Two Lonely Souls

Chapter 11

Regrets and No Regrets

Don began the debrief. He was tired, as he often was, but this time he seemed like he wasn't sleeping, was beaten down even. He started with the first letter, the working hypothesis, the profile that Isabella had started. He handed out copies of the letter and her translation. All the guys on the Ops team could speak Arabic to varying degrees, but none knew the different dialects like Isabella. Tommy, speaking for the team, concurred with the profile they had built to date.

The group then talked about the visits to the Imans across the city, how Isabella had worn wealthy and appropriate attire as a woman to meet with the Iman of the various mosques. Don and Colby had been her FBI cover but remained in the far background because she claimed they screamed 'FBI', but that Cole stayed immediately with her everywhere they went. She insisted on taking her car and not one of the bureau's cars because these people tended to fear the government and the FBI and would not cooperate. The Iman that seemed to have the right information and suggested the right guy might have just joined his mosque was killed by having his throat slit this morning.

Tommy interrupted here. "So it was Bella's plan to use her car to conduct these interviews?"

"Yeah, that's right. Obviously, with a bomb planted this morning in her car that was a bad call. And I own that. I know you are pissed off Gifford. I would be too if I was as attached to Isa as you clearly are. She was right about the bureau cars, but we could have gotten her something anonymous and still expensive for her to be driven around in. I fucked up. And now our would-be terrorist is also a would- be stalker."

"So while you are rightly beating yourself up, Eppes, let me share something Bella and I learned together over the last several adventures together. She is an amazing strategist. She is amazing at practically everything she does. But what she does not do well is the details. The strategy of visiting the mosques and enlisting their help was sound, as was her approach of being beautiful, yet respecting their customs, language, and dress. Perfect, right on target. I bet you got better than positive response across the board." Don and Colby both nodded yes. "So her strategy was perfect. She set the right plan, the right questions, and the right tone to the visits. It's that fucking detail of being able to identify the car that screwed it up. When Bella comes up with a plan, it is almost always perfect. And I only say almost always because she can't always be right so someday she will screw it up. Let's hope that happens in the classroom and not in the war game world. She and I are both strategists, and I can't tell you the numbers of heated, quietly heated…" One of the Ops guys interrupted "and not so quietly sometimes…" Tommy frowned at him and continued "arguments about strategy. But the difference is I can do the detail too. You need to find the one of you who can do the details and then do them. No more license plate errors. That was just plain dumb, something that never would have occurred to her, and should have occurred to the detail guy. Eppes, you are not the detail guy, I can tell you are the big picture guy. Someone else has to be the details."

Cole spoke up, "I can be that guy. I'm her body guard. When I was in Iraq I was the detail planner, when I was back in the states, not that I'm admitting to anything, that took detail planning."

"You don't have the clearance, Porter."

"She can give me the clearance temporarily just for this op."

"He's right, I can."

"Let me think about it. Today the Iman who seemed to be the best possible resource was killed, the bomb was planted in the car, which only because of Porter's detail orientation was even thought of, and we received a second letter. We continued building on our profile and determined that this guy has split targets now. He clearly is obsessed on Isabella, his discussion of her is sickening, and it isn't even overtly sexual. He also still alludes to another target, but we have no idea what it is."

Tommy spoke up again, "With these guys it would not be overtly sexual. Sex in this cultural is strictly driven by the male, women are simply objects. He himself is probably a virgin since premarital sex is worth being stoned to death. He may want Bella, and expect to have sex with her, but he will rape and kill her on US soil, obviously before carrying out his other threat. This building is a fortress and this Penthouse is a fortress within a fortress, complete with a panic room. Until this guy realizes he cannot get to her, his attention will be off of his primary target. We need to identify the cell. First and foremost, Bella stays in this Penthouse."

Colby spoke up in his quiet way, "Couple of things, 1) we do not use Bella as bait, and 2) the cell is bound to operate near the mosque they are connected to. That is the most common modus operandi."

Tommy concurred immediately. "We start to focus on the location of the cell. We brought imaging software that will allow us to track the cell. With the Patriot Act we can wire tap specific homes and cell phones of the most likely candidates"

Charlie immediately spoke up, "I can get a map of the area immediately surrounding the mosque, and combined with the intelligence your team discovers going through the neighborhood, I can make a model that can determine the most likely candidates and houses. Amita and I can also start to determine what the most likely larger target is, water, sports games, etc. Every letter he gives us a little bit more information. We can see what we can come up with."

