Chapter 10

BAU Headquarters

Quantico VA

When they first got to the office Morgan sent Spencer down to the conference room. He headed down the catwalk to stop Garcia before she left her lair. "Hey, baby girl. I need you to do something for me."

"Anything for you my Olympic god."

"I need you to check on the hotel rooms for me and Reid."

"Surely," she turned and started typing. "What do you need?"

He told her.

As they headed for the conference room Morgan took Hotch aside. "Do me a favor. When you start handing out assignments for when we land, keep Reid with me."

"Is there a problem?" Hotch asked.

"No, I got this. I told you. Just keep him with me for the next few. It'll be all right."

Hotch nodded. "All right, who else is in the loop?"

"Garcia. I'll brief Prentiss and Rossi the first chance I get"

"Good."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, cast your wizard like gazes at Frisco, Colorado." Garcia started the briefing. "Yesterday four members of the Summit High School football team went missing. This morning they were found dead on the field." She showed them pictures of four tortured young men, each body destroyed almost beyond recognition. And each with a pentagram carved into their chest.

Morgan and Spencer looked at each other, and then back down at the files.

"I'll take teenage satanic rebellion and drug use for 100 Alex." Rossi said to Hotch.

"Yes, well we need to be sure, and to find which kids." Hotch replied.

"And there are three more boys missing, this time from the basketball team." Garcia informed them

"Do we know how they died?" Morgan asked.

"Not yet, coroner's report's due in the next few hours. I will get it to you on the plane."

The briefing continued on for a few more minutes, and then they all got up to head to the plane. Of course that was the moment Chief Strauss chose to appear in the doorway. "Agent Hotchner, may I have a word with you for a moment?"

They stood there, just outside the door, talking quietly. Morgan looked over at Spencer, who was packing up very slowly. Now that he knew what to look for he could see that the younger man was afraid of calling attention to himself by pushing past the chief. He waited until Spencer was clearly ready, then clapped the younger man on the shoulder and steered him out the door, putting himself between Spencer and Strauss on the way. "Pardon us." She made an annoyed noise, but nothing more.

Sometimes it's the little things, Morgan thought.

Gulfstream 500

Central US airspace

An hour or so after the briefing Hotch's laptop came to life. "Coroner's report heading to your machines my lovelies," Garcia sang out. "Someone copy it onto the roll of parchment in the luggage rack for Reid." Even Spencer chuckled at that one.

Emily called it up first. "Okay, we need to profile for female Unsubs."

"Why?" Seaver asked from where she was sitting with Hotch at the far end of the plane, trying to learn the job on the job.

"Because all of their injuries were anti-mortem, but the only one that could have killed them was when their penises and testacies were removed and they bled out." Every man on the plane winced. Emily smiled at Seaver. "See. Men don't do that to each other. That takes a very pissed off woman."

"You have an evil streak." Morgan said to her, as he passed his tablet to Spencer to read.

"So what, a group of teen-aged girls getting revenge?' Rossi asked her.

"And using satanic imagery to cover their tracks," Emily nodded. "These are guys from sports teams, guys with a lot of physical power, used to bullying others to get their way."

"But guys from different teams don't usually party together." Rossi pointed out.

"Excuse me." Spencer said. He got up and headed for the small toilet at the opposite end of the plane.

Rossi watched him go. "That kid has logged more miles by toilet than I ever thought humanly possible." He said, lowering his voice so Seaver wouldn't hear and Hotch could claim ignorance. He saw the way Morgan and Emily were looking at each other. "Someone want to clue me in?"

Morgan and Prentiss looked at each other, and then Morgan started in, keeping it as quick and short as he could.

Rossi listened until Morgan got to the part about Tobias Hankel. "You know, there's nothing in that file that would indicate a problem."

"Gideon had us leave certain things out," Morgan confessed, "nothing that would influence the case."

"Like what?" Rossi asked.

Emily and Morgan looked at each other again. "Hankel escaped his demons by using a mixture of Dilaudid and LSD." Emily informed him. "When he thought Reid was being held by his father he…shared."

Rossi considered that and grunted. "A mixture like that could addict someone with one dose."

"Try eight," Emily said, "over about a day and a half."

Rossi grunted again, and shook his head. "I was wondering how he knew so much about 'step dancing'," he said. "There's stuff that just doesn't come out of books."

"We didn't know how you would take it." Morgan told him.

"A lot of good cops dance that dance." Rossi said, "Doesn't bother me so long as he keeps the beat. Just…every so often remind me that I can be an asshole."

Morgan nodded. "That's why we were 'babying' him when he got shot."

"Any?'

"Nope."

"Damn," Rossi shook his head. "All right, I'm an asshole, I assume there's more."

Morgan filled in the rest, all except for the presence of the little bottle in his pocket.

"You know, a lot of guys in this job have to fight ghosts like that, end up with those kinds of problems. They just don't usually get as early a start. I assume the goal here is to help him keep 'dancing' until the shrink figures out what to do." Rossi sat back. "What's your take on what that witch doctor had to say?"

