A/N: told you it'd be quick! new chappie! enjoy!


Chapter 3: Sting

The team mulled over their files, trying to find the connection between the victims. They'd been at it for at least an hour before JJ suddenly spoke up, remembering something.

"Tatiana's mother said she took a morning jog along the shore of Del Mar beach, where she was found," she explained. "Valerie Xavier's sister said she took her dog to the beach to play Frisbee with him at Mission beach in the afternoon where her body was found, and Jasmine's parents said she surfed every Saturday at Imperial beach."

"So he leaves their bodies where watched them before the attack," Rossi observed. "He sees the one he likes, watches her for a few days then makes his move, and after he's finished, he put them back where he found them."

"So the connection is the beaches," Kaitlyn noticed. "But it's a different beach every time. How do we know where he'll go next?"

"Garcia?" Hotch called to the phone in the center of the desk. "You got those aerial views of the beaches, right?"

"Yes, my Liege," Garcia replied, and you could hear typing in the background as she said, "They should be coming up your computer screen now."

Spencer looked to the laptop on the desk in front of him to see a few pictures flash before him before the images settled on one and Spencer leaned forward to examine the screen.

"It looks like he was moving southward," he observed. "But, there aren't any more beaches in the San Diego region after Imperial."

"Would he go back northward, you think?" Emily wondered, leaning next to him to look at the screen as well.

"Possibly, if he has no where else to go," Spencer replied.

"Which beach is above Imperial?" Derek asked, sitting next to Kaitlyn across from Spencer.

"Coronado," the doctor replied.

"Alright, we'll set up a sting then," Hotch suggested, looking to the police captain. "Do you have any officers that look like they could be natural red-heads?"

"I have a few blondes that wouldn't mind dying their hair," Captain Stone replied. "Does it really matter?"

"He's starting to lose it," Hotch replied. "If he killed Kelly Ellis this quickly it most likely means he's not satisfied with pretending they're red-heads anymore and wants the real thing. The decoy will have to be a red-head."

"I'll do it."

All eyes shot to Kaitlyn as she looked up at Hotch, seriously.

"Don't look so frightened," she smirked. "I've done this sort of thing before."

"This isn't training, Bright Eyes," Derek chimed in, shooting her attention to him. "You could get hurt or even killed if something goes wrong."

"What? You guys don't plan on leaving me in the lurch, do you?" she smirked at him.

"This is serious," Spencer insisted, and she turned her attention to him as he stared wide eyes at her. "If something does go wrong, and he kidnaps you, your picture could end up in one of these files."

"Not if we're on ours toes," Hotch suddenly replied, causing everyone's eyes to shoot to him again as he stepped toward the table.

"Hotch!" Spencer objected, but he wasn't able to finish the argument as the team leader leaned on the table toward the phone to give instruction to Garcia.

"Garcia, go over the police reports and crime scene photos again, see if any of the same names or faces pop up in any of them."

"Roger that Boss Man," she replied. "Good luck, Kate."

"Thanks, Pen," Kaitlyn called before Garcia hung up.

"Alright," Hotch nodded to Kaitlyn as he stood tall. "Let's get you briefed and ready to go to the beach."


The Next Morning...

"What do you do when you think you've spotted him?" Spencer asked, adjusting the wire under the green knit scarf around Kaitlyn's neck.

"I say the signal phrase," Kaitlyn replied.

"Which is?"

"'What a sight for sore eyes'."

"And if he approaches you?" Spencer questioned, looking her over to make sure you couldn't see the wire or the device it was attached to under her shirt.

"I act normal until the rest of you come for me," she answered, adjusting herself to be a bit more comfortable.

"Whatever you do, don't let him take you off that beach," he warned.

"Come on, Spence, relax," she smiled, glancing down to take one of his hands into both of hers. "You're acting like an over-protective boyfriend or something. I'll be fine! The team's got my back."

Spencer couldn't find words to say as he only stared at their hands but she grinned and lowered his hand as he only stared at her. Her grin slipped down to a warm smile as she lifted a hand to place on his cheek, making his heart skip in his chest.

"You're really sweet to worry about me so much, Spence," she murmured. "Thank you."

"Just-" his voice cracked and he cleared it to try again as she giggled and lowered her hand, never taking her gaze from his. "Just don't do anything crazy, ok?"

