Acceptable Risk

Chapter 15

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Omar bin Laden/Dr. Tony Mandell stared wildly at Emily as he held onto Mei-Lin tightly, "Yes INTERPOL! I am his brother…well, half brother. Our mothers are not the same but it doesn't matter, they're all whores who gladly gave themselves to our father." He smiled. "I was brought up in the same home as Osama and we loved each other. He taught me much. Until father decided to he wanted to seek other 'comforts'. We were not enough for him…so many brothers and sisters…so many mouths to feed. His legacy, he claimed." He waved his gun about as he lashed his anger out. "But my dear brother and I, we saw what we had to do to provide for the good of our family…and the country. Our beliefs in Allah is parallel. Osama is a brilliant leader, he saw the future but our father became soft as he got old. We had to get rid of him.

"We began to build a big army…none of which we can even begin to imagine…They believe our future, their children believe in our future. We will conquer and we will overcome the infidels." He turned to stare at Hotch and Reid, "You Americans will pay ten folds for what you did to my brother! Your country does not know the consequences yet." He turned to Emily, "You INTERPOL, hand me my SEIS, my nuclear program."

"If I do that, will you release her?" Emily pointed to Mei-Lin.

Omar shook his head, "Of course not, she is to be my first wife. We are to be married after all." He tightened his hold for emphasis.

Mei-Lin whimpered.

"Don't worry, my pet." Omar soothed her. "As my first wife, you shall have everything you desire…jewelry, money, dresses…as long as you give me children…sons, many sons."

"What about my money? You promise me my money, Omar!" Harold glared at him.

Omar turned to Harold and sneered, "But Harold, you have not delivered the nuclear program as you have promised me."

Harold shook his head, "I have…it's here…she has it!" He pointed at Mei-Lin. "She has the program in her!"

Omar shook his head, "You are wrong, Mei does not have it, I know." He raised the gun and shot Harold in his head. "You have failed me, Harold…this is your price for failure."

Mei-Lin began to scream and struggle against him, "I'm not going to give you anything…you disgusting jerk! Let go of me!" She continued to struggle.

He laughed at her as he held on tight, "You are my chosen wife, Mei-Lin. I love you."

"…No…she's not!" Reid spoke out. They turned to him. "She's…uh, she's no longer yours."

"Reid…" Emily glared at him. "What are you doing?"

"Trust me, Emily." He turned back to Omar. "She said she no longer loves you. You have betrayed her father and what she held most dear to her heart is now lost to her, you are lost to her. Do you still want a woman who no longer holds you in that regard?"

Omar looked down at her, "Is this true, Mei?"

She stared at Reid who silently nodded at her, she then nodded, "Yes, yes, you took my father, Tony. You told me once that your parent is the most dearest and highly regarded person in your life and someone killed him and that you swore revenge on him. It's your older brother who killed him!" Mei-Lin continued, "I don't understand why. You and your brother betrayed your own father. And now, you've taken my father. Please Tony, I love him. Please return my father to me."

Bin Laden watched her for a moment before he shook his head, "No Mei, the decision is made. Your father's fate has been decided, Allah will take care of him. My people have begun the hajj. They have taken him along the journey of Abraham, and he will take the pilgrimage…"

"NO!" Mei-Lin screamed as she to struggle again.

Two shots rang out and hit Omar in between his eyes and he fell back, taking Mei-Lin with him as he lay dead on the floor.

Reid turned beside him and saw Hotch and Emily still holding their guns up, they had just killed Omar bin Laden. "Ni…Nice…shootings…guys." Reid uttered before he rushed forward to where Mei-Lin was struggling to free herself from Omar.

Emily shrugged as they lowered their guns, "He was quite long-winded, I was getting tire of him."

Hotch shook his head, "Em…that was not funny at all."

She looked at him and smiled, "Come on Hotch, it is."

He moved close to her and touched her arm, "All right, it was a little…after we had contained the situation." He turned to watch Reid hugged Mei-Lin close to him. "And no one has gotten seriously hurt."

Emily nodded as she made her way to Mei-Lin and Reid, "Hey, Mei-Mei you okay?"

The young lady nodded as she turned her face to Emily, "Yes, Emily…but my father…he's still missing."

"Don't worry, we'll find him."

Mei-Lin frowned, "How?"

"Did you not hear what that scumbag said? Your father is with a group of people making their way to the pilgrimage to Mecca. I'm going there."

"I want to go too." She straightened.

Emily shook her head, "Sorry kiddo, you're not allowed. Clyde's orders, remember? You have other …stuff to do. But I can assure you… I'll not come back till I find your dad."

Mei-Lin rushed to hug Emily, "Oh! Thank you, Emily! Thank you so much!"

Choked up in tears, "Hey, hey…let's not get too teary. How about we get out of this dreary place." She looked away from Mei-Lin but Hotch and Reid saw tears in Emily's eyes.

…

Outside Vauxhall, Hotch stood beside Emily, "This pilgrimage, you're sure you'll find Mei-Lin's father?"

Emily nodded, "And the fourth cell."

Hotch arched his brow, "A moving cell…that's an unusual and interesting concept."

