Is this a new chapter? It is!

Charlie hadn't meant to get his protector into trouble but, the moment Sheila had arrived with tidings of what he'd done and how quick word had spread around her college, left him noting that he had. Maria was gaping at them both, her eyes harsh when they fell on Charlie and soft on her daughter.

He understood the harshness. Maria had been clear that she didn't want him leaving the house. She especially hadn't wanted him going to CalSci. Now, if it had to do with her thinking he was rushing into his old life without any real knowledge of what he was getting into or if it had to do with Maria's protectiveness of her daughter, he didn't know.

If it was about going into a potentially dangerous situation without information, it made sense. He had weighed those risks though. It was a college; a rather bustling one at that. He had gotten in and out without being noticed thanks to the hoodie he'd been wearing and sticking to alcoves that he'd just known were there. That was how he'd found the office; his memory of it had been fuzzy but his muscles knew how to get there. He'd managed to jimmy the door. There had been a trick to it. It had been locked but it was an old door and if one shoved on the right corner, it'd pop the lock and presto! You were in.

If it was about her protective instincts, it was because Maria wanted to keep Sheila out of trouble with his federal ties. Maria may not be part of the gang but that didn't stop her from thinking that not all cops were going to protect her. Not with her family history.

Also, the numbers. The numbers on those plans had just sung to him. He'd known what to do with them. He knew what was being looked for and he knew how to get it. He knew what math had been used to make the blackouts – he wasn't sure how he managed to know it had been blackouts – overload the backup generator for the prison shown in the papers. He knew the best egress route that could have been – and likely was – used. He knew the math used for everything.

And he'd had to write it down or he'd regret it.

So he'd written it all down on the boards. He'd had to clear the boards before he'd started writing but that was immaterial.

He hadn't remembered leaving the note though.

"You disobeyed me," Maria hissed.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "It won't-."

A knock at the door slammed him from his self-pity.

"Upstairs, you two," Maria hissed. "Go."

"Charlie," Sheila whispered, tugging at his arm.

Ian had followed Gary onto the porch of Maria Rodriguez in silence. They'd been going from house to house to give the illusion that they had no targeted questions to any specific person. They didn't want Maria to be forced to shut her doors to them – according to Walker.

Ian didn't have any personal interest in keeping the locals from thinking highly of the woman he'd never met. He was impressed that her daughter was attempting to leave a toxic environment he wasn't okay with the idea that she might be harboring someone. He didn't want to be on the Cornel case anymore but his superiors had been clear.

Catch Cornel and then look into Professor Eppes' disappearance.

Well, the problem was that, the more Ian looked into the files, the more he noticed specific issues. Now, Ian would never claim he was as brilliant as Charlie in spotting things but he did have the experience of tracking. There were things he could spot in paperwork that he used to be blind to when he started. There were a few coincidences that he'd spotted since looking into Charlie's disappearing act that he couldn't ignore.

Charlie disappeared. A few weeks later, Cornel was loose. It was hard to believe it was just a simple coincidence. It wasn't difficult to believe that someone had taken Charlie to use his skills to break someone out of prison. From what Ian had managed to learn before his bosses told him to stop 'adding distractions to his docket' he now knew that Charlie had been taken once before for his skills.

No, Ian was certain there was something to connect the cases. He just couldn't look where he wanted to. Charlie's case was off limits until he caught Cornel.

But, there had been the note in Charlie's office. The message for Don. The moved papers that screamed 'Charles Eppes tampered with me'.

Ian hadn't been able to remain in that office once Penfield figured out what the numbers all meant. The correlation of some specific blackouts and Cornel's breakout had left Ian a bit cold and lacking for air. He'd gone to join Walker to get a lay of the land Cornel was hanging around. He might need to know the area if Cornel ran to another friend.

Also, Amita was still mad at Reynolds for her earlier statements. Reynolds had still been sitting in on the office spectacle. Her eyes had been a bit glazed over while the numbers were being spouted about between the professors. Yet, she'd been kind enough to keep her mouth shut and nodded at appropriate intervals.

He hadn't been surprised when the kid Carlos he'd seen during the stakeout closed the door on them both. He hadn't expected much else from anyone else in the neighborhood. Though, there were a few who opened their doors and gave the typical warning of a bad neighborhood. No one wanted to talk to the cops because the gang, while less volatile than others – BSF and 18th street Mexicali came to mind – it was still dangerous.

