12:45 am
Washington DC
"You have anything else for us baby girl?" Morgan asks, briefly looking away from the camera when he hears the back door of the complex open. Putting his hand on the grip of his holster, he waits to see if Doyle comes out from the other side.
What awaits the agents instead, is an elderly woman steps from behind the door, carrying a trash bag that was bigger than she was. Her vibrant cerulean hair shining under the fluorescent lights. Morgan takes his hand off of the gun and places it back on the steering wheel.
A loud bang come from underneath the dumpster, putting the SSA back on alert again. He quickly turns his head to the direction of the sound, settling down when he sees a bright orange tabby strolling out of nowhere. The cat starts rubbing itself along and between the older woman's legs, as if he were waiting on something. She smiles, with her horned rimmed glasses falling off of her nose a little and obliges him by scratching behind his ears before heading back inside.
"There is one more thing about Flagcon and Shelly, sweet cheeks that's definitely more than a little bit sketchy." Garcia replies twirling her pen between her fingers before the feathery part of the pen covers part of her face.
"I have no idea if Shelly is directly involved with this. But I thought it was something worth looking into considering how this incident had an interesting connection to our nefarious arms dealer."
"Don't leave us hanging in suspense Pen." JJ quips sarcastically, propping her feet up onto the dashboard, getting more comfortable since they would be spending a majority of their night in the SUV.
"A few years ago, Flagcon was sued for wrongful death by a woman named Oksana O'Leary. Her husband, Tommy O'Leary was went missing after his shift one night. He was found floating behind the docks three nights later by a guy who was working the third shift.
"Why were they suing for wrongful death?" Morgan asks.
"According to the suit, Oksana says that Tommy was being harassed by one of the other dock workers, Harry Donahue, an ex-felon who has a rap sheet that is more colorful than my wardrobe. And by that, I mean he was a career criminal from larceny at 14. And before you two give me those looks, yes I know his record was sealed because he was minor at the time he committed the crime. And yes, I used my mysterious Penelope ways and charm to gain access to said record."
Morgan and JJ side eyed each other and their tech guru, hoping that Hotch, wherever he was right now, never learns about this.
Anyways, by the time he hits sixteen, Donahue upgrades to aggravated assault and serves a couple of years in a juvenile facility and halfway house. By the time he turned twenty-one, he had an attempted murder charge under his belt, which was sentenced to ten years but got out in five for good behavior.
Oksana claims that Donahue had been harassing her husband after they got into a fight at one of the dive bars frequented by Flagcon staffers. Things escalated quickly, when Donahue broke into Tommy's locker and tossed his things into the Atlantic. According to the lawsuit, Mrs. O'Leary found Donahue parked outside of their home, signaling a gun hand gesture and threatening to assault his. Tommy confronted him about it the next day."
"Please tell me Tommy did something after that." JJ asks horrified, with Morgan nodding in agreement.
"Oksana said he reported each incident to his supervisor and Flagcon's HR department. They didn't lift a finger to stop any of the harassment. during their investigation, if you could even call it that. They interviewed everyone who worked with Tommy and Donahue. They all vouched for Donahue and said that it wasn't serious, and he was only teasing him."
"I don't think following someone home qualifies as 'just teasing'." JJ replies indignantly.
"Neither did Tommy." Garcia agrees. "Which is why on the night of October 23,2009, Tommy made an appointment with Shelly to talk about Donahue's behavior as soon as his shift was over. Unfortunately, he never came home from that meeting."
"The next day, his mother and wife went down to the police station and reported him missing when he didn't come home. His co-workers said that Tommy went to talk to Shelly and that they were going to meet up with after. They didn't know that he was planning on handing in his two weeks' notice. Or that he had found an attorney and was suing the company for harassment. A week later, a dockworker by the name of Sean Nicholson, was unloading a shipment that had come in the night before. He ended up finding Tommy O'Leary's decomposing body floating in the Atlantic. Fair warning, the pictures that I am currently sending to your tablets are not easy to look at. I had a hard time keeping dinner down."
The two agents look down at JJ's iPad. The first picture that they see is of a smiling Tommy O'Leary with his arms around a tiny brunette woman with dark raven hair and brown eyes. His blond hair was slicked back, wearing a leather jacket that had seen better days. He had one arm casually flung over her shoulder, pulling her in close, while the other hand was wrapped protectively around her stomach. The photo was taken a month before his death. His greenish hazel eyes shone with adoration as he leaned down and kissed the side of his wife's head. While Oksana clung to her husband, with her hand on top of his.
"The first picture was taken the day that Oksana and Tommy found out that they were having a baby." Penelope states sadly. "It was a month before Tommy's death. It was also the picture that they used when Tommy went missing."
JJ nods sadly at the picture of the happy couple, lingering on it for just a little bit. What was supposed to be the happiest moment in their young lives, turned into a tragedy and cover up.
Morgan watches his partner linger and gently takes the tablet out of her hands. JJ looks up, grateful that he could do what she couldn't and that was focus on the task at hand.
He swipes over to the next picture, not quite prepared for the site that greets them. The man in the previous photo was no more. And in his place, was a face covered in colors of purple, black and almost a palish looking grey. His eyes were swollen shut and skull was caved in. His teeth were
"The medical examiner had to use Tommy's dental records to identify him because between the decomposition from the ocean and his face being beaten to the point where he was unrecognizable. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide due to blunt force trauma."
"Poor kid." Morgan replies sadly. "I take it he didn't drown."
"No love." Garcia answers sadly. "The medical examiner did find water in his lungs. But he concluded that Tommy had been dead before he hit the water. Most of his ribs were cracked and one of them punctured his right lung. But here is where it gets strange."
"The day after they found Tommy's body, Harry Donahue came forward and confessed to killing him. He claimed that it was an accident, and that Tommy came after him first."
"I'd love to know what this guy's definition of an accident is." JJ mutters spitefully.
"According to Donahue, he said that he ran into Tommy on the way to his car. He and Tommy exchanged a few words and Tommy told him that if he ever stopped by his house again, he'd kill him. Harry pushed him, and Tommy retaliated and punched him. They fight and he slams Tommy to the ground to end it. He feels Tommy's neck for a pulse and couldn't find one."