"I'll try," she smiled, patting his chest and was about to turn to walk out of the small room but she stopped and looked back at him, making him frown in wonder. She stepped closer and stepped onto her tiptoes to place a tender kiss on his cheek, making him freeze and stare ahead in shock as she whispered, "That's for being so sweet."

The door opening made them step away as if they'd burned each other and Hotch asked, "Ready?"

Kaitlyn nodded, mutely before heading toward the door, Spencer following close behind. He'd had this odd feeling in his stomach, like something was going to go wrong, and he knew he shouldn't have lingered on it, but he just had a bad feeling. He still thought it was a bad idea, and though he didn't put much stock in intuition, red flags were going up all over the place right now. Still, he kept his feelings to himself. Hotch had already made the call, and he was confident in himself and the team. Even if something did go wrong, nothing extremely bad would happen to Kaitlyn with if the team had anything to say about it.


Coronado Beach

"God, I need to sit," Kaitlyn groaned, plopping down in the sand above the edge of the tide. She'd been walking around the beach for hours, and no one had approached her, no one looked suspicious, and hardly anyone was at the beach.

"What do you see?" she heard Hotch's voice in her earpiece.

"A lot of seedy characters and homeless guys, but other than that, this place is dead," Kaitlyn replied.

"You can say that again."

Kaitlyn jumped and looked up next to her to see Neil smiling down at her before he sat and sighed as he leaned back in the sand, Kaitlyn staring t him with wide eyes the whole time. She hadn't even heard him walk up.

"Nice day, isn't it?" he smiled to the horizon before turning to her still wide-eyed expression.

"Y-Yeah," she finally sputtered, then gathered her thoughts enough to ask, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm your back-up," he replied, and Kaitlyn gave a small frown. If she recalled correctly, she was supposed to be alone for this one.


Meanwhile...

"What's he doing there?" Rossi asked Hotch as they and Spencer sat in one SUV near Kaitlyn's walking area, Emily and Derek in another SUV down the way. "We didn't ask Stone for back-up."

"I wasn't supposed to have anybody with me," Kaitlyn's voice came from the receiver as Hotch tried to get a look at what was going on from the driver's seat. They had a good view of her from where they were, and Spencer leaned forward, his fingers digging into the shoulders of the driver and passenger seats until his knuckled turned white, his eyes glued to the scene. "Being with someone could scare him off."

"I can't keep you company for a while?" Neil's voice came up this time. "I'm so bored just following you around."

"Something's not right," Hotch mused. "Stone wouldn't have sent back-up if I told him not to."

"So he's here on his own?" Rossi frowned in wonder. "Why?"

"He's in love with her," Spencer replied, and neither one of his superiors failed to noticed the slight undertone of irritation at that fact as he said that.

"Come on, Neil, I'm working," Kaitlyn said. "This is really important. If anything goes wrong, more people could be killed. Do you want that?"

"Of course not," Neil replied, unenthused. "But aren't you bored of just walking around this beach by yourself? Beaches were made for romantic strolls, not sting operations."

"Keep your voice down!" Kaitlyn hissed, and Hotch's phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket.

"Hotchner," he answered, still looking out his window.

"My Liege," Garcia greeted. "I found ran the police reports like you told me to, and one name pops up in each or them. Officer Neil Valentine is always the first officer to respond to the call, except for Kelly Ellis's murder."

"Because he's the closest," Hotch theorized before thanking Penelope and hanging up the phone to look to his colleagues as they looked to him expectantly. "Valentine is our unsub."


Meanwhile...

"Neil, seriously," Kaitlyn pleaded. "You have to go."

Neil sighed and let his head lull back on his shoulders to look up at the sky as Kaitlyn gave a small frown at him.

"You know, I thought about you a lot," he murmured, not looking at her. "I thought about what it would've been like if I'd just asked you out seriously instead of goofed around with it, ya know?"

"This isn't the time for that, Neil," Kaitlyn insisted. "We can talk about this when this case is over, ok?"

"Life is short, Kate," Neil continued, making her frown at him a little deeper as he lifted his head and looked to her, his sapphire eyes narrowing, making him look tired, or high. "When I think about those poor girls, I realize it every time. Poor Kelly, being shot in the head like that; she had it easy, but the other girls that were strangled…they suffered a lot."

He looked ahead again as Kaitlyn's eyes widened at him, but she suddenly recalled something she wished she had before and voiced, "We never told Captain Stone which beach we were setting the sting up in."

