The Face of Love: Chapter Twelve
There's a natural law of karma that vindictive people, who go out of their way to hurt others, will end up broke and alone.
-Sylvester Stallone
The two Escalades drove around the industrial area of Stateline, Lake Tahoe, making several turns to avert attention from local authorities. It wasn't like they hadn't done this kind of business before, but they were in an unfamiliar area on American soil, so they were being extremely careful. Oisin O'Sullivan oversaw this transaction, and he knew very well it was one of the biggest ones they yet had attempted in the USA…over 25 million dollars' worth of merchandise including weapons, drugs and missiles. They had to be extremely careful with this operation since one small mistake could put everything in jeopardy, not to mention that the men handling this transaction were among Doyle's best and most trusted men.
"This is simple, men, we go in to deliver this merchandise, collect our money and we're gone." Liam said. Liam had been working with Doyle for over ten years and was his right-hand man.
"Aye," said Oisin, looking back at the vehicle behind them. "The boat is already there; we just pick up what is ours and we leave," His Irish accent accenting each of his words.
"I still don't understand why Ian didn't come with us to this exchange...it's one of our biggest hits yet." Said Oisin annoyed.
"Relax, caraid," Liam stated, using the term for friend. "He is in a mhí na meala." Oisin laughed as he pulled out a cigarette from his coat pocket.
"Honeymoon?" Oisin laughed sarcastically. "That nasty bitch doesn't deserve anything he's doing for her."
"Maybe not, but she's the one that keeps him happy at night." Both men started laughing, just as Liam pulled into a big building…as soon as both cars were in the warehouse, the door closed.
When they got out of the truck there were several men already waiting for them; Liam turned to face Oisin as he scanned around the warehouse where the transaction was taking place.
"Táim ag dul timpeall a dhéanamh cinnte nach bhfuil aon iontas ann." Liam told his partner whispering in his ear. (I am going to go look around to make sure there aren't any surprises.)
"Aye," Oisin replied dropping the cigarette he had been smoking. He walked over to where the group of Arabic men were waiting for them.
"The boat is outside, everything is there." Oisin informed them. One of the men translated from English to Arabic for an older-looking man who seemed to be their leader.
The older man nodded and pointed toward a pile of wooden boxes stacked in the corner against the wall; he said something in rapid Arabic, then looked back at Oisin.
"Your money is there." The younger Arabic man told him.
"Is everything there?" Oisin inquired with a glare on his face.
"Nem ya sayidi biaism allah." The Arabic man vowed in the name if Allah.
" Hey Finn, Callum..." Oisin called to a few of the men with whom they had arrived "…Seiceáil na boscaí." (Check the boxes.)
The men did as Oisin told them, at the same time Liam was walking back into the warehouse.
"Everything is clean...is the money ready?"
"Aye," responded one of the men, and they started loading the boxes into a trailer.
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Liam said to the Arabic men; the one who seemed to be the leader just smiled evilly.
"Likewise," he said and turned to the left, making Liam and everyone else turn, as well, to find out what was happening. Before they could react, the Arabic men began firing at them…Liam ran, trying to shield himself from the fire.
Liam wasn't sure who had started firing, but suddenly, at least ten more men had shown up, and the Irish men didn't have time to process or say anything else. Liam was able to get away, but everyone else was trapped inside the warehouse. He ran between the boats around the warehouse and managed to hide long enough to make a phone call.
"Doyle, it was a trap...we are pinned down." Liam said in rapid French just in case they were being tracked on their phones.
"What!?" Doyle exclaimed standing up from the table where he was having tea with Emily. "What happened, Liam?"
"They played us, Ian…everyone is down…even Oisin."
"Goddamit, I knew it was too good to be true!" Doyle barked as he slammed the phone across the wall breaking it in pieces.
Emily, who had been siting in a chair across from Doyle carefully listening to their conversation, turned to look at Doyle pretending to be interested in his business.
"Ce qui se passé, Ian?" She stood up and came to place her hand on his shoulder making him think she was worried. (What happened, Ian?)
"Amour, ils ont tué mes hommes c'était un clochard." He responded, focusing on her. (Love, they killed my men… it was a trap.)
"What are you going to do, you said this was a very big transaction?"
"It was...we lost everything. I need to go, love." He said, caressing her cheek and kissing her lips.
