A check in with the team before we head back to Emily and Nate…

Chapter 8: Discovery

After leaving Elizabeth's, Clyde got a call about halfway through their journey back to the BAU office.

"It's one of my contacts," he told Hotch, who was driving, before answering.

"I have some new information," the accented man told Clyde. Jessup, the caller, informed him that there were signs of at least three assailants in the London flat. "Evidence still showed that Emily was present at the scene and there were reports of a woman fleeing the area. There was a security system in place that connected to an outside source. It was tracked to a phone that was dumped in a public area. Tests are being run, but it appeared wiped clean of prints and anything digital that could be of help.

"What about the call to the authorities? Have you heard it?"

"There were several."

"Can you send them and anything else you haven't already?"

"Certainly Clyde. You owe me for this."

"Well, I am a good man to have in your debt."

"I know. I'll send everything through the secure connection as soon as I possibly can."

"Thank you."

"Oh and Clyde."

"Yes?"

"There have been questions about you."

"Meaning?"

"They're looking into potential associates of Emily. Your name has come up. They want to talk to you."

"I'll take care of it."

Clyde didn't bother with goodbye, just thanked Jessup once more and hung up.

"Learn anything?" Hotch asked.

"A woman matching Emily's description was seen running from the flat," Clyde told him.

"That doesn't mean she did it."

"Naturally. What that tells us is that she might know something, may be in danger, and we're not much closer to finding her."

"Hopefully whatever Garcia has found will help with that."

Clyde nodded as Hotch focused on the road. They were almost there and really hoping that Garcia or the team found some clue as to what happened. Though, despite believing his team was the best, Hotch had to wonder how they were going to break it if Clyde, who lived near and interacted more with Emily as of late, couldn't. But they knew her collectively, and each with their own experiences. So maybe their combined abilities along with Clyde's would be just the recipe they needed.

That was, after all, one of the main reasons Clyde came to them. That, of course, and the fact that he was pretty sure someone in his office, someone from Emily's team even, was involved in this all somehow. He just wasn't sure how or who, so he wanted outside help. If they came to the same conclusion, he'd know that he wasn't just looking for more problems where there weren't any.

"Come on. They're waiting for us," Hotch said once they arrived.

He rushed them up to the BAU floor and immediately looked for the team. Everyone seemed to be gathered in the roundtable room.

"Time to see what they have," Hotch thought and continued walking with Clyde beside him.

Everyone seemed involved in something, trying to solve this before a case came up that forced them to work on that instead of helping Emily.

"Hello, Miss Garcia," Clyde charmed. "You've found something."

"Oh yes," she said. "A potentially big something. Sit. Sit. Everyone look."

The team settled around the table as Garcia pulled up a picture of an ID. "This is one of the IDs found at the scene for the dead guy, the one they couldn't identify."

"How did you get this?" Clyde asked.

"Umm… Probably best you don't know."

"Fair enough," he said and urged her on.

"Well, this was one of the IDs and…" she pulled up several other similar images next to it on the screen. "These are others. They all look the same, right?"

"Right," the group said.

"Wrong."

"What do you mean? We can see them. They're the same."

"The same man, yes. But I put it through facial recognition since the body itself was so beaten the face was unrecognizable. Anyway… the point. There were no exact matches in any database, and I looked all over the world in any database I could. I even cross referenced these IDs against each other."

"And they weren't a match?" Derek asked.

"No," Reid said. "Look. It's hard to notice but in this one," he pointed to the first photo, "The eyebrows are a little higher. And this one," he moved to the next, "Has a more defined chin. The symmetry between the photos are altered. The same picture, the same guy, but changed to make them unrecognizable to machines."

"Exactly! See, the boy genius gets it. The pictures were slightly altered and the back stopping for each identity is impeccable. This is CIA level stuff."

"CIA… like something Emily could do or have done, like she did with Declan," Rossi added.

"Yes. Exactly like that."

"Clyde, did you know about this?" Hotch asked.

"That Emily has been setting up covers? Obviously not or I would have shared that. Emily can't do this alone. She'd have to go to her contacts for that."

"Do you know who those contacts might be?"

"You know Emily. She has a multitude of resources that go beyond any of our knowledge. The only ones I've known for sure are dead after Doyle found them."

