Disclaimer: Everything familiar belongs to JE and the creators of Criminal Minds.
Warning: Adult Situations
Chapter 5: August 20th, 0300-0400
Quantico, Virginia, BAU Headquarters
Prentiss POV
After the call from Manny, I get up and take a quick shower, update my go bag with essentials for Miami, short sleeved shirts a must. I put a call into the rest of the team to meet at HQ in 45. I know that we are all tired, having returned only fifteen hours ago, but Miami-Dade PD needs us. I have known Chief Toledo, Manny since I was a teenager in Italy. We worked together a bit during my recent stint in Interpol. I know that he wouldn't be calling me unless he needed us there.
I arrive at HQ, with the typical night staff on hand. I open my e-mail in my office and start to review the cases before me. There is a clear escalation, and I'm afraid of who might get injured next. I start to plan out questions and investigative points to follow up on when I see Rossi walk past my office. I glance at the clock, five minutes until briefing. I hope Garcia is here with her go bag because we'll need her computer skills on hand in Miami.
There is still a lot of Cuban influence in Miami, and many of the local gangs are from the Cuban neighborhoods, interspersed with other Latinos. Having Alvez on the team will help. Not only is he fluent in Spanish, but he's Hispanic himself, which might help the gang members talk to him before the rest of us. My varied language skills are not as helpful now that I'm in a more administrative role on the team. I gather the copies off the printer and place them in a folder for Reid and myself, sending the digital copies to everyone's tablets. Time to get this show on the road.
"Good morning everyone, thank you for coming in on such short notice. I received a call tonight from Police Chief Manny Toledo in Miami. He thinks that he has a spree killer on his hands, that only recently escalated. Initially, the detectives thought it was a new gang initiation, considering that there were only robberies, occurring when the residents were not home in a middle-class suburb of Miami. Starting with the fourth break-in, someone has been home during the break-in. The first person was hit in the head with a blunt object, bound, and left unharmed. That was on August fifth. On the twelfth, a senior woman, seventy-five-year-old Matilda Escobar was bound, sexually assaulted, and robbed. Four days later, on the sixteenth, a middle-aged couple were home. The assailants once again bound the husband before forcing him to watch them rape his wife. Other than the assault, the couple was left unharmed. Early this morning, it took a turn to murder. At 1225, they broke into the Martine residence. At 0100, the cops arrived and discovered a gruesome scene. The two young children, eight-year-old Ron Jr., and eleven-year-old Joselyn had their throats slit in their beds. Thankful, that was their only injury, so they probably didn't know what was happening. The fourteen-year-old daughter, and her mother, thirty-three-year-old Rachel Martine, were raped while Ron Martine, thirty-five, and Rachel's husband and Julie's father watched. Once they finished brutalizing Rachel and Julie, they shot both Ron and Rachel in the head before shooting Julie in the abdomen. It was the sound of the gunshots that made the neighbors call the cops. Julie is barely alive in the hospital. Her condition is unknown at this time. The first three incidents were straight robberies. All seven homes had security systems. At this time, we are not sure if the unsubs got around the security or if the family forgot to set it." I tell my team.
"This has the making of becoming bigger and messier real quick," Luke says.
"It seems that all of these incidents occurred in wealthier suburbs of Miami where the crime rate is well below state average. These people probably live with a false sense of security, potentially causing them to be sloppy with setting their security." Reid added.
"Garcia, I need you to join us on this case in Miami. We need to look into the security systems, and it will be easier from Miami than here."
"Okay. I'm good to go." Penelope answers flustered at the request. "Let me go pack a few of my supplies before we go."
"Wheels up in thirty. We'll continue reviewing this in the air." I add. The team scatters to gather their belongings and to let whoever they need to know where they're going. I know Matt is calling his wife, Reid his mother's doctor, Luke his dog sitter, and JJ is calling Will.