Everybody outside dropped to the ground when they heard the shot, but while the local officers occupied themselves with crowd control immediately thereafter, Tara and the rest of the BAU team followed Head Officer Wallace and his people into the house. They were pleased to see that there were no booby traps or anything along those lines, and Tara suspected that the illegal contraband was hidden behind a false bookshelf. They would let the other authorities handle that. The BAU had other concerns today.

They found Skip in a very crude, makeshift baby nursery. He was dead, having shot himself, and while the sight of a dead body was horrendous, Tara immediately took steps to compartmentalize what she was looking at.

"Alright," she said authoritatively. "Let's get CSU in here, but let's also spread out now. This man knew exactly where our people are, so there's bound to be a clue somewhere."

Luke found the information first and called out from Skip's home office.

"Tara, come here! I think I found what we need!"

She and the others found him standing in front of a whiteboard mounted on the wall, opposite a work area. On display was all kinds of information, but the particulars that Skip had killed himself over were in plain sight. Sometimes it was nice to have the information come so easily.

"What do you see?" Tara asked Luke.

He pointed to a message in the middle of the board. "Our friends' location—I think."

"You think? You don't know?"

Luke gestured to it. "The handwriting is just so poor that I'm having trouble with deciphering it."

Tara took a look at the board. Luke was telling the truth about the bad handwriting, but she could still read the message, herself. The catch was that it was in a shorthand that must have only made sense to Skip.

CLL

D. Point

H.I. #3

"Okay," she said after a beat. "The first line is Caroline's name, because those are her initials, but now I'm trying to figure the rest out."

Spencer walked up the board, having already solved the message. He pointed to each line in turn. "Caroline Logan LaMontagne, Devil's Point, on the third island of the Haven Isles cluster."

Nearby, Wallace winced, already anticipating the rest of the day to be difficult. Even Luke was cringing. Realizing that the situation had just been complicated a little bit further, Tara sighed—this was one of those moments when she was at a disadvantage for having grown up abroad. She always appreciated that she had, but in the long run, it meant that she would mostly flunk out on things like local American geography.

"Talk." she warned the others. "Now."

Spencer answered her patiently. "What do you know about the Haven Isles?"

"That they're a group islands in the Potomac River, but other than that, not much."

"Well, the short version is that the first two are listed as uninhabited, and that the third one does have residents and visitors, but they're all spread out across the land."

Rossi chimed in at this point, having elected to observe the conversation, but he needed clarification on a point. "There's also something about a bridge to the third island, right?"

Spencer nodded. "Unless you wanted to go by boat, the only realistic option to access the third island is the bridge—it leads to hiking trails that are open to the public."

"I see. And Caroline's house is at Devil's Point, right?"

"Correct. According to different topographical studies I've read of the area, there's only ever been one house in the area called Devil's Point. The place's name is derived from the plateau that provides its foundation."

"And what? If you take one wrong step, you slip and die?"

"That's about the gist of things: it's about a hundred feet straight downward into the river after that."

While this exchange was happening, Tara had been thinking fast about how to proceed in the next stage of the operation. She soon had an epiphany and spoke directly to Spencer.

"I won't look into boats unless there's no other option, but do you think we can land helicopters on the plateau, or near it?"

"Definitely on it. The plateau is big."

"Excellent." Tara looked around at all of her companions. "Does anyone here have the kind of connections to get helicopters for us right now?"

Surprisingly—

"I do." said Luke, holding up his phone. "I'll request medical and tactical, so all of our bases are covered."

"Outstanding." Tara beckoned for them all to follow her out of the room. "Let's go reconvene in the SWAT van so we can fully flesh out a rescue operation."

Everyone decided that this was a good idea and followed Tara back out of the house.

Much later, Will still found himself trapped in the bedroom overlooking the river and a million thoughts ran through his head.

Caroline seemed to be hellbent on getting out of the country, in spite of the trail of bodies in her wake; nothing and no one was going to stop her. Will wouldn't have been surprised if his mother had a 'just in case' plan, too. (Like what she was already doing wasn't barbaric enough) It just made him shudder to think what his mother could possibly do to JJ and Emily, once they'd outlived their usefulness—not only was Caroline dangerous now, but she was also mission-oriented. When was this going to end?

After some time, Will heard a sound that was going to be his salvation. There, a little ways out from the window, but not exrtremely far, was a helicopter, of all things. Will even went weak in the knees when he spotted his commanding officer sitting in the open door. She even had a rope ladder. As quickly as she could, Keller motioned to Will that she was going to throw it out to him and that she wanted him to catch it. He did, and on the first try.

As Will held the rope and purchased on the windowsill, preparing to jump, he did his best to block out how sheer the drop was and that the water wasn't too far past where he already was. He wasn't afraid of heights, but this was pushing his limits of tolerance.

Meanwhile, Caroline had heard the helicopters a long way off, and counted three of them heading for her island. She promptly raced to check on Will and managed to unlock the door just in time to see him in his precarious position. Of course, she was already unhappy that the Feds had arrived, but she was even more upset to see that one of her prisoners was escaping.

"WILLIAM, DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!"

She ran to the window, but Will had never been more happy to defy his mother. He took a deep breath and held tightly to the ladder before jumping out of the window altogether.

At least I know how to swim, he thought as the helicopter quickly flew out of range of any of Caroline's weapons, and very close to the water. He breathed a sigh of relief when the ladder was hoisted up and he was pulled inside; he had been rescued!

