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INTERPOL Intrigue / Spooks Beguiled – Chapter 26

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"Elizabeta?"

Emily whipped her head and saw Beth Clemmons standing before her.

"No," Emily replied. "I'm about to be your worst nightmare, Beth…or is it Olga?"

Beth hesitated a bit, "Wh… what did you call me?"

Emily turned to face her, "Isn't that your real name? Olga Volkov?"

Beth shook her head, "No, I think you've mistaken me with someone else, Emily."

"I don't think so. Give it up. You were born in Omsk, Russia. You're not an American."

"I am an American." She said firmly. "I am not from Russia, I don't know where you got this crazy information, Emily but I think you're having a nervous breakdown."

Emily grinned, "I'm fine, Beth or Olga or whatever the hell your real name is."

"I told Aaron you're not stable, and he believed me," Beth smiled. "He should have put you in a proper hospital, that would have ended your career, wouldn't it? Pity."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Emily said. "But unfortunately, Hotch does not listen to everything you say."

"Oh, he does, he is such a soft hearted man and so easily manipulated. In fact, he is about to put Jack in boarding school so he's out of our way as soon as we're married and when our baby arrives."

"Baby?" Emily frowned.

"Didn't he tell you the good news, Emily? I'm pregnant, we're going to be a family."

"Beth, you're fifty years old, you can't be pregnant."

"In Vitro Fertilization, I'd done it while I was in New York a few weeks ago." She explained. "But why am I telling you this? Aaron doesn't need to know this, he's happy and I'm marrying him soon."

"Who's the sperm donor?" Emily asked.

She shrugged, "I don't know, some schmuck at the clinic but I made sure he's dark haired, that's all it counts."

Suddenly, a new voice came out of the corner, "Some schmuck? Am I one of your schmucks too, Beth?"

She turned around and paled.

"Aaron! Wh… what are you doing here? I thought you were at the hotel?"

He held out his cell phone, "My phone, you put a block on Emily's name, didn't you?"

Beth shook her head, "Aaron…how could you accuse me?" She began to shed some tears and walked to him but Hotch stopped her.

"Don't, Beth. I know everything. INTERPOL told me about it."

Emily turned to him, "They did?"

He looked at her and nodded, "I called Easter and he told me all of it."

She nodded, "Glad to see you back in the game, Aaron."

He smiled at Emily, "Me too." Then he turned back to Beth.

"Beth, let's go."

She frowned at them, "No…Aaron! You can't believe what she said! She's lying to you! I love you, don't you see! We're going to be a family!"

Hotch shook his head, "I'm sorry Beth, it's over between us."

Beth began to get angry as she growled and turned to look at Emily, "YOU! You are always in the way! You have ruined everything for Aaron and me!"

"No Beth," Emily said. "You've got it all wrong. Aaron did love you but you blew it, honey."

"NO! NO! NO!" Beth began to rush towards Emily "Aaron is still mine!"

Emily raised the gun and shot her once.

Beth crumpled onto the floor.

Hotch rushed to her and turned her over, "She's still alive…call for medical help."

Emily nodded and using Elizabeta's cell phone, she dialed for medical emergency transportation as well as the police.

"They'll be here in fifteen minutes, Hot…Aaron." She smiled at him.

Hotch returned her smile and then frowned as he assessed her face, "Looks like they did a good job on your pretty face, Emily."

She blushed but winced at the pain on her cheek. "How bad is she?"

Hotch removed his hand, "The bleeding is minimal, you shot her on her right shoulder, I think she'll be fine."

"She's pregnant?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"You know it's not yours, Aaron?"

"I had a feeling, the timing wasn't right." He looked at Emily, "Remember I have Jack?"

She smiled, "Yeah…where is he?"

"A friend of his had Chicken Pox, so he couldn't make it."

"Thank goodness for childhood disease! For once it just might have saved him." Emily said.

"Me too." They looked up when they heard sirens blaring.

While the medical personnel attended to Beth, Emily spoke to the police and told them about her involvement with the Russians. She had also gotten on the phone with Clyde Easter for confirmation with the police.

"Make sure she is under watch at all times." Emily pointed out to the police chief.

He nodded his assurance before they drove off.

"Where to, Emily?" Hotch offered.

"To the museum, well, actually the back of the dock. You can meet my team." She grinned.

He nodded and they left the warehouse.

….

As soon as they entered the back of the Museum, Emily saw her team who rushed to her.

"Hot diggity dog! Emily, who did this shit to you?" Sam jerked his chin at her.

