Please see disclaimers in Ch 1.

As the shapes began to move closer, Kyle stood up, making sure he was standing just slightly in front of where Garcia was sitting. There was a look about the man in the middle of the group that didn't set well with him…

--"Good morning,"—the man in the middle said, signing as he spoke. –"I hope you both slept well?"—

Neither analyst said anything—Garcia out of fear, Kyle because he wanted to play things close to the vest. The young man shifted his weight slightly, keeping himself between this unknown entity and Garcia.

--Mr. Parker, I can assure you I have no intention of harming Miss Garcia,-- the man in the middle signed. –Nor you, as long as you both cooperate.—

--"Cooperate with what?—Kyle asked, voicing his query mainly for Garcia's benefit.

--"It appears I'm in need of your services,"—the man replied, once again signing and speaking. –"I need both of you to…access a few things for me; things I'm not able to get a hold of myself."—

Kyle had a feeling he knew what was going on. "You want us to hack something," he said.

The man's head tilted an eighth of an inch. "Yes."

"Something we wouldn't normally."

Another tilt of the head. "Yes."

--How did you know I spoke sign?—

A slow, satisfied smile crossed the man's face. The two men who flanked him on either side remained expressionless. –You'll find there's a lot I know about both of you. For example, I know that you two share some 'mutual friends' that may be of use to me later…--

Kyle could feel the confusion radiating off Garcia's form as he watched her take in the signs the two men made. Though both she and Dr. Reid had taken the 'informal' courses at the Stackhouse euchre tables, there'd been a lot of signs that hadn't been covered. Turning to her, he made a total of five signs he was certain she knew—'he,' 'know,' 'friends,' 'mine' and 'you.' The subtle widening of Garcia's eyes told him she'd gotten the message.

"They won't help," she said plainly. Her eyes, until a second before, had been focused on the small objects that the flanking men held loosely in their hands. No matter how much Morgan told her they were real, she still didn't want to believe in them.

--"As it turns out, your services won't be needed for a day or two,-- the man in the middle continued. –"Therefore, I welcome you to make yourselves comfortable here in the meantime. Is there anything I can have sent for you, perhaps?"—

Garcia could think of a million things she'd like—a telephone, for one, or even directions towards the front door. Kyle, on the other hand, made a surprising request.

--I'd like to send a letter, if I may,-- he signed. –My…'friend,' as you put it, will undoubtedly be looking for me, and a telephone is pretty useless to me…--

The man in the middle thought about this. His face frowned a little as he considered the request.

--Sir, you have the advantage over me, as I don't know who you are,-- Kyle added. –But if you know me at all, you know she'll be working as we speak to find out where I am. I…-- Kyle's fingers hesitated a bit, as if he were looking for the right sign. –I can't imagine you'd want her involved at this point…--

The frown deepened. –Very well,-- he relented. –One letter. I'll have the paper sent up, and it will be sent today.—

"Thank you," Kyle said.

The man looked at Garcia. "Is there anything you'd like sent for, Miss Garcia?"

Slowly, Garcia began to shake her head. She felt like she would be betraying more than her country if she took anything from this man. As he turned to leave, however, she called out, "Could I have some water?"

"Yes. I'll have it sent along with breakfast." The three men then slowly walked back to the point where they'd entered and suddenly vanished.

Hurrying over to the 'vanishing point,' Garcia began looking in earnest for the door. If there was one, it was well hidden.

Defeated, the analyst turned towards her companion. "What did you ask them for?" she said, the worry evident in her voice. Kyle picked up on the worry through her expression—sad, distant, slightly determined.

--"I asked if I could send a letter,"—Kyle said. His eyes were looking for deviances in the walls or the sparse furniture that had been left in the very large room. Microphones he could beat easily, but the man had shown he knew more about them than he was willing to let on about. Casting a knowing glance towards Garcia, he set his thumb and index finger apart slightly, and then held both up to his ear. It wasn't a 'true' sign, per se, but it was enough to tip Garcia to what he was doing—looking for surveillance bugs. As the woman began casting pointed glances towards the table lamp and the area near both beds, Kyle waved to get her attention.

