Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. ~ Chili Davis
...
Climbing out of his car, greeting the bright pre-spring sunshine head on, David Rossi makes it his personal mission to enter the FBI building with vigor in his step today. This morning, unlike others before it, had so far been good to him. He'd woken up slightly before his alarm, enjoyed a hot coffee in peace and even managed to read the paper. A comfortable regime he'd not be able to indulge in since his return to the BAU. Making the decision to rejoin the Bureau had been one of impulse, little thought given to the simple pleasures he'd be unenviably giving up. It's not like he didn't trust Hotchner to do right by the department without Gideon, but even having full confidence in his own recruit hadn't been enough for him to continue enjoying his well-earned retirement. The team were a profiler down, and he, he had some unfinished business. It almost seemed like the perfect time for all concerned. Almost.
Keeping his resigned thoughts to himself Rossi had just passed through security and was heading towards the elevators when a commotion behind stops him in his tracks. Normally he'd pass through the halls with a sense of aloofness nobody else could even hope to achieve, ignoring any goings on that didn't concern him. Not because he felt his fellow agents were beneath him, but because his very presence often had the halls dropping into silence. Being a bestselling author could be a pretty lonely life sometimes. On this occasion however, it was the by now all-too-familiar strained voice that caused Dave to drop his usual indifference and head over to see what was the matter.
"Problems?"
"I err," The kid blinks up at him, embarrassment in his eyes, "I can't find my badge."
Rossi locks eyes with the security guard before refocusing on Spencer, still rummaging through his book bag. Raking his keen profilers eye over the distressed slim figure he notes the kid's disheveled appearance; hair un-brushed, shirt misbuttoned, tie skewwhiff. Normally he displayed one, maybe two of these daily, but never all three at once. The kid had obviously overslept and gotten ready in a hurry. Possibly a late night, but from the paleness of his already pale skin Dave doubts Reid's gone short on sleep because of a good book. The slight darkness circling his eyes confirms his theory.
Locking eyes with the guard, once again Rossi presents his own badge. "I've got him from here."
The guard nods satisfied, not questioning his authority. With a hand around the kid's shoulder Dave smoothly walks Spencer away, reaching and entering the elevator, button pressed for the sixth floor before the kid even acknowledges what's happened.
"Err," Spencer flicks a nervous glance his way, then back to the grey metal reflective doors, "thanks, I'm, I'm not sure what happened this morning. My badge is always in my bag."
"Jacket pocket." Rossi says simply, like Spencer keeping his gaze forward. In the reflection he can see the kid patting down his pocket's, puzzled frown developing quickly into astonishment when he pulls out his missing credential's.
"How-"
"I know what it's like," Dave turns, looking at the kid's now bowed head, "to have those days where things just aren't going your way, I also know how it feels not to sleep at night."
Silence reins, floor shuddering beneath their feet as the elevator comes a stop. The customary ding signals and the doors part, filling their quiet metal box with energized chatter from the office beyond.
"You ever want to talk about it, you know where I am." Rossi tells him kindly, stepping out into the corridor without waiting for Spencer to answer.
Walking through the double glass doors of the BAU the first thing Dave notices is the total absence of anyone familiar. It seems he and the kid are the first to arrive out of their team, though he'd bet Hotch was around somewhere. Still it makes him sad. There once was a time that he'd know every face on this floor, including admin support. Of course it was a much smaller floor back then. Amazing what a little refurbishment could do. Sure beat the hell out of the bomb shelter they first got stuffed in. Reid slipping passed broke Rossi out of his daydreaming. The kid offered an embarrassed smile, but words where obviously beyond him as he quickly took to his desk and got to work. The little scene at the front gate and their conversation in the elevator no doubt going to play on his mind for a while. Rossi knew well enough not to push, and following his younger colleagues example made his way up the bullpen stairs to his office.
...
