Chapter 2

"Mohannad?" she said walking through the room, in her voice a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Salam alequm, Emily" said the arab man walking toward her, his dark eyes shining. He was a tall charming man, approximately 60 years old, wearing a gray tailored suite.

"Alequm salam" she replied automatically, still not understanding what to expect by that situation.

"I believe you already know Mr. Hassan, agent Prentiss" Strauss intervened to explain the situation, "He requested assistance in a delicate case in which your knowledge of Arabic language could be of great help".

"Sit down Emily" he kindly pointed a chair.

Mohannad Hassan was a member of the Lebanese Embassy in the USA. A brilliant man of fine intelligence and great diplomatic capacity both highly necessary qualities for his job. He and Emily met when she was living with her mom in the Middle East. Emily was a stubborn and angry young woman, whose priority was to disappoint her mother and to rebel against everything she was imposed to do. To her the Middle East looked like a chaotic ant-hill, always crowded, noisy, eventful. People didn't talk, they shouted waving frantically, that language so harsh so different so aggressive to her ears. The cities were pulsing traffic jams overflowing with cars and people, the streets clots of chaos where laws, rules, signals and traffic lights were reinterpreted according to the necessity of the driver. The air was constantly impregnated with aromas and spices she had never smelt before. She decided she hated that place. One day she met Mohannad, who at that time was working with her mother. He patiently opened a breach in her shield of stubborn rage and introduced her to a new world. She could still remember the first thing he told when he took her to the shuk the market, the vibrant heart of the city, "I am not going to tell you what I think of the Middle East, I just suggest you to learn as much as you can and then to shape your own opinion, not just in this case, but in every circumstance of your life". She followed his advice, she studied Arabic, talked to people, traveled to different Middle Eastern countries, she learnt to appreciate and respect the cultural differences. She learnt to go beyond the first impression, to scratch the surface in order to find the truth and she dug tirelessly. This attitude made her the woman now sitting in front of her old friend.

He drummed his fingers on the table and cleared his voice "A week ago a minor radio station in Washington DC received a phone call, saying that there was a bomb in a nearby public high school. The bomb squad found an unexploded device and a letter written in Arabic, declaring the next bombs would explode, in the name of Allah. The telephone a disposable cell phone, the voice altered and the audio too compromised to get something out of it. The anti-terrorism is dealing with the case, they have been following a lead since a while. But the detective who intervened on the scene decided to play Rambo and to find the terrorist by himself, he fueled a wave of fear and panic and when an anti-Arab demonstration was organized the Arab community concerned by this situation contacted me. In the end the police brought in a suspect, his name is Saed Hassam, 29, he studies international cooperation, impressive grades, awards and fellowships, born and raised here, his parents are from Lebanon. They are keeping him on the basis of a diary full of letters, they suspect it's a sort of code.." he raised his eyes to the sky.

"Do you believe they are wrong?" asked Emily

"What I can say is that Saed is a pacifist, he believes in dialogue and communication, he refuses any form of violence."

Emily took a moment to gather her ideas and answer, her tongue running on her upper lips "Mohannad, you are asking the BAU to step into an ongoing investigation on a suspect terrorist, when we have not been invited, the local police and anti-terrorism are already working, and the suspect is a friend of yours, besides if the detective doesn't accept the authority of the anti-terrorism how will he accept the BAU's support?" asked Emily

"He accepted in letting you talk to the suspect, view the letter and the diaries and give a profile, how much he's going to consider your opinion it depends on how convincing you are" Mohannad answered crossing his hands under his chin.

Suddenly Emily stiffened "Hold on Mohannad, wait a second." She forced herself to breathe and count mentally up to ten "You already told him the BAU was going to give a profile?" Her patience wearing off "Mohannad we have a procedure to follow, we evaluate together the case and then all the team decides whether or not to work on it. You cannot drag me here in secret and oblige me to put the team on this case" she couldn't understand how such a reasonable man could just decide to act above the law and throw her in this hornets nest.