"Gor Emily! You look like some abused victim, shit! I'd love to give a little lickin' to the fella that did that to you!" Bob nodded.

"That bastard is very dead, Emily! Oh, he does not know who he is dealing with, shit! Fuckers laying a hand on our Emily, Godamnit!" Frankie cussed as he almost slammed his fist on a crate before he remembered where he was.

Hotch leaned close to Emily and whispered to her, "They're very protective of you, aren't they? I take it they're your team members?"

She turned to look at him and nodded.

"Guys, cool it, I'm fine. It looks worse than it feels. Hey, meet my former boss, Aaron Hotchner, or Hotch."

They all shook his hands and greeted him warmly but Sam was watching him closely.

"Emily, isn't he with Beth Clemmons?" Sam frowned.

Emily nodded and quickly briefed them on the latest.

"So she is still alive?" Bob commented.

"Unfortunately yes, but International Police will be by shortly to escort her to France to face multiple charges. And IP have just informed me that Beth Clemmons or Olga Volkov has been a really bad girl." Emily told Hotch and her team. "She had been involved in multiple stolen arts all over the world and the black market world is going to miss her very much."

Her team grinned as they high-fived each other.

She nodded, "Yeah, good job guys." She high-fived them as well.

She looked at the crates, "Are these the crates?"

They nodded, "Yes but we don't know which ones are the jars containing plutonium."

"Let's open them." She looked at them.

Her team members gotten some crow bars and began to open the crates and removed the straw coverings.

"So Emily, what now? I'm not breaking any of these jars." Bob began to step back.

Emily walked to Bob and looked into it and shook her head and went to the next one. Hotch was following her.

"What are you looking for, Emily?"

"Plutonium."

He stopped following her, "Say that again?"

She stopped looking and looked up at him, "Five sealed Gzhel jars containing plutonium. Beth and her father found them eight years ago and decided to sell it to the highest bidder. Daddy cracked opened one of the jar to show it to a seller but he was exposed to it before he realized what was happening. The buyer also died of cancer later but Beth's father managed to get another one before he was diagnosed with cancer too."

Hotch nodded, "She told me he died last year."

Emily nodded as she began to look again, "They sealed the jar again so the exposure is zilch now. They tested it on the Geiger meter. No radiation leaks so far, that's why they waited until now to ship it."

"You do know she is bare footed." Frankie was whispering to Waltie as they were standing watching her.

"Idiot, she was taken out of her flat by the Russians, remember? I wouldn't have my shoes on at my own home." Bob smacked the back of Frankie's head.

"Ow! I was just saying…I mean she painted her toe nails red and it looked hot on her."

The guys began to glance at her feet.

Emily felt her team staring down at her feet, looked at them.

"What the hell are you guys doing?"

They all looked up at her guiltily, "Nothing," Bob said, his face was the reddest.

Emily gave him a wry look, "Bob, I know a guilty look when I see it, and yours is the guiltiest. Cough it up guys. Don't make me embarrass you all in front of the FBI number one profiler." She indicated Hotch.

"Frankie said you have pretty toe nails." Waltie owned up quickly.

Emily began to laugh as Hotch shook his head, his dimples deepening. "She does have nice toe nails for a feeb."

The INTERPOL team stared at Hotch and chuckled, "Yankee Feeb has a sense of humor, like that a lot."

Emily blushed as she looked at Hotch, "Yeah, I didn't know you had a sense of humor either."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," he said softly to her.

She arched an elegant brow at him.

Her team exchanged puzzled looks as Hotch and Emily grinned at each other.

After a moment, she straightened and continued looking for the crate and finally found it.

"Okay, this is the one, don't do anything to it. Let's call the Nuclear Disposable Institution, Fanta."

The young man nodded and got on his phone immediately.

Hotch watched Fanta, "Isn't he a little young…too young for the job?"

"Aaron! He's my tech analysis. And he's 18. Smart kid too."

"Smarter than Reid?"

She nodded, "Two points smarter."

"Don't tell him that, might bruise his fragile ego."

Emily giggled, "Too late…told him that last night."

"You talk to Reid last night?" Hotch looked surprised.

She nodded, "The whole team, they were at Rossi's."

"Ah yes, he was taking them on a boat ride."

"Did you know it's not a boat?"

Hotch frowned, "What do you mean?"

"It's a 100 ft yacht, comes with a captain and crew."

Hotch whistled, "He must have published his fourth book."

"Must have, and made an advancement on those darn books of his."

"Emily!" She looked up at Sam. "It's Harry Pearce." He handed her his cell phone.

"That didn't take long." She said.

