Chapter 5:
The Las Vegas Division of the FBI was an enormous concrete structure located on Lake Meade Boulevard. The Guardian's Office was located in the basement. The layout and activity in the office resembled its mortal counter-part in terms of agents speaking with grieving family members at their desks with a box of tissues within reaching distance. Except of course for the files constantly flying through the air and many of the people were dressed in stereotypical wizard attire (there was a special secure entrance for "observant wizards,"). The agents themselves were all dressed in black suites with gold ties with flag pins. Rose explained that there were specific dress codes because it was easier to recognize her agents in the fray and there was an illusion charm involved.
"Welcome to your conference room Dr. Reid" Rose said as she opened the door with a flourish. Reid stared around in awe. The room was huge with a pale-brown undulating map of Las Vegas on the wall in front of him with additional floating boards. On the opposite walls there were file cabinets that opened and closed at random. There was also a pair of young red-headed agents who appeared to be twins sitting at desks near the front.
"Dr. Reid, these are Agent Greg and Fritz Weiss. They are our case information compilers. Do not worry about remembering which one is which," she said in a dull tone.
One of the agents walked over and clapped him on the back. "Pleasure to greet you mate," he said brightly with a mild Scottish accent. "You know we really don't get enough respect around here. We should at least have monogram names like in those muggle picture shows."
"I second that Fritz," the other agent said after giving Reid the same greeting. "And wouldn't it be nice to get Agent Yang to join our group? Then we could known as 'Team GFY.' a lovely acronym if there ever was one," he said and both of them chortled.
"They aren't our agents," Rose said irritably. "They are agents from the British ministry. They were caught hacking a security ward on one of our largest gambling enterprises-"
"It was only a test," one of them said sheepishly.
"While on vacation here," she said loudly.
"For fun," the other said.
Rose glared at them. Reid found himself fighting the urge to laugh.
"They were ordered to stay here for three months to assist in re-configuring the security ward. It took them half that time and now they are working in my office for the remainder of their suspension."
"There are worse things," a Weis said lightly. "There were rumors of us being sent to excavate Coyle's office, which would have meant certain death."
"We have work to do," Rose said impatiently and led them to the map. She pulled out her wand and waved it in front of the map. "This is essentially the magical equivalent of the mortal smart board, with a few more features. Call up any map data you need and it will appear," she said."For example: Magic-related crimes in Boulder in the last three months!"
A series of gold dots appeared. She tapped her wand twice on one of the dots. There was a clanging sound. (We're working on that," one of the twins whispered.) They turned around to see a cabinet drawer had opened and the case file was floating towards them. Rose caught it and beckoned one of the hovering black boards. She gently pushed the file on the board and the pages spread themselves our across the board.
Reid had forgotten how intriguing simple magic was. "Fascinating," he remarked as he gently picked up a photo and it stayed in the air when he let go.
One of the twins nodded in agreement. "Yes and from the way Guardian Rose maneuvers the information you'd think this system has been up and running for three years, not three weeks," he said with a wink.
Rose ignored the remark. "These agents will help you track down whatever information you need. In the cabinets there are also evidence boxes and both them are fully trained in the art of scrying."
Reid had been noticing how she chose her words. "What are you going to be doing?" he asked."I thought there were leads for us-"
"For my department to look into," she said in an authoritative tone. "I need you to focus on narrowing down the list of targets based on their residence, social habits, and-"
"Place of work," he finished impatiently. "I can create geographic models all day but it won't be of any help if I don't have a profile."
"The profile is in the case files," she said briskly. "Use what we learned yesterday to develop hot zones where we might find him. I'll be in touch." She began to walk to the door.
Reid followed her. "You don't want me in the field do you." he said accusingly.
Rose turned around and met his gaze. "Dr. Reid I have no doubt that you are an excellent field agent. You are also extremely proficient at organizing information based off patterns those two aren't trained to look for," she said, her eyes flickering to the agents who were looking very uncomfortable. "But there is also no doubt that you are one of the meta-UnSub's targets. I prefer to use your expertise in the latter in an effort to minimize threat levels."
Reid understood. It wasn't that different from the situations he encountered at the BAU. When Hotch wanted to divided manpower he was usually one of the members left to work at the station. It was strategic analysis. But even after so many years of apprehending UnSubs in the field and determining their whereabouts in police stations, he still felt slighted when he was told to stay behind.
"It is nothing personal, Dr. Reid," Rose said in a softer tone than what she had been using.
