July 14,2011- Quantico, Virginia
"You want me to do what?"
Garcia sat and stared at Reid and Rossi.
"We need you to think like a profiler," stated Rossi.
"I don't profile. I don't know how to profile. Sir, I can't," stammered Garcia.
"Garcia, we need you to. We are down four members and we need as much help as we can get. "Garcia trembled while Rossi squeezed her shoulder, "You will be fine."
Garcia, Rossi, and Reid had been sitting in the waiting room at Quantico Medical Center for four hours. Garcia had just arrived with her laptop and food for Rossi and Reid. Hotch, Morgan, JJ, and Prentiss were all still unconscious, but stable.
"Ok, so…all I need to do is get inside this guy's head?" she asked.
"Yes, we know what this guy looks like. The police haven't been able to catch him within the last few hours so we need to figure out where he is more likely to go. As soon as the police artist is done with the sketch, we can compare it against the twenty six men that you were able to narrow the suspect list down to," Rossi stated. In the meantime, Garcia observed both men. Neither of them had been checked out by any doctor and looked exhausted. Garcia glanced over to the sandwiches she had bought them and said, "Sir, I think you two should go and get some rest."
Rossi sighed and said, "We are ok, Garcia. We need to catch this guy before he kills anyone else."
"But, sir. You said that we are down four members and you guys are exhausted. Even if you go home and get a few hours rest, you two would be better rested than running on empty."
Rossi nodded and said, "She's right, Reid. We need to get these cuts looked at and get at least a couple hours of sleep." After both men had picked up their belongings, Reid smiled and said, " Call us if you get anything or the rest of the team wakes up."
"Of course, Spence," Garcia answered. She sat down and sighed. If she was going to think like a profiler, she needed to be as calm as possible.
"Ok, if I were a crazy serial killer and the FBI and police knew what I looked like, where would I go?" Garcia muttered. The technical analyst stared at the blank computer screen as she tried to come up with an answer. After finding no answer, she glanced through the photos of the twenty six possible suspects. She tried to recall all the facts that the team had told her about the unsub. After looking through the photos twice, a picture came up that seemed to fit the team's profile. Garcia smiled and laid her head back on the seat and fell asleep in the matter of minutes.
-7 Hours later-
"Ma' am?" Garcia suddenly heard. She jumped up to see a nurse kneeling next to her. Garcia yawned and asked, " Is everything ok?"
"Yes, your teammates are getting discharged, but are doing so against doctor's wishes." Garcia looked over to the four rooms that her team occupied. She stood up and walked to the first room to see Hotch packing up his things. Garcia walked in and stammered, "Why are you leaving?"
"We need to catch this guy, Garcia," Hotch stated as he adjusted his tie.
"But you guys were almost blown up after a car accident!"
"Garcia, we are ok, but we need to get this guy before he kills another family. Ok?" Hotch glanced over to the doorway where Morgan, Prentiss, and JJ stood.
"Garcia, where are Rossi and Reid?" Hotch asked.
"They went home for a few hours to eat and rest. Sir, while they went home, I kind of came with my own profile," Garcia stammered. She watched everyone look at her in surprise.
"Well, Rossi asked me to profile since you guys were all out cold and I know that I'm not experienced in profiling, but I thought that I could at least try and help and-"
"Garcia!" Hotch exclaimed, "What did you get?"
"Ok, so I thought that maybe this guy knows how to use locks very well to pull this off. I then eliminated real estate, house improvement, and construction and came up with locksmith. If he's a locksmith, he would be able to manipulate the lock quietly. So from there, I came up with twenty one names. I thought for this guy to kill families that are all similar to his, he's gotta be screwed up. From there, I looked for those who had met with a psychiatrist as a child within the last forty years and came up with four names. Out of those four, two are on duty overseas, one is still in a mental health center, and one is here in town," Garcia tapped her tablet screen and pulled up a photo, " Lucas Grier. He's a 41 year old locksmith that spent pretty much his entire life in therapy due to severe attachment issues with his mother."
"That makes sense," JJ chimed in, " I remember him saying something about manners and wanting to be loved by the mother."
"The unsub probably than kills the mother more when she denies him," Hotch replied.
"Alright, so what are we going to do to catch him? " Prentiss interrupted. Morgan crossed his arms and stated, " I say we storm his apartment."
"He's smarter than that," Rossi stated as he entered the room, " He knows what he's doing. While Reid was pulling you guys out of the house, he gave me a choice; kill him and die with him or let him go and make sure you guys are ok. He knew how to make a trap where he couldn't blow up himself in the process. We need trick him into getting caught in the act."
"What are you suggesting?" Hotch asked.
"Put surveillance on all the families that look like the unsub's family?" Garcia asked. Morgan laughed and said, "Look at you, Penn! Acting like a profiler."
Rossi stated, "That's pretty much what I was going to say except we should also put an agent or officer undercover in the home. We were outside when the unsub attacked, but we were not able to get in to the house in time to save the family."
"That's sounds great. Good job, Garcia. I want you to call the local police station and tell them to meet us here so we can set this up. Because of the explosion, not all of us can participate in this. Morgan, because of the severity of your concussion and Prentiss, because of your hip and knee, you two will help Garcia track this guy through phone records, credit cards, ect," Hotch directed. After everyone dispersed, Hotch leaned back onto the bed and winced. Rossi approached him and said quietly, " You can sit this one out as well, Aaron."
"I'm fine," Hotch muttered, " I'm really ok, David."
Rossi nodded and headed out the door.
