Acceptable Risk -
.Chapter 6.
Emily opened her briefcase and handed Hotch the notes she made the previous evening and said, "Here are the notes. I need to make a few phone calls and I'll help you with the rest of the manifestoes, we still need to identify the first location…actually pinpoint would be a more apt word.
Hotch nodded as he picked up her notes. "Do you want some privacy?"
She shook her head, "Stay. It's not private or anything."
He nodded and began reading.
Emily picking a message and the phone began dialing for the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Nigel Paige.
"Hey Nigel, it's Emily." She greeted with familiarity.
As one sided conversation went, Hotch tried not to listen but contrary to what she said earlier, it was almost a personal conversation that Hotch felt uncomfortable being here reluctantly listening. Then he realized the man on the other end was trying to flirt with her. A jealous flair came within him but he quickly quelled it; she was not his - this trip was a business trip. He was here to help a former colleague - that was all. Stay professional.
Bull shit, Aaron! You tried to kiss her last evening! You sly bastard! Were it not for her rejection you'd be humping her, too! You ass!
Stay focus on the papers.
"Work, Nigel. Yes! I have guests over from America," Emily said. "No. Friends from the uh…FBI, my former colleagues…Quit being so nosy Nigel Paige…No, we don't have time for a sit down dinner." Hotch looked up at Emily from his notes and she shook her head at him, she was trying hard to shake her caller off. "Nigel, I have to go. I need to go to a meeting…yes, it started five minutes ago. Yes…yes…you bag of gas. I will. Maybe next week? I promise…Bye Nigel." She quickly pressed end on her cell phone, and took a deep breath.
"Nice friend." Hotch remarked.
"Acquaintance, Hotch, acquaintance." She glared at him. "I was obliged to make an appearance at a function when they had to introduce me to the politico scene. There was no avoiding that bag. His function was more like gathering gossips rather than intelligence."
Hotch was smiling wide at her; he knew she hated politics, "You seemed to be doing very well here in London and it suits you, Emily."
Emily gave him a wry look of utter disbelief, "Hotch, I do believe you're making fun of me, at my expense."
He pulled back as he put his hand to his heart as if she had injured his feelings, "Madam, you wound me severely."
She snorted at him, "Don't." She shook her head, "it doesn't suit you."
He chuckled as Emily joined him soon.
"Seriously," he nodded at the papers. "Let's get back to the business at hand. I think the location is here somewhere in London or nearby. I mean INTERPOL intercepted the shipment enroute to either London or somewhere close by… Wish we have a map hereabout." He muttered.
Emily nodded as she looked over her notes again. Then she turned around in her seat and dimmed the lights in her office and pressed a button under her desk; a map of the United Kingdom lit up on the adjacent wall to their right. They both stood up and began scanning about the map, "This is when I wish Reid is still here." Hotch said.
Emily nodded. "Yeah, he'd found our little green field with the small water…" Emily began to mumble the lines as if she was speaking a mantra until she began to laugh.
Hotch looked at her worriedly, "Emily… are you okay? Should I call for your secretary?" He made to leave the office when Emily grabbed him quickly and shook her head.
"No! I figured it out…or I think I did; pool."
Hotch frowned at her, "Pool? What pool? That's not helping." Then he looked at the notes again, then at the map, then thought for a moment and then nodded. "We were thinking too literal. What about Liverpool It's actually nearby and it makes a lot of sense." As they set the notes down and bent their heads together, they talked excitedly for the next hour as they interpret the notes until she received a phone call from Clyde Easter.
"Hello Clyde, how's Kuala Lumpur?"
Dreadful, darling, the weather is simply playing havoc to my locks.
Emily giggled, "If you'd trimmed those curls of yours, you'll feel a whole lot human."
What? And not have those lovely Malay ladies fawning all over me? Then you'll be jealous. He teased her.
Emily rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Seriously, Clyde. What's going on over there?"
Well, I'm still stuck here for another week; those bloody fools here can't make up their minds on their agreements on the drug trafficking plans. If you ask me, no negotiations.
"You tell them, Clyde. I have Hotch here with me on the Al Qaeda situation."
Oh? Give my best to the old boy, will ya, tell Hotchner I miss him. Emily did not miss the sarcasm in his tone; the last time they worked together, Hotch had threatened him with bodily injury, of course, he was desperate as Emily was missing because she was in Ian Doyle's hands. Their parting was not a friendly one after that.
"Play nice, Clyde, he's here to help me." She warned. Hotch was watching Emily with an arched look.
I am being nice, darling. Okay. Where are you off to?
Emily smiled; nothing could pull over him.
