J.J. listened to the ringing sound the interrogation room door created as it opened.
She approached Antonia whose chin rested on the table with her eyes shut.
J.J. stayed standing, file in hand.
"You enjoying this?" J.J. asked.
"I'm a creature of habit. I prefer we do this in my cell." Antonia replied without moving or opening her eyes.
"If you really wanted the BAU to suffer, you wouldn't have warned us." J.J. looked down at Antonia. She kept pressing the file to her hand as she spoke, trying to display firmness while keeping her voice steady. "You'd only warn us if there was something in it for you."
Antonia smiled, she finally moved sitting up and opening her eyes, "You really are smart."
"So it got me thinking." J.J. continued, "You're in here for life. What could you possibly gain?"
J.J. then held the file up and opened it. Antonia shut her eyes again but remained in the same sitting up position.
"Your son was born when you were only 14 which would make him..43 now? Your family was ashamed, so he was raised away from you but you never lost touch with him." J.J.'s voice whispering.
"Have you always lived on the sappy side or did that come out when you became a mother?" Antonia mocked.
"The only reason you warned agent Hotchner about this storm is because your son has something to do with it. And now you need our help." J.J. bent down to be eye level with Antonia now.
"Not as much as you need mine." Antonia retorted.
J.J. shook her head, her tone completely changing, "your son framed a federal agent. And manipulated special weapons and tactics operatives to do it. So here's the thing about SWAT, they don't like being manipulated. So now your son is on a shoot first, ask questions later list."
"I want him taken into custody, alive." Antonia demanded, her tone never shifted.
"Of course you do, what mother wouldn't?" J.J.'s hands now on the back of the chair, she was standing up almost straight now. She threw her hands up, shaking her head before she crossed her arms, "the truth is, I can't really promise you what will happen if he gets caught."
"You won't let him get killed. I know you. You took an oath and too goody two shoes to break it."
J.J. stood arms still crossed, she frowned, "Yeah, yesterday? yesterday, I wouldn't have." Her voice changed once again, it was deeper and at an angered whisper, "But that was before your son had armed men point guns in the same room as my son." Her voice now at full volume, still anger radiating from it, "So, when we find him, this can go one of two ways."
"Promise me he won't get hurt." Antonia pleaded.
"Give me his name." J.J. demanded.
Antonia was finally shaken but she gave it up.
J.J. arrived back at the BAU, Natalie and Prentiss stood waiting for her. J.J. walked extremely fast. Prentiss and Natalie gave each other a look. J.J. had clearly gotten something out of Antonia, the whole team knew she was angry, it was expected but now, she was focused. Prentiss nodded to Natalie and the agents met the rest of the team in the conference room.
"Garcia, his name is Asher Douglas. We need whatever you can find."
"On it." Garcia said, confused as to why J.J. didn't call her on her way back.
Garcia displayed a picture of Asher Douglas on the screen. "Thats him." She told the team as she pushed on her glasses.
"He lives in northern Virginia." Garcia told them.
"Early 40's is old for a swatter." Reid noted to the team.
"But he's a match in every way that counts. He purchased the storm spoofing software, he bought several audio splicing programs." Garcia told them.
"So thats how he was able to make calls from Hotch's cell to sound like him." Morgan reiterated.
Reid was looking in detail over the file Garcia had just emailed them, Natalie looked too. She noticed Reid's face, he was really unsure about the unsub. She looked to find why. She had an idea but they wouldn't be positive until they went to meet Asher Douglas.
"Something about this doesn't fit." Reid told them.
"He's right." Natalie said.
"It fits enough for me. Let's go." Rossi said.
As the team began to walk towards the elevator,
Reid started to spin off facts about psychopaths and how they traditionally get bored easily but the team hadn't seen evidence of that.
Garcia thought he was covering his tracks.
J.J. noted that even if Reid was correct in his thinking, he still made the call so the team had to arrest him.
"I'll call SWAT." Morgan told them as they all entered the elevator.
"What is it?" Prentiss asked, looking directly at Natalie who's face squirmed at the thought of arresting this man with SWAT officers.
"I don't think we'll be able to really tell until we meet Asher but I think he's autistic." Natalie swallowed.
Reid spoke up, "There is evidence of that in the behavior we saw on paper."
"This doesn't change the arrest." J.J. said.
"No, it doesn't. But if we're right, our approach with SWAT could be an issue." Natalie told her.
Hotch had continued with the inspector general,
"Who gave you probable cause to put me under surveillance?"
"It's a confidential source."
"Tell me now or I will invoke." Hotch demanded.
"You know who needs lawyers? Guilty people." He told him.
"Smart people. So lay out your entire case to me right now or every attorney I know will drop everything and come help me." Hotch threatened.
The inspector general sighed, "We got a tip. From a source and it was very convincing."
"Antonia Slade." Hotch told him.
"No, not Slade."
The inspector general flipped the laptop around to face Hotch. Hotch couldn't believe who their tip was. He didn't think the inspector generals office would seriously consider this credible.
Peter Lewis displayed on the screen giving a testimony about agent Hotchner.
"You've got to be kidding." Hotch told him.
Hotch stopped the recording after Peter Lewis said he was afraid of what Hotch would do to his own son.
"Why would you believe anything he says?"
"We didn't. But it got us digging into you." The inspector general told him.
"What about me?" Hotch asked, unaware.
"Was your wife killed because of your responsibilities with this job? Yes. Did you question your commitment to the BAU after her murder? Yes."
Hotch interrupted, "And how does that connect to this?"
"Because it was then that you started dismissing procedure." The inspector general said.
"You faked agent Prentiss' death. You rubber-stamped the unjustified shooting by agent Rossi of the man who killed Jason Gideon, giving him a pass for the same crime you expelled agent greenway for 10 years ago." The inspector general's voice was now angry.
"Each of those instances was a judgment call. And it's a waste of our time for me to justify each one. But I can." Hotch told him.
"Good. Because this last one is one you have no defense for. He (Peter Lewis) subjected you to a very powerful drug…one that with other victims led to psychotic breaks. now, why wouldn't you include that in your bureau psychological evaluation?" The inspector general questioned.
"Agent?"
"Agent?"
Hotch looked up, he didn't say anything.