Chapter 1: Cool observations
The early morning briefing was due to start, it was clearly important as Abbott had insisted everyone attend. Cho was seated across the aisle from Jane, who had left the end seat vacant for Lisbon. Cho's eyes narrowed as he saw the consultant look anxiously toward the door, it was unlike Lisbon to be late and it didn't take much guessing as to the reason for that. It wasn't Cho's place to interfere but he felt a twinge of annoyance at the pickle Jane and Lisbon had gotten themselves into.
It was perfectly understandable to Cho that Lisbon would want to prove herself a good agent in her own right. There had been a whispering campaign, initiated by Fischer, questioning Lisbon's relationship with Jane. Other agents were unhappy that Lisbon hadn't been through Quantico, but Cho staunchly defended her whenever the situation arose citing her previous record as proof of her competency.
Given the circumstances, Cho found it incomprehensible that she would risk undermining all that hard work, with her recent shenanigans. It was patently obvious that Jane had been trying to break the ice in the weeks leading up to the art fraud case, but Jane was taking his own sweet time as usual.
Then a cloud appeared on the horizon in the form of Agent Pike, a straightforward and available man, who had set his sights on Lisbon. Naturally flattered by the attention Lisbon had enjoyed a few dates. Cho had no doubt the intention was to try and galvanise Jane into action, but it looked like Pike was getting serious. Cho couldn't blame Lisbon, though for once his sympathies lay with the consultant, who wasn't anywhere near as good at hiding his feelings as he supposed.
Jane visibly relaxed as Lisbon hurriedly made her way in, and shuffled back over to leave the seat by the aisle free for her. Clearly rattled by her late arrival, Lisbon pointedly ignored Jane and squeezed passed Cho to sit by him. The consultant's disappointment was palpable; the slight had not gone unnoticed. A brief look of annoyance flitted over Jane's face before he set the mask back in place.
Lisbon whispered a hurried good morning to Cho before scanning the briefing papers they had been given. The unmistakably masculine scent of sandalwood and bergamot emanated from Lisbon's freshly washed, and slightly damp hair. The ends curled slightly, as she clearly hadn't had time to complete her normal routine. The top was fresh, but that looked like the same pant suit Lisbon had been wearing yesterday. Cho realised he had been working with Jane too long now, as he routinely utilised all his senses to process information, and it didn't take much working out the reason for Lisbon's tardiness.
Cho's ears caught the sound of a chair scrapping on the floor, and he saw Jane stand up and stretch his legs, before making his way to the back of the room, from where he could observe proceedings. A flash of concern crossed Lisbon's face as she saw Jane walk away, unsure whether he was going to leave the room completely. She settled down once she saw him assume his new position, but bristled with irritation at his inability to conform like everyone else. In truth, most things Jane did these days annoyed her.
Abbott breezed in with Fischer in his wake and launched straight into the briefing. "Alrighty is everyone here?" He glanced quickly round the room, frowning slightly at Jane's detached stance from the main group. "The Yellowrose Oil Corporation has received a threat today, which they have passed on to us. As you know there are cranks out there issuing threats all the time, but this threat seems to have more substance."
Fischer stepped forward on Abbott's prompt. "The message received is typically grandiose and veiled in allegory. No doubt the product of an overactive imagination. It's in your briefing to read in full, but it refers to the mother lode of the Permian Basin, and is signed the Sons of Adrestia."
Some amusement broke out at the absurd rhetoric, but Abbott raised his hand to still the assembled agents. "I wish this were a laughing matter. Unfortunately I have to inform you that explosive devices have been found at strategic locations around the oil distribution network. Nothing that would do any real damage, but the fact they know exactly where to place the devices is worrying."
Abbott turned to the rather anaemic looking agent. "Wylie I believe you've got some photographs of the locations for us." Wylie tried to interrupt, but Abbott silenced him with an impatient glare. Wylie just raised his eyebrows resignedly, and proceeded to put up the images on the screen behind the Supervisory Agent. Abbott looked critically at the images. "Is this the best we've got – can't you zoom in on this?" Wylie hesitantly came forward. "I was trying to tell you Sir, we don't have any satellite imagery yet, and I've had to rely on Google Earth."
