Chapter 21
"Life isn't about finding pieces of a puzzle. It's about creating and putting those exceptional pieces together." Glenn van Dekken
Emily woke up some time later. She was groggy, but she felt better. She knew that JJ had been right. She needed sleep. She needed to feel safe for just a moment to let her body heal and revive itself. She couldn't keep pushing because she would eventually break.
For the first time in a long time, she was broken. She didn't know when it happened, but it happened. Aimee had been right in calling the team in. She couldn't do this by herself anymore. They needed help. She knew that she should have known how bad off they were when she called her father to watch her daughter-in-law and her granddaughter in Texas.
"How do you feel?" JJ asked her as she rolled over to see that Emily was awake.
"Honestly?"
"Yes," JJ replied.
"Like shit."
"Do you want to get up?" JJ questioned as she studied Emily's body language.
"I don't know."
"No one is upset with you anymore, Em. We care. That's why we're here. You agreed to let us help you, but we can't if you keep shutting us out," JJ told her.
"I'm trying."
"I know you are. If you need more time to process this, let me know. I'll go out there and see what they've come up with. You need your rest. You need to let your body heal."
"Okay," Emily replied.
JJ rolled off the bed. She turned to make sure that Emily was still covered and then leaned over and kissed Emily's forehead. They gave each other a smile and JJ left the room. She hoped that Emily would go back to sleep. She needed her rest and she needed to let them work. If she couldn't do that, she wasn't going to be able to continue.
JJ walked into the living room. Reid had his board up on the wall. Garcia was still hunched over her laptops furiously typing away, looking for more information. A printer had been hooked up to the computers via wifi and was printing out stats, maps, and info as fast as she could find it. Aimee and Morgan were by the front door, more than likely guarding it, but they were cleaning their pistols to pass the time. She had to smile. This was her little family and she wouldn't trade them for anything.
"Hey kitten," Garcia said quietly, noticing her back in the room with them.
"Hello."
"She sleeping?" Reid asked as he continued to draw lines on one of the maps on the wall.
"She was. I hope she'll go back to sleep. She needs it."
"She'll be okay, kitten. She's got you to make sure of it. And, we aren't going to let her just go off into the night again without help. She loves us too much to do that again," Garcia told her.
"Plus, she knows that we'll all just hunt her down again," Aimee added from the foyer.
"She does," JJ stated.
She walked across the room to look at Reid's maps. She couldn't make sense of half of it and that didn't surprise her. She was watching him as he kept changing colors. She cocked her head and then realized that he wasn't tracking Emily. He was tracking something else.
"What are you following?" JJ asked him quietly.
"Movements of potential targets," Reid answered as he continued to mark on the maps.
"Targets?"
"Potential threats to both Aimee and Emily."
"Any cross over?" JJ asked as she studied the boards and maps.
"A little but not enough to push me in one direction. It is actually frustrating. It is like they know where she is for a while and then they lose her. Once one team loses her, another picks her up. It doesn't make any sense that all these different groups would be working together in order to flush them out and kill them," Reid explained.
"Is there any overlap in communication?" JJ questioned as she started following the paths.
"Nothing that I've seen," Garcia said.
"Look for an IP address or something with a computer. It might even look like it is nothing, but I want to try something. Anything at all. Hack their systems, Garcia."
"I'll ferret something out on them," Garcia stated as age started digging through information online.
JJ thought she saw a pattern, but she wasn't sure. She kept tracing the lines with her fingers. Reid backed up. He wasn't used to her doing this, but he'd never seen her more determined to find something that they could use to start working backwards. She was making herself more puzzled as Reid kept adding to the maps.
"There are only five groups?"
"That followed them both? Yes," Reid answered.
"Who?" Aimee asked as she finished reassembling her Glock and holstering it at her side.
"Who what?" Reid questioned.
"Who are the five, Spence," JJ replied.
"A group from Germany called-" Reid started.
"Jungen Attentaeter," Aimee finished.
"Which literally translates to Young Assassins or Youth Assassins," Reid added.
"What's their deal?" Morgan asked as he joined the conversation and started looking at the maps and boards, too.
"The don't like immigrants in Germany. They believe that the government has been too lax and so they've picked up the slack. They also are big into trafficking. Which is the main reason that they are on Interpol's list to watch. They tend to stick with foreigners, though. They also have a big market for drugs and weapons. They are nothing like Valhalla, but they are making their presence known in the EU," Aimee explained.
"Great," Morgan replied sarcastically.
