"Nat, the prison's not on lockdown anymore," J.J. told her. "I don't think I can go. I'll call Cassie and see if we can visit Diana with the boys but I thought you might want to go."
"Thanks, J.J.! How did you know the prison…Oh, Will." Natalie answered her own question.
J.J. laughed, "Yep. Go see Spence!"
Natalie sat in the interview room since these weren't typical visiting hours. She hated to admit this but she flirted with the warden to arrange this one. It made her sick that that's all it took for people to get things, especially in federal prison.
She shook it off, she should talk to the girls at the BAU about doing something about that.
The guard brought Reid in.
His shoulders dropped, he let a small smile creep across his face, "Hi, Nat."
He sat down across from her.
She put her hands underneath the table so the guard outside wouldn't see and yell at the no-touching rule. He interlocked his hands with hers as best he could, he squeezed them, hard.
He was overcome with emotion and more than a little sleep-deprived.
"Have you been to see my mom?" He asked.
Natalie shook her head, "Why?"
"Somethings wrong," Reid informed her.
"What? How do you know?" Natalie asked.
"The guard said Phoebe cleared a visit with my mom over the fight I got in…" Reid told her. He watched Natalie's face change but he continued, "Cassie's not there. She has a new nurse, I know her from a case. She was abducted and her dad killed her abductor in front of her and I watched."
"Spence, I don't think Phoebe cleared that visit then. What was her name?" Natalie asked.
"Lindsey Vaughn. You weren't in the BAU, this was a really old case. But she told me her name was Carol Atkinson. She must be using an alias?" Reid informed and suggested to her.
Natalie nodded and let Reid continue.
"Well, what happened to Cassie and why is Lindsey Vaughn the nurse for my mom? On top of that, I think she was the woman - no I'm sure she was the woman in the motel room who drugged me."
Natalie squinted her eyes, she leaned her head forward, she never let his hands go, "Okay. Garcia is compiling a list of known associates for Cat and of the D.I.D patients with scratch...maybe one of those names is on one of the lists?" Natalie waited for a moment before asking,
"But why target you? I mean, this is an elaborate plan. This is someone who has a vengeance for you, does Lindsey?" Natalie asked, genuinely.
"She watched her father murder in front of her, maybe that turned her into a monster, and if she's working with Cat, Cat does, and Scratch has targeted the whole team," Reid answered.
"Okay, Carol Atkinson. Lindsey Vaughn. Those are the names we need to look for as the standout. Are you sure that's who was in the room?" Natalie asked, carefully.
Reid shook his head, "Yes. Absolutely. She said the same words, 'time to go.' when she came to get my mom. You have to find my mom and Cassie."
Natalie gulped, she was afraid of what happened to Cassie or Diana.
"When was the last time you saw my mom or Cassie?" He asked.
"It was only a few days ago but I didn't stop going because I wanted to, Cassie told J.J. and I both not to..." Natalie's eyes widened, "But I guess Cassie didn't tell us not to..."
"What was her reason?" Reid asked, confused.
"Your mom was having a hard time, like really confused that day or having exceptionally bad days with schizophrenia. To J.J. and I, that seemed normal, and since J.J. usually brought the boys to make her happy, she didn't want to scare them." Natalie answered, honestly.
"I'm so sorry, Spence. We should have known better." Natalie shook her head and shut her eyes.
"It's not your fault. Just please find them." He gave a small smile.
Natalie felt awful but determined, "We are. and we're getting you out of here. No more of this."
"Time's up." The guard walked in and escorted Reid out without Natalie or Reid being able to say another word.
Natalie informed the BAU what she learned later on the same day, they all sat in the conference room, Garcia included.
"J.J., did you get a hold of Cassie?" Natalie asked.
"No. Not this time." J.J. replied.
"So what are we saying that Scratch is working with Lindsey or are we saying Cat?" Rossi asked, suspiciously.
