Author's Note: Okay, lets try this again... Hello Readers. I know I went AWOL for a while there, I'm Sorry! I pulled the few chapters of this story down so I could revamp it a little and am excited to get it going again. Here it is new and improved! Thank you all for sticking with me!
If you are new to this story-It takes place about a year after events that happened in my previous story Bullseye. It would really make a lot more sense if you read that one first!
David Rossi pulled his coat tighter around himself as he led his colleagues across the icy tarmac of the small municipal airport. The bitter wind had begun to pick up, making their faces sting from the cold. By the time they were finished with their last interview, JJ was shivering, despite having wrapped her coat tightly around herself and burying her neck deep into its lightly furred collar. Her nose was an angry red and Rossi imagined his to look the same. Reid, surprisingly, didn't seem to mind the cold in the least. Though his wiry frame offered little bodily insulation, he'd purchased a bright red ski jacket and matching gloves when they'd first landed in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue. Combined with the colorful knit beanie and fuzzy ear muffs he wore on his head, he looked like a child whose mother had bundled him up to go out to build a snowman.
Rossi shook his head, amused, and pulled open the door to the tiny airport office. The light dinging of the bell above the door announced their arrival, but the woman at the desk merely lifted her head in acknowledgement. She didn't smile, or offer them any sort of recognition despite the numerous friendly encounters they'd had with her throughout the day. They were investigating her employees, but she had been fully cooperative and even eager to help them. This time, her attention was solely on what was being said through the phone receiver she held to her ear.
They stepped away from the door and moved to sit in the small area designated for waiting customers, and waited patiently. Rossi tried not to be nosey and listen in, but when she spoke the words "storm" and "severe", he was fully alert and didn't care if she noticed. A winter storm would most definitely put a huge dampener on their investigation.
When they'd first arrived in Alaska, they hadn't expected their sole means of transportation between communities to be rickety old bush planes, flown by some questionable looking locals. With Garcia along for the trip, they were quickly able to narrow down their possible unsubs to a short list of people working at or around the airports. So Rossi, JJ, and Reid braved the turbulent flight to question the employees at the smaller branch airport, while Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss worked with Garcia at the larger home station.
"Dave?"
JJ's voice was quiet and he turned his attention away from the woman at the desk to look at her. She'd pulled her jacket lower and he could read the question in her eyes. She'd heard it too. He opened his mouth to tell her they'd figure it out when the woman at the desk called over to them.
"I hope you've got everything you need Agents," she stepped around the desk to join them, "big storm moving in. Won't be too long until everyone is grounded."
"How long do they think it will last?" Reid asked.
"No telling with these things. Maybe a day; could be three or four. Welcome to Alaska. We have one more flight heading out in ten minutes. If you hurry we put you on it and you get you back to Kotzebue before the grounding order goes out."
"Give me just one minute," Rossi pulled his phone from his pocket and moments later Hotch was on the other end.
"Tell me you've got something." Hotch's greeting hinted that they hadn't had much luck on their end either.
"We've got a lot of information to go over, but we might have a problem. There's a storm moving in and they're telling us all flights will be grounded. We can pack up and head back now, or we risk being stranded here for a few days."
Hotch's voice was muffled as he ordered Garcia to check on the weather. A moment later his voice was crisp and clear again, "You aren't equipped to stay there for a few days. We'll regroup and go over what we have here. If we can't go anywhere in the storm then neither can our Unsub."
Rossi agreed and quickly ended the call and nodded to the woman from the desk, "We're ready to go when you are"
Then woman led them outside to one of the large open aircraft hangers and yelled out at a young man loading boxes into the cargo area of a plane, "Jeff, last minute additions."
The young man stuck his head around the side of the plane to peer at them, "Additions?"
"These folks need to get back to Kotzebue. We're grounded. You're the last out."
Rossi couldn't help but wonder how old the pilot was as the kid approached the group.
"Uh, Sue, I'd love to takem 'em, but I'm loaded for cargo." He eyed them nervously, "We'd be real close to our weight limit."
