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Libraries had always been a sort of sanctuary from hell for Charlie. While he absolutely loved to spend his time pouring over the complex mathematical problems, theories and essays, he felt uncomfortable being surrounded by a vast amount of literature. English literature, American literature, Asian literature, old literature, new literature, literature this, literature that... He had never been able to master his spelling and grammatical issues and disliked reading books almost as much as he hated not being able to solve the P versus NP problem.
To solve his problem when he was younger, Charlie usually just sat by himself down one of the mathematics aisles or hurried home with his arms full of especially fascinating novels or booklets on specific formulas he was eager to learn. Now that he was an adult, he couldn't just run away or hide. It would be immature, and Don would probably laugh. He could already hear the teasing voice of his brother. 'You still running home from the library? C'mon, Charlie, books don't bite.'
Today was different. He was in a hurry to begin with. Don was expecting him to be apart of a meeting at the FBI. He was supposed to present a couple of theories he had come up with in order to catch a particularly nasty serial killer who was targeting old men and women and newborn children in California. It made him sick to his stomach to think about somebody being able to do something so incredibly hideous to any one person of the human race, let alone over seventy-five in just under eight months. He sighed and walked quickly through the campus library's doors. A sudden flow of air conditioned air blew passed him and he shivered involuntarily.
If he could time himself perfectly, he would be able to get to the meeting on time. He had calculated that he had an average of one hundred and thirty point seventy-eight seconds to find the books he needed, leave the library, and run to his bike. Then he had about twenty minutes, give or take a few seconds, to make his way to Don's office. As long as he didn't hit a snag, he was perfectly certain he could make it on time.
As he scanned up and down the aisles, he mentally calculated how many seconds were left. He pulled a book off one of the middle racks down an aisle and continued to look around frantically as he let his thoughts continue the countdown. One hundred and ten seconds.
"Charlie Eppes?"
He swung around at the sudden, strange voice and found himself face to face with the long, black barrel of a gun. Pale hands clasped the handle of a revolver. Charlie knew it was a revolver because his brother had thought he would be better off knowing more about guns. Now he wished he didn't.
He looked passed the gun and into the face of a young, blond woman. Her hair was tied back from her face. Her eyes were bright blue. She wore a black suit. There was a black leather purse swung over her left shoulder. She looked - normal.
"W-what do you want?" His voice sound choked as the blood drained from his face. He clutched his books closer to his chest.
"Put your hands up in the air."
"But-"
"Nuh-uh. You do what I say, or I blow your head clean off your shoulders."
Charlie hesitantly dropped his books to the floor and slowly raised his hands in the air. He glanced around quickly in an attempt to find a way to escape, or to grab somebody's attention to call for help. No such luck. The aisle was completely empty, and the library was eerily quiet, even for a library.
"Don't even think of yelling." She smirked. "Not that it'd do you any good, though. Go on. Yell."
Charlie opened his mouth as a loud click erupted; the woman had cocked the gun. Charlie closed his mouth. He couldn't yell.
"Too scared, Charles? Yeah, that's what I thought." She licked her lips and raised the gun a little higher. "Like I said: It wouldn't do you any good to yell. Nobody's here. I had a bomb threat called in. Everybody's evacuated. Guess you didn't hear that, right? You were off in your own little world? Gee, too bad."
"What-what do you want?" He sputtered. His heart was racing a mile a minute. A migraine wasn't all that far off.
"A lot of things, Charlie." She snarled. "Be a little more specific, why don't you? I thought geniuses knew it all, huh?"
Charlie looked down at the ground, then back up at the woman in front of him. How could someone so normal be holding a gun to him?
"Come on, Charlie. Don't make me shoot you while I don't have to. Ask me again."
Charlie opened his mouth but couldn't form the right words. 'Aaahh!' was but call away.
"Do it, Charlie. Ask me what I want. Ask me something specific. Don't get all general on me. Not now, not ever."
"Why... why me?" He asked weakly.
"Why you? Good question. Why you, indeed." She licked her lips again. Nervous twitch, thought Charlie. "If you hadn't been born, you wouldn't be here now. If you hadn't been a little genius, you wouldn't be here now. If you hadn't committed a sin, you wouldn't be here now."