"Uh… Gentlemen," Penelope interrupted. "Before you go all testosterone fit, I am man, hear me roar on us trying to decipher the intricate web woven by our dear friend, there's more."

"More?"

"Yes. I put all of these photos together into various compilations and searched again for any matches."

"And?" JJ asked. Garcia had been withholding until everyone was together while she worked out all the details.

"Oh, I found over two hundred partials. Some were totally crazy. Didn't match the picture much except for structure. Narrowed it down some more and used my best judgment to get viable possibilities."

Reid asked, "So, how many?"

"Ten feasible options. I'll put them up right now and see if you come to the same conclusion I have." And boy, if they did, things just got a whole lot more complicated.

One by one, Garcia put the ID photos up. Each of them looked at the different pictures in detail. They all said that the pictures held some similarities, but most didn't look right.

Rossi, however, saw one that caught his eye. "This one looks like a much younger guy and an old photo."

"That's because it is, my friend."

"What's the story?" Derek asked.

"That is Dominic Bardolino."

"As in the Bardolino crime family?"

"One in the same," Garcia answered Rossi. "This is from fifteen years ago, the last time he was seen."

"I'm assuming that, since he's in the viable category, that he's missing and not dead," Hotch said.

"Well, depends who you ask. I did some digging and, while the rumors are that he died, there's no evidence to support it. And… dun, dun, dun… I did an age projection based on this photo and got this…" She clicked a key and brought up a new image, one that looked remarkably like the fake ID pictures.

"He's certainly the closest," Reid told them. "Same oval face, high cheek bones, even though they're a little higher in the fakes. The basic structure is similar enough that it could definitely be him."

Clyde examined the picture and said, "Bardolino came onto our radar at Interpol."

"Really?"

"Yes. He wasn't a target, but his name came up in investigation. There was a vague connection between him and JTF-12 target."

Reid worriedly asked, "So, it's possibly revenge?"

"Another Doyle situation?" JJ sighed.

"No, we didn't take the case."

"Why not?" Rossi asked.

"We profiled terrorists and we were good at it, but I was in charge and I wasn't stupid enough to send anyone into that mess."

"Who were you after?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, though I will tell you this. He had his foot in every business. He was believed to supply weapons to political extremists which was what put him in our crosshairs. It appeared as if he was responsible for several attacks throughout Europe, but there was no evidence. After our initial research showed that he was involved with other seedy businesses that went beyond our scope, I didn't think we should pursue it."

"What made you not?" Hotch asked dubiously. An ambitious young agent like he was sure Clyde was

"Emily and Tsia were the only women on our team and, dealing with human trafficking, even if we went in as a buyer or seller, they'd end up on the frontline also. They were new and not yet ready for such a task. I was not going to jeopardize their lives or our chances to take the target down when it wasn't even in our domain, so I passed it to another team to work on and see if they could find an alternative route to getting him."

"It's not revenge then. So how does this all tie together?"

"I don't know."

"Perhaps this has to do with what Elizabeth told us about James Hadley."

"What did she say?" asked Rossi. "How did things go with her?"

"She knew who James was. He and Emily were very good friends in high school.

"He's also gay, which could mean that he and, presumably, Dominic were in a relationship when they were attacked."

"If that's true," JJ began, "then where does Emily fit in?"

"And why would she help them with cover IDs?" Derek asked.

"I can pull up all that cyberspace has to offer about James and Dominic," Garcia offered.

"Do it," Hotch ordered.

"Who would you like to know more about first?"

"Bardolino."

"Ok then." She did her thing and searched for him far and wide. "There's nothing on him for the past fifteen years. After he disappeared, that's it. He didn't just disappear from home, he went off the grid. No credit card purchases, no bank account. Nothing."

"Hmmm," the group pondered that.

"What do we know about him before that?"

"Well, he was an average kid. Grades were not great, but not bad. Went to a private school in Massachusetts just outside of Boston where he lived with his father, Joseph, mother Francesca, and older siblings Joey Jr. and Ava. Seemed a bit like the black sheep. His sister was sent to a prestigious boarding school in New York, probably to keep her out of," her face scrunched thinking how to word things, "family affairs. Oldest son was taken under daddy's wing. Looked like he was being groomed and is now a very active part of the organization."