"His solution was to throw his body into the ocean, instead of taking him to the hospital?" Morgan asks, trying to understand the logic of Donahue's decision making. Then again, it is difficult for the senior agent to apply logic to bullshit.
"Obviously, that explanation wasn't good enough for the Baltimore PD, considering Donahue's own record of various violent assaults, the more recent one before Tommy ended in his victim being paralyzed for life. There was also footage of Tommy and Harry walking out to the docks together. That was all the proof that they needed to convict him. Harry ended up pleading out and received a twenty-five-year sentence for manslaughter and parole violation after two of his co-workers came forward confirmed Harry's version of events."
"But you don't sound convinced mama." Morgan concludes.
"Now who's the oracle in this beautiful relationship of ours?" Garcia replies with her signature grin. "And FYI, I wasn't the only one who thought it was suspicious. Oksana wasn't satisfied with the police's investigation and felt that Flagcon was just as liable for Tommy's death as Harry was. They sued the company for ignoring Tommy's repeated warnings about Donahue and his behavior. Now here's where the story gets stranger my darling scoobies."
"A few months later, just as the civil trial was about to begin, Oksana had a mysterious change of heart and dropped the lawsuit against Flagcon. Oksana and Teresa O'Leary left Baltimore soon after Oksana gave birth to their daughter, Melody. And they have been off the grid ever since. Oksana shut down her Facebook account and hasn't signed up for any other social media pages I could find. She doesn't have twitter. Same thing happened with Tommy's mother. She was running a Facebook page called 'Justice for Tommy O'Leary' but that was scrubbed the moment the lawsuit was dropped. There is literally nothing out there about her recent activities and whereabouts. It's like they've become ghosts."
"Shelly and her lawyers must have gotten to her somehow." JJ adds as she taps her hand against the car door handle. "I wonder how much they were paid for their silence."
"Unfortunately, I have to introduce another theory for the disappearing act. After doing some more snooping, I found out that at the time of Tommy O'Leary's death, Oksana was not a naturalized citizen. Oksana and her parents immigrated here from the Russia when Oksana was seventeen years old, two years before she met Tommy. She had a green card, but it expired right before she and Tommy got married. At the time of Tommy's death, she was studying for the citizenship test to become a permanent American citizen. This also serves as a nice segue into another strange occurrence in this case. Oksana was given a work visa under Flagcon, from 2010 to March of this year, when Oksana obtained her became a citizen. And I know what you two are thinking and let me stop you right there. Shelly did not approve of Oksana's sponsorship. It was Duncan Flanagan, our most recent murder victim."
JJ and Morgan look at each other quizzically.
"Why would Duncan do that for his employee's wife?" Morgan asks.
"That's what I asked myself darling and Reid is working on that answer as we speak. But I think I may have solved a part of that mystery." Garcia says excitedly. "I talked to our friends at the Baltimore FBI office, and it turns out that they've had their eyes on Flagcon for a while. Between their ties to Doyle and his weapons dealing. They've also been looking into potential charges for money laundering and tax evasion. Before Duncan Flanagan's untimely murder, they were looking into convening a grand jury to possibly indicting Flagcon. They let me take a looking into their investigative archive and I found some interesting surveillance photos from September 2006. Starring our victim being chummy with a very familiar face in this small Irish weapon dealing web; Lachlan McDermott."
JJ and Morgan glance at each other knowingly. Neither agent was surprised McDermott would find a way to tank Doyle's rumored lover's company and reputation. What they wanted to know is how someone like Tommy could get involved with the likes of this Lachlan McDermott?
"Why would he be meeting with his boss' competition?" JJ asks.
Reid holds up a succession of colored photos that show Lachlan and Tommy in various states of their conversation. Initially, Reid sees Tommy obviously taking quick glances over his shoulder. At one point, Lachlan pulls out a small, orange envelope and hands it to Tommy, who immediately places it in the pocket of his leather jacket. "Not sure. But according to these photos, it looks like Tommy may have been working for McDermott on the side and possibly feeding information to him"
"Shelly must have had her suspicions and had him followed." JJ finishes. "Once she was sure he was a snitch, all she would have to do is tell security to cut the camera feed and have her security guards look the other way. Giving Donahue plenty of time to beat Tommy to death and dispose of his body."
"Harry Donahue admitted to beating Tommy up, but he claimed that he didn't mean to kill him." Garcia continues reading the file on her tablet. "But here is where it gets even stranger my pretties. Guess who served as Harry Donahue's attorney?"
"Scott Harrelson." Reid answers with a satisfied smile. Garcia turns her head to face the doctor and glares at him so hard that Morgan started to feel a bit sorry for the kid.
"What did I tell you about respecting the art of dramatic suspense, Spencer!" Garcia spits out as she whacks him on the head with one of the files. "But yes, his attorney was Scott Harrelson. Now don't ruin the rest of my story, boy wonder."
"Wasn't he the infamous DC fixer, who represented practically every high-profile person in town who gets into trouble?" JJ asks, remembering the man's name come from a couple of reporters that she used to be friends with, who got exclusives with him whenever he needed to make any of his clients look good.
"You are correct, darling." Garcia answers.
"How would someone like Donahue be able to afford an attorney like Harrelson? I'm sure he couldn't afford an hour with Harrelson on his salary." Morgan asks. "And why would Harrelson represent someone like Donahue. Especially being a repeat convict who beat an innocent man with a kid on the way to death because they didn't get along at work?"
"Derek's right." JJ adds. "From the very brief interactions I had with Harrelson, he was a glory hound who only took on cases that would guarantee that his name stayed in the papers and lead to a sleazier client in more trouble than the last. Murder, unless it was on par with OJ Simpson was not in his per view. So why would he even take on Donahue, who was one hundred percent guilty, if it meant that he wouldn't be getting anything out of it?"