Tommy looked at him skeptically, "You can do all that? With math?"

The LA team, including Porter and Isabella laughed, "Gifford, you would be amazed at what Charlie can do with math. And when he gets an answer, it is the right answer."

"Should have had you with us in Afghanistan." The Ops team laughed.

"I think the US is best served with Charlie on this side of the world. I'm pretty sure he would not have suffered sleeping under the stars in below freezing weather with rotating guard shifts every few hours."

"No, I would not like that at all. Isa, I'm surprised you could stand it."

"It wasn't all bad. I had all these cute guys to snuggle with."

The Ops guys laughed at that too. They were polite enough to not mention she snuggled in particular with one of the guys. Tommy spoke up, deep admiration in his voice, "She carried her own weight the entire way, and we virtually never heard a complaint. She was amazing. Especially given the wealth and privilege she comes from."

The room looked at Isabella in awe, never really considering the hardship and ever present danger she was in all the time. Colby cracked a sly joke about how she is a cleanliness freak now who has to have two showers a day. She elbowed him in the ribs. "You get some benefits from that habit too, Colby. Don't knock it too bad."

Isabella stood up, "Hey guys I am so glad you are here. I'm really exhausted and do not feel so good. I'm going to retire. I think between all of you have all the bases covered. Colby, in a little while can you come up and tuck me in. I know you will want to return back here soon. Good night, I am so glad you are here." She leaned over and gave Tommy a soft kiss and a pat on his jean clad leg. She then leaned over to Colby and kissed him with a slight touch of tongue, then turned and left the room stopping to get ice water. She really did look pale. After a half an hour Colby followed her up, knowing that was enough time for her to shower and get in bed.

He found her doubled over the toilet throwing up in the trashcan while she bled considerably in the toilet. As soon as Colby saw the amount of blood he knew she had miscarried. She was still dressed and had apparently fallen into bed that way. There was blood all over the bed sheets, which must have woken her up, and her clothes were bloody as well. She had kicked off her jeans and panties which were soaked through.

"Oh, baby. I am so sorry. Are you in any pain?"

"Just very bad cramps. Can you turn on my heating pad and get me a Tylenol 3? Then I am going to shower and get into some pajamas. Can you bring me a drink of Belvenie just the way I like it? You should probably bring the bottle and some ice. And ask Amita to come up. You'll be needed downstairs. This is over Colby. I am so sorry. I should have taken it easier. Then maybe…"

"Hey, Bella. I read up on this after you got pregnant. Most miscarriages occur about this time and it has nothing to do with anything you did or didn't do. There was something wrong with the baby's formation probably. We'll try again when it is a better time. I'll go get Amita."

"Ok, you'll have to tell everyone. I hope Amita won't mind hanging out with me till you are done. I'm going to take a shower."

Not long after, she walked into her room and Amita had already changed to bloody sheets and was waiting for her. "I am so sorry Isa."

"Thank you."

"You know, I had a miscarriage. Charlie doesn't even know. It is truly terrible, especially after you start planning in your head everything you want do."

"Exactly. Can we watch TV? I don't really want to talk about it. Have you been watching TrueBood on HBO? Let's watch that, if you can stand vampires, shape shifters, and really wild sex usually featuring this guy with the whole package."

"Oh I could definitely stand to watch that. Geeks just don't have it. You are so lucky having Colby. He is built and probably well endowed too." Amita asked suggestively.

"Girlfriend, you have no idea. And he can go several times a night at that."

"It looks like you could have Tommy Gifford if you wanted as well."

"Yeah, but I doubt they would share very well. Colby is very alpha but plays it down after the Chinese incident. He doesn't want anyone to feel threatened. But Tommy…. He is major super alpha. And he is in love with me. What we want from our lives is too different, but I will always wonder, but without regrets, at least most of the time." She laughed and started the show.

When Colby and Charlie came in hours later, Amita was fast asleep with her head against the pillows while Isabella head was lying in Amita's lap. Charlie gently woke Amita up while Colby repositioned Isabella to a more comfortable position. She called his name in her sleep but never actually woke up. He was glad that she called his name and not Tommy Gifford. Having Gifford around was going to be very tough.