Acceptable Risk – Chapter 9
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"Did you find the bomb, Tomas?" Emily glared at her team.
Nodding his head, he pointed at the black box, "It's not really discreet, if you ask me." He shrugged within his bomb gear as he removed his mask.
"I didn't, Tomas." Emily said. "Do you know who is responsible?"
"It's most likely the Arabs…same people that were at Mei-Lin's place." He said.
"Arabs? What the hell are they looking for?" Emily demanded.
"I think I can help, Emily." Mei-Lin stepped up timidly. She was holding her laptop up and peeking from it. "This."
"What's this?"
"It's a laptop." Tomas said sagely as he looked at it skeptically, as if it was contagious.
Emily rolled her eyes, "Thanks genius. I can see it's a laptop. But what's in it and why, Mei-Lin? Are you hiding something?"
The young lady shrugged and looked at those around her, not trusting them.
Pulling Emily aside, she found a quiet spot no one was about, "Okay kiddo, spill."
Hotch and Reid watched them talk as they looked about the house while the bomb squad continued to sweep the area and the neighbourhood.
The two cats were in their cages meowing angrily, they did not like being confined.
"Did you know she had the house swept for bomb?" Reid asked Hotch.
He nodded, "I didn't know they had placed sensors…I didn't know they had bomb sensors for that matter…until now."
"Yeah…high tech stuff. Wish I can get my hands on some of this stuff and place them around my apartment." Reid muttered nervously as he shivered.
Hotch frowned at him, "Relax Reid, your apartment is safe. Those old ladies are harmless." He teased him, speaking of his neighbors.
Reid nodded, "I don't know if I can get comfortable again."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. But there's a squad of security out here for the rest of the night and every night while we're here and until the case is over." One of the bomb squad who had overheard them said.
"Well," They turned when Emily came over. "It's a bigger problem then what we think." She looked at them. "The books Reid's been going over, the Iraqis had gotten wind of it…and as well as the Syrians."
"Oh great, we've gone global." Hotch shook his head.
"That's an understatement, Hotch. MI-6 wants a word with me in the morning and they also want to know why the US FBI is doing here and has his finger in the cookie jar while they are not." She sighed.
Arching his brow, Hotch grinned, "Oh, do I detect a touch of jealousy in the Crown's Intel agency?"
She chuckled, "We've definitely stirred their ire." She yawned and turned to look at her team, "I'll like to get back in and get a few more hours' shut eye."
"Me too." Reid said as she stood closely next to Mei-Lin who looked miserable.
Emily turned to him, "Oh, if anyone asks, say nothing of what you're doing here...except that you're doing the tourist thingy."
Hotch and Reid nodded.
"And Reid, you're helping Mei-Lin with her IQ exams or something like that…MENSA and all that crap." She waved her hands about.
Reid raised his brows high but didn't utter another word.
Tomas came over, helmet in his hand, "All clear boss. You may return to your bedchambers." He looked at them and nodded. "We'll continue to keep a watch on you till the night crew comes over."
Emily nodded, "Thank you, Tomas…how's Josie?"
The man beamed at the mention of his beloved and pregnant wife, "Oh, that woman…she's a sweetheart. She thanks you for the picture of Thelonious." He chuckled. "She's getting large and so…beautiful." He shook his head, his voice full of love for his wife who was expecting his first child.
Emily smiled, "Any day, Tomas, any day. Sorry about the all-nighter."
He shook his head and waved his hand, "No problem, ma'am. The wife knows me job is a 24hr one." He shrugged. "So long the money is good and she gets the pretty dresses, that's all it matters." He nodded at her again and walked away to join the rest of his team.
Hotch came to stand beside her, "They are quite dedicated to you." He watched after the team.
Emily nodded as they began to move back towards the house.
Mei-Lin came to Emily, "Are you sure it's safe to go back?" She asked nervously.
"Oh yeah…the guys swept the place and they will continue to keep it monitored. Don't worry, Mei-Mei. Let's get some sleep." She placed an assuring hand on the young lady's shoulder as they walked on.
As they entered their bedrooms, Hotch pulled Emily aside and whispered, "We're not done yet."
She looked at him, "We're not?"
He shook his head and grinned, "You know that, Emily."
She smiled shyly and nodded, "Yeah, I know." She then lean forward and kissed him quickly, "Good night Hotch." And entered her room and closed it.
Shaking his head, "Minx." He smiled and went into his room happily.
….
The next morning, Emily was at Vauxhall Cross; the headquarters of MI-6. The section chief was Sir Fillion Gallows, a third generation successor in his family.
"Officer Prentiss, how do you do?" He said stiffly, his mustache never moved when he spoke.
"I'm fine, Sir Gallows, and it's Supervisory Special Agent Prentiss. I was allowed to maintain my FBI title."
He blinked surprisingly.
Emily grinned, pleased that she got him with his 'pants down'.
"Er…yes…Agent Prentiss. Er, the reason you're here is that…er…" He blinked even more.
Emily saw that it was his nervous trait. His assistant stood up and spoke, "You did not reveal to us your findings of the crates from Syria."
Emily turned to stare at him, making him cringed, "The crates were not from Syria…however you obtained your information. It was from…." She turned back to the section chief and smiled, "Actually we're not quite sure of it ourselves. So we're having it analyzed. Surely it's within our jurisdiction?"
The two men exchanged looks, "Well…yes, it is…technically. Are you sure it's not Syrian?"