"Was Dominic part of the business?" Rossi questioned.

"He appeared the black sheep of the family. Got in fights at school, didn't seem to fit in, and didn't really spend too much time at home from what I can tell. If he was involved, it wasn't obvious. I searched all records of him and there's nothing screaming at me."

None of that seemed useful.

"Alright. Keep looking later. See if you can find any evidence of him over the last decade," Hotch told her.

She nodded and moved on. "Now onto the elusive Mr. James Hadley," Garcia began. "Aside from the basics that we already know, there's not much about him out there in the cyber web. Like Dominic, He's a trust fund baby, kind of like Emily, only he's been using the money."

Reid asked, "No job?"

"He was doing well investing in stocks. Made plenty of money that way."

"Can we track the money? Does that tell us anything?" Reid asked her.

"Just that they moved around a lot. And that it looks like there was some other money being deposited, every two weeks."

"Where did the money come from?"

"It looks like he had a joint account with a Vincent Hadley… Hold on one second…" Garcia said, typing away. "Oh this looks promising."

"What is it?"

"The money in the account is drained to another in the Caymans. Very suspicious. I can't trace it, but it looks like the money was transferred a few months ago. Also, Vincent Hadley doesn't really exist, well, not until a little after Dominic vanished off the face of the earth."

"Then it's really possible they're the same guy?"

"Most definitely. I'm sure he had connections through his father to get an identity made for him. So, it's definitely not out there to connect the two. Plus, it's not inventive. Vincent was Dominic's middle name. That's another connection."

"Is there any information on Vincent?" JJ asked.

"Well, the money that was being deposited could've come from Vincent if he had a job under the table, but there's no record of that. He did, however, work in construction a while back which was why they moved around a bit. He was in a domestic partnership with James Hadley. It wasn't exactly legal for gay marriage then, you know. None of the benefits and all that jazz. He doesn't have any cyber trail either. Everything seemed to have gone through James. Taxes, accounts, everything has James as the main name. Neither have any social media. Well, that's not completely true. James had one, I believe, but there were no pictures or any identifying information other than a name, so I will look into that more too."

"Great," Hotch said. "Keep those searches going in the background. I don't want that to be your main focus because it might not lead to anything but let us know if you happen across something."

"You got it," Garcia agreed.

They had background information on Vincent/Dominic, James, and Emily. All of them were connected and now, also connected to the mob. There were so many ways this could go, so many ties in different directions, and, while it seemed like a lot of helpful information, it didn't help them figure out what happened, where Emily was, or who exactly was responsible.

"Do we have any idea what actually happened?" JJ asked, frustrated.

"Not a clue." And it was bothering all of them.

What they knew didn't exactly equate to anything of substance. There were a few different avenues they could follow, but they couldn't lose the feeling that they were missing something. There was some vital piece of information that they hadn't figured out, even with everyone searching through their own theories. Profiling wasn't the answer until they knew what they were profiling.

"What about Elizabeth? What else did she have to say?" Rossi asked. "Anything useful?"

"It's more what she didn't say. We could tell she was hiding something."

"She was as skilled as Emily at keeping the truth from coming out, but not quite as adept at concealing body language," Clyde told them.

"Think you can check her phone records after we left and see if there's anything that might help us find where Emily is?" Hotch addressed Garcia.

"I can do that."

"You really think Emily would call her of all people?" Derek spat out. That didn't make complete sense to him.

"Maybe. She didn't call any of us, right? Besides, if she was targeted, which we don't know yet that she wasn't, then whoever did it might not have known that they were on talking terms again."

"It's worth a shot," Rossi agreed.

"On the way over, my contact called with some new information," Clyde interrupted.

"And you're waiting until now to say something?" Derek grumbled.

"Hotch knew," Clyde defended. "And I'm still waiting for my contact to finish sending everything. There were three attackers. I also have him sending the emergency calls. Perhaps that will have some pertinent information."

"Alright, here's what we're going to do." Hotch gave orders. "JJ, call your contacts at Boston PD and see what they're willing to tell you about the Bardolino family and associates. Reid and Morgan, go through everything Garcia gave us on both the men. Rossi, you can work with Clyde. His contacts gave him an update. Profile the scene more with him. I'm going to go through Emily's time in London. Maybe something happened recently."

