Chapter Two
It was early in the morning, and inside the FBI offices, people were milling about getting ready to start their days. Most had coffees in their hands and shadows under their eyes. These men and women had dealt with so much more than regular people did, seeing true horrors in their line of work. Yet they worked on, keeping the streets and cities of their country safe, making sure that every day more citizens could live without fear.
Morgan was in his little cubicle, leaning dangerously far back on his chair as he looked over to the antics of his friends of the BAU. Prentiss, still looking slightly flustered from yesterday's visit to the fortune teller was joking around with Garcia, who insisted on finding out every detail of the dark haired woman's nonexistent love life. Nearby was Spencer Reid, the genius's face buried in a book as usual. Not for the first time, Morgan wondered how it was that he could read the book so quickly, as the young man flipped the pages of his book, his eyes scrolling down the words at an impressive rate.
Morgan grabbed a paper on his desk, a note reminding him of filling out some report on a previous case or another. He crumpled it into a ball and with an expert toss aimed it straight at the long-haired young man, immersed in his book. The paper ball hit him square on the head, and Reid's face darted up, surprised. He saw Morgan, waved slightly, and then returned to the world in his book.
Brusquely, a blond-haired woman walked into the room. Jennifer Jareau, better known as JJ, the team's Media Liaison. She looked over at her lounging coworkers and cleared her throat. "We have a case," she said, leading the way to the conference room where every potential case was presented. Morgan rose out of his seat and headed after her, nudging Reid's shoulder as he did so. He grinned at the playful slap he got in return. Teasing the Boy Genius was very entertaining to the dark-skinned man, and he kept at it relentlessly. Reid didn't mind, he was used to it by now.
Morgan entered the conference room, inside which Hotch and Rossi were already seated. Rossi seemed tired, probably from the early hour in the morning, but he was as prepared as he usually was. He'd practically founded that area of the FBI, and had returned to the team after having taken a few years off. The team's leader, Aaron Hotchner, was looking over the files with the usual stoic look. It was rare to see any sort of expression on the man's face, but despite his apparent sternness, everyone knew he cared about the members of his team more than anybody.
And well he should. The BAU team had been on so many cases and had seen so many horrors together, they had become more than coworkers and developed into a sort of family. There were rarely any secrets between them, and their interactions had become more and more personal up to the point where they understood each other completely. It was a skill that helped them in the long run, since their ideas and plans moved much more smoothly when they almost seemed to be reading each other's minds.
As Morgan sat down next to Hotch, Prentiss, Garcia, and Reid filed in. They each found a seat for themselves as JJ stood in front of them, pressing a button on a remote to begin her presentation. The picture of a blond man's body lying face-down in a dumpster appeared. Garcia instinctively looked away as JJ began to speak.
"Two weeks ago, in Cincinnati, Kentucky, the body of George Murtzloft was found. He'd been shot twice, once in the lower abdomen and the other in the chest. His wallet was found next to him, the only thing missing was his ID." JJ pressed another button, and the another picture of a dead body appeared on the screen. "A week later, Abraham Walker, shot through the chest. His wallet had been searched too, only the ID taken. Three days ago, Kyle Travis showed up dead in the streets," another picture appeared on the screen. JJ opened her mouth to finish her sentence when she was interrupted.
"-shot through the chest," Morgan murmured, looking through the file on the table. It contained the pictures of the three men, as well as some important aspects of their lives. All these facts would help the team to compose a profile that would ultimately assist in the capture of the Unsub, the person committing these horrific crimes.
JJ nodded, "And his ID was taken, same as the other victims." She stood there for a moment, before illustrating further. "The city's police have requested our help, since there are no apparent hints to suggest why these men are being targeted, and who is trying to kill them. They think we might be able to give them a good profile."
Hotch nodded, and read through one of the pages. "His resting period is shortening relatively quickly," he commented, "It probably won't be long before he strikes again. It's probably best we get there as soon as we can. If he goes on at this rate, he'll probably kill somebody else before the day is out." Hotch stood up, the file in his hand. "Wheels up in thirty," he said, and the team quickly dispersed to find their bags and head to the jet which would take them to wherever each new case was.
-)-(-
Morgan looked through the files along with the rest of his team. They were currently on the jet on their way to Cincinnati. Morgan had to resist the urge to lean back and close his eyes tiredly as they flew, and he noticed that he wasn't the only one. Their last case had been draining to the point of near exhaustion, both physically and mentally. Luckily they'd found those missing children in the end.
"It seems that his first victim was more sudden; that the unsub wasn't actually planning on shooting this man," Rossi was saying as he analyzed the pictures of the victims before him. "George Murtzloft was shot in two places, for one, and he doesn't seem to share as many similarities with the other victims as the others do." He held both pictures up together. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were almost brothers."
