A.N. Apologies for the ridiculously long delay in posting, and apologies again if it's a while before this one is finished. I started it last year, during our Reidless period, anticipating it to last only that long, but it had other ideas. There's only so much time for writing, and I got distracted by the Reid arc, into a series of post-eps, and then another longer story (Broken), which is still in progress. Unlike some of my more talented counterparts here, I'm not good at writing two different convoluted plot lines at the same time. But, for the Reidless duration this year, I'll do my best.
A reminder, since it's been so long. Stephen Walker and Matt Simmons aren't on board for this one. Reid hasn't been to prison. And, since we'd learned nothing about Morgan's life when I started this, he is still with the FBI, overseeing the exchange of intelligence info between various police departments and the Bureau.
Missing
Chapter 8
The rest of the team arrived the following day, joining Rossi at the local FBI office.
"Good thinking, on the apartment, Rossi. That gives them a little more freedom to move about, since we hope Scratch doesn't realize Reid is here."
As he handed out the encrypted phones to the rest of the team, Rossi agreed with his new unit chief.
"If Scratch had eyes on Vegas Memorial, he already knows you've been there, and he'll be expecting you to show up in Houston. So we have to assume we're all being watched. At least we have three agents who can move more freely."
"Three?"
Rossi held up his new phone. "Who do you think brought these?"
Emily wasn't impressed with the idea of having Anderson added to her team in the field, but her new position meant she had to be politically correct enough not to say so.
"Oh, right. But…do you really think we should leave him with Reid and JJ?" Anderson?
Neither of them had been with the team at the time, but Anderson's faux pas over leaving Elle Greenaway unprotected had been well circulated through the FBI gossip network.
She hadn't needed to say the name aloud. Rossi was perfectly capable of reading the look on her face.
"I'm talking about Morgan."
Emily's brows raised in surprise. "Morgan's here? But how? Why?" Thinking better of it. "Never mind the 'why'. How?"
Rossi explained the unannounced visit to Garcia, and Morgan's immediately jumping back on board to help his 'little brother'.
"He brought the phones to them last night, then stayed in a different location from mine. We can keep him hidden, relatively speaking."
"But… what about the Bureau? He's not with the BAU anymore."
Rossi shrugged. "He got Cruz to sign off. Either that, or Penelope made it look like he did. I'm not asking too many questions right now."
Emily considered it for a moment. There was no one she wanted on board for this more than Morgan. Well, save one, maybe, but that wasn't an option. At least Morgan was still with the FBI, even if not the BAU. And maybe Cruz had signed off on it.
Maybe.
She made the split-second decision to go with it.
"All right, they're a team of three. We can communicate with them via encryption, but no in-person meetings without going through me, all right?"
Tara had a point to make. "We're thinking Scratch doesn't know Reid is in Houston, right? And, if he's been watching the team, he won't suspect that Morgan is involved. But what about JJ?"
Rossi had already been there. "Scratch will still be monitoring our other phones, so we're going to have to have some chatter on them. I had Garcia program a clone to JJ's phone, and bring it to her home. The cover is that Michael is sick, and JJ is home with him." He laughed, as he took his official FBI phone from his pocket and showed them a photo. "She sent this."
The others joined in laughing as they looked at a selfie of a worried Penelope, laden with three bowls of chicken soup for her perfectly healthy godson.
Luke was bemused. "I'll give her this much…..she knows how to play it up."
Rossi turned to his newest colleague. "Listen, when this is over, and you get to meet Morgan in person, be careful what you say about her."
Emily chuckled. "Yeah. That's his 'Baby Girl'."
Miles away, Reid pushed up slowly from the sofa, after a restless sleep. That he'd slumbered at all had been a miracle, wrought by the soothing voice of his best friend. The sound of the shower running, as well as a certain blissful aroma, told him she was already awake.
He followed his nose to the kitchen, and filled the mug she'd left out for him, sitting right next to the container of sugar. He let the caffeine work its magic before trying to put together a plan for the day. He was still coming to full alertness when JJ entered the kitchen.
"The shower's all yours."
"Thanks. And thanks for the coffee. For that matter, thanks for the sleep."
She smiled. "I told you. It works on all of my boys."
She'd just never tried it on that one before.
"So, we should probably call Rossi. I don't know if the others are here yet. They may not have the new phones."
"Actually, I spoke with Rossi already. The others were meeting him at the FBI field office right around now."
"How…." Reid's watch wasn't on his wrist. He looked around for a clock, finding only the digital readout on the apartment's microwave.
"Is that the right time? It's almost ten?"
He felt like he'd lost half a day of searching for his mother.
"You were exhausted, Spence. You needed sleep. Blame me if you want, but I thought it was better to get you to a place where you could think clearly. I'm sorry if that was the wrong thing to do."
His rational brain knew she'd been right to let him sleep, even if his primitive brain was unable to get past the fear that something terrible had been perpetrated upon his mother. He did his best to align himself with the rational.
"Don't apologize. I know you're right. I'm just worried about giving Scratch an advantage."
"The only advantage he can have is to neutralize you. We can't let that happen. You knew right away that the hospital photo was faked. We didn't. You know your mom like no one else knows her. We need your head in this game, firing on all cylinders, Spence."
