Viper Strikes Again – Chapter 1

"Who?" JJ asked.

"Paul Thomas." Hotch said. "Aka Viper."

"Oh my god!" Garcia's eyes were wide opened. "The viper from Atlanta, Georgia? The Holden case?"

He nodded. "The one and only."

JJ looked from Garcia to Hotch and then back to Garcia, "Okay, I give, what's the Viper?"

Garcia shook her head, "Not what, who?" She giggled and quickly told her about the incident a year ago.

"Does Emily know?" JJ grinned.

"She will when we meet at the conference room." Hotch looked up at her as he stirred his coffee with a plastic stick before tossing it in the trash. "I'll see you in the war room in half." He then left the ladies with his mug of coffee as he headed back to his office.

"Oh, this is going to be such a fun briefing." Garcia said to JJ. "I mean not fun-fun but fun as in funny. I mean it's not fun because of all these dead bodies. Never a fun thing when we're talking about dead bodies ….then again, this is Viper we're talking about and given his history with Emily." She began to laugh."

"I can't wait to see her reaction."

"Me too."

Rossi came sauntering into Hotch's office a moment later, a mug of coffee in his hand, he looked at Hotch, "You're in a happy mood."

Hotch nodded as he grabbed his mug and took a sip, "Oh, you'll find out in a bit."

Dave arched his brow, "That good huh?"

Hotch stood up from behind his desk, "You have no idea." He grinned as he picked up his coffee mug and folders.

Dave gave him a wry look, "You're smiling, and you hardly smile unless something big is about to happen. Should I be worried?" The two men began walking towards to the conference room; the other team members were heading that way too. "Like I said, you'll see." Hotch grinned as he greeted happily at Emily as she came up and walked beside them.

Emily frowned at Hotch suspiciously, "Er…good morning to you too, Hotch…you sound really happy…something's up?"

Dave shook his head, "Don't look at me, kid. I'm also in the dark."

"Oh? He's grinning like a Cheshire cat, Dave." Emily was now walking beside Dave and Hotch was in front of them. "Did he get laid last night?"

Hotch who was sipping his coffee, spewed out the content from his mouth as he turned and glared at her, "Really, Prentiss?"

She and Dave were chortling, "Just jerking your chains, Hotch but seriously what's with the dimples?" She teased.

He shook his head, "You'll find out when we brief, so get in there!" He began to brush the spilled coffee from his jacket. "Look what you'd done, Prentiss."

She leaned in and whispered playfully, "You've spilled something much more fun before like…remember last night?"She chuckled as she scooted quickly into the conference room and sat down.

He watched after her as he then followed her, shaking his head.

Hotch placed his folders and mug on the table next to her and removed his jacket and placed it behind the chair and turned to her, "Payback's coming, Prentiss." He then straightened.

Emily's grin began to falter as she arched her brow but as the rest of the team streamed in, she didn't get a chance to ask him what he meant by it.

She found out about it five minutes later;

"The Viper?" She exclaimed loudly as she stared at his face on the screen.

Derek and Reid were laughing as they watched her reaction and remembering her run-in with the Viper a year ago.

"Tell me we're not going back to Atlanta for that snake?" Emily glared at Hotch.

He nodded, "Yes, Prentiss, we are. Unfortunately the snake formerly known as the Viper but has reverted back to his real name Paul Thomas is now the chief of staff for the mayor of Decatur, Georgia, who is his cousin."

"Great, the snake had moved to another terrarium." Emily groused.

They snickered.

"Focus, people." Hotch said. "The reason we're going to Decatur is Paul Thomas has a secret admirer…."

"What? A rat?" Emily grinned in disbelief.

Hotch nodded. "Can I continue?"

"I'm sorry, Hotch." She shook her head. "This is too ridiculous."

"It is, Prentiss but we've been asked to do so by the mayor." Hotch explained. "But it's also serious, three women are found dead and all three women were previously linked with Paul."

JJ flipped the screen to show three slides of brunettes in their late 20s to mid 30s.

"Oh crap!" Emily said. They nodded when they saw the similarities. "You don't suppose I can sit this one out?"

Hotch shook his head, "No, Prentiss, I need you on this even more so. Sorry."

She shook her head. "My life is about to suck the big one!"

They laughed.

Emily threw pencils at Derek and Reid.

