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Disclaimer: See my profile.
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'A Force of Nature'
Chapter Nine
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"How did last night go?" Morgan asked Rossi.
"Great. We played poker half the night. He won almost every hand."
Morgan laughed out loud. "Did you play for money?"
"Peanuts."
"Seriously?" Prentiss asked.
"Daniel ended up with almost the entire jar. And he started calling me David instead of Agent Rossi."
"Hey," Daniel said, coming out of his bedroom and into the living room. "I just got a call from my mother. Agent Hotchner is sending Spencer over the house to interview her and my father today."
"At least he won't be stuck at the office looking through files like Hotch told him originally," Rossi commented.
"Well you may not see him for a while."
"Why?"
"My mother won't let him leave the house until he's eaten enough food to gain at least twenty pounds."
"Sounds like my mother," Morgan commented as Rossi chuckled and then waved as he headed out the front door.
"See you David," Daniel called to him.
"Reid could stand to gain a few pounds," Prentiss commented.
Daniel nodded. "My mom will try to feed him, I'm sure. With my brother in Arizona, me here and my dad on a restricted diet she doesn't have anyone she can feed big meals to. Actually, since he had to stop working my dad does most of the cooking because my mom still works as an interior decorator. But she misses being able to cook the family a meal."
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Reid pulled the SUV up to the curb in front of a modest, well-kept house and switched the engine off. He grabbed his messenger bag and climbed out of the vehicle. As he approached the front door he pulled his badge out of his pocket and then rang the doorbell. After a few seconds a slender man of average height, with graying dark hair who looked like an older version of Daniel opened the door a few inches. Reid smiled and said, "Mr. Meier? I'm F.B.I. Special Agent Spencer Reid." He flipped open his badge for him to see.
"I'm Alex Meier. Please come in, Agent Reid," he said opening the door further and gesturing for Reid to come in. "Caroline, the F.B.I. agent is here!"
Reid smiled as a tall brown haired woman in her forties came into the room. "Agent Reid, this is my wife Caroline Meier. Caroline, this is Agent Spencer Reid."
"Oh, yes! Agent Jareau said you would be coming. And Daniel said he knew you."
"That's right. We know each other."
"Please come in and sit down." Reid followed Daniel's parents into their living room where his father sat on a couch and Reid sat on a love seat opposite him. "You've come a little ways, Agent Reid. You much be thirsty. Can I bring you something to drink? A coke perhaps?"
"Uh, sure. Thank you. A coke would be fine."
"How about a snack? Would you like something to eat? You must also be hungry."
"Uh, well…"
"Caroline, really!"
"I'll bring a little something with the coke."
Mr. Meier smiled at Reid when his wife left the room. "If it was closer to dinner time she would probably be trying to feed you a meal. She thinks it's her duty to take care of everyone, Agent Reid. And, without her two babies here, well…" He shrugged. "Anyway, I hope you don't mind."
"It's okay Mr. Meier," Reid smiled.
"Please, call me Alex. What can we help you with?"
"We're still trying to determine what, other than just being in Bermuda at the same time Daniel and fourteen other people have in common. We've been able to determine the only time everyone was there was the last two days of your visit. Basically, we are trying to determine what may have happened during those two days that everyone has in common."
Alex sighed. "I don't know. I mean, the three of us were together practically every second we were there. And we haven't been threatened." He laughed. "It's funny, but Daniel's brother couldn't take the time away from school to come along; so there was poor Daniel on a trip to a tropical paradise with his parents. Now what young single man in his twenties wants to do that?" Reid couldn't help smiling at his words.
Just then Daniel's mother came back into the room carrying a tray with three drinks and a large platter of brownies and cookies on it. "Thank You, Mrs. Meier," Reid said as she put a drink in front of him and the platter on the table.
"Oh, please call me Caroline. After all, you're a friend of our son's, right?"
"Uh, yes I guess I am. So you're saying you were together the entire time."
"Oh, yes," Caroline said. "It got to the point where we were actually getting sick of each other. Daniel hasn't been able to spend much time with us this past year or so because he was training for the Olympics. So he was determined on this trip we were going to spend all our time together, even if it killed us."
Reid couldn't help smiling again. He didn't have the same type of family memories that Daniel and his parents had. Since he got along so well with Daniel he enjoyed hearing about his family, the same way he enjoyed hearing about Morgan's family. "So, there wasn't any time you were apart then? No time when he might have spoken to other people when you weren't around?"
"Other than when he went down to the restaurant to get a table before we were ready to come down, I can't think of anything," Caroline said.
"Wait a minute…" Alex said, looking over at his wife. "The last day, didn't he go down to the beach to watch the sunrise?"
"That's right! He did! I had forgotten about that." She looked at Reid. "Daniel got up early the last morning we were there because he wanted to watch the sunrise. Neither of us wanted to get up that early, even for a tropical sunrise. So he went down to the beach by himself. Do you think it could be important?"
