Hey Guys! Thanks for giving this story a try! So here's the first chapter! Hope you guys like it! (Please keep reading even if the first chapter doesn't catch your eye immeditly, it gets better!)
Reid walked in with a envelope.
"What's that?" I asked looking up from my book.
"Case, or something. I imagine. Also there are some people in black suites out there standing in the hall…" Reid said turning around as the door opened. Gideon walked in followed by two other agents.
"You're gonna be is seattle with us asap." A tall one said, he had white skin and a stern look about him. His jaw was square and his eyes focused, his hair was black and brushed into a short style, this was Agent Hotchner. Both men wore black suit with white shorts. The second man Agent Morgen was a bit more relaxed than the first, he was a light brown color, his hair was dark brown and closely shaved to his head. Gideon looked up surprised at the accusation.
"22 year old Heather Woodland." Agent Morgan said stepping forward showing Gideon a picture, "before she left for lunch, she downloaded an email with a time-delayed virus attached." Hotch explained, "the killer's virus wiped her hard drive and left this on the screen." Hotch handed Gideon a piece of paper. Gideon looked at it then back at Hotch, he walked over to the wall with a bunch of his other papers pinned to it, "for heavens sake catch me before I kill more, I cannot control myself." He read from the paper.
"He never keeps them for more than seven days." Hotch said, "which means we have fewer than 36 hours to find her."
"They want you back in the saddle, you ready?" Morgan asked.
"Looks like medical leave's over, boss." Reid said.
"They sure they want me?" Gideon asked. Hotch nodded, "the order came from the director."
"Then we better get started."
Gideon, Reid and I all packed our clothes and anything else we might need and headed over to the BAU's airport.
"His first victim was 26 year old Melissa Kirsch." Reid said as we sat on the plane, half of the papers were on his lap the other half on mine, "stab wounds, strangulation."
"Wait, wait, back it up." Morgan said, "he stabbed her and then, strangled her to finish her off?"
"Other way around. Why do you think her started using the belt with the second murder" Gideon asked.
"Strangulation with your bare hands is not as easy as one would believe." I explained, "he tried, probably found that it took too long…"
"So he stabbed her instead." Hotch finished off, I nodded, "and realized it would be hours cleaning up the blood."
"Next time, our boy's got a method-the belt." Morgan said.
"He's learning, perfecting his scenario." Gideon explained, "becoming a better killer." We spent the rest of the plane ride looking at papers and sorting through evidence and clues. When the plane landed we took two cars to the F.B.I headquarters.. Northwest field office in Seattle, Washington. We walked in having to put our packs through security. As we were walking Morgan tapped Reid on the shoulder, "he never stands with his back to a window," He said to both of us, "When I was between him and a doorway, he asked me to move."
"That's hyper vigilance. It's not uncommon in post traumatic stress disorder." Reid explained.
"Just how much disorder are we talking about?" Morgan asked. Hotch had stopped to listen to us.
"Morgan," he said, "it's been six months. Everything's okay." I nodded. Hotch showed us to one of the work rooms, "this is special Agent Gideon, special Agent Morgan, our expert on obsessional crimes special Agent Reid, and White-." He introduced us.
"Dr. Reid, and Dr. White." Gideon corrected him. I had my light brown hair laid over my shoulder, my shirt was a grey and the sleeves went down to the middle of my forearm, I had a black jean jacket on, and blue jeans, along with my FBI jacket.
"Dr. Reid, and Dr. White." Hotch announced, "our experts on, well, everything. And after busting my butt in this office for two years, I hope you remember me."
"He's willing to travel with the body." Gideon looked at the boards of stuff they had on the case.
"Then he drives a vehicle capable of concealing one." Hotch said.
"1 in 7.4 drivers in Seattle owns an SUV." Reid said.
"Explorer with tinted windows." Morgan said.
"Explorers rate higher with women." I said looking around at the boards.
