Dead. Location compromised.
Haley Hotchner braked at the red light, her heart pounding in her chest. Her eye on her son, playing with his toys in the back seat, completely oblivious. She was less than half a mile from her home - former home that they had shared with Aaron. Aaron. Her late ex-husband.
Sorry for using your real name, ma'am. My name is Victor Collins. I'm with the Marshall Service.
If her location had been compromised why would he have her come back to her old home? Why would he even dare to use her real name? It was too dangerous. What would Aaron do? What had Marshall Kassmeyer stressed? Safety, anonymity. Something wasn't right.
Green. The light was green. What to do?
She knew what she had to do.
She hung an illegal u-turn, almost hoping a cop would pull her over. But there was no one in sight.
She hit the gas petal perhaps a little too hard as she turned onto the highway on-ramp and just drove...to where, she had no idea. Somewhere away. Away from here...away from whatever was going on. She checked her rear view mirror. Jack had fallen asleep to the Disney songs and there was now a...white truck behind her with a woman behind the wheel. Good. It wasn't the same man in a blue car that she had seen earlier, not that it had been Foyet. At least she didn't think...Stop it, Haley, you're being paranoid. Was she? Really?
What she wouldn't give to call her ex-husband, to have him hold her in his arms and tell her he would keep them safe. He chased criminals all over the country but now when she was the one who needed rescuing...? He's gone, he couldn't come to her rescue like he had for so many others because he was... She blinked back the tears. She had to focus. Her life depended on it, Jack's life.
Find a public place. That's what Aaron would do, unsubs who planned ahead waited until their chosen target was isolated, watched their routine. As long as she stayed in a crowded, unfamiliar. She scanned the freeway signs, searching, searching. Perfect.
She let out a long sigh of relief as her plan fell into place.
Of one thing she was certain, as she carried her sleeping son into mall. Aaron would have been proud.
* This one is going to be short. The idea that Haley's death could have been avoided so easily has been bugging me..