"We need to profile both of them. What would make Scratch take a partner and what would make Cat?" Hotch asked.
"They are both in desperate situations. Cat in solitary. Scratch, a fugitive." Morgan answered.
"Scratch uses drugs to manipulate, are either of the names Lindsey used on the D.I.D. list?" Prentiss asked.
Garcia shook her head, "But Carol Atkinson, Anne Jenkins, and Jamie LaMantia are and they all have Lindsey's face on the I.D. card as people in close association to Cat."
"What's the connection?" Morgan asked.
"I don't know. I just see different licenses checking into hotels...credit cards with the names used at restaurants but it's all from before Cat was arrested. But they were definitely at least together." Garcia noted. "But it's not useful right now."
"Yes, it is. We can go to the places they frequented..." Natalie started.
"No, Garcia's right. It just gets us a connection, we still don't know about the drugs. Cat and Lindsey could just know each other." Morgan told her.
Prentiss rolled her eyes at that comment, "I doubt they just know each other but we do need to find a connection one way or the other."
"Right so visiting those places-" Natalie tried.
Hotch cut her off this time,
"Let's focus on finding Cassie, first, and see where that leads us. That's the most pressing issue is finding Cassie and Diana. Garcia, Can you ping Cassie's phone?" Hotch said.
Garcia began frantically typing. "Battery must be dead, GPS has been turned off."
"That's not good." Prentiss chimed in.
"Okay, J.J., Natalie, you go to Reid's apartment. Garcia, I need you to locate Jack Vaughn…Morgan, you'll talk to him once she does. We know the connection is that they are hitwomen but maybe he knows something we don't. The rest of us, we'll stay here and begin working up what we have so far on Reid's case." Hotch gave the orders and the team went to work.
J.J. knocked on the door to Reid's apartment, "Diana, Cassie. It's Jennifer and Natalie."
J.J. looked at Natalie who used her key to unlock the door, she unholstered her gun. J.J. did the same.
They searched the apartment.
"No one's here," Natalie said.
"Yeah, the scene doesn't say abduction," J.J. replied.
"But J.J., it has to be." Natalie countered.
"Yeah, we need to call Hotch," J.J. told her, pulling out her cell phone to make the call.
The team was debriefing about what they knew about the Vaughn case from all those years ago. They concluded that no one had heard from either of them in ten years until now.
Garcia was able to get into the prison security feed where only one camera picked Lindsey up. That meant she knew where the cameras were and how to avoid them.
The phone rang.
"Tell me you have good news." Garcia pleaded.
"Well, Diana and Cassie aren't here," J.J. informed.
"No forced entry, no sign of struggle, and Cassie's car is not here," Natalie told them.
"Garcia, what's the latest on that APB of her car?" Hotch asked.
"Okay, search recent traffic in and out of Reid's apartment. Lindsey probably entered as Carol." Hotch told her.
"Copy," Garcia said.
"Nat and I know Diana's routines. We'll go there first." J.J. confirmed, hanging up the phone.
"Alright. The rest of us need to find Lindsey. Where are we on locating Jack?" Hotch asked.
"Nothing yet, sir. I'll keep digging." Garcia told him.
"We pull every favor we've ever been given. This is time to use that." Hotch told all of them.
The team nodded as they went to their respective tasks.
The poisoned inmates were back from the infirmary. Shaw let word spread that Reid was a fed.
Phoebe called Hotch to let him know about the inmates released from prison.
He went to inform Rossi and Prentiss who had no luck finding anything useful on their end or with pulling any favors.
"Is that what he covered up in the cognitive?" Hotch asked.
"I don't know. It might be…that makes him a target." Prentiss said.
Rossi threw his head back. "We have to work, fast."
"I'm going to go in and talk to him myself," Hotch told them.
Garcia ran in, "I got a hit on the car!"
Rossi jumped up, "I'll go, Hotch."
Hotch nodded.