"A-a sin? What are you-"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't act dumb. You know exactly."
"No. No I don't. Maybe if we went somewhere else we could talk about it?"
"Nuh-uh. No way. I'm not falling for that. And don't trying anything stupid!" She glared at him. "I'll shoot you. Just try something, and I'll shoot you."
"O-okay." Charlie stood perfectly still and looked her straight in the eye. "So you say I committed a sin."
"Yeah. You're fucking right you did. I could be with him right now if it wasn't for you. He doesn't need you. He needs me."
"Who?"
She waved the gun around for a few seconds and growled angrily.
"I said you don't act dumb with me! If I tell you not to do something, you won't fucking do it, all right!"
"Okay, okay! Just-just calm down. I promise. No more. I promise."
She calmed down slightly and Charlie let his shoulders sink a little lower in relief.
"Right. So. You have him, and I want him. So you're gonna do something for me."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to back the fuck off!"
"Why?" Charlie was lost. He didn't know who or what she was talking about. He couldn't ask, at risk of making her a lot more angry and willing to shoot him in a split second. He wanted very much to be alive.
"He doesn't deserve you. It's a sin, and he needs me!" Charlie realized this was going nowhere. He needed to indirectly fish for information. "Say I let you have him... what then? Will you kill me?"
"No. Not if you keep your fucking mouth shut."
"How will you know if I've told anybody what you did here today?"
"...shut up. I'll know. And nobody would believe you anyway."
"My brother would. He works for the FBI, and he'd listen to me."
"Not if he's with me." She smiled and laughed quietly to herself. "He loves me. He doesn't know it yet, but we're destined to be together. I can just feel it!"
Suddenly everything clicked and Charlie stopped breathing. His brother. Of course.
"How did you know?"
"Do not piss me of, Charlie. I can fucking use this gun. Don't generalize."
"H-how did you know that-that Don and I are-" He searched his brain for an appropriate word, but couldn't find one.
"Fucking? Oh, I've known for a while."
"How long have you known?"
"Since I found-" She pulled one hand off the gun for a second and reached into her purse. When she pulled it back out she had a small journal in her hand. "-this."
Charlie recognized it almost immediately. It was small, brown, and locked with a small silver mechanism. The locking device itself was horribly mangled, probably because the woman was in a hurry to rip it open and had no key. He blushed scarlet and realized his tiny key was in the back pocket of his pants.
He hadn't written in his journal for a few weeks. He thought he had simply misplaced it somewhere in his house. Never once had it occurred to him that somebody might have taken.
"How did you get it?"
"You left the front door unlocked a while ago. Your father was asleep in the couch. Cute old guy, isn't he? Pretty loud when he snores, though."
"It might be a sin, but Don and I... we love each other." Charlie felt tears sting his eyes and he took a shaky breath. "Not matter what you do, Don would never-"
"Shut up. Shut up now before I kill you." She licked her lips again. "Don will love me. Nothing you say or do will stop him from being with me."
"You'd kill me to have him?"
"I would. I'd rather not. Blood's too messy. But I will if you make me."
"I'm not making you do anything."
"Yes-yes you are. Don't lie to me! You made me come here. You made me do this. It's all your fault he's not with me."
"Have you ever spoken to him?"
"O-of course I have. He just hasn't heard me."
"If you let me reach into my pocket, I can pull out my phone. His number's there. Then you could really talk to him."
Charlie was desperate. He needed to stall her for as long as possible; either until he came up with a plan, or until the bomb squad walked in on this little scene.
"N... no. I don't trust you."
"Look, I don't have a gun. I don't have any weapons on me. I'm a math professor, not an FBI agent." He lowered his arms slowly. "I can reach into my right pocket and pull out my cell phone. That's all, and then-"
"No. I'll do it. Come here." She gestured at him with the gun and he swallowed at a lump in his throat. He walked forward slowly and cringed when she reached into the right pocket of his pants and fished around for the phone. She pulled it out and shoved him forcefully against the wall of books behind him. A few loose textbooks fell to the floor.
The woman, unfazed by the loud clatter, stared at the cell phone.
"His number's on speed dial. Number one." He closed his eyes for a few seconds and apologized silently to his brother. I'm sorry, Don.
