Chapter 10

Aboard the USNS Comfort
Lat 27.877928, Long -49.050294
In the Mid-Atlantic

September 2011

"...come back as soon as the Mahan is free." Emily was saying. "She's faster than the Comfort and all things considered the Captain wants us on shore as soon as possible."

"You don't need the medical facilities?" Hotch asked.

The NCIS agent had commandeered a small conference room for them to use for a video call. The team was in the round table room back at Quantico. "No." Emily said. "I made Reid get checked out, the doctor said he's fine, told him to eat more dessert. And yes, that includes any sign of sexual assault." She smiled as the entire team let out a breath they had been holding. "Apparently the guards threw a few punches when he made that phone call but he said he had worse in high school. Otherwise they never touched him. And I'm not seeing any major psychological issues either."

"So why did they keep him?" Morgan asked.

"Garcia, what have you found on Ashton Pettigrew?"

"Ashton Pettigrew, 27, originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, BA in philosophy, an MD in psychology with a concentration in human sexuality from Boston University, is completing his Doctor of Philosophy with a concentration in Theology at Trinity Seminary in Wilmington and works part time as a short-order cook at Shirley's Diner. No indications of anything bad in his background at all. His boss reported him missing ten months ago. Why?"

"Do you want the professional or the personal reason?"

"Start with the professional." Hotch said.

"Reid said that he suspects that Ashton's father contracted with the trafficking ring to have him kidnapped, and likely contracted with them to kidnap an FBI agent to derail the investigation long enough to cover up the evidence. He said the proof might be buried in Ashton's electronic records somewhere, he just didn't know if we got to them in time."

"Nothing...is...jumping...out...at...me." Garcia said. "His driver's license photo is glitched though. That might be evidence of tampering. I have a copy of everything for the genius and I will continue to dig."

"Who's his father?" Hotch asked.

"That's the problem." Emily said.

"Uhhh, yeah." Garcia agreed. "His father is Ronald Pettigrew, the junior Senator from North Carolina."

"The same one who sits on our oversight committee along with Cramer," Dave said.

"Yeah, that one."

"We're gonna need an airtight case to even start investigating that." Morgan said.

"And I'm not seeing one here."

"Ash said he wasn't willing to press charges without some kind of evidence to back up his story. Without it it's his word against his father's."

"So we just let this go?" Morgan asked.

"Without proof the only people we know were involved are the trafficking gang."

"Now that I don't like," Morgan said. "Why would Ash's father do something like this?"

"Have you looked at his voting record?" Dave asked in reply. "Homophobia is a good place to start. A gay son must be embarrassing as hell, especially since the rumor is that he's been on the list for potential VP for the past year."

"Yeah, but he wouldn't be the first politician with that problem." JJ replied. "Most of them just cut their kids off."

"Andi and her people are still down there. I'll ask her to look into it. Discreetly," Hotch said. "She might be able to find something. Did Reid say anything more about it?"

"Ash is too scared to say much right now and Reid is respecting that, he's not going to be helping us on this one."

"Why not?"

"Conflicting interest."

"Conflicting interest?" Dave asked. "Is this the personal you were talking about?"

"Yeah. Right now Reid and Ash are in the shower. Together."

For a long moment it was so quiet you could hear the monitor hum. They all slowly turned to look at her.

She nodded in a way that made it clear that she knew what they were all thinking, and they were right. "Yeaaaah." She said. "That. Mister touch-averse has been throwing PDA all over the ship. And Ash is coming back to DC with us and staying at Reid's apartment."

"You're kidding me." Dave said.

"Nope. Trust me, I have seen the schmaltzy love in the eyes thing, these two have it worse than JJ and Will."

"It could just be part of the trauma." JJ said.

"Could be but I don't think so. Either way, right now it's very real, for both of them."

"What's he like?"

"Ash?" Emily considered, "Quiet, which may be an introvert or may be nerves. Shy, which may be uncertainty in a difficult situation or may be trashed self-esteem. He utterly refused to see a doctor, was about to go off when I pressed."

"He was on that ship a long time." Dave said, "Without any training or prior experience. He could have more trauma issues than Reid would."

"And Spence could be in way over his head." JJ added.

"We'll have to watch for that." Hotch said.

Emily looked over at someone. "Okay, we only have a couple of minutes left with this link...oh...speak of the devil."

She moved aside and Spencer Reid sat beside her. He looked like his hair was damp and he was freshly shaven and had clearly borrowed someone's spare clothes. But he looked good, he was healthy and smiling and carrying a small bowl of something with a spoon in it. "Hi!" He said to everyone.

"Good to see you coming back." Hotch said. "How are you?"

"I'm all right. Did anyone contact my mom?"

"I've been keeping in touch with Dr. Norman." Dave said. "Call her when you get back."

"I will. Thank you. What day is it anyway? Did I miss Halloween?"

"No, thank god." JJ said. "There would have been hell to pay for that one."

"Awesome. I'll bring ice cream over when I get back."

"I'll hold you to that."

"We need to get off the line." Emily said.

They said their goodbyes and closed the channel. "I thought we were profilers." JJ said.

"We're not supposed to profile each other." Hotch replied.

"Which is good because we stink at it," Dave replied to that.

"Okay, this explains Lila Archer." Morgan nodded. "This explains it."

"Lila Archer? The actress?" Dave asked. "Her name has come up before."

"She was part of a case we worked a couple of years before you came back." Morgan replied. "That woman...wait." He pulled over his tablet and looked up a picture of Lila in a very slinky gown. "This woman was all over Reid, I mean all over silver platter, and he walked away."

"Well, if I'd have known that..."

"And another." Morgan turned to JJ. "Didn't you two go on a date that one time?"

"Oh..." Put on the spot JJ sat back and considered, her memories clearly visible on her face. "You know, that explains a lot."

"See."

"Is this going to be a problem?" Hotch asked.

"Not with me." Morgan replied, the others nodding in agreement. "I just want the kid happy."

"Oh, I can see him happy here." Garcia said. "Ash got into college at 17, runs a couple of support groups in the area although I'm not certain on what, subscribes to magazines on cooking and homemaking and taking tea, has a very well used library card, a My Fitness Pal account that lists cycling as his favorite workout, a Netflix cue full of horror movies and a Spotify account full of classical and modern jazz. If I'd had any idea Reid was into boys I'd have set him up with this one."

"There you go." Morgan said, "If he finally figured this out then good for him. I won't even give him a hard time about it."

That they all laughed at. "Yes you will." Garcia said.

"Yeah, but no more than I would give him if he got a girl. But you know that makes this Ash kid part of the family, are we really not going to go after his father for doing this to him?"

"Whatever this is?" Garcia asked.

"Sometimes politics get in the way of justice." Hotch said.

But if we're right then Ash is going to be estranged from his parents over this." JJ replied. "Observing them together might be telling. Has anyone formally told the Senator that his son has been found?"