"Wake up!" was hissed in his ear and he suddenly felt as if he'd been doused with ice-cold water. When his eyes snapped open, he was completely dry. The person who'd spoken in such an urgent tone hovered at the door with an anxious look on their normally slate-blank face and was obviously fidgeting behind the half-closed door.
Spencer grumbled and got to his feet, not bothering to stretch before he approached the stranger at the door.
"We need to work on your self-control."
"Normally my control is impeccable." The other man sneered in a very accented voice.
"Well, you've obviously not encountered many empaths because your defenses are shit. It's easy to manipulate you, even unconsciously. That's what we're going to work on. What'd you wake me up for?"
"Your doctor friends, one works with the dead, yes?"
"The woman is a coroner." Spencer confirmed. "What of it?"
"There is something foul at play. She and her husband were both called to law enforcement earlier in the night. They have not been back since."
"What time is it?"
"Five-thirty."
"What time did she leave?"
"Two and a half hours ago."
"Leo, what the fuck? Were you awake the entire time?!" Spencer asked, surprised.
"I do not require much sleep. You'll know if I do."
"You nearly bled to death in two different locations and using your powers takes energy. You require sleep." Spencer urged.
"I require answers!" The man hissed. "And there is no true rest until I get them."
"Would you like there to be?"
"Is that a threat?"
"It is a proposition."
"Not one I can accept just yet. You should wake your wife, Dr. Parker. Your friends are most definitely in trouble."
Leo turned out to be a few hours early in his prediction but trouble stalked the group like an unseen intruder. It started when Peter and Vivian agreed to meet and host the remainder of Spencer's team about three hours after Leo woke him up. Vivian had been asked to come in as early as she had because not long before, a dead man was dropped in front of the town hall with his left ear chopped off and a terrified look on his face.
Hotch and the others were surprised to see Spencer back so soon but he explained the situation as best he could. That is to say: He told them that Layla was his liaison to the CIA and they had been taking refuge with an agent she knew. They honestly didn't know that the place the Lokas moved to was the town the case was set in. Peter and Vivian were out of town whenever Spencer was off and neither Spencer nor Layla were able to keep up with their constant need to travel.
"Good to have you and yours with us, Agent Jones. Can you tell us anything about the newest victim?" Hotch asked.
"It's not part of your case." Vivian dismissed easily. "The preliminary results show no drugs beyond the usual in his system. Painkillers, mostly anti-inflammatory. Arthritis is a bitch and since he was moving around so much I'd guess that made it worse."
"Tea, dear." Peter mumbled, gesturing to the tray on the coffee table. "It's been a long morning and you're going to have a hell of a time at work tomorrow. You need to-."
"If you say rest, I'll throw this on you."
"I won't say it, then."
"But you're thinking it." Vivian scowled. "We just got back from two weeks off, Pete, I've had all the rest I'm going to get."
"I'd have liked to unpack before you went and threw yourself into a murder investigation, but we can't al get what we want." Peper snorted. "Fox, my boy, while it's good to see you awake, do not stress yourself over this meeting. Your friends are involved because Reid works for the department handling the case. Nothing more."
"A man had his ear cut off, yes?" Leo prompted warily.
"Yes…" Layla muttered slowly, not quite sure what he was getting at. "Do you know something about this?"
"No, I… I should hope not. Thank you for the tea, Dr. Loka. I'll be going back to sleep now."
"Take all the time you need, dear boy." Peter insisted. "You will need time to recover from yesterday's ordeal."
"What happened yesterday?" Emily wondered.
"As far as I know, it's nothing you can help with. The man on my slab today was the coroner himself. Former coroner, I suppose. The lack of skin graft and the terrified look on his face rule out his potential as a victim of your case. The man was not expecting to die and had no reason to."
"Why are you so sure?"
"The preliminary report will answer that question." Vivian grumbled as she sipped her tea. "But it depends on a few things we don't know yet."
"You are far more invested in this case than the average coroner would be. And you seem to know more. How well did you know your predecessor? Or Ms. Waller?"
"My predecessor has nothing to do with this specifically because of how I know Ms. Waller." Vivian informed the group.
"Varrie…" Layla's voice sounded strained and cracked when she said the name. "Are you sure it is a good idea to go forward with this?"
