Chapter 1

BAU unit leader Aaron Hotchner had just dropped Jack off at his sister in law, Jessica's House when the phone rang. He sighed knowing it would really only mean one thing. They had a case! He answered the phone, it was Strauss.

A missing child, 9 months old, likely kidnapping, less than 10 minutes' drive from where he was. The local police had arrived on scene, had verified the story and called an orange alert. Knowing time was critical with a kidnapping he rang the team. Reid was first on the subway, he agreed to stop off at the next stop, Morgan was out running with Clooney but agreed to pick up Reid on the way in. Rossi answered on the hands free having already started his commute in, Emily on the other hand hadn't even left her bed yet. But at least she answered unlike JJ who didn't answer her mobile. He rang the home line to discover she was out jogging but was expected home soon she was probably driving or out of signal Hotch decided. Will would forward the message and she would join them shortly. The rest of the team would meet him at the park with the exception of Garcia who would make her way to Quantico to start amassing data. The kid was high profile, and a high kidnapping target.

Hotch was first at the park. The police had cornered off the area but had only just arrived themselves.

Rossi arrived soon after, Hotch had just begun interviewing the local police. Rossi listened in. By the time the officer had told them the basics the rest of the team had arrived. Hotch filled them in.

"We have a missing 9 month old child. Last seen with a blond woman in her late 20's. They were walking this way the woman was bleeding. It is possible she is disorientated and hurt. It is possible this was part of a larger plot to kidnap the child. Franklin Daniel Proseticco the second is son of Ambassador Proseticco and his wife."

"Emily and Morgan interview the witness. Rossi I need you to head over to the parents, find out who has a grudge, brief them in case of a ransom demanded I'll have JJ meet you there. Reid and I will canvas the meeting site" Hotch ordered.

Emily took the lead in interviewing Ruth who was stood crying she knew if Franklin was harmed her life was over.

"Firstly have you got a recent photo" Morgan asked. Ruth handed over her phone showing them a photo of Franklin at the zoo. Morgan forwarded it to everyone on the team knowing Garcia would have it circulated in a heartbeat.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Emily questioned.

"I was out for my morning jog. I always bring Franklin before play group." Ruth began. "We were in the woods when we ran into the woman literally. Just over there, I didn't see her coming and she flew round the corner, tripped over the buggy and fell over and badly cut her leg. I gave her the pushchair to lean on and offered to drive her home" Ruth began sobbing. She paused to wipe the tears away.

"Can you tell me anything about this woman?" Emily pressed knowing an early release of the perpetrator made it harder to get away.

"Blond, slim, my height, it's funny we have nearly the same running gear, she has a son she didn't say his name. But she said her name" Ruth revealed

"What was her name!" Morgan asked, it was great to have a name even a first name it gave a starting point.

"Erm, something weird, I couldn't really hear" Ruth started to get worked up. "I didn't think it important to remember"

"Don't worry about that where did you last see them?" Emily pushed

"On the path 500 metres that way" Ruth pointed to where Hotch and Reid were walking.

"Did you see any cars parked there or vans anything?"

"No the car park was empty" Ruth was firm insistence on that "I saw nobody else or I would have asked them for help"

Emily and Morgan continued to question her but got no further.

Hotch and Reid walked the path. Even 100 metres away up the path you couldn't see the car.

"Perfect spot to abduct someone, park here and wait for them to pass" Hotch remarked as they walked to the second car park.

"Skid marks someone was in a hurry to leave" Reid pointed at the tyre treads. Then asked a local cop to ensure CSU took photos. He was sure for finding the child it would be too late but it would help in court. "There curves shaped the width indicates a van, there are 500,000 vans registered in a tri-state area. Only 300,000 of them have curvy pattern." Reid told Hotch

"There's blood" Hotch pointed at a trail of dark dots culminating in a bigger patch.

"So whoever took Franklin was bleeding" Hotch summarised.

"If there DNA is in the system maybe we will get a match" Reid offered, they both knew by then there was a good chance Franklin would be dead.

"There is more blood here did she wait for someone?" Hotch pondered, no answers were forthcoming, so they continued up the path to where they had met.

"This corner is totally blind, if you're both running you stand no chance of seeing them. There are signs someone slid down the slope then a blood trail that leads that way" Reid summarised.

"It takes skill to crash into someone knowing you won't hurt the child" Hotch noted. "Hit to hard and you're too injured to carry out an abduction. Don't hit hard enough and there is no need to help you. Seems like a bad plan"

"It's too clumsy. There are enough trees around and enough cover to easily separate Ruth and the baby" Hotch continued

"So it's likely the jogger was just an innocent party"

Morgan and Prentiss joined them relaying the story. Hotch filled them in on their side.

"It sounds like the jogger and Ruth have a lot of similar features. Maybe the kidnappers took her by mistake" Emily offered.

"We should put her into protective custody just in case" Morgan suggested.

"Let's run the scenario" Hotch ordered

Emily pretended to be Ruth while Morgan was the mystery runner. They stood either side of the walled corner where the pushchair had originally hit the runner.

"I can't see you" Emily called

"Nothing here, so our jogger had no way of knowing when Ruth was coming." Morgan summarised.

"The nearest car park is where the abduction happened, the only other car park is the other side of the park." Reid recalled.

A local uniformed officer approached.

"We accounted for all the cars parked except one." The cop told them

Morgan pulled out his phone, pulling up Garcia ready to run the plate.

"Garcia we need you to trace a plate. What's the license plate?" He asked. The cop looked at his notepad and read it.

"JJ!" Reid exclaimed horrified his identic memory pulling up that plate before Garcia could trace it.

Hotch returned interrupting Reid

"That was Will, JJ hasn't returned home yet he was wondering if she had come straight here"

"That license plate it belongs to JJ's car" Reid insisted. As the team collective put the pieces together

"Garcia check the GPS" Hotch ordered fearfully, she matched the description of the jogger to a T.

"Her car is parked in falls Valley Park and it hasn't moved in the last 2 hours." Garcia's voice reflected how they felt fearful, the sick feeling rising in their stomach as the facts confirmed what they knew already.

JJ was missing!

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