The Whipridge Chronicles - Here We Go Again, Part 2
posted 6 January 2008, Sunday
Subject: Osama Barrack, US Senator
Case: Investigate and identify any and all associations with terror groups, supporters and companies.
Location: Miami, Fl
Special Agent Maria Fuentes sat looking out the window of a business class seat in an American Airlines flight to Miami. Sitting next to her was Maxwell Whipridge, a man she thought she knew, eating his peanuts quietly and testing her grip on reality. By now the things he had told her were starting to sink in and made as little sense as they did when she first heard them. They were an hour into the flight comfortably seated in a two seat row behind two men who were on their way to an important meeting and couldn't stop tapping away at their laptops. Behind them, on the other hand, where two business men who were on their way back and had drunk themselves to sleep in celebration of a successful trip. Maria turned to Maxwell and studied him as she often had since his big revelation, trying to find something magical that would somehow help her make sense of everything. But Max was just plain old Maxwell in his black G-man suit and thin neck tie. All he needed was a hat and thick, black-rimmed glasses to complete the 1930's look he seemed to be going for. "So what made you come here and join the FBI?" Asked Maria.
Maxwell swallowed his mouthful of peanuts before answering, "I was walking home after just finishing my twenty-third year of magic school and I started wondering what the point was of having such abilities if I was never going to use them. See, back home there isn't much use for magic other than knowledge and entertainment - we don't have a crime problem like you do here. Anyway, I went through another year of school with plans to visit earth, and when I finally did I decided to put my skills to good use and help you guys out by joining the FBI."
Maria gave him a confused look, "You went to school for twenty-four years? Did you ever graduate?"
"You never really graduate from magic school. You either spend your whole life there and replace one of the teachers, if you're good enough, or eventually move on to other things."
"But how would I know your qualified as a wizard?"
"I didn't know a wizard needed qualifications, but if it'll ease your mind I'm a level Fifty-three mage in the sixth circle of Anor."
"I'm almost afraid to ask what that all means." Maria ran her hand through her long, brown hair trying to make sense of the information.
"It means I'm pretty good at magic," Maxwell chuckled. "One day I'll take you to Hesperia and things will make a lot more sense."
"Hesperia," Maria said airily as she reclined back in her seat. "Where is that exactly?"
"It's in another dimension I guess. See, a long time ago a mage figured out how to create real, physical worlds inside of special books. All you had to do what touch a special page and you were transported there. One day he created Hesperia and decided to make it a home for mages away from all the crap here on earth."
"So there's a lot of these worlds laying around in books?"
Maxwell leaned back in his seat and drank some soda,"No. Hundreds of years ago the mage disappeared and took all his books with him. He left the Hesperia book with us though."
"If there's only one book how do you get back?"
"Well, magic is a powerful cosmic force, and we eventually found a way to bypass the book. But none of that is important now," Maxwell yawned and closed his eyes. "We've got a lot of work to do when we arrive so try to get some rest."
The rest of the flight to Miami was uneventful as Maxwell was too busy sleeping to tend to Maria's questions. After arriving at MIA they rented a small two door sedan and had something to eat in a restaurant right next to the airport. "Dammit. It's not going to be dark by the time we get there. We're gonna have to change our clothes," grumbled Maxwell as he picked up his sandwich.
"And why is it important for us to get 'there', wherever 'there' is, before dark? And why do we have to change clothes?" Maria almost choked on a piece of salad.
Maxwell leaned forward and whispered, "We're going to be visiting a stakeout operation and we can't stand out." He leaned back and continued speaking at a regular volume, "You should be fine in your kaki shorts and white blouse."
Maria was about to take another bite of her ceasar salad when she stopped and flashed a confused look at Maxwell. "How do you know I have kaki shorts and a white blouse?"
'"I sensed what was inside your suitcase when I picked it up at the airport."
Maria started to blush at the embarrassing news, "Do you always invade people's privacy like that? Oh, no. Don't tell me you have x-ray vision or something."
Maxwell laughed. "Actually I do. I can see you as if sitting there naked in front of me."
"Oh my God!" Maria quickly let go of her fork and started covering up with her hands, about to crawl under the table from the embarrassment. "I can't believe this."
Maxwell laughed even harder now, and had to put down his sandwich to compose himself. "I'm just kidding. I'm sorry for prying."
"I hate you Max."
About an hour and a half later they walked out of the restaurant and took turns changing clothes inside their car at an emptier part of the parking lot. Maria got into her kaki shorts and white blouse as suggested and Maxwell took off his tie and opened his shirt a little. "That's it? That's all your going to change?" Complained Maria as she got back into the car.