She nodded, "It's not actually, Clyde and I found one before when we intercepted the crate. The cell was moving along with it."

Hotch almost lost it, "You mean you and Easter cleaned them… by yourselves?"

She shrugged and held him, "Hotch, we were not entirely alone, there was a team with us. Trust me, we would never place ourselves in danger."

Placated, he nodded, "How long will you be gone?"

"As long as it takes to find him but first we have to gather some intel, I've relayed the message to Clyde."

He nodded. "You'll let me know?"

"Of course…I'm not going to sneak off in the middle of the night." She gave him an odd look.

He caught it. "Emily…" He warned her.

She chuckled, "What?" She shook her head. "Okay, I might have to…we won't have any warnings. And…and …" She took a deep breath. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I'll have my team pass on a message to you." She held up a hand. "Which is against INTERPOL protocol, mind you."

"I feel privileged."

"You should be." She smiled widely.

"Okay guys," MI-5, Lucas North stood before them. "We found the boxes." Lucas waved at the black box. "Thanks to the tag." He then looked at Emily and Hotch, "Oh, did I walk into a bad and awkward moment?"

Emily shook her head, "Not at all, Lucas."

"Yes, North." Hotch glared at him.

Lucas raised his brow, "Lovers' quarrel? But I thought you were?"

"Butt out, will you, North?" Hotch asked rudely.

"Hotch!" Emily glared at him in surprise but she laughed, "Hold it, Lucas, don't mind him, he's jealous…"

"I'm not…"

"Yes, you are, Hotch."

Lucas held his hand out, "Stop you two. I'm not getting in between. But I have to ask."

Emily nodded.

"Why do you keep calling him Hotch? I thought his name is Aaron?"

Emily turned to Hotch and grinned, "Because he's Hotch." She shrugged. "I'm much more comfortable calling him that than his given name."

Lucas shook his head, "I don't understand Emily, you call me by my name but with him, you call him Hotch. Well, good luck, Hotchner." He held his hand out to Hotch. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

Hotch smiled, "The pleasure is mine, North. Take care."

Lucas turned to Emily, "As for you Emily, it's good working with you. Harry will be ad interim Head of MI-6 until Parliament votes on a new leader. I have to return to the GRID, there's much to do. Until then, we still have a dinner date." He gave them a nod before he left them.

Hotch shook his head, "Not a chance." He muttered.

"What?"

He stared at her, "You are not going on a date with him." He pointed.

"Oh, come on, Hotch…trust me, will you?"She laughed. "He's harmless."

He snorted. "Yeah, so was Jack the Ripper."

Emily began to laugh, "Fine…I'll not go out on a date with him."

"Hey, Hotch!" Reid walked towards them with Mei-Lin in tow. "Guess what?"

Emily and Hotch exchanged smiles, "What, genius?"

Reid hesitated, "Hotch…"

Hotch shook his head; he saw Reid's expression. "Oh no, Reid. You're not staying here. You're coming back home with me. JJ called and we have a case."

Reid frowned, "But you guys can do without me for a few more days."

Again, Hotch shook his head, "Back me up will you, Emily?"

Emily nodded, "Mei-Lin, you do have work at the –POL."

Mei-Lin sighed, "You're right. I do…"

"I can help her…like before." Reid jumped in.

Mei-Lin shook her head, "No Spencer. The work I'm doing, it's top secret and only for INTERPOL eyes." She gave him a forlorn look.

"I understand." Reid said with deflated tones.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Oh for heaven's sake…will you stop this Romeo and Juliet crap?" She waved at them. "Seriously? You can still talk to her via Skype, phone, internet…etc." She shook her head as she began to walk away from them and headed to her vehicle. "I'm hungry…anyone for lunch?"

Hotch joined her, "You're always hungry but luckily, so am I."

Reid and Mei-Lin nodded as well, "We are too!"

Tomas suddenly came running, "Boss! Hey boss! Wait up!"

Emily paused as she turned to face her team, "What now?"

Tomas skidded to a stop right in front of her, "I have to go…! It's my Josie! She's on her way to the hospital!"

Emily frowned, "What? But she's not due for another month."

Tomas nodded, "I know, something's not right…" His face was pale.

Emily nodded, "Go…go…I'll meet you at the hospital." She looked up at Lt. Canter, "You drive him to the hospital. NOW!"

He saluted her, "Yes boss!" They ran off to their vehicle.

Hotch watched her, "Let's go, Emily."

Emily nodded, "It's too early…the baby…it's not time yet…"

Reid and Mei-Lin immediately hopped into the back of the car.

Hotch held onto her hand, "It'll be okay, Em. Have faith."

Emily looked at Hotch before she started the ignition, "I have faith, Hotch. I only hope the baby is okay…they've come too far. Tomas and Josie…she's suffered three miscarriages already and this is the furthest she has carried this baby." With tears in her eyes, she drove towards the hospital.

On the way to the hospital, Emily received a call from Clyde Easter; INTERPOL received a message from their counter-part in the Middle-East, they had located the group traveling with Mei-Lin's father and they were headed towards Mount Ararat in Turkey.

….

End of Chapter 15