TITLE: Criminal Minds – "Darkest Days" (A sequel to Behind the Mask)

AUTHOR: D M Harper

SUMMARY: Agent Prentiss is forced to face her secretive past when it threatens the safety of her BAU colleagues and her beloved family.

RATING: For Mature Readers.

DISCLAIMER: This story was conjured up for reading entertainment only. No money has exchanged hands or bank accounts. There is no profit gained, just fancy flights of imagination. There is no intention to infringe on the copyright of CBS Television Studios or creator Jeff Davis. This writing does feature consensual sexual interaction between two females, so if you are underage or unable to view due to restrictions in your part of the world, be gone and take my sympathy with you. If you find such material offensive, too bad, so sad, you chose to enter this web site of your own free will; hence you have no one to whine to except yourself or a parent if you are caught, so bugger off!

A/N: Please find them time to review and feed the Muse. Sorry for the delay, but real life takes priority!


Chapter 12

As the Agents of the BAU regrouped and the crowd dispersed, Ashley approached Jillian and hugged her firmly, "Welcome back, we missed you."

"I missed you guys too," returned Jillian, giving her young friend an extra squeeze.

A grinning Penelope was next once Ashley stepped aside, "Come here my Blonde Goddess, it's so good to see you."

Hugging the woman back twofold, Jillian's eyes shone with tears, "You look gorgeous and I really do prefer you as a blonde. Sorry I haven't been around to visit you since I arrived home."

Fluffing her locks, Penelope replied, "Hey now, pay no mind to that; you've had other stuff to deal with. Speaking of, how is your leg?"

"The leg is good and I'm ready to get to work."

Rossi waited for the two women to untangle before embracing Jillian, "Welcome back kid."
"Thanks Dave."

Spencer moved in and cuddled Jillian, "It's good to have you here."

"I'm happy to help out." Stepping out of the clinch, Jillian looked to Aaron, "Well, what would you like me to do?"

Wrapping his arms around her, Hotch whispered, "It really is good to have you back and I need you to man the phones and coordinate the information received from the public."

"You got it and thanks for calling me in."

Releasing his hold, Aaron addressed the Team, "Right, let's get on with it and hope we have a sighting soon."

"Has anyone seen Prentiss?" inquired Derek as he looked around the room.

"She told me she had to use the toilet," answered Jillian.

"She is probably still feeling unwell," returned Morgan before moving off. "I'll go chase her up."

Reaching out, Jillian gripped his left bi-cep and halted his progress, "What do you mean she is unwell?"

"She tossed her cookies at the homicide site."

Penelope joined the conversation, "Emily hasn't been herself for the last week or so."

"Oh, I didn't know any of that," admitted Jillian with crossed eyebrows.

"Crap," exclaimed Derek. "When was the last time you two saw each other?"

"It was over a week ago."

"That is just not right," protested Penelope. "I'll go look for her."

"No Garcia, leave it to me," offered Jillian. "You have pressing work to get to."

"Okay, but I am only a text message away."

Turning heel, Jillian headed for the nearest restroom. After not locating Emily in there, she went to the next one and again, came up emptyhanded. Once she had searched the last bathroom, she pulled out her phone and called her wife. There was no answer and she didn't bother leaving a message.

Concerned for Emily's wellbeing, Jillian tracked Morgan down in the bullpen and asked, "Did Emily give you a reason as to why she vomited?"

"I asked her if she had one too many last night and she told me she was guilty. Where is she?"

"I have no bloody idea and she is not answering her phone."

"Man that only adds to her recent odd behaviour."

Jillian shook her head, "The only information I received from Emily in regards to her absence from her family, was the fact she was working on something that involved several friends. I'm as much in the dark as you are."

"Damn it, I knew something was going on and should have pressed her harder."

"You know that would not have worked. I tried it and all I got was a shut out."

"So did I and the timing of her disappearance and this case can't be a coincidence."

"Crap!" cursed Jillian. "Do you think the two are contacted?"

"Emily's vagueness would indicate she has not been honest the past few weeks."

