Chapter 51
Once the kids were in bed, and Joey insisted on sleeping with her brothers, Hotch, Kahlan, and Chuck sat around the dining room table. They had found out that their trap hadn't drawn anyone in, and they were all worried about what it actually meant.
"What if Daniels was the actual leader?" Chuck asked them after he took a drink of his beer.
Hotch shook his head. He had been wondering the same thing for a while. "But who texted his team about the hit on me then?"
Chuck bit his lip.
"Whoever planted that bug did not want you all to question Daniels, that's obvious," Kahlan mused.
"Can we really be sure about that, though? I mean, yes, the prisoners were killed immediately after we had decided to question Daniels, but the trap didn't bring anyone in. Maybe there isn't anyone listening anymore. What if it was just a coincidence?" Chuck argued.
"The trace on Daniels' phone shows that whoever has it is moving. It didn't send the text on its own," Hotch pointed out.
"What if it's just some nobody? Daniels could have lent his phone to anyone, and they are just trying to get back at you," Chuck pointed out.
"It still doesn't explain the whole Star Wars thing," Kahlan injected.
"But anyone could have been helping him with his propaganda," Chuck parried.
"True. So you think that Daniels is the main man?" Kahlan asked him.
"How do you explain the bug?" Hotch wanted to know.
Chuck pursed his lips. "That's what doesn't fit."
"Neither does the website. That didn't show up until after Daniels was in custody," Kahlan told them as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"But all of the terrorist stuff stopped with Daniels' capture, too. If there was still the true leader out there, we would still be dealing with that shit," Chuck told her as he got up and got another beer.
"So you think it's over?" Kahlan asked him as she accepted another beer from him.
Hotch took the other beer from him and sat it on the table without opening it.
"I think the terrorist stuff is," Chuck told her as he looked at Hotch.
"What are you thinking, Hun?" Kahlan asked as she put her hand on his arm.
"I'm worried that the terrorist stuff may just be getting back into full swing."
Kahlan and Chuck both looked at him questioningly. "Why is that. The last attack we knew of was the one we foiled at the lodge," Chuck told him.
"But the use of aerosol botulism in the hall is in itself an act of terrorism," Hotch told them.
"What was used?" Kahlan asked him slowly. She looked at Chuck. "You said it was a gas!"
Hotch looked back and forth between the two. "What difference does that make?"
"You're sure it was aerosol botulism?" Chuck asked him quickly.
"That's what Hamill said. I thought you knew." He was beginning to get a really bad feeling from the looks on the faces in front of him. "What difference does it make?"
"Because that mixed with an untraceable bug makes for a really scary scenario," Kahlan told him as she got up and started pacing.
Hotch looked at Chuck. "I don't follow. I never can when you all start talking in circles or code or whatever the hell you all call it that leaves us normal people in the dark."
Kahlan sat back down and looked at him. "We've seen aerosol botulism used before."
"Hamill said several countries had tried using it, but none of them were having any luck with it. I got the feeling it was something new." He noticed Chuck shot Kahlan a look. "What? Don't tell me you all have used. . ."
"NO!" Kahlan told him quickly. "But it has been around a lot longer than most people know. It was developed right here in the US."
"The CIA likes using it," Chuck told him.
Hotch's head snapped to him and then he looked back to Kahlan. "You're saying someone connected to the CIA is behind this?" He wasn't sure what they were implying. "There's no way. Morgan called in Mina and she brought her team, but. . ."
"No, of course not. I trust Mina. My God, I never would have introduced her to Derek if I didn't, but it doesn't have to be someone employed by them right now. Besides, Mina's not in that kind of team. She wouldn't have access to that kind of shit."
"Then what are you saying?" Hotch asked her.
"I think we need to look at the main people of the RRT and see if any of them have a past connection to the CIA."
"It still doesn't explain why it has gone from terrorists to the focus on Hotch," Chuck pointed out.
Kahlan got up and started pacing again. "If it's someone from the RRT, maybe it doesn't really have anything to do with Daniels or the terrorists."
Chuck shot Hotch a look. Neither of them were following her. "Then what?" Hotch asked her. She ran her hand through her hair as she continued pacing. She huffed and shook her head. Hotch finally got up and went to her. "What are you thinking?"
"What if it's just someone that got pissed you were put in charge?"
"You think it's all over someone being jealous?" Chuck asked her in a tone that conveyed his disbelief.
"I wouldn't put it past some of the people who were involved," she told him.
"But it still has to be connected to Daniels. Whoever it is, has his phone," Hotch pointed out.
"If the two are truly connected. Right now I'm not so sure they are."
"We can have Garcia trace Daniels' phone back to see if it was even at the lodge. We just assumed it was, right?" Chuck asked Hotch.
Hotch sighed as he sat back down. "Yep." He shook his head. "And we all know what happens when you assume something," he added sarcastically. God damn it! He put his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.
Kahlan walked over to him and rubbed a hand across his shoulders. "We'll figure this out."
Hotch huffed.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I now have a headache," Chuck started as he stood up. "I suggest we call it a night and meet up with everyone else in the morning and see if together we can figure it all out. Maybe we need to set up the hit on Hotch and see if that gets us anywhere."
