"Something -odd, happened while I was down at the PD," JJ said, her voice torn between amusement and confusion.
"Yeah?" Morgan asked interestedly, looking glad for an excuse to take a break from his paperwork. Spencer figured it was why JJ had mentioned it at all; it was fairly obvious Morgan was starting to lose his focus enough that he should take a break, but he was too stubborn to stop on his own.
"Yeah, they've got a gremlin in their system apparently. A missing person's report filed itself while I was there. It popped up on the screen of the person I was talking to, but nobody remembered filing it." Morgan was grinning bemusedly.
"Who was it?" Spencer asked with interest.
"What?" JJ obviously hadn't realized he was listening. Morgan smiled at her surprise.
"On the missing person's. What was the name?"
"Oh." JJ shrugged. "Alla- Ara! Ara Denae- Something." Spencer froze, staring at her, his mind damningly blank for once.
"Kid? Something wrong?" Morgan's concerned voice broke through the haze. Spencer spun back to his computer, quickly pulling up the missing person' report.
"No, please, no, no, no-" The file appeared on his screed. "Dammit!" He slapped the desk with an open palm.
"Kid? Reid, what's wrong?"
"She's missing," he said numbly. JJ and Morgan exchanged concerned glances. Spencer ignored them as he pulled out his cell phone.
"Reid? You know her?" Spencer ignored his concerned friend. He had more important people to talk to at the moment.
"Train Godcatt? I have your number as an emergency contact- Yes, I know- I'm trying to tell you- IF! YOU! WOULD! LISTEN! Thank you! Ara's missing." If the situation wasn't so serious, he would have smirked at the dead silence on the other end.
"HOW COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN!" Morgan and JJ both winced at the shout from the other side of the conversation. "I'll call you back." He nodded to himself and he hung up, setting his phone on the desk.
"You wanna tell us what that was about?" Spencer sighed as he leaned back in his chair, looking over at Morgan.
"We've been expecting to hear about a new victim any time now." He nodded. "Well, we just did."
"How do you know she fits?"
"Because I know her."
"If she's someone you know, why would she be on the streets? I never thought you'd leave your friends out in the cold." Spencer shrugged, hiding his hurt at the mere suggestion.
"She's got a place with me any time she wants it. She's on the streets because she wants to be, not because she has to be. Hell, Train would buy her a house if she wanted him to. He'd buy her a whole god-damned city if she wanted it." Morgan looked surprised at the unusual profanity. Spencer stood.
"Where you going?"
"Garcia. We need Ara's paperwork. Tell Hotch, would you?" Morgan shrugged as he disappeared down the hall, and then moved towards Hotch's office.
"What's Reid upset about?" Hotch asked as he stepped through the door. Morgan shrugged slightly.
"He thinks we have another victim. He's going to Garcia to get her started looking her up."
"So what's his problem?" Morgan leaned in to put his hands on the edge of the desk.
"He knows her, Hotch," he said seriously. "Looks like they're close."
"Is it going to be a problem?" Morgan looked away.
"I don't know. He seems -driven. But it could turn to obsessed pretty easily."
"We'll keep an eye on him. Gather everyone in the conference room. Let Reid know to head there once he's gotten his information." Morgan nodded.
Reid was sitting on one side of the table with his head down over a file that he was apparently editing when Hotch entered the conference room. He raised an eyebrow at Morgan, who shrugged. After a moment or so he nodded to himself and fled the room, presumably to make copies.
"So, what's going on?" JJ asked, confused.
"I'm not actually sure." Everyone looked surprised except Morgan, who chuckled. "We have a new victim. What Reid's connection to her is, I'm not sure." Emily gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth in dismay at the very idea of someone Reid was close to getting kidnapped.
"She's the only friend I ever had before I joined the team," Reid said as he came back through the door. "I've known her since I was eight. She moved to Vegas at eleven." He passed out copies of the papers he'd been working on.
"So, what's her story?" Morgan asked. Reid shrugged.
"Her official's in the folder. I added notes where I could. But it's pretty much made up."