"Not all the team Emily, only you." Intervened Strauss at her shoulders

At that point she understood. They were making a scapegoat of her. She slowly turned to Strauss, trying to remember how did she get in that situation, the grotesque downward spiral of a kafkian character, "Right, so you receive pressures to intervene in a possibly compromising case, you cannot refuse, so you minimize the loss. You put only one agent on this job so if something goes wrong and some heads have to roll you won't loose all the team, just me." Her tone was scarily calm, they were throwing her in the lions cage and they didn't even have the decency to tell her in the face.

"I can see that the years didn't change your attitude" Mohannad commented with a bitter smile on his face "I just want you to know that I am aware of how delicate and complicated is the situation and I am sorry to put you through all this"

"Well apparently nobody likes the situation here, but it's my career on the plate not yours" Emily stood up from her chair walking toward the room, she exchanged a silent death glare with Strauss, she knew the woman had her hands tied and was trying to contain the consequences of a political accident, but nonetheless she couldn't help hating the guts out of her.

"And I suppose I am not authorized to speak about this case with anybody of the team.." she sarcastically commented while fumigating.

"I believe it is not a good idea, you well know the solidarity your team is capable of and you don't want to put their career in danger, do you?" said Strauss, her voice again inexpressive.

The great damn cherry on the top of the pie: assigned to a career-wise suicidal mission and obliged to the vow of silence with her team, with her friends, with Morgan. The only choice she had was to work this case in the most cautious way possible and hope for the better.

While walking down the isle to her desk her colleagues looked worried at her furious and frustrated expression. Reid could talk to Saed, analyze his body language, detect signs of stress, Rossi and Hotchner would smooth the relationship with the local police, Garcia could do miracles with the phone call, clean the voice tracks and check for match with Saed's voice. I would go with Derek to the Saed's apartment to his neighborhood and to the school where the bomb was found. We would reconstruct his life, we're terrific when we work together. And he would give me advices and calm me down. Instead he is staring at me concerned, his look darker and darker, and I can't give him a damn explanation. Those thought were rumbling in her mind when Hotchner approached her "Prentiss, we've got a case in Kansas, wheels up in thirty you will be briefed on the plane"

She just had the time to open her mouth that Strauss' voice anticipated her "Agent Hotchner a word in private please" then she gave a look at Prentiss dismissing her as if she was an obedient puppy following the voice of the master…

Mohannad reached her, "Don't be upset Emily Yaum hassal, yaum bassal, one day honey one day onion!" he said with the tone of who always win eventually. He and left her at her desk with Reid and Garcia getting closer to be briefed, Morgan didn't move from his chair, she could feel his gaze on her, scrutinizing her expression, her moves, he would know immediately there was something wrong, she simply couldn't fool him. After few minutes spent in dodging her friends' questions she lifted her eyes and noticed Derek's chair was empty. She reached him in the parking lot, he was silent, his jaw contracted, not a good sign. He patted him on his shoulder and he turned, those eyes so painfully sincere, his face so honest, asking for the simplest thing: an explanation.

"They want me to work on a case, alone. I cannot tell you more" she said aware of how much he would have worried.

"And who's the guy talking Arabic to you?" he said trying to control his temper.

"Mohannad Hassan, he used to work for my mother" she limited to say, she didn't feel like using the word 'friend' anymore. He could have contacted her directly, he could have warned her, he had known her for so many years. She was feeling so hurt and left alone to face an unwanted problem, the words came out before she could control them "I know you are upset and worried and full of doubts and my terrible character doesn't help, but don't give up on us, please" She desperately needed to know that at least one thing in her life wasn't crumbling, that despite all the ups and downs they had lately, he still felt for her the way she felt about him, her steady point, her balance. It was actually the first time she was asking him to stay and try. It was the first time she was admitting she was willing to take the risk.

He went on looking straight ahead away from her, his expression hard, his fists clenched, finally he talked "The jet is leaving in a few minutes, I have to go". He didn't look back when he entered the elevator.

I hope you didn't get bored with this chapter. Not much action I know, but I had to built the story somehow..

Review are warmly accepted :) thank you!