A/N:Disclaimer: see Chapter 1.
As Dr. Reid continues with his lecture, we learn more of the story...
Chapter 3: The Invitation
" The BAU," Dr. Reid said," only comes when we are invited. Usually this invitation comes from the local police or even the local field office. Under normal circumstances, everything is handled through the unit liaison. In this case, however, I got a phone call from a facility in Texas letting me know that Adam Jackson disappeared."
It was a low key day at the BAU. They didn't have a case to travel for. Everyone was working on individual consults. Emily looked over at Spencer's desk. He had been talking on the phone with someone, but now he was just sitting there. Was he done already? It was amazing sometimes how fast his brain worked. His ability to speed read allowed him to move through mounds of paper work easily. It was almost sickening.
Emily was in the middle of a consult, which is why it took her a few moments to recognize what his expression was. He wasn't done. He had received information he was trying to process. Whatever it was, it shocked him. If he was shocked, then it was something extraordinarily bad.
She walked over to his desk and gently put her hands on his shoulders, she spoke just above a whisper. "What's wrong, honey?"
He didn't speak. She wasn't certain he heard her. "Spencer, was is it?"
"Adam. He's missing."
She kissed him on the top of his head. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. I want go see what happened. Did he escape? If he did, was is at as Amanda or as Adam? Or has developed a new personality since the last time I visited."
"He must have escaped. What else could have happened?"
"I don't know. But I don't want to leave you."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to leave you alone, not when it's almost the end of the first trimester. "
"That's all right, I'm not letting you go alone."
"Em, you need to start taking it easy."
"Come one, Dr. Prentiss, let's go talk to Hotch."
Spencer found it hard to refuse when she called him that.
"Dr. Prentiss?" There was an attractive redhead in the front row. Spencer shot a look at his wife. Emily had a bemused smile on her face. She nodded encouragingly at him.
"It's a private joke between me and my wife. I call her Mrs. Reid, she calls me Dr. Prentiss. On our good days, we respond well to those names."
"On your bad days?"
"That's for a completely different lecture. For this one, however, our next step was to talk to our team leader, SSA Aaron Hotchner.
In Hotch's office, the two of them went over what had happened with their boss.
"What do you want to do?" he asked.
"We'd like permission to go down there and see what happened." Emily said.
"We haven't been invited," Hotch pointed out.
"We haven't been invited by law enforcement," Reid said,"but Adam's doctors called me to let me know. This really isn't so much a case for the team as much as part of one of my research projects, anyway."
"Which one?" Members of the BAU usually had a few research projects going on at any given time, mostly designed to further increase their knowledge and understanding of human behavior.
"Understanding dissociative identity disorder in the killing team context."
"How many subjects do you have?"
"Two. It's a very small sample, but the only two I've found are Adam and Tobias Henkel. The thing is Hotch, I have a hard time believing Adam or Amanda escaped."
"Why not?"
"Adam wouldn't think to do it, and Amanda has been more relaxed and accepting of me lately. The only reason she would escape would be to protect Adam, but no one is threatening him right now. Unless something happened since the last time I was there."
"If he didn't escape, then what could have happened?"
"Somebody took him."
Emily and Hotch considered that possibility for a few moments.
"Who would would've taken him?" Hotch asked.
"Is there really anyone who would want revenge? His stepfather couldn't do it." Emily was trying to run through possible suspects in her head, but no likely ones leaped out at her.
"i don't know. There isn't an obvious answer to this."
"Take three days," Hotch said. "If it looks like Adam escaped, come back unless we get an invitation. If it looks like he was abducted, call JJ. Maybe we can get an invitation. Check with JJ and see if the jet's available."
They thanked Hotch and Reid went to see JJ. Hotch motioned Emily to stay. "Is he going okay? I mean, I know he feels like he's obligated to help Adam. Can he be objective about this?"
"Of course he can. This is Reid. Whatever he feels, he's still interested in the truth."
"Emily, I'm not suggesting otherwise it's just that…I'm concerned."
"That's all the more reason for me to go with him, to help him. "
Hotch nodded. "OK. Good luck."
"So Emily and I went to Texas. What we didn't know was that the two of us going together had upset someone's plans. We didn't realize that we were being watched very closely."
Near the airfield the BAU used, two men sat in a car. One of them was looking through binoculars. " I see them. Yeah, there they go and … Oh crap. They're both boarding."
"Are you sure?"
"They both just got on the plane, and they both had carry on bags."
"I'll call it in." The man dialed on his cell phone. The told the person on the other end, "Yeah, he's on his way but his wife is with him."
"Hold position and wait further instructions," the person on the other end of the phone. When they hung up, the man looked at the man sitting across table in the restaurant. "There's a problem, Mr. Ledger. Both Dr. Reid and his wife are going to Texas."
Ledger took another bite of his Reuben sandwich as he considered this. "They never make it easy, do they? OK, tell the team in Texas we're going to plan B. Let the team in Vegas know they're a go. Oh, and keep an eye on the rest of Dr. Reid's team. If they get involved in this, we might need to go to plan C."
"Plan C?"
"It'll be messy, but if they get involved it will be necessary."
"It occurs to me there's an easier way to do this."
"Oh, I'm with you. A few hours alone with the subject and we'll have our result. But Hadrian wants it done this way. So, that's how we'll play it."
"So who are they?" The red-haired woman asked.
The bemused smile on Reid's face was familiar to his co-workers, especially his wife. They almost expected him to say a magician doesn't reveal his secrets.
Instead, he scanned the audience and said, "Let's see if you can guess. Let's see if anyone can figure it out before I tell you at the end."
A/N: Maybe some of you can figure it out before the last chapter ...