"Duh, that's pretty obvious Derek, but what can we do?"

"Wait for her to make contact," suggested Morgan. "And hope she is not connected to Doyle."

"We don't have much of a choice," replied Jillian as the other members of the Team approached.

-o-

After organising a rental car, Emily drove to her home and snuck inside quietly. Making her way to the nursery, she picked up a sleeping Jarrod and cuddled him for several minutes before putting him back to bed. Repeating the action with Samantha, Emily then went to the kitchen and checked the supply of expressed milk. Finding only a few bottles, she set about finding the breast pump and topping up another bottle. Once she was done, Emily packed a small bag of clothes and toiletries and departed the house.

Settling behind the driver's wheel, Emily started the engine and took off for Boston. When darkness fell, she constantly checked her rearview mirror for any sign of a tail. She let out a sigh when she saw no headlights following her during the near eight hour drive. The Agent was tired by the time she pulled up outside the Black Shamrock Tavern, but was invigorated by her passion to put an end to the nightmare she had been living ever since Ian Doyle had made contact with her.

Alighting from the vehicle, Emily crossed the rain soaked street and entered the Irish pub with a sense of purpose in collecting information on Doyle's whereabouts. Sauntering up to the bar, she ordered a shot of Jameson Gold Reserve Whiskey and glanced around the room while she waited. At such a late hour of the evening, the bar was littered with only a few patrons.

Paying for her drink, she thanked the male bartender then took a seat at the table in the far left corner. Placing the glass down, she reached into the pocket of the leather jacket and withdrew the gold match book sporting the Black Shamrock symbol that Doyle had left her at the Mall and studied it. Twirling it around her fingers, she was drawn back to a time eight years previously when she first met Ian Doyle in the pub as part of an unofficial undercover operation in liaison with INTERPOL. She had been on secondment from the CIA and working under the direction of Clyde Easter along with Tsia Mosley, Jeremy Wolfe and Sean McAllister.

Emily had taken on the persona of Lauren Reynolds, a Belgium arms trader and to complete the look, her hair had been cut shorter and dyed a light brown colour. At the time, Doyle was a known arms supplier and she had made contact with a man by the name of Jack Fahey. It was Fahey who introduced Emily to Doyle at the Black Shamrock all those years ago, and it was he she now sought out.

As she sipped her drink, she was drawn back to that time when she sat waiting nursing the same brand of whiskey and smoking a cigarette. Doyle and Fahey had approached the table together and once introductions had been made, Fahey had left for the bar counter. Doyle had been charming from the onset and Emily had feigned interest as part of her plan to entice the former IRA Captain aka Valhalla into doing business with her. She was suggestive and even spoke French when declaring they seek a more private setting to discuss the most sensitive matter.

-o-

Putting down the phone receiver, Jillian stood and joined the Team by the evidence board when Morgan raced up holding a lime green Post-it note. He leaned over and compared the list to the one Emily had provided hours earlier, "I've got a match on the last four names on Prentiss' list; Luke Renault, Lawrence Riley, Lila Rafferty and Lyle Rogers."

Seaver's eyes widened, "They all have the initials I.R."

Aaron nodded, "The CIA is known to use cryptograms when assigning names to non-official cover Agents who are working on the same case."

Removing the list of names from the board, Derek displayed it to the others, "So do most foreign countries. These four names are all covers, these people are spies."

Moving in, Penelope took the sheet of paper off him and shook her head, "Hang on, this isn't right." Turning the page so others could see, she asked, "Do you see this space here?" She pointed to it.

"Could it be a formatting error?" enquired Reid over her shoulder.

"No, this has been set out on a spreadsheet template. Formatting doesn't allow for spaces, there is a name missing from the list."

"Obviously there is another spy whose name bears the initials I.R.," noted Hotch.

Spencer lowered his head and recalled a conversation he had with Emily after she had been on the phone. "Lauren Reynolds is dead," he quoted out loud.

"What does that mean?" asked Jillian while trying to make sense of the information.

