-1Obsession-23

Disclaimer: See Prologue

A/N: I appreciate your reviews. Thank you.

Sun Tsu

When near, appear far

Chapter 15

Thursday

6:50 p.m.

"You were right, this view is absolutely breathtaking."

Amita hooked an arm around Charlie's waist and he wrapped an arm across her shoulders while they stood silently for a moment just looking down into the valley. A gentle breeze swirled around them as the sun sank lower in the sky.

The green valley below and the picture perfect blue sky above gave them a sense of euphoria, and both were reluctant to end the moment.

Hunger, however, finally won out and they removed their backpacks. They had gotten a later start than expected and the location that Charlie had in mind had taken them a good forty-five minutes to hike too and now they were both really hungry.

Charlie pulled a thin blanket from his backpack and spread it out next to a large boulder. They sat down, side by side and leaned against the boulder using it for a backrest. Charlie opened a small, plastic cooler that he had strapped to his back pack and removed some sandwiches and chips. He handed Amita one of them and grabbed the other for himself. He was on his second bite before he realized that he had forgotten to give each of them a bottled water. Once again he dug into the cooler and gave one to Amita and just as quickly opened his own and took a long drink.

"That tasted so good Charlie, I didn't realize how hungry I was." Amita commented as she swallowed her last bite.

"Me too." he agreed as he took his last bite. "Are you ready for desert?

She looked over and smiled. "You brought desert too? Wow, you were busy this afternoon."

Grinning and nodding his head he sorted through his backpack

"Ta dah!" he said, flourishing a small bag of chocolate chip cookies. "I've been practicing on my recipe. Someone once told me that I needed more chips in my cookies, so I added a few more." He teased as he handed her the bag. "Here, taste one and tell me what you think.?"

She took a bite and rolled her eyes at him. "Hmmm….these are absolutely delicious"

He grinned at her. "I think your exaggerating a little bit., but it's appreciated." He took one for himself and settled back against the rock, content for the moment to munch on the cookies and have her beside of him.

The view was incredible, and Charlie wasn't thinking about the valley below them. This felt like déjà vu to him; he had dreamed about this so many times and he knew his heart would break if it didn't end like his dreams always ended. His eyes focused on the woman sitting next to him and he scooted closer to her so he could put his arm around her and pull her closer to his body. He bent his head down and tilted hers upward so that he could press his lips against hers.

Her arms encircled him as she leaned into his kiss. "That was nice." she said quietly and looked into his eyes.

His soft, sensuous brown eyes gazed back at her and this time she initiated the kiss. After several long kisses, she sighed and laid her head on his shoulder and they sat that way as the sun set, content just to be in each other's arms.

The stars came out and the moon lit up the valley and the surrounding area as Charlie rehearsed in his mind what he intended to say. "What if she says no?" he thought. I can't imagine my life without her. What if she doesn't feel the same way? Maybe I should run some more calculations." And then just as quickly his doubts left him and he took a deep breath. "It' now or never."

"Amita, are you awake?" the young man softly inquired.

"Yes, Charlie, it's just so nice to be sitting here with you.." she quietly responded.

He smiled and took her hand in his; he held her hand palm up and pressed it against his lips, and a smile spread across her face. As he lowered her hand he placed something in it and held it closed.

Puzzled she looked down at her hand but before she could open it, Charlie cupped her chin and turned her face toward his.

"Amita, will you marry me?" he asked her breathlessly as he watched her face closely.

Surprise crossed her features and then her face just lit up and she grabbed his head between her hands and began passionately kissing him. When he was finally able to catch his breath, he asked her laughingly, "Can I take that as a yes?"

"Oh, Charlie! Yes, yes, yes." she answered excitedly.

"You can open your hand now." he said before giving her another kiss. " I love you, Amita."

"I love you so much." she whispered and then opened her hand. Her eyes widened at the sight of the ring and she looked back at him. "Charlie, it's so big, it must have cost you a fortune.!"

He kissed her again and put the ring on her finger. "Do you like it?" he asked. "You can exchange it if you want something different."

"I love it, I wouldn't exchange it for anything." With a quick intake of breath she pointed at a spot on the ring." "Charlie, I think I see a fractal pattern." She dug into her backpack for a flashlight and trained it on the ring. "Yes…look, there it is." Smiling triumphantly she raised her head and met his eyes.

"Hey…you just stole my line." He said, smiling back at her. "I had it all rehearsed."

She inclined her head and replied playfully. "That's what you get for giving it to another mathematician."

He shook his head and spoke softly. "Your right, I should have know better." He bent his head closer to hers. "Come here, mathematician, I have something else that I want to give you."

