Chapter 8

Don hung up and stared at the phone.

"Don?" David looked up from the computer screen. "What's wrong? Is Charlie okay?"

"Somebody shot at him. I've got to go." He headed toward the elevator. "You guys keep going through the stuff Charlie emailed me, okay?"

"Don," Liz said, rushing to keep up with him, "want me to come with you?"

"Yeah, okay." He pushed the button to summon the elevator. "We're going to have to drive Charlie's Prius, though. He's got my SUV."

"That's okay. I always wanted to try one of those things. Is it true they don't make any noise when they start?"

"It's true." They got into the elevator. "It's the weirdest thing. You put your foot on the brake and press the power button. The car scans the key to make sure it's the key that belongs to that car and then the ready light comes on. No engine noise. No nothing. It's a riot."

As they drove to Cal Sci, Don showed Liz all the electronic gadgets. They both marveled at the rear-view camera. "What a neat toy," Liz said, grinning. "I'm going to have to get Charlie to let me drive this thing some time."

At the mention of Charlie, Don frowned and drove a little faster. "I hope he's okay. He was pretty shaken up."

"I can understand why. Getting shot at is always unnerving."

"It's like the third time he's been shot at since he's been working with me. He almost got taken out by a sniper, and then there was the attack on our office..."

"I remember hearing about that. Charlie was there?"

"Yeah. He was trying to explain one of his off the wall math things, and one of the bullets hits the white board, like right next to his hand. He really took it hard. He wouldn't come back to the office at first."

"What made him come back?"

Don smiled and shook his head. "He couldn't get his algorithm to work without actually seeing the shooter's path in person. So his need to solve the problem overcame his fear and he came back." Don bit his lip. "It's amazing how much he's grown in the last couple of years."

"Say, is that your SUV?" She pointed.

"Yeah," He pulled the Prius in front of the SUV.

Charlie climbed out of the SUV, grinning nervously. "Boy, am I glad to see you two."

Don's hand slipped involuntarily to his gun. "Why? Did you have any trouble while you were waiting for us?"

"No. But come here," Charlie led the way back to Don's car. "You're not going to believe this." He showed them the bullet hole in the passenger's seat.

"Wow, Buddy," Don murmured as he stuck his fingers into the hole. "It went clean through. That was really close."

"Closer than you'd think. Just before the windshield exploded, two students stepped in front of the car. I had to swerve to the left to avoid them." He paused, letting the significance of that sink in. He patted his chest. "The bullet would have gone right here if they hadn't stepped in front of me."

Liz put her arm around Charlie's shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Physically, yeah." He held up his shaking hand. "Emotionally, I'm a little frazzled right now. I mean, I know some of my students were upset at me, but to do this," he gestured at the SUV, "that's really bizarre."

Don walked around the SUV, studying the damage. "You know, Buddy, they may not have been after you."

"What?" Charlie looked confused at first, then comprehension dawned and he nodded. "This is your car. If they didn't see me get into it, they would assume it was you driving. The shooting happened out of sight of the parking lot, so it's possible they were just watching for your SUV to pull out of the driveway." He shook his head. "Either way, it's a very unsettling experience. I mean, does it really matter which one of us they thought they were shooting at?"

Don grinned, "Well, I think it would make a difference to the dead guy."

"You know what I mean."

"I'm not sure I do," Don said, walking back to where Charlie and Liz stood.

"Well, if they're trying to kill me, chances are it has something to do with a case I'm working on with you. I mean, math professors rarely drive people to homicidal thoughts."

"There's your NSA stuff or whatever other government agencies you're working with."

"There's not much of that going on right now, and what there is is not likely to evoke hostility."

"So it's either related to one of our cases, or to the guys who beat you up, right? Any word on whether they've been apprehended yet?"

"I haven't heard anything. But it's a big leap from a few punches to murder."

"True. Listen, why don't I drive the SUV, and you drive your rice burner. We'll head back to your place and have those ribeyes you mentioned. You don't mind if Liz joins us, do you?"

"Not at all."

"Hey, Charlie," said Liz, "why don't I drive your car for you?"

"I'm okay to drive. My hands aren't shaking half as bad as they were earlier."

"I know you're okay. I just wanted to try the Prius. Don wouldn't let me drive on the way over here, and I would really like to try it."

Charlie studied her face, then nodded slowly. "All right. But if I find out you're doing this just because you're worried about me, I'll ..."

"You'll what?" Liz said, grinning.

"I'll make you do the dishes."

"I'll lead the way," Don said. "But I'm going to park on the street. I don't want to risk Dad seeing the windshield."

"Good idea," Charlie said, chuckling. "He'd really freak out."

"Yeah, especially if he found out you were the one driving when it happened."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Though he is getting better than he used to be. I guess he's finally accepted the fact that I'm going to do what I'm going to do no matter what he says."

"But he is still the Papa Bear," Don said. He handed Liz Charlie's keys.

"True," Charlie reached in his pocket and handed Don the keys to the SUV. "Hey, did you guys get a chance to go over the list I emailed you?"

"I saw it, but didn't really go over it. David and Colby are going through it now. That exhibition at the Hammer Museum sounds really promising though. I'm thinking of taking the team undercover Tuesday to mingle among the patrons. Maybe we can catch the thieves in the act."

Liz nodded. "I like that idea. They haven't used deadly force during the thefts, so it seems like it would be low risk."

Charlie nodded. "It should be." His eyes reflected his concern as he looked at Don. "But don't forget Heisenberg's uncertainty principle."

"Who could forget Heisenberg's uncertainty principle?" Don said. "But since we know that they're going to adapt, we can be ready for them."

"Uh," Liz said, "what's Heisenberg's uncertainty principle?"

