A/N- Unfortunately this story can not be nominated regardless of when it is completed. All nominations have to be stories completed by mid February. That's OK. You folks have been great with your reviews. I've seen the list of nominations and there are a lot of really good fics listed. I think it's pretty cool that any of my previous fics were nominated in the first place but I doubt they can stand up to the likes of Skewed, Koi Killer, Unquantifiable Variable and Go-Cart Charlie but it was nice to be nominated.
Some of the computer stuff in this chapter may be slightly off. I checked with my sister who is a computer programmer, IS project manager and database guru so that it isn't too terribly inaccurate.

BIG OOPPSSS! Thanks Becky for pointing out the error on the last line. I meant to type disk not what was there originally.

Chapter Thirty-Three

It took Charlie nearly two hours to hack into the DOJ mainframe. He had to be very careful not to set off any red flags. If his intrusion were discovered they would have first shut the system down to prevent any further infiltration and then would trace the hack. It would have been difficult to find him with the off shore proxy server but not impossible.

Once he found the files that he wanted he downloaded them to his hard drive. There was an IP address indicator showing that other files existed but not on this computer system. Charlie sighed when he saw the IP address because he recognized it.

He did not want to hack into the FBI data base. Somehow that seemed more wrong to him than what he was doing now. He worked with these people and they trusted him. He felt a little like he was betraying that trust, but the situation required drastic measures.

Hacking the FBI data base was a simple matter. He had been working inside this system long enough that he could easily navigate the firewalls, since he had helped to set up several of those security systems.

By the time he had retrieved all of the files on Saborgia and the DiBenedetto family financial records it was almost six o'clock in the evening. He moved all the files to disk and deleted his activity on the hard drive with the data scrubbing program.

"Charlie, you need to take a break. It's time to eat, son."

Charlie glanced up from his laptop at the sound of his name and looked into his father's worried eyes. He got the distinct impression that his father had been watching him throughout the afternoon and he felt a pang of anxiety course through his body. He had become so focused on his hacking that he had failed to notice the passage of time and wondered what else he had missed. Had either his father or the Agent Hodges seen what he was up to? Charlie looked over to the agent sitting on the couch and felt a stronger pang of fear. Agent Hodges wasn't there. There was another man occupying the sofa that he did not recognize.

"Good evening Professor Eppes. My name is Bill Peterson. You were so engrossed in your research when I arrived that we didn't get introduced."

"I'm sorry; I can get pretty focused when I'm working. When did you arrive Agent Peterson?"

"I got here about an hour ago. Your father said to just let you work, so that's what we did."

Charlie closed his laptop as nonchalantly as he could and extracted the disc from the drive on the side. He put the disc in his pocket as he got up and stretched. His father had made chicken and stuffing which smelled wonderful. Charlie's stomach rumbled as his appetite kicked in and he came around the makeshift work area he had set up to go out to the dinette.

"Has Megan called, Dad? Have they moved…?"

"No; to the best of my knowledge they haven't apprehended that woman's accomplice and I don't think they have moved your brother's body from the hospital morgue yet."

Alan looked pointedly at the agent also rising from his position as he cut Charlie off mid-sentence. Charlie shot a glance at the man and realized that he had almost spoken too freely. This man didn't know that Don was still alive.

"Um, Dad I need to change, can you show me where you put all of my stuff?"

Alan looked over at Agent Peterson as he set glasses down on the table.

"Agent, dinner is ready so help yourself. We'll be right back." Then turning to Charlie he said, "No matter how old you get, you still have a bit of boy in you. Come one, I have put everything away for you in the bedroom on the right."

Charlie and Alan excused themselves from the main room and both headed to the room to the right off the living room. Once they had entered and closed the door Alan whispered to Charlie to be quiet.

"Megan did call and for safety they are only telling a few key people about Don. She is not convinced that the investigation she told us about this morning was thorough enough. She is worried that there might still be an informant somewhere in the Bureau. One of the reasons that the FBI has had so much trouble getting a conviction against either Saborgia or DiBenedetto is because their witnesses keep winding up dead."

"Can we trust this man?"

"I'm sure we can, but the bottom line is the fewer people who know that your brother is still alive the safer he will be. Look I don't want Agent Peterson to get suspicious so I'm going back out. Don't forget to change."

Alan turned and walked out of the room and Charlie sat down on the bed thinking. If there was a mole in the FBI then none of them were safe. He had to work fast. This all had to come to an end soon, and if that meant that he had to break some laws then that is what it meant.

'What am I thinking? I've already broken some laws. I hacked into government computer systems and stole government files, and this is just the beginning.'