--We're going to have to use sign, I think, if we don't want to be overheard.--

Garcia began to open her mouth to say something, but Kyle immediately silenced her. Running through the signs he was certain she knew, he tapped his ears and used his finger to slowly circle the entire room. –They might be listening,-- he signed.

"I don't…" she began, trying to remember the sign for 'don't know.' She settled for tapping her head and looking pitifully confused. Garcia then wiggled her fingers, mistaking the word 'fingerspell' for 'sign.'

Kyle understood. "I'll teach you," he said, using his voice this time. "Not like there's anything else to do…" The young man smiled, hoping to soothe the clearly anxious woman. Truth be told, he was more than a little on edge himself.

Suddenly the mysterious man appeared again, followed by another carrying an extremely oversized tray. The second man placed the tray on the table, took the lid, and exited immediately.

--"I took the liberty,"—he said, noticing that his 'guests' were eying the contents of the tray suspiciously. –"I can assure you, nothing there has been tampered with."—

Cautiously, Garcia sat down at the small table. She wasn't all that hungry, but she did pour herself a glass of water from a tall pitcher. Whatever it takes to keep this guy from shooting us, she thought to herself.

The man cast a pointed glance at Kyle, who then resigned himself to following Garcia's lead. As he did, the man handed Kyle three sheets of blank paper and an ink pen.

--"Send this out with the tray; someone will come for it in an hour,"—the man said, making sure he was understood by both parties seated in front of him.

--"How will you send this?"—Kyle asked.

–"Rest assured, I have people who are more than capable of sending your letter undetected. Now, if there's nothing else, please, enjoy your breakfast,"—the man said, slowly making his way out the door. Kyle resisted the urge to rush him and find the door himself, mainly because this time the man had come armed with a small-caliber pistol.

Kyle set to work at once. Before long the letter was finished, and he unhappily settled into his breakfast.

It had taken Emily the better part of an hour to finally assemble most of the team. The weather outside was nothing short of horrendous, and even the trains were moving slowly, causing lateness the likes of which she hadn't seen since she was a child living abroad.

What had been even harder was that she needed to get everyone in the conference room, but couldn't answer any questions—mainly because she knew very little about what was going on herself. In Garcia's office, Kevin Lynch was working overtime looking for something that it seemed even Chase Davis herself couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Emily, what's going on?" JJ asked finally, looking cross as the petite woman shook the rain out of her drenched hair. "I've got a lot of paperwork, and now with all this…"

Two more sets of eyes stared at her, silently asking the very same question.

"Fine. Go into Garcia's office and tell me what you see," she said finally, keeping an eye peeled for Hotch and Rossi to walk in the door. Because both agents drove themselves into work, Emily had the sneaking suspicion that this could take a while.

Morgan strode over to Garcia's door, turning the handle as he spoke. "Baby girl, something wrong in there?" he asked, expecting at the worst a snappy comeback about worrying about her too much.

What the three agents did not expect to see, however, was the sight of someone else combing through their beloved technical analyst's prized computer system—even if it was someone the team had grown to accept.

"Kevin, what are you doing here?" JJ asked. Reid and Morgan were too confused to even let their minds get the words out.

"Hey, ask your friend in the shadows over there," Kevin said shortly, waving a hand towards the corner of the room. "I woke up this morning to find her in the room instead of Penelope, and she's not telling me much other than 'go through the entire system and look for something wrong.' I mean, there's bugs and glitches in every system, and she's got me going through, like, the world's toughest one built here…"

"Well, then you won't like where I send you next," a familiar voice said, floating from behind the door. "'Cause that system's just as bad, if not worse…or, so he tells me…"

Morgan threw the door closed behind them, casting a bit of light on their 'mystery guest.' "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything…"

Chase smiled, a thin, mirthless smile. "Last night two of the best technical hackers on the planet went missing. I'm certain you can guess which two."