"I agree about calling it a night," Kahlan told him. "Come on, Hun. You need to get some sleep," Kahlan told him as she patted his back.
Hotch stood up and they could both see the tension in his face. "Yeah. I'll text everyone." He looked at his watch, it was after midnight. "Nine sound good?"
"Fine. I'll be here to get you at 8:30."
"See you then," Kahlan told him as she pulled him into a hug. "Tell Vinnie we say 'hi'."
Chuck patted Hotch on the back and then let himself out. Kahlan grabbed Hotch's hand and pulled him to the guest bedroom. "Come on. Maybe things will look a little better in the morning."
"Somehow, I doubt it," Hotch told her in a defeated tone.
Once Hotch emerged out of the bathroom with a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, Kahlan went up and pulled his t-shirt off of him. "Babe, I really don't. . ."
"No. besides, the kids are right next door. Lay down on your stomach," she instructed him as she pushed him toward the bed. He looked at her warily. "Just do it." He took a deep breath and stretched out as he folded his arms up under the pillow and his head. Kahlan straddled his thighs and started to massage his back. He moaned as she started kneading the muscles up along his spine. "Take a couple deep breaths and try to relax," she told him.
He did as he was told and winced as she made her way to his neck. "That's tender," he told her as he jerked away from her hands.
"Sorry," she told him quickly. "Put your arms down at your side," she instructed as she scooted up his back to reach his neck better. She grabbed one of his pressure points in his shoulder and he gasped as she held it. After a few moments, the muscle relaxed in her grip, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Jesus, Hun. That one was bad."
"Yeah. I miss our bed."
"It's probably more stress than a strange bed," she told him as she attacked the other side of his neck and shoulder. Once she was done, she had him roll over and she could still the tension in his brow. "Want some help going to sleep?"
He balked. "No, I think I'm good."
She slapped him on the chest playfully. "Not like that. I wouldn't do that to you. Besides, that would just make your neck and shoulder hurt even more."
"Then what do you mean?" he asked her suspiciously.
She smiled as she basically laid on his chest and started massaging his head with both of her hands. Her thumbs rubbed across his forehead as her fingers massaged behind his ears. "Feel that?" she asked as she found certain spots on his head.
"Yeah. What the. . . hell are. . ." His neck relaxed some more and she started moving his head around gently. "Ahhhh," he moaned quietly as his eyelids started to drupe.
"Doesn't hurt does it?" He shook his head slightly as he smiled sleepily. "Go to sleep, Hun. I'll see you in the morning," she told him quietly and pressed a few more spots. His eyes shut completely and she felt his neck go limp as she held his head in her hands, so she gently laid him down on the pillow. The peaceful look on his face made her smile. She kissed him gently on the cheek, curled up next to him, and threw the blanket over them.
XXX
The next morning, Kahlan was helping Donna clean up after breakfast. "I don't know how I will ever repay you for everything you've done, Sis," Kahlan told her as she shut the dishwasher and started it.
"Don't worry about it. Your kids are great. It's you and Aaron I'm worried about."
"Don't worry about us. You just need to figure out what I can do to for you all."
"The boys' first game is tonight. I know you all are dealing with some serious shit, but if you can be there, it would be really nice," Donna told her with a knowing look.
"Why didn't they tell us?"
"Because they also know that you all are busy, and they didn't want you to feel pressured into going."
Kahlan shook her head as she looked at her boys with in the family room. "We'll be there. Is it home?"
Donna smiled. "Yep. It starts at 7:00. I'll have Joey with me, so you just worry about being at the school for kickoff."
She gave her sister a hug. "And I'll buy the dogs and soda."
They looked as the doorbell rang, and Joey ran to open the door. Chuck picked her up as he came in the house.
"Charles Lane! The next time you knock or use that door bell, I'm going to hit you. You know this house is open you," Donna yelled to him. He smiled sheepishly. She shook her head and turned to her sister. "Go. Get out of here, and we'll see you tonight."
"Yes, Ma'am," Kahlan told her with a grin.
Hotch and Kahlan told their kids goodbye and left with Chuck.
XXX
After Hotch, Kahlan, and Chuck told everyone about all of their different theories and ideas from the talk the night before, they all started discussing them in more detail.
"Can we compare Daniels' voice from the recording of Morgan's interrogation to the recordings of the leader and see if they match?" Mack asked Cam and Garcia. "We can do that, right?"
"Of course we can, my little Red Riding Hood," Garcia told her with a smile as she got busy on her laptop.
"That's an excellent idea, Mack," JJ told her. Mack smiled.
"That should at least give us more evidence either against or for him being the leader," Cam agreed as he traced down Daniels' phone to see exactly where it had been during the whole thing.
"So does anyone else have a problem with the whole terrorist without a goal thing, or is it just me?" Reid asked them.
"What do you mean," Will asked him.
"They told us why they attacked everything, but they never gave a reason behind it all other than they wanted change. I know there are plenty of people out there who would do that, but after truly looking at Daniels, he fits a goal oriented profile."