"Maybe, if he saw something and didn't realize he saw it. Or if someone thinks he and the others saw something, but they really didn't. Either way this may definitely help with the investigation. Did Daniel take any pictures that morning?"
"I'm not sure," Alex said. "I know he shot some video."
"Is the video at his house in Georgetown?"
"No, we have it here. He transferred it on to DVD for us a few weeks ago."
"May I see it?"
"Of course," Alex said as he stood up to look for the DVD in question.
Reid watched the entire video not quite sure what he was looking for. Then he realized the problem might not involve the video itself, but rather what someone else thought was on the video. "Excuse me, I need to make a quick phone call," he said as he got up from the chair. He walked into the other room to complete his call, realizing they might actually have a lead in this case. Upon speaking to Hotch Reid suggested all the remaining possible victims be re-interviewed and specifically asked about whether they had gone out to the beach that same morning. Hotch asked if it would be possible to get a copy of the footage Daniel had shot. Reid walked back into the living room. "Mr. Meier, uh Alex, may I use your Internet service to upload and send this video to my colleagues?"
"Of course. The computer is in our home office," he said, standing up. "I'll show you where it is."
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"Oh my God!" Garcia said, wide-eyed as her feet slipped on the ice. "You better not let go of me!"
"Don't worry, Penelope, I won't," Daniel replied, laughing.
"I don't know how anyone can even stand on these things, let alone walk, or land jumps and do spins!"
"You just have to have natural balance to be able to do it."
Garcia shrieked and grabbed Daniel's arm tighter as she slipped again and nearly fell. "I'm telling you, Daniel; if I fall I'm taking you down with me!"
Daniel laughed. "I'll try not to let you fall then." The words were barely out of his mouth before Garcia's left foot started going forward while her right foot went backward. She stumbled briefly, shrieked and grabbed on to Daniel with both hands. Daniel's efforts to hold her upright quickly failed and the two of them went down on to the ice in a heap, bringing immediate laughs from both Prentiss and Morgan.
"Please tell me you got that on video?" Morgan said, looking at Prentiss who had been shooting Daniel and Garcia with a small digital video camera.
"Of course I did," Prentiss laughed.
Daniel got to his knees to help Garcia who was sitting on the ice looking stunned. "Come on, Penelope." Garcia held on to Daniel with both hands while he helped her get into a kneeling position. Then he stood up and carefully helped her get to her feet. "Okay, now we'll just start moving forward a little again." Garcia's eyes were open wide as the two of them started moving again. Once again her feet began to separate and when Daniel tried to grab her she went down on to the ice again, pulling him down on top of her.
Morgan burst out laughing and remarked, "If I didn't know better I'd think she did that one on purpose!" His comment brought a snicker from Prentiss.
"Okay," Daniel remarked, as he got back on his feet. "Let's try this again."
"No thanks, I give up!" Garcia said as Daniel helped her to her feet again.
"No, come on. Let's try this again, okay?" Garcia gave a short nod as once again Daniel began to help her move forward on the ice. "Penelope, if you hold on with only one hand I think it would be easier. We'll just skate side by side." With a scared expression Garcia slowly let go of Daniel with her right hand and just held on with her left hand. Daniel slid his right arm around her waist and pulled her left arm around his waist. "See, now isn't that better?"
"Much better," she smiled, looking over at him as the two began to slowly skate around the rink side by side.
"Stop laughing, Emily! You're next!" Daniel called. "And you too, Derek!"
"I don't think so!" Prentiss replied.
"Not in this lifetime," Morgan chimed in.
"You'll be skating with my training partner, Olivia."
"You mean the tall blond who was out there on the ice with you yesterday?"
"She's the one."
"Hmm…" Morgan looked over at Prentiss. "Maybe this isn't such a bad idea!"
"Right. Until you fall on your butt and she laughs at you!"
"Derek Morgan does not fall on his butt, and women do not laugh at him."
"Right."
Just then Morgan's cell phone rang. "Morgan."
"Morgan, its Hotch."
"What's up?"
"Reid may have found something. How soon can you come by the BAU?"
"We're in Rockville right now. When you figure the distance and the fact Daniel and Garcia have skates on, I'd say at least a couple hours until we could get there."
"Ask Daniel to cut the practice short. I want all of you back here as soon as you can get here. We need Garcia's expertise, and we need Daniel here as well."
"I'll get on it right away," Morgan closed the phone and waved at Garcia and Daniel. "Come on guys, Hotch needs us all back at the BAU as soon as possible."
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"Admit it, Derek, you were saved by the bell, so to speak," Daniel commented as they headed toward Quantico with Morgan driving.
"I was not. I'm not afraid of going ice skating with a beautiful blond partner. In fact I'm disappointed I wasn't able to do it today."
"Right. So you'll skate with Olivia tomorrow then?"
"Yeah…sure!" Morgan replied with far less enthusiasm than he had shown earlier.
"Ah, come on Derek!" Garcia joked from the back seat where she sat with Daniel. "If I can do it so can you!" Prentiss snickered. Garcia smiled at Daniel and hooked her arm through his. "Of course, I have an excellent teacher."