Raising his head, Reid continued, "It's what Emily was saying on the phone seventeen days ago when I walked up to her. She was saying it over and over, but was devoid of any emotion when she told me Lauren Reynolds was a friend who had died in a car accident. Lauren Reynolds, I.R."

"Say what now?" exclaimed Jillian, completely taken aback by what was being unravelled.

"Emily was chanting the name as if she was trying to remind herself of the fact rather than just having received the news."

Ashley spoke next, "If Prentiss is the last name on the list then she is on Doyle's too."

"You have got to be shitting me," whined Jillian, realising she knew nothing about her wife's secretive past with INTERPOL.

Hotch retrieved his cell phone and moved off in a hurry while Dave voiced his concerns, "That would explain Emily's uncharacteristic behaviour this past month."

Spencer had a thought, "The evasiveness and the secrets. She has also been biting her fingernails again."

Jillian's heart was breaking as she addressed her Team mates, "She was keeping things from me and coming up with excuses for not visiting us in Titusville."

There was the sound of a phone ringing as Aaron opened Emily's desk drawer, "Guys, I have something." In the drawer sat Emily's phone, gun, badge and credentials. Hotch picked them up and showed the others.

"Why would she leave them behind?" questioned Derek with concern.

"It doesn't make sense for Emily to run," hypothesised Spencer.

"Yes it does," snapped Jillian. "Doyle is killing families and she wanted to protect hers. All you guys are her family too and that would be her motivation for keeping all this crap from us."

"Holy mother fucker," whispered Penelope. "She's disappeared to save us."

"That would be my guess," suggested Derek as he turned to Jillian. "By the expression on your face, you had no idea she worked for INTERPOL?"

A whirlpool of emotions struck Jillian with full force and she faltered, "I knew about the CIA, but not the other. Crap, she's lied to me again and I just stood by and fucking soaked it up like a good little wife. What a moron I've been … she had me totally fooled."

Morgan wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "I don't think Emily's intention was to deceive you Jill."

"Why not, you all knew about her INTERPOL days?" snarled Jillian. "She's a freaking spy for shit's sake; don't you think I should have known about that?"

"Uhm, we didn't know about the spy part," offered Penelope while giving her friend a hug.

"Well, that just makes it so much better," Jillian pointed out before taking a deep breath. "Anyhoo, that's that and we need to move on and find her and Doyle."

"That is going to be a problem. She is a trained spy and knows all of our moves," delivered Morgan.

"And she doesn't want to be found," tossed in Dave.

Penelope asked the question on everyone's lips, "How do we find her?"

"This is how," replied Aaron while moving back to the evidence board and pinning Emily's FBI identification badge beside a picture of Doyle. "Doyle is the subject and Prentiss the victim. We profile their behaviour and look at them as we would any other case. Because we don't deal with terrorism, I reached out to someone from the State Department earlier who can assist us and hopefully shed some light on Prentiss' past."

"Who?" enquired Reid with wide eyes.

Looking behind the Team, Aaron nodded, "Her."

All heads turned and observed as Jennifer approached. Their ex-colleague was dressed in a black overcoat and a dark grey dress. She was wearing black high heels and carrying a leather portfolio. Her expression was all business and she got straight to the point, "Let's get to work."

Jillian didn't know whether to cry or laugh, so she did neither. She remained transfixed as the blonde greeted everyone then neared the evidence board.

-o-

Emily had sat patiently waiting for Fahey for over two hours and when the curly black haired man of average height presented himself to the bar, he was immediately told to leave by the bartender. He was informed his kind were not welcome in the pub and after ranting on about how he used to run the block and he was the man, Emily slipped out from behind her table and left.

Going outside, she did some swift mechanical work then jimmied the lock on Fahey's car and positioned herself on the back seat and crouched on the floor. She drew her gun and waited for her target yet again.

Fahey jumped into the sedan moments later and pushed the key into the ignition. When the motor failed to turn over, he cursed then went quiet when Emily pressed a Glock 26 to the back of his right ear and calmly said, "The battery is flat."

Looking into the rear view mirror, Jack sighed, "Jesus Lauren, it's you. Long time no see, and there's no need to scare the crap out of me. A nice hello would have done the trick."

