Myron Phillipe removes his mask and watches the technical analyst on closed circuit TV. The man beside him also removes his mask.
"When do we have her do it?"
"Not until after midnight. It has to happen then so it's not discovered until Monday," Phillipe explains.
The man smiles. "We're going to be so fucking rich! How do you know she can do it?"
"I've been tracking her for many years. She's been wasted as an FBI stooge. I plan to remind her of the fun of illegal hacking. And show her the profitability of hacking the right systems."
He smiles, picturing a future with Garcia. He didn't really want to scare her. Myron had few equals in the world. She could be the only woman who can match his technological intellect.
"The world will be ours, Jackie. It will be ours," he brags to his man.
Hotch and Rossi had found Morgan's car outside Garcia's apartment. They could see the bags of computer equipment in it and get a sick feeling in their stomachs. They are about to make entry into Garcia's apartment when the chief's phone rings. He sees it is Reid.
"Yes, Reid?"
"Hotch, JJ just got a text from Emily's phone," he says, clearly upset. "Emily and Morgan are in trouble, Hotch. It…it doesn't look good."
"We're about to enter Garcia's apartment. I'll call you back in a few."
Hotch hangs up his phone. He doesn't need to say anything to Rossi, the older agent knowing something bad is waiting for them beyond this door. Hotch counts down to 1 and kicks in the door. Rossi rushes in, sweeping the room with his firearm. Hotch covers him from the door, then moves to the bathroom.
"Clear," he whispers.
"Clear," Rossi echoes from the kitchenette area.
As one, they move towards the bedroom. Rossi nods towards the bed. Someone is under the covers. He steps closer and grabs the end of the comforter. He looks to Hotch who nods, gun trained on the bed. Rossi rips the blanket off…to reveal Morgan!
"Derek!" Rossi hollers.
He feels the man's throat, breathing a sigh of relief when he feels a pulse. He pulls out a pocket knife and cuts away the duct tape on Morgan's wrists and ankles.
Hotch pulls out his phone. "This is Unit Chief Hotchner. I need an ambulance and a crime scene unit dispatched to this location immediately." He gives Garcia's address to the FBI dispatcher.
"He's got no injuries I can see, Hotch. He might have been drugged," Rossi reports.
"They were packed and ready to leave. Why did they come back up here?" Hotch asks, looking around.
"Maybe one last look?" Rossi suggests.
Hotch shakes his head. "They wouldn't have left if they thought they'd missed anything. Something drew them back in."
"The only thing I can think of would be if they saw someone in—"
Rossi stops speaking as Morgan moans. The two agents step towards him as his eyes start to flutter open.
"Come on, Morgan. Come back to us," Hotch encourages.
A few minutes later Morgan's eyes finally do open. His two friends can see the drug-induced haze in them, confirming Rossi's suspicion. Rossi leans close.
"Derek, what happened?"
"Pre—Prentiss?"
"She's not here, Morgan. What happened to her?"
Morgan frowns, trying to clear his head. "She was…there was a light…came back to see. I entered…nothing." His eyes roll back in his head.
Hotch and Rossi stare at each other. Two members of their team were now missing, another is hurt. And they were no closer to understanding why than they were last night. They are interrupted by the arrival of the EMT's. They step back into the living room to give them room to work on Morgan. Something catches Rossi's eye. He pulls out a glove and bends down to pick up Emily's phone.
"Hotch."
"Reid said JJ got a text."
Rossi uses a pen to punch the buttons to pull up the last text. His face pales as he sees the two pictures that were sent to JJ. He turns the phone around to show Hotch. The first shows Morgan bound and in the bed. The second shows a bloodied and bound Emily on the living room floor. The men look around as if to confirm Emily really isn't there.
"They took her to use against Garcia," Rossi states.
Hotch nods. "She was probably demanding to see Henry. They couldn't keep it from her long that they didn't have him."
"Then why take Emily? She'll tell Garcia the truth with just a look," Rossi points out.
"If she's able. Something tells me they'll make sure Emily can't give away the truth. Now Garcia will feel responsible for the two most important people in JJ's life."
As the EMT's leave with Morgan, Hotch pulls his phone again. "This is Hotchner again. I need a security team to meet an ambulance at GW hospital. Maintain full protection around SSA Derek Morgan at all times. Thank you."
Rossi looks at him. "Do you really think that's necessary?"
"Don't you?" Hotch counters as they leave the apartment. They pause to get the electronics out of Morgan's car and head back to Quantico.