"We know enough to put together who is being murdered, even if we don't know how or why. Far be it from me to hinder an investigation." Vivian insisted.
"Besides, you're out of a job, remember?" Spencer snorted. "You got cut off from any resources you could possibly have. There's only so many secrets you can keep at once, Layla."
"That doesn't mean I tell them all!" Layla snapped.
"Wait a minute, isn't Layla your girlfriend's name?" Emily asked, eyes narrowed.
A noise emanated from Layla's throat and Spencer rolled his eyes.
"Sure is. Why bring that up now?"
"Because you said she's your liaison to the CIA. Are you dating her?"
Layla choked suddenly and coughed roughly.
"Shit." She grumbled when she was done. "My bad, that was not intended. But, uh, Spencer, why do I get the feeling that your coworkers don't know who I am?"
"Because they don't."
"And you thought that was a good idea because…"
"They never asked."
"So you never told. God, I forgot how much of an ass you can be. That's not something people do when they've got friends, Wolf. I thought you were past that."
"What else should I have said?" Spencer asked. "They know you exist. They've all met you before."
"And you figured you should stop there."
"In his defense, much of your life is wrapped up in your job and there isn't much he can say about that." Hotch explained. "We have met you before, several times, and even though I know some things about your job, it's not feasible to talk about what you do without explaining everything. Which, as far as I know, is something none of us have the clearance for."
"So you don't say anything at all. Fair enough." Layla grumbled. "And now that I think about it, I'm used to going with my last name around this group. Whatever. Long story short, Peter, Varrie, Fox, and I work for a program under the CIA. Reid used to work with us but he left not long before he joined the FBI. I wouldn't go poking around because depending on who you talk to, the program doesn't exist. As of a few hours ago, there was a security breach that compromised a truckful of undercover agents so now the program really doesn't exist and we are no longer members of said program."
"Two of you called the other man Fox. Is that… was Mackenzie Waller a member of the program you're talking about?"
"It's possible." Spencer admitted at last. "The stories we were told about makes it very likely. The only issue with that is if the other victims are as well."
"Why is that an issue? We have our victimology."
"We might have our perps as well." Layla muttered darkly.
"Not yet." Spencer insisted. "There are too many others to rule out."
"Oh yeah, we're being hunted by two completely different groups when the answer is right in front of your face."
"It is a bit too early to tell." Hotch cut them both off. "We would have to confirm all eight victims were part of this program. Now, what's this about being hunted?"
"One of the groups we've been trying to take down has the alias of every agent they've encountered from our group. Fox is an agent, but thankfully his cover is intact. Reid, Link, and I were one of the last teams sent to infiltrate them. Link's gone missing and Fox came for help to get him back."
"Do you guys know his name or are we just going to keep calling a grown man Fox?" Morgan queried.
"If it makes you feel better, we all respond to our codenames as well as any mission identities we've been given. In fact, Link is a nickname Fox gave Impala." Layla offered. "It's not his real name, never has been, but once you've been around long enough you start wearing names like a second skin."
A thud came from the back of the house and the Drs. Loka were on their feet with no provocation, bolting for the hallway. Mere seconds after that, Layla stiffened. Her teeth ground audibly against each other and her eyes were blown wide with pain. She gripped her right ear and squeezed with all her might. Meanwhile, Spencer had collapsed onto the floor and lay completely still. The only indication that he was conscious or even alive was his fingers clawing at his left ear and the occasional groan that came from his direction. Hotch had yanked out a black earpiece that looked like it belonged to a BlueTooth set and stared at it incredulously.
The phenomenon lasted less than a minute and when it was over, Layla fell to the floor and Hotch exhaled roughly.
"I think…" He panted. "I think we know what… what happened to those eight people."
"What the hell was that?" Layla whined. "I don't… that's never happened before. Even when it's on the fritz that's… what was that?"
"God, I thought my head would burst. And that was, what, two, three seconds for me. You and Reid-. Wait, is Reid knocked out?!"
No one moved at his proclamation and Layla sighed.
"Yes. And I doubt anyone's going to answer you for a while. He's likely stifling their responses as well as his own. They should be back to normal when he's fully unconscious."