She giggled and moved closer and as their lips met she closed her eyes, content to be in the in the arms of her future husband.

Sometime later they parted and he leaned back against the rock.

"You know, I actually dreamed that I proposed to you just like this."

"Me too." she said as she leaned in for another kiss.

"No, I mean seriously, I ……" Suddenly his euphoric feeling faded as he became aware of that strange sensation of being watched. He could feel the hair rising on the back of his neck and he started searching the trail around them. Dappled shadows from the moonlight were everywhere and this brother's words flickered eerily across his mind. "Promise me that you won't go anywhere alone and that you'll stay out of dark areas."

Guiltily, he looked around him. Charlie had thought it was all over, he had convinced himself that the sensation of being watched had been due to fatigue and stress. It had been almost a week since he had felt the watchful eyes and now they were back. He couldn't explain or see them but he knew it as sure as he new his own name. The eyes wee out there….watching.

Amita twisted in his arms and pulled his face toward her. "What is it?" she asked, her eyes searching his face for an answer.

"I…ah." He swallowed and cleared his throat. "I think we should probably head back before it gets any later, that's all. Come on." Charlie stood up and offered her a hand. "

He forced a smile and added. "Let's go tell Dad the good news."

A little bewildered by his change of mood, she nonetheless complied to his wishes and in a very short time they had re-packed everything and were starting back down the trail.

Charlie's eyes shifted to every shadow as they made their way back down the trail. " How could he have been so foolish? He admonished himself, it was one thing to put himself at risk but if something happened to Amita, because of his foolishness he would never forgive himself.

He held tightly to her hand and kept his flashlight trained on the trail with his other.

33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Bashere gazed through his camera lens at the couple on the hillside and snapped several pictures before turning to respond to a question from one of his henchmen.

James Picarry was restless and wanted to get back to town. He desperately wanted to find a woman, especially after watching the couple on the hillside.

"What's so special about this guy anyway?

"Mr. Picarry, that young man is one of a kind. He has abilities that are limitless and will make me the most powerful man in the world."

Picarry shrugged his shoulders unimpressed. "There are lots of mathematicians , he's not the only one."

Bashere focused his camera on the couple once again. "Tsk, tsk, Mr. Picarry, There are mathematicians and then there is Dr. Charles Eppes. There is no one in his league, he is a certified genius… he has no equals."

"So how are you going to get him to work for you….drugs?" the mercenary guessed.

"Drugs would destroy his brilliant mind, Mr. Picarry, they are not an option." he paused to adjust his camera. "Everyone has a weakness and I have discovered his….he will do everything I tell him to do."

The mercenary snickered. "Really? You know, I don't think he's going to be exactly thrilled with that "other lifestyle change" that you have in mind for him. He appears to have a preference for women." He guffawed and winked at his partner but his smile quickly faded as Bashere turned toward him. The look in the older man's eyes was enough to tell him that he had gone too far and he raised his hands in a placating manner.

"Look, I didn't mean nothing by that. I'm sure he'll change his mind once he's had a chance to get to know you." he swallowed hard and tried to read the other man's face but it was devoid of any emotion.

Feeling that his buddy had done enough damage, Alexis decided to try some intervention before Bashere decided to kill Picarry and ruin a perfectly good partnership.

"Why don't we just take him now? It's perfect timing. Picarry and I can share the girl and you can have the professor. Afterwards, we kill the girl and won't have to worry about any witnesses." Alexis Krill nudged the other man in the ribs. "What do you think Picarry, she is one hot woman."

James Picarry stepped back and pulled the binoculars back up to his face. A slow grin covered his face as he commented. "I think that's a fine idea but I get her first."

The other man's face darkened. "Hey, it was my idea, so I get her first!"

"Neither one of you are going to get her, so knock it off!" Bashere hissed, glaring at both of the men. "We will stick to the schedule. I've planned this for too long to have the two of you mess it up now!" Anger darkened his eyes making them appear even colder to the other men.

Both men were unnerved by his stare and quickly stepped back leaving some space between them.

" There is one final job to do and I don't want any mistakes. You know as well as I do that if we take him now we'll have to leave before it is finished." He glared at each of them. " We leave tomorrow night…as planned!"

Krill quickly backpedaled "All right, don't get your back up, just thought we could have some fun."

"Besides, if I let you kill her, she will become a martyr to him, and I'll never get him to agree to anything." he refocused his camera and returned his attention back to the young couple. "Now don't interrupt me again!"

"That's amazing." he mumbled a few minutes later. "Look, he knows that he is being watched."

The other two grabbed their binoculars and watched as the young professor turned his head, searching through the shadows. Thier night vision glasses were so powerful that they could clearly see his eyes and it was a little disconcerting when his gaze seem to focus on them.