"Harry! Did you miss me?" She greeted him.

"Where is Lucas?" Harry demanded.

"On their way to Paddington Station." She replied.

"Are you sure? How do you know?"

"He told me himself. Oleg is with him."

"Arcady has orders to silence him and he has three biological/chemical pods with him." Harry said.

Emily paled, "Shit, Harry…can anyone disarm it?"

"Lucas is the only one now who knows the code, I hope he remembers the bloody code."

"What do you mean he is the only one now?" Emily frowned.

"It was Connie James, she's dead. Arcady took care of her."

"I have to warn him, Harry." She said.

"When are they planning to be there?"

"Tomorrow noon," she told him.

"Shit, right at rush hour."

"I know, Harry." She said.

"Where are they coming from?"

"I don't know, he couldn't tell me," she said, thinking of the hurried whisper he held in her ear before he left the warehouse earlier.

She unconsciously rubbed her neck where he had also grabbed her.

"Damn!" He cussed again. Then Emily heard some background talking and Harry replied, "I'm well aware of it Ruth…thank you for pointing it out." He said sourly.

"How's Ruth?" Emily grinned.

"Mind your damn business, Prentiss!"

Emily laughed.

"All right, Paddington Station tomorrow 10 am. Ros and Dimitri will be there."

"My team will be there too." Emily said.

"That's fine." And with that, he was gone

Emily pressed 'End' and dialed Clyde's number next.

"Where the bloody hell are you at?" Clyde's irritable voice came on the line.

Emily smiled, "Oh dear, don't tell me you haven't taken care of your little problem?"

"Yes I have and she has the largest fucking set of tits. Now, what's going?"

Emily blushed and laughed, "This is not a secure phone, Clyde."

"Em, I don't give a fuck right now and I don't have the patience. I have been worried sick about you."

"I'm fine, Clyde. Nice to know you care about me. Look, Lucas told me it's going to be at Paddington Station. Harry says Arcady has 3 biological chemical pods and it's to be armed with a nuclear armament. Lucas is going to arm it and send to Russia. He's the only one with the code."

Clyde was quiet for a while before he spoke. "Your choice of boyfriend sucks, you know."

She grinned, "I know but if not for him, we wouldn't flush Arcady out."

"All right, I'll give you guys that, INTERPOL's been hunting the sonofabitch down for a while since the Brits released him to dear ol' mother Russia."

"Arcady has painted a bulls' eye on Lucas as soon as he armed the armament."

"You don't say. Don't tell me you're going to be there tomorrow to warn your boyfriend."

"Clyde, you know I have to be there."

"Ah shit, Emily. It's too dangerous. Harry's gang are handle it, let them do their jobs."

Emily shook her head, "Sorry Clyde, I'm taking my team and I'm going to try and get to Lucas."

"Damn it Emily! Why can't you stop playing the fucking hero for once! Let the big boys to their job, shit!"

She chuckled, "Well, I'm one of the big boys now. You made me one of them."

"Fine! Go get fucking blown up! See if I fucking care!"

"Clyde, you do care. Admit it, darling." She tried to soothe him.

Clyde was quiet for a moment and then he said in a calm and soft tone, "Emily, be safe out there babe, you know you mean the world to me."

Emily teared up, "I will Clyde, you piece of shit, don't go soft and sentimental on me right now."

He chuckled before he ended the phone call.

Emily put the phone away and wiped her eyes.

"Everything all right, Emily?" Hotch watched her closely.

She looked up at him and nodded, "Clyde says hey to you."

He nodded.

She walked to her team, "Okay guys, we're standing down for the night but we're meeting at Paddington Station tomorrow at 0900hrs. We're extracting Lucas North."

Sam raised his brow.

She continued, "He's considered a dangerous target. He will be arming a nuclear bomb."

The guys shook their heads, "How do you want us to take him?"

She looked at Sam who asked the question, "You won't, I will."

Sam shook his head, "Oh no you won't, Emily. It's too dangerous."

"Sam, it's not your decision, and it's not up for discussion or debate."

"This is bullshit, Emily!" Bob said angrily.

"I agree." Hotch said.

She turned to him, "I don't recall asking for your opinion, Agent Hotchner."

She looked over at Fanta, "Fanta, I want blueprints of the station by tomorrow."

He nodded, "You'll have it, boss."

"All right, I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night."

"Good night Emily!" They all waved at her and headed to the van.

"I'll drop you off at your apartment?" Hotch offered.

She nodded, "Thanks, you want to get a bite? I'm hungry, I haven't eaten in days…I think."

