A.N. With a nod to Whatif-ifonly, for the use of your 'first' name. You'll see it.
A Song of Their Own
Chapter 12
"Hotch!" The team heard Emily's excited whisper. "Over near the van they came in. I see him! I see Will LaMontagne!"
JJ sank into a seat upon hearing the words come over the hidden microphones. She was listening intently for what came next. Reid and Morgan exchanged excited glances. As Reid moved away from his maps to be near his fiancée, Morgan was voicing his thoughts aloud, despite knowing they couldn't be heard by the person he was addressing.
"Turn, Hotch. Get him in your camera. Let us get a look at him."
At the park, Hotch reacted coolly as Howard Roget. He got up slowly and purposefully, still commanding his wife and the situation. It wouldn't do for the 'purchaser' to appear anxious about the 'merchandise'. As Marcan and the child drew near, he turned very slightly in their direction, keeping his chest and lapel pin aimed at the parking lot from which they'd come.
JJ was glued to the monitor. "It's too far away, I can't make out his face. Garcia, can you zoom in with this?"
"I'll try, honey, but I think we're going to lose too much detail." She did as promised and, as feared, the detail was lost.
"Zoom back out then, Pen. Maybe I can make him out from his movement again." JJ knew that Emily's view with the naked eye was likely to be better than the one they were getting through the camera lens, but she still felt a need to confirm her friend's statement.
As they all watched the lapel scene, they listened in on the conversation their colleagues were having with Adele Marcan.
"Mr. and Mrs. Roget, this is Rosalynn." Marcan didn't bother introducing the couple to the child.
Hotch bent to study the girl, as though inspecting merchandise. He could see her dilated pupils, and the blankness of her gaze. To him, the child appeared drugged.
Emily was struggling not to visibly react to the appearance of the girl. She put her hand out. "Hello, Rosalynn."
Marcan had to nudge the girl to get a response. With difficulty, Rosalynn turned her gaze to Emily's face. "Hello," she said dully, putting a limp hand into Emily's.
The Rogets shared a well-rehearsed look. Then Mr. Roget addressed Marcan. "She doesn't look very bright. In fact, she almost looks drugged."
Marcan had her usual answer at the ready. "She was a bit overexcited at the prospect of meeting her potential adoptive parents. We just sedated her a bit for the trip over."
Emily was clenching her fists behind her back to achieve some modicum of control. At the hotel, JJ reached up to clasp Reid's hand on her shoulder at the revelation.
Howard/Hotch decided to play it antagonistically. "How am I supposed to make a decision when she's in a state like this? I need to be able to see what I'm getting!"
He'd purposely used the 'I' pronoun to emphasize the idea that this transaction was taking place to please the desire of the dominant male in the family.
Hotch pushed his advantage. This was a way to prolong things, to give the surveillance and tracking teams time to work on finding the ring's main location.
"This is unsatisfactory. I'm not in the habit of making any kind of major purchase without having fully inspected the merchandise, and I do not expect to be asked to do so with a child. I demand another meeting, and this time I want the child fully alert."
Marcan caught the leer Roget sent in Rosalynn's direction without realizing Hotch had done it purposely. She thought she might have the upper hand in this negotiation, since her mark was obviously smitten by the girl. But she also realized she didn't yet have either the couple's commitment or their cash, and so she needed to appear cooperative….at least until she had the money in hand.
"Certainly, Mr. Roget. Would tomorrow be convenient?"
Hotch consulted his 'calendar'. "I can see her tomorrow at four, but my schedule is very tight. I'll see her at the foster home. Where is it located?" I can already see she won't be going for that, but it was worth a try.
Marcan headed him off. "I'm sorry, Mr. Roget, that's against our policy. We can only have you meet the children at your own home or at a neutral location."
He'd reached into his pocket for his wallet, remembering his ability to influence her with money earlier. But, with the stakes for the ring so high, Marcan couldn't allow herself to be influenced by short term monetary gain.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Roget, I wish I could help you out. But I simply can't. I could lose my job." Or my life.
Not wanting to risk the entire investigation, Hotch chose not to push it further. Looking annoyed, he said, "Very well, then. Should we meet here again?"
That was agreeable to Marcan. "Tomorrow, four PM. Come on, Rosalynn. It's time to go." She tugged the girl by the hand and lead her, stumbling, back to the van. Both Hotch and Emily noticed the man who looked like Will spend an extra few seconds staring in their direction before he got into the van and closed the door. They could only hope he'd spotted them.
"We have to take her tomorrow. We can't let her go back with that woman another day." Emily was venting.
"Remember that she's also with Will LaMontagne. He'll do what he can to protect her." Hotch was trying to be practical as he drove them back to the hotel.
"But he couldn't keep them from drugging her, could he? We don't know how many kids there are in that house. He can't keep them all safe."
The surveillance teams had split up to create a tag-team tail for the van, hoping to track it to the home where the children were being held. If unsuccessful, but now having a way to visually identify the van, they would use tomorrow's time at the park to try to slip a tracking device onto it.