Abbott inhaled deeply, clearly less than impressed. "Ok let's work with what we've got for now. The main pipelines are buried underground, but the pump stations and other components are above ground. These are obviously more vulnerable to attack but are considerably easier to keep secure, once you're aware there is a threat. The initial devices were all located at the above ground outlets."
Abbott turned to Fischer to take over. "There are pipelines all over Texas, but judging by the reference to the Permian Basin and the location of the initial attacks, we are going to concentrate our efforts around the city of Midland, where the pipelines converge as they make their way to the Gulf refineries."
A map of the pipelines appeared on the screen behind her to reinforce her point.
Making up for her late appearance, Lisbon had been reading the briefing notes avidly and interrupted with a quick question. "Who has access to these pipeline maps apart from the authorities?"
"Good question Agent Lisbon." Fischer acknowledged. "General maps are available to anyone on the internet using the NPMS National Pipeline Mapping System. Although the pipes are buried in this area, above ground markers are mandatory to provide an indication of their approximate location, the product carried, and the name and contact information of the company that operates the pipeline."
"So we basically leave directions for the terrorists to help them? You couldn't make it up." Jane snarked from his hiding place at the back of the room.
"There are health and safety issues at stake, on balance it's more important that people know that there are pipelines present, to eliminate accidental damage." Fischer coolly replied.
Abbott showed some signs of impatience, and tried to move things along. "At the last count there were over 17,000 miles of crude oil trunk lines in Texas alone, they are typically 8 to 24 inches in diameter. Pipelines cross under rivers, bridges, highways, farmland and public spaces and may be close to homes and businesses. They inevitably cross private land, which is harder to monitor apart from aerial surveillance."
"So you're saying they could attack almost anywhere, and we have as much chance of stopping them as finding a needle in a haystack?" Although Jane was following the case, he wasn't bothering to hide his ill humour.
Cho's eyes widened slightly, expecting Abbott to bite back. He could feel Lisbon stiffen slightly beside him, neither of them had much doubt as to the reason for Jane's bad temper. Abbott's lips pursed briefly, as he considered his response. "I think you've put that very succinctly. Even if we were to send drones flying all round Texas monitoring the situation, it would be highly unlikely we could prevent an attack by surveillance alone."
Fischer stepped back into the fray."Naturally we will be stepping up security, it may make people think twice about where they target, and there would be a public outcry if it appeared nothing was being done."
Abbott honed in on the disgruntled consultant on the opposite side of the room. "No one has heard of the Sons of Adrestia before, they're not on any of our databases. Possibly they are a splinter group, but we can't tell what their motives are yet. Any ideas Jane?"
Jane walked down the side of the room as he approached Abbott, all eyes bar Lisbon's followed him as he spoke. "Well you have the obvious motive of terrorism, where the aim is to cause wide scale disruption. If you're lucky it's eco terrorists just trying to make a point, they may want to cause some disruption, but it would go against all they stand for to precipitate any action that would damage the environment."
"We've got the techs monitoring the internet traffic to pick up any chatter that would indicate an organised attack, but they've found nothing yet." Abbott responded.
Jane paused briefly, processing that information. "The references to mother lode and sons are interesting. It makes me wonder if there is a more personal element to this. If I'm not mistaken Adrestia was 'she who cannot be escaped', a goddess of revenge and retribution. I'm inclined to suspect this is a lone wolf with a grievance against some person or organisation."
Instinctively Lisbon jumped in at this point. "You mean someone connected with Yellowrose?" Their eyes locked across the room briefly, Jane's ice cool glare was too much for Lisbon to outlast, and she averted her eyes before he answered.
"Indeed Agent Lisbon, that would be an excellent starting point." Turning his attention back to Abbott, before their exchange drew further attention, Jane proceeded calmly. "Perhaps we could start with finding out more about the company - establish their financial stability, get a roster of recent employees, and the accident register to see if there are any claims pending or ones that have recently been dismissed. I need to see a few of these sites for myself, there's only so much you can learn from a photograph."
Abbott nodded in agreement. "Take Lisbon and Cho with you. Fischer and Wylie can make a start on collating data. You all know the drill on something this high profile; Schultz is going to be breathing down my neck, so time is of the essence."