"That we do not have a one hundred percent consensus on babe, but we're working on it." The technical analyst says. "What we do know is that Scott and Shelly ran in the same social circles. So, it was most likely a quid pro quo thing for him." Garcia pulls up a couple of photos of the Flanagan's from 2001, dressed in a nice, coordinated, navy blue suit and dress, that probably costs more than her and Reid's salary's combined. There was another couple standing next to them, a beautiful, young, tanned brunette, whose hair flowed long past her shoulders and back, holding a blue and purple bouquet; standing next to a man with salt and pepper hair, with sparsely scattered flecks of red. He was wearing wired glasses and a deep crimson bow tie, grinning as if he had just won the lottery.
"Shelly and Duncan attended Scott's wedding in June of 2001. Duncan served as his best man."
"This is where it gets even creepier. Scott Harrelson is one of the victims on our list of suspicious deaths that we think Doyle may have been responsible for. He was killed in a hunting accident two years ago, in 2012, by another hunter who had mistaken him for a deer. But get this, the hunter that shot him was never found. And we are at the point of no return, where it goes from 'happy coincidence to full blown, tin hatted conspiracy theory."
"Shortly after Scott Harrelson's death, Harry Donahue was stabbed in the prison courtyard by an Aryan nation gang member." Reid interjects impatiently, watching as Morgan and JJ look at them with their eyebrows raised.
"According to the Baltimore FBI files on their investigation on Flagcon- "Reid says but is interrupted by Garcia.
"Which we will be sending to your tablets ASAP for a little light reading." Garcia interrupts, as she types away on her tablet. "Harrelson wasn't able to get a good deal from him, due to Donahue's priors on manslaughter and our convicted murderer was not happy with the deal he received. According to what the SSA handling the case told me, Donahue wanted to speak with someone at the FBI office in Baltimore, claiming that he had important information involving Flagcon that he wanted to share. Under the condition that he get a reduced sentence and be moved to a federal facility in DC."
"Which would give Doyle a nice motive to try and get rid of both Donahue and Harrelson." JJ says as she twirls a bit of her blond locks around her finger unconsciously. "Get rid of Donahue because he might be able to implicate his girlfriend in the white-collar investigation against her and her husband's company. Who would then have to reveal their ties to Valhalla in order to avoid life in prison without the possibility of parole."
"You get rid of Harrelson because if he knew any of what Donahue wanted to tell the FBI, he would be compelled to tell us whatever he may have known." Morgan completes satisfied with the connection so far. "After our surveillance, we'll have to have a second look into Harrelson's death."
"We should also take another look at Donahue's death as well." JJ adds "Doyle could have paid the Aryans off to get rid of Donahue."
Morgan sighs and leans back against the seat of the SUV. "It doesn't seem anyone is safe around this family."
JJ nods and briefly wondering just how extensive this investigation is going to get, when this is all said and done. She wonders how many bodies and accidental deaths will be attributed to Doyle trying to clean up his mess and his girlfriend's mess?
She's also concerned that their small team may be in over their heads. At some point and time, she wonders if they would need to call in the rest of the bureau because of how connected these deaths are to one another and Doyle?
This investigation was increasing becoming more than even she thinks they could handle. Because this is no longer about Doyle, who killed their beloved colleague and friend. This is starting to involve one company and a whole mess of people who operated illegally under said company. They're still unsure as to how they'll be able connect all of this with Doyle and his previous operations.
JJ leans back on the headrest and looks up at the car's ceiling. Silently, she thinks about how grateful about Hotch's temporary reassignment and how he couldn't be here to rip them a new one about the lack of sanity coming from this team at the moment.
1:15 am
Baltimore, Maryland
Emily steps away from the pale, shaken woman, who has been in a trance since hearing the sound of her own voice, clear as day, on that tape. She can only imagine the possible scenarios that are running through the CEO's mind as to how she might have gotten a hold of that tape? Who could have given this tape to her when the only one person who knew of its existence is no longer here?
She can only imagine what the now deceased CEO could have promised his wife about the tape that she just listened to, outlining the sins she committed in the name of her family's legacy. Duncan probably swore on the lives of their children that there was no evidence of the hit that she ordered on a kid, who was just trying to make sure that his family was okay and taken care of. The former CEO had done himself during the early days of their marriage. Getting involved with Doyle to secure a legacy that he would pass on to his girls when the time came. Tommy, a kid who made a mistake and got involved with the wrong people. Lachlan McDermott, who guaranteed him the world as well as the safety for himself, his wife, and the new life they were bringing into this world together. Something that Shelly could never offer him because he was beneath her, and Tommy O'Leary wasn't worth it. Duncan probably swore on their marriage vows, that there would be nothing to worry about. That he would take care of it, like he takes care of everything for her. Not knowing that he kept this tape in the top right drawer of his home office, where he kept a picture of himself and their happy family, built on blood and lies.
Duncan or Shelly didn't count on Harry Donahue knowing that there was a tape of the entire exchange and offering to use the tape as his one-way ticket into Club Fed and a reduced sentence with time served for his service.
At least before Shelly made a couple of calls and had him killed in prison.
"How did you get a hold of this?" Shelly asks, her voice shaking with twinge of fear and rage coloring her words.
Emily smirked behind the mask. "Does it matter?"
Emily walks behind the shaken woman's chair. She places her gloved hands-on Shelly's shoulders and moves a few strands of her blood-soaked golden strands of hair to the side, away from her shoulders.
Without warning, Emily finds that she is no longer in the warehouse in Baltimore with Shelly trembling below her. Instead, she was back in that warehouse in Boston. The crisp, stale phosphorous like air of the abandoned warehouse, that slowly suffocated her. Emily looks down to find the black leather gloves missing and, in its place, her bare hands with purple wrists from how tightly Doyle had the rope tied around her hands.
She feels Doyle's cold hands pushing her hair aside and caressing her shoulders and for a moment, Emily thinks that this is his warped way of trying to console for what is to come. It lasts only a moment before he presses his down on her shoulders in a vice grip, letting the monster that she knows is lurking loose and clearly sending her the message that she was no longer in control of their little game.
