Codes & Heretics-Chapter 9-A New Player Comes In

Okay, I know I said I'd be finishing the story before September, but I also said I was hoping to. I know it's October, but I have been busy with the college life (and dealing with extremely noisy roommates & neighbors), so I haven't had a whole lot of time. Plus, it's really hard to think of continuations of plotlines when you have a bunch swirling around your head. As of now, I don't know when the story (or any of my other stories) will be complete, but I'm hoping it's before I graduate. But anyway, on with the show!

Los Angeles, a few hours later

FBI Special Agent Nika Rawlings stepped out of the elevator and into the bullpen at the agency's LA field office. She soon spotted the man that had called her and quickly moved to intercept him.

"So, there's a rumor going around that the man I arrested three years ago, who was only put in prison for five years and got out in two, is now in LA and killing the women that he had been suspected of having some sort of connection to. Is there any truth to that, Agent Eppes?"

Don turned around and was met by a young woman less than half a foot shorter than him. "Agent Rawlings, glad you could make it," he greeted as he took one of the two boxes she was holding and led her to the conference room where his brother Charlie, was working on some calculations.

"Nika, this is my brother Charlie. Charlie, meet Special Agent Nika Rawlings," Don said as he placed the box on the table.

"It's nice to finally put a face to the name, Professor Eppes," Nika said as she began opening the boxes and removing their contents.

Charlie gave his older brother a questioning look before the agent could finish the introductions. "Nika was the lead agent that originally arrested Rugney three years ago before she transferred to San Diego. I take it this is everything you have on the guy?" he asked as he, his brother, and David and Terry looked through the files.

"As much as I could get from up north in less than five hours. The rest should be coming soon. I also brought my notebooks from three years ago," she answered.

"Excellent; Charlie can you-"

"I'll run this through the algorithm I developed," the math genius answered before taking the files the newest agent was handing him.

As Charlie was walking to the elevator, Don caught up to him and the two brothers talked.

"How's Karolin doing?"

"Better, though she seemed a bit anxious."

"Any idea why?"

"She doesn't like hospitals."

"Who does?"

"How many murders have there been?" Nika asked David as they looked through the remaining files.

"Four and one attack; the girl's still in the hospital."

"The girl that was attacked was Karolin Gammie?"

"Yeah; you know her?"

"I never met her, but I know that she was the roommate of one of the girls that was killed three years ago."

"She's also one of about thirty people who have gotten threatening letters in the form of a mathematical code."

"I take it that's why Charlie's here?"

"That and all of the victims have been students at the school where he works."

"Is that the connection between all of the victims?"

"The other connection is that none of them are monotheistic."

"I heard they were all Druids."

"Not Lexi Juarez," Terry said as she read from the report. "According to her sister, Lexi grew up in San Jose and was raised a good Roman Catholic but converted to Wicca when she was 18. She said she spoke to her sister a week ago and that Lexi sounded scared when she told her about the letters."

"So she had already been targeted. Did she know what they said?"

"She must have; she's a math major with a minor in cryptology."

"So we have yet another piece to the puzzle-"

"But we're no where close to figuring it out. The coroner's initial report says that Lexi was killed approximately two hours before she was found, which means-"

"Which means that Rugney couldn't have done it."

"So we're back to square one," Don said the next morning. He and his team had been going over everything they knew about Rugney and the old and new cases, but they hadn't found anything helpful.

"Not necessarily," Charlie said as he and Amita entered the room with their usual amount of computer and data equipment.

"What do you mean Charlie? We don't have a suspect anymore."

"But you still do," the mathematician answered as he and Amita began setting up.

Okay, so like I said before, I have been super busy with school and life in general, so I'm sorry that I didn't get this done sooner. It would be very much appreciated if, in the future, any reviews headed my way didn't seem like flames. Thank you and please review (but no flames)!