Charlie rubbed his hand over his face and scratched at the three days worth of stubble there. He would shave in the morning. He got up and changed out of his clothes into sweats and a loose fitting tee then deposited the disc into the pocket of the sweats before heading out to dinner.


Robert Thompkins had gotten Charlie's e-mail earlier in the day and it had disturbed him greatly. His office had been very busy and he had not been closely following the FBI murder investigation. Due to what Charlie had written he contacted Director Donaldson that evening and asked for as much information as he could without compromising their investigation.

"Director Thompkins, I am surprised to get a call from you. What is your interest in this case?"

"Charles Eppes also consults with the NSA as you may know. I received word from him that he is giving up one of the long term projects that he has been working on because… well the way he phrased it was that his life has taken a very bad turn. I understand that his brother is an agent and that he was killed by this serial murderer. Can you confirm that, sir?"

"Agent Eppes was abducted by this killer and gravely wounded before he was found. It was Dr. Eppes who decoded the messages left behind by the killer and found his brother before he could be killed by this woman. While we now have her behind bars it was discovered that she has ties with a very powerful mob family so we have had to put Dr. Eppes and his father into protective custody."

"You mean to tell me that the serial killer is a woman; isn't that somewhat unusual?"

"Yes it is unusual but not unheard of. My office released a statement this morning that Agent Eppes died due to complications from his injuries. I am sorry that you are losing a fine consultant because of this. We are doing everything in our power to make sure that he remains alive and safe. I am however concerned that he contacted you. He is supposed to be in hiding at the moment, and should not be contacting people outside of the Bureau."

"Not to worry Director Donaldson, Professor Eppes contacted me through a secured server. He used his top security clearance to contact me and send me the files and data that he has finished on the project. The e-mail would be untraceable so he hasn't put his location in any danger. I couldn't backtrack the packet from him even if I had my best people on it."

"That's good to hear, and I guess I can understand why he needed to contact you if he was working on an open project for the NSA. Unfortunately this thing could take some time to resolve. He could be under protective custody for weeks or months depending on how quickly we can get this thing to trial. The problem is that the killer has a mob lawyer and they are experts at getting trials delayed in order to give their hit men time to take out witnesses."

"I see. Director, please let me know if there is anything that my people can do to assist. I could easily justify the life of Dr. Eppes as a matter of national security and send my people in to help."

That offer was met with a stunned silence. After a moment Director Donaldson gathered his thoughts.

"Director Thompkins, I appreciate your willingness to help. As things stand right now we believe that the situation is contained but I will keep that option open. If I feel that your assistance would improve Dr. Eppes' safety I will contact you."

Bob Thompkins hung up the phone with Director Donaldson and sat looking at Charlie's e-mail message. Director Donaldson had not confirmed that Don Eppes had died. He said that the FBI had put out a press release that stated so. The more he thought about the conversation that he had just had with the LA director the more he was convinced that Don Eppes was indeed alive but hidden to protect him from a mob hit.

That would mean the Charlie would be the main focus of an assassin and that did not sit well at all with him. He was going to get to the bottom of this even if it meant going over a couple of heads and stepping on a few toes. He picked up the phone to dial a number then stopped. He heaved a sigh and set the phone back down before moving to his computer to compose a response to Charlie's e-mail.


After a rather quiet dinner Charlie got up to help wash up the dishes. He wanted to get back to his work but figured that he should at least put up the pretense of not being too obsessed. The last thing he needed was to have his father actively trying to pull him out of his work. He needed to get this done as quickly as he could.

Alan and Charlie had exchanged quick glances while they ate. The fact that the agent with them didn't know about Don made them both vaguely uneasy and they were both aware that he must be noticing their lack of open mourning.

Charlie stood at the sink washing the plates when one slipped out of his soapy fingers and crashed to the floor startling both his father and Agent Peterson. Charlie bent down to pick up the broken pieces and ignored the questions from both men asking if he was all right.

A thought occurred to him and he ran a wet hand over his face then stood up from the floor. He threw the broken pieces of china into the trash can with so much force that the can tipped over on its side before he turned abruptly and stalked out of the kitchen. He went into the bedroom on the right and slammed the door closed behind him.

Alan stood half in the kitchen and half into the common area of the apartment looking stunned and utterly dismayed for a moment when he suddenly realized what Charlie had done.

"He and his brother were finally beginning to mend the gap between them, and now…"

Agent Peterson picked up the trash can and placed it back under the sink.

"No need to explain. The stress of losing a brother is bound to make anyone a little off. How are you holding up, sir?"

Alan didn't turn to look at the man speaking to him. He kept his face turned toward the bedroom door.

"I'm a parent, Agent Peterson. I have more than just myself to think about and my son needs me now. Please excuse me."

