Two Lonely Souls

Chapter 10

Two Teams Collide

True to her word, Lt. Tommy Gifford's team left Washington DC for LA within two hours of her and Don's conversation. After updating her father who was incensed that she was involved at all, thrilled she was pregnant, and terrified for her safety, he immediately dispatched the team to LA. The General then took on the task of talking with Denny at the FBI to work the situation out. Denny of course shared the General's viewpoint where Isa was concerned, but was concerned about the precedent this might set. He did have FBI personnel who could help, but none that actually had experience working with terrorists from that specific part of the world. Don's team had worked on several terrorism cases, probably even more than any of his other teams and were already in place, so the plan did make sense. It would of course, since most of Isa's plans did.

Don and David took two SUV's to the private airport outside of the city to pick up the Special Forces unit. They came prepared for everything and anything that might be thrown their way. The equipment was loading into the trucks, introductions made, and the two vehicles headed off to Isabella's penthouse.

During the course of the day, the team moved the war room to the main area of the Penthouse, setting up secure lines and sweeping for bugs, securing the premises, getting her wide screen plasma set to accept computer input. Cole also ordered for immediate delivery a new fully loaded armored Mercedes S500 complete with bullet proof glass. Isabelle always laughed at that since there really wasn't such a thing as bullet proof glass, just bullet resistant. They paid cash, over MSRP to get it within two days. Cash talks, and in LA, one would be amazed at what one can get on short notice. Rosa cooked most of the day preparing for an influx of men to be living there for several days at least, maybe longer. She got rooms prepared and all the pull-out beds as well. The Penthouse was large enough that they would be able to accommodate the team of 6, plus Isabelle and Colby. And with Don's team eating many of their meals there as well, they would all still be very comfortable. Rosa was completely in her element. While Isabella wouldn't know how to begin to prepare for this sort of influx, Rosa was completely organized and everything was under control.

Isabella felt out-of-sorts and irritable all day. She snapped at people uncharacteristically. She thought she should be thrilled that her friends would be arriving soon, but she was more tired than anything. She apologized to everyone for her grouchiness and excused herself to her room for a shower and nap. The few people in the Penthouse attributed her irritation to the threats surrounding her and the close call this morning. She was on the phone with her lawyer in her private office quite a bit, as well as trying to rebuild a course curriculum that had been decimated by her other work.

She took a long relaxing shower, combed her hair out so it would be dried and perfect when she woke up, pulled on one of Colby's polo shirts and climbed into her bed. She fell asleep almost instantly. Colby woke her three hours later, suggesting she might want to get up since her friends would be arriving in about half an hour. Her eyes popped open at that and she started to rush to get dressed. She really was excited to see them again. Most had been out months ago when she was in the hospital, but not all had been able to so she would see them all again as a team! Colby kissed her gently and left to go back to the work he had been at most of the day, finding the letter writer. It was like finding a needle in a haystack.

When she was ready she walked out of their room and went downstairs. She had on low rider jeans that fit nicely on her still almost flat stomach, a black turtle neck, sleeveless silk blouse that came to just above her waist leaving a strip of skin at her waist showing. Her black hair hung loose and slightly curly down her back. Her eyes were done heavily as were her lips, and the rest of her just looked naturally tan and slightly blushed. Colby and Cole both were open mouthed when they turned around as she greeted them.

Colby gave her big grin and got up to hug her, "Wow! You clean up nice after a grumpy day. You excited about seeing your friends again?"

"Very much so. I lived with them every day for months, I miss them terribly. Now Colby, please don't go all Neanderthal on me tonight, ok? I am very very close to some of the guys, especially Tommy. If I lived back east and wanted the politician's life, things might be different for him and me. But I am engaged to you Colby, I love you, and I am having YOUR baby. So let me have my closeness without having a pissing match with my second most favorite man in the world. Please?"

"I love you very much Bella. And I respect the role these men, especially Gifford, have played in your life. I will be the bigger man, and I will take the high road here. I will control my jealousy, but I can't promise I won't be jealous. Will that work for you?"

"You are perfect." And she kissed him thoroughly, reminding him why he loved her like he did.

Cole snorted, "You two are nauseating. They are on their way up now. Get rid of the lipstick Granger."

"There is no lipstick Cole, this stuff is like paint. It doesn't come off. Baby, you're fine. Let's go greet our guests."

Isabella had already opened the door when the elevator dinged. They were coming up in two batches because of all the gear. David and his group came up first and 'Bella' as the Ops team called her ran to them giving each a big hug and kiss, welcoming them to her home. Cole's sisters even peaked out of their doorway to get a glimpse of the legendary Ops team and to see how cute they were. Isabella had told them about each one of them and what good men they were. They unloaded the elevator sending it back down and everyone either were introduced or reintroduced from meeting at the hospital. Cole sent his sisters scampering back inside and told them to stay there. They had no business here. They just laughed at him and returned to their apartment. All the equipment was placed in the library for the time being since it was on the first floor. Colby showed the guys where that was, while they practically fell over themselves at the luxury that surrounded them. Isabella waited anxiously for the next elevator to release its contents, which soon disembarked much to her delight. Don tiredly led the rest of the guys to the Penthouse along with the extensive gear they had brought. Everyone had duffle bags and equipment, and everyone looked tired. But the sight of Isabella, their patron saint of sorts, revived even the most exhausted. She gave them each a hug and kiss as she had the others, but Tommy had waited until last, just as she had known he would. Colby, being the kind and secure man that he was, showed everyone where they were stashing things for now, leaving Tommy and Isabella a moment alone. The hallway was empty as Isabella walked up to the gigantic man who had saved her life so many times. Who loved her, and who she loved as well. But theirs was a love not meant to be, so they kept it a very close friendship. He dropped the bags he was carrying as she all but ran towards him throwing herself into his welcoming arms, wrapping hers around his neck. They hugged each other closely, and she kissed him gently on the lips.

