Chapter 1

There was nothing Agent Derek Morgan liked more than getting his teeth into a new case. He sat down in the conference room next to his colleagues and watched expectantly as JJ stood at the head of the table, case in hand and a grave look on her face.

"OK, well guys, this one is local. Very local, in fact; there have been a series of home invasions here in Quantico that have all ended in murder. Four women have been killed in five nights, all within a six mile radius of the city centre. We have one surviving witness, although she is in critical condition in the hospital, "JJ cast her eyes over the faces of her team members, "She was this unsub's first victim and it seems he intentionally didn't go through with killing her. Since then, he has killed each of his victims."

"How is he killing them? Do we have a pattern in the victims?" Reid wasted no time in getting the facts which he would no doubt go on to analyse in great detail.

"He's making the deaths look like accidents; he breaks in at night, slips some kind of sedative, most likely a strong prescription sleeping pill, into their drinks and he smothers them. With plastic bags," JJ said grimly, as she gestured to picture that had just appeared on the projection screen. The team took in the sight of the bodies of five red-headed women all lying in the same position on their beds, positioned as though they were sleeping; they looked peaceful. Their eyes were closed.

"He's got a type; all red-heads," Morgan noted, as he took notes, scribbling down any ideas or notions as soon as they popped into his head.

"Is that why the police didn't come to us sooner? They thought these were just accidents?" Hotch asked, annoyance apparent in his voice. The police force in Quantico and the BAU team had frequent disagreements, usually due to the police feeling overshadowed by the expert profilers; they tried to keep their crime fighting separate, even if it meant not informing the BAU of important details.

"The original police reports simply say that the women died due to suffering from sleep apnea," JJ said, taking a deep breath and continuing before her boss had a chance to get really angry, "but as soon as the coroner's reports came out and foul play was suspected we were contacted immediately."

"It has been estimated that as many as 18 million Americans have sleep apnea and it is more common in men, affecting 4% of middle-aged men. Death is actually a rare result of the condition, although sufferers are three times as likely to have a motor vehicle accident - "

"Reid," Morgan held up a hand to halt his younger colleague's statistics-based rant, "None of these women actually suffered from sleep apnea –"

"That we know of! Officials estimate 10 million Americans have the condition but have not been diagnosed!" Reid's look of enthusiasm quickly turned to embarrassment when he saw the exasperated faces of everyone looking at him. He mouthed a small sorry and motioned for the others to continue.

"Right, Morgan and Prentiss, you can both go to the latest victim's house and take a look around. Reid and I will go and talk to the coroner, maybe take a look and the bodies, and JJ can you go and see if the police have alerted the media yet? The last thing we need is the press terrifying all the red-heads of the city," Hotch said, his face set in determination as he stood up. The team all rallied around as they followed his orders, eager to do the best job possible. Hotch waited until they had left to talk to the unnaturally quiet Garcia, who was still sitting at the table apparently absorbed in the case file.

"Garcia, is everything alright?" He asked gently, "You've been quiet all morning."

"I'm fine, sir," she said unconvincingly, not even looking up. "Really, I'm fine."

Hotch simply walked out the room with a swift goodbye; if Garcia said was fine, she was fine. Once the rest of the team had left Garcia walked with a heavy heart back to her computer filled office. She felt sick when she thought about what she was keeping from the team. Making sure there was no one lurking around to see what she was doing, Garcia took the folded photograph from her pocket and looked at it. When she had found it taped to her apartment door that morning, she thought it was just a strange joke, something left there by some weirdo who had a crush on her, and this was his way of flirting. It was only when JJ had described the nature of their latest case that the photo was cast in a whole new sinister light.

A pretty young woman with vibrant red hair lay sleeping on the white sheets of her bed. She looked so serene, the light from her bedside lamp casting a beautiful illuminating glow on the curve of her naked back. Scrawled on the back of the picture in chicken-scratch handwriting was a simple statement.

Stay away from us.

Garcia hadn't even considered the sinister undertones of this message. Until now. She wasn't sure why she hadn't told the rest of her team about the photo as they sat in the conference room. She had just been in shock that this unsub knew where she lived and knew that they were going to be investigating these murders and she had felt a strange dread settle on her mind that told her she maybe shouldn't go telling anyone about this; if the unsub knew where she lived, would he know if she told someone? Garcia thanked her lucky stars that she was sleeping at Kevin's house tonight as she tried to think of a way around the implications of telling someone about the photograph.

Chapter 2

Five times I have tried and five times they have ruined everything. My husband heard from his friend who works at the police station that the police were treating this like murder cases, and now those official FBI-types are sticking their noses in. I don't know what they are trying to pull; it seems like one of those conspiracies you read about…

But how dare they do this? I'm trying to protect her. I just want her to get the rest she needs, and they storm into our house and tamper with her? Every time I go to check on her in the morning, there's police tape across the doors and they have taken her away from me! I need them to leave her alone, she must be so scared and so tired. She probably just wants her mom. I'm the only one who can help her sleep; she needs me.

I sent one of those BAU women a little note explaining how I feel; maybe she's a mother too and will understand… But if it happens one more time, I will have to send them a much stronger message. I would do anything for my daughter. I would beg, steal, borrow, kill. Whatever it takes for them to just leave us in peace.