Spencer taps his fingers on the table patiently, his mind racing with possibilities. The UnSub was likely to strike again, but where, and more importantly, why? The soft ring of his cell phone pulls him from his thoughts. Pulling it from his pocket, he flips it open.
"Reid." He speaks into the receiver calmly.
"Spencer, that's your name right? It's important you listen closely." The husky voice on the other end of the phone finally speaks. "Do not alert the other agents or your friend, Aubrey Monroe, dies. Walk out of the room slowly."
"Hey, I gotta take this call." Spencer mutters pointing towards his phone.
"No problem, don't take too long. We're movin' out in," Morgan pauses, looking down at his wrist watch, "5 minutes." Spencer nods and rushes out of the room and into the bathroom, locking it quickly behind him.
"Are you alone now, Mr. Reid?"
"Yes." Spencer winces, pressing his forehead against the door.
"I have your friend Miss Aubrey with me. She thinks highly of you Mr. Profiler."
"How do you have Aubrey?" Spencer hisses, struggling to keep his voice down.
"Where's the mystery in that?" And with that the line goes dead. Spencer slams his fist into the wall, anger boiling inside of him. How had he gotten to Aubrey? How did he even know that he knew Aubrey?
"Has anyone seen Spencer? Spencer?" Aaron's voice barley registers in Spencer's head as he forces himself to calm down. Swallowing his anger he turns towards the door, if what the UnSub had said was true he couldn't tell the team about it. Then again, how would the UnSub even know? Pulling himself together Spencer unlocks the door and joins the rest of the team in the Conference room.
"What took ya so long, buddy?" Morgan eyes him, sensing his uneasiness.
"Nothin'." Spencer assures, taking his normal spot next to JJ.
"There's been another kidnapping." Hotch announces dryly, placing some files on the table. Morgan picks them up and flips through them, surprised.
"The victimology is different." He observes, pulling the girl's file out. "Aubrey Monroe, 20 years old, successful, wealthy. Hotch, you sure there isn't a second UnSub?"
"Positive," He pauses, "He even left his signature." Hotch holds up a photo of the girl's home, gazing at the writing on the wall. "You know who you are," He reads, rubbing his temples, "We need to figure out who he's talking about."
"Her parents? Close friend?" Morgan throws out, tapping the table.
"It sounds less menacing then the last message he left." JJ takes the photo from Hotch and hands it to Gideon, "Most likely because she's female and he feels remorse for causing her pain."
"No," Gideon adds in, "He doesn't feel remorse, the first victum was female too, he did it like that so it would stand out. It's so we'd notice it."
"So someone would notice it." Spencer breaths in, staring intently at the photo in Gideon's hands.
"Who else has acess to these files?" Gideon questions, his eyes returning to the picture of Aubrey's home."Us, the few cops on this case with us, maybe the filers." Morgan rattles off, his eyes traveling over to Spencer, "Reid, buddy, you alright?"
"Yeah, it's just this case." His sighs, masking his worry and anger quite well, "The victumology is different, but same MO. What's the stressor?" Spencer squirms in his seat, not liking the attention Morgan was pushing onto him.
"Maybe it's random?" Prentiss adds in.
"No, it's in the radius that Spencer and JJ put together." Hotch rubs his face, this case was turning into something none of them expected. "He wants someone to feel affected by this. JJ and I will have a press conference in half an hour; we'll show the picture of Ms. Monroe's house and if no one comes forward in another hour or so, we have to expect the worse."
-ELSE WHERE-
"Let me go!" Aubrey's shrill scream fills the abandoned shaft. "You don't have to do this. Please, someone help!" Her screams quickly turn into shaky sobs as she pulls furiously at the chains binding her to the ground. Surely Spencer will find her, wouldn't he?
-BACK TO THE TEAM-
"Reid." Morgan snaps his fingers in front of Spencer face, "What's up, man? Don't say nothing, 'cause I won't buy that shit. Not anymore."
"I...I can't." Spencer turns his gaze towards the window, watching the sky fly by.
"Is it a girl?" Morgan chuckles, but his smile fades when he sees Spencer's grim expression.
"It's not that simple."
"You know this Aubrey girl, don't you? I knew it the second I had said her name. Look we'll-"
"Morgan-he called me."
"What? But... How?" Morgan stares, bewildered.
"I don't know," Spencer trails off, "probably got the number for her phone. He said if I told anyone, that she would die."
"And you believe him?"
"Wouldn't you?"