"Yeah. This should be enough for me. Man coming home from work and all that, you know?"
"You know I've never seen you wear anything other than that same suit and tie. I'd hate to see your dry cleaning bill." Maxwell only smiled as he pulled out onto the street and began heading north.
It was a little after 6:00 PM when they pulled into a tiny U shaped apartment complex in Hialeah. It was old and white with a blue tile trim on the bottom, and it had two stories with a total of twelve apartments. There was absolutely no parking as the fourteen available spots somehow had sixteen cars crammed into them. Maxwell stopped the car and started getting out. "Here. Take the car and go down to the market on the corner. Get us some water and anything else we might need for a night or two while I set us up here. Make sure your phone's on and don't talk to anyone." Maria quickly shifted over to the driver's seat and pulled out leaving Maxwell walking up the stairs to the second floor. At the top he approached the door to the apartment that faced the street and knocked three times. No answer. Maxwell knocked a little harder and spoke at the door, "I know you're in there. I'm here on business." The door suddenly cracked open and the face of a wrinkled, old lady popped into view, "Que quieres? Aqui no se habla ingles."
"Quiero ver Ramon," said Maxwell in a perfect Spanish accent. As quickly as the door opened it slammed shut. Half a minute later it cracked open again, but this time the face of a man popped into view.
"Who are you?" said the man aggressively.
"Special Agent Robert Maxwell," He whispered. Without warning the door flung open and Maxwell was pulled inside as quietly as possible. The front of the apartment near the door looked like any ordinary run-down living space, but deeper inside computers, consoles, TV sets and all sorts of electronic equipment filled the two bedroom home. Out of the kitchen walked a Hispanic man with a goatee and a fade haircut. He was wearing brown shorts and a wallavera. "What the hell are you doing here!" yelled the man.
"You know me?" Maxwell looked surprised.
"You've had your damn face in the papers for the past six months. How could you risk our operation like this!"
"I'm not as noticeable as you think. Besides, my business with you is priority one so let's cut the crap and start helping each other." Maxwell walked over to the man and offered his hand. "Special Agent Ramon Gonzales?"
Ramon shook his hand then they both walked over to the bedroom where two digital video recorders with telescopic lenses looked out the window through a special one way pane of glass at the E shaped apartment building facing them. Two large, flat screen monitors displayed the pictures from the DVRs. "So what's important enough to risk losing the largest known terrorist hub in the US?
"Don't bother. It's S3." Maxwell walked up to the window and began studying the building across the street.
"It's that important, huh?"
"You'd be surprised. Anyway, what can you tell me about our friends over there?"
"The head Arab is Habib Rafi, a Saudi Arabian national known to have organized the killings of at least one-hundred innocent people. He's beheaded women and children, and has organized three failed terrorist attacks on US soil within the past two years - all stopped by our surveillance." Agent Gonzales walked up to the window next to Maxwell. "That innocent looking building across the street is indirectly owned by Habib and has a terrorist or supporter in every apartment. They all cut their hair and learn Spanish in an effort to blend in as Cubans. The best part, though, is that we have a bug in every room of that building on top of the phone taps."
"How have your bugs evaded detection for so long?" Asked Maxwell curiously.
"We have a direct connection instead of RF. A few months after we learned of this place Habib's cousin started bothering him to put cable TV in all the apartments. Naturally we showed up and gave them what they wanted, plus a little extra. Besides, they're terrorists not spies. They'd never think to check for bugs." Ramon smiled, proud of his work.
"So who's Rafi's closest man? Who does he trust in absolutely?"
"That would be his brother Kaleed Rafi, but he's over in Iran somewhere stirring up shit."
"Do you have a picture of him?" Maxwell went over to one of the desks and sat down.
"I think so." Ramon started yelling at the doorway, "Juan! Get me the file on Rafi's brother!" He turned his attention back to Maxwell and sat down next to him, facing him. His face turned very serious and threatening. "You don't plan on taking anyone down over there, do you? Cause If you screw this up for us I'll shoot you myself. This operation is too import--"
"Relax! I just want some information and a place for me and my partner to stay for a couple nights while we process it." Maxwell broke in.
"You brought another agent with you! Where the hell are they? They could be compromising us!" Ramon started to get up, but Maxwell put up his hand to stop him.
"She's at one of the markets getting us some food. She won't come here until I call her," Maxwell wagged his head at Ramon. "You really need to calm down. I know this operation is important, but as a fellow agent you should trust that I don't want to foul things up for you. Now where can we stay?"