The younger generations was more dangerous than the older generations too. Given, there were a few outliers like Cornel and Sheila. For the most part though, there was something to be said about generalizations and stereotypes.

Walker knocked on the door of the Rodriguez house as Ian came to a halt next him. Ian glanced around the porch, noting the patched bullet holes and repainted chips in the wood. There were drive-by attacks in the area. It was possible that Maria would lose her life or her remaining family to that violence.

There was some scuffling on the other side of the door for a moment. Walker changed his stance, a hand twitching for his sidearm. Ian made the same motion until the sound of door latch being undone reached his ears.

Maria's face as pale when she opened the door. Walker forced himself back into a more relaxed posture. His hand was still floating around his gun though.

"Lieutenant," she huffed, brushing hair from her face. "How can I help you?"

"Hello Maria," Walker stated. "This is Agent Edgerton," he pointed at Ian, "and he and I have some questions."

"Questions?" she asked. "What about?"

"Have you seen the news, lately?" Ian asked. She blinked at him and nodded. "Then you've heard about the fugitive, Frank Cornel?" Another nod, this one a bit pained looking. "I'm in fugitive recovery."

"You want to know if I've seen the man in the papers."

She was sharp. Ian would give her that. She'd been around the block a few too many times apparently. Though, Ian had read her family's file too. It wasn't surprising.

"I'd appreciate that, yes," Ian stated, pulling the photo of Cornel from his pocket. He held it up for her so she could look it over. The expression on her face scrunched into a frown but didn't change much. There was some disgust in her eyes but Ian didn't find that surprising.

Maria didn't like the world that took her loved ones, after all. She was still respected though and that was a major reason for her never moving away.

"We know he's already talked to one of your neighbors," Walker stated. "Carlos."

Maria's eyes went wide then, panic coloring them. "Carlos?" she gasped. Walker nodded in a grave manner. "That idiot boy," she ground out.

"Idiot boy?" Ian asked, though it wasn't because he didn't agree with her. He agreed that anyone who spoke to a fugitive about hitting a random house guest was an idiot. Especially when the person had the conversation in a public place.

Maria nodded. "That boy wants to be like my husband and son," she explained. "He keeps forgetting how they ended up."

There was an anger in her tone that Ian had heard before. He knew it from the families left behind by the violence he tried to halt. He knew all he was doing was bandaging it; putting sand bags in front of the floods. There wasn't much he could do about it but that didn't stop him from wishing he could. It was because he didn't like that tone. He wanted to know if he could eradicate that tone from the world.

Kind of like how he wished he could drop the Cornel case and look into Charlie's.

"I have to ask, Maria," Walker stated. "Has this man been to your home?"

"No," she stated. "I'd have called the authorities should he have shown his face."

"Another question," Ian said as he pocketed the photo. "We overheard the conversation Carlos and Cornel were having at the time. They were speaking about you and your daughter. As well as another person."

Maria frowned at them for a moment. Ian paid more attention to how her hand gripped the door until it was white. He spotted the returned panic in her eyes too but he didn't say anything about it. He'd get his answer soon enough.

"From what we understand, you have a house guest," Walker explained. "Carlos seems to not like this person and has asked a favor of Cornel."

Maria's breathing was hitched. Ian couldn't blame her. He wasn't expecting Walker to just jump into this conversation. Then again, he hadn't expected to be out questioning uncooperative people about his current prey. He also hadn't expected a note in Charlie's handwriting to be left for Don.

"We'd like to get them, as well as yourself and your daughter into protective custody," Ian stated.

"Why on earth?" she asked, her jaw dropped in horror.

"As you mentioned," Ian mumbled. "The kid's an idiot."

"He's also a teenager," Walker stated. "A teenager I know has a crush on your daughter."

"Because my guest thinks my daughter deserves better than that idiot, said idiot put a hit on him?" Maria breathed, her tone disbelieving.

"To be honest, I've seen people do worse over less," Ian mumbled. There were things he wasn't proud to say he had a knowledge of. Most of those things had something to do with his job. The few things that had nothing to do with his job….Well, those were his own damned fault now weren't they?

Maria sighed, nodding as she rubbed her temples.