Emily's hands cup the other woman's shoulders and unknowingly she rubs her hands in a circular motion around her shoulders. She can feel Shelly's fear, the woman shivering in the same way that she once had a lifetime ago. The fear pulses through Emily's veins, almost like she's taken a shot of adrenaline. Emily stops where she is and squeezes the other woman's shoulders, putting as much pressure onto them as they can bare. Her gloved fingers nails dig into the bone of the CEO, to the point where she would have been drawing blood if her gloves didn't act as a barrier to the other woman's skin. It feels like she can hear the wild and thunderous sounds of the other woman's heart pulsating out of her chest.
Shelly was trying her hardest to make sure that she didn't know that her captor could sense her fear and how paralyzed she felt in the moment. But Emily knew it all too well. The fear, being paralyzed and helpless to do anything. Emily was also aware that the other woman, if she hasn't already, would eventually come to terms with the realization that there was little chance she would be escaping this building alive.
Not when Emily was done with her. Just like all of the others.
Cooperating only prolonged the inevitable long enough to get what she needs. The information that she needs to find Doyle and stop him from whatever he is about to Declan. Shelly would be a liability, if kept alive. Her secret would be exposed. And Emily can't have that, not when she is so close to the end.
And after all she has done, Emily is not sure the CEO is warranted a second chance, even if she entertained the thought of giving her one.
That cold burst of reality brings Emily back into the present and she lets her hands drop from the CEO's shoulders. She sometimes had to remind herself that she is not him, whenever she gets carried away in on her mission.
It was easy to get lost in the fog of that night on loop in her head. That night had taken everything away from her and turned her into this, someone she hadn't recognized. Reliving the things, he done to her beat for beat. It's easier to fall into that pattern with someone like Shelly. Because how many times had Shelly seen other young women in the position that she finds herself in with Doyle, callously dismissing them and turning the other way when it comes to Doyle because she fundamentally believes that those girls weren't worth it. Those girls were like Tommy O'Leary, beneath her and not worth saving.
While hunting her other targets, she noticed that pattern with Shelly. She didn't want to talk to anyone who could not do anything for her social status. While tapping her phone, Emily heard the conversation she held with the eldest daughter. Shelly criticized her daughter for not letting her hook her up with one of her friends at their private law firms and how demoralizing her work as a victim's advocate is. She talked about her son in law and how he is the first person to graduate college and worked as glorified tech support.
With Doyle, after seeing his other associates being killed, he offered her one of his guys. Her response was to say that she would rather be shot dead than to have those human pieces of excrement anywhere in her house. There wasn't enough cleaner in the world to get rid of their stench in her home.
Emily figures that if she was going to go full on monster, she might as well start with one of the biggest monsters of all. The woman she is currently playing hostess to.
But she won't do it. She can't do it. Emily repeats her mantra that this is only a job. You're not righting an injustice or wrong. You are eradicating dangerous people because the CIA has instructed you to and to stop Doyle from stealing the life of his own son. That is all any of this has to be. It's not personal. The sooner she is able to dispatch Shelly and then Doyle, the sooner this will all be over. No one will know what she has done.
Not even her….
Emily closes her eyes and takes a deep breath and then offers the olive branch one more time. The opportunity for mercy that Shelly denied Tommy O'Leary, when she confronted him about McDermott.
"Tommy believed that you would show him mercy, when he found out that you knew that he was selling your information to McDermott. He trusted you to understand why he did what he did and to help him and his family. He paid for it with his life." Emily abruptly stops her motions and drops her hands on the CEO's shoulders as if it were dead weight.
"So, tell me again Shelly, why should I trust that you're me the truth and you don't know where Ian is, when I've heard otherwise?"
Emily's vision starts to blur suddenly, and the room begins to spin. A searing pain shoots from behind her eyes and she feels her palms become sweaty. She wants to rip the gloves off of her hands for relief but doing that will cause everything to fall apart. She ignores the sensation and steps away from Shelly and tries to play it off as casually as possible, not wanting the other woman to see her moment of weakness. She starts rubbing her temples, hoping for some kind of sweet relief will subside the migraine until she is done with the Flagcon CEO. The migraine lasts longer than any of the other times it's happened before. Usually, this only happens before she's ready to kill her next mark, only ending once the assignment was completed.
This is the first time that this has happened while on an assignment. It's not nerves, because Emily has done this dozens of times before with the others. She doesn't know why this mission has been so hard for her to get done.
Minutes pass before Emily is able to open up her eyes and pull herself together. Instead of seeing the Baltimore skyline, she finds herself back in that in the cold, dank air of that warehouse in Boston.
She is back in that dark room in Boston, sitting in that chair. Her closed eyes now open, hoping upon hope that the team has figured out breadcrumbs she left in the wake of her abrupt exit from the team and the lie that Emily Prentiss built as her life for the last five years. She hopes that they have realized the information that she had given them was doctored and that the last name on the list was her old alias, Lauren Reynolds. She prays that they are on the way their jet, heading from Quantico to Boston as they speak and that she can hold out long enough for them to do what they do best.
Emily doesn't see him at first. Instead, she feels him lurking behind her menacingly like a leopard playing with his prey. She only acknowledges that he is there when he places his hand on her shoulders and massages them. His cold hands, that once served as a comfort to Lauren Reynolds petrifies FBI Agent Emily Prentiss, whose cover was made. The dead weight of a nonexistence past coming back to haunt her the life that she has carefully crafted now. He stops for a moment and tightens his grip on her. Telling her that she could no longer hide from him or their shared past. With Tsia gone and Clyde was God knows where, there was nowhere to run. No one coming to save her, even though she hoped the team were on their way. Odds are, they would get there too late and all there would be left, if Doyle allowed it, would be her corpse.
Emily shuts her eyes and breaths, resigned in her fate.
He loosens his grip for a moment, but leaves his hand there, to that she knows she's not off the hook.
"Where's my ring?" Doyle asks in a soft growl.
Emily tries to ignore him and chooses to focus on her team. She tries to fill in the gaps for whatever profile they may be working on for Doyle. She's finding it harder to ignore him when she can feel Doyle's fingers pressing harder onto her shoulder, his nails ripping into her skin.
"I flushed it." Emily answers neutrally, with a steadiness that she doesn't feel in the moment.