Ramon took a deep, relaxing breath and sat way back into his seat. "We control the apartment behind this one too. You guys could share one of the bedrooms for a couple nights, and don't worry - we won't spy on you."
After buying four bottles of water, a bag of pretzels, a pack of gum and sitting in her car for almost forty minutes Maria got the call to head back. She drove up to the building then passed it parking in an alley on the back side. Upstairs in the bedroom, which she didn't approve of, she laid out the contents of her grocery bag onto the bed and grabbed a bottle of water. She was tired, hungry, and really didn't look forward to working. "This is all you brought?" Asked Maxwell as he picked up a bottle of water.
"Well excuse me. I didn't know what to get, and I certainly didn't know we were going to be sharing the same room. First you look in my suitcase and now this. I'm starting to see a pattern here Max." Maria took off her shoes and threw herself on the bed. She started to whine as she asked, "Do we have to work tonight? I'm so tired," then opened the bag of pretzels and grabbed a handful.
"Well, the faster you cross reference Ramon's information with our Senator's the faster we can get out of here."
"And what are you going to be doing?"
"I'm going to go to bed and get up early to have a talk with our terrorist leader across the street," Maxwell pulled out a small wallet size picture of Rafi's brother Ramon had given him and began studying it.
"And how in the world do you plan on doing that without compromising the surveillance?"
"With this," Maxwell handed Maria the photo of Rafi's brother.
After an hour Maria finally got out of bed and started running the information Special Agent Gonzales had given them through the FBI database cross checker. Maxwell was on the bed sleeping in his suit with his hands neatly folded in front of him. The fact that he looked like a corpse was accentuated by his lack of movement throughout the night. Every so often Maria would look at him with a strong desire to check and see if he was still alive, but didn't for fear that he just might be.
The night was long and slow for Agent Fuentes as she pounded her keyboard sifting through information, trying to find a link between the newly elected Senator and any type of terrorist. The thought of a terrorist getting elected to the U.S. government was unbelievable, but so was the reality of magic just a few days earlier. Anything was possible after 9-11 and she was smart enough to realize it. Without noticing she worked through the night realizing it was 5:00AM after all of her searching turned up nothing. I need to go to bed, Maria thought as she walked over to the bed and pulled the sheets down to get in. Her drowsy eyes picked up Maxwell before she jumped in, but before she could kick him out he responded. "I know, I know. I'll get up now." Confused but too tired to try and figure it out Maria just fell into bed.
"Thanks for working all night. Now get some rest." Maxwell said as he slipped on his gold ring and sat on the floor. He immediately began meditating with his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap, repeating something to himself under his breath. Channeling his energy to complete the transformation would take an hour which was the exact time Habib walked to the bakery every day to buy bread. The mimic spell Maxwell was preparing was risky but it was the only way he was going to get close to his target.
At 5:49AM Maxwell had gathered enough energy to turn himself into Habib's brother Kaleed. He got himself up and grabbed Kaleed's picture analyzing it carefully. As he stared at the picture Maxwell's face began to change and in a matter of seconds he was now an exact look-alike of Kaleed Rafi in a black G-man suit. This'll have to do, thought Maxwell realizing he had no change of clothes. He wouldn't know what the man typically wore anyway. He took off his jacket and tossed it on the bed, and he checked on Maria who was out like a light. "Let's go see what Habib knows," Maxwell whispered to himself as he exited the room.
As soon as Maxwell reached the sidewalk he saw Habib, wearing a wallabera and slacks, heading to the bakery around the corner. Giving him some distance Maxwell crossed the street and began following him. As Habib navigated the worn down concrete blocks of the sidewalk in front of him he couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like if he got rid of all the evil people like Habib. It was a subject that often crossed his mind as a wizard, but inevitably the words of his dad and the Hesperia elders would remind him, "Don't get involved in the earth's affairs. By trying to help you could cause irreparable damage to both our worlds." The words from back home were usually enough to wipe any crazy notions from Maxwell's head.
Habib turned into the storefront cuing Maxwell to pick up his pace. When he reached the bakery Habib was leaning on the glass counter waiting for his two Cuban breads that were still baking. With the jingle of the door's bell as it opened Habib turned to see the incoming customer and was left with an open jaw when he saw it was his brother. "Greetings my brother!" Maxwell said in perfect Arabic as he walked up to Habib and gave him the customary hug and kiss.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in Esfahan," Habib whispered as he quickly pushed Maxwell out the door.
"I came here to congratulate you on your infiltration of the American government. It is a great day--"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Habib kept pushing Maxwell trying to find a secret place to talk in the open storefront.
"Osama Barrak. He is not one of us?"