"Okay, let's get back to this case shall we?" Hotch pointed out. "First woman, Annie Ranns, 32, estate manager, found dead with her throat slashed in her sleep. Second vic is Mandy Grandville, 34, Sales Manager, same method of death. Third vic is Mary Shells, 29, Teacher, again her throat slashed."

"They were all tied up too," Dave pointed as he looked at the pictures.

"It looks like an indication that the UnSub might have a hard time subduing his or her victims." Reid began.

"But toxicologists reports came in, all were tested positive with narcotics."

"Drugged and bound and then slashed," Dave said. "A bit of an overkill, don't you think?"

Hotch and Emily nodded their heads at the same time, "Yeah," Emily said. "I think she is trying to show off to her intended."

"Viper must have rejected her at some point and she took it poorly." Derek said.

"There's a lot of rage in these killings." Emily uttered softly as she looked at the photographs.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Dave uttered."

"Actually the proverb," Reid began. "was taken from the play by William Congreve, 'Mourning Bride', which is about a Queen called Zara and a King, Manuel who through a series of web of love and deception resulted in the death of the King and the completed quote was 'Heaven hath no rage, like love to hatred turned, nor held a fury, like a woman scorned."

He looked around the conference room and found that he was alone. "Hey! Are we done? When are we leaving for Georgia?" He stood up and headed out of the conference room and saw his teammates packing their things. "Okay…this is not funny…See, I'm not laughing." He made his way down to his desk as Emily and Derek were laughing at him as Derek informed him they still had fifteen minutes before they headed out to the jet.

Later, in the jet, Hotch gave them their assignments; Derek and Morgan were to head to the morgue and examine all three bodies, JJ and Reid to the police department for a meeting with the Decatur police, while he and Emily were to meet with the mayor at his office where the mayor and Paul were waiting for them.

Emily wrinkled her nose, "So, is this my punishment?" She leaned over to Hotch.

He grinned slightly as he looked over his files on the mayor and Paul Thomas.

"I thought you and Viper might catch up on old time sakes."

"You're not funny at all, Hotch." She frowned at him. "Can I swap?"

He shook his head, "No, Prentiss. I really need you on this part of the interview. Just check around the office."

"Ah, I see." She nodded in understanding. "You think the UnSub may be working within."

He nodded without looking at her, keeping his gaze on his files.

She began to grin as an idea popped into her head, "You just started a war, Hotchner."

He snapped his head up as fast as he could without breaking his neck as he turned to look at her, "Wha…? What are you talking about, E…Prentiss?"

She shook her head, "Oh…you'll find out."

He frowned at her, "Am I going to regret this?" She shrugged but pursed her lips as she returned to her files. Hotch was looking worried, "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

She ignored him completely.

"Prentiss…this is not fair. I'm your supervisor; I demand to be told right away."

She shook her head as she got up and headed to the galley for a cup of tea. Hotch followed her; he continued to harass her.

Morgan and Dave were watching them. "I think there's trouble afoot." Dave speculated.

"I think it's a little more than that…she realized he's using her for bait again." Derek grinned, showing off his pearly white.

"Oh, this is gonna be such a fun trip."

"Fun? But there're three deaths, how can you say it's fun?" Reid frowned as Morgan and Dave who were grinning.

They stopped grinning as they exchanged puzzled looks, "Reid," Derek said. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Listen to what?" Reid asked him.

The two shook their heads, "You know," Dave said to Derek. "When I first met him I thought he was pretending to be stupid but I'm convinced it was not an act, he is genuinely born backwards; his ass is really on his head and vice versa."

Derek and JJ began to guffaw loudly.

"Hey!"Reid. "I was not born ass headed…whatever that means."

Dave shook his head, "It's called anal retentive, Genius."

"Hello, my Snake Charmers!" Garcia greeted them as the screen popped up revealing her face. "Bad news, we have a fourth body. A librarian; co-worker called into Decatur police when she failed to report to work this morning."

Hotch nodded, "We'll be arriving in another half hour, Garcia." He said as he leaned out of the galley.

"Looks like she's escalating." Dave pointed out.

"Yeah, Dave and Morgan, when you're done at the Morgue, will you go check out the fourth vic's house?" Hotch said.

Dave nodded.

"I'll call Decatur and let them know you two are expected." JJ said as she picked up her cell phone.

"Who would want to kill just to get the attention of a snake?" Emily griped.

"A rat." Derek chuckled. Which earned him a packet of sugar thrown on his head from the galley.

…..

End of Chapter 1