"Liverpool, we suspect a cell exist there. Hotch and I are heading there as soon as we can get a more central address."
Very well, do be careful. I like you in your current position for a long time.
Emily was touched. "Aw, that's the nicest thing you'd said."
Yes, yes, Emily, don't go mushy on me and don't be expecting a bloody Christmas card from me either...
"Are you getting sentimental on me, Clyde?" She teased him further but instead of a reply from him, all she got was a dead tone; he had hung up on her.
With a chuckle, she pressed end on her phone before she set it down on her desk.
Emily put her phone down and went back to their work when she spotted a name on the last file on the manifesto. She picked it up and read the Arabic script and began jotting down the interpretation as fast as she could, trying not to get excited as well. For all she knew, it might be a false trial.
She read it again just to make sure, then log on to her computer and check on the location. Bingo!
"Hotch!" She called to him excitedly and quickly explained that she had found their first lead.
"Saifuddin bin Ahmed. He owns a spice store. His address is…" She read a number and street address."
Hotch smiled widely and said, "Well done, Emily. Now what?"
"We inform INTERPOL, namely my boss and then you and I are going to pay a visit to Mr. bin Ahmed. Once we identify him. INTERPOL will pick him up and take him to a secret location where he will be questioned. INTERPOL SOP."
Hotch nodded, "Standard Operation Procedure. Okay, let's make that phone call."
Emily picked up the phone and proceeded to inform her superiors.
Five minutes later, she and Hotch left her office. Stepping into the INTERPOL bullpen, she looked around for certain agents.
Spotting them, she called out, "Mr. Williams, Mr. Canter. And Mr. Walters, please come with me."
The three men immediately dropped their work and picked up their jackets and followed them out to an unoccupied office.
Emily introduced Hotch to them again, and quickly explained to them their trip and the mission.
When she mentioned Al Qaeda, the men's eyes widened.
"Caw, Ms Emily! Figure with ol' OBL dead and buried at sea, the terrorist threat would be minimal to nonexistent." Mr. Weston Williams, an Irish agent remarked.
Hotch added, "That's where you're wrong, we received terrorist's threats in DC regularly. Our intelligence in the Middle East remained focus and alert at all times."
The men nodded in agreement, they believed what Hotch said.
Emily nodded as well, and smiled gratefully at Hotch.
"So the game plan is this; Hotch and I are going into the store and once we indentify Mr. Ahmed, we'll bring him out, drive him to this adjacent building here," she indicated the building in a picture she showed to the men. "You three will wait for us there. Then we will exchange cars. Target will not be moved from their car until you bring them here into the interrogation cell. Questions?"
The men thought for a moment and then shook their heads; they had done these types of missions many times.
"Let's go." They nodded and left the office.
In the car, Emily drove. Hotch watched his surroundings.
"It's quite a pretty area."
Emily grinned, "Yes it is. I'd take long drive on the weekends to get myself familiarized."
He nodded.
She continued, "And getting lost in the process."
He turned to gaze at her, "Lost?"
She shrugged. "Sometimes, the best way to find the best restaurants is to get lost."
He shook his head but he grinned, "Never figured how you stayed trim…"
She chuckled, "I do run…and exercise, Hotch."
It was his turn to chuckle, "It was a compliment, Prentiss."
"I know. By the way, how's Jack? Did he like his new school?"
The rest of the journey was about Jack.
Halfway towards Liverpool, "Do you know we're being tailed?" Hotch asked her as he looked at the rearview mirror again.
She nodded, "Oh yeah, it's MI-6. Bunch of nosy bastards." She sneered as she shook her head.
"How do you mean?"
"They knew about your arrival at the airport yesterday." She shrugged. "I'm sure they want to know the purpose of your visit."
"And should we give them the courtesy?"
"No."
"No?"
She shook her head. "It's none of their concerns what INTERPOL does and you and Reid are my guests."
"Oh."
"That's right. Really simple."
"I just don't want to create any animosity."
She waved her hand, "No worries, Hotch. We'll let them sweat a bit…or until the situation with the crates become international."
"And will it?"
She shrugged again. "That's why Reid has two days to interpret the books. And we get the puzzles put together before."
Hotch nodded, "Understood."
"Ah, here we are, Liverpool."
"Our first take-down."
She grinned at him, "Just like old times."
He returned her grin, "You're enjoying this too much, Prentiss."
"Am I, Hotch?" She sparkled.
"Like a kid in a candy store."
"Speak for yourself…remember, we're married, are we fighting already?"
He shook his head, "Of course not, my dear, let's go shopping!"
…
End of Chapter 6