He moves his hand away off her shoulder and moves it towards her shirt. He unbuttons her shirt, one by one, exposing her bra. "I spent seven years in hell because of that ring." Doyle replies bitterly as walks away to the other side of the room when his task is completed. He kneels in front of her and opens up a black bag by his feet.
He opens up the bag and pulls out what looks to be a tattoo gun.
"So now I'm going to give you another gift, one you won't get rid of so easily." Doyle finishes with a cold smile. "A four-leaf clover should be a nice addition to your other tattoos. You still have two, right?"
"Yep." She replies sarcastically. "And that's enough ink, thanks."
"Ink." Ian chuckles menacingly as he rises from the ground. "North Koreans can't afford ink. No, no, they brand themselves."
Emily gets a closer look at the gun in his hand, and she feels herself struggle to keep her terror and panic at bay. Doyle pretends not to notice that anything was off with her, as he turns on the machine the humming starts. If he does notice her terrorized state, he certainly doesn't care. He spent seven years in that hell hole in North Korea. The least the former mole could do was sit still and accept his mark. He has waited for this moment for the last seven years and he was going to revel in it.
He takes the large needle in his hand and places it against her skin, near her heart.
Emily squirms and starts to lose it as the first pricks of the needle burns into her skin. She tries move away from him and put as much space between them as she could with her being tied up. Doyle retaliates and pushes her back down and roughly move the bits of her shirt that got in his way.
"The more you fight it, the more this will hurt." Ian instructs her coldly. Emily bites the inside of her cheek as the brand burns into her skin, as she wails on the inside.
When Emily comes to, her migraine is gone. It takes her a moment to realize that she was no longer at the mercy of Doyle and that his hands are no longer on her chest. Her own hands are placed over her own heart. The phantom pains of the burned clover, long healed rests surrounded by the inked blackbirds. The pain persists, like it had that night almost three years ago.
Emily shakes herself out of the living nightmare and moves her hands away from the scar. Realizing that she needed to try a new approach and end this sooner rather than later, the former agent places her hands back on the older woman's shoulders and grips them hard, pulling on some of the hair she swept back before. She had to reestablish her control and remind the woman that she was still here and there was no hope for her.
Shelly yelps, taken back by the new force that her captor has placed on her shoulders. "All you need to know is that the person I got it from, was stupid enough to leave this tape in a safe with the combination lock with the birthday of his latest mistress."
Emily leans closer into Shelly until she can feel the CEO's cold ears on her lips. continuing the lie hoping to trip the CEO up and terrifying her into telling her what she needed to know. "He was also stupid enough to run into me in the woods and beg me to spare his life, while on his knees for the first time in his life. He told me everything that I needed to know about you and Ian's relationship."
She watches Shelly's face pale further, to where she almost looked like a ghost. "You're lying, Scott would never say anything-" The blond is interrupted by her captor who hisses into her ear.
"Scott would and Scott did." Emily viciously taunts, letting the distorted voice go a little higher. "When I asked him about Doyle, he says that he hasn't talked to him since he decided to help stow him away in downtown DC. He claims that you have been financing his lifestyle since he killed that FBI agent and was placed on the most wanted list. Harrelson also told me that you have made sure that he was able to move around without being spotted in case the feds or the many people who justifiably want him dead to catch up with him now that he virtually has no power. He said that if anybody had an interest in keeping Ian safe and protected, that it would be you. He sold you out Shelly and it was all for nothing, since I shot the cowardly bastard in the back of the head the moment, I took his cuffs off."
"So, I'll give you one last chance to repent and come clean Shelly. Where is Ian Doyle hiding right now?" Emily asks menacingly. "And what is he planning with Richard Gearce?"
Shelly's eyes rise to the eye level of her mask and she stares at her, biting her lip.
For a moment, Emily believes that the CEO knows that she is cornered and that there is no way out. There was no reason to lie for Doyle anymore. Emily had her and if she hopes for any semblance of the merciful death that is inevitable for Shelly at this point, now is the time to confess her sins.
Shelly kills those hopes moments later, when green eyes glare defiantly at her captor and spits in her face. The former agent quickly turns her head away and wipes the lens of the mask off with her gloves disgusted and furious.
The CEO says nothing afterward and turns to face away from her as much as she can. The arrogance and lack of shame this woman has is going to get her killed. What is galling to Emily, is that she doesn't even care. She will go to her grave protecting this man, who would never do the same for her in return. Either he has something bigger on her that is keeping her loyal to him.
Or Emily hasn't given her the right kind of motivation to finally give him up. She may have one more thing that will move her hand where she needs it to be. And as much as she doesn't want to play that card, she'll have to.
For Declan's sake. Whatever it takes.
"Wrong choice Shelly." Emily mutters darkly as she walks away from the blond. She goes behind the tall pile of boxes that were hiding the next trick that she has up her sleeve for the CEO. She rolls the silver chart out from its hidden area behind the boxes and pushes it towards Shelly's chair.
The older woman looks at the contraption, confused for a moment, not knowing what her captor was going to do with it. It wasn't until the older blond looks down at her hand and sees the dull needle that she is gripping in her hands that she is able to put two and two together. Shelly tries to move the chair out of Emily's reach, only to have the former agent shove her back down into it. She rips open the first few buttons of her shirt off, exposing her black bra.
"Have you lost your mind?" Shelly shrieks incredulously as she struggles to get out of her captor's hold. "What do ya think you're doing?!"
"Ian once told me a fun little fact about tattoos in North Korea. You know, where he spent the first seven years of his eternity in hell rotting." Emily says as she slams the squirming woman back into her chair hard. "How branding is their preferred method of tattooing. It hurts like hell at first. At least it did for me. Now I'm curious to see if it'll hurt as much for you too?"
Emily stuffs the black sock into Shelly's mouth. She then pulls hard on the left part of her shirt and presses her palm down on the CEO's chest to keep her still.
"The more you fight it, the more this is going to hurt." Emily instructs coldly as she begins the process of searing the clover onto Shelly's skin.
Just like everyone that came before her. Doyle's little puppets, who in the end, were loyal to a man who wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire. The sounds of Shelly's muffled screams and the humming of the machines were the only things that Emily could hear now.