Everyone nodded and got to work.

Clyde and Rossi looked through the secure documents and were about to listen to the calls when Clyde told him, "In respect for you and your team, I'm telling you that I am also a suspect in the London investigation. As an associate of Emily's, they believe I may be involved."

"I don't think you'd be here if you were."

"I would not, no."

"So, I'll keep this to myself unless it becomes relevant."

"Thank you."

Rossi nodded and began to play the recordings. "That's Emily," he said when they played one. Clyde's head bobbed. It was definitely her.

Her voice filled the air as she spoke, scared, but clear. She identified three male assailants with vague descriptions of two of them, saying that there were two men at the London address being attacked.

"We should have Garcia look into those men, see if she could find any members of the Bardolino family that fit that description."

"Can't hurt," Rossi agreed with Clyde.

When they went to the tech to ask her, she said she'd look into it. "But that's a stretch. Those descriptions were vague at best and there are probably over a million people that fit those descriptions."

"I know."

Her computer dinged and alerted her to something. After some clicking, Garcia said, "And it will have to wait. I've found something else."

"What is it?" asked Rossi as he waved the whole team over to pay attention.

"I searched the banking history for any anomalies and there was a large payment that doesn't make sense to me."

"How does it not make sense?" JJ asked.

Garcia's nose wrinkled and she continued to work her magic.

"What? What is it, Baby Girl?" Derek questioned.

"It looks like there were several checks made out to a clinic right here in Virginia."

Clyde asked her, "A medical clinic? Was someone sick?"

"No. I mean, yes. It's a medical clinic, but a fertility clinic. They were trying to have a kid. Paid a lot of money for it too."

"Did they have one?" JJ asked, voice raised.

They all knew that would change things. That would mean there was a kid involved, and if there was a kid, where was he or she?

"I'm searching. I'm searching." They impatiently waited and listened to the keystrokes. "There! It looks like there's a birth certificate here. Nathaniel Hadley. Eight years old. It looks like James is listed as the father. Mother is left blank.

"Where the hell is Nathaniel? Was he in the apartment when they were attacked?" Hotch asked Clyde.

"There were no signs of a child. I went through everything same as you," Clyde said. "There was no indication."

"Where is he? Do the people who attacked James and Dominic have him?" Reid asked.

Derek scoffed. "Or is this Emily being Emily and protecting a kid again?"

"I can't answer that," Garcia said, feeling all eyes on her. "I can keep looking, but we don't know who did this or what happened. We don't have a lot for me to go on. I need something."

"Let's focus on one thing," Hotch said.

"Emily," Clyde added.

"Yes. Let's look at this just as if Emily ran with the kid. That's the only thing I can think of that would keep Emily from trying to fight off the attackers and help her friends if she was there. And it is believed she was there," Reid said.

"Baby Girl, think like we did when we were looking for Declan. What would Emily do and where would she go in Europe to get away from whatever was happening and keep the boy safe?"

"She'd go somewhere outside of England."

"Somewhere she was comfortable," Reid added to JJ's statement.

"Italy?" Derek asked.

Rossi and Clyde both answered, "No."

"But it would be somewhere that she knew well. If not Italy, maybe France."

"I'll look now," Garcia said. "I'll search all routes to get to both places and see what I can find."

The rest of the team waited with bated breath watching her until she kicked them out.

"I need space to work. Having you staring is not making me work any faster. It's slowing me down. Now we have a missing kid and a missing Emily! I need to focus. Shoo!"

Surrendering to her pleas, the rest of them moved out of the way, trying to focus on other aspects of the case. Knowing there was a child involved and looking at the injuries, the group profiled that it very well could have been an interrogation. Like they were looking for something… or someone. Nathaniel. And profiling that was discomforting, hearing their technical analyst yell and scare them made it even worse.

After searching for any anomalies or anything that could be connected to Emily, she found something that stood out in France, tracked it, looked at it from several angles, and truly believed it to involve Emily.

"Oh! Oh! Oh. My. God," Garcia yelled. "I think I found Emily. I think I found her. She was in an accident!"