Chapter 28
Spencer helped Penelope run a wire over from her laptop to the screen on the wall of the conference room.
"I still don't understand why I need to watch this..." he stated again, continuing his earlier argument with Garcia about viewing the match tonight.
Penelope set two screens before her, linking them to the ones in her office.
"Because, Reid... I can't watch everything at once. I need your eyes. You may see something I miss... If Scarlett or Derek try to send us a signal, we need to catch it. Plus, I'm still researching the clubs and the net is full of closed circuit MMA fights... I'm pulling each of those to try to find a connection... I can't do everything!" she raised her voice slightly.
"Fine! Sorry! I know!" Reid's voice raised also before he stopped short and took a breath. "Sorry..." he said more quietly. "I'm sorry Penny. I know you are all over this... I'm just not looking forward to seeing Scarlett get her ass kicked..."
Penelope pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Geez, Reid. Have a little faith..."
Spencer closed his eyes. "Sorry..." he said again. Scrubbing his face with his hands, he took another breath and looked back over at his friend. "What else can I do to help?"
Garcia smiled and gave his arm a pat as he walked past. "Here," she pointed to one of the screens. "Watch these for anything that would indicate a pay per view site coming on... One of them maybe what we are looking for..."
"How can I tell?" he asked.
"Look for names to match those on the tickets of the legal matches... they may float from them to the underground..."
"Names?" he scanned the lists. "I don't see any names..."
Penelope sighed. "Crash course, Reid... the fighters use nicknames. Watch the names, after each match, to see if any suddenly pop up onto these closed sites. That'll tell us which connection goes underground with the match at Prowl."
He scanned the listing for the open fight showing for tonight. "What nickname did Scarlett use... when she fought before?" he asked Garcia.
Penny grinned. "Baby Girl, of course..." Spencer shook his head.
"Not very intimidating..." he rolled his eyes. Looking over the other names, he saw listings like Viper, Thrasher and even a few uses of regular names in the nickname like Scary Sherry...
"Nope. She likes being underestimated, Reid. It's part of her persona," she stated.
"Persona?" he looked confused.
"Scarlett plays when she fights in these things, Reid... God, I wish I had time to show you her old matches... It's like acting. A lot of times these things are as much about the character as it is the fight itself. She made a pretty good name for herself when she was fighting. People followed Baby Girl, which made her a crowd draw... More crowd, more money," Garcia explained further.
The screen on the wall flickered to life, just as the other members of the team came into the room. Spencer felt JJ's hand on his shoulder as she sat next to him. He looked from her to the scene on the wall. The monitor played a shot of the gym, the ring and the crowd filing in to fill the seats.
"Hey, Spence," she said quietly. "How you holding up?" she asked, concern showing on her face.
"Barely," he answered honestly.
"I know... I always feel that way whenever Will has a job that takes him away from me. It's hard..."
"How do you deal with it?" Reid asked her.
"Day by day, hour by hour... minute by minute, if I have to. I just hang on..." she told him gently, giving his arm a squeeze.
"I'm trying..." he turned his focus back onto the computer screen to his right. Something caught his eye...
"Pen- Baby Girl just came on under one of the legal matches..." Garcia looked over at his screen.
"That'd be her..." she nodded. "I figured she'd stick to what she knew worked..."
Reid worried briefly about the odds of someone making a connection between Scarlett's alter ego from Chicago and her alias now. Penelope saw the look on his face and nudged him.
"She's not going to be doing this long enough for them to look that far into it..." she told him, reading his mind.
"Right. Okay..." Spencer looked up at the match feed on the wall again. One table alongside the ring was now set with microphones and he scanned the row of announcers, watching their faces. Another shot from the camera showed judges taking their seats.
Hotch stepped into the room with Agent Swan. He quickly glanced around the room, meeting his eyes to Rossi.
"Scarlett's handler just reported into Domestic. She's there, so is Morgan..."
"So everything is at a go..." Dave stated, watching Aaron closely.
"Not completely as planned..." Hotch looked over to Reid and Garcia. They exchanged a quick look of concern.
"Something went wrong?" Penelope asked, frightened.
Andi shook her head. "Nothing went wrong," she interjected. "Your friend changed the game..."
"How?" Reid squeaked out. JJ reached over and held his hand.
"Our man in the field said she came in early and requested a change to her ticket. Instead of just running through a basic match up, she put herself on the line up for the elimination match..." Swan looked over at Reid.
"Basically, it's just what it sounds like... They fight a round, one after the other, until one of them submits or gets knocked out. As long she climbs, she stays in... and she gets more notice. If she can stay in..."
Garcia looked over at Hotch. "She can stay in. I've seen her fight, sir. She can stay in and she knows it. Morgan knows it too, otherwise he wouldn't have let her switch her ticket..."
Spencer looked at the wall again as the first round of contenders came onto the screen.
"She's going to give a show..." he stated quietly. To Andi, he said, "You said you needed a distraction, she's going to give you one..."
Penelope nodded. "We have to find that underground, Reid..." she told him. She turned the laptop so she could watch the screen also. "Her name will be on it, I can guarantee it. She's going full throttle to get into that underground. As soon as she's asked, her name will be our way of knowing which one is Prowl's site."
"And when you figure that out?" JJ asked.
"I start digging to find the location. If that place doesn't fit, there could be a paper trail that can connect to another site that does..."
Agent Swan watched the monitor. "I hope this works..."
"I've got over twenty nine websites already advertising they'll have feeds. It's just a matter of finding which one is where this group is operating out of. If Prowl is connected, Scarlett's name will be our red flag... It's the best way to narrow it down."
