-1Obsession
Disclaimer: See Prologue
A/N: Thanks again for your reviews and your patience. I know everyone is eager to discover who Bashere really is and if his plan is successful.
Sun Tsu - The Art of War
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.
Chapter 16:
Friday - 1:00 p.m.
Don and Megan stepped off the elevator still discussing the grisly scene they had discovered at the consulting firm. Four hours and four dead bodies later and they still were not any closer to identifying the mastermind behind the crimes. The two of them headed for the break room first to grab a much needed cup of coffee.
Don removed his coffee stirrer and chewed on it as they walked back to the bull pen.
"Just like the guards in the armored truck, one shot to the back of head."
"Yeah and it wasn't a robbery." Megan mused. "They still had all of their valuables, watches, wallets, nothing personal was taken."
"Okay, then. so what's out motive?" He asked as he opened the door for her and they entered the room.
David and Colby appeared to have just returned themselves and were busy discussing the aspects of their trip to the Hollywood hills. They both looked over as Don and Megan returned.
"So, what did you guys find at the estate?" Don asked as he leaned back in his chair far enough so he could stretch his legs out and put his feet up on his desk.
"One dead security guard, a demolished estate and this." David held up the note and moved over to hand it to the older agent. "Forensics is dusting the guard's house for prints, didn't find any on the note."
"Charlie can finish the message now." Colby added, coming over to stand beside his partner. "Should I call him?"
Don shook his head. "No, he said he was coming in for a little while after lunch. He can't stay for too long, though, he has a budget meeting later in the afternoon." He studied the numbers on the note and wondered if they were ever going to get a break in this case.
"How about you guys, did you learn anything from that consultant.?" David asked.
Don looked up shifting his thoughts to the junior agent but before he could answer the question Megan stood up.
During the conversation, she had been sitting at her desk, printing photographs of the four dead men. She crossed the floor and pinned them on the board.
"We found four dead bodies, this one is Wayne Johnson, owner of the consulting firm; the other three worked for him." She pointed to the first picture that she had pinned on the board.
Her finger moved to the next photograph. "Paul Martin was an explosive's expert and we suspect that he was our bomb maker."
"Wait a minute." Colby squinted at the photograph. "Isn't that our missing forklift operator?"
David snapped his fingers. "Right, ah….Randall Bailey."
"The one and only." Don commented from his desk. "We checked with LAPD before we came back and Martin had stolen the man's I.D. The real Randal Bailey is a forklift operator at that dock but he was out of town yesterday visiting a sick relative." The agent took a sip of his coffee. "Bailey's alibi checks out, his brother was in an automobile accident on Wednesday night."
"That's sounds a little too convenient." Colby added sarcastically.
Megan nodded in agreement and pointed to the next photo. "This was Harold Jeffreys, he was picked up for arson a few years ago and was out on parole. And this one, Brad Martinson, was a suspect in a bank robbery a couple of years ago but the DA couldn't make it stick."
She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear and turned around to face them. "You know, I have to wonder what type of consulting work Mr. Johnson provided." She walked back to her desk and sat down. " His employees had some rather unique skills." she added with a smirk.
David crossed his arms and leaned against Don's desk. "Yeah, they're not exactly the kind of skills that you would find on your average resume."
Don picked up the explanation. "The office was cleaned out, it wasn't robbery though. There was plenty of money lying around but the computer was gone and any records or files that might have been there were missing." he paused again and took another sip of coffee. "We ran a few of the serial numbers from the money they had on them and they match the bills taken from the bank and the armored car heist."
David put his hands in his jeans pockets and tilted his head thoughtfully. "So, robbery wasn't the motive."
Don brought his feet down from the desk and stood up, stretching his tired muscles. "Doesn't look like it, what did you guys get."
Colby stepped over to his desk and grabbed a photo to pin on the board.
"Evan Spencer, security guard at the estate that was torched last night. One shot to the back of the head, just like all of the others."
Don added the note to the board and looked over the photos. "Man, what would you gain by killing so many people? He mumbled to himself as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
The SAC turned suddenly and faced his agents with an expression of realization on his face. "He's covering his tracks, tying up any loose ends that can connect him to these cases."
"He's doing a dam good job of it." David responded grimly.
Megan stood up and walked over to the board and with her hands on her hips she studied it closely.
