Marriott Manhattan – Morning –

Hotch had gathered the team in his and Rossi's room for last minute instructions. It was important that they were all on the same page, no mistakes, no hotdogging and no playing lone wolf. They had to be of one mind and one plan; there was too much at stake. Even now Hotch felt uneasy but he needed to honor his friend's request to bring an end to Villarreal's grip on his life.

"There's no telling when or if Villarreal will strike. All we know is that he's here and he's watching us."

"Don't you think we should let the local police in on what's going on?" JJ asked.

"No. Villarreal's reach is endless and we're not sure if he's already infiltrated this precinct. We need to exercise and overabundance of caution."

"Morgan, are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure, Dave. I need my life back. As long as Villarreal is out there, I'm a liability to all of you. I won't be able to live with myself if anything happened to any of you because I wasn't on top of my game."

"Okay then it's set. None of us is to go anywhere alone, especially Garcia and Morgan. I don't care if you're going to the bathroom, you take one of us with you; understood?"

Everyone nodded affirmatively and grabbing their belongings headed out to the police station. Morgan wrapped his arm around Garcia's waist. He felt her resist for a brief moment before allowing him to escort her out of the room.

"It's going to be okay, Baby Girl, I promise."

"Derek, you can't promise that. If something happens to you…"

"Penelope…"

"No Derek, you can't make a promise like that! You don't know what may happen and seems to me that it doesn't matter what I want or think!"

The others turned and watched the heated exchange between the couple.

"Baby, I'm sorry, I have to do this! This man isn't going to rest until he takes everything from me, including you! I have to end this; please tell me you understand?"

Penelope pulled away from Derek and walked ahead of him in tears. JJ quickly fell into step beside her. Derek watched her walk away not sure what to do or say.

"Let her go."

"I, I have to go…"

"Let. Her. Go. Give her time."

"Dave, am I wrong? Is this plan wrong?"

"You're the only one who can answer that Morgan."

"This is breaking her heart. Why can't she see that I'm doing this to protect her?"

"Because she loves you and she saw how it looked and felt to almost lose you. She understands why you're doing this, but it doesn't mean she's going to like it."

New York Police Department – Manhattan Division –

Armando had arrived early and taken a front row seat at an outside café across the street. He smiled as the two SUV's pulled to a halt and one by one the team entered the precinct. He'd waited a long time for this day, and he knew that they would be waiting for him to make a move. He hadn't lived this long, this successfully by being a fool. He was too smart to think that they did not know by now that he was in the city, so he waited sipping on a cup of hot black coffee. This was going to be a good day, a very good day.

To the naked untrained eye, things looked normal among the federal agents from Quantico. They continued to work the case that had brought them to the city, coming and going two at a time for most of the day. For the most part Morgan and Garcia had not strayed far from the station with Morgan leaving only to interview a witness and to grab breakfast for the team. Villarreal had not made a move and as each hour passed, the team wondered if this would take longer than they had hoped for. Still, each member remained vigilant and took no unnecessary chances.

Morgan was worried about Garcia. She'd been unusually quiet all day keeping herself busy with searches that did not leave much time for conversation. He knew that she wasn't in the mood to talk but she was always in the mood for caffeine, so he made his way to the coffee pot across the hallway. Since the breakroom was surrounded by windows and within view of his team, he didn't bother to announce his coffee run.

Grabbing a mug and blowing the dust away from it he poured the hot brew to the brim.

"Excuse me, are you Agent Morgan?"

Morgan turned toward the small timid voice.

"Yes, I'm Agent Morgan."

"I'm Tamika Brown, Officer Tamika Brown."

"Nice to meet you, Officer Brown."

The woman continued to walk toward him until she was next to him. He watched as she extended her hand; she was holding something, a picture.

"This is my daughter."

Puzzled, Derek took the picture.

"Cute kid. I have a son about her age."

"So, you'll understand why."

"Why what?"

Then he saw the gun in her hand.

"Why you have to come with me; now."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm saving my daughter's life. He said he'd kill her if you don't come with me."

"But…"

"Now agent!"

Morgan began looking around, no one had noticed that he was not alone in the break room and even if they had, they would never suspect the petite woman showing off a picture of her baby. Morgan nodded and took a step toward the door.

"Wait."

"What now?"

"He says to tell you that he's watching her; he has eyes on her and if you try to warn her or the others, she's dead and my daughter is dead."

"Okay, okay."

"There's a hallway toward the left as you step out of this room. Most people don't even know it's there, but it leads to the alley; let's go!"

Without a word Morgan did as he was instructed fearing that Penelope or another member of his team would look up and cause the woman to do something even more dangerous. His agenda had not changed and that was to protect them all.

Morgan and the officer walked quickly down the seldom-used hallway and out the back door.

"I'm sorry…"

"Hello Agent Morgan, it's been a while."

Morgan stared into the steely black eyes of his worst nightmare. Armando Villarreal smiled confidently as he held a gun trained on Morgan.

"My daughter, please you said if I did what you wanted you would free my daughter!"

"Not to worry."

Without taking his eyes off of Morgan Armando pulled a phone from his pocket and pressed a button and handed it to the frantic officer.

"Ma! Are you and Nina okay?"

Then with a sigh of relief she closed her eyes and handed the phone to Armando.

"Thank you…thank you…"

"You can leave them now. Everything is fine here and I want to keep my promise to this dear young lady." He ordered.

"Si jefe!"

"Now, go back into the station and let Agent Hotchner know that I have his man and that when I'm done with him, I'll be in touch so he can come and collect the remains."

The young woman quickly ran back into the police station. Morgan knew now that time was important and everything from this point on would determine if he lived or died. He didn't think that Armando would make his move so close, in fact, inside the precinct but he was even more determined to kill him then Morgan realized and so it was the just the two of them now and he waited for the moment that he could make his move and end Villarreal for good.

"Now what? You got me, let's get this over with."

"So impatient, agent. Not so fast, I'm running things now and I plan to have some fun before I kill you!"

Morgan watched a strange smile cross the man's face; it was the smile he remembered when they'd first met. Doom crept over his body and his heart rate sped up, something was wrong, very wrong…then he felt excruciating pain as something came down hard on his head knocking him to the ground. His eyes fluttered trying desperately to make sense of what was happening as the wet slimy ground kissed him goodnight.

"Pick him up, put him in the van! Hurry!"