Chapter 1: Agent Reeves Reporting

"Okay, so long as nothing goes wrong today, the rest of your life will be fine." Megan Reeves was sitting in her car, waiting for her watch to turn seven-thirty. As usual, she was talking to herself because she was nervous. Today was the day that she was to meet the Senior Agent in Charge at the Los Angeles FBI Offices. If everything went smoothly, she would start the next day. Megan checked her watch. Seven-thirty.

A light tapping on her window caught Megan's attention. She looked up and saw a man with dark brown, almost black, extremely curly hair looking at her. She stepped out of her car and looked at her new companion, expecting him to say something.

"Um… I know this is awkward. Me, just coming up to you like this. Are you Megan Reeves?"

"That depends on who's asking."

The stranger extended his hand as he spoke. "I'm Charlie Eppes. My brother sent me down to see if you were here." Megan shook Charlie's hand. He smiled, nervously. "He was getting worried."

Megan found that surprising. "Really? Why?"

"Don said that you were supposed to be here between seven and seven-thirty." Charlie smiled again, but it seemed to Megan that he was more at ease. She easily returned his smiled. Maybe this won't be as bad as you thought it would be, Reeves.

"Uh… do you know where I'm supposed to go?"

"I think to the SAC's office but I don't know where that is. I can find Don for you and I'm sure he'll help."

"Works for me." Charlie started out ahead of Megan. An idea suddenly came to Megan. "Are you an agent along with your brother?"

Charlie laughed and looked over his shoulder. "No. I'm a professor at CalSci. I have helped Don on a couple of his cases, though."

Megan was now walking beside Charlie. She was smiling. Now her suspicions were confirmed. "Aren't you the one who came up with the Eppes Convergence?"

Charlie looked down at his feet, embarrassed that someone that seemed a lot like his older, job obsessed brother, actually noticed who he was. "Yeah." His head shot up. "Wait. Do you know how it works?" He asked hopefully.

"Kind of. Wow. This place is huge." Megan and Charlie had made it inside the FBI building. "Our office was only half this size."

Charlie looked at her, surprised. "Really? Where'd you transfer from?"

"New York, right?" Megan and Charlie turned towards the voice and saw a man that closely resembled Charlie only a few years older. His hair was cut shorter and it was straight. This has to be Don, thought Megan.She had only spoken over the phone to him but she noticed him right away. Back in New York. Don Eppes is the only reason you're here. Don't screw this one up. "Yeah, that's right."

Charlie looked at Megan. "I figured New York would have a big office."

"Nope. Definitely half the size of this."

Don clapped his hands together and said to Charlie, "I'm going to take Megan up to Merric and then brief her on this case we got yesterday."

"Anything I can help with?"

"No, sorry bro. Nothing yet. If we come up with something, I'll let you know."

"Okay. I have to get back to CalSci anyway. Larry wants me to help him practice for the Physics department food fight."

Don looked at Megan and raised his eyebrows. She laughed and shrugged. "College professors having a food fight? Now there's an image."

"Well, Professor Fleinhardt will be waiting for me. It was nice to meet you Agent Reeves."

"You too, Professor Eppes." Charlie nodded a good-bye to his brother and walked out the front doors. "He doesn't know does he?"

"I figured you would tell him when you felt like he should know." Megan nodded. Don grinned. "Just because Charlie's my brother doesn't mean I tell him everything."

"I didn't say it did, nor was I intending to."

Don smiled. "Right."

"Eppes! I didn't say come down and flirt!" Don looked at Megan and rolled his eyes. Megan had to smile. At least her boss had a sense of humor. "I said come down here and get Reeves!"

Megan started to speak as they turned to the man who spoke but was stopped by Don. "Sir, this is Agent Reeves." He indicated Megan.

"Oh. Uh… Sorry Reeves. Eppes, your team needs you upstairs. And take Reeves with you."

Don nodded and headed toward an elevator. He motioned for Megan to follow him.

As the doors to the elevator closed, Megan turned to Don. "Is he always like that?"

Without looking at her, Don replied, "Pretty much."

"This is going to be fun," Megan muttered under her breath.

That caught Don's attention. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Megan was just about to answer when the elevator door opened. She noticed that they were ten floors up. Reeves, just be glad that you're not afraid of heights. Anymore. She stepped out of the elevator ahead of Don but stopped when she realized she had no idea of where she was going. Don pointed to a room where a man was sitting looking through files. To Megan he seemed really bored. As Megan and Don walked through the door, he looked up from his work. Don introduced Megan. "Colby, this is Megan Reeves. Megan, Colby Granger."

Megan said hello in response to the quiet hi she got from Colby Granger. She turned to Don. "You only had one person on your team?"

"No. Terry Lake was here but she went back to her ex-husband. Can't remember where. David's around here somewhere."

As if he had heard his name called, a tall African-American man walked into the conference room, looking flustered. "Don, we have another one."

"What! We had the guy under surveillance!"

"Yeah. Reports say he got away."

"How?"

Megan was getting really confused. "What are you talking about?"

Don sighed. He looked at the new-comer. "David, take us to it. Megan, I'll brief you on the way. Come on Granger." Don followed David out of the room.

Colby got up out of his chair with a groan. "Well, let's get going, Newbie." He followed Don and David out the door.

"Newbie?" You've gotta be kidding me. "Hey! Colby!" She ran after Colby and caught up with him just as he walked into an elevator. "Just so you know, for future reference, I put in five years in New York." She paused to watch this sink in. She continued. "And just for the record Granger, how long have you been here?"

Colby answered Megan somewhat sheepishly. "Six months."

"Ha. I win."

"For now, Reeves." The elevator doors opened and Colby pushed ahead of Megan. God, if I have to put up with another smartass today, I'm gonna flip. Hey, this might be fun. Or at least more amusing than New York.

"Megan! You're with me! Let's go!" Megan smiled ruefully at Colby and headed towards Don's black Chevy Suburban. As she shut the passenger side door, Don asked, "So, what's your first fifteen minute impression?"

Megan glanced at the radio clock. Seven forty-five. Had she really only been there for fifteen minutes? "Do you want me to be completely honest?"

"If it's not about me or Charlie."

Megan laughed. "What exactly do you want my first thoughts on?"

"Granger?"

"A complete smartass."

"Merric?"

"Completely unaware of anything that goes on in his office and the agents that he commands." She looked at Don to see his reaction.

As he turned left to follow David and Colby, he said, "That's true. Funny enough." As they stopped at a red light, Don sighed. "This case that we got yesterday is taking a few turns that we don't like. It started with a fire at an SUV dealership at six in the morning. Then we got another one the same day at ten. A third one appeared. The thing is, no one can tell what time the third one started. Parts of the building that were burnt, were either really cold or really hot."

"Well, couldn't there have been two fires there?" Don considered this as Megan continued.

"Were there any other calls earlier in the week of fires in the same place?"

"Yeah. Come to think of it, there was." Don's cell phone rang. "Eppes.--- What? How?--- Yeah." Don flipped his phone closed. "Dammit."

"What's up?"

"David and Colby got to the scene."

"And?"

"And it's a fake. There's nothing there."

"What?" Megan sat up straighter in her seat as they turned into a parking lot of an apartment complex. As they stepped out, David and Colby came up to them.

David spoke first. "Don, there is nothing here. We talked to the people who live on the floor where the fire was supossed to be."

As the four FBI agents talked about why someone would say that there was a fire when there really wasn't, someone, nearby and close to the past of one of the group, was watching them.