"There is still some evidence that we don't have but we should have by now. Colby you went down to see Hendricks, what did he have to say?"
The younger agent shrugged out of his FBI windbreaker and hung it across the back of his chair. "He said they got hit with some kind of virus that wiped out part of the report. I checked with the coroner for his part of the report and oddly enough, his computer was hit with it too."
"That sounds a little too coincidental to me." Don rubbed his fingers across his lips thoughtfully. "Did you get a good look at the body?"
"Don, the body was missing."
"Missing." Don repeated incredulously. "How did they lose the body?"
David rubbed the top of his head. "It looks like the I.D. tag was switched with a body that was released to it's family. By the time the dept had caught up with the mistake, the body had already been cremated."
"What? Are you saying the family couldn't recognize their own son?"
"No, I'm saying that a switch was made after the I.D. had been made."
Don shook his head and scrubbed his hands through his hair. He stopped and turned back to the younger agents. "And the coroner's photo's and files were hit with a virus?" Frustrated, he switched subjects.
" What about the background on the estate? Maybe we'll get a break there."
It was David's turn to shake his head. "We haven't had a chance to do a full background check on the estate yet. We were just getting started on that when you guys walked in"
The lead agent paced around the room. "I don't like it, it's like the key elements are deliberately being kept from us. The answer is there." he said irritably , as he pointed at the boards, "it's just out of our reach." He scowled and continued to pace around the room.
David turned to his partner. "What did the tech's have to say about the virus?"
"Only that it's a bad one and they're not really sure how it was delivered or if the data has been permanently corrupted. "
"That's definitely an inside job." Don frowned, adding. "Has anyone heard from Wright on how that IA investigation is going?"
A negative shake of heads was all that greeted his question and he sighed inwardly. He knew the drill, they all did. Internal Affairs would suspect everyone in the office and until his team was cleared, Don wouldn't be hearing anything from Wright on that subject.
Megan sighed loudly as she sat down on one of the conference tables. She pulled her legs up and crossed them beneath her. "What are we missing?"
Don crossed his arms and leaned against another table glowering darkly at the boards. "These five cases are linked, there has to be another connection besides these notes."
"Hey, did you get another set of numbers?"
They all turned in surprise as Charlie closed the door and hurried into the room, his eyes eagerly seeking out the new numbers.
Don patted him on the back. "Glad you're here bro. You should be able to finish the last sentence now."
Charlie just nodded and grabbing a marker he immediately began to write the numbers on the board.
14 20 3 14 1 15 18 22 5 20 9 18 5 5 9 12 9 23 12
5 18 4 25 15 20 19
Once again he assigned them letters and then moved them around until they formed a word but this time he was able to complete the message. He hurried over to the adjoining board and added the latest words to complete the last sentence.
THE LAPD AND FBI WILL PAY FOR THEIR IMPUDENCE
I TAKE BACK MY PROPERTY
WHAT I CANNOT RETRIEVE I WILL DESTROY
Charlie stepped back and stood beside the other agents.
Don rubbed his hand over is chin as he studied the message. "Well, now we know why he blew up the yacht and the estate, but what property has he taken back?" He glanced at Megan. "You think he means the money from the sale of his property or is there something else that he's going to take back? '
"I don't know, but it's like I said before. If he can't have it, then he will destroy it so no one else can have it. It's classic psychopathic behavior."
"Well it certainly makes more sense. All we have to do now is figure out who it is."
Charlie shook his head slowly and frowned. "He's finished now, the message is complete. Won't he just move on?"
Don glanced at his brother and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's what we think too." He waved a hand at the pictures on the board. " He's covering his tracks by killing his own people."
"The question is… do we still have time to find him?" Megan mumbled as she wearily rubbed her eyes.
"David, did you get that list of sales from the M & K company? "
"Not yet Colby, but they did promise to send it to me today." He moved over to his computer. "I haven't had a chance to check my e-mail yet."
The agent grew silent as he scanned his mail. He suddenly looked up and with excitement in his voice he reported. "Yes, here it is…..oh, man…..there's got to be at least five hundred pages in this attachment." Frowning he added. "This could take us awhile."
"Not necessarily." The mathematician spoke up. "Your tech's already have the algorithm to use. It shouldn't take them more than a couple of hours to find your link."