Morgan and Hotch both nodded their agreement.
"So what, there was actually a reason behind it all? Maybe one we haven't recognized yet?" JJ asked him.
"We need to look at all of the targets and even the victims more closely," Rossi told them as he got up and opened a file box. They had brought everything they had on the entire case to the warehouse that was being used as a makeshift conference room. Everybody got up and started looking through the files, too.
"With the slugs used on Hotch matching some unsolved murders that pretty much says that Daniels was dirty, right?" Mina asked them.
"I would think so," Morgan told her. "And we brought in his whole team after that guy went for the hospital, but we never got to question them all."
"Could the whole thing have been an elaborate smoke screen to try and pull off something?" Chuck asked as he started going over the list of victims from the courthouse shootings.
"As of right now, I would say anything is possible," Hotch told him as he compared the hospital victims to Chuck's list.
"I still say we need to treat this as two different cases. One to focus on all of the acts of terrorism and one to focus on the hit on Hotch," Kahlan told them.
"You truly think they aren't connected?" Will asked her.
"Not completely, no," she told him as she shook her head. "Everything in me is telling me whoever is behind the bug, the attack at the detaining hall, and the up in reward for Hotch's head is the same person, and that was not Daniels."
"So we have one unsub caught and the terrorist thing is over?" Mack asked to clarify.
"We still need to figure out why, though," Reid pointed out.
"I understand that," Mack started.
"So you think that we really should be looking at this as another case entirely and start profiling a new unsub?" JJ asked Kahlan.
"I do. I may be completely wrong. I have no experience with unsubs and your all's profiling, but. . ." she stopped as she shook her head. "I don't know."
Hotch put down the file in his hand and walked over to his wife. "But you do have experience with bugs, and aerosols, and assassins." He put his hands on her waist and looked her in the face. "Trust yourself and go with it. Isn't that what you always tell me?" She laughed as she shook her head and pulled away from him. "What?" he asked her as he turned her around to look at him.
"Go with it? If this was my thing and it wasn't you who was the target, I know what I'd do."
Everybody had stopped talking and watched the couple. "What would you do?" Morgan asked her.
She huffed. "No," she told him as she shook her head again.
Hotch studied her. "You would put the target out as bait."
"But isn't that what we're doing with the hospital?" Garcia asked and everyone could hear the fear in her voice.
Kahlan exchanged a look with Cam and Chuck, but she didn't say anything.
"But that is only drawing in nobodies with the website. Whoever placed the bug knows I'm alive and well," Hotch explained and he saw Kahlan wince slightly and he knew that's what she was thinking.
"So you think you need to put yourself out there to see who comes gunning for you?" Mack asked incredulously as she looked back and forth between Kahlan and Hotch.
"NO!" Kahlan told him quickly. "You are not. . ."
"It's what you would do, though, isn't it?" Hotch asked her.
"No," she lied as she shook her head.
Hotch looked at Chuck and Chuck looked away from him. "It's what you all would do, isn't it, Cam?"
They all looked at Cam and he tried to focus on his laptop screen. "Puddin!" Garcia yelled as she hit his arm. "We are not going to put my liege out like a lamb for the wolves!"
"I didn't say we should!" Cam defended himself.
"But it's what you would do if the target was someone else, correct?" Hotch asked as he turned back to Kahlan.
Kahlan's shoulders slumped. "Yes. But you are not putting yourself out there, Aaron!" She stressed his name to let him know exactly how much she wasn't going to let him.
"It may be the only way to draw out whoever it is," Hotch started.
"That damn dragon skin isn't going to protect you from botulism or God knows what else, let alone a head shot. You are not doing it!" She insisted.
"Kahlan's right, Hotch," Rossi agreed.
"You could all be in danger," Hotch started. "Just from being around me when whoever it is gets tired of waiting for me and actually starts looking for me."
"Man, Hotch, we're prepared to protect you just like always. Every case we go on has risks," Morgan told him.
"Whoever it is, killed a naval officer, made their way through Quantico, killed over thirty people with a form of a bacteria that shouldn't even exist, and disappeared again." Hotch continued.
"All the more reason to be extremely worried," JJ pointed out.
"Yeah, I am. Who's to say he doesn't get tired of me hiding and decide to go after the people I work with?" Hotch argued.
"We can protect them," Chuck told him.
"And if he decides to head to my house? Or how about the one of the kids' schools?" Hotch asked as he fixed Kahlan with a look. The look of fear that crossed her face told him that she hadn't thought about that. He went and put his hands on her shoulders. "If we set it up right, I will be protected. We can try to counter whatever is thrown at us. If I don't do this, there is no telling where or when the next strike will be, and that is too dangerous. You said so yourself." Even behind the sunglasses, he could tell her eyes were darting around and he knew she was trying to come up with an argument against it. She hung her head, and he knew she couldn't figure out a way out of it. He put his hands on the sides of her face. "I will be alright. Everyone will make sure of that."
She reached up, took off her sunglasses, and looked him in the eyes. "Yeah, you will be, because I will be the one with you."