"I don't have time for pleasantries Jack. How many men does Doyle have at his disposal?"

Gulping down hard, Fahey replied, "Hang on, I haven't seen Doyle in ages."

Losing patience, Emily cocked the gun and Jack got the message, "Okay, okay, he has maybe six or ten guys working for him."

"Are there any surprises I should be aware of?"

"They are armed with automatic weapons. Most of the guys are local mobsters with a couple left over from Doyle's IRA days. Listen, seems as how I am helping you, can you maybe ease up on the gun a little Lauren. You are kind of making me nervous here. I mean I helped you and Clyde back in the day and I can help you again. Do you want to know where Doyle is?"

"I've already figured out his location."

"Okay, so what are you planning on doing? Do you intend to take him out on your own?"

"That's my business and I don't require your assistance. I suppose you will inform him I am after him once I leave, hey Jack?"

"No, no, I would never do that to you Lauren."

"I can't trust you Jack," snipped Emily while pressing the gun forward and placing her finger on the trigger.

"Oh god, don't Lauren. I swear I won't tell Doyle. Wait, oh please don't kill me."

His plea went unanswered as Emily fired. Fahey's head slumped forward as blood splattered the windscreen. Emily calmly got out of the car and headed for her vehicle.

-o-

"The secret to getting away with lying is believing with all your heart. That goes for lying to yourself even more so than lying to another" Author Elizabeth Bear.

Having moved the review to the Conference Room, Aaron stood by as the Team took a seat and Jennifer set up the monitor with a USB she withdrew from her briefcase. Picking up the remote, J.J. began, "I spoke to a friend at Langley and unfortunately, he couldn't give me a copy of Emily's complete CIA history, but he did sent me this." Pressing the play button, a copy of Emily's assumed identity appeared on the screen, "Emily took on the persona of Lauren Reynolds as part of a special task force named JTF-12."

Rossi's forehead furrowed, "I've heard about them. They were tasked with profiling terrorist, weren't they?"

"Yes. They were assembled after the events of 911," acknowledged Jennifer. "The CIA and Western Agencies bought in their best and brightest to form the team."

"But serial killers and terrorists have differing traits," noted Ashley.

"So where does Doyle fit in to all this?" questioned Reid.

Jennifer answered, "Doyle was their last case and hence the reason JTF is on his hit list."

Jillian was too dumbfounded to ask a question. The more she heard the more disillusioned she became.

Pressing the remote button, Jennifer bought up pictures of Emily, Doyle and another man. She pointed to him and explained, "Jeremy Wolfe from Germany's Federal Intelligence Agency BND was first on his list." Bringing up another photo, J.J. continued, "Second was Sean McAllister from INTERPOL. McAllister was the one who bought JTF into the Doyle investigation. He, along with his wife and daughter, was murdered in Brussels last week." A picture of a female appeared on the monitor, "This is Tsia Mosely from France's Central Intelligence Agency DCRI. She became engaged to Jeremy Wolfe two months ago and when he was killed in Paris, she fled to D.C." A final photograph appeared, "Team leader was Clyde Easter from British S.I.S. He has failed to check in since Tsia's murder and was also in D.C. recently."

"Did JTF make the Doyle arrest?" enquired Hotch.

"No, that was handled by the host countries while the team moved on," replied Jennifer.

"If all they did was deliver the profiles on Doyle and his men, how did Doyle even know they existed?" reasoned Aaron.

"Considering the dark nature of terrorist groups and their cells, JTF utilised the one thing the FBI doesn't … infiltration."

"Who was undercover on Doyle?" asked Spencer. Jillian was sure she already knew the answer before Jennifer replied.

"Emily was. She first met him in Boston while attempting to gain Intel on Valhalla. She was posing as an arms dealer and looking to do business." J.J. clicked the remote and a picture of Emily as Lauren appeared.

The image made Jillian's stomach turn and it got worse when Derek flipped through a stack of pictures of Emily and noted, "She seems pretty comfortable in these shots and look at how she is dressed."