"I understand Guardian Rose," he said respectfully.
She seemed taken aback for a moment. "I'll drop by at lunch to see how things are progressing," she said and left the room.
One of the twins walked over and wrapped an arm around his shoulders after the door closed shut. "Don't worry old mate. We'll have a grand time down here now that the Crabby Tabby has left the premises."
"Can she even turn into a cat?" Reid asked as he carefully pulled away from the man's grip.
"We're not sure," the other twin said as he spun the map around with his wand. "But we're trying to establish it as her nick-name among her subordinates before we leave."
…
The Weiss twins were possibly the smartest wizards Reid had ever met. Laughter was their preferred means of reducing tension as did some intense spell work. They had created data maps for nearly every scenario he requested. He was positively shocked to learn they even a large amount of mortal data was in the system as well.
"It is not that hard actually," one of the twins said and pulled a brass candle-stick holder out of an evidence box to explain. "This is what some might call a 'family heirloom.' One of the basic rules is that natural metals absorb the magic of any magician, even the slightest touch. Since most metals are not charmed or engraved with additional spell work, the residual magic is useless and generally poses no threat to anyone. But," he said and held the object to eye level, "with the right level of focus and a touch of charm work, you can learn some valuable information such as what the victim was doing on that funny little TV-like machine." He pulled a scroll out of candle holder. "This is the information I learned," he said proudly.
But then reality kicked in. "Do you steal things out of Police evidence lockers?"
"More like borrow," the other twin said with a yawn. "We summon the particular item at night and it is returned within five minutes. And we have yet to encounter any trouble with those supposedly 'hi-tech surveillance cameras.'" He then walked over to where he organized all his medieval prose. "I noticed you have no references on the grail listed," he remarked.
Reid was still looking at a cluster of half-inheritors who visited the same gym. "The grail doesn't exist. The use of Grail was a plot device that attempted to conceal the fact that King Arthur and his knights used magic to defend their kingdom. The grail was the tenuous link to the historically documented crusades in the mortal community."
The other agent put the candle stick holder on his desk and was now juggling a pair of pens. "Hey Fritz you remember seeing that fantastic muggle show called Spamalot before we go caught? I had never seen the bunch of ladies pull up their skirts to reveal-"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Reid asked irritably as he was creating a new overlap zone.
Fritz continued to look at the legends. "What I believe my brother might be getting at is the idea that the Grail is an acronym or symbol for something."
"Like an order," Reid said distractedly. "The idea has been around for years. Protectors of the Grail. Keepers of the Grail. I believe the current organization is head-quartered in the Rosslyn Chapel."
"Did I just detect a note of sarcasm from the Good Doctor?" Fritz said in mock-disbelief.
"You're wasting my time," Reid angrily and turned to the main board. He began to summon information on recent reports of missing animals that might be familiars when Fritz grabbed his hand.
"Reid you are not thinking like a muggle agent," he said firmly. "Would you ever discount information because it doesn't fit your personal ideologies?"
"No," he said "but religion is completely unrelated to magic. It is an organization of beliefs that the clashes with concept-"
"Would you please cut him off bro?" Greg said from his desk. "Just spell it out for him already."
Fritz rolled eyes. "You know I get tired of being the brains of this operation," he said and gave his brother a look. "This Fisher King Lord is counting on you and Rose to ignore the religious elements. So add them in now. Because so far you have only made an excellent display of how our data room works when used by someone with superb intelligence," he said referring to the boards full of colored charts.
Reid took a step back and rubbed his eyes. Religion had an always been seen as an annoyance to the magic community. They didn't kill half as many magic practitioners recorded by mortal historians. It was a very fuzzy area Reid was quick to ignore when instructed to do so. But adding it would make perfect sense right now.
He stared the two agents playing a game of catch with a wand the turned into chicken during exchanges. "How did you figure that out?" he asked.
"You were the kind of kid who always followed the rules weren't you?" Fritz said and bounced the wand against a filing cabinet. "When you saw a locked closet or a 'do not enter sign' you did what was expected and moved on. While my brother and I would see a locked door and promptly to pick the lock to find out what was inside."
"Once it was closet full of Uncle Perry's old dirty magazines. Another time it was cousin Lil's hippogriff," Greg said.
"And another time it was the war room for the Mafloy military splinter cell," Fritz said with a note of triumph.
Reid took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. "Okay now help me connect the dots with the missing pieces," he said beckoned the twins forward.