Alan set the towel that he still had in his hands on the table and walked slowly to the bedroom door. He placed his hand on the door knob and sighed before opening it up and disappearing inside.

Charlie looked up at his father as he entered the room but said nothing. Alan stood quietly by the door listening for a few minutes before moving over to sit on the bed next to Charlie. He looked at his son closely before saying anything.

"Was that for my benefit as well?"

"The plate just slipped, honestly. I just figured that I should use that opportunity to give us a little credibility. How'd I do?"

"Not bad. You had me going for a moment."

"Dad can't Megan have agents come here who know what's going on? I don't think I can keep up this kind of act for long."

Charlie sounded genuinely stressed now and Alan put his arm around the younger man's shoulder.

"When she called and spoke to me this afternoon, she said that there would be times when we were going to be with agents who were in the dark about this. Dan will be back tomorrow and he is in the loop. We just need to keep to ourselves when there is someone here who is in the dark. I know that it's not easy, none of this is. We have been taken out of our home and deposited in this small apartment. We can't leave or even just go outside for a walk. Sooner or later the cabin fever will set in and then the stress will get worse. We have to be strong for each other Charlie and for Don."

Charlie hung his head and a real sob escaped him. "I need to know how Don is. I need to know that he is all right. Can't we call Megan?"

Alan hugged Charlie and felt his heart ache for his son when he felt the slight tremble in the young man's body. He stroked his soft curls and whispered to him.

"I miss him too, but I know that he is safe and that is all that matters. Megan would have told us if anything had happened. Just have faith in that and in her."

"I do, Dad." Charlie looked up at his father and heaved a sigh as he wiped at his face. A real tear had dropped down his cheek but somehow it didn't bother him that his father had seen that.

"Go back out there. I will come out in a few minutes all right?"

Alan nodded and stood up. He understood how Charlie was feeling. Keeping up the charade that one of his son's had been murdered had been difficult on him. He wished that he could lose himself the way his youngest could in his numbers and equations. At least while Charlie was working furiously he had an escape from the nightmare that their lives had become and Alan found himself envying him a little for that ability.

He stepped out into the living area and glanced over at his son's work area. Agent Peterson had finished cleaning up the dinner dishes and walked over to Alan with a cup of coffee.

"How is he?"

"Not as bad as I thought. The real impact hasn't hit him yet and when it does…"

Alan looked over again at the work area. The white boards had not been used yet and he walked over and touched the surface of one of them.

"…When it does these boards will fill up with numbers and symbols, the pads of note paper will be written in until there is no room left, he'll stop sleeping and eating and I will have to try and keep him grounded or I could lose both of my children."

Agent Peterson seemed to accept this answer from the older man and Alan breathed a sigh of relief. He was not sure that he could keep up this act for long either. He hoped that he had given enough reason for the agents in the dark to realize that he needed to keep it together to take care of Charlie and hopefully now no one would question him about how he was dealing with the death of his oldest.

Ten minutes passed and Alan had taken to doing a crossword puzzle while Agent Peterson took a seat at the dinette table. Charlie came out of the bedroom and headed straight for his laptop and began to work again. Agent Peterson looked up at the young mathematician and shook his head before returning to his paperwork. He was supposed to report everything that happed in the apartment during his shift and he was currently writing a report about Charlie's outburst for the next agent who would relieve him.

Once the computer booted up again it chimed at Charlie indicating that he had received an e-mail. He opened his editor and saw that Bob Thompkins had replied to his earlier message. When he opened up the reply and read it a small smile crossed his lips but he quickly evened out his features. He was supposed to be mourning the loss of his older brother after all.

Charlie,
I will check out Penfield, but understand that I do not
want to lose you on this project. It is not as time
sensitive as other projects and can be delayed
for a while. I will only replace you on the project if
I am given no other choice.
I spoke with Director Donaldson and he told me
what he was allowed to about the situation.
I have offered to classify your safety as a matter
of National Security so that my people can get in to help.
The offer is being considered.
Can you count on me? We have known each other
for four years now and you shouldn't even need
to ask. I can do nothing for you officially unless invited
by the FBI but unofficially I will help in any way
that I can.
Do you know who can be trusted unequivocally at
the Bureau? For now e-mail will work but I want to
have a way for you to get a message to me quickly
and covertly. All I need is a name;
I'll take care of the rest.
I have an idea as to what you might be doing.
Be careful Charlie. As much as I don't want to lose
my best consultant, even more so; I don't want to
lose a friend.
Bob

Charlie hit the reply button and typed a single name; "David Sinclair" then sent it. He deleted the e-mail then put the disk in the drive and started to read the files he had stolen.