"Hotch," Blake had her cell phone open and was speaking into it. "Hotch – Please pick up."
"Any luck?" JJ asked as she maneuvered the SUV through traffic.
"No," Blake replied. "I keep going to voice mail. Let me try Rossi." She pushed another speed dial number on her cell.
"Rossi?" she said in reply to his answering the phone. "Thank Goodness! I have been trying to reach Hotch. Is everything okay?"
"You had company?" she questioned. "Who?"
"The CIA found them," she whispered to JJ.
"Is Spence okay?" JJ immediately asked. "They didn't take him, did they?"
"No," Blake was now smiling at the phone. "Spencer is still with us. It appears that Hotch went head-to-head with the Colonel and was able to scare the CIA goon squad off – At least for now."
"You do have the new SUVs though, don't you?" Blake asked Rossi. "Good. Because you are going to be taking them for a ride. Let me send over the address, which you already know, and while the five of you make the drive, I'll fill you in on the details."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Before we go knocking on the door, I have a question for you." JJ was speaking with Reid as the team, along with several additions from the local police force, was assembling in the hallway a short distance down from Nina Pulinski's doorway.
"Didn't you say that when the shuttle you were in was attacked the gunmen took two of the flight attendants with them when they left?" JJ continued.
"Yes," Reid replied. "Dmitry, who had just joined us in Moscow, and Elizabeth, who had flown over and back with us."
"Isn't Elizaveta the Russian version of Elizabeth?" JJ asked.
"And you think - ?" Reid didn't finish the question.
"We don't know," Blake assured him. "We just want you to be prepared – Just in case."
"Let's do this." Hotch nodded to Morgan.
Morgan knocked on the apartment door. "Mrs. Pulinski," he called out. "FBI - I need you to open up."
After several minutes with no response, Morgan again knocked on the door. Mrs. Pulinski, we know you are in there," he called out.
"Just a minute – Just a minute." They could hear the sound of locks being undone. "I'm right here. I can't move as fast as I used to."
The door opened revealing an elderly woman in a cotton housedress.
"What can I do for you, Young Man?" she asked Morgan. She looked around at the rest of the group gathered outside her door. "You said you are with the FBI?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Morgan held up his credentials, as did the others. "Although, some of us are with the Brighton Beach Police Department."
"I know you," the woman squinted at one of the police officers. "You're Maria Orlov's grandson."
"Yes, Ma'am," the man replied. "You and my grandmother are in the same ladies group at church."
"Now, what can I do for you?" Mrs. Pulinski looked at Morgan.
"If you don't mind, we would like to come in," Morgan explained. "Is that alright?"
"I don't know if there is room in here for all of you." The woman backed away from the door. "But you are welcome to try."
"JJ, why don't you stay out here in the hallway with a couple of the locals?" Hotch said quietly. "Just in case."
"No problem," JJ replied as she and several of the officers took up positions in the hallway.
"Mrs. Pulinski, is this your niece?" Rossi had picked up a photograph from where it was sitting on an end table and was examining it.
"Yes, that's Elizaveta," the woman responded with a smile. "She's been here visiting me and helping me out with some things."
"Reid?" Rossi showed the picture to Reid, who hesitated a moment before dumbly nodding his head 'Yes'.
Where is your niece now?" Morgan asked.
"She's in the guest bedroom," was the reply. 'Would you like me to get her for you?"
"Maybe we had better get her ourselves," Morgan suggested as, followed by several police officers, he headed down the hallway.
"Has she done something wrong?" the old woman questioned concerned. "She's really a nice girl – So quiet and respectful."
"We don't know for sure," Hotch replied. "We just need to find out."
"Reid," he added, looking over at the agent. "Why don't you stay out of sight for now? You can wait in one of the SUVs. We may need the element of surprise later on."
"Okay." Reid, looking stunned, walked out of the apartment.
