Two Lonely Souls

Chapter 7

The Professor and the Infidels

6 weeks later

The Violent Crimes unit received a letter written entirely in Arabic. Their translators were all in DC and not very useful given they needed the translator to be part of the team. Colby suggested calling Isabella since she already had higher clearance then anyone there, and also spoke many of the languages of Arabic, as well as read and wrote it. She also had experience in the region and was very fluent in the religious and fundamentalist versions of the religions. Don agreed immediately and asked Colby to call her and ask her to come to the FBI building. Colby agreed, but on the condition that she stayed out of the fire zone. They all knew she could seriously defend herself and was a superb sniper but they could not drag her back into that life. Don reluctantly agreed, thinking he wouldn't want his fiancé put in that situation as well.

Cole Porter and Isabella Worthington entered the LA FBI Building, untouched by Security. One look at the pass that Isabella carried and security allowed her and her body guard to pass unscathed. They made their way up to the appropriate floor and wandered into the war room, surprising everyone that they didn't have to have an escort.

Isabella laughed at their surprised faces. "I have a free pass into pretty much any building I want, including this one. I keep the card locked in a safe when it's not in use. So what do you need me for?" She had wandered over to Colby and sat next to him. She gently placed her hand on his arm and then just as quickly removed it. He smiled softly at her and then turned back to Don who was getting ready to brief.

"First of all," Don started with a little smirk, "I hear that congratulations are in order for you and Colby. While we were never informed officially by said team member, news still travels fast."

"Thank you Don and everyone else," Isabella flashed her very generously sized emerald cut platinum set engagement ring.

Don in that slightly sarcastic way he had said, "Nice… we must be paying you too much."

Colby laughed, "Yeah right."

"Now that we got that out of the way, can we get to why I'm here? You already have the uber-minds here (referring to Amita and Charlie). How can I help?"

Don smiled, "Uber-minds. I'll have to remember that." He flashed the letter up on the screen. "We received this letter this morning. There are no prints or anything distinguishable from the paper. We have no idea what it says and before we get started, we need to know that."

Isabella looked at Don with a hint of scorn, "Obviously. Just looking at the text it is an Iranian fringe dialect. It was definitely written by a native speaker. I see a number of references to 'Allah,' 'the Infidels,' 'death,' and 'martyrdom.' Is this all there is, this one page or is there more?"

Colby spoke up now, "Two pages, as best we can tell same person wrote both pages. What don't know is if this is a standard threat that goes nowhere, or if this is targeted at a specific place or person."

"Ok, if you want my help, I need a quiet room, a laptop and pen and paper. I can have it translated in probably an hour or so."

"Colby, get whatever she needs. Thanks Isa."

"Sure, do you have a place that Cole can hang out? I need him to stay in the building with me. He came in on my pass, he needs to stay close to me."

"I'll put him on my desk, Bella." Colby volunteered. She gave him a slightly sweet, somewhat sad smile. It was going to be hard for her to go back into even translation of evil, even if she wasn't a part of it.

An hour and 15 minutes later she returned to the war room. "Colby, can you get me some water please while I load this up?" She was noticeably pale and everyone noticed it. Colby knew she was getting sick and suspected she might be pregnant, but she had not said anything yet. That thought had driven his forceful demand from Don on bringing her in. He had also noticed Cole was paying even closer than usual attention to her. She must have just been sick before she came in here.

She accepted the cold bottled water from Colby with a smile, and started on the task at hand. "This letter definitely comes from a native speaker of an unusual, really considered ancient, Iranian dialect from the Hindu Kush mountain range in Afghanistan. Most in Afghanistanis speak Persian or Arabic. There are still those that live high in the mountains in Afghanistan that speak these unusual languages. This is also where Special Forces and Navy Seals have focused their energies to fight Al-Queda. This is where Bin Laden and his two top lieutenants were killed. An entire set of caves were bombed after those kills were confirmed to kill the rest of the leadership, or so we hoped." She sighed took a drink of water and moved on.