Neil's head slowly turned to face her as she still stared at him with wide, frightened eyes and he smirked.

"You remember what you wore the day we met?" he murmured, but didn't wait for her response before replying, "I do. It was that cute little white sundress that flowed just right when a gust of wind blew through. We may have been ten, but I fell in love with you right then and there. You were the most beautiful thing I ever saw."

Kaitlyn swallowed and gave a mute nod before she realized she was in trouble. Everything was falling into place. He had a steady job, he was in his late twenties, white, and she knew him to be a loner, brooding and for whatever reason, always angry. She knew then that he was the unsub.

Use the damn phrase! she shouted silently at herself.

"Y-You know," she tried, making him arch an eyebrow at her, expectantly. "You were a sight for sore eyes when I saw you at Imperial beach again. I…I missed you since I left here."

"Yeah?" he replied skeptically. "That why you just used a phrase no one's used in years?"

Kaitlyn gave a fake frown, but she didn't have time to respond before he backhanded her so hard, she hit her head on the sand and was knocked unconscious. Neil glanced around, knowing he didn't have much time and picked her up in his arms to hurry in the opposite direction that Hotch and Derek had parked their SUVs, his police car waiting for him, parked on the beach.

"FBI! Stop!" Derek shouted as he was able to catch up first, the rest of the team close behind, and he stopped to take aim with his pistol as Neil hurried placed Kaitlyn into his car and got in, shutting the door.

"No! Don't!" Spencer shouted, coming up behind Derek and shoving his arms down, making the older man glare at him.

"Reid-?"

"You might hit Kaitlyn!" Spencer cut in before he Derek could scold him and the team felt utterly helpless as Neil sped away down the beach until he pulled up onto the parking lot.

"Call Garcia, have her track the car," Hotch ordered, holstering his weapon and marching back toward their cars. Derek was instantly on his phone as the rest of the team followed his lead and Emily hurried to walk next to Spencer.

"She'll be fine," she assured him, but he didn't look away from the sand under his feet as he walked.

"I should've let Morgan shoot," he muttered. "I don't know what came over me."

"You were right," Emily argued. "He could have hit Kaitlyn. You made the right decision."

Spencer jumped when his phone buzzed in his pocket and he hurriedly grabbed it to look at the screen. He had a text message…from Kaitlyn.

"Who is it?" Emily asked, trying to see the screen as Spencer stopped dead in his tracks.

"Guys!" he called, stopping everyone else. "Kaitlyn just texted me."

"What's it say?" Rossi asked, hurriedly stepping back to Spencer with the others as he opened the text.

"'Jet'," he read aloud and the others frowned at each other.

"Does she see one?" Derek asked.

"Are there any airfields around here?" Emily questioned as Spencer just stared at the phone. An image of Kaitlyn texting flashed through his mind, her fingers moving across the pad had been clicking multiple times on the buttons and it hit him.

"Left," he blurted, making everyone frown at him.

"What?" Rossi called, drawing Spencer's attention back to reality as he looked to his colleagues.

"She's texting directions," he explained. "I saw her texting one time, and the way she was doing it, it looked her phone was preset on ABC instead of T9 Word."

"So?" Derek shrugged. "What's that mean?"

"With T9 Word all you have to do is type in the numbers that correspond with the letters you want. It's faster. With ABC you have to hit the number multiple times in order to get the letters you want to spell out the word correctly. She's typing as if it were T9 Word, but it comes up differently. She's sending coded messages."

"But how can you be sure she means 'left' and not something else?" Emily wondered.

"She hit number three twice for 'E' and 'F'," Spencer replied, showing her the phone, and just as he did, he got another text from Kaitlyn and hurriedly opened it. "P-h-t."

"That's not even a word," Derek snapped.

"Right," Spencer announced. "She's saying he's turning right." He quickly looked away to do math in his head.

At the rate of speed Neil's car might be going, the possibilities were endless as to where he might have turned left, but given the man's panic and adrenaline levels that had probably kicked in by now, his foot would have turned to lead on the gas pedal. Factoring in the time between texts…

"Reid, come on, you can figure it out on the way back to the station," Hotch ordered as Emily pulled the still thinking Spencer along the sand to the SUVs.


A/N: i hope i'm doing ok with this. i'm sure they wouldn't have figured it out this fast but i was almost half asleep when i was writing this. the words just kept coming. reviews?