Chapter 1:
"Hey baby girl, can you look something up for me?" SSA Derek Morgan of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit asked over the phone.
"Umm…what?" A confused brunette asked on the other line.
"This isn't Garcia." Derek stated more than asked.
"Penelope Garcia has taken ill and until further notice wont be in the office. I've been covering for her since late last night." The brunette said, "But what is it-" The line went dead indicating that Derek Morgan had just hung up on her.
With a shake of her head and a few muttered insults, she got back to work. Just because Derek Morgan seemed to change his mind about needing certain tech services, didn't mean she didn't know what this case was about. Garcia had left her a full report of what she had done and what else can be done in order to move this case along.
Looking at the pictures of the Seattle, Washington case the BAU team is currently working on, her heart clenched. Four little girls had gone missing in the last four months and three have turned up dead – raped, tortured, mutilated – and she wanted to help as much as she could to ensure there wasn't a forth death. Though death might be a blessing if these photo's are anything to go by, she thought as she pulled up the records of every teacher at all four schools.
Garcia had already checked out the records but the young, fill in, tech analyst wanted to take a look herself. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh pair of eyes, she thought as she scanned each person's individual lives. Some teachers had won awards, were upstanding community leaders, some were married with children, some were divorced and some…
"Wait just a minute." She said to herself as she leaned forward to take a closer look at the information she had just discovered. She dialled the first number on her 'call these people if you have any important information' list that Garcia had left and waited for an answer.
"Hotchner."
"Agent Hotcher, this is Agent Charlemagne Macy, I'm covering for Garcia while she's on sick leave. I have some information that your team might just find useful."
"And that is?" He prompted.
"There are four teachers, one at each elementary school of the four missing girls, who have all withdrawn a considerable amount of money from their accounts that correspond with the dates the girls have gone missing."
"Let me guess, the 4th of every month?"
"You got it."
"Names please Macy."
"Judy Keller took out ten thousand dollars in March, Mathew Figg withdrew the same in April, Mark Hellman in May, and Lois Parker three days ago." she told him, "And I'm sending you their addresses now."
"Thank you very much."
"There's more sir." She said quickly before Agent Hotchner could hang up, "The missing girls and the amount of money being taken out from their account triggered a memory of something I read once so I looked it up and came across an article about an old satanic initiation ritual used in the 1400's."
"I'm listening." Hotchner said seriously and Charlemagne briefly wondered if he always sounded like that before continuing with her story.
"This ritual involves a brutal sacrifice of a young girl with every new moon. Now this information paired with the amount of money being taken out of the accounts could only mean-"
"Cult." Hotchner said, "Thank you Agent Macy, you might be just as good as Garcia."
"That's flattering sir." Charlemagne said only to realise after that she had spoken to air, "This team sure loves the hang ups." She sighed as she sat back and allowed her fingers a rest. She's more than confident that the BAU can handle the rest of the case from here. The new moon is tomorrow night so the little girl is safe until then.
The next morning Charlemagne came out of Garcia's office when she heard commotion coming from the bullpen. The BAU team was back and setting their things on their desk – getting ready to finish up their reports from the Seattle case, she presumed.
Aaron Hotchner was the first to notice her as he had walked up the stairs to go to his office. He took the few steps toward her and held out his hand in greeting.
"You're Agent Charlemagne Macy I presume?" He asked.
"Yes sir, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said, shaking his hand, "and you can call me Charlie for short."
"Correct me if I'm wrong but Tech Analysts aren't usually titled agent." He said and by this time, the rest of the team had made their way over to them out of curiosity.
"No correction needed, I was a field agent for the forensics unit but felt my particular skills would be of better use elsewhere and requested a transfer to the BAU. I've been on the wait list for awhile. Still am actually but since I have some background with computers and am somewhat familiar with code, Director Strauss asked if I would like to cover for Garcia while she's away." Charlie explained, "She wanted me to get a taste of this unit to see if it was something I was still interested in."
"Still interested?" Asked the built brown guy that she knew was Derek Morgan from the files Garcia left on her computer.
"Strauss is thinking of expanding the team." Hotchner told them all.
"Hotch, you knew and we're just hearing about this now?" Morgan asked, not even looking at Charlie anymore.
"It wasn't for sure yet and we were working on a case. That took priority." Hotch explained and turned back to Charlie, "It seems Director Strauss has decided though, so we'll be welcoming you to the team soon I assume?"
"I officially start on Monday."
"You look a little young though, to be in the FBI, let alone be part of the BAU." The tall and lanky Dr. Reid said.
"That's a little hypocritical coming from you isn't it? Didn't you join at 23?" She asked.
"Dr. Reid is a special case." She recognised David Rossi the most having been to all his lectures and book readings back home in Massachusetts, "How old are you?"
"I'm 25. I joined the forensics team of the FBI a year and a half ago and requested transfer almost immediately."
The blond woman stepped forward, "Agent Jennifer Jarreau, you can call me JJ." Charlie knew that but didn't say anything, "What did you major in university that you believe you can be a profiler?" JJ wasn't being rude, Charlie could tell, she was just curious.
"Well, I have BA's in Criminology and Biology, a B-Tech and a Masters in Psychology."
"Wow, another genius." Emily Prentiss said, "Looks like you have some competition Reid."
"I would hardly say I'm a genius, I'm just able to multi-task, compartmentalise well, and retain information easily." Charlie said.
"So you're not some kind of child protégée?" Derek asked.
Charlie let out a little giggle, "Not at all. My IQ is above average at 130 but that's it. I just had a lot of free time after high school and while taking Psychology at Harvard, I took online courses for everything else as a distance learner at MIT. I was able to do everything a lot faster online because I set my own pace."
Just as Reid opened his mouth to say something Hotch interrupted. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to get to know you but as its Friday, I'm sure everyone wants to get their paperwork done so that they can go home and get some proper rest."
"Amen to that." Derek said and turned from the group. He glanced back at the pretty brunette that he will be working with from now on as he took out his phone and dialled a familiar number.
"Hello?"
"Wow Baby Girl, you don't sound well at all." Morgan said.
"Considering I've been the porcelain princess for the past two days, I'm not surprised. Now tell me what you want so I can go back to sleep. I want to get some shut eye before I'm forced to visit my forsaken thrown once again."
Morgan let out a laugh as he sat down at his desk, "I just heard you were sick and wanted to see if you're alright."
"Peachy, Kevin is here to endure this hell I'm in and I'm sure I'll be good as new soon enough. You'll just have to suffer without me for a few days." Garcia said and started retching before hanging up.
Looking back over to the beautiful new addition to the BAU, who was laughing at something JJ said as they walked back toward Garcia's office, he sighed, "I'm not sure I'd call it suffering exactly." He rubbed his face before opening the folder in front of him.