"I am so glad you are here, Tommy. I've missed you so much. And I'm afraid I made one of those detail errors I am prone to and gotten myself in loads of trouble. I need you to get me out once again I'm afraid." She gave him a teary-eyed smile as he released her to the ground gently.

"I got the summary from Don on the way in." He picked up the two bags and started walking her towards the door. As she opened the door he was telling her, "Bella you are one of the best strategists I have ever seen. But you suck at the details. This time, just like every other time, could have gotten you killed. You need a detail guy with you all the time. Otherwise, you get dead." Tommy was teasing her at the beginning, but as his fear for her safety became greater, his frustration came through.

She looked at him and knew he wasn't mad at her, but maybe mad at the people who surrounded her for not catching a little detail like a license plate number. It had fucked her life up royally, and it may never be the same. "I know baby. Tommy, I'm sorry."

Colby had heard most of the conversation and walked up to greet Tommy. Tommy of course visited Bella in the hospital and could tell that Colby and Isabella would end up together if he wasn't there to keep them apart, which of course he couldn't be. So here they were. Both men were falsely cordial to each other, trying to keep the tension to a minimum for Bella's sake. "Granger, good to see you again. I understand congratulations are in order, on two counts. You too Bella. Best wishes on your pregnancy." She noticed the engagement was not greeted with an endorsement of any kind. She couldn't blame him and it hurt her as much as it did him.

She smiled at him through her tears, while Colby thanked him, took one of the bags and led him to the library. Shortly afterwards, Charlie and Amita showed up and Don, thank goodness, made the introductions.

Isabella spoke up then, "I want to welcome all of you to my home, some for the first time. I thought our new arrivals would like to take their bags, not the equipment unless you feel the need, to your rooms. We have more than enough beds for all of you, but some will be sleeping on sofa beds, but anything has got to be better than hard snowy ground in a sleeping bag." Most of the room laughed. "I'll let Rosa show you to the different rooms and then you guys can work it out among yourselves as to who gets what. If you want to share there are a couple kings, most are queens, including the pull-outs. All the rooms have full baths, and depending on the room may also have a pool table, library, gym, etc. All the guest rooms have televisions. I thought we'd give you guys a bit to clean up if you want, eat some dinner, and then we would get down to business."

Isabella's plan was met with enthusiasm. Soon the Ops folks were dispersed to their rooms with their duffle bags. She heard showers running sporadically and randomly wondered if the guys had developed the same cleanliness fetish she had. Everyone left had a beer or a drink and talked quietly for a bit. Isabella and Amita helped Rosa get the food prepared and ready to be served. Rosa had already set the table for the large group earlier. They were having lasagna, wedge salads, cheesecakes for dessert and wine and water for dinner.

The guests all returned, everyone in fresh shirts and feeling much refreshed. Dinner was inhaled by most of the guys. She was sure most of the Ops guys were living at the BOQ or in apartments off base where their sustenance came from take out. Dinner conversation was spent learning about each other, what clearances everyone had so they could know what they could discuss, that sort of thing. Everyone on the LA team, and the Ops team were surprised when Colby said what his clearance was. Due to some of his previous operations, like being a double agent and almost dying at the hands of a DOJ mole, he had a very high clearance, even higher than Don. Don was even surprised. Everyone knew that Charlie had a very high clearance as well. Isabella didn't say anything and finally Don just asked. "Isa, you haven't said what your clearance is yet. We just assumed you had Secret or higher."

"Oh I do."

"And what is it?"

"Why is it so important to know? We can only go to Top Secret need to know given who we have at the table. Why do you need to know mine?"

Charlie spoke up, "I'm just curious. You have a special badge up there in your safe that allows you into pretty much any governmental facility you want. You can make a single phone call and have an entire Special Forces team, the one you wanted, delivered to your door a few hours later. You have a code name that if it is even whispered people pale. What and who are you?"

Isabella looked first at Tommy and then at Colby, who knew the information he was questioning, but just by their looks, they did not think she should tell. "You know Charlie, everyone, surmise all you want. But all anyone at this table needs to know is that I am a Professor at CalSci who teaches literature, languages, and religion, none of which I have been teaching much lately. I nominally run a foundation to help starving children around the world. By nominally, I mean it is my money and I make all the final decisions, but all the work is done by a truly dedicated staff. You already know all of that. You also know from the bank robbery and whatever rumors you may have heard that I am very dangerous. I did not get that badge you refer to because of my relationship with my father or my uncle. I got it because of who and what I am. You should also know my Godfather is a very dangerous man, and would kill someone for breaking my fingernail, much less breaking my heart or hurting me in any other way. I make more money in a day than everyone at this table combined makes in a year. And I give most of that money away. More than that really is need to know, and if you don't know it already, you really truly do not need to know. Now shall we retire to the living area to begin our debrief?"

Isabella got up from the table removing her dishes while Colby and Tommy did the same. Everyone else sat a little stunned, and then the other Ops guys who didn't know everything about Bella, but seemed to know a lot more than she was willing to reveal, joined the others in clearing the table. Finally Amita, kicking Don and Charlie to get them moving also started clearing the dishes. Soon the dishes were cleared and everyone took a comfortable place in the giant living room.