Rossi called Garcia after examining the car.
"No DNA, no sign of foul play but there are security cameras," Rossi told her.
"On it. Oh, J.J. and Natalie are calling. Patch you through?"
"Please," Rossi replied.
Garcia informed them of who they were on with.
"Where is the car, Rossi?" Natalie asked.
"It's parked down the street from a high school," Rossi replied.
"A high school is where Jack killed Lindsey's abductor in front of her and Spence." J.J. reminded him.
"That might be a taunt then," Natalie suggested.
"I can look into that. Oh. Oh." Garcia began.
"What is it, Garcia?" Rossi asked.
"So I can't find Carol Atkinson entering Reid's building but I did find Jamie Lamantia who lives in unit 26 down the hall from Reid. She paid 6 months of her rent upfront in cash and not a peep since." Garcia told them.
"That was one of Lindsey's Alias's, right?
"Yes. They're the same person. Carol Atkinson is Jamie LaMantia who is Lindsey Vaughn." Garcia told them.
"We're on our way back to the apartment building," J.J. told them as she turned the sirens on the SUV on.
The two agents entered. A foul smell immediately entering their noses as they busted through apartment 26. They saw a lifeless Cassie laying there, she had to have been dead for at least a week, if not longer.
They walked around, clearing the room for anything else.
"It's Cassie," J.J. told Natalie.
"Nat, come look a this," J.J. told her as she looked down to see black and white photos of Reid all over the table.
Natalie called to inform the unit chief and the rest of the team. Hotch had waited to go see Reid until they found out what was going on. He decided he had to go now.
"Diana's officially being declared a missing person," Hotch told them.
"We'll have to tell Reid now," Hotch added.
"He'll want to help." Morgan countered.
"I know. We'll just have to work fast." Hotch told him.
"Ballistics on the gun used to kill Cassie are back," Garica told the unit chief along with the rest of the team.
Morgan stared her down, "Share?"
"Right. It's Jack Vaughn's gun. But the shooter used modified hollow-point bullets." Garica told them.
"That's not Jack's M.O," Prentiss said.
"Then we really need to talk to Jack," Rossi said.
"I'll call Alvez, see if he can do anything," Natalie said as she picked up the phone to dial.
Reid sharpened the end of his toothbrush on his bed. He would have to be ready to defend himself since the inmates now knew he was a fed. That would get him killed.
Alvez came rushing in with a man from witness protection, "Natalie called. This is Kevin. He's from witness protection."
"Thank you for coming in." The unit chief shook his hand as the man was introduced by Alvez and entered his office.
"How can I help?" Kevin asked.
"We need access to Lindsey and Jack Vaughn," Alvez informed him.
"I can't do that. It's protocol." Kevin protested.
"She's linked to an abduction/homicide," Hotch informed him. "Ballistics confirmed that the shooter used Jack's gun but the shooter used modified hollow point bullets. That's not Jack."
Kevin nodded, "Jack's been a model citizen the entire time he's been in the program. Lindsey bailed out five years ago."
"Do you know where she is?" Hotch asked.
Kevin shook his head, "We don't track people after they leave."
Alvez pushed, "Come on, man."
Kevin turned to Alvez and Hotch, "my hands are tied."
Hotch frowned, "A woman is missing. This woman is linked to an abduction/homicide and your hands are tied? You know something, that's how the F.B.I. works. Whatever you know and decide not to tell us, the blood of an agent will be on your hands."
"Besides, I'm sure the deputy director would love to know what happened in Yemen." Alvez implied.
Kevin sighed, "give me a few hours, please. I can get you a meet with Jack in a neutral location. Beloit, Wisconsin for no more than 30 minutes. Understood?"
"Thank you," Hotch replied.
"Grab the jet, you and Morgan go," Hotch told Alvez.
"Me?" Alvez asked.
"If you don't mind, we could use your help," Hotch told him.
Alvez nodded.