Hey guys. I know it has been like two weeks or something since I last updated. Thank you to everyone who followed/favourited this story in that time. Got a lot of stuff going in real life plus not knowing how this season ended was really stifling my creativity. Now I'm back better than ever. I warn you this chapter is kind of short and there is absolutely no Reid & unsub in this chapter because the next chapter is pretty much entirely Reid & unsub. So without further ado, enjoy.
Warning: Contains some adult language and references to torture.
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds nor the Criminal Minds characters. All other characters and mistakes are my own.
Once the shock wore off, Elle picked up her phone and called Garcia.
"What did you find?" the technical analyst answered.
"Garcia, it's Elle. We found the shop Reid and I were at on Friday. I know Morgan had you try and run down some information on the vehicle we were driving. Can you give me the license plate number?"
"Sure thing." It only took Garcia seconds to navigate to the proper file and locate the required information. "J123456".
"Thanks Garcia." Elle replied.
"Any time sweetheart." piped Garcia. Elle paid no attention to the woman's words as she slid her phone away. She was too busy concentrating on the license plate of the SUV in front of her. "J123456".
"JJ... we need to search that SUV."
-PTTR-PTTR-PTTR-
"We'll have to–" Whatever Hotch had been about to say was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone on the table in front of him. Gideon stood at the window, staring down at the streets of Augusta below. Morgan sat with his chair tipped slightly back, tossing a baseball in the air while deep in thought. Hotch vaguely wondered where in the world he had found a baseball as he glanced down at the text message in front of him.
"Elle and JJ might have figured out what Reid was working on." Hotch dialed Elle's number, hit the speaker phone button and set the phone back down on the table in front of him.
"Hey." Elle's voice rang through the conference room.
"What did you find?" asked Hotch.
"We got lucky at the print shop. The clerk who was working today also worked Friday afternoon. He recognized me from before. Reid definitely printed some photos from his work e-mail. Since we didn't find any of those photos at the house, we searched the SUV and found them shoved under the seats." Elle paused in her explanation. Whether it was to take a breather or because she was finished wasn't immediately clear.
"And?" Hotch prompted.
"You might want to check it out for yourself, but I don't think George Stanley was our artist."
Her statement was met from brief silence in the conference room until Gideon spoke up. "George Stanley is definitely involved. If he isn't the artist does that mean there's a third unsub?"
"I don't think so." Elle sounded a little unsure of herself. "When we compared Reid's notes on the first and second crime scenes the original notes started to make more sense. The patterns on the first crime scene were the work of two different people, while the patterns on the second crime scene were the work of one."
"So our UNSUB helped George Stanley at the first crime scene, so what?" piped Morgan.
"That's the thing... I don't entirely understand the mathematical analysis he was applying but Reid seemed to think that whoever was at the second crime scene was the dominant partner."
"Thanks Elle. We'll meet back at the station in 2 hours." said Hotch, hanging up the phone.
"George Stanley is too mentally unstable to be the dominant. I'm betting that whoever got him involved in this is the same person who got him experimenting with blood 10 years ago." said Gideon. "We might have to dig deeper into his social and familial connections."
"I'll get Garcia on it." volunteered Morgan right before their discussion was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Still standing, Gideon strolled over and pulled it open. SSA Blackwell was standing there, fist still raised for another knock. He looked slightly startled by the door's sudden action.
"SSA Hotchner. Augusta PD's chief of police called. He heard there was a serial killer dropping bodies in his backyard and he wants in."
Hotch's right hand went instantly to his forehead, thumb and forefingers massaging his temples. "All right, get him to send a couple of officers down to the station in Camden, along with a couple of your agents. We'll rendezvous there." said Hotch with a sigh.
"You'll have to tell him yourself," replied SSA Blackwell. "He's waiting on the line to talk to you. You can take it in my office."
"Fine," said Hotch. "Lead on." Blackwell led him down a floor and into a bullpen that resembled their own at Quantico, though on a slightly smaller scale. Blackwell lead him around the edge of the bullpen to an office that overlooked everything. Before Blackwell could get the door to his office open it seemed like every phone in the building started going off at once.
Blackwell looked startled by the noise but quickly hid his surprise behind a frown. "We never get this much phone activity."
"Sir," shouted one of the agents, "There's a situation at a dinner on the edge of town. Witnesses interrupted a young man trying to force an off-duty cop into his car. He knocked the cop out, dragged him into the diner and barricaded the door... he's asking for the FBI."
While the young man sounded sloppy and disorganized there was a slim chance that he could be their UNSUB. Hotch made a split second decision. "SSA Blackwell, give me a minute to grab my team. We're coming with you."
-PTTR-PTTR-PTTR-
Hotch had called to fill Elle on what was going on in Augusta. The entire briefing had only lasted a minute as they were on their way to join SWAT at the diner. He had ordered JJ to start liaising between the different departments to set up the profile briefing.
That left Elle to make the hour long drive to Augusta on her own. She figured Hotch wanted there because she had demonstrated her ability to stay calm in a crisis on the train in Texas.