"What? No. No, he is not from my group. Why are you asking me this now? Let's go back to my building--"
"I must know what group he is from brother. This is an advantage we must not take lightly!" Maxwell urged.
"I do not know if he is part of the cause, but I hear he is related to Jameel Asil. Now what is this all about?"
"Thank you, my brother!" Maxwell reached over to give Habib a hug and as he wrapped his arms around him he placed his gold ring at the back of his neck and stunned him. Habib fell to one knee then sat on the floor nursing a severe headache, dizziness and blindness. "Forget," Maxwell whispered in his ear casting an amnesia spell on him then quickly left the scene.
Back in D.C. Maxwell was in his debriefing with Assistant Director Foster watching him sip his morning coffee wearing a shirt, tie and suspendered outfit. "So this is the only cell you checked out?" Foster asked as he looked over Maxwell's report.
"That was the only location in the case file. What? Was I supposed to hunt down every cell in the world and ask them if they know Osama Barrack?" Maxwell frowned.
"Knowing you, I have no doubt that you could find every damn cell in the world if you wanted to. The high-ups may want to play politics with your job here, but I know that you're the best damn agent I've worked with." Foster raised his coffee mug to Maxwell.
"Thanks Will."
"Now tell me about this Jameel Asil. Habib said he was related to Barrack?"
"I asked Special Agent Ramon Gonzales, you know, from the anti-terrorist division. He checked his information and told me that Jameel was an outcast from a rich Saudi family, and last he heard was trying to start his own terror cell." Maxwell fixed his tie.
"So somehow Barrack is related to this Jameel and the link is this rich, unnamed Saudi family? Knowing the Saudi's and our penchant to let them do whatever the hell they want because we so desperately depend on their oil I'm guessing this bit of info is going to quietly disappear once it goes upstairs. In any case you did good. Now take a few days to get your office in order and reacquaint yourself with everyone."
Back in his office Maxwell threw himself down into his square, leather office chair and leaned back to look at the ceiling. It felt nice to be working again, but the last six months and the investigation he had to endure was still a painful reminder not to get involved in the earth's affairs. He pulled out his large, four inch thick magic book and let it slam on his desk then began to bitterly flip through the blank pages. After the fourth or fifth page Maria came in through the front door carrying a box and two cups of coffee. "Sorry I'm late. There was this car accident." Maxwell continued flipping through the pages. "Here's some coffee and some muffins," Maria set them down on his desk noticing his unusually sad demeanor. "Is everything alright? Did Foster give you a hard time?" Maria wondered what could get Maxwell so down.
"Just thinking about the last six months," Maxwell replied never taking his attention away from his book.
"You need to forget about that. It's not your fault those people died, and that investigation was just a political witch hunt to try and appease the people." Maria sat down at the chair across from Maxwell's desk.
"That's not why I'm thinking about it. See, I'm sort of a rebel back home. Almost everyone told me not to come here. They don't like Hesperians interfering with the earth's affairs. It could be catastrophic if I'm found out or if somehow I influence some major worldwide event. It's scary to think that you can single handily cause the end of a world."
"Don't be ridiculous! You're not going to end the world," Maria thought for a second then asked. "Can you really end the world? Is your magic that strong?"
Maxwell laughed, "A tenth level mage could probably end the world by overriding a missile site and starting a nuclear world war."
Maria became worried, "And what could you do?"
"Honestly?"
"If you're going to involve me in this magic stuff the least you could do is be honest."
Maxwell closed his magic book and looked at Maria, "Well, the highest level spell I know is Meteos which would bring down a meteor the size of Australia, or bigger, and end all life as we know it. Or I could summon a horde of elementals which are creatures made of pure energy that can't be harmed by the physical plane. I could also--"
"Okay, I think that's enough!" Maria shivered at the descriptions.
Maxwell shrugged. "Well, you asked!"
"Why would you learn how to do those things anyway?" Maria wagged her head at Maxwell disappointed.
"Like a scientist mages pursue knowledge, and while sometimes that knowledge is destructive it doesn't mean we learn them in order to destroy something."
"Have you ever used it? The meteor thing?"
"You can't say you know a spell until you've actually used it. There's a mountain range behind the magic school where we practice. There I called down a car sized meteor. It was smaller than I wanted, but things turned out better that way." Maxwell leaned back in his chair.
Maria wagged her head again thinking about how crazy it all seemed. "I think I'm going to get back to work."
"Don't worry about cleaning up that mess. I'll take care of it in a minute."
"And what are you supposed to be doing?"
Maxwell put his feet up on his table and relaxed. "We've got a three day vacation from Foster. We're supposed to be taking it easy."