"What happened to Garcia?" Morgan's entire expression turned deadly serious, and fast.

"Same thing that happened to Kyle," Chase said. "Believe me, Morgan, you and I are working on the same wavelength—but right now, that's not going to help. Right now I need to know why those two were snatched, and for what purpose. As it stands, things aren't looking too good…"

"Why not?" Reid had finally found his voice.

Chase let out a sigh; it came out as more of a forced puff of air from her nostrils. "Because of this," she said, handing the team's youngest agent a small slip of paper. It contained exactly five names on it.

"Who are…" Reid began, and then took a closer look at the names in front of him. "Oh," he said, his lips forming a small 'O' of startled surprise.

"'Oh,' what?" said Emily, who was still on the lookout for the remaining agents still not accounted for.

Reid leaned in towards Kevin, who was still fighting with Garcia's system. "Can you pull these up on the screen?" he asked.

"Sure, if you stop breathing on my shoulder," Kevin replied. Reid took a step back as the analyst found files on all five people listed on the slip.

"A mechanic, a chemist, an engineer, a student and the son of a diplomat," Emily noted. "What's the connection?"

"All five of those people disappeared within the last month, all in the same way Garcia and Kyle disappeared. Seems whoever's behind this had a need for technical analysts as well," she muttered, cursing herself for not having done something to prevent this.

Reid studied the names more carefully. "I think it's more than just that," he said, a flash of recognition crossing his features.

"How so?"

"Well, see this man here? The one in the middle?"

Five pairs of eyes stared at the photograph on the screen. The man was an engineer, not an uncommon profession…

"He's a second-generation robotics engineer. His father was a chemical engineer, and they specialize in creating robotics and some chemical weapons for government and military uses."

"Reid, how on earth did you…"

"One of my doctorates is in engineering…"

"Right. Never mind."

"That's not the only one that's interesting," said Emily, staring at the last picture in the row. "I know that guy—he's Thomas Charles."

"Thomas Charles?"

"His dad does a lot of diplomatic work—know the guy because of my mother," Emily explained. "He's done a lot to help build relations in the Baltic and Middle East…"

Chase frowned. "I don't like where this is going. We need to find out more about these people—especially who they're related to or associated with. I have a feeling these weren't random disappearances…and that Kyle and Garcia might be just a step to something else…"

The room instantly fell silent.

Just then a clatter arose from the bullpen, and Emily stuck her head outside Garcia's door. Inside was a pair of legs holding a giant vase of what looked like flowers…

"There someone named Chase Davis here?" a voice squeaked, buried underneath the flowers.

JJ picked up the man's pen. "I'll sign for them," she said, expertly forging the name onto the form.

"Thanks. Never had flowers like this sent. Ugly, aren't they?"

"There's no accounting for taste," JJ said diplomatically.

The little man shrugged, turning on his heel and making his way out of the office.

Emily stared at the large flowers—there were two white blossoms surrounded by what looked like black blossoms, all arranged neatly in a tall glass vase.

Chase came out of the office and studied the contents of the vase carefully. "Orchids," she said, going over each blossom.

"The hell does that mean?" Morgan asked, completely clueless.

"What does what mean?" asked a familiar voice, holding an envelope in his hand. "Someone slipped this in with my mail…"

Rossi handed over a manila envelope. It read, "White Orchids." "I assume it goes along with these?"

Chase opened the envelope at once. Three pieces of paper spilled out.

AG:

I know we were supposed to meet later today, but I'm going to have to cancel. AZ is keeping us plenty busy, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. Send my regards to everyone; I must confess that even the best families sometimes have their villainous troubles.

SP

The other two pieces of paper were blank.

"Why send us blank sheets?" Rossi asked. "Why not use them?"

"He did, Agent Rossi," Chase said, making a beeline for Garcia's office.

The six members of the BAU studied the note carefully. If there was a message there, it wasn't one any of them could figure out.