Tread Lightly

(based upon the TV Series Criminal Minds)

(I do not own Criminal Minds, all characters are from Criminal Minds or based on character already created on Criminal Minds, I own only my imagination)

"Is this guy good enough that he could hide his intentions from all of us?" Derek asks, as he and Talbot join the team at Aarons place.

"Lilly you go play with Jack." Talbot said to her little girl, who was not quite two but acted much older than she was. "Aaron if he is working for the burro then it makes sense why I recognized his voice, but how could I not realize who he is now. I mean we know he was responsible for all those deaths, but it's been almost a month and nothing. We can't put the pieces together, how do we find him without him knowing we are onto him?"

"That's why we have Garcia," Aaron says, she's done some quiet investigating, and found some names of people whose movements correspond with yours. We are going to have to look into each of them."

"I've done the best I can to get the information through channels that won't be traced back to me." Penelope says, "First we have Director Jonson, Personnel. He was at conferences in all the states around the same time as all the events. Then there is Special Agent Ryan Davidson, his records correspond with your movements, after that we have Agent Mathew Reynolds Whiteness Protection, the man who was hired to protect you, however we have no record of his whereabouts for October 31, 2011. Then we have Agent Andrew Trent internal affairs, his movements seem to reflect Talbots with the exception of 1993, his movements match."

"So all of our suspects are high ranking police officials, all have access to Talbot's files, and all seem to follow her movements either on purpose or by accident." Derek says, "The question is, how long do we have till he strikes again?"

"I don't know, but we must tread lightly for if we tip any of them off that we know something is going on, we may just sight our own resignations." Aaron says.

"So how do we find a needle in a pile of needles?" Garcia asks.

"Voices," Talbot says, "I need to hear their voices." She looks at the group, "I heard his voice last time. It's the first time he has ever spoken in front of me. I don't know his face because he always has it covered, but I heard his voice." She says as her phone rings. She looks at it, "Hello this is Talbot Parker,…okay…when?...and you didn't try to stop them?" Talbot bit out at the phone. "...well why not?...I didn't approve anything…so you let her go?" she asks anger bubbling in her voice. "...who was he?...did he give his name?...did you get anything from him?...Arthur Small, that's all you got, tell me you at least got a badge number..." Talbot shot to her feet, "How could you?" Talbot held back tears, as she tried to get control of her emotion, "Did he provide proof of any kind? Or did you just let him take her out of the hospital?...I will have words with your manager the next time I'm in Las Vegas, after I find my sister." Talbot says and hangs up the phone. She turns to the group, "He just checked my sister out of the hospital, saying I approved it. He has Temperance, and he left a message in her room, '(to), Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder if thou ever thy dear father love,'."

"Garcia find out who's in Las Vegas, we need to get ahead of him, and we need to do it before he harms Temperance." Aaron says.

"Temperance do you want anything to drink?" he asks.

"In the shadows lies a secret," she laughs, "sun shine, wind blow, eat worms, bow low…" Temperance says distracted by the car door's upholstery. "Nothing is ever as it seems, but we never see things as they are."

"You don't remember me do you?" he asks sees the vacant look on her face, "Good."

"Nothing is ever as it seems, but we never see things as they are," she repeats then goes back to admiring the interior.

"So true Temperance, and now your sister will get a chance to see things as they are supposed to be. I will show her, and you. Soon everyone will know the truth."

"Truth is a myth, fact is a fact, lies are tales, spirits are dead, ghosts are scarce, you have the pain of the world in your eyes, killing her will not end the pain, her death won't make you better…wind blow, fire burn, water flow, earth be…"

"You are one troubled young girl." He said and continued to drive back to Virginia.

"'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it." Temperance says all nonchalant.

He looks at her as passing headlights illuminate the car. She is admiring the interior of the car once more. He shrugs it off as nothing and continues about his business. He had work to do and only a few weeks to do it in. Talbot's time was coming, and it was coming fast.

Garcia sat in her technology room, surrounded by her web of knowledge and typed away trying to find the information she needed. She suddenly looks up, "Not possible," she says to herself, "that would mean…but it can't…oh my…" she calls Derek.