As she held down the number one on the cell phone and held it up to her ear, the arm holding the gun lowered slightly. Charlie sighed in relief.
There were hurried footsteps in the background. He hoped and prayed she couldn't hear them. She was silent for a couple of minutes.
"This isn't him." She spoke into the phone and smiled. He could hear a raised voice on the other end of the phone. "Oh, he's around."
Charlie took a small step to his right and moved slowly.
"Oh, Don, it's so good to hear your voice. I've missed you."
Again, the same raised voice on the other end. Charlie couldn't make out any words, but he knew it was Don demanding to know who she was.
"I'm Kerri. Don and Kerri. It has a great ring to it, right?"
The raised voice died down. His brother was confused.
Charlie inched further to his right and stopped when Kerri turned to look at him.
"He wants to talk to you." She held out the phone, and brought the gun back up and pointed it at his chest. "Don't say a word about this."
Charlie nodded furiously, and graciously accepted the phone. He held it up to his ear and felt his heart race faster. If only there was a way to tip him off without letting Kerri know.
"Don. H-hi." He said quietly. Kerri moved the gun closer to him and he closed his eyes, concentrating only on the familiar voice.
"Charlie, where are you? What's going on? Who's this 'Kerri' woman? Someone called in a bomb threat at the University, are you still there? I'm right outside of Cal-Sci, Charlie. Just give me a sign if you're in trouble. Let me know what's going on, I'm really worried out here."
Charlie took a deep breath, and reopened his eyes. He smiled.
"It's okay. I'm just getting some books and Kerri wanted to help me out. She's interested in the P versus NP problem. I think I solved it, Don. I think I solved it. All I needed to do was change around a sign. A sign, Don. That's all I needed to do. Just a sign."
"Okay. Listen here, buddy. If you're in trouble, say 'yes' and tell me 'that's great'. If you're okay, tell me dad's at home."
"Yes." Charlie swallowed and laughed nervously. "That's great."
"Are you at the University?"
"Yeah. You have to meet Kerri, Don. She's got quite the personality. She's your single forty-five, Don. Definitely forty-five out of ten."
"Single forty-five... What? Single action forty-five revolver? Charlie, does she have a gun to you?"
"Yeah, I agree. You'll love her."
"Hang up the phone, that's enough." Kerri hissed and pushed the gun into his shirt. Charlie froze.
"Hang tight, Charlie. We'll find you, buddy."
"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you later, Don."
Kerri snatched the phone out of his hand and hung it up.
"You're going to set us up on a date, and then you're going to disappear. Not right away, but in a couple of weeks. Maybe. Yeah." Kerri pulled back the gun and grinned. "Don's gonna fall in love with me, and you won't be able to stop it."
"Okay." Charlie spoke quietly and sadly. He wished Don would hurry.
"Just 'okay'?"
"Yeah. There's nothing I can do. You have a gun, soon you'll have Don, and then I'll have to go away. I won't have anything left." He looked down at the floor. "There's nothing I can do."
"You're damn right." Kerri took a step back. "Now, this is how it's going to work. You're going leave the books here. I'm going to escape through the emergency exit, and you're coming with me."
"But why?"
"I'm sure the bomb squad is here already. They can't find either of us here or they'll arrest us, and I can't have that."
"Just leave me here. I'll leave on my own. They won't see me."
"No. I'm the one with the gun, remember? You're going to do as I say."
"Okay." Hurry up, Don! He cried out inside his mind.
"All right. Good. See, Charlie? You do what I say, and I'm a really nice person." She cocked her head to the side. "Now walk. Keep ahead of me. I still don't trust you."
Charlie glanced sadly at the books on the floor and started walking down the aisle. He felt like he was walking to his execution. He needed to make a plan. He couldn't count solely on Don. Don was good at his job, but Charlie needed him now and he wasn't there.
"You're right about one thing. I'm Don's type. He'll love me." She smiled, and Charlie kept walking to the door in silence. He wanted to yell at her. To tell her that Don was his, and that they were in love. He wanted to scream out that she would never be with him. The gun kept him silent. He shivered.
Once they reached the door, Kerri grabbed his arm.