Hotch grinned and tossed her the car keys, "Since I'm not familiar with this place, I'll let you decide."

She returned his smile, "Deal," She looked at her bare feet. "We'll eat at my place, I don't think restaurants will let me in like this and with my face, definitely will scare them all."

"Okay, your place it is."

Later, at her apartment Emily let Hotch into the room with their dinner.

Her cat, Sergio began sniffing Hotch and went to Emily and rubbed against their dinner packages.

Emily laughed, "Hello, handsome. Is someone hungry for Chinese food too? You little scavenger?"

Hotch looked down at her cat and said, "So this is the one and only Sergio I've heard about." He bent down to pat him who arched his back and purred loudly.

"Nice and friendly." He commented as he grinned at her.

"That he is," she smiled as she noticed Hotch's dimples deepening. Very nice!

She moved to the kitchen and grabbed some plates and cutleries and began dishing out dinner.

They sat down and ate companionably while catching up on their lives. Hotch talked more about Jack while Emily talked about her team.

"So what's this Beth was talking about sending Jack to boarding school?" Emily asked.

Hotch looked up from his glass of wine, "I don't remember talking to her about it."

She shrugged, "She must have made it up."

"Apparently. Emily," He paused.

"Yeah, Aaron?"

"I…want to…"they were interrupted by his cell phone buzzing. Hotch looked at her apologetically.

Emily shook her head, "Go ahead."

"It's Jessica."

Emily nodded and smiled.

"Jessica, is everything all right?"

"Hey Aaron! Yes! How are you?"

"I'm fine, how's Jack? Does he have the Chicken Pox?"

"Can you believe he doesn't have it? Did you give him the vaccine shot?" She asked him

"I might have, I don't recall."

"Well, he is not getting the Chicken Pox after all." Jessica laughed.

"I'm glad, Jess. Is he around?"

"No, he's still at Jason's. I thought I'd call you and give you the news. How's London? How's... Beth?"

"She is fine. London is interesting so far," he smiled at Emily.

"Oh…okay. Well, I guess I'll let you have your fun Aaron, bye!"

"Bye Jess. Thanks for keeping an eye on Jack." Hotch said.

"Not a problem Aaron."

Hotch ended the call and told Emily about Jack.

She laughed, "Seriously? No chicken pox?"

He shook his head, "I guess not, I must have taken him to get a vaccine shot at one time."

"Busy father." Emily commented softly.

He looked at her, noticing her change in her voice and remembered what he wanted to say to her.

"Emily, I want us to be friends again." He began.

Emily stood up from the kitchen stool and walked to the living room couch and invited him over.

He nodded and came over to sit next to her.

"You are my friend, Aaron."

He shook his head, "You know what I'm talking about, Em." He picked up her hand and held it. "I want us to be more than friends, what are my chances?"

Emily squeezed his hand gently, "Aaron, you do realize you live in Virginia and I'm here in London, quite a few thousand miles apart. And statistics wise, Reid can tell you about it, long distance relationship are hard and 90 percent it won't last."

Hotch shook his head, "I'll take the 10 percent that last. Say you'll try it, Em."

Emily thought hard.

"It's Lucas North, isn't it?"

She nodded.

Hotch released her hand, "I understand, Emily." He stood up. "I should get back to the hotel."

Emily stood up as well.

Hotch turned to face her, "You know, you're right, and Dave too."

"What are you saying Aaron?"

"That I'm a coward."

Emily frowned, "I don't understand, Aaron?"

"I knew about your feelings for me for a long time and…I feel the same thing for you too." He admitted to her finally.

"Aaron?" She smiled slowly. "You did? All that time? When?"

He looked at her, "Would you believe it was when we were on the case of the serial arsonist? We had to do surveillance all night, just you and I. And we talked all night about everything and nothing. It was quite an interesting night, together with stale coffee. "

She grinned fully, "Oh my god! I can't believe it because that's about the same time I…I began to have feelings for you too!" She laughed and added. "Oh yes, I remembered that night, and I had to pee so badly and there was no where to go!"

"Me too! At least I could go outside and relieve myself if I wanted to but I didn't because it was not fair for you."

She laughed, "So you held your bladder for me?"

He nodded.

"Aw, you're too sweet!"

"I thought so too!"

He smiled at her, his dimples were fully depressed into his cheeks, Emily was blushing deeply as they stood face to face.

And like magnets, they began to lean towards each other and kissed.

Hotch put his hands out and held Emily closed to him as Emily raised her hands up and wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer to her as she opened her mouth and let his tongue slid into hers….

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End of Chapter 26