"Baby girl,"

"Come into the tech room now." She says and hangs up she looks at the screen, she can't believe what she is seeing, fear has no meaning when you are faced with this. She tried to keep her eyes closed, but something bothered her about this murder, something in the unsub's eyes, something she knew. They looked at the camera and saw her, then she watched as the man took blood from his victim and smeared it on the wall. It was as she feared, the words were from a former crime scene, it was Talbot at his feet. Just then Derek walks in.

"What's so important?" he asks then stops and watches the video.

"That's not?" he asks, then the man holds up a picture of a little girl and the video goes dark. "I've seen that picture before."

"What?" Penelope asks.

"Vegas," Derek says, "It was on the board in Vegas."

Talbot enters behind Derek, "Her name was Kate. She was my oldest, he took that picture out of my purse that night." She pauses to breath, and turns away from the video. "He told me I would see it again, but that would just mean I was destined to join her." She turned to face the video once again, and looked at it again. "Garcia, play that one more time." Garcia did just that, "Go god!" Talbot says and looks closer to the screen. Her eyes fixed on the UNSUB's hand, "He used a recording…" she whispered, "I never heard his voice before Halloween because he always used a recording. Shit." Talbot says and left the room, nearly running to Aaron's office. She entered without knocking, "He's CIA." She say to Aaron as he looks up from his files.

"Please come in," Aaron says, "and start over."

"Hotch, the UNSUB is CIA or ex-CIA. I only know this because my father was CIA and the man in the video which I just say had a tape recorder, my father had the same one in his things. That was the voice I heard. It was the same voice."

"How do you know?" Aaron asks.

"Because when I was a kid I used to get into a lot of trouble, and I found the recorder once. My father found me in the back yard playing with it. He wanted to know why I took his things. I told him, I like the recorder. I said the man sounded kind. My father told me the Ghost always sounds nice." Talbot pauses, "Aaron, I think that something my father was involved in while he was CIA came back to haunt his family. I think the Unsub worked with my father. I know some of what my father did, but I don't know it all. I was only 19 when he died, but Aaron, if he was involved in something he couldn't get out of..." she trailed off.

"Let's gather in the conference room." He says and gets up to lead Talbot out of the room.

Emily walks in with a cup of coffee and her usual straight face. "Any new information?" she asks as she sits down.

"Some," Aaron says as the rest of them gather around the table. Once everyone is sitting, he walks to the white board and turns to face the group. "New information has presented itself to me that leads me to believe the UNSUB who is after Talbot is either CIA or ex-CIA. If this is true then we must work even harder to keep this investigation quiet. I don't want anyone getting word that we have this lead. Prentice I want you to work with Garcia and Parker and see what records you can find on Parkers father's roll in the CIA and who he worked with. I need not remind you that we are being watched on this one. If we," Aaron looks out at the bullpen, "don't get to the bottom of this, no one will.

"Morgan, I want you to work with Reid and Rossi to try to get his identity. J.J. you're with me, we are going over to talk to Director Petraeus. Remember, someone knows something, and we need to find out what."

Derek sat in the conference room with David and Spencer going over the case files, and looking over the crime scenes. It seemed endless, like a trail of bodies no one could find a way through. Just when Derek thought it was over he looked back at a picture. It was of Talbot's father, he was lying facing the wall, but what caught Derek's attention was the fact that something was missing. It looked strange. He dug through the pictures to find them all. His arm was cut repetitively, as if the UNSUB was trying to hid something. "A tattoo." Derek says and leaps to his feet then heads to find Talbot.

"We have been over these cases and over them," Penelope says, "What are we supposed to find in them?"

"A clue," Emily says as she reads through case files on what Talbot's father was working on. "We will find something; one of us will see something that has been missed."

Just then Derek enters the room, "Talli, what was the tattoo on your father's arm?" he asks as Spencer and Rossi enter behind him.

Talbot looks up at the ceiling, closes her eyes and tries to remember. While tracing her arm she explains it, "An Eagle wings spread wide, holding in one claw a star, in the other…" she trails off, "a key with a crown as the bow. Huh, I haven't thought about that in years. Why?"