"Now. We do this fast, okay? As soon as we push this door, the alarm goes off." Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I knew that. I'm not an idiot, Charlie. I'm smarter than you. I've got a gun."
"I never said you weren't smart."
"Shut up. Now listen to me. You open the door, and we run as fast as we can down to the coffee shop on the corner. From there we grab a taxi, and I drop you off at home, no harm done. But if you don't do as I tell you to, and set me up with Don, I'm going to publish your journal for the whole world to read."
Charlie paled.
"That's right. The whole world will know that you and your brother are committing a sin together. You'll both be outcasts. Either way, I get Don in the end." She laughed. "I can be the woman he's with so the media will no longer question his sexuality. You, however," Kerri smirked at him, "will be all alone. See? It all fucking works out."
There were voices somewhere behind him.
"Shit! Open the fucking door!" Kerri hit his back with the gun. "Let's get out of here now!"
"No."
"What do you mean, 'no'? I'll shoot you if I have to!!"
"You aren't leaving this place."
"Move. Now."
Charlie took a step back and leaned against the door.
"You can't have him. You'll never get him. You'll be behind bars for a long time, and by then we'll be long gone. You'll never get us."
"I'll kill you."
"No you won't. The bomb squad? They're a team of highly qualified FBI agents. I know them. They're good people. By now they'll have realized that we're in the Library, and that we might have the bomb in here."
"No. They won't know. Now move. Open that fucking door right now." She tightened her grip on the revolver and held it up a little higher.
Charlie looked over her shoulder and noticed a shadow move across the floor, and a familiar dark vest moved quickly through the aisles in a blur of pale yellow and dark blue. He looked back and clenched his jaw.
In one quick movement Charlie jumped up and knocked Kerri to the floor. A loud bang erupted from the revolver before it flew into the air and clattered to the ground.
"FBI! Nobody move!" Four familiar faces emerged quickly from surrounding shelves, their guns drawn. Don stood up suddenly and rushed over to the two bodies on the floor, followed by Colby, Megan and David. Charlie lay face-down on top of the unconscious woman. Don turned him over and pulled him away to a safer distance from Kerri.
"Charlie, are you with me? C'mon, Charlie, open your eyes." Don tapped his brother's face lightly. Charlie stirred slightly and opened his eyes. "Good. That's good, buddy. Stay with me, okay?"
"M-m'kay..." Charlie winced in pain.
"You hurt somewhere?" Don looked up and down his brother's body until he noticed the blood coming from his side. "Jesus Christ. Megan, get the ambulance back here on the double!!"
"I-is she dead?"
"No." Don placed his hands on both sides of Charlie's face. "You stay with me, okay, Charlie? You're gonna be okay. She's going to prison, and you're going to get better."
"O-okay." Charlie's eyes were half-lidded and drifting shut. "She knew."
"Knew what?"
"'Bout us. My journal." Charlie reached up and grabbed one of Don's arms. "It's in her purse. She knew. She was going to tell everyone."
"Shh. It's okay, Charlie. Don't worry about it. Everything's gonna be okay."
There were shouts at the front of the library, and Megan walked over to them.
"You'll be okay, Charlie. The medics are here and they're going to take good care of you."
"Yeah, and if they don't, they'll have Don to answer to." David smiled and knelt down next to Kerri as Colby placed handcuffs around her wrists. She was still unconscious.
Charlie laughed quietly as winced again.
Don pulled his hands from Charlie's face as the paramedics swarmed around him and lifted him up onto a stretcher. Charlie let his head roll to his side and he watched as David and Colby dragged Kerri up to her feet. He was glad the whole ordeal was over. He was glad Don was here. He was glad that he was still alive.
Don reached out and grabbed hold of Charlie's hand and gave it a gentle, loving squeeze. Charlie smiled as the darkness filled his vision and the world was slowly blotted out.
"Hang on, buddy. You'll be okay. Just hang on."
I will. Charlie thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.
"I love you, Charlie."
I love you too. He thought as he let the darkness claim him, a small smile still on his face. The paramedics started to pull the stretcher away, and Don loosened his grip on his brother's hand. Their fingers slipped apart and Charlie's arm fell to his side.
"We'll be fine."