I do not own Criminal Minds.

She had killed people before.

But she had only ever done it out of necessity. She had only ever done it when someone's life was in immediate danger.

And she had never been ordered to kill before.

She had gone after terrible people, monsters, for the FBI and Interpol. She had profiled and infiltrated, she had lied, and she had pretended to be someone else, but never this. She had never done this.

She was an agent, not an assassin.

And something didn't feel right.

But if she didn't do this, if she didn't follow her orders, what if DeMarco escaped? Or what if the list got out? What if she could have stopped this and she didn't?

Emily paced back and forth in the living room. She barely dared to breathe, listening closely for JJ. Because she didn't want JJ to wake up.

Except she did. Because, god, what was she supposed to she do?

Because something didn't feel right. This didn't feel right.

And she had no idea what in the hell to do.

XXX

Emily picked the lock easily and stepped into the apartment. The only light on was a lamp in the corner of the living room. It cast shadows onto the floor in front of Emily. She walked through the kitchen and living room and let out a slow breath as she put her hand on the doorknob to the bedroom.

When she walked in she immediately recognized the figure in the bed.

"Penelope," Emily whispered.

Garcia mumbled and rolled over.

"Garcia," Emily said louder this time.

"Wha?" She shot up and look around, "who?"

"It's okay, it's Emily," she said.

"What're you doing here?" Garcia blinked and looked around, "did you–? How did you get in? Did you break in?"

"Yes," Emily said, "and that reminds me that I'm going to replace your lock later."

"What's wrong with my lock?"

Emily gave her a look, "if took me less than two seconds to get in."

"But, but, why did you break in?" Garcia swung her legs over the side of the bed, "why didn't you call?" She turned on the lamp, "what's going on?"

"I need you to do something for me, Pen. It's really important, but I can't tell you what it's about. Do you trust me?"

Garcia nodded slowly.

Emily took the bag that had been hanging from her shoulder and pulled out her laptop. She handed it to Garcia, "I need you to get me into the Interpol database."

"But you work there," Garcia said, confused, "why do you need me to get you in?"

"Garcia," Emily said, beginning to grow impatient, "this is really important, okay? So no questions."

"Okay," Garcia said still uncertain, but she opened the laptop and began to type.

Emily paced back and forth in Garcia's bedroom. She kept looking between Garcia and her phone, waiting to see if she had any messages. And finally, after what felt like eternity, Garcia spoke.

"I'm in."

Emily darted over and grabbed the laptop. She sat on the edge of the bed and searched DeMarco's name. His file came up and Emily began to read through it.

And that feeling, the one she had gotten after the call from Easter, grew stronger. Something wasn't right and she needed to figure out what it was.

XXX

Emily knocked on the car window and the door unlocked.

"Any movement?" She asked as she sat in the passenger seat and closed the door.

"None," JJ said, "what did you find in his file?"

Emily shook her head, "I don't know. Here," she handed JJ the papers she had printed at Garcia's.

JJ took the stack and skimmed through them.

"I need to know it's not just me," Emily said, "do you think he matches the profile of this UNSUB?"

JJ finished looking through the papers, but didn't answer right away. She looked between Emily and the house they were surveilling, "it's hard to tell from just a file, but no, nothing in here indicates to me that he's the UNSUB. Do you think that Interpol got it wrong?" JJ asked.

"I don't have access to anything from their investigation, but I don't know what they could have found to lead them to DeMarco if he isn't the UNSUB."

"Unless he's being set up," JJ offered.

Emily considered it, "or, he could have just tricked everyone for years and he could really be a traitor."

"Can you call Easter?" JJ asked, "maybe he could get you the information from the case."

Emily shook her head, "Clyde is under his own orders and he's not heading up the investigation anymore. There's not much he could do." Emily bit her lip and furrowed her brows, "do you think I'm doing the right thing here, Jayje?" She looked over to the house, "I wasn't ordered to investigate him, I was just ordered to..." she trailed off. Emily looked up before bringing her eyes back to JJ.

"And when have you ever been good at following orders?"

"But what if I'm wrong? What if he is guilty?"

"Then we arrest him and destroy the Interpol information he stole. But even if he is, Em, we don't get to choose his punishment, not like this."

"I know," Emily whispered, "but, god, you saw what happened with Doyle. You saw how many people he killed when he escaped."

"We will find the person who stole this list, whether it is DeMarco or not. But we have to be better than them, Emily, we have to be. We don't get to become monsters just to stop one."

"I know," Emily looked away.

"I know you do," JJ tilted her head, "I know because you woke me up, and you asked for help. So we're going to figure this out together, okay?"

"Okay," Emily nodded and took a deep breath, "okay."

"So now we need to figure out our next step," JJ said, "we could call the BAU–"

"No," Emily stopped her, "if it's not DeMarco behind this, then whoever set him up is likely watching. And when I don't kill DeMarco we all become targets." Emily reached for the door handle and JJ stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

"The only thing left to do," she opened the door and got out of the car. She made sure to close it quietly and turned to look at the house. Her heart was beating fast. Was she about to meet the man who had murdered her team? The man responsible for every Interpol agent's fear for the safety of themselves and their loved ones?

Or was she about to meet an innocent man?

Interpol couldn't help her and the BAU couldn't help her. So it was up to her. It was up to her to figure out who this man was. It was up to her to find the truth.

Emily felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see JJ standing beside her.

"I'm coming with."

"You don't have to," Emily said.

"I know," JJ smiled and then she began to walk toward the house.