Charles walked toward the baffled group. He went straight to Alex, who had tears in her eyes, and hugged her. After a tender embrace, he pulled away and held her face in his hands. "Your eyes are a different color from the last time I saw you."

Alex chuckled. "My eyes have always been brown."

Charles smiled. "But they are a different shade of brown." He gave her a smile then moved to Hugh. "I am glad to see you getting your hands dirty again."

"Hopefully not too dirty," Hugh replied, then grabbed his friend for a hug. "Thank you for my tea."

"I couldn't resist," Charles said. "And let's not forget about little Paul Roman, who I think grew another foot since I last saw you."

"I am so glad that you are here and that you are alive," Roman said.

"Well, there is a lot to catch you up on, and we better get going," Charles said as he started back toward the main house.

"To where?" Alex asked quickly on his heels.

"To the BAU."


Prentiss moved to the back of the BAU jet, where Hotch was sitting alone and took the seat across from him. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, you said that you got an answer about New York."

"Uh, yes, I did. Detective Cooper found the case file for when Charles Sullivan was shot. Hispanic male, late twenties/early thirties, shot in the back of the head."

"That's the same report we got after it happened," Hotch said.

"Yes, but Cooper noticed a few things weren't adding up. He was able to get his hands on the prelim autopsy report, which wasn't in the main file. It showed that the man they had was missing his fingertips. They were actually burned off. Also, a lot of the dental work he had was like the kind done in Mexico. As well as a tattoo of a scorpion. There was no mention of a tattoo in Charles' file."

"Somewhere down the line, this was covered up to be made to look like Charles was killed."

"Do you think Charles orchestrated all of this?" Prentiss asked.

"I doubt it. He would have needed help from higher up. There is a lot more going on here that we aren't aware of." Hotch pulled out his phone then looked back up to Prentiss. "Excuse me a minute; I need to make a call."

Prentiss got up and returned to her seat next to Morgan while Hotch dialed.

Alex picked up her phone. "Hey there, Aaron. I was wondering when you were going to get around to calling me."

"We need to talk."

"I'm well aware of that, Aaron." She held the phone away from her as she then yelled, "the light is green! That means go!" She put the phone back and spoke softly, "sorry about that."

"Oh, great, you're behind the wheel."

"Was that sarcasm?"

"Simply an observation," Hotch replied.

"Are you going to make another comment about my driving?"

"No, just that I am glad that I am not with you at the moment. It is important that we discuss a few things."

"I know. I'm already on my way back to Quantico. I'll be there in another hour or so," Alex said. "Catch ya later."

Hotch looked at his phone to see that she hung up. He placed the phone on the table and let out a sigh.

"What's wrong, get disconnected?" Rossi asked as he stood next to him.

"In a manner of speaking. Any word from Garcia?"

"Yes, she's on now."

The team gathered around the laptop to see Garcia on the screen. "Hello, my sensational six. I just compiled the information from all of the victims. Each of the families have confirmed that there is a key missing from their keyring. Most of them are for their homes, but the missing keys weren't limited to that."

"Garcia, we should make sure that those with the missing keys—" Rossi started.

"They were all advised to change their locks. Already on it. And also, as an FYI, the house keys that were taken from the victims from a few years ago never had any incidents or at least didn't notice anything missing or damaged at their property."

"Thank you, Baby Girl," Morgan said.

"Just doing my duty," she replied. "Garcia out."


The team stepped off the elevator to the sixth floor as Rossi's phone rang. "I'll just be a minute," he said to Hotch.

Reid headed directly into the conference room, leading the group of young agents who were toting the boxes behind him. "You can just stack them here, thanks," Reid said as he removed his shoulder bag and brushed the hair from his eyes. He picked up one of the boxes and placed it on the table. He flipped the lid and pulled out a stack of papers from the San Francisco apartment.

"What's all this?" Garcia asked as she stood in the doorway.

"This is all the stuff pinned to the wall that we had shipped here," Reid replied.

"And what are you going to do with it?"

"Well, we know how he wanted us to see it, and now I have to see it my way."

"Wasn't it Charles who did that for you?"

"That's the assumption, but I know that I am missing something, and so I have to go back over everything."

"Okay, how can I help?" Garcia asked, rubbing her hands together.

"I need to read through everything, and I will sort into piles. Could you remove all the photos and put them up on the board in the order that they were in?"

"Yes, yes, I can definitely do that." Garcia quickly got to work.

Rossi walked up the steps and stopped at Hotch's door. "Got a minute, Aaron?"

"Yes," Hotch said.

Rossi shut the door behind him after he entered the office. "I just got my return call from Major Grant. Turns out, your suspicions weren't too far-fetched. The CIA was involved in a shall-we-say coverup the night Charles Sullivan was shot."

"What happened?"

"They were aware of Harris Knight's escape, and with the possibility of retaliation, they informed Charles, and apparently he was prepared. He sent his wife and kids away, and he was the one who shot an intruder. The story was then spun that he was killed, and he was put into protective custody."

"After Knight was killed, why didn't he return?"

"Knight wasn't the one who was after him. Unfortunately, he wouldn't share that detail with me."

"So, the CIA had him this whole time?"

"Well, that's where the story gets a little hinky."

"Hinky?" Hotch asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rossi held his hands up in defense. "His word, not mine. When one of their guys went to meet Charles for their weekly chats, they discovered his place was tossed, and Charles was gone. Three men were discovered dead. They were there to kill him. Charles has been in the wind ever since."

"His location was blown; Charles would assume it was someone from the CIA and wouldn't be able to trust them. How long ago was that?"

"Eighteen months. No one has any idea where he has been or what he has been up to."

"And now he started sending cryptic messages and leading Alex on a wild goose chase."

"Speaking of… any word from our goose chaser?" Rossi asked.

"She should be here soon."

Reid ran past Hotch's windows and impatiently knocked on the door. "I got it!"

Rossi opened the door as Hotch moved behind him. "Got what, kid?"

"I figured it out; I can't believe I didn't get it at first. It was right in front of me!"

"Whoa, slow down, Reid," Hotch said, "Figured what out?"

"I know why Charles has been in hiding."