…
Reid didn't think he had ever seen Rose look so dumb-founded. He and the twins had assembled a color-coded presentation of the targets, suspects, and co-conspirators that cover all four boards…
"Where do we begin Dr. Reid?" Rose asked looking dazed.
"The Grail," he said simply. "Every time the word is used it used to symbolize a forbidden power." He waved a board forward containing a list of targets. "All of these people belong to churches with Anglican symbols with medieval origins." He pulled up another board. "All of these people are regular visitors of a mystical spring that supposedly has healing properties."
"I'm not sure if I'm following," she said uneasily. "I thought the Grail didn't exist."
"It doesn't," he said. "So the meta-unsub knew we wouldn't look for any connection to The Grail. But when you profiled the list of targets who might believe in the existence of a grail-like object, the list decreases dramatically. "He waved another board forward that only contained roughly thirty-five names with the variable of untraced names.
She still looked uncertain. "How sure are you about all this?"
The twins stepped forward. "May we demonstrate Dr. Reid?" they asked in mocking reverence.
Reid smiled, "by all means."
Rose moved closer to him. "Would you believe I fought to get those two?" she murmured.
"Yes," Reid replied, "because you are a very smart supervisor."
The watched as the different dots light up on the map. She stared it in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me. The Celtic Triskelion?" she said almost angrily as the pattern of three curling half spirals that were not connected at a specific point. "I thought we were sticking to English witchcraft."
"It is only a symbol," Reid said "and the meta-UnSub is too smart to have his next attack in the middle area." He pointed to the three branches. "He'll strike one of those."
"And I don't have enough man power to cover all of those," she said irritably.
Fritz raised his hand slightly. "Then might I suggest going through what the branches might signify such as earth, wind and fire."
Rose tapped the map. "So we look for areas some sort of reference to the earth. Or the elements fire, earth, and water." She looked at them map and saw the branch arched towards the Lake Mead. "That has 'trap,' spelled all over it," she said flatly.
"Sometimes the obvious answer is the actual answer," Reid remarked and pointed to a location in the center of the curl. "I'd suggest hitting that section in full force prepared for every trap imaginable. He might think you are foolish for attacking the obvious choice, but by leading your team into that threat zone, it shows that you do not fear the element associated with his name."
"Or it could be a red herring and he is actually killing in the fire branch while my agents are across town," she countered.
He shook his head. "I can't give you anything better."
Rose sighed and reached beneath her glasses to rub her eyes. "This discussion needs to be suspended for no less than an hour for the purpose procuring sustenance," she said.
"So in other words we get to eat finally," Fritz said.
Rose began to walk to the door. "You two have special teleportation orders to allow you to eat at the Houdini Lounge," she said and clicked her fingers. A pair of scrolls appeared in their hands.
Both of them looked thrilled. "So is that our reward of for taking good care your FBI friend?" Greg asked.
"It is actually a reward for me from your ministry supervisors. They are impressed by the fact that I have been keeping you from making the government news bulletins for the past five weeks," she said and beckoned Reid to follow her.
It felt good to just be out of that room. He looked around at the hum of the office activity and it was a welcome sight after staring at nothing but maps.
"So how do you feel about hitting Caesar's Palace to find something to eat?" she asked casually.
Reid was taken about by her change in tone. "I thought you wanted to 'minimize threat levels?"
"And I thought about how a person who has been working day and night in the magic world for the first time in years might feel suffocating. The Palace is so clogged with tourists and electrical devices that it would be foolish to attack you there. And attacking a mall in the afternoon doesn't seem like it would fit the image he or she is projecting," Rose said.
Reid had to laugh a little. She never stopped thinking about worst-case scenarios. "That sounds good Rose," he said with a smile.
She smiled in return. "I suggest we-"suddenly a ringing was heard. Rose looked at her glowing charm bracelet. "That's the Oracle. I promised them a quote a few hours ago after canceling the last press conference. It will only take a minute," she said and began to rush to her office. "I'll meet you at the elevator," she shouted.
Reid smiled he walked across the room. As he entered the hallway he heard booming voice:
"Is she not a fair raven-haired beauty?
Reid stared around wildly. He felt a sickening sensation is his stomach as he heard the voice again, now realizing that he was hearing it in his head:
"And sometimes thro' the mirror blue...
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott."
The voice stopped and then he heard an explosion. Reid ran into the office.
"Clara!"