2:15 am:
Downtown Washington DC
JJ opens her eyes and takes her head off the window, just as Morgan ends the Facetime call with the Wonder Twins. The profiler looks at her partner with sleepy eyes, still trying to get her bearings. At some point after their debrief on the Tommy O'Leary case, JJ must have drifted off then.
Morgan chuckles as he hands her iPhone back to her.
"How long was I out?" JJ asks, in her raspy voice.
"Not long." Morgan answers with a small smile. "Pretty boy, baby girl and I were just reviewing all that we have so far, before they signed off to go finish working on the time line for victimology."
"That's great." JJ says with a yawn as she leans further back into her seat and places head on the windshield, getting comfortable. "Can't wait to see what the wonder twins come up with. I'm more interested to see if they can manage to survive the night without killing each other."
Morgan chuckles and shakes his head at her. "I hope so. It would mean more paperwork for us to do if baby girl kills Reid ." He says with a smirk. JJ laughs, knowing that if it ever came down to Reid and Garcia, the tech goddess would take him out hands down.
"Besides, Penelope's wrists are way too pretty to be placed in those dull standard issue handcuffs."
"Like Garcia would let you cuff you her with the standard issued ones, without grabbing her bedazzler first and giving those cuffs some sparkle." JJ chuckles. "Well since it is you, maybe she would make an exception."
Morgan joins her with a full belly laugh seconds later, as the same image pops up in both of the agents' heads.
They both can see it now.
Pen being escorted in cuffs by herself and Morgan. She sees her best friend in cuffs, pouting like a miserable puppy who has just been caught shredding the toilet paper in the bathroom. As they walk by her office, the analyst manages to slip out of their grip for a moment and heads for her office. She sees her best friend arguing with all of them about how the cuffs don't fit with her aesthetic and that she needs to bedazzle them before going to prison in order to feel like Garcia.
The last image that flashes in their minds, is of Garcia being pulled off the hinges of the door by herself, Morgan and Rossi as she struggles with them to get to her desk.
After what feels like hours later, the two agent's laughter stops, and the tears stop leaking out of her eyes. JJ wipes her eyes and turns away from Morgan just as he exhales and sighs, with a small, relaxed smile on his lips.
Despite being in forty below night in an FBI standard issue SUV, this is the most relaxed JJ has seen Morgan since before she left the team for the State Department. Before everything fell apart with Emily. Ever since then, JJ rarely sees her friend smile anymore and goof around with the team anymore. From what Pen has told her, after Emily, he even stopped with their banter for a while. It wasn't until the tech analyst confronted him about it after the team had come back from that case in Florida. It was shortly after the team psych evaluations were completed. She talked with the interim SSA all night and they cried together about Emily, that they were able to get their relationship dynamic back on track.
The rest of the team, outside of herself and Garcia, Morgan keeps his distance from everyone else. It's something that JJ has noticed, ever since her return to the team last year. Reid is Reid and likes to keep everyone at a distance anyway. Reid has been trying more with Morgan and even making an effort to go to Morgan's office when he can, even if it is to talk about the prospect of getting another degree or getting advice about his relationship with Maeve.
Blake is great and has been a wonderful addition to the team. But JJ knows that he can't look at Blake without being reminded of Emily. Because it is the same reason why she tries to keep her distance from their newest addition for that same reason.
He and Rossi have become closer than ever, with Rossi mentoring him on how to run the team. Rossi may not want to be in charge of the team himself, but he makes the perfect right hand man. From what Garcia tells her, Rossi has started giving Morgan cooking lessons after seeing that Morgan's fridge consists only of take out and grilled cheese.
The one person that Morgan seems to have a problem with is Hotch. Before their boss left on special assignment, there was obvious tension between the two that made being in their debriefings almost unbearable. He question the things that Hotch would tell them to do and even argued with him in front of a sheriff deputy on a case. From what she was able to gather from him, Morgan resents the fact that Hotch has not done more to find Emily's killer. He hasn't insisted on starting a task force or anything. Whenever Morgan would try to bring it up, Hotch told him in no uncertain terms to let it be. He's on the most wanted list and he will be caught eventually. There is nowhere Doyle can go that we won't find him. When Morgan brought up adding additional security for Declan, his request was shot down by Hotch as well. There wasn't any room in the budget. There was never any room in the budget to protect a young boy whose killer arms dealing father, could steal him away at any time. Honestly, it even rubbed JJ the wrong way when her friend told her that.
Morgan resented the fact that their search for Doyle had to be done under the cover of darkness. Morgan even went over Hotch's head and talked to Cruz himself to allow the three of them to research into Doyle on their off time. They even had to take turns, whenever they could, playing stakeout at Declan's house.
Emily had been a sour note in the deterioration in his relationship with Hotch. And JJ knows that Emily would have been devastated to hear that she has caused this tension within the team.
JJ's glad that for the present moment, however fleeting, that they are able to relax and breathe from all of the day-to-day insanity.
JJ turns her head and looks at the nondescript complex, that she remembers what they were here to do. The mood in the car dampens almost as quickly as it picked up.
JJ steels her face and looks away from Morgan to focus on the task at hand.
"If you want, I'll take on the next watch until four." JJ offers, leaving no room for the other agent to argue. "Just to give a chance to get some sleep. You must be exhausted as I feel."
"I'll take you up on that offer." Morgan yawns as he turns away from her and closes his eyes. "Thank you, mama bear."
While JJ is focused on the complex, Morgan takes to observe his partner. He wasn't really tired and didn't think he could sleep if he wanted to with everything going on. He closes his eyes and feigns sleep.
In this light, JJ looks almost looks the same as she has always been, since the day that she walked into the BAU conference room a lifetime ago. In fact, appearance wise, she looks younger than the media liaison had been. Mother time has been good to JJ, despite the stress of their job, raising a five-year-old on her own, and all of the extra work they are doing on the side to find Doyle and make sure his son was safe, like Emily had wanted. What his best friend had given her life to ensure.