As the morning progresses the others file in one by one, Morgan being the last to take his seat at a resounding 9:35am. Come midday all are either out on the job, or moving busily around the office. All except Spencer. He hasn't moved from his desk once, demonstrating his adept use of the oldest coping mechanism in the book. Not like Rossi expects anything different. Even child prodigy's have their off days. Yet he senses this is a little more than that. Since the case in Texas the kid's been on his best be no-bother behaviour. Only Rossi doubts Reid's ever done anything by half in his life and won't limit his good behavior to the basics of not getting himself killed. Whatever Hotch said on the jet home that day to spark such a reaction Rossi doesn't disagree, withholding information from them like he did was incredibly stupid. However, this striving to be the perfect agent is going to bite them all in the ass just as hard if no one calls him on it soon.
Letting out a tired sigh Rossi puts his pen down and sits back from his desk. Unfinished business or not, it doesn't change the fact that he isn't as young as he used to be and is finding it damn hard to keep up with the case load. He'd forgotten how long the days were, how exhausting they could be, how tiredness ached in every fiber of his being once the killer had been caught and the adrenaline worn off. Even on a day like today, doing consults from the comfort of Quantico. Bottom line, despite an increase in budget - Jet, hotel rooms, seemingly endless supplies of reasonable coffee - being back in the job only drilled home just how old and out of shape he's gotten. Yielding to the idea that his return may be a brief affair after all, Rossi's just thinking of ordering lunch when Hotch appears in his doorway, lips pulled tight, eyebrows drawn together, an expression Rossi knows all too well.
"Case?"
Hotch nods, leaving an order to meet in the briefing room in ten.
Something has been going off all morning, other than Reid working diligently at his desk of course. The others down in the bullpen have noticed too. It isn't often Hotch locks himself away in his office excluding all but Garcia and JJ from his plans, but when he does it normally means something big's going down, something the rest of them should be concerned about.
Entering the briefing room first Rossi takes his seat, cringing as his old bones creak simply from the act of sitting. Ignoring his bodies betrayal Dave skims the files already laid out on the round table, only looking up when the rest of the team file in one after another, customary coffee cups and in the kid's case, sugar donut in hand.
"Please tell me that's not your lunch." Rossi eyes the pink and yellow speckled treat with trepidation.
Reid looks back at him, all wide eyed and clueless.
"You expect anything different from pretty boy?" Morgan laughs, thumping Reid's shoulder as he passes.
"Sugar's an important part of any diet." The kid talks around a mouthful of part chewed dough.
"But not in pounds Spence." JJ admonishes, adding a poke to his stomach. "If I ate like you every day I'd need a new wardrobe each week."
"If Rossi ate like you he'd never survive the week." Prentiss laughs, snatching the donut and taking a large bite before handing it back.
Dave communicates his amused displeasure with a lower lidded stare and very mature 'haha', while Reid takes his seat placing the half eaten, half stolen donut as far away from him as possible.
"So where we headed this time?" He asks Aaron, who's chosen that moment to walk in the room.
"Oregon," he answers without missing a beat, or losing his frown.
JJ stands, taking her place at the front of the room flipping quickly through the images on screen, describing each one. "Students Rebecca Mills and Daniel Oliver where missing for three days before their bodies turned up on the grounds of their secluded and well-guarded boarding school."
Rossi looks own at his own file, finding the photo of the pair lying side by side in the long grass.
"Not so well guarded if their students are dying." Morgan reads his mind.
"Both are fully clothed." Reid observes.
"And no evidence of sexual assault." JJ confirms to the group. "Each received only one noticeable injury, a fatal stab wound to the chest." She zooms in on the image.
"There's never a lot of blood at the scene, and no other sign of restraint or torture on the bodies." Hotch's concentrated gaze stares down each of them in turn, awaiting ideas.
Rossi doesn't know if it's the long days or abundance of late nights, or the fact that the majority of their cases lately have been centered around kids and high schools, but Aaron looks desperate, like he might actually lose it if another kid earns a place on their screen.