His ability to change from being extremely sweet to a complete psychopath in a matter of seconds was what terrified Emily. She wasn't sure how much longer she had left, or how long he was going to let her live, but she had to do everything in her power to keep Doyle distracted and interested in her.
"Let me go with you." She said looking at him.
"No, I can't risk your life, love. I am a warrior, I have to do this alone." He replied and kissed her forehead, leaving.
Emily sat there watching him leave the cabin getting into a different vehicle with two men. She had been snooping around Doyle's transactions and conversations with all his men; something that wasn't difficult due to her extensive knowledge of linguistics. She knew exactly where they were going today, what kind of transaction they were involved in and when it was going to transpire. This was a big transaction for Doyle, not only financially, but also because his army had been affected.
Emily knew that at least eight of his men had died there, including one of his right-hand men…this could only mean either one of his partners had betrayed him for money along with the Arabs, or the mission had been stopped by the authorities which meant there was a big possibility the team already knew of her whereabouts. She had to remain strong even if it was for a just a little longer. Emily knew if the team wasn't the one stopping Doyle's deal, whomever had, had killed a good part of his strongest men which meant they had now greatly debilitated his organization.
As soon as the shots were fired in the warehouse, and the field of vision cleared, several law enforcement officers and members of the SWAT team approached them carefully. What Doyle's men didn't know at the time was the men who had been involved in the transaction representing the Arabic Mafia were undercover agents set up by the FBI and Interpol in an attempt to debilitate his army. Oisin just stood there as the agents cuffed him…he could not believe they had been set up.
"Hotch, they're all down, man." Morgan said as he, Clyde and Dave quickly approached him.
"Take him into custody…" Hotch pointed to Oisin, "…we'll make him talk."
"I won't tell you anything, you piece of shit!" Said Oisin, barking angrily as two SWAT agents held him. Matt turned and punched him forcefully in the stomach, making Oisin sputter blood.
"You WILL tell us exactly what we need to know and how many more men your boss is working with."
They cleared the warehouse leaving only the criminal investigators and the Coroner's Office personnel who had arrived to pick up the bodies. The team had received a tip from an anonymous person about the deal that was about to take place in the warehouse. They had managed to intercept the Arabic Mafia dealers and replace them during the deal. The purpose of the mission was to take down as many men working for Doyle as they could to weaken his resources and rescue Emily without putting her at risk.
As they entered the hotel conference room in which they had been working, they saw JJ on the phone, with Reid setting up a geographical profile that could lead them to Ian's next movement. JJ turned around still on the phone and saw the team coming toward them.
"Hold on, Garcia, I'm putting you on speaker, they just walked in."
"What's going on, Garcia?" Hotch asked as everyone gathered around the table that now held the phone.
"Okay, so…I ran a search for the name of our man in custody, and he's creepy weepy...Oisin O'Sullivan's entire life has revolved around Doyle; I mean, he worshiped Doyle and everything he stood for…here's the most sinister thing…Doyle has constantly humiliated the man making his existence a living hell."
"So, why is he still working for him?" Morgan asked looking at the board.
"Maybe he idolizes Doyle?" JJ opined. "He does what Doyle wants because it gives him direction and a purpose in his life."
"So, no matter what we do to him, he won't give up Doyle?" Clyde said, running a hand through his hair in an exasperated manner.
"Not necessarily; statistically, 36% of humans who idolize a criminal have suffered some type of psychological trauma. Anxiety, depression, high stress levels, poor body image, isolation, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors: all of these have been linked to an idolatry or worship syndrome because the person's energy is focused entirely on someone who won't recognize their merits for what they are doing to please them." Reid interjected, speaking very rapidly.
"Reid..." Hotch said, reaching his palm out in an attempt to stop the genius so he would get straight to the point.
"Right, right" he said blushing slightly. "If we shatter the image he has of Doyle, he should talk to us as a revenge for what Doyle has put him through."
"Dave, you and Morgan head to the detention center and interrogate on O'Sullivan; we need to break him, and we can use any information we get to hopefully determine what Doyle's next move is and how long we have. I don't think he's going to live at the cabin...we need to find out where he's going next."
Dave and Morgan nodded and headed out of the hotel to interrogate Oisin, while the rest of the team stayed at the hotel trying to find a way to communicate with Emily without putting her at risk.