"How is her official record made up? And why didn't you bring attention to it?" Reid shrugged again at Hotch's sharp questions.
"Train found her when she was five, with no conscious memory except the facts that she was five, and her name was Ara Denae. When she was eleven, there was a threat to her life, and Train sent her to Las Vegas. Her papers were all drawn up around when she was ten, I don't know exactly." He shrugged at their surprised looks; it wasn't often he admitted he didn't know something, and it was especially surprising that it was about someone he knew. "But Livi know things were coming to a head, and prepared for the eruption. She forged all the documents Ara would need to start a new life somewhere else."
"Here, before she started middle school, her records say she had private tutors." Reid nodded at Morgan's question.
"The Montessori Street School, she called it. We spent weeks making sure she was ready for school, because she'd never had any formal education before. She had to learn to survive, because she was on her own from the time she was five."
"I thought you said someone found her." Spencer nodded.
"Train. But he was only nine, and looking to escape his father. Ara became his escape, someone who looked up to him and depended on him no matter what. It's why Tony wanted her dead."
"So her first real records are at age eleven?" Rossi interrupted wearily. "Then why are we bothering with the rest?"
"Because we'd determined that the UNSUB might be researching his victims. This is what he would find if he did."
"There's another option," Reid said quietly.
"What's that?" Morgan demanded, "and why didn't you mention it before?"
"It wasn't viable then. But Ara might have been the real target."
"Explain that!"
"Look, Ara graduated with me. I was twelve, she was fifteen. Directly out of high school, she was recruited to the Battle School."
"Battle School? I've never heard of it." Reid shrugged.
"You wouldn't have. It's a black ops training school, very top secret."
"But you know." It was a thoughtful statement, not a question. Reid inclined his head towards Hotch.
"Yes. I know. My first two years at Cal Tech were correspondence classes. I washed out of the main program pretty quickly, but I was lucky. I survived washing out. Most don't."
"Why not?"
"Because the only way to wash out of Battle School is to lose or forfeit at combat. To lose means death more often than not, and they have too much pride to forfeit. It makes you a social pariah at the school, but it takes you off the front lines and puts you into one of the less celebrated courses. Tactics, in my case."
"And Ara?"
"Oh, Ara passed the main course with flying colors. And made a lot of enemies doing so. Battle School attracts a lot of borderline personalities; it's not impossible to think one of them snapped and decided to come after her." He shrugged. "It doesn't really matter."
"Why not? A personal motive is a totally different profile than random selection with a particular victimology." Spencer shrugged.
"Ara's gonna throw ev'rything to hell anyway." Morgan raised an eyebrow at the unconscious shift in his speech pattern, but didn't say anything. There was a knock at the door.
"Agent Reid? I was told there was a situation involving one of our operatives." The man stepped into the room. "I'm Tio Requeza, CIA." Reid stepped forwards.
"I'm Agent Reid, these are Agents Prentiss and Jerome, and SSA Hotchner, Rossi, and Morgan. We just received word inactive operative Ara Denae, has become involved in our current serial kidnapping case."
"Her status?" he asked, his voice tight. Spencer raised an eyebrow.
"Kidnapped."
"Your levity is not appreciated. Has she made contact?"
"She filed a missing persons. I'm expecting another contact any time now, but you are advised that she's likely been drugged."
"Very well." He pulled out a chair and sat down. "Carry on, Agent Reid." Reid gave Hotch an apologetic shrug.
Before Hotch could speak, Garcia came running in, almost in tears. "Reid!" she exclaimed, "did you do something to my computers!" Reid looked at her curiously.
"No. I wouldn't do something like that, Garcia. Why would you think I had?"
"Because, they're screwed up. I can't find a virus, but all my screens are filled with nonsense, and all I can make out is your name." Reid and Riqueza were on their feet instantly, running for her office.
As they entered the room, all of the screens flashed, and the pace of the text increased. Reid sat down at the computer, typing quickly.
"Jeez, she's in rough shape. I can barely read this."
"You mean it means something?" Garcia asked tremulously from the doorway. Reid nodded, his attention fixed on the screen.
