I Will Always Find You
By Mapsnika
If I had no more time
No more time left to be here
Would you cherish what we had?
Was it everything that you were looking for?
If I couldn't feel your touch
And no longer were you with me
I'd be wishing you were here
To be everything that I'd be looking for
I don't wanna forget the present is a gift
And I don't wanna take for granted the time you may have here with me
'Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed
'Like You'll Never See Me Again' ~Alicia Keys~
CHAPTER ONE
She was awakened by her cell phone buzzing as it bounced around on the kitchen counter. She was just going to let it ring especially since this was the first time she has been able to get rest without a fever, chills or muscle aches. But she thought about what if it was Garcia calling to check on her like she has done every day since Emily left with the team to chase after the unsub. She knew if she didn't pick up Garcia would be pounding at the door to make sure she was okay. But it could be Emily and that was one call she didn't want to miss.
She felt more left out now that she was feeling better but she knew her girlfriend would be pissed if she tried to rush her recovery especially if she checked in with her babysitter. Neither Garcia or Emily would tell her about the case because they both feared that she would try to hurry her recovery and want to join the team.
As she got up and snatched the phone before it went to voicemail, she hoped it was Emily. Her face dropped when it was a male voice on the other end of the line.
"JJ, Emily is…"
"Morgan please tell Emily that I am getting my rest. In fact I am feeling much better," she said with a laugh in her voice.
"Listen baby girl, Emily didn't ask me to call to check on you." There was a long sigh and JJ dropped into a seat hearing that her friend had no hint of humor in his voice. "We believe that she has been kidnapped by the perp."
Her mind went blank and the only thing she could think of is that Emily had got Morgan to play a joke on her. But they wouldn't play such a cruel joke on her especially knowing what they deal with on a daily basis. Emily couldn't be missing, she is always so careful.
"JJ? JJ are you still there?" Morgan asked worriedly.
Shaken from her thoughts she focused on the caller. "Yes I'm here. How long has she been missing? What leads do you have about her whereabouts? Where was the last place she was seen before she went missing? How do you know she has been kidnapped?" She asked questioned with rapid fire speed not giving the man an opportunity to answer. "I'm flying there right now; I need you to pick me up at the airport."
"JJ, I know you want to help but right now you are not at 100% and you are too close to this. I called Garcia and she is on her way over to be with you. She can help…"
"No! Garcia needs to stay at the BAU to help you guys find Emily. I can be of help to find her there with you."
"We are looking for her and we have leads that we are following up on. We will find her. Do you hear me JJ…we will find her and I will make sure I deliver her back to you safely."
Before she could respond there was a loud knock at the door. She got up and opened the door knowing that it was Penelope. The woman enveloped her in a tight hug without saying a word. After about a minute she gently took the phone from her hand knowing that it was Morgan.
"Derek, I got her. Bring her home sweetness." She ended the call and walked her over to the couch and continued to cradle her friend.
After a while JJ tears had slowed and she pulled away from Garcia giving her a desperate questioning look. She had to know what she knew so she could find her. "Please…tell me. I have to know how to find her."
Rubbing her hand on her cheek wiping away the last few tears Penelope gave her a loving but sad smile.
"I will tell you what I know but the boys will find her."
Five days earlier…
JJ had caught the bad flu virus that was going around and was home on sick leave right before the team was due to start a new case. She was trying to help Emily prepare her go-bag because she was running late to meet the rest of the team at the airport for a case in Texas and she was feeling guilty that she couldn't go. Emily kept batting her hands away from the bag and ordered her to go back to bed with a smile and a kiss to her forehead.
"JJ, go back to bed please or you will never get well. I wish I was back riding a desk so I could stay home and take care of you," Emily said in a sad voice as she led her lover back to the bed they shared.
"I wish you could stay home too and take care of me. I love it when you give me sponge baths," JJ said as she softly cupped the brunette's face as she leaned over her she tucked her in. "It shouldn't take you long to locate the unsub. You are one of the best profilers at the BAU. You can profile him down to what he takes in his coffee. Go get him and when you come back I will be well and we can really enjoy that sponge bath together."