"Garcia look for that tattoo, I found a lead." Derek says and holds out the picture of Talbot's father. "I need to know who else has this tattoo. I think his arm was cut to hide the tattoo. I think that will give us a name."

Penelope starts typing, then stops and turns to the group, "I work much better without the team hovering over my shoulders." She says and returns to her chore of finding a tattoo.

"Garcia, I'll try to draw you a picture of it. I'm no artist but I'll do my best." She says and set off to get some paper and pencils. Taking a second to call Matt she listens to the phone ring while she walks to her desk. "Matt, hey just calling becau—"

"You think she is safe here?" a voice says over the phone.

"Where's Matt?" She asks, as Derek stops beside her. "Where's Lilly?"

"She is safe, as safe can be, but I hate to say Matt has seen better days." The man on the phone says. "Maggie was such a pretty little thing. I would hate to say I think she's gone, but Matt may still have life to live, his little ones are such precious gems." He says and Talbot puts the phone on speaker as she enters the conference room where David and Spencer stand. "You know too much, and that is a crime, so from those that love you I've taken something, first the boy, he's much too young, but company for Lilly, oh what a treat. Another boy, too young to take, his father strong and brave, but that will change before the day is out, but what of the girl with nothing to lose, she's lost her friends once, and now I've taken her mom, the mother all locked up tight, says to her boy school is about to start, another mother wishes her son all the best, an ex wife dies in my arms tonight. Don't think I've left any out, for the girl with the fingers fast, the shot was close, but I cannot be stopped. This will end before the year is out." He says and hangs up the phone.

"Derek, he has them."

"Who?" Derek asks.

"Lilly, Jack, William, Temperance, and I don't even know who else. But he has them, and he will hurt them. It won't matter what I do anymore." Talbot says, "He has them now, and he means to tell us something. We have to find out what it was my father was working on that drove this man to kill Trinity, and then countless others."

"We will, Where's Henry?" David asks, "It doesn't sound like he has Henry."

"We need to find him. We need to find a way to protect ourselves from this man, before he kills again."

Aaron walks in, "The director was helpful in that he gave us a list of names of me who all did missions together from '62 through '93. Talbot's father is on the list. I got the gist of the call from the door, we all know what's at stake here. We cannot fail. The clock is ticking. Spencer get me a location. He has a start on us, we need to find him, and we need to do it now."

Will looks up from where he lies on the floor. He sees someone he knows; its Talbot the agent Jenifer introduced him not long ago. "Talbot?" he asks.

"No, she's not here. She's out there, trying to get in here. I'm in here, Trinity is up there." She says, moves closer to Will and whispers, "We know too much, Talbot and I, and he is going to try to kill us to keep it secret. My name is Temperance. This here is Lilly, and you know Jack." She says pointing out who was also in the room. I'm not all here, I can attest to that, but I am aware of the man that calls himself the Ghost. He's not right, like I'm not right. Don't worry Henry isn't here."

"How?"

"I can't remember much, blood loss will do that to you, as will being hit over the head a few times. I never talk about him. But I saw him, he held Trinity under the water. I told them the Ghost did it, but my mom thought I was lying."

"Any idea why this guy has us?" Will asks in his southern drawl.

"Insurance," Temperance says softly, "He wants to keep something hidden, and he is going to great lengths to keep it that way."

"Do we know what?" Will asks.

"It was on the tape recorder." Temperance says and looks over to see Jack is looking around confused, while Lilly is still unconscious. He had hit her on the head; an injury that could be seen where the blood colored her blond locks pink.

J.J. stands before the white board, putting up pictures of all those missing, including her husband Will, Jack, Temperance, Matt, and Lilly. Maggie was in the hospital, the children were all there too. "Hotch, how do we find a Ghost?"

"Ghost," Talbot says, looking at the ceiling, "My father said the Ghost always sounds kind." Talbot went to an empty board and started to write. "Okay, my father worked for the CIA from 1970 through his death in 2003. Trinity was killed in 1993. Something happened before 1993 that the man on the Tape recorder didn't want my father to talk about. The man on the tape recorder was called the Ghost."

"Your father would have been told what to do, and how to do the mission based on what the tape recorder said. That's why he was called the Ghost." Emily says, "Your father never saw him, but was informed of mission via the tape recorder."