To Be Continued...
Case: Investigate and identify any and all associations with terror groups, supporters and companies.
Location: Miami, Fl
Special Agent Maria Fuentes sat looking out the window of a business class seat in an American Airlines flight to Miami. Sitting next to her was Maxwell Whipridge, a man she thought she knew, eating his peanuts quietly and testing her grip on reality. By now the things he had told her were starting to sink in and made as little sense as they did when she first heard them. They were an hour into the flight comfortably seated in a two seat row behind two men who were on their way to an important meeting and couldn't stop tapping away at their laptops. Behind them, on the other hand, where two business men who were on their way back and had drunk themselves to sleep in celebration of a successful trip. Maria turned to Maxwell and studied him as she often had since his big revelation, trying to find something magical that would somehow help her make sense of everything. But Max was just plain old Maxwell in his black G-man suit and thin neck tie. All he needed was a hat and thick, black-rimmed glasses to complete the 1930's look he seemed to be going for. "So what made you come here and join the FBI?" Asked Maria.
Maxwell swallowed his mouthful of peanuts before answering, "I was walking home after just finishing my twenty-third year of magic school and I started wondering what the point was of having such abilities if I was never going to use them. See, back home there isn't much use for magic other than knowledge and entertainment - we don't have a crime problem like you do here. Anyway, I went through another year of school with plans to visit earth, and when I finally did I decided to put my skills to good use and help you guys out by joining the FBI."
Maria gave him a confused look, "You went to school for twenty-four years? Did you ever graduate?"
"You never really graduate from magic school. You either spend your whole life there and replace one of the teachers, if you're good enough, or eventually move on to other things."
"But how would I know your qualified as a wizard?"
"I didn't know a wizard needed qualifications, but if it'll ease your mind I'm a level Fifty-three mage in the sixth circle of Anor."
"I'm almost afraid to ask what that all means." Maria ran her hand through her long, brown hair trying to make sense of the information.
"It means I'm pretty good at magic," Maxwell chuckled. "One day I'll take you to Hesperia and things will make a lot more sense."
"Hesperia," Maria said airily as she reclined back in her seat. "Where is that exactly?"
"It's in another dimension I guess. See, a long time ago a mage figured out how to create real, physical worlds inside of special books. All you had to do what touch a special page and you were transported there. One day he created Hesperia and decided to make it a home for mages away from all the crap here on earth."
"So there's a lot of these worlds laying around in books?"
Maxwell leaned back in his seat and drank some soda,"No. Hundreds of years ago the mage disappeared and took all his books with him. He left the Hesperia book with us though."
"If there's only one book how do you get back?"
"Well, magic is a powerful cosmic force, and we eventually found a way to bypass the book. But none of that is important now," Maxwell yawned and closed his eyes. "We've got a lot of work to do when we arrive so try to get some rest."
The rest of the flight to Miami was uneventful as Maxwell was too busy sleeping to tend to Maria's questions. After arriving at MIA they rented a small two door sedan and had something to eat in a restaurant right next to the airport. "Dammit. It's not going to be dark by the time we get there. We're gonna have to change our clothes," grumbled Maxwell as he picked up his sandwich.
"And why is it important for us to get 'there', wherever 'there' is, before dark? And why do we have to change clothes?" Maria almost choked on a piece of salad.
Maxwell leaned forward and whispered, "We're going to be visiting a stakeout operation and we can't stand out." He leaned back and continued speaking at a regular volume, "You should be fine in your kaki shorts and white blouse."
Maria was about to take another bite of her ceasar salad when she stopped and flashed a confused look at Maxwell. "How do you know I have kaki shorts and a white blouse?"
'"I sensed what was inside your suitcase when I picked it up at the airport."
Maria started to blush at the embarrassing news, "Do you always invade people's privacy like that? Oh, no. Don't tell me you have x-ray vision or something."
Maxwell laughed. "Actually I do. I can see you as if sitting there naked in front of me."
"Oh my God!" Maria quickly let go of her fork and started covering up with her hands, about to crawl under the table from the embarrassment. "I can't believe this."
Maxwell laughed even harder now, and had to put down his sandwich to compose himself. "I'm just kidding. I'm sorry for prying."
"I hate you Max."
About an hour and a half later they walked out of the restaurant and took turns changing clothes inside their car at an emptier part of the parking lot. Maria got into her kaki shorts and white blouse as suggested and Maxwell took off his tie and opened his shirt a little. "That's it? That's all your going to change?" Complained Maria as she got back into the car.
"Yeah. This should be enough for me. Man coming home from work and all that, you know?"