"Creepy," Morgan replied. "He knew things he couldn't know. And some of the timing on this has just been that kind of strange." He shrugged. "Look, I can only work with what I have in front of me. The doctor couldn't come up with any concrete suggestions to get things started. Julio did."

"I assume you're doing this because Hotch has his hands full. And because if Erin found out any of this she'd get in here and start drawing blood."

"Exactly," Morgan said.

Just then Emily's phone went off. She looked at the caller ID and frowned.

"What is it?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know." She answered, distractedly. "Maybe I'm being picked on too." She got up and headed toward the galley to return that call.

"What was that all about?" Rossi asked. When Morgan shook his head he went on. "Do you have Reid covered? Is he able to do the work?"

"He's been fine in the field; it's being at the BAU that's causing the trouble." At Rossi's questioning look Morgan shrugged. "Strauss."

"What can she do?'

"JJ"

"Ah," Rossi nodded.

"Anyway, I got it covered with him, but, if Emily is distracted, Hotch is going to need help covering Seaver and Strauss."

"Leave that to me. And keep me in the loop. Let me know if I can help."

"Will do."

Ramada Inn

Frisco, CO

Spencer

Different name, same chain, after a working dinner and a late night at the local police station, Spencer found himself looking around the utterly bland hotel room. He just had time to drop his bags when a knock sounded on the door to the next room. He opened it and found Morgan standing there. "Hey, leave it open. You okay?"

Leave it open, Spencer thought. I'm glad he's there, even if it's just because I have to rebuild that trust again. "Headaches, of course it could be altitude sickness, we're over 9,000 feet. Hydration is a major issue up here."

"Yeah, no kidding, anyway, I'm going to crash for a while. You should get some sleep."

"Yeah, I'll try." Reid watched as Morgan left his side of the door just ajar and did the same. Then he headed for the shower. He got it up to blistering hot, got in, and started scrubbing down. It wasn't until he got to that scar that the memory hit him like a freight train.

Then

Chaparral High School

Las Vegas, NV

"So, what's this I hear about you having a boner for Alexa Lisbon?"

Spencer didn't turn around. He'd had to stay late to meet with Mr. Gibson, his physics tutor, and now he just wanted to get to the bus without trouble. But now the campus was quiet and empty, and from the number of footsteps behind him Trent Hartman had a couple of his friends with him, which never boded well.

"Hey! You gonna answer me?" They kept coming. Spencer tried to figure out the most likely point to break and run, but it was hard to calculate vector trajectories when you were utterly terrified. "Hey! It's rude not to answer people!" If I can just get around the corner of the building, he thought. Once I'm out of sight then maybe.

The problem was that there were two more waiting around the corner. They grabbed him, sending his books flying and picking him up literally off the ground. Trent walked up, pulling a knife from his pocket. A knife that appeared huge to a frightened young boy. "See, the problem is, that Alexa doesn't want to be bothered by little twerp like you panting around after her. Do you understand that?" Spencer nodded, more than willing to agree with whatever Trent said, just so they would let him go. "See, I don't think you do. So we're going to give you a little reminder." With that he reached down and Spencer felt the fabric right below his fly part under the knife.

It was entirely possible that they hadn't meant to do him any actual harm, but just then Mr. Gibson came around the corner. "Hey! What are you boys doing?" He yelled, unwilling to actually confront the crowd of nearly fully grown young men.

Trent jerked at the sound. Spencer felt a white hot pain as the knife cut. He screamed in elemental terror. Oh god not deep, he thought, please not deep, please not deep, please not deep. Then he was falling to the ground as the boys dropped him, rolling and clutching his crotch in agony as the blood seeped through his fingers.

The school nurse awkwardly bandaged him up, which was an adventure in embarrassment in and of itself. Then they called his mother, and told her to take him to the emergency room for a check up and probable stitches. Spencer knew that wasn't going to happen. Mom drove him home, and triple locked the doors and windows behind them. He could tell by the way she rushed him out of the school that she was done in for the night.

Once everything was locked up tight she pulled him into a rough embrace. "Oh my boy" she cooed. "Why did they have to go after you? It's just not safe out there for people like us."

"I'm all right Mom." He said, taking a deep breath and schooling his features so she wouldn't see that it hurt to walk. "Really I am. It's just a scratch. Come on, you ought to take your pills now." He clung to her for a moment longer, though, just a moment. She loves me, he thought, and she's trying so hard. She really is.

Once his mother was out for the night he went to the bathroom and gingerly removed the bandage. It didn't look like the knife went all the way through, he realized as he carefully compared his own anatomy to his copy of Gray's, Trent did not actually manage to cut his balls off. Of course it would be a long few weeks before the swelling went down and he could find out for sure, but it looked like he ought to be able to still function down there… if he could ever get a girl. He carefully cleaned the wound, hissing against the pain, bandaged himself neatly, cleaned up the bath, and found the stash of Tylenol. He took that and an ice pack and went to bed, the better to lose himself in a book until he could sleep.