Chapter 38: Exodus
With confirmation that Agent Bryce had fathered a child with a teenage resident of the town a flurry of activity in Quantico began as meetings were called to review every piece of documentation that had been gathered since the initial case referral from the Montana field office. As the meetings were taking place in Virginia, in Montana the team began quietly speculating about how they would be directed to proceed. As they waited JJ's mind had already started whirling with ideas and implications of what they had recently learned and how she could get more information from the teenage mother. Her heart went out to the young woman as she tried to imagine how she would feel if someone had tried to take Henry from her as an unwed mother. She thought of the challenges and emotions the teenager must be dealing with until she finally slipped off into a troubled sleep.
When JJ woke she could smell coffee as she walked towards the kitchen, not surprised to see Hotch sitting at the table sipping on a mug of the hot liquid as he typed something into the tablet. Quickly pouring her own cup she went over to join him at the table, waiting until he looked up before launching into the ideas she had come up with the night before while he slept. "I thought I could ask Cindy about coming over here and working for a day to help me out, maybe get her to confide in me about the baby and his father. It's obvious from what we saw that she is unhappy with the situation she's in. Then maybe I could see if Donna and Stan wanted to join us for…" JJ stopped mid-sentence when she saw the look on the unit chief's face that effectively drained the enthusiasm she had built up.
"Strauss and Harding have already met with the director and reviewed all the reports and information since the initial investigation into this town began. They all now officially concur with our reports that there does not seem to be anything indicating terrorism here and that it's time to pull the plug on this operation. The focus has now officially shifted to the Richards family who will all be brought in for questioning and the justice department is already working on warrants." Hotch said, the matter of fact unit chief voice seeming out of place in the domestic atmosphere of the kitchen.
"But it will be easier for us to find out what happened since we're already here. We're in a position where we've gained their trust. We don't need to pull them in like common criminals. Plus if they shut down we're all back to square one." The blonde profiler protested becoming angry at the way the bureau had apparently decided to abruptly stop everything down just as they were making progress.
"I agree JJ but the orders have already been given. You won't see this on your reports but from what I've received the bureau is trying to do serious damage control as the budget committee has started looking at the expense of this mission. The higher ups are now questioning why we were sent in the first place since there was never any confirmation of terrorist activity. The only red flag came up when Agent Bryce's body was discovered. Since this is no longer considered a potential domestic terrorism case and with the information about the baby internal affairs is now getting involved, this whole case is turning into a bureaucratic nightmare," Hotch said seriously as he summarized what he had been informed of thus far by his sources at the bureau. Garcia had also confirmed in her colorful way that there was a lot of finger pointing going on as thanks to the budget committee concerns now whispers of a senate hearing were taking place. "Terry is going to be lucky if she keeps her job and Strauss is also catching a good deal of flak for going along with this." He added hoping it would help JJ see the gravity of the situation. "I'm not sure how much will land on us, considering we weren't the ones that made the decision, but there could be some rough waters ahead for our team as well."
JJ paused to consider this as she thought of Agent Harding who had managed to move mountains to get them involved after the death of one of her agents. If it had turned out that Agent Bryce had been the victim of a terrorist group the unit chief would have gotten accolades for her actions, but as it now appeared that the agency had overreacted and that he was a rogue agent JJ knew from usual office politics that everyone would be working to distance themselves from the case as much as possible as the information leaked out. This knowledge made JJ admire again the way that Hotch had always managed to handle their unit, the politics within the bureau could be cut-throat if a person made a wrong move, especially the unit and section chiefs. She had no doubt Agent Harding had acted professionally and out of genuine concern for her murdered agent, but because of the way the facts were starting to come out she was definitely being placed in an uncomfortable position.
"So what's the plan now?" JJ asked as she tried to absorb the information that the case was ending so quickly, feeling numb as she tried to process what Hotch had told her about what was happening in a place that seemed worlds away from the quiet community at this moment.
"They've already laid out our exit plan. Morgan and Prentiss are leaving today since they're not in the public eye. Reid is getting notified this afternoon that his father has died and will be making arrangements to leave in the morning. Tony has already been notified his vacation is over and they are working on getting him back to the states as we speak, he'll probably arrive by tomorrow if not the next day, Rossi will be leaving as soon as he arrives." Hotch laid out the rapid exit strategies that had been already begun to unfold. There will be a moving truck here in three days. The bureau has left the details of what we tell people up to us but we'll need to come up with a story quickly. I'm going to go in today and turn in my resignation then we start packing." Hotch said gravely, having already tried to think of a way for them to leave so quickly without arousing suspicion as the bureau had already made it clear they didn't want the town to realize that they had ever been under any form of government surveillance as it would likely add unneeded fuel to their agenda, even if they did appear harmless.
He could see the wheels turning in JJ's head as she began to think of a plausible story while he rose to prepare as he gathered his uniform and belongings that would need to be returned to the station. He felt a sense of excitement that they were all finally going home and definite relief that they were leaving safely, but still felt an urge to leave on a good note with the people they had come to know in the small community.