"I hate to say this, but what if we could use Declan to force Doyle to release Emily." Reid inquired, exhausted and rubbing his eyes; they had been up for almost twenty-four hours.
"We can't use a kid as a bargaining chip, what if he doesn't release her, then we would be putting not only Emily, but also a child at risk." JJ announced irritated
"Not if we know what we're doing; Doyle obviously works off of power and control, and if he realizes his son is still alive, he might fall for it." Hotch said thinking deeply.
"Absolutely not!" Clyde said, crossing his arms and looking at Hotch as if he was crazy.
"If you have a better idea, then by all means share it, but my priority is to rescue Emily, something you obviously don't care about."
"I was the one who brought you and your team here, this is my case and the FBI has no jurisdiction over it; you should consider yourself lucky I'm letting you and your team have access to this information." Clyde laughed sarcastically at him.
"I don't give a damn about your jurisdiction, a federal agent is in danger because of you; if something happens to her, I will see it myself, that you spend the rest of your miserable days in a cell in Guantanamo." Hotch stated dangerously quiet.
"Agent Hotchner, you're asking me to break my oath and reveal confidential information I swore to protect."
"You also took an oath to protect your country against foreign enemies, do you have any idea the severity and consequences of withholding information that can potentially lead to the murder of a federal agent? And what will that do to your country? You could be charged with conspiracy and as an accessory to murder."
Clyde just stared at him shaking his head…it was clear to him that Hotchner was seeing everyone involved in this situation as potentially complicit in Doyle's revenge.
"Agent Hotchner, involving Declan at this point would be premature and even reckless. If Doyle knows we have his son, he could escalate and kill Emily instead."
"I don't understand." Hotch said confused.
"When we started this mission, we had no idea of the existence of Declan, so, when the North Korean and Islamic governments knew Doyle was in custody, they were ready to take any action necessary to make him speak..." Matt explained carefully; JJ, Hotch and Reid were still looking at him with furrowed brows.
"They would have tortured and killed the boy to make Doyle talk, or done thinks I don't even want to imagine"
"Who got Declan out without them finding out then?" Hotch asked with a furrowed brow.
"Emily…she managed to relocate him without anyone knowing, even our own government leaders would have used Declan as a pawn."
"So, she saved his life by putting him in protective custody." JJ said sadly, realizing something…
"Emily was with Doyle that long to protect the boy, she could have ended the mission as soon as she had the information they needed on Doyle, but she stayed...she was protecting Declan those two years." Her eyes were shining now, realizing that was so Emily…kind, compassionate and loving, even if it was for the son of a terrorist.
Hotch turned to look at JJ, and he could read in her eyes what she was thinking, the same as him…Emily's capacity to love was so immense she lived with a terrorist for two years to keep a little boy safe.
"We need to act and save her, every second we're wasting is a second she's suffering...if something happens to her...I'm not sure I will be able to survive it." He whispered so quietly they could barely hear him.
"We'll save her, you have my word on that." Matt vowed. "But, you need to trust that what we are doing is only to protect her and keep her safe."
"There is something else we can do, but it might be way to risky…" Clyde said suddenly.
"What?" Every set of eyes focused on him.
"Taking down his main partner and accomplice, Liam…we destroy Liam, he has nothing left, and we could use that moment to go in and get Emily."
JJ's eyes grew wide as she listened to Clyde, and then she turned to Hotch with a questioning face. She wasn't completely sure that was a very good idea, in fact, it was possibly a very, very bad idea.
"No!, that would be reckless." Hotch said firmly. "By doing that, we will be putting a gun straight to her head."
"Maybe not, Liam is his right hand, without him, Doyle would feel exposed." Matt announced
"And it could distress him enough to kill her immediately."
"We're running out of time and options, Agent Hotchner, we've already eliminated more than half of his men, and as dangerous as it sounds, it might be our only choice."
Just at that moment, Morgan and Dave walked back into their working area, looking very distressed and worried.
"What's going on?" JJ and Reid asked at the same time.
"Doyle is planning on leaving the country with her." Dave said, as if he had seen a ghost.
"Did Oisin say where they were going?" Reid asked, aware of the reaction of everyone on the team.
"Somewhere in the Middle East or Australia; Doyle doesn't want to be found." Dave continued, making eye contact with his best friend.
"We have to get Liam." Matt stated very worriedly. "It's either taking the risk, or never seeing her again."
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." — Mark Twain