Elle found her mind wandering as thoughts of that day took over. She had been immobilized, handcuffed to her seat. Reid had played into the man's delusions and distracted him enough for her to make a move. His quick action had kept the man from shooting her. Reid.
As much as she complained about him and called him weird, she had a soft spot for the young genius. As the sun crept towards the horizon Elle realized that it had been almost a full 3 days since she last spoke to him. She found herself missing his quirks, the random facts or useless statistics he was constantly spouting. I guess what they say is true, you don't really appreciate something until it's gone. Elle silently promised that if they all made it through this she would never make fun of his quirks again. Not if, when.
In her contemplation Elle's eyes had strayed from the road. Between her head injury, the pain medication, warm spring weather, lack of proper sleep and sun dipping lower in the sky, Elle was struggling to keep her eyes open.
Somewhere inside her Elle got the vague feeling that she should pull over and call someone, but before the idea could even fully form her thoughts were shattered by the loud crash of metal hitting metal.
-PTTR-PTTR-PTTR-
Since the local police department had very little experience with hostage negotiation they asked Hotch to run point. Hotch's first action was to make Gideon the lead negotiator, acknowledging that the older man was the most experienced negotiator they had.
"Does the diner have a phone line?" Hotch asked Sergeant Bates, who had been overseeing the situation before the team arrived.
"Two. There's a pay phone in the dining area along with a private line in the kitchen." replied the Sergeant.
"The pay phone is too close to the windows. He won't answer it." said Gideon. "Get the number for the diner's direct line."
While the Sergeant went off to find the requested number, Gideon surveyed the area around them. "What?" asked Morgan when he saw what the older profiler was doing.
"There's an ATM across from the diner. If we're lucky the camera caught a glimpse of our UNSUB. We'll be in a much better position to negotiate if we can figure out who we're negotiating with."
Morgan rapidly dialed Garica. "Hey babygirl I need you to access the recordings from the ATM across the street from the diner. Go through the video from about 30 minutes ago and see if you can spot a young man wearing a blue ball cap."
"Vague. So very vague. But I'll see what I can do." replied the analyst. Morgan could hear the strain in her voice from late nights with too much worry and too little sleep. The fact that she hung up without saying goodbye was probably the most revealing tell of all.
By the time Morgan finished talking to Garcia, Sergeant Bates had returned with the number for the diner. Grabbing the paper from Bates' hand, Gideon retreated to the FBI's mobile command center where some tech's had just finished setting up the recording equipment.
Gideon handed the number over to the techs who set it up so that all Gideon would have to do to contact the hostage taker was press the green button on the equipment. As soon as he got the go ahead from the techs Gideon picked up the receiver and hit the button.
The phone started to ring. Once. Twice. "Come on, pick up the phone." Gideon mumbled. He was almost convinced the suspect wasn't going to pick up when someone answered the phone.
"What do you want!" a voice screamed into the phone. Without eyes inside the building he couldn't say for sure but Gideon suspected it was their hostage taker.
"What I want is to find a way for us to resolve this peacefully. Nobody has to die." replied Gideon.
"They-they-they all had to die. T-T-Those men. Your...that...agent. Everyone. Everyone of them, they needed...must...had to die. No. No. NO. NO. NO. he...he's the last. "
""Who is he?" Gideon started to ask when he heard a click and the line went dead. Shaking his head Gideon left the mobile command center to convene with the rest of the team.
Hotch was in the middle of a conversation with Morgan and Sergeant Bates, but held up his hand for silence when he saw Gideon coming. "What happened?" he asked after searching his friend's face.
"He's a very sick, disturbed young man but he's not our UNSUB." Gideon informed them.
SSA Blackwell, who had followed Gideon out of the trailer after listening to the conversation via headphones, arrived at the group just in time to hear Gideon's pronouncement.
"What do you mean he's not the UNSUB! He practically admitted to the murders. Hell, he admitted to killing your agent." Split flew from the agent's mouth with every word.
"Delusions. You were listening. He was barely functional enough to form coherent sentences. There was no way he could manage the level of organization we saw in our UNSUB's crimes."
Blackwell tried again. "He wanted to talk to the FBI..." The agent trailed off as he realized he was starting to grasp at straws. One look from Hotch silenced the man.
"Gideon call Garcia and find out if she's managed to identify the hostage taker yet. While you're at it have her track down everything she can find on the officer he tried to kidnap." Hotch ignored the slightly amused look the older profiler gave him. Rarely did anyone try to tell Jason Gideon how to do his job.
"When Elle gets here catch her up to speed and have her join you." the team leader continued, "We don't have time to wait. I'll take Morgan and head back to Camden."
Before anyone had time to protest, Morgan and Hotch were gone.
-PTTR-PTTR-PTTR-
"Seriously Morgan, were you trying to break a speed record or something?" By the time they made it back to the station, Hotch was more than a little frazzled. Morgan had driven almost recklessly. He figured Morgan was trying to make up for what he had so delicately described as "a complete waste of time." The scariest part was that Hotch couldn't exactly find it within himself to disagree with the profiler.