"I guess the easiest route we could take is blaming the housing market, say the sale on our home in New York fell through, we can't afford to keep up both places and have to go back for now. We can talk about how we hope to come back and make it seem like more of a temporary thing, they'll forget about us soon enough after we're actually gone." JJ suggested as her mind rapidly clicked through and discarded various scenarios.
"Good idea, I like it, simple explanation, won't be hard to be convincing considering the housing market." Hotch praised as he gave a tight smile as he continued to work on grasping the idea of how quickly things were changing again.
"At least word will spread fast," JJ agreed as they decided on the idea and covered the few details to make sure they would give a consistent story. She looked forward to telling the boys later that it was time to go home, she knew Henry had been struggling with homesickness, his quiet whispers at night as he asked about his daddy while she put him to bed had pulled at her heartstrings, and though Jack was obviously trying to be strong she could sense he was beginning to miss his Aunt Jessica, his school friends and his own room. She knew it would be good for both boys to get back to a sense of normalcy.
As anticipated when the "Hatcher" family began sharing their news with the small community, no one questioned their motives and were supportive by volunteering to help as the whirlwind of packing and moving began. Both agents felt a little guilty at the amount of support they were being given by the community they had essentially deceived, especially as the Richards family stopped by to give their warmest wishes, still unaware that they were about to be brought in for questioning. JJ found herself glad that they had been cleared by the bureau to give out their cover email addresses and a forwarding address that would go to a post office box in New York to support their declarations of wanting to stay in touch with friends they had made and for final correspondence regarding closure in the town such as tax forms. Both agents were glad that they didn't have to tell their friends and acquaintances in the town that they had been deceiving everyone.
The flurry of departures might have raised more of an eyebrow had the town not started becoming increasingly distracted by the information starting to leak out of the jail from Jason Stevens, despite the attempts of the station to keep it under wraps while they were trying to figure out how to best handle his case. Jason was warming to the attention considerably and starting to relish sharing some of the things he knew while waiting for his hearing. By the time Hotch and JJ piled into the car with the children to drive to the airport they could distinctly feel that the town had already started moving on without them and returning to the way it had been before the team had even arrived.
The excitement of the boys was almost contagious as they began talking about going back home. Listening to them talk reminded both adults of how much they had asked of their children, the separation from other family members and the world that they knew as they began to feel more guilt added to the guilt that was lurking over their deception of those they had come to know in Montana.
"We'll really need to do that debriefing when we get back won't we?" JJ observed as she began to feel increasingly conflicted as the plane approached the airport. While she had looked forward to the assignment ending it still felt like it was too soon as she found herself wishing that she could have had the opportunity to talk to Cindy Richards to find out what happened more gently than what the family would go through being brought in for questioning.
"This is certainly different than our usual cases," Hotch agreed as he too wrestled with the sudden change, the mixture of excitement but also apprehension as he considered what was waiting for them at the FBI and also continuing to wonder how the case was going to be handled with the Richards family. On top of everything else he was still trying to get a handle on his feelings for the blonde agent as their stint as husband and wife had abruptly ended and it seemed everyone expected them to be able to go back to business as usual. The proximity they had become accustomed to would hardly be appropriate in their work environment and he already missed the closeness he felt they had lost just since getting on the plane.
"We'll just need a few days to adjust," JJ said optimistically as she buckled her seatbelt for the plane to begin landing as the towers came into view. "Won't it be great to see the team again?" She gave a bright smile and impulsively grabbed his hand, deciding to enjoy one more opportunity to enjoy a little closeness before they were catapulted back into their agent roles. She was as aware as everyone else that there would be numerous meetings and reports waiting for them when they returned, in addition to whatever help they would be asked to give to continue assisting in figuring out how the Richards were involved in the agents death. She also knew they would likely be dealing with a backlog of consult requests that had come in and also dealing with their own debriefings and apparently mandatory meetings with the staff psychologist to evaluate their transitions and assist them as needed. She didn't envy Hotch the job ahead of him as unit chief in terms of helping the team navigate the rocky waters ahead since they would be caught in the middle of the different FBI factions at work as soon as they returned. She smiled as she felt a returning squeeze of her hand and a lingering touch before they reluctantly broke the contact to begin gathering the bags, both wondering how they would proceed next as the real world came rushing back in.
AN: Apologies if the exit seems too fast, at first I had planned out a nice long withdrawal process filled with scenes of everyone trickling out and the team spending more time with the Richards family. Then thought it probably more likely that considering the amount of money that was being spent by the FBI they would probably react much more quickly if terrorism was ruled out and signs instead pointed to a rogue agent, especially if budget committee got involved. So after thinking about the financial aspects it seemed more plausible to me that they would skip any attempts at finesse and do a hasty shut down and proceed with bringing in the identified suspects for questioning now that it's taken a more domestic incident turn.Thanks to October103, Hotchfan1, CMFandoodle, deeda, chiroho, gibbsluvr, lexa, Jessica faith, justcallmemarley, and jekkah for your reviews. And of course to whiteswan for her continued role as my sounding board when I need advice.