Morgan squinted and looked into the faces of the now-dead blond men on the papers before him. Rossi was right: the resemblance between them was almost scary. It was nothing new, though. Most killers chose people who were similar to each other, and it was always for a supposedly legitimate reason. Morgan understood the thought process behind each killer's choice of victim, but it never ceased to frighten him how people could so callously pick and choose whom to kill and whom not to.
"I don't think he goes after them just based on their looks," Reid interjected from his seated position. "If you look at their lives and finances, they're similar as well. All three of them were married and held relatively well-paying middle class jobs. All three of them lived in the suburbs, somewhat close to each other, and they might even have met." Reid paused for a moment to confirm a fact he'd noticed before voicing it. "The only aspect which is different among them is the fact that George Murtzloft had no children, while Abraham Walker and Kyle Travis each had two."
"That helps to confirm Rossi's theory about the unsub not being prepared to murder the first man," Prentiss suggested, setting a small cup of coffee down on the table in front of her. "If he hadn't planned to kill Murtzloft, he wouldn't have been able to make sure that the man fit all of his criteria exactly, like the others did."
"Well, that has got to narrow some the list of potential victims down," JJ said, sarcastically. Morgan smiled at her. He knew that they were all rather sensitive after what had happened recently, and he was just as eager as everyone else to make sure that another dead body wouldn't be found in the dumpster the next morning.
"Actually, judging by Cincinatti's population," Reid began, his voice speeding up as it usually did when talking about statistics, "the amount of married blond men with two children is remarkably high, reaching up to almost-"
"Kid," Morgan interrupted. "JJ was just being sarcastic." The whole team smiled as Reid blushed, realizing that he'd thought someone was being serious yet again. Despite being a genius, Reid was sometimes clueless and naïve, which had earned him several smiles and had caused him to embarrass himself on multiple occasions. Nobody minded, though. He was part of their team, and they all knew he only meant to help.
"You know," Rossi stated, mercifully steering the conversation away from Reid, who was still slightly red in the face, "looking at the way that he disposes of the bodies, one could say that he doesn't want to look at them anymore. They're all lying face-down in the trash. He doesn't feel any remorse for his actions." He held up a picture for them to see. "He seems not to care about what he's doing to them, but he shoots them only once in the chest, which isn't personal at all." It was a confusing statement for the team, as they were used to most killers using ways to become as personal as they could with their victims. "He's not even angry at them, otherwise he would have shot them more times. It's as if, once they're dead, he's satisfied."
"He's cold," Morgan suggested. "He might be suffering from some sort of detachedness, or something. Angry one moment, not quite there the next." Morgan noticed a few nods from the rest of the team. "We could be dealing with a sociopath here." From the corner of his eye, he noticed JJ shudder slightly, remembering the last sociopath they'd dealt with. Obviously it was going to take some time to get over what they'd seen.
"We're going to have to hit the ground running on this case," Hotch said seriously, as usual. "Reid, I'm going to need you to start a geographical profile. Find out where all three of the victims might have been, and how this unsub is finding them." Reid nodded, and Hotch turned to JJ, Prentiss, and Morgan. "JJ, start preparing a statement for the press, let them know about the murders, but don't tell them about what we think this man is doing just yet. Prentiss, Morgan, I'm going to need you to go to the first couple of crime scenes and check if the unsub left any traces behind." Turning to Rossi, he then finished, "You and I will head to the last crime scene, before going back to the station and starting on a preliminary profile." Rossi looked more than prepared for his job, despite how tired he'd looked that morning. "Meanwhile, we still have about an hour. I suggest all of you get some sleep."
Morgan stood up and moved to another part of the plane, pulling out his music player and putting his headphones on. He started playing his music as he sat down. He watched the rest of his team get comfortable while he settled into his place, getting into a comfortable position. He was actually quite tired, but he resisted sleep for a few more moments while he watched what his team was doing. Reid, instead of sleeping, had pulled out his book from before and was avidly reading it again. JJ and Prentiss were seated together, talking quietly. Hotch was getting himself a cup of coffee, and Rossi was still looking over the file. Each member of his team had small bags under their eyes, and Morgan knew that they still hadn't recovered. He had to be thankful, though, that this case seemed relatively simple. It would allow them a bit of a rest before taking on a more strenuous one. As he drifted off to sleep, Morgan hoped that the murderer would be caught quickly, and they would be able to get some well-deserved rest.
(A/N) More of a filler chapter this time. Sorry you guys! But, it was necessary. I promise the fortune-teller's prediction will come into play really soon! But for now, the team is on a case and eager to catch this guy before anything else happens. What do you guys think will happen? I'm curious!
Thanks to everyone who added this to their Faves or Alerts. I was surprised and excited! Also, special thanks to my lovely reviewers: dannyanne, jenny crum, and Rebecca1. You guys rock! Anyway, if you have any other comments, want to say anything at all, I suggest leaving a review! Reviews totally make my day, they make me happy when skies are grey... etc... See you next week! Happy New Year! May the next year bring much joy to you and a lot of other stuff! Bye! See you next year!