"Are we even sure this is serial?" If there's even a chance it could be solved from the comfort of Quantico Rossi was all for it. Thinking of Spencer in the elevator this morning and looking at Aaron now he finds himself almost praying for teen suicide pact.
"Suicide pact?" Morgan throws in. Again, practicing his telepathic abilities. Rossi's going to have to watch him. "Stabbings are usually personal."
"The M.E ruled that out." JJ pipes up, ruining the vibe.
"Drugs were found in their system" Emily speaks around a mouthful of Reid's donut, having pinched another sneaky bite while the kid was speed reading the file. Surely she's noticed by now the kid isn't touching it ever again.
"Yes the M.E determined both victims died from an overdose."
"Of what?"
"Etorphine." Reid answers before JJ can, and without assessing his audience begins talking. "It's nicknamed Super-Heroin because of its potency, almost 5000 times stronger than street grade Heroin, a person can overdose simply through skin contact and if you're unlucky enough to live for a few minutes before it does kill you it can cause the user to experience unfathomable suffering and despair-"
"Before it kills you." Morgan repeats straight faced.
Reid's enthusiastic nod is too much to be considered anything but creepy, and Rossi flirts with the idea of asking Garcia to put a parental lock on the kid's computer.
"Yeah, it's full name is actually Etorphine Hydrochloride and it's mainly used in large animal veterinary practices, Diprenorphine which is an opioid receptor administered in proportion to the amount of Etorphine used can reverse the sedative effects, but then that's only in large animals, there's no evidence it would work the same in human's."
Rossi listens to the kid's continuing excited babble and flashes back to the road trip he endured a few weeks back.
"Interesting," Prentiss is the one to break the heavily stunned silence consuming the room.
The kid however, is completely oblivious to the strange looks he's getting. "It is because there isn't high demand for Etorphine since even a small amount can kill humans, so question is how did the unsub get hold of it and why? There are easier less dangerous ways to drug someone."
At Reid's innocent mention of the unsub using drugs the mood of the room changes instantly, like a dark cloud suddenly formed overhead. Each team member that had been here a year ago, nearly to the day in fact, is finding somewhere else to focus their distressed gaze. Even Prentis can't help but soften around the eyes, while Aaron takes to all out removing himself from the group.
Watching them as a collective, the Kid responding like he doesn't know what inappropriate thing he's said this time, it's Morgan who clears his throat first. "So what could a drug like that be used for again?"
Reid breaks from his observations of his colleagues and relaxes a little. "Sedating large animals, elephants most likely given the current population in US zoo's. 1/100 of a gram can knock out an animal of over 6000 lbs."
Morgan nods and turns to Hotch, giving him a knowing look that has nothing to do with Zoo populations. "Well since I doubt the residents of Oregon are keeping elephants in their back yards that narrows down the suspect pool to those who would use or be able to get a hold of this stuff."
Rossi communicates his agreement with a low growl. "And it rules out suicide."
"What if they were given it as Heroin and the user didn't know?" Reid suggests quickly, once again his mind working ten steps ahead of the rest of them.
"Accidental overdose is plausible, accidental stabbing isn't." Hotch adds dryly, rejoining them from the side-lines.
"What are the school saying? Do they have a drug problem?" Rossi leaps on the idea of supply tampering.
"The school aren't saying much of anything." JJ sighs, completely used to random spurts of information and questions being thrown across the table. "In fact the local PD have called us in because the school have officially declined to cooperate with any investigation on its grounds."
"Two of their students are dead and they don't want to cooperate? What kind of school is this?" Prentiss looks aghast, elitism being one of her well known pet peeves.
"An expensive one. And one with a strict code of conduct and ethics."
"Really?" Morgan grins at JJ's sarcasm.
"Troubled kids?" Rossi guesses sharply.
Pressing her clicker JJ brings up the school's website. "Rich troubled kids. A term costs over $50,000 and that's only the starting rate."
"Hey Rossi, you think you could afford to send a kid there?" Morgan's grin is ear to ear splitting his face.
"Focus." Hotch orders lowly.
