for long and her mother refused to leave the hospital. After a month in the hospital unable to move or communicate her father had slipped into a semi coma while her mother sat in a nearly catatonic state with her husband.

The home was left neglected, the bills unpaid, her father's car was repossessed after four months of non payment, and the only thing that snapped Becky's mother out of her non responsive behavior was the fact that foreclosure proceeding had begun on the house.

Six months after his stroke Thomas Cantor was released from the hospital and sent home to finish his recovery. He had intensive physical therapy to do every day and that consumed every fiber of his concentration so it was another four months before he discovered the seriousness of their situation when he intercepted a call from a collections agency.

His wife had taken care of getting the mortgage paid so that her husband would have a house to come home to but she let everything else slide. Tom contacted every credit card company that they had cards through and explained the situation, and then paid all outstanding balances in full. He bought a new car and set the payments up on automatic deduction from their savings account, and then he had a discussion with his daughter who was seventeen at the time about what to do if anything were ever to happen to him again.

"Becky, I am going to have to count on you to take care of things in the future if I become incapacitated again. I am giving you access to my accounts and CD's. I want you to take a course at City College so that you have the knowledge to run the finances if you need to. Your mother simply can not take over this function so I'm counting on you."

When Becky told Shelly she tried to get Becky to tell her what the passwords on the accounts were but Becky never revealed them. Shelly didn't want to push that issue so she stored that information away knowing that if she would ever get her hands on her aunt and uncle's money it would have to be at the right moment and that there would be no going back after that.

Becky had not cleaned out the account as Shelly had told her to. Becky knew that Shelly had no idea how much was in those accounts so she only took $350,000, leaving behind almost half a million. Her father had always been very good at investing and had earned a very tidy sum over the years on his investments.

Becky had sent off a letter to her parents telling them about the fire that she had set so long ago and how Shelly had kept that a secret. She told them that Shelly had gotten herself in a lot of trouble and had done some very bad things, but she felt that she had no choice but to help her because she was partially responsible for what her cousin had done. She apologized for everything that she had ever done wrong and hoped that they could someday forgive her. She said that she would never see them again, but that she loved them.

She knew that they wouldn't get the letter until after they came back from vacation in New Hampshire and by then this whole thing would be over with; at least for her. She would do this one last thing for Shelly then that would be it. No more Shelly, no more Becky, no more anything.

She got off the plane in an almost daze having not slept in days. Her hair was disheveled and she had dark circles under her eyes even though her face was pale and drawn. Becky didn't want to check a bag through luggage claim so she decided to wear several layers of clothes from the duffel bag she carried to make room for the money she had stolen from her parents making her look at least ten pounds heaver than she actually was.

Without intending to, she had effectively disguised herself so that when she passed through the security check point she was allowed through unmolested. She didn't look like her picture that had been disseminated to all of the airports and train stations and she wasn't acting nervous or suspicious. She looked like a weary traveler who was having an exceptionally bad day.

The security guard who checked her appearance against the wanted photographs actually felt a pang of pity for the woman who looked so forlorn and lost and asked her if she was all right or if he could get her a cab. She smiled slightly at the man and he noticed her red eyes that indicated that she had been crying and thanked him but said that she would be fine on her own.

She took her bag to the curb to hail a taxi and headed to Torrance where Shelly had rented an apartment. She had sent the address and a spare key to Becky shortly after she had arrived in California in case something went wrong and she needed to have her cousin come out to clean up her loose ends.

The ride from LAX was long with the morning traffic but Becky hardly noticed. She was lost in her own thoughts and the driver had to call her twice to get her attention once they had stopped in front of a two story brick apartment building called The Roman. Becky paid the man and got out but looked around before making her way up to the apartment.

She could tell that they were near a freeway and she saw a sign for a hospital nearby. The building itself had a closed circuit TV monitoring system and what looked like it was a remote system to open the main courtyard entry gate. She made her way to the front door and into the main foyer. The office was off to the left and a security guard there greeted her and asked her to sign a register with her name and what apartment she was going to be visiting.

