„So Tobias Hankel was…is a psycho with multiple personality disorder. He is divided in Tobias, his tyrannical father whom he killed some years ago, and a person that calls himself Raphael. We've worked on the case three years ago. There were double and single killings, they were always announced by phone from inside the victim's houses, and the actual murder was presented in the internet via webcam. We only had one witness, Tobias. I sent Reid and JJ to ask him again about what he'd seen…it was a farm in the wilderness. When we lost contact, we went there at once, but…" The SSA closed his eyes. He still could not forgive himself to let them go out there alone.

"Hotch, it wasn't your fault", JJ said with determination. "We could have left immediately. Or at least we should have not divided!" The firmness with which she told him her arguments made it clear to Rossi that she longed to confess her "sins" for a long time.

"Raphael claims to be a messenger of God", the young woman now added, "he sees himself as the archangel that cleans the world from all that's bad and wrong…which seems to be everything. Reid and I…we parted to examine the area and…then there were the dogs attacking me and I shot them and…I hid and…", she fell silent, overcome of guilt and fear.

Hotch gently laid his arm around her shoulders. "It's alright, JJ. You did the right thing. You wouldn't have won against Raphael and the father." He turned his attention back to Rossi. "Tobias abducted Reid and hid him in a cottage on a march not far away. He filled him up with Dilaudid and tortured him. He forced him to help Raphael by deciding whom to kill next."

"And he let you witness it through the internet?"

Hotch nodded. "It was the first time we took Garcia with us. Nevertheless we would never have found Reid if he hadn't given us some hints. When we found them, Hankel was…he was dead, he had two bullets in his chest…"

"He was in coma", Rossi corrected. "He was in coma, but he was not dead. Even criminals are not immortal."

He looked deep into his colleague's eyes. "I understand now why you didn't want to bring the whole team in, Aaron, but there is something you both have to accept: The dead are is no hell-sent monster, revived from death. He is a murderous psychopath who wasn't prosecuted after being treated. These things happen. Now he is free again, and murdering again, and we have to stop him. That's everything that counts right now – and it is everything the police of Fayetteville needs to know."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Oh no", Morgan moaned. Emily laughed. "No beer?" She smiled gleefully as she watched her tall colleague forcing himself out of the small alcove in the BAU-reserve-jet. The agent rubbed his neck. "I checked the whole damn fridge…nothing. We don't even have water."

"Well, we'll soon be there", she said, trying to solace him. Morgan smirked, then he turned his attention to the other team member who had become oddly quiet.

"Reid, what's up?"

The young man seemed to be sunken deeply into their new case, but Derel knew him too well. He sat down beside hiem.

"Kid? What's wrong?" Reid shook his head, still not looking up. "It's just…has Hotch ever lied to us till now?"

"Not that we know it" Emily had asked herself the same question. "And he definitely never forced JJ to suffer our frustration when he's responsible for it. Today he didn't care."

"As well as he didn't care for us not to believe him for a second", Reid added. "If he didn't have to pass us to leave the bureau, maybe he wouldn't have said anything."

"But he tells JJ and Rossi?" Morgan asked. "That doesn't make sense." He pulled out his mobile.

"You're calling Garcia?"

No, Hotch. And if he doesn't answer, I'll try JJ and Rossi. He can't let us fly around blindly forever, we're a team!"

"Something happened", Reid whispered, his glance fixed on the sunset. Emily started to answer, but didn't as she felt that he would speak on. "The kind of JJ's staring at me…as if she had to tell me something but couldn't or…I don't know. I think she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hotch would never pull her into something if…"
"Maybe it's a very delicate case and JJ knows about it cause she brought him the file", Emily suggested.

"But why couldn't Hotch tell us then that it's a delicate case?"

"Cause neither Hotch nor anyone else tells us anything", Morgan explained angrily. "I tried all of them, and nobody picked up. At the second round I got Hotch's voicemail: he's changed it for us!"

He dialed another time and put it on loudspeaker:

"SSA Aaron Hotcher, please tell me your name and number, I'll call back as soon as possible.

Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, I understand that you're angry. Please trust me. I will call you as soon as this is settled. Don't call before."

Emily was shocked. Not only had Hotch lied to them, he had also forbidden any contact! Deep inside fear started to tear her body apart. She knew this kind of isolation, had often seen it at her mother. After the Cold War, many spies wanted to live in the United States, and diplomat Prentiss had been in the counsel to decide over the visa. The spies had had to quit all bonds – private or in business – immediately. They had ordered them to leave everything behind, with the false promise to take their family when things were settled. This had helped not to wake the attention of the local police.

And now Hotch had said almost the same words all fromer spies had to tell their wives and children. Emily gulped. She surely would have known if Hotch…bullshit. She shook her head, laughed hysterically.

Morgan and Reid stared at her. The agent tried to calm down.

"Alright, boys. I just try to understand this." She pointed at Morgan's mobile.

Morgan demonstratively started to read the casefile.

Emily smiled at Reid as they both watched their colleague's childish behavior, but she noticed that his mind was elsewhere.

Reid, too, had built up a theory about what was going on, and Morgan's behaving confirmed it: Hotch had taken Rossi with him to a something that had to do with Reid. Something Hotch hadn't seen, but Rossi had.

Reid could only remember one situation – which meant there was just one situation – where Rossi and Morgan (but he definitely wasn't objective enough) had been at his side, but Hotch hadn't:

William Reid.