"Colonel Richard Bass, CIA from 1965 thru present, he's an Undercover Operations Section Chief." Penelope says as she enters with his picture. "He's 66 and has been working with the Agency for 46 years."

"Charles," Talbot whispers. "Dad called him Charles. I met him once when I was six. I was sitting in the back yard…" she takes a gasp, "…I had the tape recorder, and I had been listening to numbers and names. It was July of 1990, because it was the summer dad got hurt at work."

"Do you remember any of the names?" Aaron asks.

"I remember a Colonel Ling, and General Kiwan, and the year was not in numbers but it was in letters and symbols, they were…a-i-g-#. I used that as a child to tell people things. I would use the things I heard on the tape recorder to make my own codes as a kid. Trinity always said 'the Ghost was silent but his anger was great.' I never thought about it," Talbot says and starts to write the numbers down. The numbers correspond with locations in Laos and Vietnam. My father told me that the Ghost was a great worrier but all great worrier's can fall from greatness. I think the tape recorder was proof that the Bass had fallen from greatness."

"If what you are saying is correct," Spencer says and examines the locations, "Parker, these numbers are locations of MASH units in Vietnam during the war. They all but these four, if these are correct, they are in Laos and correspond with…" Spencer ran to his desk, and returned with a book, "They correspond with three known leader camps that existed during the conflict."

"But what does all this in Vietnam have to do with the deaths here in the states starting with Trinity until now?" Rossi asks.

"If we look at it from the point of view of working for the USA during the war nothing," Emily says, "But if Bass was working against the USA and trying to take out someone in one of these camps, then this proves him to be a Traitor, and if he is then what he has committed against the nation is Treason. The tape recorder may have contained proof that he was responsible for the deaths of Americans at those camps. He is working for the government, and if convicted of treason faces," Emily thinks about it, "Well he wouldn't want that to be revealed."

"But how do we prove that that is what was on the tape?" David says, "He is working very hard to make sure no one find out about the tape."

"Records office," Penelope says, and they all look at her. She shakes her head, "There are some things that even the government doesn't put on the computer. Old files and missions from back then still have hard copies in the Records Office. The CIA, like all other government agencies have record offices that are a place to store all their files, and missions. Unless the papers were burned or destroyed they are still in the records office. However a person has to physically go there, the information there is classified and not on the web so as to protect it from people like me."

"I can get you in." Emily says, "I have a few contacts, I should be able to get to the Records Office."

"Okay," Aaron says, "Emily, I don't have to stress this enough, be very careful."

"Corse," Emily says and her and Penelope head to D.C. to the CIA building. Aaron moves to look at the board. He sees a pattern.

"Spencer, can you put these coordinates over the United States, and see if you see any relation between them and the murders done by the UNSUB? I have a feeling he's been using the system to hide his crime."

"If that is true, we may have just found where he has taken his hostages." Aarons says as Spencer heads to his desk to retrieve more books.

"The lines correspond with the events, but nothing else lines up." Talbot says, "Unless," she pauses. "I have to do some figuring." She says and leaves the room to talk to Spencer.

"Aaron," J.J. says, "Will is smart, he won't let Bass win."

"I know J.J. and he will keep everyone alive until we can find them. We just have to make sure we find them soon." Aaron says and J.J. leaves the room.

"Horch," Derek says, "Is he going to kill them?"

"I can't let him." Aaron says, "He has Jack, he has Will, and he has Lilly, Temperance is in the most danger, she knows the truth and if he thinks she can tell anyone she will die. We have to get to him, and we have to do it fast."

"Aaron, he's been ahead of us all along, how can me get ahead of him?" David asks looking at the board.

"I don't know, but it all has to do with that tape." Aaron says and looks at the board, covered in familiar faces. "We need to find that tape."

"US Bank, D.C. Safety Deposit Box 179." Talbot says behind them. "I locked all my father's belongings there after he was killed. I thought it was the safest place I knew of."

"We need to get the tape." Aaron says, "Rossi, you and J.J. work with Reid to find out where Bass is, Morgan, Parker, let's go hear that tape."