They placed their foreheads together and shared a tender moment as they looked into each other's eyes. Emily placed a soft kiss on JJ's warm forehead before standing to retrieve her bag. She smiled to herself knowing the cold medicine and her fever was making her a bit loopy. She was certain that she would sleep well once she left. She really hoped she would take care of herself while she was gone. But she knew how stubborn her girlfriend could be.
She looked back over her shoulder and gave her a smile filled with all the love she was feeling for her at that moment. "Stay in that bed and drink plenty of fluids. Don't make me have to call Garcia to come and babysit you," she stated in a mock stern voice.
"Yes mother. I love you too. Come back safe baby." It took all of JJ's willpower to not get out of the bed to give her girlfriend a passionate kiss and embrace but she knew it would cause Emily to get upset with her and more worried on top of possibly giving her the flu. Her having to stay in bed with her sounded like a good idea but she couldn't do that to her. Emily was a bigger baby than Morgan when sick. No, having Emily well and taking care of her was a better idea. Besides she wanted her to be focused before starting the case so she would come back quicker.
Taking a last look at her sick girlfriend she said, "I love you so much honey. I will come back to you soon. Take care of yourself."
As Emily drove to the airport, she couldn't help but think about the ring that she had purchased and had locked away in her gun safe. She knew it would be safe from JJ's curiosity since they both had their own gun safes. She had hoped to ask her to marry her before they caught this case and she got the flu. But now she would have to plan out an even more romantic way to ask her besides over dinner between cases.
Once on the plane Emily, Morgan, Rossi and Reid exchanged pleasantries while Hotch prepared to go over all the information they had on the case. He connected with Garcia to go over the case via internet. He signaled for everyone to join him around the table so they could all view the data consol to prepare a game plan on how to proceed.
"Well we don't have much solid information to form a clear profile about the unsub. What we do know is that he kidnaps his victims and holds them for various time periods. He apparently doesn't have a game plan on when he releases them. The first victim he kidnapped was released into a crowded mall after three days of being taken. He was disoriented and had no memory of what had happened to him. That seems to be the same situation with the other two victims who have been found. It doesn't appear that the unsub is very particular where he drops off those that he kidnapped," Hotchner explained.
"The unsub does not seem to have a victim profile either which makes the assumption that opportunity is what governs his actions. There have been a reported 7 victims, 4 females and 3 males all ranging in age from mid twenties to late sixties," Reid added to the profile.
Wrinkling her forehead, Emily asked, "Is there any commonality about the victims? Where do they work? Shop? Their ethnicity?"
"That's the screwed up thing as far as we can tell none of them seem have nothing in common. They are of different religions and economic classes. Talk about your equal opportunity unsub," Morgan said with a strained laugh.
"The results from the toxicology screening report that each of the recovered persons detected propofol in their systems at varying levels among other chemicals. They all reported various levels of memory loss or cognitive impairment. Garcia, I need you to find details about those that have been taken who are still missing? And where were the ones released found and the timeline from being taken?" Hotch asked Penelope. "Also see if you can find any common elements with the victims that the local authorities might have overlooked."
On the monitor, a grid of the people taken and those that were returned when and where appeared. They all could tell at first look that there was no discernable pattern about who was taken.
"I will have all the other information ready for you when you arrive jn Texas," Garcia said.
"Can you send me that grid of the victims to my tablet so I can take a closer look before we arrive? I might be able to come up with a pattern," Reid asked Garcia.
"Sending the data to you now my golden genius," she said with a bright smile.
"Penelope, do you have us set up with the local police department when we touch down?" Hotch asked their analyst.
"Yes sir. They will have transportation waiting for you on the tarmac. I've booked you all into the Ramanda Inn near the Police station. I have already linked up the information with their computer analyst and will be ready when you link up with me." Figuring she had taken care of all the business she graced them with her bright smile. "Is there anything else my lovely team of crime fighters needs from their goddess of all things good?"
Hotch gave her a small smile, Thanks Garcia we'll talk to you when we land."