"Right." David grinned as he transferred the information onto a flash drive. "I'll be right back."
"Colby, give Hendricks a call. Tell him we want an artist sketch of that third body, and tell him it's urgent. Tell him I want it within the next couple of hours."
"On it Don." The junior agent hurried to his desk and started dialing.
Megan wondered back to her desk. She drummed her fingers on her desk thoughtfully before accessing her database on psychopaths . She had a nagging feeling that she was missing something pretty big.
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Charlie had been waiting for the right moment and now that the other agent's were busy he took a deep breath and approached his brother.
"Hey, Don." He asked hesitantly, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Don glanced at his brother and started to look back at the evidence but stopped when he noticed the expression on Charlie's face. The last time he had seen that look was when they were both still kids and his younger brother had confessed to getting into Don's collection of baseball cards.
His brow furrowed with concern. " Everything okay?"
"Ah, yeah….listen, can we go somewhere and talk…. privately… I mean."
"Sure, come with me."
Don opened the door to an empty conference room and motioned for him to enter first. He followed him in, letting the door close before turning to face his brother. Charlie started pacing around the room almost immediately so Don leaned casually against a desk and waited for his brother to tell him what was bothering him. He knew from experience to let him have a few minutes to gather his thoughts when he was in this kind of mood, so he checked his watch and decided he would give him one more minute before grabbing him by the arm to make him stand still and tell him what was going on.
Okay, another look at the watch and ten more seconds more and he was going to put a stop to this, but before he could follow through with it, Charlie stopped right in front of him.
He stared at him for a minute, then looked away, then faced him once again. Taking a deep breath he asked his question so fast that Don couldn't quite catch what he had said.
"Donwouldyoubemybestman?"
The agent straightened up and snorted. "Huh? Didn't quite get that Buddy. Want to try again?"
Charlie's face turned red and he ducked his head in embarrassment . He took a deep breath and looked up again to find that his brother was wearing a slight smirk on his face and waiting for him to repeat his question.
"Don, would you be my best man?" He said it slower and let out a relieved breath.
Don's eyebrows rose in disbelief as he searched his brother's face for signs that he was joking with him.
His brother was taking so long in answering his question that Charlie thought that he might have made a mistake. Could he have been wrong? He had been so sure that Don would want to be his best man that it hadn't even occurred to him that he might not want to stand up at the altar with him. But now he was afraid that he had made a mistake, that it had been just wishful thinking on his part. Had he truly only imagined that they had become closer and had finally put their childhood differences to rest? Desperately trying not to show the hurt that he was feeling from Don's reaction he decided to give his brother a way out and make a quick escape.
He swallowed and looked away stammering. "I mean…ah…if you don't want to…it's okay….I…ah…will understand…..I can ask Larry."
Don suddenly grabbed him in a tight embrace. "Of course, I want to be your best man. I'm sorry, you just took me by surprise, that's all." He held him at arm's length and looked into his eyes. " Don't you dare ask Larry… that's my job, not his. Congratulations, bro."
He gave him another hug and then stepped back, grinning ear to ear, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
"It's about time, your lucky that someone didn't snatch her up first." He gave him a playful punch on his arm. "Hey, did you tell Dad yet?"
A relieved and now grinning Charlie nodded his head. "Yeah, we told him last night when we got back. Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that he's having a barbecue tonight to celebrate the engagement, so you better be there."
" Of course I'll be there, wild horses couldn't keep me away."
Charlie snorted. "I don't think Dad's worried about wild horses, he's more concerned about sirens and flashing lights."
Don rolled his eyes at him. "Not gonna happen, bro. I'll be there."
"Oh, I have to invite Megan, David and Colby too. I've already invited Larry." he added excitedly.
"Come on, let's go find them." He hooked an arm around his brother's neck and led him out of the room.
David had returned and he and Colby had their heads together quietly going over the data again and didn't notice them enter right away.
Megan was the first to realize that something was up. Of course, the first thing that gave them away was that they were both smiling like two kids at a candy store. She pulled off her glasses and leaned on her elbows as she studied them. She glanced at Don's expression and then went back to Charlie's . Jumping up from her desk she ran over to give the younger man a hug.
"You did it, didn't you?" she asked him breathlessly.