"But how do we know it's his car?" He asked again, "Ted Bundy drove a VW bug."
"What about a Jeep Cherokee?" Hotch asked.
"Jeeps are more masculine." Reid explained.
"We all know how an unsub feels about asserting his masculinity." Gideon said tearing his eyes from the boards.
"When did the Bureau become involved in the case?" Hotch asked moving over to a board with papers on it.
"After the fourth body," a man answered, "he dumped that one out of state."
"On purpose." Hotch said looking over at Gideon.
"If so, law enforcement does suggest a criminal record." Reid said moving to another bored.
"Or that he watches television. May I?" Morgan asked reaching his hand out for the red folder a man was holding about the body dumped out of state.
"So, do you want to see our suspect list?" Another Agent asked.
"No, we won't look at a suspect list till after we come up with a profile." Hotch answered, "we need to keep an open mind."
"When do we sit down with your task force?" Gideon asked.
"Four O'clock." The same guy answered. I glanced at him surprised.
"An accurate profile by four o'clock today?" Morgan asked.
"That's not a problem." Gideon said moving around the room again.
"Agent Gideon, where would you like to start?" Hotch asked following him.
"At the site of the last murder." He answered.
While the others were at the murder site, Hotch took us to look through Heather's house. The dog began to bark at Reid making him and I jump.
"I am so sorry." The man said calming the dog.
"No, it's okay. We call it the 'Reid effect' happens with children too." Hotch said, "I'm agent Hotchner, this is special Agent Dr. Reid, and special Agent Dr. White." Hotch introduced us.
"You two look too young to have gone to medical school." The man said pulling the dog away.
"There are PhDs, three of them. For both of us." Reid explained.
"Are you two geniuses or something?" He asked.
"I-I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified-but I do have an I.Q. of 187, an eidetic memory and can read 20,00 words per minute." Reid explained, "Dr. White has an I.Q of 185, also and eidetic memory and can also read 20,ooo words per minute." The man looked at the two of us, "yes, we are geniuses." We both turned away and started to look around. Sandy, the dog barked again, "Sandy, you get a lot of attention don't you?" Hotch said petting the dog.
"It's Heather dog." The man, who was Heather's brother said, "I feed her when Heather is away. Usually she's fine, but…lately she won't eat. It's almost like she can sense something's wrong."
"Not sense, smell." Reid said, "our…apocrine sweat glands releases secretions in response to emotional stress." Hotch explained Reid's words to David.
"David, does Heather drive a Datsun Z?" I asked looking at magazines of cars on the TV.
"No, she's in the market for one, how'd you know?" He asked. I held up the magazines. Reid and Hotch came over and looked at them. David took Sandy out of the room.
"There's an immediate relationship established between and buyer and a seller," I explained, "a level of trust. If you want to coax a young women into my car…"
"Offer her a test drive." Hotch finished, I nodded.
We were back at the office discussing the case.
"Okay, then how 'bout the fact that on one hand, we have paranoid psychosis…but the autopsy protocol says what?" Morgan asked throwing a ball up in the air as he paced.
"Adhesive residue shows he put layer after layer of duct-tape over his victim's eyes." Reid responded spinning in a chair.
"He knows he wants to kill him," Morgan started, "but he still covers their eyes. He doesn't want 'em looking at him."
"Apparently." Hotch spoke up.
"Okay, but then he takes the body and dumped it right out in the open, murder weapon nearby." Morgan continued.
"It's not the M.O. of a paranoid convinced he's being watched or surveilled." I said thinking holding my knees to my chest thinking.
"Paranoid psychosis, but behavior that's not paranoid." Morgan said.
"Maybe he's schizophrenic." Hotch suggested.
"Maybe we just don't have enough for a complete profile." Morgan argued.
"We have enough to narrow our list of suspects." Hotch said back.
"We're looking at less than 12 hours to have to find this women." Morgan snapped,
"We don't know exactly what-"
Morgan cut Hotch off, "Hotch, we don't know anything!"