"Ah, thank you, Penelope! That's so sweet!"
Morgan shook his head and looked over at Prentiss who was trying not to smile.
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Morgan, Prentiss, Garcia and Daniel stepped off the elevator just as Rossi and Hotch walked out of Hotch's office. "Good timing. Can we see you all in the conference room, please?"
"Me too?" Daniel asked.
"Yes, all of you please." They walked into the conference room and saw JJ setting folders down around the table. "Reid is on his way back right now. He'll probably be at least an hour and a half yet." Hotch turned to look at Daniel. "We need you to look at some video and answer some more questions. This was the quickest and easiest way to take care of it."
"Okay," Daniel answered, sitting down in the chair Hotch indicated. He looked around the room and commented, "I feel like I'm in the Bat Cave or something."
"What's going on?" Morgan asked.
"Daniel, your last day in Bermuda did you get up early and go out to watch the sunrise?" Hotch asked.
Daniel looked at him, puzzled. "I don't remember… Wait! I did!" He looked at Hotch. "How could I forget something like that? I got up at 4:30 am that morning and went out to the beach without my parents to watch the sunrise because I didn't know when I might have another chance."
"We've already had agents in the other cities speak to the other victims. Every one of you was out there on the beach that morning to watch the sunrise."
"And you shot video of it?" Rossi asked.
"Yes, I did. I remember now. I don't have it though; it's at my parents' house."
"I know. That's what Reid found out while he was at their house today. He uploaded a copy to us." Hotch turned to Garcia and continued. "We'll need you to run your facial recognition software on one part of the video if you can. We already have people looking at copies of the video, but we'd like you to work your magic if you can." Hotch nodded at JJ who pushed a button on her remote to start the video on the screen mounted on the wall.
The group watched as the video began. "I stink as a cameraman," Daniel remarked as the images bounced on the screen. Most of the video was dark until the sun slowly started to creep up over the Eastern horizon. The video slowly began to pan the group of people on the beach with Daniel. 'These are all the other wackos who got up early to watch the sun come up,' he could be heard commenting before laughing. At one point in the video he had used the telephoto feature on the lens to zoom in on some people standing several yards away near a bonfire that had been built. Sometime later he could be heard saying 'Pretty boring, huh? That's all,' before the video camera shut off.
Morgan shrugged. "I don't get it. It's just a sunrise. What's the big deal?"
"JJ, go back to the part where Daniel used the zoom feature." Hotch turned to Garcia. "That's the part of the video we'll want you to take a look at." She nodded. Hotch turned to Daniel. "Do you remember why you used the zoom at that point?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, not really." He shifted in his chair and looked a little embarrassed. "Now that I think about it, I guess there might have a girl I was looking at."
"It's not really important why, I suppose." They turned back to the screen as JJ replayed the section of the video that had been captured on zoom lens.
Morgan leaned forward. "Wait… The man to the left of the bonfire…" He turned to look at JJ. "Rewind please and go back to the start of this part." As the same section ran again he looked at it intently and then turned to Hotch. "That looks like Dolby Carriol. He's been a fugitive for over a year now. He's on the Ten Most Wanted List."
"Bingo," Rossi commented.
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Reid looked over at the passenger side of the front seat of the SUV and smiled. Daniel's mother had insisted on giving him a few things to take back with him. He had two bags, each containing a box of cookies, a box of brownies, some cornbread, and a large container of vegetable beef soup, all of it homemade; one bag for him and one bag for Daniel. Caroline had insisted her son didn't eat enough and made it clear she didn't like his training regimen. Therefore she had asked Reid to give Daniel his bag and also insisted Reid should have one himself. He supposed it was her not so subtle way of telling him he needed to eat more. He ate plenty, but even his own mother thought he was too thin.
Suddenly he heard a loud popping noise, almost like a small explosion. The vehicle suddenly started to skid to the left, and he was having a hard time controlling it. He wrestled with the steering wheel as the brakes squealed and he tried to steer the vehicle in the direction of the skid as he had always been told to do. The vehicle swerved into the lane to his left and traveled across the far left lane and onto the shoulder before he was able to get it under control and steer the vehicle to a stop. Shaken, he sat for a few moments with his hands resting on the steering wheel as traffic continued to whiz by him. Sighing, Reid climbed out of the SUV and took a look at it. "Great," he said out loud when he saw the shredded tire on the right rear side of the vehicle. He had experienced a blowout. 'I'm already in trouble, and now I'm going to be late again and Hotch is going to kill me." He flipped open his phone to call the auto club to come and change a tire for him.
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A/N: So, on the show, who is an 'SSA' (Supervisory Special Agent), and who is just an 'SA' (Special Agent)? I've heard, for example, both Prentiss and Reid now referred to as 'SSA', but I'm confused because I've also heard them referred to as just 'SA' in recent episodes. So when did they become 'SSA'?
A/N: I tweaked this just a little bit later the same day I originally posted it, then reposted it. No major changes
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