He acknowledged it. "I know. You're right….and thank you. But, the thing is….I know my mom the best. What we need now is someone who knows Scratch the same way."
"You mean like…family? I thought he didn't have any, or at least none that would admit to being related to him."
"Maybe. Or….."
He'd gotten that look on his face, the one that meant he'd leapt ahead by three steps beyond her.
"What?"
"I need to call Rossi. Do you think he's connected with Emily and the others yet?"
"Spence, we've already talked about this. Rossi thinks we should stay below the radar, and I agree with him. We can't connect with the others."
He nodded impatiently. "I know that. We can't meet with them in person. But that doesn't mean we can't speak with them, now that we've got these phones. But I really just need to speak with Rossi."
Without Emily knowing about it. But he wouldn't say it aloud. If there was going to be trouble, he wouldn't drag her into it.
JJ responded, unaware of Reid's internal dialogue. "No reason you can't call him. He's encrypted already."
"Right." But he didn't want to have the conversation in front of her. "Maybe I should shower and dress. Didn't Morgan say he was coming back this morning?"
She smiled. "That was another conversation I had when I got up. He said to tell you he knows you need your beauty sleep. He's waiting for me to call him."
Reid smiled, as she'd intended. "Tell him Pretty Boy is up and ready. But I don't think he should come here, at least not until we come up with a reason why he would. It's daylight now, too easy to see who's coming and going."
"All right. Where, then?"
"Does that buffet place have a breakfast?"
Without telling JJ, he'd called Rossi from the bedroom. The senior agent hadn't been all that surprised at the request. He had, in fact, considered it himself. But he could make no promises.
"Let me think about it a little longer, all right?"
Even the question had given something away, although Reid had chosen not to point that out.
"All right. Thanks."
Now they were meeting Morgan at a small diner not far from the buffet place, which, they had both been happy to learn, did not serve breakfast. Their former colleague was already seated in a booth when they arrived.
"Hey, Pretty Boy, Blondie. You look like you got some shuteye."
"Did I really look that bad yesterday?" Reid had heard nothing but, since his friends had arrived.
Morgan laughed at him. "You would have seen it yourself, if you hadn't been so bleary-eyed. So, what's on the agenda for today?"
JJ answered "We're supposed to conference in with Emily and the others. As long as Cruz is on board, and it sounds like he is, you're on the team."
Reid wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. Actually, he was quite sure. But he felt two contradictory ways.
"Morgan, you left the field because of your family. We can't know what Scratch has done with my mother, nor what he might have planned for any of the rest of us. I don't think you should risk it."
Derek Morgan stared down the man he loved like a brother.
"Kid, you're beginning to irritate me, with that 'family' thing. Sure, Savannah and little Hank are my family. But so are you. I'm not about to leave you hanging here. Besides, Savannah loves you, too. She'd have my hide if I didn't stay to help."
Reid looked appropriately abashed…..and then profoundly relieved.
"Thank God."
JJ laughed at the two men. "You guys. I swear, if you two weren't thirty plus years older, I'd confuse you for Henry and Michael."
The three had breakfast, and brainstormed over a cover story that would allow Morgan have a presence at the apartment JJ and Reid were sharing. They could already tell that newcomers were under scrutiny in the neighborhood, and a threesome would definitely arouse suspicion. In the end, they settled on designating Morgan as a newly-discharged former soldier, a US Army buddy of the recently fallen brother to the female half of the young couple.
"They won't ask too many questions if they think you're in mourning."
JJ agreed. "Okay. And we can always say you'd come over to reminisce and had one too many, if you need to stay the night."
Reid gulped one final mouthful of coffee before they paid the check and headed out. Morgan had parked at the far end of the small parking lot, so they chose that area for their conference call. JJ dialed them in.
"We're here."
"Reid? Are you okay?" The worried voice belonged to their unit chief. Emily hadn't spoken to her missing genius since the news of his disappearance.
"I'm fine. Sorry, I had no way to get word to you."
"I understand. And I'm sorry about your mother. We took a look at Las Vegas Memorial and.."
"It didn't pan out, I know. Again, I'm sorry. I could have saved you the trip." He explained how he'd already determined the photo had been faked.
"Don't apologize. For all we know, Scratch would have known you'd figure it out, and hoped you would assume you'd think your mother was still in Houston, even if she wasn't. At least, this way, we can feel certain she's not in Vegas."
"Except that we don't know that. If Scratch were dealing with just anyone, a simple twist might be all he'd employ. But he knows he's dealing with the BAU…"
"And with its resident genius," finished Emily, understanding. "So all bets are off. He might have doubled back, or even back again."
Reid agreed with her. "Which means my mother might be here, or there, or anywhere in between. Although…"
Tara's voice came through the line. "Reid, what are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that he's put both locations on the table for a reason. Scratch is all about playing the game. But it's not really a game if he doesn't risk losing it. So, while my mom could be anywhere, I think he's got her in one of the two locations. And, right now, I'm betting on Houston."
"Why?" Literally all of them had said it, on both ends of the conversation.
"Because he doesn't want me to have the advantage. If I were on my home territory, in Las Vegas, I would. Here in Houston, it's a level playing field."
Rossi mused on the idea. "An open board. Anybody's game."
"Exactly."