"All right, enough." Gideon said facing the bored, "Hotch tell them we're ready." He turned away from the bored and started to walk toward the door, "we're ready?" Morgan asked confused as Gideon walked out the door.
"Reid, Tess." Morgan said to us, "you're good with this?" He asked, "we've got a woman who's only got a few hours left to live, an incomplete profile, and our unit chief on the verge of a nervous breakdown." Morgan said as Gideon came back into the room.
"They don't call them nervous breakdown anymore." He said grabbing his phone.
"It's called a major depressive episode." Reid said and went back to writing on a notepad.
"I know, Reid." Morgan said sighing. We all went to the de-briefing room, and listened to Gideon explain the profile. He was smart, though it all about revealing that he thought or knows that the police have already interviewed him. The next thing they did was look at the suspect list, then narrowed it down, and sent a team of agents to trap the guy. Her name was Elle Greenaway, and she was one of the best. Once he was secure we searched the house.
"There's no sign of the girl here." Reid said as Gideon walked into the house.
"We can arrest him with probable cause, but we won't be able to hold him." I explained, "sleemans been at the top of the suspect list."
"Is that the mother?" Gideon asked looking at the women sitting in the kitchen at a table.
"Grandmother." Elle said stepping out from the living room, "the mother died in a fire when he was 13." Gideon nodded, "probably not the only fire in his childhood." He continued to walk into the living room.
"Before his son of Sam murders, David Berkowitz set a multitude of fires." Reid explained.
"Exactly how much is a multitude?" Morgan asked.
"According to his diary…" Reid began, "1,400 and…" He paused furrowing his brow while thinking.
"88." I answered.
Reid nodded, "yeah."
"Luring him out was your idea, right? Greenway?" Gideon asked, looking at the women who was standing with us.
"Ell" She nodded, "I don't send a SWAT team into a house with children." She shook her head.
"Hitch says your background is in sex offender cases." Gideon responded, "what can you tell us?"
"The last four murder shows that the unsub is an anger-excitation rapist. He'll keep a victim for a couple of days. He probably records or video tapes them, so he can keep living hi fantasy."
"Would you be okay with Hotch being in on the interview?" Gideon asked.
"I'd like him to lead, actually." Ell answered. Gideon and Hotch went to look around the garage. Reid and I walked around the house.
"Spence." I gestured him to what looked like a closet door, but when I opened it it lead up a stairwell.
"I'll get Gideon." Spence said before leaving down the stairs. Slowly I walked up the stairs to find the attic converted into a bedroom. It was crowded with boxes and things everywhere.
"He probably lives in here." Gideon said entering the room with Reid, "see what you can find that might help with the profile. We missed something." We began to look through the room carefully. Reid was writing down notes on a notepad. While I looked around at things on the desks.
"What kind of game is that?" Elle asked walking over to Reid.
"In China, it's called Wei-Chi. Here we call it go." He explained, "It's considered to be the most difficult board game ever conceived."
"Chairman Mao required all hi generals to learn it…" I added walking over to it looking at it carefully, "it looks like he's playing himself." Reid nodded.
"How can you tell?" Elle asked. I took my hand and spun the board which sat upon a Lazy Susan.
"This might provide an advantage actually." Reid noted, "Go is considered to be a particularly psychologically revealing game. There, are profiles for every player-the conservative point counter, the aggressor, the finesser."
"What kind of player is Slessman?" Hotch asked stepping forward. Reid and I both looked down at the board closely. After a moment we both looked at each other and nodded.
"Extreme aggressor." We spoke in unison. Hotch and Gideon both looked at each other worried. Gideon, Reid, Ell and I went downstairs to find Morgan messing with a computer. Reid was on the phone talking to someone.
"What's the number six at the bottom of the screen?" Elle asked looking at the computer.
"It's the number of password attempts before the program wipes the hard drive." Morgan explained.
