Chapter 4
Kahlan could tell Chuck was pissed, but she wasn't sure she really cared. He needs my help. I couldn't tell him no. She winced as she watched Chuck take the young agents through a hand-to-hand combat training exercise; he was being a little too rough with the agents. She shook her head. "Let me take over," she told him as she patted him on the back.
He gave her a dirty look but nodded and moved out of the way. He watched her as he caught his breath. I'll find that son of a bitch and find out what's going on.
XXXXX
The team was back at the station trying to work on the profile, when Green walked in carrying a couple bags and a tray of drinks. "I heard you all didn't get breakfast, so here's an early lunch." She put the bags down on the table and Morgan and Mack dug into them. "Best Bar-B-Q in town," she told them with a smile as she put a drink in front each of the agents.
Mack passed out the sandwiches, but Hotch shook his head. She sighed but knew it wouldn't do her any good to argue, but everyone else took one.
Green eyed Hotch for a split second and then focused on the white boards with their victims. "So, have you found any connection between these victims?"
Morgan swallowed down a big bite of sandwich. "Not so far, but Garcia is still looking."
XXXXX
As Kahlan and Chuck drove home from their training session, she knew he was still mad, but she knew she wouldn't be able to change his mind, so she didn't try.
Chuck took a deep breath. "Are you doing anything dangerous?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Chuck. Stop worrying."
He huffed. "How can I not worry? After what he did. . ."
"Stop!"
"What? You don't want me to remind you of what that son a of bitch did?"
"Charles!"
"How can you do anything with him?"
She shook her head and focused on the darkening sky out the window.
"Kay, please."
"Please what?" she asked and he could hear the anger in her tone.
"Please tell me that you're going to be ok," he told her weakly.
"I'll be fine, Chuck."
After a few minutes, he studied her. "The kids are spending the night at Donna's, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Why don't you come and eat dinner at my place?"
"Thanks, but I have other plans," she told him with a grin.
"You don't mean. . ."
"I'm flying in to surprise Aaron. He's on a tough case."
"Oh, ok. Are you coming back tomorrow?"
"Probably first thing in the morning."
He smiled. Well, if you're with Hotch you can't be with that asshole.
XXXXX
Kahlan showed her FBI badge at the station and the young officer at the desk pointed her to the conference room. She walked back and opened the door with a smile. Her smile quickly faded when she looked at the agents around the room. "Where's Hotch?" she asked quickly as her heart sped up a little.
"Hey, Kiddo," Rossi told her with a smile as he stood up.
Kahlan quickly studied the faces around her. "Where's Aaron?" she asked again.
"He's with the detective tracking down a lead," Morgan quickly told her.
She visibly relaxed. "Oh, ok."
"What are you doing here?" Rossi asked as he pulled her into a hug.
"I thought I'd surprise him," she told him as she sat down to wait.
"He should be back soon," Reid assured her.
She nodded and noticed that neither JJ nor Mack would look her in the eye. "Is everything alright?"
"Just a tough case," Morgan assured her.
"Need any help?" Kahlan asked as she got up and looked at the crime scene photos. "Jesus, that's a little overkill," she mused as she looked at the victims.
"Yeah, and no connections between them so far," Mack told her as she walked up beside her.
Kahlan's head looked back and forth between the photos quickly. "Damn, that almost looks like Morse code."
Reid and Rossi quickly looked at her. "What?" Rossi asked as he joined her.
"The chest wounds," she started as she gestured to the photos. "If you line them up, they look like dots and dashes of Morse code."
Rossi looked at her questioningly and then looked at the photos.
"That's an 'h', an 's', a 't', an 'o', and a 'g'," she explained as she pointed to the photos and then looked at Reid. "Right?"
Reid studied the photos. "You may be on to something. . ." he started.
"Hstog? Is that some form of foreign language?" JJ asked her.
Kahlan shrugged. "Not any that I know." She shook her head. "Maybe it's not code. Maybe I'm just seeing things."
"Ghost," Reid said as he rearranged the pictures.
"Ghost?" Morgan asked. "What the hell does that mean?"
"The word ghost is commonly given to apparitions. . ." Reid started to explain.
"I know what the word means, Pretty Boy; I meant what does it have to do with the case?"
"Oh." Reid shrugged. "I don't know."
JJ took out her phone and called Garcia to ask her to see if there were any connections between the victims and the word ghost.
"Where are you all staying?" Kahlan asked the others. "I think I'll go and let you all work before I come up with any other crazy ideas."
Rossi told her and then pulled her into a hug. "Crazy might be just what this case needs."
She laughed. "Well, good luck with it," she told them and then left.
Mack looked at her watch as she watched Kahlan leave. "Hotch has been gone a while. Should we be worried?"
Morgan sighed. "What did I tell you? Boss Man can take care of himself."
XXX
Instead of going straight to the hotel, Kahlan called Cam and had him trace Hotch's phone. She smiled as she made her way to the restaurant where her husband supposedly was. At least he's eating. She made her way into the family restaurant with a smile still on her face. If they're discussing the case, I won't stay.
