Chapter 10
2pm Saturday

They found a use for the blanket after all

Spencer had never imagined it would be like this. Before this he had always envisioned the connection between himself and Sarah in one of two ways. Most of the time it was a pipe, in the way that an internet connection can be seen as a pipe, information flowed like water between the two of them in a narrow, regulated stream that could be controlled, monitored, even blocked. He even used the mental imagery of a smartphone to control the flow of information, "calling" her to open the connection when he wanted to talk, setting it to mute when he wanted it to flow in from her but not back out, and so on. He sensed he could still do that with actual speech, but now there was so much more.

Now he could best picture a lake, clear and wide and deep, straddling the landscape between their minds, a lake full of emotion and power and the energy given off by the planet itself, warm and comforting, into which he could fall, he could sink and float and bob there, comforted and energized by the depth of what they shared now. I like that imagery. She said directly to his mind.

I wonder what I can do with it.

What do you mean? In reply he rolled and focused on the waterfall, watching the way the water poured over the rocks, studying it closely. Ah, be careful love, she thought to him, water is heavy and difficult to work with.

Not if you understand fluid dynamics. He focused on the water, on the way it tumbled and moved. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, it looked like a giant hand came down and blocked one section of the waterfall. The water pooled behind it and then poured off to one side like it was going around an invisible dam.

A moment later the waterfall burst forth as the invisible barrier disappeared and Spencer fell back to the moss, gasping. I did that, he thought, I really did that just with my mind! The world dipped and twisted around him as he marveled at the thought.

Yes, you did. Sarah rolled into him, pressing her warm, soft body against his as she held the bottle of lemonade to his lips. I didn't think you were capable. You amaze me you know. Here, you'll need fuel for that.

He did, he realized, he was suddenly famished. He sipped at the sweet tart liquid greedily, wrapping an arm around her to keep her close while he drank. What else will I need? He asked.

To keep your strength up. With that thought she slid on top of him.

4 pm Saturday

Rossi stormed into the office at nearly a dead run. "Where are we?" He asked, not bothering to be polite.

"I just got here thirty seconds ago." Blake said. "The first flight out was at one, then I got stuck in Customs, of all things."

Crap. "Garcia?"

"Okay, I've been here since noon, here's what we have." She pulled things up on the board as she talked. "Jack and Henry are being escorted back by agents from the Albuquerque field office. Jessica and Sandy are going to meet them at the airport and then they're coming here to be interviewed. They had them checked out at the ER; they're not hurt in any way, thank god. We know Hotch and Jack boarded their flight to New York on time, and took a cab over to Beth's apartment. Two agents with the New York office went in with NYPD and found a mess; they said it looked like there had been some kind of a struggle."

"Did they find Hotch's luggage there?" Rossi asked.

"Yes they did. When they went to check the security they found that the cameras had been disabled."

"Planned attack," Blake said. "What about Will and JJ, they're not here."

"They never got on their flight to Florida. We send a couple of agents over with DC Metro, they found Will's car parked in the usual place, the back door open, the luggage piled up to go, no sign of a struggle at all."

"How does that happen?"

"Henry." Rossi said, putting his fingers together in the shape of a gun and pointing to about the level of a small head, "How about Morgan and Reid?"

"Morgan made it to Chicago in one piece; they checked into the hotel, went to see his Mom last night. His credit card showed that they had breakfast at a diner this morning, and then his phone records show that he talked to his Mother and his Aunt not long after. She said they were going to the store for the family dinner tonight. The local agents found his car in a nearby garage and his phone kicked under it. They spoke to his family who said that they haven't noticed anything weird except his sister Desiree said that he noticed someone watching the house last night. And we haven't been able to get a hold of Reid."

They waited a moment. "That's it?" Rossi asked. "You haven't been able to get a hold of Reid? Has anyone been looking?"

"I've been trying!" Garcia wailed. "He took Sarah up to Gideon's old cabin. It's completely off the grid, self contained power, water, the works. His only connection is a satellite phone and that's used to call out only, he never gave anyone the number. He even bought it through an anonymous service; I can't find any sale records anywhere. The only people who know where it is are Morgan and Hotch and no help there. All I know is that it's just outside Shenandoah National Park somewhere."

"Hopefully if we can't find them then they can't find them either." Blake shook her head. "Wait, Sarah is with Reid. Is Eva with Morgan?"

"Yeah."

"And she's missing too?"

"Yeah."

Blake went pale. "Oh, that's not good."

"What?" Rossi asked

"Protocol 3372. It's…I have to notify General Davis."

"Stall. We don't need the military underfoot. Let me see if I can get some help with that." Rossi headed up to his office and sat, waking up his computer. He looked at the screen, intended to retrieve a file, but… "What is this?" He clicked, and the files started downloading.

A moment later he clicked them off. "Garcia?" He called out.

"Yeah."

"I've received four e-mails since we all left, with video attachments. Try to track them, but don't watch the videos."

"Sure. Okay. Why not?"

He took a deep breath. "It's Beth and JJ."

For a moment everything just stopped. "Oh my god," Garcia said.

"Was there a message with them?" Blake asked.

Rossi nodded and read it to them. "Stay out of our business."