"You know I've never seen you wear anything other than that same suit and tie. I'd hate to see your dry cleaning bill." Maxwell only smiled as he pulled out onto the street and began heading north.
It was a little after 6:00 PM when they pulled into a tiny U shaped apartment complex in Hialeah. It was old and white with a blue tile trim on the bottom, and it had two stories with a total of twelve apartments. There was absolutely no parking as the fourteen available spots somehow had sixteen cars crammed into them. Maxwell stopped the car and started getting out. "Here. Take the car and go down to the market on the corner. Get us some water and anything else we might need for a night or two while I set us up here. Make sure your phone's on and don't talk to anyone." Maria quickly shifted over to the driver's seat and pulled out leaving Maxwell walking up the stairs to the second floor. At the top he approached the door to the apartment that faced the street and knocked three times. No answer. Maxwell knocked a little harder and spoke at the door, "I know you're in there. I'm here on business." The door suddenly cracked open and the face of a wrinkled, old lady popped into view, "Que quieres? Aqui no se habla ingles."
"Quiero ver Ramon," said Maxwell in a perfect Spanish accent. As quickly as the door opened it slammed shut. Half a minute later it cracked open again, but this time the face of a man popped into view.
"Who are you?" said the man aggressively.
"Special Agent Robert Maxwell," He whispered. Without warning the door flung open and Maxwell was pulled inside as quietly as possible. The front of the apartment near the door looked like any ordinary run-down living space, but deeper inside computers, consoles, TV sets and all sorts of electronic equipment filled the two bedroom home. Out of the kitchen walked a Hispanic man with a goatee and a fade haircut. He was wearing brown shorts and a wallavera. "What the hell are you doing here!" yelled the man.
"You know me?" Maxwell looked surprised.
"You've had your damn face in the papers for the past six months. How could you risk our operation like this!"
"I'm not as noticeable as you think. Besides, my business with you is priority one so let's cut the crap and start helping each other." Maxwell walked over to the man and offered his hand. "Special Agent Ramon Gonzales?"
Ramon shook his hand then they both walked over to the bedroom where two digital video recorders with telescopic lenses looked out the window through a special one way pane of glass at the E shaped apartment building facing them. Two large, flat screen monitors displayed the pictures from the DVRs. "So what's important enough to risk losing the largest known terrorist hub in the US?
"Don't bother. It's S3." Maxwell walked up to the window and began studying the building across the street.
"It's that important, huh?"
"You'd be surprised. Anyway, what can you tell me about our friends over there?"
"The head Arab is Habib Rafi, a Saudi Arabian national known to have organized the killings of at least one-hundred innocent people. He's beheaded women and children, and has organized three failed terrorist attacks on US soil within the past two years - all stopped by our surveillance." Agent Gonzales walked up to the window next to Maxwell. "That innocent looking building across the street is indirectly owned by Habib and has a terrorist or supporter in every apartment. They all cut their hair and learn Spanish in an effort to blend in as Cubans. The best part, though, is that we have a bug in every room of that building on top of the phone taps."
"How have your bugs evaded detection for so long?" Asked Maxwell curiously.
"We have a direct connection instead of RF. A few months after we learned of this place Habib's cousin started bothering him to put cable TV in all the apartments. Naturally we showed up and gave them what they wanted, plus a little extra. Besides, they're terrorists not spies. They'd never think to check for bugs." Ramon smiled, proud of his work.
"So who's Rafi's closest man? Who does he trust in absolutely?"
"That would be his brother Kaleed Rafi, but he's over in Iran somewhere stirring up shit."
"Do you have a picture of him?" Maxwell went over to one of the desks and sat down.
"I think so." Ramon started yelling at the doorway, "Juan! Get me the file on Rafi's brother!" He turned his attention back to Maxwell and sat down next to him, facing him. His face turned very serious and threatening. "You don't plan on taking anyone down over there, do you? Cause If you screw this up for us I'll shoot you myself. This operation is too import--"
"Relax! I just want some information and a place for me and my partner to stay for a couple nights while we process it." Maxwell broke in.
"You brought another agent with you! Where the hell are they? They could be compromising us!" Ramon started to get up, but Maxwell put up his hand to stop him.
"She's at one of the markets getting us some food. She won't come here until I call her," Maxwell wagged his head at Ramon. "You really need to calm down. I know this operation is important, but as a fellow agent you should trust that I don't want to foul things up for you. Now where can we stay?"
Ramon took a deep, relaxing breath and sat way back into his seat. "We control the apartment behind this one too. You guys could share one of the bedrooms for a couple nights, and don't worry - we won't spy on you."