Her smile quickly left her, though, as she noticed him at a table in the corner. He was sitting with a beautiful woman. Who the hell is that? She bit her lip as the heat of jealousy flushed her cheeks. She forced herself to take a deep breath. That has to be the detective, so calm down you idiot. Aaron would never. . . She forced a smile and walked up behind him. She put her hand on his shoulder and he startled. She giggled, but noticed the woman sitting with him gave her a dirty look, and her alpha's hackles bristled.
Hotch quickly stood up. "What are you doing here?"
Kahlan wasn't sure if his tone was surprise or irritation. "What? Can't I come and surprise you?"
He smiled. "Of course you can. I just wasn't expecting it." He turned to the woman who had also stood up. "Det. Green, this is my wife, Kahlan."
The detective stuck out her hand, but the smile on her face made Kahlan dislike her even more. "Nice to meet you."
Kahlan shook her hand cordially. "Likewise."
Hotch stood there looking back and forth between the two women for a moment. "Have you eaten? Do you want to join us?"
"We're almost done," Green offered as she sat back down.
"No, thank you," Kahlan started. "I just wanted to let you know I'm here. I'll let you get back to work." She saw case files on the table but they weren't open.
"I'll see you at the hotel, then," Hotch told her as he pulled the keycard out of his pocket and gave it to her.
"Yep," she leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as she took the card. "It was nice to meet you, Detective."
Hotch noticed the slight edge in Kahlan's voice, but he didn't understand why. Green smiled and Kahlan left, so Hotch sat back down and continued the meal.
After a few moments, Green shook her head. "Does she not trust you?"
Hotch's drink froze halfway to his mouth. "What do you mean?"
"I think it's sad that she would show up while you are on a case just to check up on you."
"That's not what she's doing," Hotch told her and then took a drink.
"Oh? Is this the first time she's done it?"
Hotch shook his head. "She likes surprising me. She's done it several times."
"And you don't see that as a trust issue?"
Hotch took a bite of his dinner. That's not why she does it. Is it? He looked at the woman in front of him for a second and then down at his plate. She trusts me, right?
"I'm sure you're right. After all, she is your wife," Green told him with a smile and then took a drink.
XXX
As soon as Kahlan got in her rented car, she took out her phone and texted Rossi: 'Is it normal protocol for Aaron to eat alone with the case detective?'
'What? No.'
She took a deep breath. 'I figured.'
'How do you know – never mind.'
She giggled, but the smile left her. 'You could have warned me that the detective was a beautiful woman.'
'What difference does that make?'
She huffed. 'I don't like her.' A few moments passed and she started to think that he wasn't going to respond, so she reached up and started the car.
'Why?'
'Don't know. She just rubs me wrong.'
'Is someone jealous?'
She could imagine the grin on his face. 'Yep.'
'You've got nothing to worry about, Kiddo.'
'I know, but I still don't like her.' She didn't mention that she thought Green looked an awful lot like Haley.
'Your little tip has got us closer to solving the case. Hopefully we won't be here too much longer.'
'Good.'
XXX
After finishing eating, Hotch and the detective went back to the station. Hotch could tell immediately that something had changed in the case. "What's going on?"
"We finally found a connection," Rossi told him with a smile.
"Yeah?" Green asked. "What is it?"
"The knife wounds are dashes and the gun shots are dots," Reid told her.
Green looked at Hotch and neither one of them understood. "Explain," he told Reid.
"Morse code. The wounds display a letter."
Hotch's head snapped to pictures. "That's great Reid."
"Kahlan was the one to notice it," Mack told him with a smile.
"Your wife? Is she an agent, too?" Green asked him.
"Yes," Mack and JJ said at the same time that Morgan said 'no'.
Green looked around at the agents in confusion.
"She works for the Director of National Intelligence, but she is not an FBI agent per say," Hotch clarified.
"Ohhhh," Green mused as she bit her lip.
JJ and Mack shared a look.
Hotch shook his head. "And the letters spelled something?" he asked Reid.
"Ghost."
"And then Baby Girl was able to track all five victims to an online gaming community," Morgan explained.
"They all played 'Call of Duty – Ghost'," Rossi told him.
"Did they play together?" Green asked them.
"No, but they have all played against the same group. Garcia is tracking them down now," JJ told him.
"You think someone from the opposing team has killed them all because of some video game?" Green asked clearly not believing it.
"We've seen people kill for less," Morgan told her.
"And trying to find out who the people are behind the gamers tags is not as easy as it sounds," Mack explained.
"It's getting late, and I don't think Garcia will find us anything tonight. Should we go ahead and call it a night?" Rossi asked knowing Kahlan was waiting for Hotch.
"Were you able to find out who all is on their teams?" Hotch asked as he sat down.
Green smiled. So the case is more important than the wife, interesting. She sat down beside Hotch. "I guess that means we have interview the victims' families again?"
Hotch nodded. "We'll split up and do that first thing in the morning. We need to find out exactly how important these games were to these people."