Becky was slightly confused by this request but the guard explained that this was a gated community and that they took security of their tenants seriously. Becky shrugged and signed with the name of the alias that Shelly had provided her then moved into the corridor to the right of the front door that led down the length of the building. She saw a sign for stairs halfway down this hallway and went to them as Shelly's apartment was on the second floor.

Once inside her cousin's apartment, Becky sat down on the bed and just stared blankly around the room. It was a single room apartment with a bed on one side of the large room and a small kitchenette near the rear of the room. Just off the wall were the bed sat was a door leading to a bathroom.

Becky saw the dresser but she didn't want to read any instructions at the moment. What she wanted was to go to sleep and never wake up, but that wasn't an option; at least not yet. She took off her clothes and went into the bathroom to shower. She stood under the hot water for a long time allowing it to sooth her tight muscles. Once the water turned tepid she turned off the shower and got out feeling slightly more refreshed.

After getting dressed and taking all of the extra clothes and her personal belonging out of her duffel bag she stared down at the money in it. She wasn't entirely sure why Becky needed so much money. Even really good lawyers couldn't cost this much money. She took out fifty thousand dollars and set it aside. Something told her that she would need that as insurance. This left three hundred thousand dollars in the bag. Becky sighed and turned to the dresser and opened the top left drawer. There was an envelope in the top that held a small piece of paper and a little brass key. The paper said Union Station – Locker 457.

'That's it; Union Station Locker 457? What the hell does that mean? Christ, Shell what the fuck do you want me to do?'

Becky looked over at the bag of money on the bed. She figured that she was supposed to put the money in the locker but then what. Who was she supposed to give the key to? She turned the paper over and saw another note on the back.

Key – planter next to ticket booth – north end of the terminal.

'Why the hell don't I just give this money to this damn lawyer of yours, Shell?'

Becky was tired and frustrated by all of this cloak and dagger stuff. It was like Shelly was playing another one of her make-believe games that they used to play as kids, but this was no game. Becky had three hundred thousand dollars of her parent's retirement fund with her. She was too tired and forlorn to even think about why her cousin went to such dramatic lengths and pocketed the slip of paper and the key. She took the money that she had removed from the bag and emptied her purse putting it in the bottom. Then she put her wallet and other necessary personal items back in the purse on top of the money.

She looked around and found a small suitcase and dumped its contents out on the bed then put her clothes and belongings in the case. She didn't know why she was packing all of these things because in the back of her mind she hadn't really planned on needing them, but her basic survival instincts were overpowering her suicidal feelings at the moment.

She picked up the duffel and left the apartment to get a taxi to take her to Union Station. After she left the building and crossed the street to hail down a cab, she did not notice the two black sedans that pulled up near the side of the building nor the three federal agents that emerged from those vehicles and head toward the front office.


Charlie was very quiet on the ride from the hospital to the safe house. Megan glanced into the rear view mirror several times studying the young man's face. She could see that he wasn't brooding, but had a thoughtful look to his eyes as if he were trying to work something out and that worried her a little. Charlie had shown more stubborn fortitude than she would have thought of the professor and she was one of the few people who rarely underestimated the mathematician. She wasn't surprised when twenty minutes into the trip he started asking questions about the new threat that his family faced.

"Tell me about Anthony Sborgia. How long has the Bureau been trying to pin something on him?"

"That's an open ended question Charlie. Sborgia, is the nephew by marriage of Alto DiBenedetto. His dealings have always been above board as far as any investigation has ever been concerned. The DiBenedetto family has been in business for a very long time and they know how to keep their illegal activities well hidden. We have been able to impair their supply lines somewhat but they have always been one or two steps ahead of any law enforcement agency that has targeted them."

The mention of Alto DiBenedetto was not lost on either of the Eppes men. The DiBenedetto Cartel was one of the west coast's most powerful families and it was well known that they controlled the bulk of the illegal trafficking in and out of the Los Angeles area.

"How is it that they are steps ahead of the LAPD, the FBI and the Justice Department?"

Megan sighed and shook her head. Charlie had that look. She knew it meant that he was not going to give up until he found what ever answer he was looking for.

