Chapter 10

I'm back! After a semi wild weekend I'm ready to write! Enjoy!

Penelope removed the cell phone from her ear with trembling fingers and stared at it for a long moment before flipping it open again and hitting #2 on her speed dial.

"Morgan."

"D-Derek?"

"Penelope? What's up baby girl?"

"Y-you n-need to come to the hospital."

"What's wrong? Is JJ okay?"

"Get here now!" she whispered as her head began to spin and her vision swam.

"I'm leaving now."

Penelope leaned against the nearest wall and practically dropped everything she was carrying as she slid down the wall and onto the floor.

Derek slammed his phone closed, "Something's wrong, I have to go to the hospital! Stay here and work on these names. Tell Hotch where I'm going!" he almost shouted as he bolted from the room leaving a stunned Emily Prentiss gaping at the closed door for a moment before she ran from the room in search of Hotch.

Morgan could have sworn he broke every traffic law and land speed record as he sped to the hospital with his lights flashing and sirens blaring, on the way he called the security detail and was told that Mr. and Mrs. Reid were alone in the hospital room and hadn't had any visitors after Garcia had left. He skidded to a stop and jumped from the vehicle, sprinting for the stairs. He burst through the doors and began to run to JJ's room when he saw his goddess practically crumpled on the floor with her head in her hands while she struggled to breathe. He dropped to her side, "Hi sweetness."

She launched herself into his arms and almost toppled the handsome agent to the floor. He held her and gently rocked her back and forth until she seemed to be calming down, "What's wrong?"

She looked into his eyes as hers filled with new tears of terror, "He called me."

Derek's panic filled mind didn't make the connection, "Who called?"

"The unsub."

Derek felt like he had been sucker punched, "What?" he asked as his eyes began scanning the hallway.

"I-I was leaving JJ's room and my phone rang. I answered it and he called me by my name Derek. My full name!"

"What did he say? Can you remember what he said?"

"I'll never forget it as long as I live. He said, 'You and I will meet soon enough if He wills it. Say hello to Mrs. Reid for me, I understand she is very broken up over her…loss.'"

The muscle in Derek's jaw began to twitch as he tried to rein in the rage that was rising within him; he closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths before turning back to Garcia, "We need to get back to the police station and you need to tell Hotch what the unsub said."

"We can't leave! He's going to come back and try to get JJ!"

"No he won't, but if he did there is a security detail here to protect JJ and Reid. I'll call and make sure that more people come to watch over them, but we need to get back and fill in the rest of the team on what just happened. Here," he got to his feet and extended a large hand to the computer tech, pulling her gently to her feet as well. He gathered her computer equipment and handed it to her, "I need you to carry these if you can."

"Okay."

Derek walked slightly in front of Penelope and she noticed his eyes never stopped scanning the room or scrutinizing people. She saw how his body was tense and his had hovered in the vicinity of his service weapon. They exited the building and he hustled her into the car. They drove in silence the whole way back to the police station, but Derek laced his fingers with hers; the simple contact gave her more strength then she could have imagined. He parked the SUV and sat there for a moment before looking over at Garcia, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," came the hushed reply.

They entered the building and made a beeline for the conference room they were using to narrow down their impossibly long list of suspects. Upon entering the room Emily jumped to her feet and made quick work of getting to Penelope's side and pulling her into a hug, Gideon studied the woman for a moment taking in her pale appearance, terrified eyes and shaking hands when she gave him a small wave, Hotch dissected her appearance and behaviour along with Morgan's tense stance, clenched fists and roving eyes, "What happened?" he asked.

Penelope looked to Derek for help before sitting down wordlessly between Hotch and Gideon, "The unsub called Garcia when she was leaving JJ's room."

The silence that met Derek's statement was palpable and the tension in the room rose. Hotch turned to Garcia, "What did he say?"

"'You and I will meet soon enough if He wills it. Say hello to Mrs. Reid for me, I understand she is very broken up over her…loss,'" She recited.

Hotch absently rubbed his stubbly jaw as his eyes closed briefly, "Were those his exact words?"

"Yes Sir."

"Did he say anything else?" Hotch suddenly sounded very tired.

"No Sir. Well…he…he called me by my name. My full name."

"He probably got that from a listing or the internet."

"That shouldn't be possible! After everything that happened with Battle I changed all of my phone numbers and made sure they were all unlisted. It should have been impossible to know who had this phone number!"

"Okay." He thought for a long moment, "We all need to be even more careful then we were before. This man appears to be highly skilled with computers which means we are going to have to change hotels. If any of you have to go anywhere you need to take someone with you; if you are taking a car somewhere you need to take a security or police detail. I spoke with the director earlier and great concern was expressed. The director said that if I needed any backup I should call directly. I will be doing that after this meeting and requesting additional agents to come here from the local field office and help out with protection. Do not go anywhere alone, am I understood?" Nods of acknowledgement passed around the room, "What is it Jason?" he asked noticing his friend's distant look.

"'If He wills it,'" Gideon quoted, "He's referring to God."

"We don't know that," Emily argued.

"Yes we do. This man doesn't have anyone close to him. He had Detler, but we took him away. We know he is a deeply religious man, maybe even a fanatic. The only being I can see the unsub referring to now would be God."

"Gideon's right," Hotch sighed. He took a moment to try and collect his scattered thoughts which was a hard task when you haven't slept more then an hour every night in a week. He rolled his shoulders back in an attempt to remove some of the tension from his tired muscles, "What are our options?"