To the naked eye, JJ is living her best life. She was officially a profiler, after many years spent wrangling a team of profilers and making sure said profilers didn't say anything that would cause them to lose their jobs or worse. Profiling seemed to suit her better and she no longer had the weight on her shoulders that came with picking and choosing the cases that they took. Her blond locks were shinier and the waved look Garcia talked her into a few months ago, is working for her. Maybe it was the sparring sessions with him and Section Chief Cruz in the mornings, that were starting to have a positive effect on her. She wipes the floor with both of them by the time their sparing sessions are over. Beating the two of them every morning would certainly put a pep in anyone else's step.
Or maybe it was having Henry to herself and the burden of her failed relationship with Will, no longer weighing like an albatross on her neck. He was with someone who could give him the that he always wanted and be the kind of support that he needed. Something that JJ, in the end, just could not give him. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she could. The detective moving on and back to Louisiana, eventually marrying the love of his life, must have eased the guilt she felt for leaving him. Henry is thriving with the new living arrangements. And Gabrielle was the perfect stepmother for Henry. She was as sweet as she could be. She and Jennifer seemed to get along well with one another, always putting Henry first in any decision that they made. Gabrielle also made sure that Jennifer knew that she would always be a part of their family and that she will never try to take her place as Henry's mom. From what JJ had told him, Will and Gabrielle want her to be godmother for their unborn daughter, who was due in a couple of months. They were even sharing tips with one another about the impending birth and what Gabrielle can expect before and after birth.
To the untrained eye, the eye that did not belong to a profiler, JJ appears to be in the best place in her life. But Morgan can see that beneath all of that, there is something else going on with his partner and one of his best friends, that she seems to be struggling with.
Morgan has known JJ for nearly a decade and as much as she has tried to hide this fact, he can see through her façade and read her like a book. He sees the makeup that acts like a thinly veiled cover, to conceal the dark circles that lay underneath her eyes from restless nights. He notices how former liaison tenses up and her eyes go a shade darker at the mention of Ian Doyle. During their secret meetings on the Doyle case with Garcia and JJ, he noticed that she clenched her hands around her pen on how her jaw would tighten. There was one time, she was looking at a picture of Doyle and the hard glare she would send to it. If only looks could kill and he could send her into that complex with just that look for the arms dealer, he's pretty sure he would be dead before they could say 'FBI open up!' Another incident occurred when they were going over Emily's time as Lauren Reynolds and the relationship with Doyle, as it pertained to Declan. He noticed JJ practically crushed the disposable cup in her hand, that held her coffee by the end of the briefing. Even Garcia picked up on the change in the profiler's demeanor and wanted to talk about it. They've learned not to mention that period of Emily's life while JJ is around.
When he makes his way into the bullpen, he notices that her shoulders are hunched over more, and those beautiful baby blues have seemingly lost their sparkle. Whenever they do their briefings, JJ seems detached from what is going on. Most of the time, it feels like she is just looking right through them. It's as if she's present and there physically, but her mind is always somewhere else.
Reid, who reads social cues in the same way that he would read one of boy wonder's novels in Slovak, has even started to point out JJ's change of demeanor to him. Sometimes, when the young genius stops by his office, he'll point out that JJ seems more tired and sadder than he has ever seen her. He knows that it has to do with Emily. He even caught her looking at the empty desk where Emily's used to be, the team being unable to fill her spot just yet, if ever.
Morgan would go to Vegas with pretty boy and bet it all on his theory, that JJ is playing momma bird to everyone else and pretending that all is right with her world, so that she doesn't have to face her own
grief and sorrow. She's busy taking care of everyone else and keeping busy, that she can neglect to the Emily shaped hole in her heart. The one that is present in everyone on the team, with the exception of Blake. Their newest addition empathizes with their pain and understands why everyone was a little standoffish in the aftermath of Emily's death and Seaver's departure. But she will never truly understand their loss and doesn't want to replace the former agent.
Everyone else has had the opportunity to mourn and get some semblance of closure about Emily. JJ is still knee deep in her grief. The temporary SSA believes, as he has always believed, that JJ's feelings extend far deeper than just the loss of a friend and colleague. That somehow, JJ has lost more than what the rest of the team has lost. This unspoken thing that has always been there between JJ and Emily, that started with the first meeting in their conference room. The 'what could have been that should have been', will always remain just that, could have been. And he thinks that JJ is having a hard time reconciling that fact with herself.
The team has noticed those particular vibes between Emily and JJ. Before Will, the team had even started a secret pool to see who would confess to who first. Even with Will, it seemed like he was not forever, despite having a child together. The team always believed that Emily and JJ would eventually get the memo and realize what they had with one another. There were moments where he would have to stop Pen from interfering because the tension was literally killing her.
He doesn't think that JJ is even aware that she is giving any off these vibes. That she was mourning like a widow and not as just a friend.
It would make sense, since JJ and Emily were never truly just friends.
Upon further examination of his partner, even now, is giving legs to his theory. Specifically, in the form of an old, worn leather jacket from the eighties that has definitely seen better days and is draping off the other profiler's shoulders because it was a size too big. that he knows for a fact is a size too big for her. If he were to guess and get a good whiff of said jacket, it would reek of stale Marlboro lights and hair spray that hasn't been used since 1989. Emily originally had the jacket in storage. She only took out if Garcia got her drunk enough to relive her high school goth phase.
It was only until before her death, that his former partner started wearing the thing on stakeouts to keep warm. It was the same one that Emily claimed to want to throw away after every stakeout, but somehow always managed to end up in the back of her gigantic walk-in closet, next to her many blazers.
Morgan rises from his feigned sleep and gently tugs on the sleeve of the arm that is currently sitting on the console, causing his partner to turn and look over at him.
"It's been a long time since I've seen that." Morgan points out too casually, with a little mischief flashing through his brown eyes.
JJ squints at Morgan, wondering if she was missing something.
Morgan holds up a part of the jacket's sleeve, placing it in her direct line of site, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The jacket momma bear. It's been a while since I've this seen it."
JJ smiles fondly and looks at the other sleeve.
"It's the first time I've seen this on you, though." Morgan adds as an afterthought.
