Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is.
- Jim Morrison
Chapter 1
Wilmington Police Department
Southeast Division
Wilmington NC
June 2011
Morgan sighed as he and JJ walked into the conference room. The only good thing about the human trafficking case was that JJ was back. She'd come on as a newly minted profiler, taking Emily's slot more or less. Technically she was the newbie, but she had enough experience with them over the years to have the chops. They didn't have to kid glove her at all.
Okay, maybe two good things. Ashley Seaver had been transferred to Domestic Trafficking under Andi Swan. Unfortunately they were working this case with Andi and her people, which meant that while Ashley technically had a different boss, she was still working with them. And she did still need the kid glove treatment. Good agent, or she would be when she had some experience under her belt. "This doesn't make any sense." She said for about the umpteenth time as she stared at the map.
"It will. We just have to find the pattern." Spencer replied for the umpteenth time.
No one was under any illusions that they had shut the entire ring down. They had caught one cell, the one in DC. But the laptops they had recovered had shown that the traffickers had been capturing college kids from across the US and steadily moving them to east coast cities. They'd hit large college cities as far west as Denver. But the most activity had come from the large coastal cities, Boston, New York, DC/Baltimore, Miami, Houston.
And Wilmington. Which had two universities of any size. Why they had taken so many kids from here apparently a year ago was a standout mystery. "Why here? This town does not fit." Seaver said again.
"We got a list of students missing from Trinity Seminary over the past five years." JJ said. "We already sent it to Garcia."
The problem was that college students were a very mobile population and not one that always remained obviously on the grid. Garcia was going to have to dig for each one to see if they really were missing or if they just dropped off and moved on. "Were Hotch and Rossi able to get one from UNC?" Reid asked.
"They're working on it." Morgan replied. "No one keeps good records on this sort of thing."
"Most of them are probably backpacking around the world or something." JJ said.
Morgan's phone rang just as Reid looked like he was going to say something, and just as some kind of commotion started up at the front desk. "Mon splendide morceau d'un dieu. " Garcia purred at him. "I found something weird in this list."
"Hold on baby girl." Morgan said. "Let me get where I can hear you. Let me know what the genius says." He said to JJ as Spencer turned back to the map. Kid was clearly being hit with a brain wave or something. He kept the line open as he went to step out the back door.
Which was how Garcia clearly heard the shot. And then the explosion.