"I'm sorry she frightened you. But she's drugged half out of her mind. She didn't dare connect with me, or this," he gestured to the screens, "would be in my head. And trust me, that's not pleasant." He unconsciously raised one hand to his head. "I like my mind the way it is, thank you."
"What is she saying, Agent?" After a moment, Reid shrugged.
"She's afraid. I can't make out who she says it is, but she knows him, so it probably is a rogue trainee." Agent Riqueza's fist clenched and he cursed under his breath. "She's trying to keep him calm. Apparently he isn't much of a mentalist, because he isn't noticing. But he isn't hurting the girls; at the moment he's simply satisfied that he's captured her." The lines of symbols vanished to be replaced by an intricate drawing of a green snake. "Mean anything to you, sir? Because I don't recognize it." Riqueza silently shook his head. Reid shrugged and pulled out his phone. "Train Godcatt? I have a question, but it's going to sound a little odd. What is the first thing you would think of upon seeing a picture of a green snake?" He nodded. "Alright. Were there any of them at the Battle School? Kay, thanks. I'll get back to you soon." He hung up quickly. "According to the information Dreamer has, it's most likely Luck. I don't have any other name for him. He's been Ara's rival since Ara became a person of importance on the streets. I don't know how he could have taken her out, though."
"Tranquilizer gun. It would actually be fairly simple. If she doesn't hear the shot or see it coming, she can't avoid it." Reid nodded slowly. It was ironic. Ara absolutely hated guns, and one had likely put her out of commission long enough for her to be captured and drugged.
"He- oh, god, Ara," Reid said, turning away from the screens, looking sick. Tio Requeza squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.
"What's going on, Reid?" Reid looked up at Morgan's concerned question.
"He's a sexual sadist. What do you think's going on?" Morgan raised an eyebrow at the sharp question, but didn't say anything. "She's keeping his attention off of the other girls, but that has a price."
"Is she gonna be ok?" Garcia asked tremulously. Reid shrugged, turning back towards the screens, looking like he didn't want to know, but not knowing was worse.
"We postulated that the first twenty-four to thirty-six hours was pretty much rough sex. Not pleasant for our girl in there, but not a lot of physical harm." Morgan didn't say anything about the possible mental harm, because he didn't want to upset Reid any more than he already was.
"And she's damping his violent impulses. Not enough for him to notice, but enough that he'll probably beat her, but he probably won't take a whip to her like he did the others. And he should be completely ignoring the other girls, so we have to get in there before they die from lack of food, water, or medical attention rather than being killed."
"Because that would be bad," Garcia agreed.
"Ask her what she sees around her. Maybe there's a window or something," Riqueza suggested. Reid nodded absently, typing quick strings of letters and numbers that didn't make any sense to anyone besides him.
"She says she can see the moon, and... red light. She says there's red light coming in through the window. He put her in the middle of it." He chuckled suddenly. "Says she's always looked best drenched in red. Gotta admit, she is lovely in it." He started to say something else, but stopped himself. "She thinks the red light is from a sign. The walls around her are rough brick, maybe a warehouse? The floor is concrete, and it's very smooth. She says it's like new. No cracks that she can tell. The building doesn't feel very old, but it's not in good condition. She says posts are sagging, and she wouldn't trust the rafters with her weight. She thinks the roof is metal, and it has holes in it." He laughed suddenly.
"What?" Morgan asked when he didn't explain.
"She also says he's not a good lover."
"He beat her and raped her. Would she say anything else?" Spencer shrugged, but he was blushing faintly as he typed the question. "Hey! That was rhetorical!"
"She says she's had worse, her biggest problem is-" he snickered, "that he has no stamina. Great recovery though." He shook his head, typing quickly. "And something about Lucky Charms, but I don't understand the reference."
"It was her nickname for Luck. He hated it. You never met him, because you weren't in the battle situations. You were only familiar with the Commandry." Spencer shrugged.
"When did you get here, Train?"