"I've noticed that too," she mumbled. "However, that doesn't change the fact that…I don't trust the police."

"At the very least, Maria, let us get your house guest somewhere safe," Walker interjected. "It'll keep you and your daughter safe too if we remove them from here."

Maria's eyes flashed with something dangerously close to motherly protection then. Ian took a step back, sighing. He pocketed the photo of Cornel, his fingers brushing over something else in his back pocket.

He took another step back as he pulled what felt like photo paper from his pocket whilst shoving the print out into the pocket. He stopped listening to Walker as he argued with Maria.

It was an old picture from after he'd been released from jail. He'd talked the others into taking him out for a drink once he'd been cleared. Charlie had even voted in favor of it, Colby seconding the cry for intoxication. In the picture was himself, Charlie, and Don, all of them holding a glass of beer up with wide smiles on their faces.

He looked up then, finding Walker and Maria still arguing themselves in circles. He stared at them, his mind flashing back to something Walker had said. Something about familiarity. He stepped up to them, brandishing the photo like a shield.

"Have you seen one of these two men?" he asked.

The arguing cut off with an audible snap. Maria stared at the photo for a moment, her eyes narrowed until they blew wide again. She jerked her head to look at Ian, her breathing hitched. Walker glanced at the photo, eyes questioning. The man didn't say anything though.

"Please leave," Maria stated. She moved to close the door only to pause. "Come back tomorrow."

"Alright," Ian stated.

"She told you to get lost, then?" Don asked. "You did tell her about the danger having her guest stick around, right?"

They were all in the bullpen, the chorus of ringing phones a bit distracting. Nikki and Liz had taken over their personal desks while Colby and David were standing off to the side.

"We argued in circles," Gary sighed as the elevators rang open.

Don jerked his head to find Reynolds wandering into the bullpen with Penfield in tow. The other professors weren't with them. Don wondered why for an idle moment before his eyes fell back to Ian. The sniper was sitting at an empty desk, a photo in his hands and his eyes distant. He wouldn't let anyone look at the picture which told Don it held a personal meaning.

Maybe Ian had a girlfriend hiding somewhere after all.

"Anything for us?" Don asked Penfield once Reynolds led him over.

She swiped a free chair and sank into it with a huff as Penfield continued to look around the bullpen in awe. Don snapped his fingers at Penfield.

"Not your first time here, Marshall," Don said.

"Sorry," Penfield mumbled as he dropped his bag onto a desk. "Uh…those numbers left with that note? They were about possible stressing on substations. Specific ones that overlay specific areas."

"This sounds like when we last dealt with blackouts," Colby muttered. "All to overload a backup generator for a prison, remember?"

Don nodded. Yeah, he remembered. They'd lost a few men in that attack, somethings they just couldn't stop from happening. After all, they'd had enough forehand warning to keep the death toll to a minimum.

"So, you have a map overlay, right?" David asked.

Marshall nodded, spreading a map and plastic sheets out. He flipped the clear sheets over so they weren't covering the map. Don half listened to him explain each sheet and what areas they represented as blacked out. He'd seen this before after all. Once all the sheets were down, they would overlap over a specific area and that was where they'd have to look.

"I've already checked the overlap area and found out that there's a detention center right at the center of it," Penfield stated.

"What do you want to bet, it has the same type of generator as the Rice Building?" David asked, leaning over the temporary wall of the cubicles.

"I'll bet it's standard issue," Colby sighed.

"So, we did a bit more research," Penfield stated. "There was a blackout the same day Cornel escaped from the yards."

"Good bet that if he had a getaway car waiting for him, we wouldn't be able to see it," Ian stated, his tone betraying that'd he'd already looked into it. Not that Don would have expected anything less of Ian but Don was a bit surprised that Ian had managed to do it while he'd been giving Don a hard time.

Penfield nodded, but his face was pale.

"What's up?" Don asked.

"Well, this sort of thing would take a lot of planning right?" Penfield asked.

The agents all nodded, Reynolds pursing her lips. Ian's finger tapped against he back of the photo in his hand, the face of it facing down to his leg.

"And you guys had to deal with this sort of thing before?"

They all nodded again. Colby and David shared an uneasy glance between each other as Liz and Nikki shifted in their seats.

"Yeah, it was to break out an inmate called Tobakian," Liz explained.

"How long did it take for them to plan that out?"

