Aaron Hotchner marched into the "war room" with a fury that the team had never seen. They just returned from a horrific case in Idaho, and obviously none of them were pleased to be back in the BAU offices just hours after landing. The team didn't know what put Hotch in such a frenzy that he couldn't wait til morning, but whatever it was, must be damn important.
"We have a serious issue." Hotch said, his emotionless face looking even more stern that usual, well, if that was even possible.
Emily sighed. "Well, I'd hope it's a serious case since it couldn't wait til morning, Hotch."
"Yeah, seriously, what gives? And where is JJ?" Morgan asked, the agitation very clear in his tone.
The Unit Chief let out a low growl under his breath and looked to Rossi and Reid to see if they had any snide remark they wanted to add before he continued. When he saw the "I'm not saying a word" expression on their faces, he continued, trying to keep his voice in control.
Hotch clicked the remote, causing a video feed to appear on the screen. "This is our serious issue, and we don't have a lot of time to figure it out."
Rossi stood up abruptly, knocking is chair over in the process. He walked over to the screen, giving his eyes a better look. When the video first appeared on the screen, he thought his old eyes were playing tricks on him, but he was sadly mistaken. Though it was dark, the camera being used was obviously high tech with some sort of night vision built in. A very shaky Penelope Garcia and a stiff Jennifer Jareau were on their projector screen, clear as day, chained up and terrified.
"What the hell is that?" Morgan hollered, pointing at the screen. "What the hell is that, Hotch?"
Reid simply stared at the screen in utter confusion. For once in his short years of life, he was rendered completely speechless.
"That," Hotch said, his voice ice cold, "is two of our own in an ungodly situation."
"This video, is it live?" Emily asked, hoping her tone didn't sound as scared and timid as she felt. Her two best friends were plastered on the screen in front of her, and even though she compartmentalized better than anyone she knew, this was an image that wasn't going to be put away in a little box inside her head. This was something that would replay in her mind over and over again.
"I don't know." Hotch said, disappointed he didn't know more. "I'm getting another technical analyst on it now. I can only assume it's live since I talked to JJ only an hour ago."
"What did she say?" Rossi asked, his voice void of any emotion.
Hotch sighed, not wanting to give his team the rest of the information. "She answered the phone telling me to hold on because the bar was too loud. She didn't give me a chance to tell her to get out. Once she was outside, she put the phone back to her ear and I was yelling at her to get her and Garcia out of there, but the phone went dead. I don't even know if she heard me."
"Why were you telling her to get out?" Reid asked, confused by their Unit Chief's quizzical tale.
Hotch flipped the remote again, taking away the video feed and replacing it with a picture and a message. "Because just moments before I called JJ, I received this email."
Dearest mind reading team called the BAU,
Is everything the people say about you really true?
It is, I know first hand, you read people's minds and kill them too!
I'm sick of your rules and I think your all due,
to pay for the lives you've ruined, and they're more than a few.
We now go by my rules, which means I take your precious blonde two,
and just to be fair, I'm leaving you this simple, well thought out clue.
Time is running out, and I have video to prove it true,
I'm giving you a week before I turn your blonde friends blue.
Good luck super agents, it's an unlucky hand your teammates drew,
but if you're so good, hopefully you'll find them before their bodies find you.
Sincerely yours,
The Avenger
Along with the email, attached was a picture of Garcia and JJ laughing and having a good time at a pool table, but it was edited over, causing the once happy looking picture to be mutilated with red photo shop.
"Now, I received that email at approximately 9:47 tonight. I called JJ immediately, but I don't think she ever heard me. The video feed arrived to my email at 10:43, which means that the unsub has them somewhere in the area. They aren't far from Rocko's bar, which gives us a good chance of finding them. They area is limited. According to the unsub, we have seven days to find them, but I don't care how much time he says we have, we need to find them tonight." Hotch said, turning the screen back to the video feed.
"We need the technical analyst to trace your email and see if he can get a trace off the video feed." Reid stated, staring at the screen wide eyed.
Hotch nodded. "He is already informed and will let us know immediately when he finds something." He turned back and looked at his two teammates on the screen and sighed. This wasn't happening. This team had been through way too much for this to be happening. "Prentiss, Morgan, go to the bar, and search it everywhere and question everybody. Lock it down when you go in. I want answers. Somebody had to see something."
Morgan stood up, feeling sick to his stomach. His two favorite girls were chained up like animals. Garcia was obviously crying and JJ looked lost. He was glad Hotch told him to go the bar because he didn't think he could stand to stare at the screen any longer.
"Reid, I want you to study this email. Figure out what he is trying to tell us. There is more to this little poem than meets the eye and I want you to decipher it. We are missing something."
Reid picked up the hard copy of the letter and scuttled down to his desk. He needed absolute silence if he was going to work diligently and effectively. This note could quite possible hold the answers to the case. It could save JJ and Garcia's lives.
Hotch turned to the only remaining person in the room. "Rossi, I need you to sit here with me and watch the video unfold. Every single detail counts."
Rossi nodded at the request, but mentally wished he had another job. After all the things he stomached in his fifty four years of life, he knew this would probably be the worst thing he had ever seen. Hell, they weren't technically even harmed yet, and it was already too much. This was his teammates, his family. This was just too much. This was why he left the damned job in the first place.
As he studied the screen, he knew this was only the beginning of a very awful, tedious case. He couldn't even imagine what it was going to be like for JJ and Garcia on the receiving end of an angry man's displaced fury.
