Chapter 2

A new case

Thanks to everyone for the reviews! Now let's see the team…

Little explanation about the team: Since Morgan, Reid and Prentiss aren't a part of it, I had to replace them, instead there are Gideon, Seaver and Jordan Todd. Kevin Lynch will also replace Garcia, she will appear later in the story and her role will be important but not as an FBI agent. Also, JJ is still a liaison.

A new case

Sometimes Aaron Hotchner hated his job. JJ showed him the new case they would work on and it was impressive but in the wrong way. He gathered his team in the conference room. Rossi and Gideon entered first as usual, they were soon followed by Jenifer Jareau and Jordan Todd, Ashley Seaver and Kevin Lynch entered just in time. They all took a sit to the round table and waited for JJ to brief them. Hotch looked at them and he felt a little twinge of heart especially for Seaver. He knew she had chosen to do this job but he couldn't help but think she was too young for such things.

"Okay, our new case is quite unbelievable" began Jenifer. "Three days ago, the corpse of a woman, Johanna Keller was found by chance in the desert. Local police did some research on the crime scene and found at least fifty bodies buried here," she gulped slightly.

Rossi, Hotch and Gideon felt some sadness and anger at such a horror, Seaver and Lynch paled and Todd's jaw tightened.

"Fifty corpses?"

"Yeah and they are still searching for more. They couldn't identify all of them, only some corpses were identified and they were all reported as missing. The autopsies show there are similarities to a recent case of murders. People were killed in their homes and the police think it's a team of killers. Three couples were murdered, the Clyde's, the Willburns, the Masons and a single man too, Bill Wavely. Money was stolen; the Willburn's and Mason's children didn't saw anything and weren't hurt."

Gideon looked at the pictures, showing torn bodies, a lot of blood and an obvious fury.

"Seeing the rage they put in killing their victims, money isn't the goal, it's just a bonus. They are psychopaths. What's linking those murders with the dumpsite?"

"The weapons were the same for all the victims; apparently, there are, a knife, an axe and a baseball bat."

Jordan had to hide how she was horrified by this. She was part of the team since years but even with experience there were times she had difficulties to put her eyes on crime scenes, like now. It wasn't really because she was too sensitive; it was because of what she experienced when she got kidnapped by serial killer Tobias Hankel. She had some problems dealing with it after, especially because of Dilaudids he forced her to take. For some times she thought she would never get over her addiction but with time and help, she finally did. Still, now that she could understand what a victim could feel when being on verge of death, she was more affected by the sight of corpses.

"So they are three? It's quite rare," remarked Jordan.

Rossi nodded, this case was one of the rare one. He continued

"But not impossible. Maybe it's a family."

"Like the Mansons?" Asked Seaver

"Kind of," answered Hotch, "but the Mansons wanted to start a race war; here the victims have different skin colours. The only common point between them is their ages, between thirty and fifty. Prepare yourself, we'll be in the in the jet in ten minutes."

They all quickly did as they were told and were soon in the jet. They studied the case and saw in the police report that the first murders occurred twelve or thirteen years ago. The ages of the Unsubs were hard to point, they were certainly between thirty and fifty, like the victims. There were signs of hard physical abuses, which suggested tortures but no sexual assaults. Victimology wouldn't be made easily for now because some victims were still not identified, however Gideon discovered one link between the victims

"The victims were all rich and had a high amount of power in their jobs; they were often on the top, it's powerful figures they attacks."

"The first victims weren't identified," said Rossi, "but I bet you they weren't that rich, maybe they first attacked normal people and then took confidence to kill bigger fishes."

"They could be low class people," suggested Jordan, "they could feel oppressed by those who are more powerful than them."

Hotchner considered the idea but wasn't sure. He shared his thoughts.

"The victims lived in beautiful and high class streets, if poor peoples had been wandering there they would have been noticed. However all the neighbours said they haven't seen anyone suspect. I think you're right about feeling oppressed Jordan, but I don't think it's about social status, except if they had known poverty in their youth and have a reckoning with the high class."

"I should try a press conference," said JJ, "maybe someone will remember something."

"There are different ethnics among the victims, so it's not about racism" began Seaver, "maybe they are a multi-racial group? Also there are no sexual abuses we can suggest impotence from one of them, or all of them."

"Maybe there is a woman in the group," suggested Jordan. "Sexual abusers are mostly men, maybe it's a team composed of women or there is at least one female that makes the males uneasy about rape."

"Maybe they are more than three? Suggested JJ "or just two, using three weapons to get us lost?"

Rossi sighed. This case would prove extremely difficult and he knew it wouldn't be over soon. He had a feeling they might even fail. He tried to forget it, after all if he started with this kind of thought work would be affected. He hoped that it wouldn't turn out bad, like the time with Tobias Hankel. He remembered too well how horrible it was to see Jordan tortured, he had been relieved that at least with his religious obsession Hankel hadn't rape her. Physical abuse and malnutrition had been already hard to bear for her. When they had found her she looked like a walking corpse. He didn't want something like this to happen again.

"They are around three, anyway," said he, "let's hope the victims will be identified soon."

It was a little too soon to have a profile but they already had good leads.

When they landed in the city of Las Vegas, they received the usually reserved greeting from the police. They called for them but were never really happy to have them, feeling all too well they couldn't do their job alone. Still, it wasn't the worst reception they got from local police,

Las Vegas had already seen FBI more than once; in fact the police chief looked almost relieved to see them.

His name was William Sanders, he quickly explained them everything as they settled. They could tell he was exhausted and on the edge. It was a forty-six years old man, still well-built for his age with a glimpse of kindness in his eyes. The team quickly appreciated him.

"We thought we could solve this by ourselves but things got really complicated, and my superiors were really furious at me. It is important peoples targeted, so my superiors put a lot of pressure on me…If the victims were poor people it wouldn't be the same."

He rolled his eyes at this last statement, they all could feel that he was quite revolted by this social unfairness and none of them would blame him for that. Hotchner began to give everyone tasks:

"Okay, Todd you take care of the geographical profile, JJ you'll contact the victims' families, Seaver, Gideon, you come with me on the crime scene and Rossi go see the coroner."

The hunt was open.

Hope you liked! The next chapter will have some gore, just to warn you.