She shook her head, "No, I can read Arabic perfectly."
They frowned at her and nodded finally. "I see." Gallows owed.
"Now, if you don't mind, I have things to do and guests to see to." She was about to leave when the chief spoke up again.
"The FBI… guests, they are from the BAU department?"
She nodded, "I was formerly in the team, Sir Gallows. They're paying me a visit as well as aiding me with an equipment."
"The SEIS?" His assistant blurted out, looking nervously.
Emily whipped her head to him, "What are you talking about?"
He stood up, "Your team member, Wong Mei-Lin, she was working on one of her late father's projects, the SEIS; it's a nuclear disarmament device. It can disarm and armed a nuclear device remotely."
"But isn't it a common device, it's invented." Emily shrugged.
"Well, it is." The assistant said and he gulped nervously as he continued. "But this device did not need any pass codes…so the president's codes will be obsolete…quite nifty."
Gallows turned to stare at him in disbelief, "Nifty, Harold?"
He shrugged, "I can't think of anything else to say, Sir Gallows. It was a brilliant invention."
Emily frowned at the man, "Who are you?"
He turned to her, "I'm Harold Brown, nephew to the secretary of Foreign Ministry, Agent Prentiss." He extended his hand out.
She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Harold." She looked up at the chief, "If there's nothing else? I have to get back to work."
He nodded, "Of course, just if you will, have a little courtesy…anything that's international and foreign, give us a heads up. I'll be much obliged."
She nodded, "I will, Sir Gallows. Good day to you."
He nodded and Emily left in a hurry.
As soon as she left the building, she called Mei-Lin, "Hey kid…who's this Harold Brown? How well do you know him?"
"Harold Brown?" Mei-Lin repeated. "Oh my god…Emily…I'll explain when you get back, phone's not safe!" She then hung up right away.
Emily glared at her phone and frowned as she headed to her car.
"Agent Emily Prentiss!"
She turned around and saw him.
"Hey it's you!" She smiled at him but faltered when she saw that he was not. "I take it this is not a social meeting?"
It was her five-times-turned-down-date, the agent from MI-5.
Uh oh…this was no coincidence… "Lucas? That's going on?"
"Take a walk with me," he pointed to a nearby park across the MI-6 building. "It's a nice day."
She knew she did not have a choice; so far her day had been a strange one and it was getting stranger as she joined the MI-5 agent.
She waited until they were on the cobbled stones of the park, "What's going on, Lucas? Are we being followed?"
He smiled a little, "I'm glad you're in this business already and I don't have to explain much to you and yes, we're being followed." He took her hand and looped it into his elbow.
She grinned as she played along, giving whoever was following them something to wonder as she lay her head on his shoulder. Lucas smiled.
"Ah! You're so obliging, why haven't we gotten together before?" He said softly as he patted her hand on his elbow.
"Because we've been busy, remember you turned me down five times?"
"Oh yeah, I'm such a bloody fool. My apologies."
She chuckled. "So, what's going on?"
"The crates you found, we know about it." He said directly.
"Hmm, it seems the secret is out suddenly…I wonder who snitch?"
"It's hard to keep secrets out here but we're not really interested in it because it doesn't concern us…yet."
"Al Qaeda." She revealed.
"As I said, not our business…yet. But out of curiosity, any threat to the Crown?"
"Yes and no…it listed sleeper cells here which we've discovered a few and a few more in the US."
"So, that's why your friends from the FBI are here to lend a hand?"
"I …I have to get back, Lucas." She said as she stirred them back to her car.
He held her hand longer, restraining her.
"So…the FBI?"
She arched her brows, "You've been busy."
He grinned, "It's our business to know everything around here."
"They're here to help, Lucas, I can assure you." She frowned at him. "Please trust me."
"I know, Emily. But I'm under orders to find out what they're doing here."
"They're here as guests…you could have called and asked, I'll be more than glad to tell you."
"I'm sorry, Emily…I should have trusted you but as it is we must tread carefully…US and British relationship are on shaky grounds."
She nodded, "Yeah, tell me about it and we're but a bunch of pawns on a giant chess set."
He stared at her for a moment before nodding in agreement.
They arrived at her car.
She was about to open the driver's door when he held his hand out and he bent down and looked underneath and saw something and pulled it out.
He gave it to her; it was a GPS box. "Yours?"
Emily frowned, "That wasn't there before."
Lucas nodded, "This looks like Harold Brown's handiwork, he's a double spy or suspected double spy; we haven't proven anything so far and needed some hard evidence."
"Do you need some help?" She looked at him and then at the device.
He grinned, "What do you have in mind?"
"Oh…plenty but we could have some fun with Mr. Brown and his little box."
He arched an eye brow at her, "All right. I'm game."
"Take this for a long ride…very long ride." She grinned.
He chuckled, "Sounds fun enough. And as I have a few out of town errands and a few of my colleagues as well, we will oblige this…fun and game for you."
She leaned in and pecked his cheek, "Thanks pal. You're too good."
He grinned widely at her gesture. "You owe me big, Agent Prentiss."
She stared at him, "Name it and I'll deliver your favorite bottle of wine…or beer." She laughed as she hopped into her car and started it.
Lucas shook his head as he watched her leave, waving to her, "If I had known she's so much fun…" He shook his head as his cell phone buzzed… "North…"
…..
End of Chapter 9
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A/N : I know! those of you who knows me knows I'm a big Richard Armitage fan as well, so i couldn't resist including him in here! don't spank me!
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