The team met at 7 am the next morning and started to head to the police station, when Hotch's phone rang. One of the detectives had called to inform them that Julia Smith's body had been found at another park.
"He really is escalating. It's only been 36 hours since her disappearance.", mentioned Reid.
"Given that, the unsub is probably about to abduct his next victim if he hasn't already done so. Due to the pressure it is quite likely that he has made a mistake though, we can use that to our advantage.
JJ, please ask Garcia to give you the victim's family's address and inform them about Julia's death. Emily, head over to the M.E.
Rossi, explain our next steps to the detectives at the station. Reid, Morgan and I will go to the crime scene. We will meet back at the station in about three hours, hopefully we'll have more information by then.", Hotch said.
JJ always felt like they failed their victims if they hadn't been able to save them. After informing and subsequently questioning the Smith's, she had to clear her head before going back to the station. She considered calling Will to ask about Henry, but quickly dismissed the thought.
He would be in day-care by now and Will didn't like being called at work if not absolutely necessary.
He had said that he doesn't want to be embarrassed by her sentimental family stuff.
She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the figure coming up behind her and when she finally did, the blonde already felt a sharp scratch in her neck and everything went black...
An hour later, every team member except for JJ had arrived back at the station.
"Has anyone seen JJ yet?", asked Emily worriedly.
"No", replied Hotch, " I just tried calling her but it went straight to voicemail."
"It shouldn't have taken her so long to inform and question the family. I'm gong to call Garcia.", said Emily grabbing her phone, " Hey Garcia, could you please track JJ's phone and car?"
"Why, did something happen to her? What's going on? Is she hurt? Oh my god...", Garcia started rambling.
"Garcia, calm down, we don't know what's going on. We haven't heared back from her since her questioning Julia's family.", Emily replied.
"Ok, ok, her car hasn't moved, it's still at the Smith's house, but I can't track her phone, it must be turned off."
"Can you please get me the Smith's phone number?", asked Hotch.
"Yes, I just sent it to your phone. Please tell me that she's ok as soon as you know something."
"We will Garcia, thanks", Emily ended the call.
"Yes, hello, this is SSA Hotchner from the BAU. Could you tell me if agent Jareau is still with you?"
The team couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line, Hotch's stoic face as usually didn't give them any hints as to whether JJ was still with them, but then he said: "Okay, we will be at your house in twenty minutes. We currently don't know anything about agent Jareau's whereabouts and her car is still at your house, so we will have to speak with you again."
Hotch ended the call. No words needed to be exchanged, they all headed to the cars. All of them knew, that JJ matched the unsub's victim type and it seemed to big of a coincidence that JJ's disappearance wasn't linked to the case.
It was not at all like JJ to just disappear off the face of the earth without notifying anyone.
They found JJ's phone at the Smith's house, turned off on the bonnet of the car. None of the neighbours had seen anything and there was no evidence of a struggle.
"Why was the phone on the bonnet of the car and why was it turned off?", asked Morgan.
"It does seem like it was placed. I mean, why would he leave her phone if not to tell us something." Reid added, carefully turning the phone on with his gloved hand.
As soon as he did, everyone's phone notified them of an incoming message.
It said: "Now that I've got her I need nobody else, you won't find her unless I decide to kill her and you can't change that. I'm in control, how does that feel?"
Back at the station Hotch said with a stoic face - but those who knew him noticed that his tone was a little harsher than usually: "We will treat this like any other case. We will get him. Let's start from the beginning. What do we know about him, his behaviors, the newest developments? We won't stop until we've got her back."
He couldn't or wouldn't even say her name out loud. It was obvious to the team that he felt immensely responsible for the abduction of the press liaison. On the one hand, due to him being the team leader and on the other hand because he had ordered JJ to go to the family by herself despite her matching the victimology. She also wasn't as trained in defense and wasn't carrying a weapon.
