Before I Sleep

Chapter 52

Three members of the team were already gathered in the round table room when Morgan arrived with Kate and JJ.

"All right, Kid….what give with the Lauren Reynolds thing?" He took his seat next to Hotch.

"Is Emily all right?" JJ hadn't been so sure it was a ruse, and she and Morgan had debated all the way back from the youth center.

Reid hurried to assure her. "It's not about Emily. I just needed to get you all out of there, and I knew Morgan would pick up on it."

Morgan and JJ had given Kate an abbreviated, and largely redacted, version of the connection between the pseudonym and the former member of their team.

"Thank goodness. I thought maybe the team….and anyone who'd been on it…was under direct attack. Whew!" She mimicked wiping her brow.

Reid responded as though she'd not meant it to be humorous. "I think the attack will be against someone within the network…or, someone who used to be in the network. But they might well come after us as well. They need to stop the investigation, one way or the other."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Rossi. "How do we figure out who we're fighting?" His comment was a general one, but he was looking directly at Reid. His youngest colleague seemed to have a plan.

He did, but it involved significant risk. "We need someone on the inside. We need to decide if there's someone we can trust." He stared at Rossi. "What do you think about Sid Hirsch?"

The two men had been the closest working interdepartmental pairing throughout the investigation. Rossi sat back, hands clasped across his abdomen, and rocked in his chair, considering. The rest of the team remained silent, giving him the time he seemed to need. Finally, he decided.

"Hirsch is a stand up guy. He's straightforward, criticizes even his own organization, if it's necessary. He makes eye contact. If I had to bet..."

Morgan interrupted. "Remember that you're betting with your life. Maybe with all of our lives."

Rossi acknowledged it. "My money's on Hirsch. I think we can trust him."

Reid was relieved to hear his own suspicion confirmed. He'd been out of commission too long to fully trust his own judgment. But he trusted Rossi's implicitly.

"Good. Then we need to bring him in on this."

Demonstrating why he was the unit chief, Hotch announced, "He's on his way. ETA ten minutes."

Kate was still getting into the rhythm of the team's dynamic. "You mean, you already…..and we hadn't even….wow, you guys are good."

"We guys are good. You're one of us now, Kate," reminded JJ.

"Couldn't be happier about it. Well, maybe if there wasn't a terror network aiming at me. That might make me happier."

They shared a chuckle at her dark humor before Morgan put a question to the group.

"So, Hirsch gets here….then what? It's not like we can ask him if they've got a spy in their midst."

Reid ran his eyes around the table, settled them on Rossi. "We learn from the best. What did Chief Strauss do when she suspected we were under attack from within the FBI?"

Rossi took a beat to process it, then smiled in appreciation at his young colleague. "She planted false information. And she waited until the unsub…..Curtis….used it. He outed himself by mimicking a signature she'd created."

"Exactly," said Reid. "But we're limited by being outside the agency. Sid Hirsch can help us do the same thing, from the inside. He's been meeting with the command structure at DHS about this investigation. We need him to drop some information into one of those conversations. Then we see who reacts."

"You make it sound so simple, Pretty Boy. But whatever Hirsch drops would have to be pretty personal. Otherwise, how do we separate the mole from the lackeys carrying out his business?"

"I know, you're right. I've been over and over it, but I'm not sure….."

Hotch stepped in. "Let's think it through. We believe there's a highly placed individual within DHS who is working for the other side, who channeled information to them about Jackson being a DHS mole in the terror network. But it's unlikely that highly placed person is the one who actually triggered the explosion, so there must be at least one underling who takes orders from him."

Morgan didn't find that as helpful as it could have been. "There could be layers of underlings between our highly placed mole and the operative who detonated the explosion."

Sid Hirsch entered the room in time to hear Morgan's comment. "That's unlikely, Agent Morgan. In my experience…and I've got quite a bit of it…. these networks operate pretty close to the ground. The fewer people involved, the fewer there are who can give the whole operation away."

All of them, except Hotch, were staring at the DHS agent, mouths agape. Hirsch gave a grim smile as he acknowledged their surprise.

"SSA Hotchner filled me in when he called me over here." Then he looked in Reid's direction. "This is a pretty fantastic theory you've come up with, Agent Reid. But it's also got the ring of truth to it, I'm sorry to say. I'm here to help however I can."