"A few years ago, before I came to the LA office there was an internal investigation looking for a mole in the LAPD, the FBI or the DOJ. From what I understand that investigation netted zero solid results, but it did damage the careers of a few people. Accusations, even when un-provable, can play havoc on an officer's credibility. From what I understand at least two agents and several LAPD officers were either fired or quit as a result of that investigation. Look, the bottom line is that while it is obvious that the Cartel is trafficking in drugs, weapons, engaged in money laundering and the use of extortion there has never been any proof that would stand up in court. The income that is netted from these activities has always been very well hidden. The Justice Department has seized all of the business records on a number of occasions but the books have always balanced."

"How do they hide that kind of income? There is always a trail."

"Off shore accounts, dummy businesses, lots of very skilled accountants, corrupt officials in the government or legal system; I mean the list goes on Charlie. The Justice Department and the Bureau have been trying for years to nail the DiBenedetto family without success."

Charlie grew silent again and as Megan pulled onto a side street that Alan recognized as where the 'safe house' was located, Megan's cell phone rang startling him.

"Reeves…
…Are you serious? OK let's get an agent over to Cal Sci to pull all the records on that."

Charlie looked up at the mention of Cal Sci and he and his father exchanged a confused look.

"…Good work Colby, I'm dropping off Mr. Eppes and Charlie right now. I'll meet you and David at the Roman in thirty minutes and we'll check it out."

Megan closed her phone as she pulled into the parking ramp underneath the apartment building.

"What's going on Megan? What happened at Cal Sci?"

Megan parked the car and turned in her seat to face Charlie and Mr. Eppes.

"It turns out that Shelly Arbury actually took a job at Cal Sci's maintenance department under the name Rebecca Cantor."

"That's her cousin isn't it?" Alan asked remembering that name from Colby.

"Yes and apparently she also rented an apartment under her cousin's name in Torrance."

Charlie sat dumfounded looking at Megan. "You mean that she has been at Cal Sci all along? She worked there?"

"We are sending an agent to get all of her files and paperwork from the campus office. We'll find out how she got hired and when. We'll take a look at her work schedule and see when she was there. If we can link her to your abduction as well as Don's by that schedule our case just got stronger. I promise that I will keep you informed as to what is going on but once here you have to stay."

Megan fixed Charlie with a piercing stare. "You do understand that, Charlie, don't you?"

Charlie just nodded.

"All right, now I want your cell phones. If you use them it is possible to track you through the GPS chip so you will have top turn them over. There is a phone in the apartment so you won't be completely cut off. There will be two agents at all times with you. One inside the apartment and one stationed as a security guard in the front office of the building. If you need to contact me call me on my cell. Any questions?"

Charlie looked over at his father to see what he had to say about all of this but his face was blank. He looked very tired all of the sudden and Charlie felt a twinge of concern for the older man.

"I need my laptop, and markers, paper and a black board would be nice."

Megan smiled at Charlie's request. She knew only too well how this forced confinement would affect the young man and had already made sure that all of those things were in the apartment. Alan however wasn't smiling. He was concerned that his youngest might fall into old patterns in order to deal with this stress.

"Charlie, I'm not sure that is such a good idea…"

"Dad, I'm not going to work on P vs NP if that's what you're concerned about but I do need to work. You do crossword puzzles when you are stressed, I do math. Dad, we are going to be stuck here for God knows how long, I have to be able to work!"

Alan realized that Charlie was right and the look on his face when he had erased his board in the garage last week came back to haunt him. Everyone had their own manner of dealing with high stress situations and he knew that if Charlie were not allowed to immerse himself in his numbers during this he would probably go stark raving mad.

Megan got out of the car and waited for Charlie and Alan to stop staring at each other and get out them selves. She could see deep lines of worry creasing the older man's brow as he looked at his son.

When they entered the apartment on the top floor Charlie saw that not only was his laptop there so were two white boards who's ledges were filled with markers as well as several paper note pads and a box of pencils. Alan went straight to the kitchen and started to make some breakfast for the two of them as Megan spoke quietly with the agent who was stationed inside the apartment. Charlie made a bee line for his laptop and was booting up the screen when Megan said goodbye. She promised to call if they made any progress in their investigation or if they found Rebecca Cantor.