Before the link was cut Emily quickly asked, "Garcia could you check on JJ and make sure she is resting and taking care of herself."
"No problem sugar. I will even take her some of my homemade chicken noodle soup. But I know what will really make her feel better…" Garcia gave Emily a knowing wink.
Trying to retain her professionalism and not blush too brightly she quickly said, "Thanks Garcia." She quickly cut the link as she picked up a file to cover her reaction.
David Rossi who had been uncharacteristically quiet finally spoke up. "I think we will have to be prepared to be flexible with whatever profile we come up with once we meet with the local authorities and conduct our own interviews. I know that we don't really have a working profile but I know that there has to be a pattern. This unsub doesn't fit any normal parameters. I really want to take a closer look at the tox reports and find out more about the victims." The team sighed and looked over the information they had just covered. Rossi who was sitting next to Prentiss leaned close to her quietly saying, "I hope you and JJ didn't have anything special planned anytime soon because this might take awhile."
Emily looked down at the information she had in her lap and let out a sad sigh as she shook her no. She already missed her girlfriend and she had only been gone from her for a few hours.
Hotch had given out everyone's preliminary assignments knowing they would change once they landed. They all retreated to various spots on the plane to work out their own logistics of how they were going to handle their duties. Morgan sat across from Prentiss and was staring at her with a wry grin on his face.
She looked up at him with a confused expression. "What are you looking at?"
He let out a soft chuckle. "I bet you are disappointed that this case may go longer and that JJ got the flu."
"Yeah, I'm concerned that she got the flu because she would have been very valuable on this case managing the media." Emily tried to be as matter of fact in her response to her fellow agent but knew he was an excellent profiler and read right through her façade.
"Prentiss, you do know that we all know that you and JJ are a couple and have been for awhile now. Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter."
She couldn't hold her smile in anymore especially from her friend. "Yes I am aware that you all know but that still won't stop me from trying to be professional while working a case. Besides I'm trying not to think of her too much especially since I won't be able to see her and Skype on my iPhone is not the same thing."
"Have you thought about making an honest woman of her?" he said with a devilish grin.
"Make an honest woman of who?" Reid asked as he stood next to the two agents.
Both of the agents laughed at the young man. Emily was grateful she would be able to get out of answering the question and Derek would be left to explain it to his friend.
"Spencer for having such a brilliant mind you can be real dense at times," he said as he stood and put his arm around his shoulder leading him to an empty set of chairs trying not to laugh too much. He knew he had to be gentle because he knew that his young friend still had a crush on the blonde woman in question.
The team was grateful for some light moments because once the plane lands they would be in full BAU profiler mode and be sought after as the people who had the answers to solve the case.
Once the plane landed they were met by several members of the local Houston police department.
"Captain Taylor, nice to meet you. Let me introduce you to my team. This is senior SSA David Rossi, SSA agents Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, and Dr. Spencer Reid. Our technical analyst Garcia has been in contact with your computer analyst so we should be ready to get started." Hotchner went through the introduction as he has done so many times before.
"Agent Hotchner, I'm glad that we are gonna get your assist on this one. We found out about 30 minutes ago that another male victim may have gone missing. So ya'll have got your work cut for you. We got cars set up for you over there," the captain said with a Texas drawl as he led them to the dark blue SUVs
Once at the station they all filed in and went to the area that had been set aside for them. Unpacking their gear, they brought up the computer and linked up with Garcia at Quantico. The captain brought over all the files they had accumulated including the latest victim.
After an hour of combing through all the material including what Garcia was able to gather about all the current victims, Hotch got their attention to finalize a game plan.
"Garcia was able to find some common elements with the victims. We need to compare them with the latest victim that was recently taken." Hotch handed the printout of the information that was sent over to each of his team.
They walked over to the large board that had a map of the city of Houston and pictures of each of the victims. Reid went to the board grabbing a dry erase pen as he carefully looked over the list in his hand writing all the similarities for each person. As he was writing he had the full attention of everyone in the small room.