"What color are they?" JJ asked.
"Green," Reid stated pointing at the map.
"And, this one?" JJ inquired pointing to a red line.
"I am not sure of the name. They seem to be based out of the Middle East, but I can't pinpoint a main location. I just know that they aren't part of ISIS or ISIL."
"Where in the Middle East?" Aimee said as she moved closer.
Reid pointed to the map. Aimee wanted to laugh. They weren't after them. They were contacts in Arabia that were working with Interpol. She finally let out a giggle.
"What's so funny about that?" Morgan probed trying to figure out why she was laughing.
"They are undercover locals feeding us information. They aren't after us. If our names came up in their communications it was because they trying to feed us information. They are some of the few in the Middle East that don't believe that the Infidel is trying to convert them to their 'hedonistic' ways. But, they don't believe in the militant actions of the Islamic terrorists, either," Aimee explained.
"Really?" Garcia asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, that eliminates one possible threat from the map," Reid said as he quit marking them.
"Don't stop marking them, though. We don't know that we don't have a loose cannon among them. I'll review their chatter and let you know which lines to disregard and which ones to follow," Aimee suggested.
"Sounds good."
"What about this one, Pretty Boy?" Morgan inquired pointing to a purple line.
"Ichiwa-kai Yakuza, there isn't much known about them except they were disbanded back in 1989. Someone in Asia is using their Daimon and their name to do business. The main Yakuza in Japan aren't stopping them either. I believe that they think that this false Yakuza clan is taking heat off of them. The crazy thing is that they are based out of Osaka and have Lieutenants in other countries. They don't just deal with Japanese interests."
"Ah, yes, the Yakuza. Many names, faces, and families in that one, but the Ichiwa are just scum. You name it, they do it to make money and they don't care who they kill or hurt to do it. The main heads in Osaka don't punish them either. They are the Japanese Mob around the world. They make the Yakuza famous. This is a younger Yakuza group so they don't follow the same hierarchy and rules as the bigger groups. They are making a name for themselves internationally though. Every time we pinpoint a location for them not in Japan to raid, it's gone within days," Aimee added.
"Keep them on top," JJ said.
"Really?" Morgan said.
"They aren't all Japanese and with international ties that broad, who the Hell knows what they want with Emily and Aimee. Maybe it's a hit. Maybe, it's just information they are gathering to see who is watching them and where. The fact of the matter is we just don't know right now. We are lucky that we have this," JJ explained.
"You're right," Aimee replied. "But, Yakuza wasn't one of our big three that we were watching. They were in the top ten, but Mom didn't put a lot of man power on them from London. Whatever we got was funneled through proper channels and sent to our Asian offices to handle and locate. If they found anything worth noting, they let us know."
"But, you were still monitoring their European and Eastern US affiliations, correct?" JJ asked.
"Yes, we were."
"Anything stick out?"
"Just some gambling rings in Berlin, Stuttgart and Paris," Aimee stated.
"Germany again. Reid start there. I want to know everything that we have on whatever we have coming out of Germany. That is where she was taken from and that has to be where the leak is. Track everything back to its source and I want to know who or what sent what to who and when. Aimee and Morgan, try to work on a timeline based on what we know. Garcia, keep digging. Reid..." JJ commanded.
"Keep plotting, working the geographic profile and looking for convergence, got it," he said.
"I love you guys," JJ said as she went into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water.
"What you gonna do, kitten?"
"See how Emily is fairing. If she's asleep, I'll be back. If not, I'm going to keep talking to her and see what she doesn't realize that she knows. Either way, let's keep going until dinner. Say around seven?"
"Sounds good, Miss Thang," Morgan said as he grabbed a stack of papers from the table and a tablet to start scribbling on.
JJ nodded and smiled as she went back into the back bedroom. They were making progress now that they were all focusing on the same thing. If they could just find that one thing that connected all the dots, then they would have the answers that they were looking for. If they could solve this puzzle, they would save both Aimee and Emily. They could go after the bad guys and save the day. All in all, it was almost like another day in the office, except this douche bag was international and not necessarily American. It would make territory and jurisdictional issues later, but they would deal with that as it came. For now, they were hunting the hunters and JJ wasn't going to stop until she had them in her sights for trying to hurt Emily. This wasn't just her job. This was personal.
"How far back are we going?" Morgan asked.
"I would say two years at least," Aimee answered.
"That far or further depending on the information that we have," Reid added as he continued to plot.