"Still, how can the school not co-operate? There's no crossing of state lines and only two deaths. We have no more power here than the sheriff's department." Prentiss states, the diplomat in her coming to the fore.
"It's essentially a high class reform school. There's been some back stopping by some of the rather influential" JJ puts in speech marks, "'parent governors', who don't want attention drawn to their association with the school."
"Let me guess, it'll effect their re-election campaigns if it comes out they've raised spoiled brats and not productive members of society." Rossi quips.
"That's insane."
"Luckily the principle agrees and so does Strauss." JJ smiles happily, raising her eyebrows communicating her own surprise at that.
"However the resistance with the schools governing body still exists and we have orders to be discreet, that's why we're taking a different approach to this one." Hotch interrupts, looking and sounding more put together.
"Undercover?" Morgan guesses, pinning the unit chief with a suspicious look. "Hotch that's not what the BAU do."
"We do now." Hotch gives them all a serious look. Rossi thinks he now understands what's been eating at him all morning. Political agendas' being one of his well known pet peeves. "The consensus is the unsub has to be someone within the school or having clear access and without access ourselves more kids are going to die."
"More kids? There's only these two, what makes anyone so sure this unsub is going to strike again anytime soon?" Rossi eyes him from across the table, but Hotch steadily avoids his gaze. "Aaron?"
Dave's aware he sounds like a father giving his child a warning but doesn't care. Hotch isn't the kind of unit chief that would purposely hide information from his team, so for him to be cagey now sends warning bells ringing off the hook in his head.
"There's been other murders at the school." JJ speaks up ruefully when the tension reaches its peak.
"When?" Reid asks with both suspicion and surprise.
Rossi's glad he's not the only one who's noticed the out of character behavior. Hotch and JJ share a look, but it's Aaron who eventually answers taking the clicker from JJ.
"Two months ago another boy and girl like our victims were found in the same dump site, same cause of death both with Etorphine in their system. The two had been known to local police as having problems with drugs. They'd been missing from the school three weeks before their bodies where discovered."
"Rebecca and Daniel, our recent victims, had only been missing two days." JJ adds, increasing the tension.
"He's escalating." Prentiss says unnecessarily.
"So including these two that's now four dead kids in nearly three months, with who knows how many more to follow." Morgan's voice alone belays his outrage at that. "And the school want no one to investigate? Why aren't we just kicking down the doors anyway. Surely the FBI can use special circumstances to instigate an investigation?"
Hotch levels them all with another no-nonsense look, this one saying 'don't you think I've tried that already?'
"Erin sure hasn't changed." Rossi speaks with a sigh, understanding just what line Aaron is towing.
"I'm not happy about this either." Hotch admits. "But bottom line is if we don't do it this way, we're off the case and that helps no one. If at any time I feel the danger outweighs the benefits of a secret investigation I will pull the plug and take the repercussions on myself. But for now this is the way it has to be."
"So what? One of us goes in as substitute teacher?" Emily asks lightly to break the tense atmosphere of the room.
"Not one. All of us will be involved, this is too isolated a location for one of us alone, sufficient back up would be impossible."
"All of us? Undercover?" Morgan laughs.
"Sounds fun," Prentiss' smile is just as disturbing to Rossi as Reid's elephant drug enthusiasm.
"It's still work." Hotch sobers them, looking lighter now he'd told them the truth of the situation, "remember, there's an unsub within a school and four dead so far, I'd really like to prevent a fifth and sixth."
"Okay," Rossi leans forward, getting the vibe that Hotch is avoiding talking about something very important, "so in what capacity are we going in? Six substitute teachers is strange midyear."
Hotch's eyes flick from Rossi to JJ then around the others, settling on Reid the longest before moving back to Rossi again to answer his question.
"Our cover identities have been written and back stopped by Garcia. She'll have folders with backgrounds and I. D's ready by the time we're on the jet," Hotch takes the remote from JJ and clicks off the screen. "Wheels up in thirty."