They made their way back to the office, Lisbon and Jane still pointedly avoided each other. Cho could think of better ways of spending the day than being the meat in this particular sandwich, better make sure he had plenty to read on the way. Cho's head turned as he heard Jane mutter something under his breath. The elevator doors closed, and Agent Pike made his way across the floor towards Lisbon. Jane jumped up to greet him "Agent Pike, good to see you. What brings you to our humble abode, an update on the art case perhaps?"
Pike paused, slightly nonplussed by Jane's act of innocence. "I came to see Tere...Agent Lisbon actually."
Cho could see Lisbon tense up at the encounter, Jane was playing with fire.
"Well who could blame you for that? Actually you're just in time; we're just about to set off on a case, so I'll leave you while we make the final arrangements." Jane kept up his act of outward charm, though Cho and Lisbon both detected the undertones.
Once his back was turned to Jane, Pike raised his eyebrows questioningly and motioned in Jane's direction. Lisbon bit down on her lip and tried to keep her cool. Jane was now apparently engrossed in some documents at the table with Cho. "Marcus what are you doing here? I'm on a case." She hissed.
Taking a quick look over his shoulder, Pike moved over to Lisbon and proprietarily placed his hand on her shoulder. Cho observed proceedings from afar; the slight pullback from Lisbon did not go unnoticed. The edges of his lips quirked up briefly before settling back into a frown as Pike continued to pursue his quarry.
Jane had always been very tactile with Lisbon, continually invading her personal space and letting his hand trail down her back, but that always seemed quite organic, not staged for effect. It was noticeable that of late Jane maintained a respectable distance between them, and if their hands should inadvertently touch, there was a flurry of embarrassment between them. It was painful to watch at times.
With some satisfaction Cho noted Lisbon shaking her head, and Pike retreating to the elevator, obviously less than pleased by the outcome. Jane cleared his throat. "Earth to Cho." Cho quickly engaged back with the matter in hand. Jane indulged in a brief smile, the enigmatic agent had been surprisingly easy to read. It was little solace to know Jane wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the situation.
Jane looked up as Lisbon approached."We can catch up on the plans on the way, I'll just get some drinks together, and then we can meet up at your car in ten minutes."
Lisbon's hesitation gave her away. "I thought we could go in the Silver Bucket; we have a long drive ahead of us, and it might be more comfortable."
"But you hate my driving." Jane guessed she'd had a lift in this morning, and was embarrassed to admit she had no car.
"Well you're always on about how good that tin can is, besides I want to catch up some background information on the journey." Good save Jane conceded, he wouldn't call Lisbon out on the deception. It was going to be a tense enough journey without starting out on a bad note.
Cho went to wash up his cup before they left, and Fischer sidled alongside him. "Rather you than me." She smirked, as she looked over to the erstwhile friends. Unwilling to show any disloyalty, Cho ignored the inference and brusquely requested they pass on any information as soon as it came in.
Though tidy by nature, Jane wasn't expecting to be using his vehicle, and he went ahead to keep a few of the personal mementos he retained to personalise his de facto home. Lisbon caught him unawares as he picked up some photographs and went to keep them in a drawer. There was rawness to him that pierced through her cold shell, a glimpse of the man she had first encountered. They held each other's looks briefly in a searching exchange, until Cho's arrival interrupted their thoughts.
Jane cleared the last of his belongings, transforming the Airstream to a functional workspace. Lisbon sat quietly in the front seat, feeling guilty that she had invaded his inner sanctum, by insisting on him driving. She chewed her bottom lip, wondering if she should relinquish her chair and swap places with Cho. It was too late for that, Cho had already spread his things out on the side table and had picked up some reading matter.
Jane politely enquired if Lisbon was ok, before setting off on the long drive to the Permian Basin. Five hours on the road wasn't fun at the best of times, but it was going to be purgatory in the current atmosphere. Cho looked up from time to time, observing how Jane and Lisbon had angled their bodies away from each other, just sneaking the occasional wary looks at each other. A psychologist would have a field day with this. Cho pressed his lips together in annoyance, one of them was going to have to break the silence at some stage, it would be a recipe for disaster going out into the field like this.