"What's going on?" David asked as he got up from his chair and joined them with Colby following curiously behind him.
"Yeah, what's up?
Don laughed out loud. "Megan, if you don't let him breath he can't tell you his news."
Undaunted she pulled away from the younger man. "Well?"
Charlie's grin was still plastered on his face as he looked around at his friends.
All he had to say were three little words. "She said yes."
Megan laughed out loud and was suddenly hugging him again while David and Colby were shaking his hands and patting him on the back.
Colby's eyes widened suddenly and he elbowed David in the arm.
"Hey Charlie." he tried to ask innocently. "Exactly when did you propose to Amita?"
"Last night." he responded absently as he answered a question for Megan.
"Hey guys, your all invited to the house tonight to help us celebrate" Charlie grinned broadly at his brother. "Dad has gone off the deep end for this. He started planning this right after we told him the news. I don't think he even slept last night. The only reason you didn't get a call was because I made him promise to let me tell you the news myself."
Megan nudged him in the side. "Well, come on give us the details."
The young mathematician blushed but gave in and told them all about his proposal to Amita.
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3:30 p.m.
Charlie had left for his budget meeting, but the mood around the office had turned a little lighter from his news and excitement for their young friends had infected the moods of the agents. Some more than others. One of them was muttering and grumbling as he worked, albeit good naturedly, but still grumbling. Don grinned at the memory; his little brother had gotten the best of them, beaten the three agents at their own game, and he had to admit it, he was proud of him..
Colby had barely given Charlie time to get to the elevator before he hurried over to his desk and pulled out the chart. David and Megan rushed over to his desk as he checked the date to find out who had won the money.
Puzzlement crossed his features as he looked up at his cohorts. "I don't recognize these initials, MME. Do either of you?"
David shook his head. "No, me either. I wonder which dept they work in?"
"What about the phone number Colby?" Megan asked, trying to read it upside down.
"Now that does look familiar….wait a minute! Don did you do this?" He asked accusingly.
Don glanced up in surprise. "Do what? I told you that I wasn't going to bet on it."
" Really?" He asked in a skeptical tone of voice. "How do you explain the fact that Charlie's phone number is on the winning square?"
Don opened his mouth in surprise but before he could respond, another voice answered for him.
"Because Charlie put it there." All heads turned toward the doorway as Charlie casually walked through.
"You can't bet on this, that's cheating." Colby sputtered.
Charlie crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side and when he spoke it was obvious that he was trying to hold back laughter.
"Well, it wasn't one hundred percent sure that I would get to propose to her last night and besides I did it for your own good."
"How do you figure that?" David asked.
"Simple, betting is illegal isn't it and sense you guys are my friends I thought this would be the best way to keep you from getting into trouble."
"There were a lot of people who bet on this Charlie. How am I going to tell them that you are the one who won the money. They'll think the same thing that I do, that it's cheating." Colby argued.
"Well, the truth is that I didn't win the money." Charlie glanced at his brother, who had remained speechless during the conversation, and saw his eyes light up as he realized exactly what Charlie had done.
Colby shook his head. "Dude, it's your phone number."
"Dude." Charlie mimicked. "Those aren't my initials."
Megan caught on before her fellow agents did. "They're your mothers initials, aren't they?" she asked softly.
Charlie grinned and nodded his head. "Yes, Margaret Mann Eppes. The money will be a donation in her name to the Cancer Research Foundation." Suddenly feeling moisture at the corners of his eyes, he cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. "Ah….I gotta go." He cast a quick look in his brother's direction, sharing a deep emotional bond in the look, before heading once again toward the elevators.
"Thanks for the donation guys." he called back over his shoulder.
Colby stood by his desk, his mouth was moving but nothing was coming out. He was trying to utter his protest but just couldn't come up with the right words.
David patted him on the back. "Let it go man, he got us." He grinned at his partner. "But you know, I think it was worth it to see Colby Granger speechless."
Don, David and Megan burst into laughter as Colby sat back down in his chair, stunned. He just couldn't believe it, Charlie, had indeed, put one over on him.
A shadow crossed his desk and drew Don back to the present. He looked up at the LAPD officer and smiled.
"Hey, Gary, what brings you up here?"
Lt. Gary Walker was in charge of the LAPD 's Gang Task Force and had worked with Don and his team on a number of cases.