Rossi knew the toll this would be taking on Hirsch, a man he'd begun to think of as a friend. "Take a seat. We were just starting to brainstorm about how to draw our traitorous mole out from his hole. Agent Reid suggested planting some misinformation, to see who reacts to it."

Hirsch thought that over for a few minutes, adding the suggestion to the other ideas he'd already been analyzing.

"I've been thinking about it since Agent Hotchner called me. It has to be someone from our COL group-that's the Combined Operations Leadership, with representatives from the FBI, CIA and NSA, in addition to DHS. DHS is coordinating, since this is an in-country threat."

Hotch wanted clarification. "Since we're profiling that Jackson was turned by one of the agencies, isn't it most likely that the agency in question was DHS? Isn't it your agency that's primarily working the in-country aspects of the operation?"

Hirsch nodded. "Yes. Generally speaking, CIA would be another option, but they've handed off most of these aspects to DHS. So, I'm sorry to say, it's probably a member of my own leadership structure that's committing treason here." The gravity of the situation was evident in his voice.

"We're sorry too, Agent Hirsch," JJ commiserated. All of them could sympathize, knowing how they would feel in his situation. Thirty eight people had been killed, and two more….sitting at the table….could easily have joined them.

"Thank you, Agent Jareau. And, for what it's worth…I'm sorry that what one of my colleagues did, hurt you. You as well, Dr. Reid."

The two acknowledged his apology before Hotch moved the discussion along.

"While I agree with your assessment, I don't think it's safe for us to make assumptions. For the time being, any operation we put into place can only involve the people in this room."

"And me! And me!" Garcia's voice had been preceded by the clacking of her heels in the hallway just outside the round table room. Had the atmosphere been less tense, she would have been greeted with amused smiles.

"Yes, sorry, Penelope. I meant to include you." Hotch was apologetic. But Hirsch was not.

"I think we can safely include Ed Barr. He's been with me through all of this."

Hotch and Rossi exchanged a look, and the lead. Rossi had worked more closely with the two DHS men. He would break the news.

"I'm sure we can trust Ed, Sid. And, if it comes to it, we will. But if we're thinking we've got someone in DHS working for the other side, the fewer people within DHS who know about it, the less chatter. And, the less chatter, the less likely we are to be found out."

Hirsch's face held a look of protest that dissolved as he processed Rossi's words. "So….if I need him…if we need him….we'll bring him in?"

"We will," Hotch assured him. "Now, we need to come up with something that will lure our terrorist mole out from DHS."

Kate started thinking aloud. "Well, he'd probably show himself if he thought he was about to be found out. He'd want to eliminate the threat."

"True," agreed JJ. "But how would he be found out?"

Morgan shrugged. "Someone within the network who says they'll give his name, in exchange for asylum, maybe? It could come as an intercepted transmission. Garcia could probably fake one, couldn't you, sweetness?"

Before she could reply, Reid interjected. "I'd have to come up with the wording. Remember, we're translating English into Urdu so it can be translated back again. I'd have to figure out something that's compatible with the phrasing they've been using."

"I could definitely handle faking it," enthused Garcia. "I could make it look like it came from overseas. I just have to route it through a few international servers."

"What would the message say?" asked Hirsch.

Hotch was already there. "Morgan's right. It would have to indicate a defection. That there was someone in the network well placed enough to know there is a mole within DHS, and willing to identify him, for a price."

JJ was skeptical. "But…would he fall for it? He…whoever he is….he must know who's in the network and who's not. Can we come up with a convincing identification, so that he'll believe it's not a hoax?"

Hirsch nodded. "It's an issue, granted. But, as I believe I've heard someone around this table say, at heart, they're just thugs. Even their leadership. Even, apparently, one of my leadership," he corrected himself. "No matter whether he recognizes the name, he won't be able to afford to ignore it. He'll have to respond."

Rossi agreed. "Okay. So Reid creates a message that says they've got a defector in the network who's planning to reveal their mole within DHS. Who gets the message?"

"Well….if we're keeping it internal, I'm the only one who would be able to translate it," Reid pointed out. "So, I create the wording, Garcia routes it so it's got a believable stamp on it, and it's given to me to interpret."

Morgan played devil's advocate. "But why you? Why isn't it in the usual DHS feed? Or CIA..or NSA, for that matter? how do we explain why it doesn't go to them?"

That quieted the group, as they each tried to find a plausible explanation.