Tears pricked the back of Jillian's eyes when Hotch enquired, "Just how close did she get to her target?"

Avoiding making eye contact with Jillian, Jennifer responded, "During the team's recon on Doyle, they took into consideration all his past romantic relationships and Emily fitted his type."

Unable to hold down her disgust, Jillian got to her feet and addressed Aaron, "Sir, can I be excused?"

Noticing the distraught expression on her face, Hotch replied, "Yes of course and I'm sorry about all this."

"Thank you Sir, but it's not your fault. I'll go see to the phones." By the time Jillian reached the bullpen, she was trembling and desperately staving off the tears threatening to fall in abundance.

-o-

Jillian had regained her composure by the time Morgan sat on the corner of her desk some two hours later. Looking up, she asked, "So what did you find at Emily's apartment?"

"Not much, just her real passport and copies of photos and paperwork of her JTF team members. Rossi doesn't believe she is on the run considering she left behind her passport. He thinks that if she wanted to disappear, she would have taken it."

"I don't know what to believe," Jillian honesty admitted while observing the disappointment ghost across her friend's face. "There is something else, isn't there?"

"Yeah, but I think you need to come with me to Hotch's office to discuss it."

"Crap, this is turning into a shit storm Derek. I'm at a loss as to how to understand what my wife has done or how to react."

"I'm with you on that. I thought she was my friend, but she knew all about Doyle the entire time and kept it from us."

"I'm pissed off because she obviously slept with a fucking terrorist," sobbed Jillian, allowing her frustration to take over. "She crossed the line and I can't see past that."

"I'm sorry you have to go through this Jill, I really am and I'm mad because a group of mercenaries shot at me when she had information on them. I guess I didn't know her at all, even after being her partner for five years."

Standing, Jillian swiped away the teardrops and scoffed, "I fully understand your anger and I suppose I better prepare myself for more sordid revelations."

Laying a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, Derek agreed, "Yes unfortunately."

Leading the way, Jillian entered the Chief's office and nodded to Dave, "You better get it over with, I'm ready."

Holding out a gold chain with three rings attached, Rossi began, "I found this in the toilet, obviously Emily tried to flush it away. It's a gimmel ring and is given to an intended husband and wife so they can wear an individual band during the engagement. At the wedding the bands are joined. It's Gaelic and my guess is Doyle gave it to her."

"Fuck that," cursed Jillian while refusing to cry any more over a situation she had no control over.

"Why keep it?" questioned Morgan. "And why hide it from her wife?"

"It's a fucking souvenir," snapped Jillian. "Apparently, it meant something to Prentiss."

"Do we have any idea where Emily is?" asked Aaron.

"I believe she has gone to Boston because that is where the Doyle case originally began," answered Derek. "Maybe she intends visiting his old haunts and locating him."

Dave's right eyebrow curved upwards, "She's not running Hotch; she is talking the fight to Doyle."

"Then that is where we need to be," instructed Aaron. He looked to Jillian and continued, "Officially you are not cleared to travel with the Team until Monday, but give me a moment to make a phone call and I will have you authorised to join us."

"I appreciate the offer Sir."

Nodding, Hotch gave another direction, "Let's assemble the others and get on the way."

-o-

In the bullpen, the Team was going over last minute preparations when Penelope rushed up and interrupted the conversation between Aaron and Seaver, "Sir, TSA just got a hit on one of Clyde Easter's covers and he flying his way to Boston."

"Issue an alert to all Agencies and have him detained as soon as his plane lands. Wheels up in ten and Garcia, you are coming with us."

"Yes Sir okay," she replied while looking to Jillian and grimacing.

Jillian just shook her head and grabbed her ready bag. The thoughts rolling around her brain wanted to be given a voice, but she knew better than to say a word and risk the chance of being left behind due to instability. Her fury was still present; nonetheless she was still worried about Emily's wellbeing. As she strode towards the elevator on her own, any objective of receiving the truth from her wife was pushed to the side. Jillian firmly entrenched herself in Agent mode and pressed the call button.

-o-

Up next: The shit is about to hit the fan in a big way!