While Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner had the upmost faith in each of his colleagues, he was beginning to get worried. It had been several hours since he had sent Agents Rossi and Jureau on an exit interview a little over an hour away from the station. Realistically, Hotchner knew that any of his agents could have handled tying up that minor loose end to their case. Truthfully, even a rookie with the right list of questions could have handled it. Personally, however, the dark-haired agent knew that Rossi and JJ were the ones that needed to go. Mainly because he knew if they had stayed in the sheriff's station any longer someone would blow. And Hotchner was placing his bets on JJ.
If he thought about it hard enough Hotch would admit that something in the blonde's eyes had been worrying him for the past several months, but he hadn't taken the initiative to ask her about it. He'd known Jennifer Jureau for years and considered her to be a close friend, well, as close a friend as he would allow. She had a quiet, calming effect on him, as well as on the rest of the team, and a deep compassion for the victims that they fought for. Often times, it was her quiet perspective that led them to a case's success. She was as vital to their team as was each profiler, even though, for the most part, she was the one in the background – at the station, keeping the press and families at bay while they were able to do their jobs undeterred, taking care of the politics, a job that he hated with a passion. And sometimes, he wondered if he didn't take advantage of that - if they all didn't take advantage of the fact that reliable, sweet JJ would always be there for them. She was dependable, loyal….get a grip, Hotchner, he thought. She's not a dog. But, she was all those things. And, because she often spent all of her energies taking care of them and everyone else, he often wondered how she possibly had time for anything else. The petite blonde usually arrived at the same time he did, which was early by normal standards, if not earlier. And, on many occasions, she was still working at her desk when he left. In fact, he recalled, he had once found her asleep at her desk not too long ago. After ordering her home, he noticed that she was working on a stack of stalking cases. Not particularly strange, considering how many of those cases were out there, but the tall agent still found her special concern for those types of cases intriguing. And, he decided resolutely, he'd ask her about it once he found a quiet space on the jet when they were in the air; if that ever happened.
Glancing at his watch and growing more impatient by the minute, Hotch placed a call to their quirky but brilliant technical analyst, Penelope Garcia. As always, she answered after the first ring. "You have reached the office of Information Greatness, what can I do you for, tall, dark, and Bossman?" Garcia spoke out in her sing-song manner. "Garcia, I need you to try to track down Rossi's SUV. See if you can't get a location on their GPS." Hotch spoke matter of factly, not trying to panic the tech. Clearly, his tone didn't have the desired results. "What do you mean, Hotch? What's happened that you're not telling me?" Garcia lost her cute tone and developed an edge to her voice that she only displayed when one of the team, her family, was in trouble. "Nothing's wrong, Garcia." He spoke, trying to reassure the blonde. "I sent Dave and JJ on an exit interview over 4 hours ago. They only had to travel a little over an hour to get there and the interview should have taken no more than thirty minutes, tops. Including the interview and round trip, as well as time to refuel and stop for a drink, they still should have been back by now. And," he was afraid to mention this part, "I haven't been able to get them on the phone." The stoic agent wasn't prepared for Garcia's response.