Don clapped Charlie on the shoulder and opened the door of the SUV. "Why don't you tell her all about it on the way home?"

"Hey Don," Liz called.

"Yeah?" Don answered, leaning back out of the SUV.

"Shouldn't we call a crime scene team?"

"Crap," Don got out of the SUV and walked up to the Prius. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking like a brother, not like an agent." Liz glanced at Charlie, grinning as Don dialed. "I think he was worried about you, Charlie. It appears to have shaken him up more than he's willing to admit."

Charlie brought both hands up and rubbed his face, grimacing as they made contact with the bruises. "He's not the only one. I think both of our brains are fried. I should have called the Pasadena Police while I was waiting. The shooters could have come back to finish me off. Instead I sat there playing minesweeper."

"Minesweeper?" Liz said. "Here I figured you were working on the case."

Charlie scowled and opened his mouth to answer. Suddenly he stopped and smiled. "You almost got me. That's your humor, right?"

Liz grinned. "You sound like Mork from Ork. 'Humor. Arr arr.'"

"Nanoo nanoo," Charlie replied.

Don closed his phone. "The techs are on their way. It shouldn't take 'em long to clear the SUV, and I told them you'd be able to show them where you were when it happened, and where you estimate the attackers were. Then we'll be free to go." He glanced from Charlie to Liz. "What's wrong? You two squabbling again?"

Liz stood, hands on hips. "Don, your brother was slacking off playing computer games instead of working on the case."

"Aw, Liz," Don said, laughing, "Give the guy a break, will ya? He's done enough work for today. Hey, Charlie, you got Freecell on that laptop of yours?"

"Sure. You want to play while we're waiting?" He reached for his bag. "Man, I left it in your car, Don. Is it unlocked?"

Don pointed the key at the SUV and pushed the "unlock" button. "It is now."

As Charlie walked to the SUV, a police cruiser pulled up. The officer in the passenger's side rolled down his window. "I'm sorry, sir, this is a no parking zone."

"Oh, sorry. This is an FBI case, officer," Charlie said.

The officer laughed. "Listen, kid, you trying to tell me you're an FBI agent?"

"Consultant, actually. My brother, over there," Charlie waved in the direction of the Prius, "is the Special Agent in charge of this case. The lovely lady with him is also a Special Agent."

The officer got out of the car. "Why don't you assume the position, kid?"

"The position?"

"Hands up against the car, legs spread."

Charlie turned, placing his hands on the side of the SUV.

Don approached, holding up his badge. "What's going on, officer? Why are you harassing Dr. Eppes?"

The officer's eyes widened as he studied Don's badge. "I'm sorry, Agent." He turned to Charlie, "Dr. Charles Eppes? From Cal Sci?"

"Yes," Charlie said, turning around to face the officer. "May I stop assuming the position?"

"Of course. I am sorry, Doctor. We were investigating a report of gunfire in the area. Did you notice anything?"

Charlie chuckled. "I was there. The shots were fired at me. That's why the FBI is investigating."

Don added, "We've got a team of techs on the way. We've got it under control, officer. But thank you for stopping by to make sure everything was okay."

"All right, we'll just call it in and be on our way." The officer turned to go back to the cruiser. Charlie retrieved his bag, and he, Don and Liz sat on the grass near the cars. After a few minutes, the two Pasadena officers drove off.

Charlie gave them a perfunctory wave as he handed his laptop to Don. "What do you want to bet they were checking up on me? That guy thought I was a kid. I didn't know what he was going to do when I assumed the position."

Don laughed. "Nah. They were probably calling to see if Liz and I were impersonating federal agents." Don pressed a few keys on the laptop. "Hey, buddy, you wanted me to format the hard drive first, right?"

"Sure. Go ahead. I've got half a dozen of your cases on there and my stuff is backed up," Charlie said with a shrug. But he leaned over to watch what Don was doing, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Freecell on the screen.

"What?" Don said. "You didn't think I was really going to do it, did you?"

"Of course not," Charlie murmured as he watched Don clicking on the images of playing cards and moving them to reveal new layers of cards. "You have seven people in custody, plus the little boy in the hospital, right?"

"Yeah," Don said, sliding the ace of diamonds to its spot at the time of the playing board. "Why?"

"And so far, we've been thinking of Ellen Davis and the four skydivers as one group, and the heart attack guy, the kid, and the fake pregnant lady and her boyfriend as a separate group, like a completed column in Freecell. But they aren't separate. All nine of them are part of the same larger group. Your column headed by the black ten is part of the same group as the red king, black queen and red jack over there. And they're part of the group that includes a black four, red three and black two. In Freecell, you end up with four piles of cards. In this case, the columns merge at the top. One or more king... " he grinned at Liz, "or queen... is at the top of all of the columns. There is something that ties the columns to other columns."

Don looked up at Charlie. "So what are you proposing we do?"

"I think we need to take this in two steps. First, I'll check for commonalities. See if your skydivers have something in common with your fake pregnant lady, other than the guy at the top who ties them all together. They probably don't have anything in common, but we've got to eliminate it. I'm assuming the groups that commit the individual crimes are kind of like terrorist cells."

Don nodded. "Like the terrorists who were trying to put sarin in the water supply. They operated without knowledge of the other cells, all following the plan of a single mastermind."

"Right," Liz said, "but then we also have to explore the possibility that whoever shot at Charlie is part of this hive of cells."

Don pursed his lips. "And I think we should also see if the students who attacked Charlie are involved in this hive as well."

Charlie's brow furrowed. "I don't think they are, but it won't hurt to check. You'll have to get a warrant for the students' records. Academics tend to be somewhat suspicious of ..."

"Jack booted thugs?" Don supplied.

"I was going to say law enforcement officers, but jack booted thugs works just fine."