The other team members - sensing Hotch blaming himself - got to work immediately: "The M.E report for Julia confirms that the cause of death was consistent with the other victims; blunt force trauma to the head. It also showed similar bonding marks on her wrists and ankles and the same apparent physical torture that the other victims had to endure.
The only difference is that the body also indicated that she was sexually assaulted...", Emily paused, " quite brutally I should add."
Emily swallowed, her mind imagining JJ's body instead of Julia's. Rossi who was standing next to her, rubbed her shoulder and then asked: "Was there any DNA on the body?" "Yes, there was and it's being analysed as we speak, however the traces were so small that it is very unlikely to get a result", Emily replied, trying to stop her imagination.
"Both the torture and the message that he left for us, shows that this is somehow personal for him, it's also about dominance and making us feel helpless. He could be trying to replicate a situation, in which he was dominated by a woman and therefore felt helpless, likely child abuse by his mother or a different figure of authority." Reid said.
Morgan added: "And his psychotic break was probably triggered by a woman who didn't follow his dominance, like a partner ending a relationship. It's likely that he has abused women in relationships before."
Hotch called Garcia, put her on the loud speaker and asked her to cross reference the parameters with someone who has either been charged with or had allegations made against them for sexual assault.
There were still too many men, who matched the criterea.
"Okay, let's think about this for a second, how and why did he shift his focus to JJ? It must have been at the press conference, JJ is a person of authority, she works for the FBI and matches his type, but each of the victims also left a young child. That is too big of a coincidence. How did he figure out that first of all, each of the victims had a child and how did he know about Henry?", Emily asked.
"The profile indicates, that his main trigger is dominance, he would work in a field where he is able to be a person of authority himself.
So he may as well be in the executive branch, like the police force.
That way he could easily obtain information from people without actually physically stalking them and that's also how he could know about JJ having a child. I mean I'm pretty sure that we have talked about Henry at some point while we were at the station.", Rossi concluded.
"Garcia, please cross-reference..."
"Already did", Garcia interrupted Hotch, "there is no one that matches the profile who is still on active duty, but there is an officer who was suspended from active duty due to sexual assault allegations in the field, he is on desk duty and his name is Craig Daniels. He also has a sealed juvenile record that I'm not able to access."
"Garcia, when was he suspended and by whom?", Reid asked.
"It was three weeks ago, his superior is Inspector Anna Reagan."
"That must have been the trigger, Garcia can you..."
"Yes boss man, I'm way ahead of you, he lives in his parent's house which is actually in a quite remote area and it has a large basement. I just sent the address to your phones. Please get my girl back."
"We will Garcia", replied Hotch.
They geared up and informed the local detectives of their suspect. The car ride to the address was only twenty minutes long but it felt like the time had slowed down. They had already called an ambulance to meet them there. After all, JJ had been with the unsub for at least 13 hours, it was just past 10 pm and it was pitch-black outside.
Emily hoped with every fiber of her being that they weren't too late, that Daniels hadn't harmed JJ too badly or had even killed her.
Her mind wandered back to the images of the other victim's bodies and she began to shiver. She had to get a grip on herself, this wasn't helping JJ or anyone else.
When they had finally arrived at their destination, they approached the house with bulletproof vests and their weapons raised. They had no way of knowing whether Daniels was heavily armed.
Their main goal was to get JJ out of harm's way as quickly as possible. They had gotten an emergency search warrant for the house and Daniels' phone indicated that he was in there.
The team entered and cleared each room of the first and second floor, the basement was the only place left where the unsub and hopefully JJ could be.
As soon as Morgan opened the door, shots coming from the basement headed their way, luckily only hitting the opposite wall. They couldn't risk returning fire as long as they didn't know JJ's location.
However, Morgan had noticed a window that could be accessed from the backyard. Rossi and Reid hurried outside to get to the window. "I can see Daniels", Reid whispered through the radio, " JJ is about five feet to his left."
"Do you have a shot?", Hotch asked sternly.
"I could disarm him, I can't get a kill shot.", Rossi replied.
"Take it.", ordered Hotch, the tension palpable in his voice.