The team was now split between two towns an hour apart. Gideon and Elle would be tied up in Augusta until the situation at the diner was resolved, and Reid was still missing. Hotch shook his head once to clear it before heading inside. Upon entering the station he immediately spotted JJ talking with a couple of officers. He hoped the Communications Liaison had good news to report.
"JJ, give us an update." he said, catching the pretty blond off guard.
"One second." she told the officers before turning to face her boss. She motioned to the men she had been speaking with. "These gentlemen arrived from Augusta PD shortly before you did. An additional two pairs should be arriving within the hour along with a pair of agents from the Augusta satellite office."
"A pair of agents? That's all they could spare?" Morgan said, his outrage clear.
"Most of their agents are tied up with the hostage situation there. They are also slightly short staffed... it seems someone gave one of their agents a broken nose." She gave Morgan a pointed look.
Morgan didn't even try to look chagrinned. "It seems like someone should have kept their mouth shut instead of badmouthing Reid."
With a sigh, Hotch changed the subject. "That gives us less than an hour to finish getting ready for the profile briefing. Morgan I need you in the conference room. JJ I want you there as well."
Hotch raised a hand to cut off the liaison's protests. "We're so low on manpower right now, we could use your insight."
Without another word, what was left of the team retreated to the conference room.
-PTTR-PTTR-PTTR-
JJ had slightly overestimated the amount of time it would take for the FBI agents and the rest of the officers to arrive. Within half an hour they were all gathered in the room normally used for roll call, ready for the briefing.
"We're looking for a white male between 25-35 years of age," started Hotch. "He'll be highly educated with some sort of medical training. Look at doctors, nurses, even pharmacists."
"He drives some sort of vehicle large enough to transport multiple bodies." continued Morgan, "Most likely some sort of luxury sedan. Appearances matter to this guy, so even if he doesn't have a well paying job, he'll spend as if he does."
"We know he has a close relationship with George Stanley. Close enough that he was able to manipulate him into painting with blood, something that cost him everything about 10 years ago." explained JJ. "He even convinced Stanley to 'sign' his work so that all evidence would point back to him."
"What about the note he wrote pointing out that George Stanley wasn't capable of pulling this off?" asked one of the officers.
Hotch and Morgan exchanged a quick look before Morgan spoke. "We believe that Agent Greenaway and Dr. Reid interrupted the UNSUB's plans by showing up at George Stanley's house so quickly. Stanley saw the cops questioning his neighbors and called his partner for help."
Hotch swallowed subconsciously before delivering the next part of the profile. "It's become apparent that Dr. Reid was not just a victim of opportunity. It seems the UNSUB planned to target him all along and simply adapted when his target showed up at his partner's house."
"You mean the... UNSUB... did all this just to bring you guys here?" asked one of the officers from Augusta.
"That's not what we're saying at all," answered JJ. "There's no evidence to suggest that Reid was targeted before the UNSUB knew the FBI was getting involved."
Hotch spoke next, trying to steer the briefing away from his youngest. "The UNSUB's recent kills display far more aggression and a lot less control then with his previous victims. He also didn't take the time to abduct his most recent victims leading us to believe that our UNSUB is rapidly losing control. This makes him dangerous. If cornered, he may even take his own life."
"We believe that while he may live somewhere between Camden and Augusta, he works in Camden. He may have even been born here. Both the initial crime scenes and the dump sites he chose were highly symbolic to the town. " explained Morgan. "One of the hotels that fuel the tourism that keeps this town afloat. The local library which was recently renovated. A locally owned restaurant that has been here for generations. A park used for celebrations and one of the Windjammer's this area is known for. The UNSUB feels a need to violate the very heart of this town."
"Why between the towns? Why not in town?" asked one of the FBI agents.
"The medical examiner didn't find any evidence of a gag being used on the earlier victims," answered Hotch. "With the amount of torture he inflicted on these victims he needed isolation so no one could hear them scream."
"Finally," said JJ, "We know he has access to a large industrial grade freezer. Four of the bodies we found had been frozen to preserve them. It would take a very large space to keep all of those bodies."
"Thank you all for your time." said Hotch as soon as JJ was finished speaking. He watched Detective Stanfield approach the front of the room as the rest of the officers filed out.
"What now?" asked the detective.
"Now we contact Garcia and see if she can use the profile to narrow down our list of potential suspects." replied Hotch.
"Potential suspects?" questioned Stanfield.
"Yah. Every doctor, nurse, surgeon, pharmacist and medical school dropout between here and Augusta." answered Morgan.
Hope you enjoyed that chapter, particularly the part about the profile. I know JJ helping deliver the profile was a little OOC but I'm running short on team members here :P. Don't worry, Elle will not be taking over the story, I just needed her out of the way for a bit.
Thanks for reading, please take the time to review.