After buying four bottles of water, a bag of pretzels, a pack of gum and sitting in her car for almost forty minutes Maria got the call to head back. She drove up to the building then passed it parking in an alley on the back side. Upstairs in the bedroom, which she didn't approve of, she laid out the contents of her grocery bag onto the bed and grabbed a bottle of water. She was tired, hungry, and really didn't look forward to working. "This is all you brought?" Asked Maxwell as he picked up a bottle of water.
"Well excuse me. I didn't know what to get, and I certainly didn't know we were going to be sharing the same room. First you look in my suitcase and now this. I'm starting to see a pattern here Max." Maria took off her shoes and threw herself on the bed. She started to whine as she asked, "Do we have to work tonight? I'm so tired," then opened the bag of pretzels and grabbed a handful.
"Well, the faster you cross reference Ramon's information with our Senator's the faster we can get out of here."
"And what are you going to be doing?"
"I'm going to go to bed and get up early to have a talk with our terrorist leader across the street," Maxwell pulled out a small wallet size picture of Rafi's brother Ramon had given him and began studying it.
"And how in the world do you plan on doing that without compromising the surveillance?"
"With this," Maxwell handed Maria the photo of Rafi's brother.
After an hour Maria finally got out of bed and started running the information Special Agent Gonzales had given them through the FBI database cross checker. Maxwell was on the bed sleeping in his suit with his hands neatly folded in front of him. The fact that he looked like a corpse was accentuated by his lack of movement throughout the night. Every so often Maria would look at him with a strong desire to check and see if he was still alive, but didn't for fear that he just might be.
The night was long and slow for Agent Fuentes as she pounded her keyboard sifting through information, trying to find a link between the newly elected Senator and any type of terrorist. The thought of a terrorist getting elected to the U.S. government was unbelievable, but so was the reality of magic just a few days earlier. Anything was possible after 9-11 and she was smart enough to realize it. Without noticing she worked through the night realizing it was 5:00AM after all of her searching turned up nothing. I need to go to bed, Maria thought as she walked over to the bed and pulled the sheets down to get in. Her drowsy eyes picked up Maxwell before she jumped in, but before she could kick him out he responded. "I know, I know. I'll get up now." Confused but too tired to try and figure it out Maria just fell into bed.
"Thanks for working all night. Now get some rest." Maxwell said as he slipped on his gold ring and sat on the floor. He immediately began meditating with his legs crossed and his hands folded in his lap, repeating something to himself under his breath. Channeling his energy to complete the transformation would take an hour which was the exact time Habib walked to the bakery every day to buy bread. The mimic spell Maxwell was preparing was risky but it was the only way he was going to get close to his target.
At 5:49AM Maxwell had gathered enough energy to turn himself into Habib's brother Kaleed. He got himself up and grabbed Kaleed's picture analyzing it carefully. As he stared at the picture Maxwell's face began to change and in a matter of seconds he was now an exact look-alike of Kaleed Rafi in a black G-man suit. This'll have to do, thought Maxwell realizing he had no change of clothes. He wouldn't know what the man typically wore anyway. He took off his jacket and tossed it on the bed, and he checked on Maria who was out like a light. "Let's go see what Habib knows," Maxwell whispered to himself as he exited the room.
As soon as Maxwell reached the sidewalk he saw Habib, wearing a wallabera and slacks, heading to the bakery around the corner. Giving him some distance Maxwell crossed the street and began following him. As Habib navigated the worn down concrete blocks of the sidewalk in front of him he couldn't help but wonder what the world would be like if he got rid of all the evil people like Habib. It was a subject that often crossed his mind as a wizard, but inevitably the words of his dad and the Hesperia elders would remind him, "Don't get involved in the earth's affairs. By trying to help you could cause irreparable damage to both our worlds." The words from back home were usually enough to wipe any crazy notions from Maxwell's head.
Habib turned into the storefront cuing Maxwell to pick up his pace. When he reached the bakery Habib was leaning on the glass counter waiting for his two Cuban breads that were still baking. With the jingle of the door's bell as it opened Habib turned to see the incoming customer and was left with an open jaw when he saw it was his brother. "Greetings my brother!" Maxwell said in perfect Arabic as he walked up to Habib and gave him the customary hug and kiss.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were in Esfahan," Habib whispered as he quickly pushed Maxwell out the door.
"I came here to congratulate you on your infiltration of the American government. It is a great day--"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Habib kept pushing Maxwell trying to find a secret place to talk in the open storefront.
"Osama Barrak. He is not one of us?"