When Will got his bearings, he looked around to see that he was definitely in a medical helicopter, and that in addition to Captain Keller, he was in the company of a man he didn't know, but also Tara, and even Spencer. Everyone was very happy to see him.

Keller then handed her detective a headset with a microphone, like the rest of them had, but she didn't speak to him until he had been settled.

"How are you, Will?" she called over the noise.

"Really freaked out, but in one piece, captain—she didn't hurt me," he called back. "But she murdered Bellamy."

"Damn."

Before Will could go down a rabbit trail, Wallace introduced himself, expressed sympathy about Bellamy, and then said, "What's the word on your wife, detective, and on your sister-in-law?"

"They're in a room just off the top landing, but they're locked in, sir." Will reported. "Both of them have had contractions since this all started, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're close to pushing by now."

"Would you be able to show us where the room is?"

"Yes, but I need a gun—my mother's goons made me leave mine behind."

Wallace handed Will a gun from his ankle holster, and a spare bullet-proofed vest that he'd had on hand. The detective put the vest on and checking that the gun's safety was on, he stowed the weapon before looking over to his boss, his face conveying an unasked question.

"I won't stop you from going back in," replied Keller. "But only so long as you can stay objective. Can you do that?"

"Yes!" Will said quickly. "I can do that!"

He looked over at Tara, eyebrows raised. Nothing could formally happen until she gave permission.

"I was actually going to request that you come—the rest of the team isn't that far away in the other choppers, and they're waiting for us. We could really use you."

"Then you've got me! Let's go—this is the homestretch!"

Caroline was livid. In response to what Will had done, and because of all the helicopters, she shot her met outside to shoot them down.

But this didn't work because between two police officers, assorted members of the SWAT team, and four FBI agents, Caroline's men were easily subdued. None were dead, but they wouldn't be getting up without help any time soon. This made storming the house very easy.

After a quick sweep, it was determined that the first floor, and even the basement were clear, so they ventured up the stairs.

Caroline was waiting for them on the second floor. She was unfazed that Bellamy's dead body wasn't too far from where she'd stood, but that was because everything she had been working for was just slipping through her fingers. Concentrating on another dead body wasn't at the top of her list of priorities, as was drawing things out for as long as possible.

Will spoke in a tone of dejection when they reached her. "Everyone, that's my mother, and she's guarding the door that we need to open."

Caroline feigned shock, but poorly and sarcastically. "You went to all the trouble of jumping out of a window, and you're not even going to introduce me to your merry band of rescuers, William?"

"No."

"Fine." Caroline looked around at them all. "How the hell did you all figure out where I even was?"

Tara took a small step towards her. "We tracked down Skip MacBride, and our technical analyst followed the trail of digital breadcrumbs that you were teasing her with."

"I must say, I'm amazed." Caroline admitted begrudgingly. "Very good."

Will fought the urge to roll his eyes. "It's over—and Skip is dead. He killed himself, and we actually found your location because he had written it down."

"Shame." Caroline ran her fingers through her hair. "Skip wasn't my only bidder, though—he was just the one I liked best, and he was the only one that's local. There were offers for the babies coming in from New York, but even California and Washington State."

"THAT IS MY WIFE, AND MY SISTER IN THERE! THEY DON'T DESERVE ANY OF THIS!"

Caroline pouted. "But I've had so much fun, especially with JJ. What would you have me do to liven things up? Fire my gun?"

She waved it at them, and they all ducked and drew their own weapons. Caroline used this brief moment to actually fire off her gun towards the ceiling. The bullet went through the tiles, but the raining down of plaster didn't bother her, nor did the screams of JJ and Emily, coming from the room behind her. She knew it was all over, and that she was going to jail, but she didn't believe in suicide by cop, so this was the part where she had some more fun.

"I won't shoot any of you because there's been enough death today, and you all have your families to get back to. I don't have anyone anymore, do I?" she sighed. "I burned all my bridges to the ground, but at least I was free—I would have died much sooner if I'd stayed in Louisiana."

Caroline fired her gun again, and immediately, Tara and Luke rushed her. They worked together, pinning her to the wall, and getting the gun away, before having her in a disarming hold—she was behaving like a shark snared in a net and was trying to fight her way free. It was actually kind of mind-boggling to see a woman her age be so flexible.

Unable to look away, Will watched as Tara handcuffed and mirandized Caroline. He had imagined that the culmination of this ordeal would have only ended in his mother's death, but Caroline was going to jail for the rest her life, and she was never getting out. The only reason that Will was remotely satisfied that his mother hadn't died was because it would mean that she would have to pass the time was reflect on what she'd done to put her behind those bars. Will was going to make sure that none of his children—or any of his nieces and nephews—would want to visit Caroline, but still... she was alive.

Bearing all this in mind, Will watched as Caroline was charged and told her rights.

"Caroline Logan LaMontagne," Tara said to her when she had finally stopped trying to escape. "You are under arrest for kidnapping, murder, attempted trafficking of unborn human beings, and that's just for starters. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand that?"

Caroline sneered, "I said I did, didn't I?"

Caroline continued to give Tara sass all the way out of sight, and all the way down the stairs. She poured it on even more when Head Officer Wallace joined them. Anything to keep it going, even though it was all done.

"Oh, my God." Will murmured as a certain realization hit him. "It's over. It's finally over."