"Uh…a while," David mumbled. "A couple months or so, maybe."

"At the very least," Don stated.

"Well, Cornel was in the system for a while," Penfield stated. "Gone through a few appeals and so forth, right?"

They all nodded, even Reynolds and Ian.

"There were a few other escape attempts but nothing came of them," Nikki stated. "Mostly thanks to the heavy security. That particular center has the occasional day when they have a skeleton crew but no one knows when those days are save the staff."

"So…it's a minor coincidence that a month and a half ago, these guys figured out not only the skeleton crew date but also how to blackout the city to specifically target that center?" Penfield asked.

Ian's finger slowed for a moment before taking up the original rhythm again. His eyes were stormy.

"A month and a half," Ian mused. "Sounds fishy."

"You've been thinking something along those lines for a while now, haven't you?" Don asked.

"Cornel escaped two weeks after Charlie disappeared and Charlie is a known consultant," Ian muttered. "A leap but not a very far one."

"Weren't you told to leave Charlie's case alone?" Colby asked.

"Yeah, well," Ian shrugged, pointing at Walker. "You're the one who met the guest, right?"

"Through a mostly closed door," Walker grunted.

"But you said he was familiar," Ian pointed out. "And then, that whole thing with the office and the note? It all seems a bit fishy."

"It might just be a coincidence," David mumbled.

Ian gave him a look. David ducked his head as Colby sighed.

"Yeah…Right," Colby mumbled. "Anything else?"

"About the possible egress routes," Penfield stated.

"What?" Ian asked. Don frowned. He had the sudden reminder of the case with the freeway sprees and the sudden clogging and opening of roadways.

"We all know Cornel is hiding out in this neighborhood." He pointed at the area in question on the map, the clear plastic lifted away from it once again. "Well, with that in mind," he flipped a different set of plastic over, "these are all the possible egress routes from the prison to his known associates."

Don leaned to look over the map, frowning at the lines. He didn't understand it much though. Charlie had good analogies. Penfield didn't really use them in his explanations.

"But," Penfield said, lifting a finger. "There's something really interesting about these egress routes."

"Oh?" Ian drawled. "How so?"

"There are two outliers," Penfield said. "Both with high probabilities that they're where Cornel is hanging out at."

"Where, Penfield?" Don asked.

"Either one of these two addresses," Penfield said, pointing to the addresses written on the plastic. Liz leaned over, a note pad and pen in hand.

"We'll run them," she said, passing a sticky to Reynolds.

The new agent took the note and went to type it into a computer while Liz returned to her chair. Don glanced over the map again, noting the relative areas surrounding the little dots.

"These are outliers because, why exactly?" Colby asked.

"Both have far too high of probability of being where he could be," Penfield said. "All the other places are in the low teens."

"And these two are…"

"Mid-nineties."

"Ah," Don nodded, not quite understanding it. "Like that rape case with the nurse who lied about where she was just…reversed."

"Maybe these places are just really safe," Nikki shrugged.

"Except all the other possibilities are for him to leave Los Angeles," Penfield said. "These two are in the heart of the city."

"Not just the heart of the city," Walker said, pointing at one of the dots. "This is the Valero house. Carlos Valero's house."

"The idiot kid?" Ian asked.

"Yeah," Walker mumbled. "The one who wants a certain house guest offed."

Ian hummed, tapping at the photo again.

"Walker and I are going back to talk to Maria Rodriguez again tomorrow," Ian stated. "Maybe you can have some surveillance put on the other house while we deal with that?"

Don nodded. "Yeah. We can try to that."

"The other house belongs to a Jed Cornel, little brother to one Frank Cornel," Reynolds stated.

"There's the explanation," Don groaned. "Though…what've we got on Jed?"

"A lot of suspicions but nothing concrete," Reynolds stated. "According to this, we've been trying to pin something to him but he seems to always slip around us. Always has a fall guy."

"Wonderful," Don groaned. Reynolds tapped away at her computer, ignoring the rest of them. Don almost reached over to yank her from the desk when he got a god look at the image of Jed Cornel.

If Frank Cornel had become a business man and managed to keep his hair, Don suspected that would be what he would have looked like.

"Looks like the Clark Kent double for Superman," Nikki mumbled.

"Yeah, if Superman was a tattooed criminal," Colby muttered.

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