At the hotel, JJ was relieved. The man in the parking lot had moved very little during the Roget/Marcan conversation, but she'd had a glimpse of what she thought was Will's typical gait when he walked around the van to open the door. Watching closely before the van left, JJ was excited.
"I think he sees them! See how he's looking in their direction. I think he knows it's them! He knows we're coming for him!"
Reid reached an arm around her. "I think you're right. I hope you're right. But you can see how hard it is for us to make him out. He could be having the same trouble. We need to get Hotch and Emily closer to the van tomorrow. We need to make sure he knows."
The task force convened via video link to prevent the BAU members, now almost all known to the trafficking ring, from being seen entering a government building. DHS Agent Watrous reviewed the events of the day, now coming to the results of the surveillance teams.
"The van was followed back to this neighborhood." He was pointing to an area on a large display map. The BAU team noted it was the same area Reid had already circled on their own map.
Watrous continued. "They made no effort to shake a tail, which we believe means one of two things. Either they are unaware we are this close to them…..or the van was, indeed, being driven by Detective LaMontagne. If the latter is the case, we take it as a sign that he is still working on the side of the good guys."
JJ had never doubted that to be the case, but was nonetheless relieved to have someone else acknowledge it as well. She listened as Watrous went on.
"The van is parked in a driveway in the middle of the block, but our trackers couldn't go down the street to be sure they went into that house. There didn't seem to be any children playing outside, but there was plenty of adult street traffic. Or, more precisely, loitering. NOPD tells us this is a high drug trafficking area."
An NOPD task force representative confirmed that. "We no sooner shut one down than two others come and take their place. It's like a cancer."
That gave Morgan an idea. "Hotch, if we have any hope of getting those kids out of there safely, we're gonna have to connect with Will LaMontagne somehow. What about if we sent someone to the street, looking to make a buy?"
Emily saw the promise, but also the flaw, in the idea. "Why would we think Will would connect with that person? How would he know it was the task force? We're back to that issue."
NOPD piped in electronically. "It's a real problem. We've been battling this problem so long that we've run through our own undercover guys and have been getting some on loan from other cities. You know, some faces the dealers haven't seen yet. But that means LaMontagne hasn't seen them either. He won't know."
Those assembled at the DHS office heard a voice come from the hotel connection. "Me. It has to be me." Reid was volunteering himself.
Things moved quickly after that. They needed to get somebody on the street tonight, when it was most active. Reid was being outfitted with his wireless device and, as Morgan put it, 'a grown-up's holster' for his shoulder, to be hidden by his jacket.
JJ hadn't spoken a word since her fiancé volunteered himself for what was presumed to be a highly perilous task…if not from the trafficking ring, then possibly from the drug dealers. Earlier, she'd listened as Reid argued his case with Hotch, who had reservations about the whole idea.
"Will knows me, he'll recognize me. And the traffickers have never seen me before. And….." He'd stopped himself at this, unable to make eye contact as he continued, even all these years later…."And I know how to buy drugs. I know how to look desperate."
The rest of the team shared pained looks at that. Rossi, who'd missed that episode in the team's history, was the first to recover. He tried to lighten things up. "Well, you're thin enough for the role!"
Reid flashed him a grateful look for effectively changing the subject. Hotch gave his youngest agent some cautionary instructions.
"Keep it low key with the people on the street. Don't confront anyone, and don't let them confront you. Back off if you need to. If Will doesn't come out to the street, leave. Don't approach the house. If this doesn't work, we'll find another way." Hotch would have given the same instruction to any one of his team, but today he felt a special need to make sure he was heard. Reid might have volunteered himself for any one of their investigations, but Hotch knew that this time his youngest was also being driven by the need to help his fiancée and her son. And that need might well cause him to take greater risks.
JJ had reached the same conclusion. Pulling him aside before he left the hotel, she grasped both of his hands as her eyes bored into his. "Spence, I wish I didn't understand why you have to do this, but I do. But please, please, please be careful. You won't be doing me or Henry any good by getting hurt, regardless of Will. You understand that, don't you?"
"I do. I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it. But this might be the best way, maybe the only way, to get Will and those kids out of there. I still have to do my job, JJ. We both do."
"I know." She gave him a wan smile. "I just like it better when you do your job in front of a map."
He smiled back as he reached his arms around her. Embracing him, she could feel the gun under his arm. "I love you. Come back to me."
"I do. And I will."
After he left, JJ went to her room to make her evening call to Henry and her parents. She was a little earlier than usual, but knew the night might get very busy. She needed the reassurance of hearing their voices.
They read stories and said prayers, even though Henry wasn't quite ready for bed. He'd asked for Reid, and was accepting when told he was working and couldn't come to the phone. And then, in that way JJ would never fathom, Henry knew to include an extra prayer for his godfather. I don't know if he's attuned to me, or Spence…or God,….but somehow he always knows.
Her father knew she couldn't share anything about what was happening with the case. But he also knew from her tone that her level of concern had risen. He rang off with a reassurance. "You've got right on your side, Pumpkin. And a lot of good people working together to make it happen. And a few more of us here rooting them all on. Just remember that."
"I will. Give Henry a hug for me, please. And, Dad? Thanks."