"We need to keep narrowing our suspect list from JJ's description," Morgan supplied.

"We could narrow our search even more now that we know he has advanced computer skills," offered Emily.

"I can try and trace the call back to a cell phone to get a name or location," volunteered Garcia.

"Those are all good ideas," Hotch acknowledged, "Everyone should work on their own respective ideas and Gideon and I will help out by going through the suspect list and eliminating them one by one. Let's get to work." With that everyone got busy with their tasks while Hotch called the Director and asked for additional assistance, explaining the phone call Garcia had received.

An hour later Garcia approached Hotch, "I've tried everything I can think of to trace the unsub's location, but I'm coming up empty," she sighed, impatience, anger and fear evident in her voice.

"I didn't think it would, but it was worth a try. Thanks Penelope," he said as he sent her a small smile of appreciation.

"No problem. I'm going to run to the washroom; I'll take a female officer with me so I don't interrupt Emily," she said before Hotch had a chance to voice his concerns. She left the room and briefly spoke to a tall brunette before both women headed off to the restrooms.

Morgan's fist hit the table loudly and Emily visibly jumped, Gideon only looked up, "We aren't getting anywhere!"

"We're doing our best," came Gideon's patient reply.

"Our best isn't good enough!"

"Derek," came the warning from Hotch.

"No Hotch! I'm sorry, okay? But right now we are just running in circles! Do you know how many single white men there are in their early to mid forties with brown hair, blue eyes and an average height and build?"

"Too many," he replied.

"Exactly! We could be doing this forever and still never know who he is, but he knows who we are and where we are! We're sitting targets!"

Hotch's eyes were on Derek, but it was like he was seeing straight through him, "What are you thinking Aaron?" asked Gideon.

"I think that Derek's right, this man knows who and where we are but we have no idea who he is." Gideon just waited patiently for him to analyze his latest thoughts. "We need to draw him out."

Derek nodded until all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, "NO! I won't let you use her like that! You saw how much she went though with Battle and how she struggled after to move on after she was shot! You cannot possibly think that that is a real option!"

"Right now it seems like our only viable option, unless you have a better one."

"Use me."

"He won't come after you Derek. He seems to have chosen Garcia as his next victim and if we dangle you in front of him he's going to know we are baiting him."

"If we dangle Penelope in front of him he's going to know something's off!" Morgan argued.

"Not if we plan this right and make sure it goes off without a hitch."

"No! There are too many variables; too many things that could go wrong! I won't let you ask her to do that!"

"You won't let me ask her?" Hotch asked as his eyebrows shot to his hairline, "It's not your decision Morgan."

Derek opened his mouth to dispute Hotch's decision when the door opened and the computer tech in question walking into the room and stopped short, "What?" she asked and she looked down to make sure there wasn't toilet paper stuck to the bottom of her shoe. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Hotch slowly stepped forward, "I need to ask you something and I was you to be completely honest with me, okay?"

She saw Hotch's hesitation and looked to Morgan who was standing with his fists clenched and fury blazing in his eyes, "Okay…"

"We aren't getting very far with narrowing our suspect list and I'm concerned that this unsub may try and harm the team again."

"What can I do?"

"I want to try and draw the unsub out."

"Sounds good to me, how are you going to do it?"

Hotch cleared his throat, "We need someone to get his attention; someone he's interested in."

Garcia frowned for a moment until realization dawned on her, "Oh."

"We would have full protection for you and we would try to put as many safeguards into place as humanly possible."

"Okay."

"But you could be in danger and it's also possible that this plan may not even work."

"I'll do it."

"You will?" Hotch asked, clearly shocked.

"Yes."

"Baby girl—"

"Look this man almost killed JJ, he killed her baby and he took away her chance to have another baby! That was my goddaughter that he killed! If there is anything I can do to help catch this son of a bitch then I'll do it."

"Penelope…"

"No Derek! This is something I have to do! If the unsub were interested in you, would you use yourself as bait?"

"Yes I would, but I've had a lot more training with hand-to-hand combat as well as weapons training."

"You taught me a lot of self defense tactics and after what happened with Battle I learned how to use a gun. Don't get me wrong, I hate guns and what they represent, but I feel safer knowing how to use one."

"But I have years of experience in the field!"

"I'm not going to back down from this Derek. I'm sorry if you can't accept that, but I need to do this. I need to do this for Spencer, JJ, their baby girl and the team, but also for myself."

Morgan shook his head in frustration, "I want to be as close to her as possible at all times."

"We all will be there," Hotch confirmed.

"Fine. I don't like this plan one bit, but at the moment it seems like it's our only workable plan. Let's figure out the details."

"Is everyone in on this?" Hotch asked as his eyes swept the room.

"I'm with Morgan on this," Emily sighed, "But let's get this bastard!"

"Jason?"

Gideon thought for a moment before realizing Hotch's plan would be the best way to catch this unsub before he had another chance to hurt or kill one or possibly more members of the team. He nodded.

"Good. Let's get started."

Okay, it's late and I have to get up in less than 5 hours…my brain has ceased to function. Do any of you wonderful people out there have any suggestions on what the 'plan' should be? I have an idea of what I want to do, but I would love any ideas you would be so kind as to throw my way! I may even incorporate it into my story. Please review! Thanks!!

FeistyFeral