Rossi walked and stood behind the young man forming his own conclusions. "Does anyone find this interesting? Of the seven men and women that were taken they all fall into specific age groups, twenties, thirties, forties, and sixties. Of the three that were let go they range in age from early thirties to late sixties. There was a female who was 32 and two males 48 and 69. The age of the latest victim is a male age 68. The victims that have not been found are three women two in their twenties and one in her late forties; a male in his mid thirties with the latest victim 68. If I were to make a speculation we can expect that a female in her thirties and a male in his forties will be the next victims."
"It's almost like the unsub is collecting people to form a specific group. He seems to be taking the males and females in each age group. Figuring out why the unsub wants these people is what we need to find out if we are going to catch the unsub." Derek rubbed his face with both his hands as he paced in front of the board verbalizing his theory.
"Look at the ages of the victims. There is a pattern there," Reid hypothesized as if everyone understood the pattern he was talking about.
"Reid what pattern are seeing?" asked both Hotch and Rossi at the same time.
Quickly turning his head to look at the men who asked for clarification he at first looked surprised and then realization appeared on his face. "Oh sorry. Well, when you think about adult family groups what ages are normally represented? What if the unsub is trying to recreate some type of family group."
Emily brightened seeing where Reid was taking his theory. "That could explain the propofol that was found in the victims. That drug is commonly used for short term medically induced amnesia for patients undergoing traumatic surgical procedures." She shuffled through the files on the table until she located the one she was looking for. "Okay, the tox screen for the victims all report having varied levels of propofol among benzodiazepine, Soma, Lithium and Chlorpromazine."
"What the hell kind of cocktail was the unsub trying to make? A hypnotic, antipsychotic antidepressant…what is this crazy trying to do?" Morgan asked in shocked wonder.
"Since no one has turned up dead, our unsub must have a chemical and/or medical background where he can manage the health conditions. That could explain why the three were released because their health could not be stabilized."
"Or they weren't responding to the reprogramming that was being done to them," Prentiss added.
"This at least this will help us narrow down our profile." Hotchner walked over to the computer screen and cued up Garcia. "Garcia, do a search for adults with a chemical or medical backgrounds who have experience in mixing obscure compounds. Also include anyone who also may have experience in psychology. Narrow your search to those people who may have had a major loss of their families. I know the parameters are vague but that's all we have."
"Yes sir. I will get right on it and get back to you." The screen went black.
"If this unsub is trying to recreate a family, they are not trying to hurt anyone because the drugs used can be used to make the victims very susceptible to suggestions. The ones that were released may not be able to give us much because of the drugs that they were injected with. I think the unsub wants to work with a clean slate by causing amnesia and then making them susceptible to suggestions. They may be trying to create the perfect family," Emily stated as she looked at the characteristics of each person that were listed under each picture.
"If they are trying to create the perfect family, why not take people from the same ethnic group? Why have there been no children taken?" Morgan asked.
"Not taking children makes sense. This unsub probably does not want to the time to wait for children to grow up. If their adult family members were lost or were a disappointment, creating the family with drugs would be quicker. And they can program the qualities their other family members had or that they wished they had. I think the age is the key factor not the other elements," Rossi added.
Looking at his boss, Derek's face mirrored the feelings of all his team. "Hotch we have nothing solid to present to the locals as way of a clear profile of the unsub except that they may have a chemical or medical background and/or a psychological background as well as may have suffered a major family loss."
"That may not be all we have. I'm pretty sure the unsub is male. Some of the drugs used need to be administrated intravenously. Someone would have to be strong enough to capture them and then transport them someplace secluded where the drugs can be given and the programming can be done. They would need time to make sure they had the right dosage for their needs. That could explain why three of them were released because they weren't responding the way the unsub wanted." Rossi turned and stared at the pictures of the victims. "This unsub would have to be strong enough to handle a person who weighed over 200 pounds and do it where they were not noticed."
The team just stood there in silence either looking at the board or reading over the various files. There was a heavy sense of the unfamiliar in the room, the team having their individual feelings of not having a clue as to how to proceed in this case knowing they had a long road ahead of them.
Looking at the faces of his team he realized that he needed to galvanize his team into action sensing the heavy burden of doubt in the room, he broke the silence in the room.