"Just now. You think I was going to stay in Tulsa when Ara needs help?" He looked over at Agent Riqueza. "I have things now. You're dismissed," he continued arrogantly. Riqueza just raised an eyebrow.
"I think not, young Godcatt. Your family has little to no influence in my organization. I'm CIA, not FBI." Train rolled his eyes and ignored the man, his eyes tracking the lines of code on the screen. "Brother's gonna tear him limb from limb," he said softly. His eyes were angry. "If there's anything left of him, that is." He pushed Reid gently aside to type.
"What are you doing?" Riqueza demanded.
"Planning. If he used the cocktail I think he would, the first set should be wearing off about now. And that's the one that's keeping her majorically out of his mind. We're into endgame people." He looked over at Spencer. "Pins. You're with me." He stood without question, following Train out. The others followed behind them, jumping into the black SUVs while Train and Spencer got into Train's Jag.
"Nice car," Spencer commented. Train ignored him, speeding out of the parking garage. "So where is your brother?"
"On his way." Train pushed the gas, speeding the car up even faster. He swam easily through the traffic; even without the assistance of the sirens behind them Spencer didn't think he'd be getting into any accidents. From what Ara said, Train always drove like this. "He'll be here soon enough." Train hit the brakes suddenly, spinning into a parking lot, ending up with his door three feet away from the door to the warehouse. He jumped out and ran in. Spencer stayed in the car; working with Train brought out his Battle School training, and he wasn't supposed to go anywhere near a battle. He shifted into the driver's seat and moved the car away from the door so that backup would be able to get to them easily. His phone rang.
"Reid, what's going on?"
"Train has ways of finding Ara that we can't use. If you get a good description of the Battle School, you'll understand, but I can't tell you. But she's here. We'll need ambulances for the girls. And probably Luck, too, if he's still alive by the time they get here." Hotch was silent for a moment.
"Understood." And he hung up.
The ambulances pulled up at about the same time as Ara came staggering drunkenly out of the door, a few minutes after the team finally found him. Spencer met her, wrapping his arms around her waist in support. She tripped, looking dazed, and he sighed.
"Alright, that's it. Share." Morgan frowned at the odd comment, and Ara raised her hand to press her fingertips against Spencer's temple. He hissed as though in pain and then relaxed, going almost bonelessly limp. He nuzzled his face in her hair, trying to regain his balance.
Neither of them was completely stable on the walk to the back of the ambulance, but they didn't fall, or make spectacles of themselves, which Ara was before, so they weren't complaining. Train followed them, tenderly carrying one of the missing women, laying her gently on a stretcher they brought out before heading back in with the team at his back. Spencer sat on the edge of the ambulance, his arms wrapped tightly around Ara. She shifted slightly, feeling uncomfortable, and he kissed her cheek, calming her.
'Love you, Queen. Hate seeing you hurt.'
'I's knows, Pins. Didn' mean ta.'
'Don't apologize. You caught our serial killer for us.'
'Lucky Charms lost 'is.' A tall man who looked like a mirror of Train stalked up to them, and then froze as he took in their intimate positioning. Spencer's attention brought Ara's to it, and she smiled brilliantly. "Nia!" She tore out of Spencer's arms to fall into Niart's, kissing him passionately. Spencer just nodded to him.
"Niart. She's safe and sound. The medics looked her over already." Niart nodded back, lifting Ara in his arms and carrying her to his car. Spencer moved to sit in the BAU SUV, leaning his head back against the seat as he tugged gently, pulling more of the drugged haze from Ara's mind. She needed to be clearheaded to talk to Niart, and he was enjoying the disassociation he hadn't experienced since he'd stopped taking the dilaudid. And this way, he knew he wouldn't get addicted again, because he didn't have the physical drug in his system. It was something to think about.
"Reid. You ok, man?" He opened his eyes to smile at Morgan.
"Yeah. Just adrenaline crash." Morgan nodded understanding. Spencer had been terrified when he'd heard Ara was kidnapped, he'd probably been operating just on adrenaline ever since.
"But she's fine now." He nodded.
"Yeah. In two days' time, she'll be good as new."