Before she rejoined the team, JJ took a few moments to collect herself. She could practically feel her anxiety exuding through her pores. All of the 'what-ifs' were assaulting her. What if the dealers figure him out? What if they try to rob him? What if they find his gun? What if Will never comes out? What if we can't find another way in? What if either of them gets hurt? What if?
Her thoughts turned to their relationship. What if last night was the last time we would hold each other? What if it was the last time we kissed? There's always a last time for everything. What if it's already in the past? What if we didn't know it when it happened?
She found herself tearing up but couldn't afford the time to cry. She splashed some water on her face and hurried back to the team.
NOPD used a dilapidated vehicle from an old drug case to bring Reid to the neighborhood. They dropped him off around the block. He turned the corner with a shuffling gait and a weary-eyed look to his face. He did his best to look disheveled enough to not be threatening, but not enough to become a target. Which, if I succeed in this, I'll market as an art form, he thought sarcastically.
He made certain to slow his gait in front of the house in question. It was about two thirds of the way down the block, near the corner with the most apparent drug activity. Most of the block was deserted except for that corner. To Reid's eye, it looked like most of the sales activity was happening between those on the corner and those driving by. There was very little foot traffic for this particular facet of the drug industry.
He continued shuffling past the house with the van parked in the driveway. As he drew near the corner, he caught the eye of one of the salesmen. "Whatchu want, dude?"
"I…I just need a little something. To get me through. Just a little…"
The man came over to him. "Yeah? A little something what?" He looked Reid up and down. "Man, you high already? Whatchu need?"
"Dilly. I need Dilly." Reid slurred his speech ever so slightly.
"Yeah? You got money, man? I ain't got no Dilly, but I can get it for you."
"I need it now. I need Dilly." Reid's voice was urgent.
"How 'bout a blunt? Hold you over. I'll get you Dilly for tomorrow." The young salesman knew he could get more for the dilaudid than the marijuana. It was worth becoming a middle man.
"I need Dilly."
Now the dealer was out of patience. "I told you, I ain't got no Dilly. Get outta here, man. Go!" And he pushed Reid back in the direction from which he'd come. Reid prayed a brief thanks that he'd not been touched where the gun might have been palpable.
He started his shuffle down the street again. But this time, as he approached the house in question, he saw a figure sitting on the stoop. Will LaMontagne. They shared eye contact for the first time in many months.
Will got up slowly, nodding to the watching dealer on the corner. He approached Reid and threw an arm loosely around his back, appearing to be escorting him out of the neighborhood.
In his familiar New Orleans drawl, Will spoke. "We have an unspoken arrangement. They don't hassle us and we don't hassle them. And whenever they need us to persuade someone to go, we help them out."
Reid understood. "What do we need to do to get you out?"
He could feel Will sigh before he answered. "There are only two kids left here. They started feeling the pressure after those murders in Houston. They know the FBI is close. They're closing things down here, but they've still got a bunch of houses in the islands. That's where I was most of the time, in the Caymans. I only got back when the lawyer was killed in Houston."
"Do you know anything about that?"
"It was a guy name of Viera. He's here in the house. The lawyer was getting spooked, I guess having a kid herself did it to her. He killed them to keep her quiet. And the girl, too. Too stupid to realize he was only drawing attention. So they sent me to Houston to empty things out there, and now they're emptying here."
"If there are only two kids left, can you get them out? What about when Hotch and Emily meet with the girl tomorrow?"
Will had been there long enough to get to know the girls. "That's Rosalynn. You tell them they should take her tomorrow. That will leave Minnow. I'll try to get her out."
"Minnow?"
"She's a little thing, only 'bout six years old. They wanted her older sister, ended up having to grab them both, I guess. But she's too young for the market. These scum don't want the really little ones, they're too much trouble." Turning slightly to Reid, he explained the name. "She was so young, and her sister was sold over a year ago. Little thing couldn't remember her name. So I called her 'Minnow', because she's swimmin' around with all these damn sharks."
"Bring her with you tomorrow, in the van. We'll get you all out."
"Wish I could, Spencer. But Viera is slick. He'll keep her drugged and restrained until I get back. He's not on to me, he just doesn't trust anybody."
"Is it only him?" At Will's nod, Reid continued. "Then I'll come back tomorrow evening. We can do this scene again. But get me closer to the house."
Will looked uncertain, but ended up agreeing. "Okay, I'll come up with something. But you make sure Hotch and Emily leave with Rosalynn tomorrow. Make sure they show up with money."
"Will do." They were almost at the corner.
"Spencer, how's JJ? And Henry?"
"Henry's great, but he misses his dad. And JJ's worried. That's why we're here, Will."
"You tell her I'm okay, and you tell Henry his daddy loves him, all right?"
"You can tell them yourself, after tomorrow." At a look from Will, Reid continued, "But I'll tell them too."
"And Spencer? Get word to my brother. Tell him to tell Charlene I'm all right. She'll be worried too."
Reid didn't know who Charlene was, but he agreed. They were parting now.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Will. And we'll both go back together."
Will shoved the junkie away around the corner.