"There could be an email or a journal on the computer, something that Ellis us where Heather is." Elle guessed, "can you break in?"
"In six tried?" Morgan scoffed.
"Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Gideon stated.
"Samuel Beckett." I nodded.
"Try not. Do or do not." Morgan countered.
"Yoda." Reid said as Gideon looked at him. Reid went back to writing notes, and Gideon turned to look at a bookshelf. After a moment he pulled a book out and began to flip through it suddenly stopping. I glanced over at the page he was looking at. It was the cut out of a newspaper article, of him. From Boston.
"I wanna talk to him." Gideon looked up at Reid and I before leaving the room. I watched him march down the hallway to where they were keeping Slessman. Morgan kept looking at the computer.
"Reid, Tessa, Elle." Gideon came into the room, "we need to head back to the station. Morgan stay here and see if you can unlock the computer."
###
"A second killer?" Elle asked as we headed down stairs of the office the next day.
"Not unusual. Remember Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris?" Gideon asked.
"1979. They outfitted a van to rape and murder girls in California." Elle answered.
"We're looking for some who fits the similar relationship?" Hotch asked.
"They're not equals. Slessmans smart but he is submissive personality." Gideon responded.
"So, number two is the dominant." Elle stated.
"Authoritative, arrogant. Most likely not as smart as Slessman." I jumped in walking beside Hotch.
"He's like the schoolyard bully, recruiting a good underlining- he be protective of Richard." Gideon explained, "he'll make him feel like he owes him."
"If Richard's been up in the attic fantasizing about being an extreme aggressor, this guy shoved him how to do it." Hotch responded.
"He helped him take the first step." Gideon nodded.
"I think we should interview him, use this as pressure." Elle suggested.
"No, no. We need leverage." Gideon stopped walking and turned to Elle and hand out in front of him, "a name."
"From the suspect list?" Elle guessed.
"That'll take too long, there's gotta be a faster way." Gideon shook his head.
"There is." I spoke up, the three all looked at me, "his grandmother. She could know something, and she might not even know it."
"Good idea." Gideon nodded and began walking again, "Hotch you can talk to her, Elle with me, and Tessa I need you to go find Reid."
"Yep." I nodded and departed from the group. I walked through the hallways of the building before coming to an open space of desks finding Reid sitting at one of them.
"Hotch is gonna talk to Richard's grandmother. See if she knows any of his friends." I said sitting down next to him, "you found anything?"
"No…" Reid shook his head going through different pictures of Richards's house. I turned in my chair and looked at the papers scattered across the desk. My eyes darted from one to another quickly as I read them. After a while the fax machine came on, began printing a paper.
"It that the address for Linder?" Hotch asked walking over.
"Yeah, it's coming up right now. Reid told him, "does senior management want a field assessment on Gideon?" My head tureen towards Hotch for an answer.
"Don't worry about it." He said.
"A-are they nervous about him being in charge?" I questioned.
"Aren't you two on your way back to Slessman's house to help Morgan?" Hotch looked at us both before turning to walk away.
"Do you know why he always introduces Tessa and I as doctor?" Reid asked stopping Hotch, who slowly walked back over sighing.
"Because he knows that people see you two as kids, and he wants to make sure that they respect you." Hotch looked between the two of us, "is that the address?" Hotch asked as I looked at the paper, "I don't think it matters anymore.." I handed it to him. Linder was dead.
"I'll call Gideon." Hotch walked away to a phone. Reid and I went back to Slessmans house and found Morgan rummaging through his bedroom.
"Morgan?" I asked looked around the room.
"Genius's great!" Morgan exclaimed turning towards us, "look I need help trying to find a passcode. Look in here and see if there is anything you can find, especially at the discs, I'll be in the attic." He left. I walked into the room slowly and picked up some books and began looking through them.
"Where would you keep a password?" Reid asked looking through discs.
