PART XXXVII
As soon as JJ finished the press release, she made her way back inside the building to meet with the rest of the team.
She walked into their temporary conference room just in time to hear Reid say, "…but we still don't know where she's headed. The woods in this particular area are incredibly dense and extremely difficult to traverse. In fact, the state of West Virginia is the least developed state out of all fifty states, most of it being nothing but dense forest and mountains."
The other members of the team nodded, and JJ quickly situated herself in a chair close their esteemed leader.
Hotch, noticing that she was back, turned to her.
"JJ, how'd the press conference go?"
She simply nodded and gave him a tight-lipped smile. "As well as expected, and at least everyone is now warned about what's going on."
He gave her a nod of approval and then turned back to the map and motioned to Reid.
"Reid…where's Katya's home in relation to the stretch of woods that she ran into?"
Reid looked pensive for a moment, and then tapped his pen a point about four and a half miles from where they'd last seen her. "Here," he said, grabbing a small, red pushpin and pressing it into the point that he'd just shown them.
He then stepped back from the map and his brow furrowed slightly.
"The terrain is rough, so even if she was heading back to her house, it would take her at least seventy to eighty minutes to get there."
However, at hearing this, Prentiss shook her head in disagreement, as did JJ.
Prentiss spoke up.
"Actually, Reid, it would probably only take her between forty and fifty minutes to get there. Remember," she said, motioning towards the picture of the girl they had put up on the board. "She's head cheerleader, which means she's very physically fit, and is used to this terrain, and right now she has a bike…I would think she'd be getting home in about…oh, say, fifteen, twenty minutes from now?"
She had glanced over at JJ, and the blonde profiler nodded.
Morgan and Rossi had been quiet, but then Rossi spoke up, his brow furrowed slightly.
"Yes, that's possible, but why would she head home now? She knows we're looking for her and that we'll have eyes on her house…" He paused a long moment.
As he fell silent, a look of comprehension suddenly crossed Morgan's face.
"Hold up, guys," he said from where he sat on the edge of the table, looking at the map. "We're assuming that she's simply running, trying not to get caught, right?" They all nodded, and he continued. "I don't think that's what she's doing. I think she's going to try and finish what she started, but this time, she's going after the true center of her anger…"
He pointed at the other picture that they had up.
"Her brother."
At this, they all seemed to silently agree because Hotch immediately got Garcia on the phone.
"Hey, boss man, whaddya need?"
He took a deep calming breath and asked. "I need you to get me the most recent address of employment for Michael Smith."
He waited for several seemingly endless seconds, and then Garcia was back on.
"Got it. It's called Dave's Build and Repair, and it's on…17 Pheasant Lane."
Without even bothering to say goodbye, he hung up and motioned to everyone to get ready to go. As they headed to the cars, he yelled out the address to everyone, and then they split up. Reid, Morgan, and Prentiss in one car; JJ, Hotch and Rossi in another.
They drove without sirens, however, not wanting to alert anyone that they were in the area.
Hotch told them that he wanted to try to catch her just as she tried to attempt to do anything, as it would be the best way to grab her.
They parked three blocks down and made their way to the repair shop, guns drawn, as they saw the stolen bike thrown haphazardly on the ground in front of the building.
Hotch began to speak to them in low tones over their earpieces that they'd all put in while on their short drive over to the location. "Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, take the back; JJ, Rossi…you're with me." With that, they all followed out their instructions, each one of them keeping their eyes peeled for Katya or her brother.
JJ then saw a shadow of movement from the corner of her eye, and caught Hotch's eye and then motioned her head in the direction she'd seen the movement.
Hotch took the lead with JJ following and Rossi bringing up the back.
"Guys," Hotch said to their other three teammates as they walked through a doorway and into an office. "We've got movement back here…anything on your end?"
Morgan answered.
"No, nothing. Want us to meet you up there?"
Hotch didn't respond, and JJ looked at him and was surprised to see a stony expression across his features. It was something that she rarely saw, and she tried to place it…but then she heard a muffled whimper, and she snapped her head over to look in the same direction Hotch was…
…and there was Michael Smith, or Mikhail Sidorov, on his stomach on the floor, his little sister sitting above him him, a piano wire in her hands that was also wrapped tightly around his neck.
It was obvious that she hadn't been there long as her brother wasn't even red in the face yet, but the three agents could read her aggressive body language.
She was going to do it, and there was nothing that was going to stop her.
She looked up, saw the three agents, and then a disturbing grin crossed her lips.
Katya pulled…
Part 37/?