Picarry snorted. "That's impossible. There's no way he could know that we are here."

"Perhaps." Bashere muttered. "I've seem him to this before, somehow he can sense when he is being watched."

"What? Like he's psyche or something?" Krill asked. "Come on, that's impossible."

"Who knows what he can do with that remarkable brain of his…perhaps he has a sixth sense." Bashere put away his binoculars. "Regardless, they are leaving now and so are we." He headed down the trail. "We have to be out of the parking area before they get back to it."

"Now that is just creepy." Picarry said to his partner as they fell in line behind Bashere.

333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Under the cover of darkness, Johnson and his men had infiltrated the estate and watched at the owners pulled out of the driveway. They remained hidden for another twenty minutes just in case the couple had forgotten something and decided to return.

Wayne straightened up and gave the signal for his men to start planting the C-4 in the appointed areas.

"No mistakes." he spoke softly into his radio. "Do this right, and tomorrow morning we'll be rich and rid of that dam Frenchman."

Silence echoed over the radio, as each man concentrated on his part of the job. Thirty minutes later they joined their boss at the front gate and quietly left the area.

"Where did you put the note, boss?"

"In the gatehouse with the guard. They should be safe enough from the explosion." Nervously, he looked around. The nearest house was up and around a bend in the road and too far away to see this estate. He pulled the detonator from his pocket and pressed the button.

Five different explosions echoed throughout the surrounding hills, totally destroying the once beautiful estate and turning it instantly into rubble. Fires erupted in the remains of the house and burned greedily through everything that it touched.

"Let's go boys."

Wayne let out a sigh of relief, finally finished. He had never been so happy to finish a job before, but this guy Bashere really made him uneasy. He started his van and drove slowly down the road; no need to attract attention now. They traveled for thirty minutes before they had to stop at a red signal light. The traffic light was at the bottom of a long hill and as they came to a stop several fire engines came racing past them, on their way up to the burning estate.

The light changed and he pulled out slowly and headed back to his office. Smiling broadly he boasted to his men. "I think I'll retire after we collect the rest of our money, maybe move to a more tropical environment." A hearty round of laughter burst out of the three of them and they continued to talk about they're plans for the future as they drove through the darkened streets of Los Angeles.

3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Friday Morning

9:00 a.m.

Don was busy at his desk reviewing the evidence when the rest of his team began to arrive. There was something about this case that kept pulling at his memory and he was determined to figure it out. That's why he had been sitting there since 7:30, trying to bring the elusive thought to the surface of his mind. He wasn't having much luck though, and he was starting to get frustrated which explained his current frame of mind.

"Good morning, Don."

Megan's cheery voice only made the lead agent more irritable.

"Morning." he grumbled.

The pretty agent sat down and glanced sideways at her boss. "You been here all night?"

"No, just got hear early." he responded without looking up.

"So that's how it's going to be." she mumbled softly to herself as she turned on her computer.

Don looked up. "Did you say something?"

"Ah…no." she began to answer and grinned as her phone interrupted her reply. "Saved by the bell." she thought as she smiled at him and picked up the phone.

David and Colby had come in arguing about a baseball game and waved a hand in greeting as they settled themselves at their desks.

"Colby, look, I told you before, I would choose Ruth."

"Yeah, yeah, I…." Colby started to retort but lost his concentration as Megan caught his attention.

The pretty agent had slammed down her phone receiver and gathered some papers from her desk. She hurried over with them and placed them in the middle of Don's desk.

"We might have a break, the coast guard found an abandoned fishing boat not far from the San Pedro dock where we found the armored car. It turns out, it was stolen on the day that we were at the dock."

David's cell phone rang and he turned away to take the call. "What's the address? Okay, we'll be there." He shared a quick glance with his partner before joining Megan at Don's desk. Colby rose and followed closely behind him.

"Don, it looks like they might have hit again. That was the LAPD, they were called to the scene of a fire up in the hills and found a dead security guard with a note in his pocket addressed to you."

Don held up his hand to slow down the agent and turned back to Megan. "What did you have?"

"Forensics came up with a good print from the boat It belongs to a Brad Martinson. I ran his name through the files and he has a pretty thick one, mostly small time stuff. According to his parole officer he last known employment is with a consulting firm out in Ventura. A place called W Johnson & Co." she stopped to take a breath and to remove her glasses.

"How do you know all that, you just took the call." the agent asked incredulously.

She grinned from ear to ear. "I accessed the records while I was on the phone. I multi-task Agent Eppes."

This time Don returned her grin as he stood up. "David you and Colby take the burned estate, Megan and I will go interview Mr. Johnson and be careful."