"So far the only overlap is in Germany. That can't be a coincidence. Sweetness, tell me you got something good for me over there in all that paper. Come on, Mama. This is all for Princess," Morgan said as he walked back over to the kitchen table to start sifting through the mountains of papers they had printed out.
"Oh, darling, don't think I am giving up on this. Princess doesn't know how deep I am willing to go to find the information that we need. So, you just keep going through that pile there, my big black hunk of love and I'll have something for you soon," Garcia told him as she went back to digging into the information that they had.
They were all smiling. They had something to work on and a lead, no matter how small it was, to chase down. Garcia was doing her thing. They could all hear the keys going at lightning speed. They could all also hear her mumbling to the computers as she dug deeper.
"STUTTGART!" Garcia yelled out.
"What?"
"Stuttgart is the key!"
"Okay, Sweet Thing, explain," Morgan told her as she jumped up from her chair.
"We know that Germany is where most of the overlap is, so I started there. It seems that three of our groups like Germany. I dug deeper into their financials and found out that they have all used the same back in Stuttgart to wire money back to other accounts abroad. These accounts are now all frozen and being watched by Interpol. It seems that the London office put tags on some of the officers for these groups. They all keep going back to this same bank, but the German officials didn't catch the connection. Neither did Interpol until I just notified them," Garcia told them.
"And?" Aimee questioned.
"It seems that this bank doesn't really exist. It is a building with computers and internet access. It doesn't do any real business and there is no real cash moving. There seems to be some international organization that is bankrolling black market deals and groups. It is the perfect cover, but now, they have no access to it. I've gotten it shut down. I may have also installed a Trojan horse virus that will send anyone who accesses the 'banks' files information to a highly protected server at Quantico, with an alert being sent to not only the head of International RICO cases but also Kevin, so he can dig deeper into the organizations," Garcia said all giddy.
"Well that's all well and great, but that still doesn't tell us who is really after Aimee and Emily. Does it? I mean, do you have any more on who was running the bank?" Morgan questioned a little more forcefully than he meant to.
"That's true, but I shut down their information highway and their money laundry mat. That has to count for something. That is going to piss off the right people and then they'll be looking for some where to do their business. I guess that would be a problem, if I didn't set up a fake bank for them to contact."
"And, of course that bank talks right to the correct government sources?" Reid questioned.
"Yes, I did that as well. But, the point of the matter is we have a starting point for where the information gathered. It was in Germany, in Stuttgart. We need to figure out who in Stuttgart had something against Interpol and/or Emily. She seems to be the main target. Aimee seems to be collateral damage. No offense, Princess junior, but you are. Whoever is really after you is actually after Mummy dearest," Garcia stated.
"That makes sense. She's been the face of the London Interpol office. She's been fighting and working to make things better. It would make sense that they would hunt her down. What happened before wasn't an accident. Someone set her up to be taken in Bavaria and then to Amman."
"So, let's start there and work backwards," Garcia stated as she started furiously typing again.
She started looking for something that would connect the kidnapping of Emily in Germany with that bank. She knew that if she could get to the servers in Germany she could more information. She could find logs that she couldn't access thru the internet. she wondered if someone would go.
"We know that someone was funding everything through the bank. The bank was a information dumping ground and a way to money launder criminal activities. We need to find the physical location of the bank so that I can hack into person."
"Then we need to get you there," Aimee said.
"Who's going? Cause we can't risk Emily or Aimee. And, we know that JJ isn't going to let Emily out of her sight, so that leaves Morgan or me," Reid added.
"I'll go," Morgan offered.
"Why you?" Aimee probed.
"I know how Garcia is on trips. Plus we've already done the vacation thing together. We can pull off an undercover mission without topping anyone off," Morgan replied.
"Fair enough, but what would be your angle?"
"Hey, baby girl, you ready for that crazy honeymoon in Germany?"
"You have no idea, my big black Adonis," Garcia answered.
"Start looking for the flights. I'll get on making you aliases and papers. Don't look at me like that. You want to live, right? Then, let me do what I can do to make sure that you're as safe as can be. Emily doesn't need to be worried about you, too," Aimee replied as she pulled out her laptop.
"Who's gonna tell JJ and Emily when they come back out here?"
"That doesn't matter right now. We need to get all the information that we can one the five groups that Reid id's tracking. Everyone else works that until we get anything else, got it?" Morgan asked them.
"If you are curious, you'll find the puzzles all around you. If you are determined, you will solve them." Erno Rubik