JJ blushes and tugs the piece of the sleeve out of the other agent's fingers and adjusts the sleeve. She picks at the part of the sleeve that the other agent had in his hand, purposefully not looking at him. She was hoping that Morgan would get tired of the silence and let her off the hook. To be honest, JJ doesn't even remember putting the jacket before leaving for the stakeout the stakeout tonight.
"You know, I forgot I even had it on. We must have been in a rush." JJ says longingly. "I usually don't wear this outside of home. This is the furthest I've ever worn this jacket outside of my back yard. If anything were to happen to it-"
JJ stops herself and closes her eyes, letting her memories take hold of her. She was no longer in the car with Morgan.
Instead, she's back in Paris, in that makeshift apartment the State Department set up as a temporary stop over. She feels the autumn breeze sweep past her, causing her to shiver. Emil opened the window to get some fresh air in the stale apartment. The former agent gently places the jacket over her shoulders, after seeing the goosebumps form on her arm. Emily, still wearing the aviators she wore when they met at that cafe, where JJ gave her the keys to her new life. She looks over her shoulder, as she's had to do since dying on that table in Boston, places her arm back around her once the jacket was sufficiently secured around her. Emily whispers in her ear, telling her to keep her jacket until this was all over. Promising to get the jacket back from her once Doyle became nothing but a bad memory. JJ promised, in return, to take care of it, knowing what the jacket means to her, even if Emily pretended otherwise. Emily holds her to that promise, as she pulls JJ closer to her. They stayed like that, JJ wrapped in Emily's arms, until it was time for JJ to get ready for bed, her flight leaving Paris and onto Afghanistan, gone before the sun rises, in Emily's new home.
JJ opens her eyes again and refuses to look at her partner. That was the last conversation the two of them would have together in person.
Two years to the day of that conversation, Emily was murdered in Dublin. There was a leak and Emily's identity had been compromised. Some men who owed Doyle a favor, were able to trace the location on the phone that she was using to play their words with friends sessions.
JJ was telling the truth when she told Morgan she didn't remember putting the jacket on. The whole morning had been a blur of nerves and anxiety over their impending stakeout. She doesn't remember rushing out the door to greet the wonder twins and kissing Henry goodnight, with a promise of being back for breakfast. JJ missed the look Spencer gave her, as if he were stricken. She just assumed that even after all these years, Spence and sudden displays of affection still don't go together. JJ barley acknowledged the sad smile that Pen gave her before she took off that should have been her clue?
JJ's hands go to the lapels of the jacket, and she tugs on them, pulling the jacket closer to her. She was hoping that this jacket could bring her the kind of comfort only its previous owner could provide. Some of which she could have used while under the scrutinizing and inquisitive eyes of her partner.
JJ steeled herself for a full-on interrogation from Morgan and reopening wounds old wounds she never wanted to touch again. She was expecting Morgan to stubbornly pry open the locks on the box for Emily and to fight him like hell on every turn. Only to exhaustedly admit whatever theory he had about them in his head, because it was just too much to carry alone anymore. She was expecting to spill the three years of secrets and lies she's been carrying on her own to him and finally get to a place where she could let it all go.
The last thing JJ expected was for the other agent to drop the subject altogether. It was so out of character for the Unit Chief. Morgan pries things out of you, even when they are hard to talk about. Other than Garcia, maybe Reid on a good day, Morgan was one of the only people she could talk to about anything Emily related without feeling alone. He was one of the few people in her life who really knew her and all that she lost with the former agent's death.
After a few beats of an unbearable silence, Morgan breaks the stalemate with a sad smile. "It looks good on you, princess."
He says nothing else to her and turns his head back to the direction of Doyle's building.
JJ didn't know how to feel about Morgan letting her off the hook. She didn't know if she was relieved that Morgan didn't want to talk about it any further. Or disappointed with having to spend another day carrying all of this baggage.
Author's note:
Hello again, everyone. I know I've done this a million times before, but I sincerely do apologize that it has taken three years to get you guys this update. I'll be honest and say that it is has been a crazy three years. Especially with this last year with the pandemic. I've had a couple of job changes and then adjusting to working at home. I suddenly found that I had no time to work on this or any of my other stories.
I've also been working on some original fiction that I may or may not be in the early stages of a first draft. If you're into vampires like I am, then this may be up your alley. And I may or may not be in the process of finding a platform to detailing my journey of writing said book. Fingers crossed. Let me know if you guys would be interested in that as well.
TLDR…many, many apologies for the long hiatus and the next hiatus will hopefully happen when this story is completed.
Now onto the good stuff. Originally, this chapter was supposed to be a lot longer than it turned out to be. I've been stuck on this for three years and have lost count on how many times I have re-written this chapter. This chapter is now going to be filler, with all of the action and darkness picking up in the next chapter. Thankfully, I have a good portion of that written and know where it is going to go. Far warning, it is only going to get darker from this point on and Emily, JJ and the rest of the team are about to go through some stuff. But it will all be worth it in the end.
I want to thank you all, who are still hanging in there and reading this story. I've read all of your comments and I am going to get back into responding to them going forward. I really appreciate the love and interest that is still in this story is almost unbelievable to me and I'm thankful for you guys sticking around. I hope I can make the ending and the other twists I have planned, worth for you guys in the end.
Also, side note, I may or may not be re-writing the first chapter of The Arrow. I've had a chance to re-read it and I am just not happy with it. That will be coming, as well as the new chapter, within the next week or so. I want to say next Saturday. Chapter one will be rewritten, and Chapter two will be posted. I'm going to try to post updates every Saturday from her on out.
If anyone is interested in Supergirl fics, I may have one up my sleeves that I will be publishing sometime in the next month or so. And in the realm of JJ and Emily, there may or may not be a Buffy the Vampire slayer fic coming as well. Let me know if you guys want me to post a snippet of it.
Lots of love and hugs. Stay safe, wear masks and just take care of each other. If this past year has taught me anything is that life is far too short to do anything less than that. I'll see you guys at the next chapter. And happy fourth for my fellow Americans and enjoy the long holiday weekend. You know I will. To non-Americans, have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!
Yours truly,
The Geek in Pink