Mer-cy (mur-see) compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence
Las Vegas, Nevada
Merci Reid adjusted her clothes nervously. The fourteen-year old clenched her fake ID so hard she practically dropped it. Her best friend passed her a beer. "Come on Merci. You look like you've never seen a beer."
She ran a finger around the rim of the bottle. "I'm fine Gretchen. Just nervous."
"Have a little fun, girl. Come Monday we'll back at school. Now's the time to be careless."
"My mom tries really hard to pay for me to go there. Not to mention that I'm three or four years younger then the other seniors. If we get caught…"
"You'll lose your partial scholarship. I know. Don't be a baby. You'll still graduate this year."
"Suspected geniuses don't survive public school easily. Not to mention an alcohol caused black-out can cause some serious memory impairment. I'd like to keep as much of my intellect as I can, thanks."
"All right. We'll go home then." She drained Merci's beer and they started down the street. "Speaking of geniuses, have you thought about contacting that half-brother your mom keeps talking about?"
"I haven't even contacted my father yet, Gretchen. Do you honestly think I'm going visit the FBI my first week in DC and demand to see Spencer?"
"You know his name now?"
"It's called Google. And yes. I do. He's an FBI agent."
"Meaning he probably knows about you."
"He's a behavioral analyst. I highly doubt he'd bother to look me up. Reid has to be a common enough last name."
"Not with an I it isn't," Gretchen replied. "And born in Vegas, I doubt it."
"Look, he's a doctorate. A freakin' twenty-seven year old doctorate. I don't even know if I want to go to Georgetown now anyway! Full scholarship or not!"
Gretchen turned so she was walking backward. "Come on, Merc. You're like all super brain. You need to get out of this town."
"And you're totally running my innocence. I mean, you're buzzed."
The girls were starting to get closer to a bad end of town. A couple of the men were whistling at them. Gretchen leveled with Merci, grasping her arm. "I think I'm gonna sober up fast."
A white van stopped beside them. "Yo, Gretchen! I mean Megan! You need a ride?"
Merci looked to her friend, wide-eyed. "I don't know…"
"Don't be a baby," her friend said again. "Hey, Blake. Merc, this is the guy that gave me the cards. A friend of my brother's."
Merci's eyes were locked on the woman's. "And her?"
"That's Vanessa. She's harmless. Come on, let's go. Nothing bad's going to happen I promise."
FBI BAU Quantico, Virginia
"Two girls went missing in Las Vegas about ten hours ago. A month before another two went missing. The bodies of the first two, Margret and Jennifer Fuentes were found blocks from where our most recent victims were last seen." The pictures of the first two were replaced by two others.
"Gretchen Johnson, seventeen and Merci Reid, fourteen, were last seen in a bar under the names Megan and Anne."
"Why did it take ten hours for them to contact us?"
"We were only just contacted because they just discovered that the girls all went to Bishop Gorman High."
"Are you saying there's a killer targeting this particular school?"
"We're not sure, but even if we have a month, Gretchen has asthma. She left her inhaler at home. If she proves to be useless to the kidnapper, he could kill both of them and strike again."
"Plane leaves in thirty minutes," Hotch said, walking out of the room.