Chapter 2

Rossi pulled Hotch away from her and down to the end of the driveway. They needed to talk privately. "Hotch, you need to get control of yourself. If this woman has Jack and them, then we are going to have to play by her rules until we figure out where they are. If you kill her, and I know you want to, hell I want to kill her; but if she's dead we're going to have a really hard time finding them." Rossi understood Hotch's reactions, but he had to push his anger away to be able to do the job that needed to be done.

"How do we even know she has them? How do we even know they are alive? Why should we help her find her son just to find out later that ours are dead?"

"What if they are not dead? Do you want to take that chance?" Hotch's hands balled into fists as he bit his lip. Rossi thought Hotch might just bite through it with as much anger that he was emitting. "Hotch?"

"I can't, Dave. I can't concentrate on finding someone else's kid when I don't know if my own is alive," Hotch told him truthfully.

Rossi studied him for a moment. "If I can get her to give us some proof that they are alive, would you be willing then?"

Hotch paced back and forth in front of Rossi, glancing back at the woman every few seconds. Rossi could tell he was having an argument within himself. "I don't know. What I do know is that I want to make that bitch tell me where my son is."

"Look at her, Hotch. She didn't even flinch when you grabbed her by the throat. You really think you could make her talk?"

Hotch stopped and took a deep breath. He had stared down some of the worst serial killers in the country, and he had won, yet this woman had stared right back without any fear. He rubbed his neck as he looked at the woman again.

"Don't look at her as a father. What does the profiler in you see when you look at her?"

Hotch took another deep breath. "I see a woman who has lost everything. A woman who doesn't feel anything anymore. A woman who would do anything for her son." Hotch's shoulders finally relaxed a little. "No, I don't think she could be made to talk."

"I don't think so either. Do you want me to ask for proof of life?" Rossi asked as he studied Hotch's face.

"You can try."

"Alright, stay here. She might react better without you standing beside her while your vibrating with anger." Rossi walked back over to the woman.

"He wants to kill me doesn't he?" Kahlan asked as she continued to look at Hotch. Rossi glared at her. "It's alright if he does. I've felt that way ever since Wyatt went missing. At least he has someone to aim his anger at; I never have. All I've ever had is this imagined person in my head."

"I don't think we can help you find your son unless we have proof that ours are alive." Rossi studied her. "We can't concentrate on finding yours without knowing."

"Hhmmph." She huffed and shook her head. "Well, if you change your mind, let me know."

"You do know we can arrest you, and you'll never find your son sitting in a jail cell," Rossi told her, his anger starting to show.

"Sure, you could arrest me, but you'd just have to let me go because you don't have any proof that I have done anything wrong. All you have are a couple of flyers that prove nothing especially if I say that I was just trying to get you all to feel sorry for me," she told him with feigned pity. "And then you all can drive yourselves crazy trying to find your sons, like I've done for three years. You just have to ask yourself one question. Will they still be alive when you do?" She gave Rossi a folded up piece of paper and turned to walk away.

Rossi glanced at Hotch and Hotch knew what her answer was. "Wait!" Hotch yelled as he quickly walked up to her. She looked at him, clearly disappointed. "Why? Why, as a parent would you do this to another parent?" Hotch asked her desperately as his eyes teared up.

"Because I can't find him on my own. Because I have run out of patience. Because I have asked for help from everyone I know of, and this was my last ditch effort," she told him truthfully. "But you all think about it. Give me a call if you want. I won't be in town forever, though, so don't take too long." And she walked down the driveway and down the street.

Hotch watched her until he couldn't see her anymore and then turned and went into his house. They didn't find anything out of order and Hotch realized that if she got Jessica to pick up Jack at school then the evidence would be at Jessica's anyway. Rossi and Hotch went over there, but again found nothing. A call from Morgan revealed the same results at JJ's house and they decided to meet back at the BAU.

XXX

Hotch and Rossi made it back to the conference room before the others. Hotch paced the room as Rossi looked at the information spread out on the table. Rossi looked at Hotch, and he could see the tears quietly falling down Hotch's cheeks. He had never seen the man so unraveled. Damn, even when the man was talking to his ex-wife knowing she was about ready to be killed by Foyet, Hotch had held it together better than he was right then.

The rest of the team came into the room, and Rossi noticed Hotch wipe his face and tried to get his emotions under control. With one look at JJ, Rossi could tell she had been crying, too.

"We need to find this woman. I bet I could get her to tell us where the kids are if you give me fifteen minutes alone with her," Morgan announced.

"That wouldn't work," Rossi told him dryly and proceeded to tell them about the encounter with the woman when Garcia joined them.

"Then we'll work the case without you two," Reid told Hotch and JJ. "We can find this woman's son and you two won't have to deal with her."

Hotch looked at Reid, he could tell they were all just as upset as he was and yet he seemed to be the only asshole in the room. "I can't ask you guys to do that." Reid was about to argue, but Hotch continued, "not without us."

JJ looked relieved. "Thank God, Hotch. I didn't want to think about doing this if you weren't with us."

Rossi gave Hotch a small smile. He turned to Garcia. "I want the name of the person you had her contact here at the Bureau. There is no excuse for not doing something with this case."

"Of course." She brought out the information on her laptop.

"We are taking this case because it does come under our jurisdiction, but the fact of Jessica and them missing doesn't leave the seven of us. Is that clear?" Hotch told them and waited to get agreements from them all. Then he turned to Rossi. "You want to call Mrs. Hunter and let her know we're taking her case?"

Rossi nodded. "You want her here?"