"What? No. No, he is not from my group. Why are you asking me this now? Let's go back to my building--"
"I must know what group he is from brother. This is an advantage we must not take lightly!" Maxwell urged.
"I do not know if he is part of the cause, but I hear he is related to Jameel Asil. Now what is this all about?"
"Thank you, my brother!" Maxwell reached over to give Habib a hug and as he wrapped his arms around him he placed his gold ring at the back of his neck and stunned him. Habib fell to one knee then sat on the floor nursing a severe headache, dizziness and blindness. "Forget," Maxwell whispered in his ear casting an amnesia spell on him then quickly left the scene.
Back in D.C. Maxwell was in his debriefing with Assistant Director Foster watching him sip his morning coffee wearing a shirt, tie and suspendered outfit. "So this is the only cell you checked out?" Foster asked as he looked over Maxwell's report.
"That was the only location in the case file. What? Was I supposed to hunt down every cell in the world and ask them if they know Osama Barrack?" Maxwell frowned.
"Knowing you, I have no doubt that you could find every damn cell in the world if you wanted to. The high-ups may want to play politics with your job here, but I know that you're the best damn agent I've worked with." Foster raised his coffee mug to Maxwell.
"Thanks Will."
"Now tell me about this Jameel Asil. Habib said he was related to Barrack?"
"I asked Special Agent Ramon Gonzales, you know, from the anti-terrorist division. He checked his information and told me that Jameel was an outcast from a rich Saudi family, and last he heard was trying to start his own terror cell." Maxwell fixed his tie.
"So somehow Barrack is related to this Jameel and the link is this rich, unnamed Saudi family? Knowing the Saudi's and our penchant to let them do whatever the hell they want because we so desperately depend on their oil I'm guessing this bit of info is going to quietly disappear once it goes upstairs. In any case you did good. Now take a few days to get your office in order and reacquaint yourself with everyone."
Back in his office Maxwell threw himself down into his square, leather office chair and leaned back to look at the ceiling. It felt nice to be working again, but the last six months and the investigation he had to endure was still a painful reminder not to get involved in the earth's affairs. He pulled out his large, four inch thick magic book and let it slam on his desk then began to bitterly flip through the blank pages. After the fourth or fifth page Maria came in through the front door carrying a box and two cups of coffee. "Sorry I'm late. There was this car accident." Maxwell continued flipping through the pages. "Here's some coffee and some muffins," Maria set them down on his desk noticing his unusually sad demeanor. "Is everything alright? Did Foster give you a hard time?" Maria wondered what could get Maxwell so down.
"Just thinking about the last six months," Maxwell replied never taking his attention away from his book.
"You need to forget about that. It's not your fault those people died, and that investigation was just a political witch hunt to try and appease the people." Maria sat down at the chair across from Maxwell's desk.
"That's not why I'm thinking about it. See, I'm sort of a rebel back home. Almost everyone told me not to come here. They don't like Hesperians interfering with the earth's affairs. It could be catastrophic if I'm found out or if somehow I influence some major worldwide event. It's scary to think that you can single handily cause the end of a world."
"Don't be ridiculous! You're not going to end the world," Maria thought for a second then asked. "Can you really end the world? Is your magic that strong?"
Maxwell laughed, "A tenth level mage could probably end the world by overriding a missile site and starting a nuclear world war."
Maria became worried, "And what could you do?"
"Honestly?"
"If you're going to involve me in this magic stuff the least you could do is be honest."
Maxwell closed his magic book and looked at Maria, "Well, the highest level spell I know is Meteos which would bring down a meteor the size of Australia, or bigger, and end all life as we know it. Or I could summon a horde of elementals which are creatures made of pure energy that can't be harmed by the physical plane. I could also--"
"Okay, I think that's enough!" Maria shivered at the descriptions.
Maxwell shrugged. "Well, you asked!"
"Why would you learn how to do those things anyway?" Maria wagged her head at Maxwell disappointed.
"Like a scientist mages pursue knowledge, and while sometimes that knowledge is destructive it doesn't mean we learn them in order to destroy something."
"Have you ever used it? The meteor thing?"
"You can't say you know a spell until you've actually used it. There's a mountain range behind the magic school where we practice. There I called down a car sized meteor. It was smaller than I wanted, but things turned out better that way." Maxwell leaned back in his chair.
Maria wagged her head again thinking about how crazy it all seemed. "I think I'm going to get back to work."
"Don't worry about cleaning up that mess. I'll take care of it in a minute."
"And what are you supposed to be doing?"
Maxwell put his feet up on his table and relaxed. "We've got a three day vacation from Foster. We're supposed to be taking it easy."
To Be Continued...
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