When they arrive they find JJ pacing the bullpen. She stops and stares at them. When she sees the look in their eyes she starts to shake her head. Rossi takes the electronics down to Kevin. Hotch approaches JJ and lays a hand on her shoulder.
"JJ, she wasn't there. We think they took her to use her against Garcia. And if that's the case she's okay." JJ just nods, trying to convince herself that Hotch is correct. "Morgan is on his way to the hospital. They drugged him. We need everyone focused. Okay?"
JJ just nods again. "Yes. Right. I can be focused. I have to be. I called Matilda and she came in to take Henry down to the day care center. She won't leave here with him until this is over."
"Good. Let's go see what we can get off Garcia's electronics."
The two head down to Garcia's lair. As they enter they see Kevin, Rossi and Reid all turn to look at them.
"You got another email, Hotch," Reid tells him.
Hotch and JJ step forward to read the message on the screen. JJ bites back a groan. Hotch stares at Kevin.
"Is it from the same computer?"
"No, sir. But it's from another one of the missing ones."
"So, what? This guy has a stash of them?" Hotch bellows.
Kevin jumps. "I—I—I—I—"
"Easy, Hotch," Rossi cautions. He lays a protective hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Kevin, how could he have gotten access to multiple units?"
Kevin takes a couple of deep breaths, looking at Rossi instead of Hotch. "Well, it was speculated that the computers were lost by the agents at airport security terminals, hotels, etc since you all get tired and can forget things." He sees Rossi frown. "Not that I think that!" he quickly hedges. "But it was speculated! Then they noticed that the serial numbers on about 10 units were consecutive. That would be way too much of a coincidence so they knew that those had probably been stolen by someone."
"An agent stealing laptops? To what end?" JJ asks.
"Espionage, to be an ass, to make some extra cash on Ebay, just to name a few reasons," Reid states.
"So, the unsub has access to our systems and now he has Garcia's skills. Have we come up with why he may need them before Monday?" Hotch asks.
JJ slowly turns and looks at Hotch. "It's the end of the year, Hotch. Everyone's status reports were due Friday. That includes money spent, money allocated, and money confiscated. Also, the number of agents working undercover for each department."
"And that posts officially tonight at midnight, doesn't it. That's why he wants us to think we have until Monday to rescue Garcia. Truth is, we only have until midnight tonight."
JJ visibly pales. But then she takes a deep breath. "Kevin, have you been able to trace the signal being used to send the emails?"
He rolls his chair to another computer screen. "So far it's tracked back to Kurdistan. Considering the time frame we're dealing with from the abductions until now I'd say that's not the final destination. But FBI computers and phones are built to have multiple relays to prevent traces like we're doing," he tells them.
"So you can't find her," Hotch concludes.
"I didn't say that. It can prevent the trace but not completely stop it."
Even Reid looks confused. "How is that not the same thing?"
Kevin starts to open his mouth to explain, then stops. "Look, I could explain all the technical aspects of this or I could just do the job. We don't have time for both."
Hotch takes the hint. "Do the job, Kevin. We'll be in the conference room."
The team heads back down to the conference room and stares at the stages of Garcia's life on the walls. JJ walks over to the reports of Garcia's arrest for spying.
"Hotch, do you know this Mryon Phillipe?" Hotch shakes his head. "He's the one that originally found evidence of Pen hacking the government computers. We ran his name and about 5 years ago he fell off the grid. Kevin has a search trying to find him but no go."
"Was he FBI?"
"Worse. CIA."
"If he's the one that arrested Garcia he won't let her go. She knows him," Rossi points out.
"He didn't actually make the arrest," Reid clarifies. "He alerted his superiors, they alerted us and we made the arrest. He did write the recommendation that we try to turn her rather than imprison her."
"Every CIA agent has an endgame. It could be that when he saw Garcia all those years ago he decided to monitor her. If he gets her to download all the information tonight he could make some good money selling it," Hotch notes.
"No offense to us, but we're small fishes compared to what he could get for CIA information. What do you want to bet they have the same government reports due for upload tonight?" Rossi wagers.
"God, he could sell the names of undercover operatives to the highest bidder overseas," JJ whispers. "Agents will be marked for death and may never know."
"Something isn't right," Reid says. "He had to know we'd try to find Garcia. He had to know taking Emily would make us even more desperate to stop him. With one call we stop the upload of information and his plan crumbles."
Hotch slowly nods. "Reid's right. This has been off from the start. I need to make a call."
He turns and heads for his office to make a call to Langley, home of the CIA.