Hotch could tell by Rossi's tone that he was also asking Hotch if he thought could control himself. Hotch looked at JJ, wanting her opinion. His wasn't the only child this woman had control over.

"She might have even more information than is in this file. She might actually be useful," Reid pointed out.

"Can you all control yourselves and not try to kill the woman at first sight?" Rossi asked them all but clearly looking at Hotch, JJ, and Morgan.

"Yes. Have her come here." JJ told him as Hotch nodded. Rossi walked out of the room to make the call.

"The agent's name is Agent Davidson in the Missing Children's Division," Garcia told them.

"Have him meet me in my office," Morgan told her. He not only out ranked the man, but the BAU had a sort of priority over most of the other divisions.

Garcia looked at Hotch for approval before calling. "Do it," he told her simply and she dialed the man's extension.

Reid started putting the missing boys' pictures on the white boards in chronological order base on their missing dates. Blake started separating the information that Garcia had complied on each of the boys while they were gone. Hotch just sat at the table and stared at the flyers of Jack and Henry. JJ sat there and stared at missing boys' photos. She finally realized that they were all blond haired, blue eyed boys just like Jack and Henry. Her stomach turned and she had to look away.

Hotch got up and studied the boards. He had to keep telling himself it was just another case that he needed to solve. He told himself that his son was at school, Jessica was at her house, and Henry was at home with Will. If he could focus on the case, then he might be able to handle it. He found himself getting mad at the local police and that dumbass Davidson. How could they not see the connection between these boys? This should have been an FBI case a while ago. Eight boys had gone missing and the only one to make a connection was a scared and desperate mother. For a second, Hotch felt bad for her, and then his anger squashed that feeling down.

Eight missing boys. First was Thomas, Tommy, Smith, age 7 from Kaysville, Utah, in 2005; then Christopher, Chris, Jackson, age 7, from Pocatello, Idaho, in 2006; Joshua, Josh, Getz, age 8 from Butte, Montana, in 2007; Devin Crocket, age 7 from Bowman, North Dakota, in 2008; Wyatt Hunter, age 6 from Reliance, South Dakota in 2009; Kyle Redmen, age 7 from Chadron, Nebraska, in 2010; Michael, Mike, Jenkins, age 6 from Bellevue, Colorado in 2011; and Damien Brant, age 8 from Vernal, Utah, in 2012.

All of the boys went missing in the fall, and until Damien they'd each been from a different state. And in every case a postcard was left. Each of the postcards showed a state monument for the state they were in, and they had all been filled out as if the boys were telling their parents goodbye. Every card was word for word. Hotch couldn't help but notice that all of those states surrounded Wyoming. That had to be where the unsub lived. With the strict age and look of the boys, they were definitely looking for a preferential abductor. What was happening to the boys was only a guess at that point. With the yearly cycle, though, he could see it being a sexual sadist, but he wouldn't talk about that in front of Kahlan, not unless they were sure it was part of the profile. If it was a sadist that probably meant the only boy left alive was Damien. Hotch didn't want to think about what would happen to Jack and them if they truly didn't find Wyatt or any evidence of his whereabouts. She might have said that it didn't matter, but what would stop her from killing them? He took a deep breath; the first thing they had to do was interview the families. They had to find out exactly what these boys were doing when they went missing. "Garcia, you need to contact the families and let them know we'll be coming out to interview them."

"Yes, sir. Any idea where you will go first?" She asked him.

"We'll split up, so let them know we'll be there soon," he told her simply.

"Sir, is Kahlan going to be traveling with you all?" Garcia asked, apparently concerned as much as Hotch about who would be taking care of Jack and them.

"Yes. I've decided I don't want to let her out of my sight. When Rossi gets back in here, I want you to get her number from him. Make sure you have a trace on that phone and keep track of every call."

She nodded her understanding. She would also keep track of the woman in other ways. Garcia felt bad for the woman from the first letter, but taking her God-son was just wrong. She couldn't feel compassion for the woman anymore. In fact, she didn't even want to be in the same room with her, so she grabbed her laptop, texted Rossi to get the number, and retreated into her lair.

Rossi had gone to pick up Kahlan and her things from a local hotel. He escorted her into the conference room right as Morgan got done chewing Davidson a new ass for not making a case out of the missing boys. Morgan eyed the woman but not as menacing as JJ did. Kahlan didn't flinch, though. She looked at all of them, she could tell that they would prefer her dead, but she had done her research and knew this team was the one to be handling the case. She had made up her mind to do this, and she wasn't going to back down, so she just jumped in and asked; "Where are you going to start?"

"We are going to interview the families," Reid told her as he tried to ease the tension in the room.

"I've talked with them. They will be glad you are investigating," she told him as she walked over and leaned on the wall to be out of the way.

"Do they know what you've done?" Hotch asked her.

"No!" she answered immediately actually offended.

"Have you talked to all of the families personally?" Blake asked.

"Not the Brants'. I haven't had a chance to talk with them in person, but I have talked to them on the phone."

"We'll split into pairs and interview the families like that. JJ and Reid, you'll take the two families in Utah. Morgan and Blake take Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota. Rossi and I will take South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado. Decide where you want to be taken first. Wheels up in thirty." Hotch told them and they all grabbed the information on the families they would be interviewing.

On her way out of the room JJ stopped in front of Kahlan. She couldn't help herself. "You do know that you won't get away with this. That even if we find your son, that you're never going to be with him because you will spend the rest of your life in jail, right?"

"If you all find him, and he is alright, then he will spend the rest of his life knowing I did what I had to do to find him. He can live with his grandparents, and I'll be happy with that," she told JJ truthfully.

JJ stared at her for a moment and then went to get her things ready.