"So pull any non essential cargo," Sue directed, "These Agents are on important business and are priority."
The kid nodded and Sue shook all of their hands before leaving them in the hanger and heading back to the office.
The pilot forced a quick grin at Rossi before hurrying back to the rear of the plane and removing a cardboard box.
"Can we help you out?" Rossi called over the sound of another plane being moved into the hanger.
"Uh, no, I got it," the pilot replied, "Just gimme a couple minutes."
Ten minutes later the three agents were standing on the runway as their pilot made his final inspections of the plane small plane. The wind was already picking up, whipping up powdery snow and clouding in over the hills in the distance. The pilot waved them over, opening the door for them to climb into the cramped cabin.
"Are you sure this is safe?" JJ asked.
The man nodded, "FAA says we can still take off with anything more than a mile visibility. We've still got seven or eight."
"I was more concerned about landing," JJ mumbled as she let him help her into the back seat.
They quickly boarded the plane, Reid squeezing in next to JJ in the small removable jump seats that had the pilot had added into the cargo area after removing a half dozen boxes. Rossi climbed up into the copilot's seat and turned to look at the younger agents. JJ and Reid looked like two children, crammed into the backseat, holding their bags of "just in case" gear on their laps and staring back at him wide eyed. Already the wind was howling around the plane, making it rock slightly as the pilot climbed in.
"Kyle," the pilot finally introduced himself.
Rossi shook his hand, "Dave. I'm sorry so have shanghaied your flight."
"It happens. Weather out here is really unpredictable."
"I hope you didn't have to leave any important cargo."
The young man's eyes glanced nervously to Rossi's face, "What do you mean?"
"The cargo you had to take off to make room for us. Don't you guys move a lot of medical supplies?"
"Sometimes. It wasn't really anything that can't wait a few days."
He cranked one of the levers in front of him and the propeller roared to life, making JJ tense. She'd never had a fear of flying before, but she'd also never been about to fly through a snow storm in a plane comparable to a tuna can. They taxied down the short runway and she couldn't help but notice that the other planes had all been moved inside the stadium sized hanger and tied down in preparation for the storm. The only other human in sight wore a bright yellow vest and leaned into the growing wind as he waved orange batons in the air, directing them which way to go. Kyle spoke into his headset before giving a slight wave to the now retreating traffic controller and pushing up on the accelerator.
The plane rattled against the thick air as it began its ascent from the icy pavement. Once off the ground, its left wing caught a strong gust, tipping them sideways and JJ sucked in a breath, clenching her eyes shut and hugging her ballistic vest closer to her chest. Kyle apologized and easily leveled the plane.
"Nervous flyer?" he asked, glancing back at JJ.
"Not usually no."
"Don't worry. We fly in winds like this all the time." He offered her a small smile, "I'll have you back on the ground in no time."
An hour and a half, JJ reminded herself. It had taken them an hour and a half to fly from the larger airport to the glorified mobile home they called an office. It had been cloudy then, but calm. Fighting the wind and sleet, she imagined it would take longer to get back.
After they leveled out at a higher altitude, the pilot finally turned his head to look at Rossi.
"So, why is the FBI way out here?" he asked.
"We're here investigating the murder of two women," Rossi answered, watching his reaction.
He turned his attention back to the windshield, "Those girls they found in the snow a few days ago? I saw it on the news. Do you think someone in Unakleet killed them?"
"Why do you ask that?" Rossi asked curiously.
"When the FBI comes asking questions in a town as small as us, people talk."
Rossi nodded his understanding and glanced back to the backseat toward JJ. She made eye contact and read his silent request. She dug into her bag and pulled the file from the side pocket and handed it up to him.
"Maybe you can help us out," Rossi pulled a photo from the folder, "have you seen this woman before?"
Kyle glanced over at the photo and studied it for a moment before turning his eyes back out to the horizon, "Doesn't look familiar."