"Alright we need to gather more information to fill in the holes on our profile. Two of the victims are still in the hospital and the oldest male victim is at home. Tomorrow we will start fresh. Prentiss and Reid go talk to the victims at the hospital. Morgan and David go see what you can find out from the man who's at home. I will go with Captain Taylor and scope out the places that each person was found. Hopefully Garcia is able to come up with more leads by the time we finish are recon. We'll need to keep in contact with each other incase something comes to light that will impact the case. Let's meet back here after the interviews to compare notes. In the meantime let's see if we can try to solidify our profile of the unsub." Once Hotch finished giving directions he saw that his team looked somewhat relieved having had their energies focused into accomplishable tasks. Having received the acknowledged nods from his team, they grabbed the needed files and gathered around the conference room doing what they do best.
A black late model four door Chrysler had just turned off interstate 45 heading to the Lake Conroe area turning onto a rural road headed to a lightly populated area. From there the car drove to an area where the houses were set about 5 miles apart from each other. The area provided privacy as it was at least a five to ten minute car ride to reach the closest neighbor's home. The car reached a long driveway heading to a three story large white country plantation style home with green trim and large plane windows with a blue swing bench on the porch to the left of the front door.The home was surrounded by several acres of wooded land.
A man stepped out of the car and made his way up the six steps that lead to the oak front door. He had a thin smile on his face as he reached in his pocket to pull out his keys to open the door. Once the door was opened and he was inside he placed his keys in the crystal glass bowl sitting on a small table in the entry way. He walked into the great room and smiled broadly with a sense of pride at his family.
Four adults sat in brightly colored armchairs throughout the large great room in silence. Some had vacant looks on their face while others just looked confused. A TV was broadcasting an afternoon talk show but no one in the room was watching it. The man walked over to a young woman checking her pulse and respiration. Once satisfied he moved to the young man and then the other young woman sitting next to the first woman repeating the same examination. He continued the same procedure with the remaining woman in the room. With her he gently rubbed the back of his hand along her cheek then kissing her softly on the head.
As he walked to the door at the other side of the room he turned and smiled at everyone in the room. "You are all doing so well my family. I am very proud of you. Grandpa got here the other and he is still very tired so he's resting now. I'm gonna go check on him and I will be right back."
In a bedroom done the hall from the great room, a man in his late sixties lay prone in a bed with IV tubing coming out of his arm and hooked up to a heart monitoring machine.He checked to make sure he was okay. Happy with his progress, he went back into the great room to be with the rest of his family.
He grabbed the box off a table by the door leading to the great room that contained headphones and CD players.
"It's time to listen to today's lesson while I go make us something to eat." He placed headphones over the ears of each person and pushed the play button. Each person was receiving a message that was recorded specifically for them. Before he placed the headphones on the older female, he put the headphones to his ear and pressed play to ensure that she had the right message.
"Your name is Sally Monroe. You live in this house with your family. You have been married to the same man for thirty-five years. You have four children one boy and three girls. You also…" Satisfied with the message he placed it on the head of the woman. The message would repeat in a continuous hypnotic loop for one hour.
He knew his family needed to eat so he went and prepared sandwiches while they listened to the taped messages. When all the CD players stopped he went and removed the equipment putting them back in the box until he would repeat the process again in two hours. Placing the sandwiches in front of each of them on the small tables that were in front of each chair he instructed them to eat. When they all picked up their sandwiches and began eating as he retrieved the last sandwich and walked over to Sally.
"Sally I think you are going to like your sandwich. I made it special for you because I know how you like it, light mayo, no pickles."
The woman took small bites of the sandwich that the man fed to her with loving eyes. He wiped her mouth with the lace linen napkin that was sitting next to the plate.
"Sweetheart, everyone is almost home. We are just waiting on Claire and my brother Harry. But you know Harry, he's always late. And Claire had to get off work but should be here soon. Once they get here we can have that big family dinner that we were planning once we were able to get the whole family together at one time. Won't that be great Sally?"
The woman looked at the man and gave him a weak smile and nodded her head robotically.