Hotch's brain fired first. "Because…." He spoke slowly, his eyes tracking back and forth as the idea presented itself to him. "…..it mentions the FBI. It looks benign, almost a nonsense message, but it mentions our agency. The defector would want to avoid it going to DHS for translation, so he'd mark it as being a message for the FBI." He looked to his genius. "Reid, can you…"

The genius nodded. "Yes. I can create a message in Urdu that looks like mostly nonsense, but is directed at the FBI. I can create it so that the nonsense words are actually coded. And then I can decipher the code to mean that the terror defector wants to meet. We feed the message up the line, and hope our DHS mole will make an appearance at the meeting."

JJ's antennae were up immediately. "With you? Are you saying you would be the one to bait the mole?"

"Who else? To be convincing, we have to have our supposed terror defector meet with someone who can speak both English and Urdu." Reid ran his eyes around the room and settled them back on her, shrugging. "There's no one else."

Morgan spoke up. "I don't like it either. The Kid's not back to himself yet. It's too big a risk."

Reid disagreed. "Not finding our traitor is too big a risk." He turned to Hotch. "I can do it. And, besides, it's not like I'll be alone, right?"

Hotch nodded. "One of us will have to play the role of the defector…the person who's going to turn the DHS mole in."

He had an immediate volunteer in Derek Morgan. "I'll do it." The better to protect his little brother.

But Hotch saw it differently. "I want you to be flexible in this operation, Morgan. We don't know exactly how it will unfold, and I don't want you tethered to the meeting spot. Garcia, you'll need to provide camera surveillance for us, and we'll need all of this recorded. Rossi, Hirsch, you'll be with Morgan, concealed at the meeting location. JJ, Kate, you'll cover the entrance and exit."

"And you?" asked Morgan, already knowing the answer.

"I'll be the defector." He wasn't about to voice it aloud, but Hotch was also worried about Reid's status. In the defector role, he would be physically close to the young man, and able to help defend him.

Of course, if their DHS mole did as they hoped, and showed up to the meeting as well, intent on eliminating the threat to his position, Hotch would also be something else.

His target.


The rest of the meeting was spent deciding on a location for the proposed assignation, and creating a timeline. Once those things were agreed, they broke, each to accomplish their individual tasks.

Twenty minutes later, Reid was seated at his desk, deep into what, for him, was an enjoyable challenge. He loved puzzles of any kind, and this was one of the most intriguing he'd encountered. He had to create a phrase in a foreign language that could serve a dual purpose. It had to make some sense in context, but its letters also had to be able to be decoded to create the 'planted' message.

He was so fully immersed in his task that he nearly missed hearing the familiar squeak of JJ's chair as she rolled over from her own desk. But the squeak was loud, and it eventually caught his attention. He looked up to see a troubled pair of large, deep blue eyes staring at him.

"You know who else would have loved this…besides me, I mean?" he asked, hoping to divert what he could tell was coming. "Blake. This would be right up her alley, finding just the right phrase. And she's a fan of puzzles, too."

JJ was having none of it. She was too worried about what was going to happen in just about 48 hours.

"Spence, I don't like this. You're not well yet, not really."

"I'll be fine, JJ. We have a couple of days, anyway."

"But shouldn't we call Dr. Kimura? Maybe ask her if she thinks you should do it?"

He'd been fingering his pen, but now put it down, and turned to fully face her. He leaned into her, keeping his voice low.

"JJ…I nearly lost you because of these people. Don't you remember that? And I could easily have lost other people I care about. This is personal for me. And it made me realize that it's always personal to someone. To a lot of 'someones'. I can't stand by and let it happen again. Not if I have a way to stop it."

Her eyes traveled from his, to the window, and back again, the dilemma written on her face. Of course she understood, he knew she did. But she'd almost lost him. And she didn't want it to become a reality. He understood that. And he loved her for it.

And yet, he could do only the one thing. Knowing how much it distressed her, he tried to look confident.

"Hotch will be with me. I won't be alone."

She shook her head. "That just means we could lose both of you! Spence, these people are responsible for more deaths than any serial killer we've ever encountered, even just from the bus explosion. They don't care about human life. For them, the stakes are too high. This mole can't afford to leave that meeting with any unfinished business."

Like two living FBI agents who could identify him as a traitor.

Reid laid a hand on her knee, a gesture of assurance. "What a coincidence. Because, for me, this is all unfinished business. And I intend to finish it."