Title: The Unknown Threat

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds

Summary: A new danger in closing in on one of their own. While investigating a new string of deaths, truths with come out. Sequel to "The Mysterious Dr. Reid" and "Physics Magic…Bullet".

A/N: Mucho thanks to my reviewers CMSP, Coffee Kitten, TheeKozakura, Switbo, eliana152, Nymphadora-CullenBAU, , and BrokenSky49. I really appreciate it guys. When I have a hard day at school/work, your reviews make me smile. Here is the next chapter. Hope everyone enjoys. Please R&R.

Chapter 3

Back at the BAU, the team gathered around the table to share what had been found. Rossi and JJ turned up with much the same information as Morgan and Reid. His office had been filled with school work, awards, and letters of commendation. His colleagues and students had been stunned at his death, saying he had been thoroughly liked on campus. He even had a waiting list of students that wanted him as an advisor. One student had said, "With one recommendation letter from Dr. Welch, you could land any job or grad school spot in the country."

Hotch and Prentiss had reviewed the original case of the former marine, Bradley Simmons. The victim had been stabbed twelve times late one night at work. There were no witnesses in the building at the time and he had been found the next morning. The same symbol had been carved into his neck. There were no leads in the case whatsoever and it had been originally deemed a random act of violence.

"I'd have to disagree with the police assessment. Stabbing someone twelve times is not a random act of violence," Reid pointed out, it was text book profiling. "That many times means it's personal."

Hotch nodded, "I agree. They didn't see any personal threat and decided there was no meaning behind it, which lead them in the wrong direction to a dead end."

Morgan shifted in his chair, leaning forward, "So back to the original question. Who would want to kill a well-loved physics professor and a nice guy that teaches basketball to inner city kids?"

"We must be missing something," Rossi answered.

Hotch looked at Garcia, who had been nervously shuffling through her papers and typing frantically on her laptop. "Garcia, what did you find?"

She looked up like a deer in the headlights. "Well sir…um. I attempted a basic search of all files relating to both victims…and…well…you see…"

"Garcia?" Hotch said in his stern, parenting voice.

"They are both restricted."

"Restricted?" Hotch raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean restricted. Everything. Every file I find linked to them is marked as classified. I can only find their basic information like birth records, DMV, tax forms. Anything else is completely blocked," everyone could hear the frustration in her voice as she forcefully punched the enter key on her keyboard.

Morgan glanced at her with a small smile, "Come on Baby Girl, I've seen you hack the Department of Defense before. You couldn't find a way around the blocks?"

"Look, Mon Ami, I'm saying I have tried everything I could think of. I went around, over, under, through, and tried every legal, unlegal, and partially legal thing I could think of. By the way, I may now be on the terrorist watch list for some of the tricks I tried. There is no way to get to that data." She began to furiously type on her laptop again, sighing in frustration. Morgan reached over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Prentiss chimed in, "Well, at least there is a link. They both have classified files. There must be a connection somehow."

"So you didn't see anything to explain why they were both classified?" JJ asked.

"Afraid not. I hate to admit this, but the divine goddess of all information has just been denied."

Hotch seemed unfazed as usual as the mystery deepened, "Keep at it Garcia. If anyone can break through, it's you." Morgan offered her a smile.

"Yes, sir!" She gathered up her papers and laptop and slid out the door back to her lair.

The team sat quietly for a few minutes.

Prentiss was the one to break the silence, "Simmons was a marine. Maybe he had some special capacity in the military that accounts for his record."

Morgan looked at JJ and Rossi, "Did any of Welch's co-workers say anything about the military or the government?"

"No, he apparently went straight into academia after getting his doctorate in physics. There was no involvement with the military that we know of." Rossi offered.

The team continued to bounce around ideas for the next few minutes. Morgan noticed that Reid had started to stare off into space and wondered where his mind had gotten to. He appeared to be mulling an idea around in his head, trying to reach a decision. As the conversation amongst the team went in circles, Reid finally stood up.

"I'm going to get some coffee. I'll be right back," Reid said as he made his way out of the conference room. The team nodded and continued to discuss the details of the cases.

Morgan's eyes followed Reid through the windows as he went down the stairs and walked right past the break room. Reid disappeared down the hall, leaving Morgan to wonder where he actually went.

~CRIMINAL MINDS~

A single black car sat parked on the side of the road. The driver, a handsome blonde man in his thirties, sat back in the seat quietly. He was completely focused on the apartment building in front of him. His current target was a man on the fourth floor in the front apartment. He could see just the top of a bookcase through the window from the street level. His partner gazed up and down the street, looking for any sign of trouble. Both men knew that time was growing short and they needed to move in on their next target. A ringing cell phone shook both men back to reality as they stared down at it. The blonde man picked it up, "Yes, sir?"

"The agency is getting too close. It's time to relieve them of one of their 'assets'," a man on the other end of the line said darkly.

"Understood," and the line was disconnected. Both men in the vehicle nodded to eat other and exited the car. The sun shone brightly as they made their way across the street and entered the apartment building.

So now what do you think is going to happen? Tune in next time for the next installment to find out. Thanks again for reading!

~M~