Two Lonely Souls
Chapters 15
The evening teams headed out to relieve the daytime teams. Tommy and Don had been receiving information throughout the day, including photographs and dialogue from inside and outside the houses. The photos were being processed at FBI headquarters looking for matches to the terrorist watch list. The day teams came in hungry and tired, but thrilled with the progress that had been made so far on the clues. Everyone agreed it made good sense.
On a second white board, Isabella began her transcription of the latest letter. It was a simple Arabic dialect and Tommy was helping her. She was doing the transcription and he would write down the words. They were unintentionally standing comfortably close talking together about the letter. She was dictating to him and then changing some of the words slightly but he never got frustrated with the changes. It was a difficult language on a good day, trying to read it backwards, keep the context and meaning, and flip it around so everyone else could follow was tough. All eyes were on the whiteboard and the team putting the transcription up there, especially Colby's. Isabella had greeted him pleasantly, welcomed him home, and then turned back to the white board with Tommy.
After the guys had eaten and cleaned up, Don and Tommy started to debrief. The men in the houses mostly kept to themselves, rarely leaving the house just to go to the grocery store or hardware store. They did manage to get photographs of all the inhabitants, and had sent them to the FBI lab for processing. They would call Don when they found something.
Don then asked Isa to go over the results of the newest letter and then review the clues from yesterday.
"So this time our guy gave us even more clues. I'm not a full-up trained profiler, but I think this guy is trying to stop this without getting his own head chopped off. Interestingly, he leaves poems, slight war history, and again refers to Tristan and Isolde. The poem is a prayer from the ancient Druids, part of the Celtic heritage. The prayer is something like this…
Eternity's Loom
Orchil, the dim goddess who is under the
brown earth, in a vast cavern, where she
weaves at two looms. With one hand she
weaves life upward through the grass; with
the other she weaves death downward through
the mould; and the sound of the weaving is
Eternity, and the name of it in the green
world is Time. And, through all, Orchil
weaves the weft of Eternal Beauty, that
passeth not, through her soul is Change.
-- Fiona MacLeod Iona
He refers to the two looms… up towards life, down towards death, Eternity, Time, Beauty and Change are also mentioned, although I have no idea what he might mean by it. Beauty and Change are linked in this prayer. Here in this part of the letter he refers to the battles that were fought only during the spring and summer, again, a tradition of the Celts to fight over sheep of all things only during the spring and summer. The story goes that the warriors would yell and scream and sharpen their swords, get drunk, and then see who could scare the other side the most. (laughter) I'm serious, a sign of a culture with way too much testosterone. The winner would get sheep, gold, and slaves. No wonder the Romans considered them barbaric."
"The last of his major points includes Tristan and Isolde again. This guy really likes his ancient British myths. He refers more specifically to the fact that Isolde comes from the Celtic lands, probably Scotland or Ireland, and Tristan comes from Cornwall. Again, another Celtic reference."
David spoke up from the back of the room. "Looking at your other board, Isa, you're thinking the Lakers? The Lakers play the Celtics this weekend, Saturday night. They are archrivals. It will be sold out crowd, twenty thousand of people."
Don looked at Charlie. "What are the odds all these little bits of information would add up to something else?"
"It would be a statistical impossibility. Yeah, he could be misleading us, but to a literature or history major, the answer given the information he has provided is pretty clear cut. We still don't know what they are planning to use."
Don's phone rang and all conversation, even all movement stopped.
"Eppes."
"Five of the 12 men are on the watchlist? You already got the warrant? All three houses? Yeah, thanks. Get SWAT dispatched. We'll meet them there. I have tactical. Tell them to hold back till we get there. And go in with masks. Yeah, thanks a lot man."
"Suit up guys, full gear. We have some heavy shit in those three houses. Three teams of five, plus SWAT."
The men had immediately gone silent getting on the heavy duty gear. Charlie, Amita, Cole, and Isabella would stay behind. Everyone else was going, and it was very dangerous.
Isabella went to find Colby who was up in their room getting his equipment on. "Colby."
"I can't now Bella. I don't really know what is up with us, and I'm about to walk into something I need to have my mind on completely. So, please. Just let it go for now."
Isabella sighed. "You continually underestimate me Colby. I know where your mind needs to be. I just wanted to ask you to stay safe. Be careful Colby." She kissed him gently and turned and walked away. Colby thought it interesting as to what she said as much as what she didn't. He shook his head sadly and finished gearing up.
When he left their room he wasn't surprised to see her standing beside Tommy Gifford, talking seriously with him. They were so in love and would not cross that line whether because of him or their own strict code, even he could see they were perfect for each other. Gifford was a good man, hell an amazing man, more than worthy of an amazing woman like Isabella.
Bella was talking with an already suited up Tommy Gifford. Their conversation was separate from others and whispered anyway. "Tommy, please be careful. We still have a lot to cover. You can't die before we ever find out what it would be like. Be safe baby." And she turned and left him to return to Don. He had asked to talk with her before they left.
"Isa, it's none of my business but this is not the time to fuck with their heads. You already manage that every time you walk in a room. Just stop, I don't want to hear it. I know you don't mean to and it just is what is. What I wanted to talk to you about is security while we are gone. I know you have a small army downstairs, but just in case this is a ruse to get all of us out of the building, I need you to arm yourself and protect you, Charlie, and Amita. Do you understand?"
"Got it. I'll get armed now, before you leave. Don, be careful. Bring them home safe."
"Yeah, ok."
Before all the guys left, she came down from the panic room wearing a double holster for her Sigs and a couple of knives. They were lined up, a couple of guys downstairs checking for bombs, waiting for the all clear. She smiled at them all. "Everyone comes home, right? I think I need a bigger Penthouse though if you are all going to be living here." The guys laughed easily. This was, for the most part, an easy and routine thing given that more than half the guys did things much more dangerous than this. Tommy was standing nearby and leaned into her, whispering in her ear. "It's going to be a long night. Set the alarm. Someone will call you when it's over. Stay alert in case this is a hit on you. We've already let the guards downstairs know they need to be on super alert. Cole will be here with you too. You be safe too baby."
And with that, the guys all left the Penthouse and disappeared down the elevator. It seemed suddenly deafeningly quiet and the usually overloaded Penthouse seemed utterly empty. Charlie, Amita, Cole, and Isabella just looked around trying to swallow their fear of the unknown and what their friends were going to face.