The Dreamer

Chapter 12: Undercover Assignment

Federal Building. January 31, 2005. Monday morning.

Peter scanned the group assembled for the morning briefing. In addition to Jones, Neal, and Travis, Tricia was also attending. Given the topic for this morning, Peter was particularly grateful that she could be present. Diana was on the phone with the Lynx Mountain Ski Resort and would join them later.

In his introductory remarks, Peter said, "Last week I submitted a request for Tricia to be assigned to the Azathoth case, but in light of the events yesterday, she's agreed to start immediately. We'll get caught up with the paperwork later."

"Up to now, our strategy for Azathoth in large measure has been a reactive one," Tricia said. "Although that approach has allowed us to fill in data points, it hasn't brought us any closer to being able to predict what his next move will be and how we can catch him. That's why I'm here. Over the past several years, forensic psychology has made significant strides in investigative behavioral analysis. We're going to use those tools to reveal the person behind Azathoth's mask."

"We're not going to wait for Azathoth to make his next move," Peter added bluntly. "It's up to us to start calling the shots.­­ I'm challenging each of you to come up with fresh ways to tackle the problem. Azathoth has been thumbing his nose at us. That needs to end now."

"Aren't you ignoring another issue that needs to be discussed?" Jones asked. "You and Caffrey have been targeted twice. What sorts of additional measures should we take? Should we assign bodyguards for at least a few weeks?"

"What threat did he make?" Neal challenged. "A joke in extremely poor taste, yes. But did he send a letter saying I was a target? I don't think this rises to the level of a death threat."

"I agree with Neal," Tricia said. "Azathoth was demonstrating his ability to inflict emotional distress, but nothing else, at least for the moment."

"It's like a chess game," Neal added. "He's moving us around as if we were chess pieces, but we don't know why he's using this particular gambit. He won't try to take Peter or me out now because he's enjoying the game too much."

Tricia sided with Neal's assessment, and as a practical matter, having round-the-clock bodyguards for an indefinite period of time was simply not feasible.

"But that doesn't mean there aren't any defensive measures we can take," Travis said, placing a couple of watches on the table. "Here's something that should help."

Neal picked one up and studied it. "Not a bad fake Rolex. You went with the Submariner model. I might have gone with the Sky-Dweller."

"And miss the dive-time monitoring?" Travis countered. "Next time you have to make an emergency getaway from a submarine, you'll thank me."

"What capabilities have been built in that our old watches don't have?" Peter asked, picking up the other watch.

"It's waterproof to 800 feet. An expanded battery means you can record up to three hours of conversation. The GPS is more precise. This is the same model used by the CIA. It's not standard gear for the Bureau but I requested watches for you and Neal after the discovery of the USB drive. I hadn't heard back so did some calling on Friday. They arrived this morning."

Peter replaced his watch with the new one and advised Neal to do the same. "Thanks, Travis. This is standard equipment for us from now on."

When Diana arrived, Tricia grilled both her and Jones on their Lovecraft strategies. Tricia had been on assignment at Quantico when they first proposed their ideas. She was particularly fascinated by Diana's fanfiction project and wrote rapid notes while listening to her.