"I'd never forget it…" I sighed picking up another book After an hour Reid was on the surrounded by discs, and I was on the floor in the same position but surrounded by books.
"Wasn't there a computer up stairs?" Reid asked suddenly.
"Yeah." I nodded recalling the room in my head. Without a word he got up and walked out of the room.
"Reid?" Pushing myself up I followed him up into the attic. Morgan was walking around mumbling to himself.
"I've been thinking about the CDs" Reid said walking over to him.
"Oh, come on Reid, I've tried the CDs."Morgan sighed sitting on the couch. We searched sifted and sorted through every one of this guys head-banging heavy metal collection…" I watched as Reid looked at the computer sitting on the desk.
"We gotta find something or this girl is dead."
"I think we may have missed the obvious." Reid said picking at the CD player in the computer with a straightened paper clip.
"What are you going?" Morgan asked watching as the CD player sprung open from the computer to reveal a Metallica CD. Morgan grabbed the disc quickly.
"What made you think of this?"
"It was the only empty case." Reid answered.
"Alright, I'm an insomniac who listens to Metallica to go to sleep at night.' Morgan held up the disc, "what song could possibly speak to me?"
"…Enter Sandman." I said. Morgan looked at me before typing into the computer.
"It worked." Morgan cheered, "okay, okay. Now we need to look for something to help us find her."
"A video." I moved over to the left of Morgan, "part of the provable Elle gave was that he probably records the victims."
Morgan began to search the computer.
"Oh my God…" Morgan mumbled as a livestream came into the screen. It was Heather.
"Gideon." Morgan said through the phone, "Heathers alive…we're watching her right now."
###
Gideon was with Elle trying to find Linder, Hotch was trying to get an address out of Richard.
"Hey Morgan, can you show me the last 12 imagines lined up next to each other?" Reid asked looking at the computer screen. Morgan nodded and put the pictures up. Reid grabbed my sleeve and pulled me closer as he pointed the the pictures.
"You see that?" He asked pointing at the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
"Yeah." I breathed out.
"What is it?" Morgan asked.
"It's moving." I replied, "swaying."
"Like the Earth is tipping." Reid commented.
"Not the earth Doc. The ocean." Morgan looked at us, "I'm calling Hotch."
"He's gonna be at a dock, or a pier." I moved in front of the computer.
"He wouldn't be able to transmit the video from the middle of the Ocean." Reid finished.
"Hotch got the address. Elle and Gideon are headed there now." Morgan came back over to the computer. After a while another figure appeared in the frame.
"That's him." My eyes didn't leave the screen, "Morgan, he's inside." I felt my stomach turn. Morgan immediately began to call Elle, telling her to wait. From what he was saying it sounded like she wasn't.
"She's out of the cage." Reid spoke as another frame came up. The next from held nothing, no one was in the picture.
"They have got to get there in time." I murmured.
They did. In the early morning we were all called to the dock where Tim had kept Heather. TIm was dead and Heather was being taken to the hospital. Gideon had gotten shot.
"Guess what Gideon means in Hebrew?" Hotch asked as Reid and I walked closer.
"Mighty warrior." Reid answered as we walked by, "appropriate."
"What do you think they're gonna do about Gideon?" Reid asked once we were out of earshot of the others.
"He's good at what he does. And they requested him for this." I explained, "I think they'll bring him back."
"Hopefully." Reid responded. After making sure everything was taken care of with Richard, we all got on a plane and headed back to Quantico. I sat in a chair my FBI jacket around me as I read a book on quantum physics.
"I thought you already read that one?" Gideon asked peering over at me. Shaking my head I showed him the cover, "fifth edition."
"How many did you bring?"
"Only the fourth and fifth." I answered smiling lightly. He chuckled, "carry one." He turned back to his computer, and I to my books.
Well, there's the first chapter! Hope you guys liked it! Feel freee to leave a comment if so desired! Please Keep Reading! Thanks!:)