Rossi proceeded to run through the file with the pilot, showing him photographs and asking the questions they'd asked the numerous other airport employees over the last two days. It wasn't until the plane jerked violently to the right and Kyle fought with the controls to level it that he decided it was best to stop questioning and let him focus on flying. The snow was coming down harder, fogging up the windshield and causing the airplane to sway and shake as it powered through. JJ had taken a death grip on the bag in her lap and Reid had resorted to closing his eyes, praying for the ride to be over soon.
Their pilot had taken on an expression of concentration, leaning closer to the windshield and squinting to see through the cloud coverage. Every few minutes he'd speak into his headset, relaying their location and checking for weather reports at their destination. The silence of the plane's passengers was broken only by the sputtering of the engine as it fought through the clouds, bouncing them roughly through the air.
Suddenly a solid figure emerged from the clouds directly ahead of them. Kyle swore, jerking the yoke hard to the right. They plane shuttered and banked, slamming Rossi and Reid into their doors. Regardless of his effort, the goose collided with the propeller, bursting into a torrent of crimson debris and coated the windshield in blood and feathers. The pilot quickly recovered from the impact, jerking the controls from right to left until the small aircraft finally leveled out.
"Era five to base," he spoke quickly into his headset, "yeah Sue, I just had a bird strike. I'm level now but we're still a ways out from base."
The pilot listened for a moment before checking his instrument panels and letting out a nervous breath as he read back their location. Before he could relay the information back to the agents, the engine sputtered, choking on the remains of the goose and the plane jerked and shook against the wind.
"No, no, no!" he shouted, ignoring the voice on the other end of his headset, "come on."
"What's the matter?" Reid asked nervously.
"We're stalling Sue," he answered Reid's question into the headset, flipping switches and attempting to keep the propeller running, "I'm gonna have to put it down."
"Put it down?" Rossi looked out for the ground below, invisible through the clouds, "where?"
"I don't know," he confessed.
"How far are we from the airport?" Rossi had to raise his voice over the sputtering engine and roaring wind.
"Too far."
JJ risked a peek out the side window just as the snowcapped mountains broke through the cloud coverage, "Can you land on that?"
"I don't have a choice," he answered nervously through clenched teeth, pulling at the controls.
Despite his struggle, the plane's engine rumbled and died out in a metallic whine. The agents sat shocked at the sudden silence of the cabin, each trapped in fearful disbelief.
"Damn it!" the pilot swore, "I need your help Dave."
Rossi shook himself out of his stupor, "What do you need me to do?"
"Grab the controls and help me pull. We have no engine power, but need to use the flaps to keep us as level as possible and hopefully slow us down a little."
Rossi grabbed the controls in front of him and was surprised at how much they shook and jerked in his hands. Their quick decent made for a violent change in the wind speeds against the wings. JJ looked to Reid with wide eyes and he gave her a faint smile that he hoped was reassuring while his own heart pounded in his chest. He let go of the bag in his lap to pull at JJ's seatbelt, tightening is as much as he could before repeating the process on his own. In the front seat Kyle gave orders to Rossi, who followed instruction as best as he could, both of them using all of their strength to keep the aircraft from nose diving into the ground.
The mountain side appeared close in front of them and JJ clenched her eyes shut, burying her face into the bag in her lap while Reid just stared wide eyed at the river rushing up to meet them.
"Hold on!" Rossi shouted, as they connected with the snow.
The plane's right wheel touched down first, sinking deep into the snow at a speed much higher than it was designed for. It instantly snapped, tilting them wildly to the side and digging the end of the wing into a snow bank. The entire aircraft spun from the impact. Tearing fiberglass and twisting metal screamed in their ears as the cabin filled instantly with snow. The sudden slow in momentum slammed them all forward and a pained cry came from the rear seat and they were tossed wildly as the plane inverted and landed hard on its roof. Rossi covered his face as the windshield cracked and threatened to implode in on him. Through the web of cracks he could see the boulder rushing up on them. He tried to warn his friends to brace themselves, but they were moving too fast, he didn't have time. The last thing Rossi registered were the sounds of his friends yelling and the deafening sound of the impact before his mind dissolved away into a silent, painless sleep.