"The letter writer introduces himself as Irja Haji. Haji is the title of someone who has traveled to Mecca. This would certainly indicate he is a true believer. The path to Mecca is a long and hard one, but made by thousands every year. If he still resides in Hindu Kush mountain range, the trip would have been difficult indeed. From his letter we have no way of knowing if he came to the US from this mountain range, and it would have been very high in the mountains, higher than we ever went. Given the rest of the letter, I would say he has already crossed into the US. What is the postal mark on the envelope? Los Angeles. Well, I guess that settles that."

"Could it have been mailed here and then remailed by a friend giving it a Los Angeles postmark?"

"I suppose that is possible, that would be something you would be more expert in than I. However, given the tone of the letter, this man plans to die along with a lot of other people. He would have to be here to do that. After his introduction he continues his explanation, in very clear and justifiable terms, why he plans to do what he is going to do. As I said before, there are many references to 'Allah,' 'Death,' 'Redemption,' 'Infidels,' etc. He is definitely a fundamentalist. He will surround himself with other fundamentalists. He probably already has a cell here in the US operating and waiting for him to arrive."

"Do we know what target they will attack?"

"That is a good question. I found no reference in the letter to what the target is. I would bet money that there will be a second letter outlining more of his threat. If I put on my profiler hat, and yes Don I have one of those too along with everything else, I think this guy is arrogant and thinks we can't catch him. That is why he sent the letter at all. He will have come into the country under his own name that he has given to us, or a Anglicized version of that name. His passport and papers will be legit. He will have no criminal record. The writing style and formality makes me believe he is highly educated, which means the next letter we get may be in a completely different language. Which also means that if he is as highly educated as I think he might have chosen this language to start with knowing there would be very few who would know it. I have probably muddied the waters more than they were already. I have given you each a print out of the letter in its entirety, and have it on the lap top. But I'm afraid until you get another letter I won't be of much help."

"You can profile for us. You can teach us about these people and what more we should expect. You can help us determine likely targets. Isa, there is a lot you can do. Please stay. You have been there in those mountains, you know the people, you know the religion and you know how to fight them. You killed public enemy #1. We need you to help us." Don was desperate to have her stay and help and could not understand her reluctance.

"Can I have a moment with Colby, please?"

Don looked between the two lovers not understanding at all what was going on. "Yeah, ok. We'll take a 15 minute break. Is that good?"

Colby never took his eyes off of Isabella but said thank you to Don, as the couple walked into one of the fishbowl conference rooms. Isabella asked him to close the blinds so they could talk. Once the blinds were closed, Isabella started to talk. "Colby, I'm pregnant." Never one to mince words, her directness took him back.

"That is why you are so reluctant in there. You are scared for our baby and are afraid this stress might hurt it."

"Yes, exactly. First of all, are you happy or not happy?"

"Oh, Bella, I am so sorry. Of course I am thrilled. We are going to be parents. I could not be any happier."

"Ok, that is better. If I do this I can't work 20 hour days like I have in the past, and I can't be a shooter, and I can't be up close in any fighting at all. It is too dangerous."

"I already told Don he could not use you as a sniper. We'll just have to insist on the rest too."

"If we think this guy was up in the mountains, we should bring Gifford in. He's the best, and he knows these people and their tactics. He just doesn't know all the languages like I do, and he doesn't know LA."

"This is your Lt. Col.?"

"Not my Lt. Col. Colby. But he can carry some of the load for me. He can be temporarily assigned here very quickly. He reports to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this issue. He is who we need here. And Colby, for Christ sake, don't start a pissing match. I am engaged to you and pregnant with your child. You are stuck like glue to me."

He took her in his arms, laughing lightly into her hair, "No place I'd rather be, baby."

She enjoyed a minute or so of the feel of him, she felt so safe when his arms were around her, she inhaled the smell of his slightly spicy scent. Then she pushed him away gently. "Better go get Don, we need to bring him up to speed. I'll meet you back here. I have to go throw up again. This whole pregnancy thing better be worth it in the end."