"Eppes, Reeves, Sinclair , Granger." he acknowledged all of them with a nod of his head then turned his attention back to Don. The serious look in his eyes prompted the agent to ask.
"What's in the folder Gary?" Don asked. "We're busy on a case right now, but we can take a look and see if we can offer some assistance."
The lieutenant held it up but didn't release it. "Don, this is a case that a friend of mine, a homicide detective, brought to my attention this morning. They had investigated a murder of a private detective, one Corey Whitley. He had an office in Ventura and was found murdered on Sunday night."
"Yeah, so." Don was eager to get to the details, there was something about the way that Walker was acting that had his FBI senses going into overdrive
Walker sensed his mood. "To make a long story short, Whitley was a small time detective, did mostly divorce jobs. You know the ones, sneak around and get pictures of the spouses doing things that they shouldn't be doing" He paused to let that information sink in before continuing on. " It also looks like he took pictures of a few of the celebrities and sold them to the tabloids and the paparazzi."
"Where are you going with this Gary?" Don asked impatiently.
"Just settle down a minute, I'm getting there." He waved his hand at the agent to calm him down. "From the evidence gathered, it looked like he had come home and interrupted a robbery. His computer equipment, wallet, watch, etc. were all missing."
David shook his head from side to side. "I don't see where this is an FBI case Lieutenant."
"It's not Sinclair, but I haven't finished yet" he answered with a glare at the agent.
David raised his hands in a placating manner. "Sorry, keep going."
"As I was saying, my guys had written it off as a burglary gone bad until they received an envelope from his lawyer this morning. In the event of Mr. Whitley's death he was to deliver a key to the LAPD. That key belonged to a storage locker at Union Station. Our guys went down there and returned with a box containing a number of flash drives. Each flash drive was a case that Whitley had been working on. Each one was in an individual plastic bag with a brief note regarding his client. The most recent case involved the photo's in this folder." He placed the folder on Don's desk.
Don's team surrounded his desk as he opened the folder and picked up a handful of pictures of his brother. Pictures of him while he was at Calsci, teaching and eating lunch with Amita and Larry. There were photographs of him taken at the Craftsman, alone and with his Dad and brother and even a few taken while he was in the waiting room at the hospital where Don and his team had been taken after the explosion.
Megan gasped. "Charlie was right, he was being watched."
David and Colby exchanged anxious looks. "Don, why didn't you tell us that someone was following Charlie?"
"For one thing, we didn't have any proof. He said he just had a feeling that someone was watching him, he never saw anyone….and he says that he hasn't had that feeling all week." Don looked up at Walker. "I guess now we know why."
"So what are you thinking?" Colby asked the lieutenant. "Paparazzi?"
"Charlie has become something of a celebrity, his book has made him quite popular." He shrugged. "As a matter of fact that's why my guys brought me the file. They recognized him from the pictures, knew that he was a friend of mine."
"What about the note, does he give us the name of the client?" Don asked darkly.
Gary guffawed. "We should be so lucky. All Whitley wrote is that he was a male, in his mid to late fifties, possibly a foreigner and appeared to have a lot of money." He grimaced. "Not a lot for us to go on."
"Anyway, I just thought you should be aware of this. Hopefully, it was just for the paparazzi and nothing more."
"Thanks, Gary." Don stood and shook his hand. "Listen, you could do me one favor."
"Name it."
"Could you have car cover his house until we can figure this out?"
Walker smiled at him. "Already done, Eppes" He added as he turned away. "I consider Charlie a friend of mine, and I watch out for all of my friends."
"See you Lieutenant,." Megan called after him.
Don looked back at his agents as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open. Hitting the speed dial button for his brother's phone, he anxiously waited for him to answer. "Come on Charlie, answer the phone." Three rings and it went to his voice mail. He glanced at his watch and left a message.
"What do you want us to do Don?" David asked quietly. "One of us should be covering him."
"It's four thirty so he's probably still in his budget meeting. Megan and I will run by Calsci and take him to the house. You guys come on over as soon as you get that data run. If it isn't finished by six, tell Stendhouser to call us there, and that it's urgent. If we can identify this guy, then maybe we won't have to spoil his engagement party tonight."
Don grabbed his jacket, and he and Megan rushed to the elevators.