Criminal Minds is owned by The Mark Gordon Company, in association with CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company).

At least, according to Google.

My name isn't up there.

Chapter 3

Recap: They're working the case of a killer who has been slaughtering indiscriminately. The only connection from victim to victim is the blade used to slash the throat. Reid has worked himself into the ground trying to figure out why it was familiar, and when Hotch ordered him to go home and rest he dreams of his teacher Varvara Belikova whose kill move was slashing with her silver knife.

"Grand Central Station of knowledge, at your service. I'm here, JJ's here, but all the rest are at a brand new crime scene. What can I do for you? Do you need a ride in? I think Hotch would rather you slept longer." She stopped for breath and he took the chance.

"Garcia, I know who the UnSub is." Reid said, descending the stairs of his apartment building.

There was a beat of silence.

"That's extremely convenient. And useful. And odd." Garcia paused. "I'm now on speakerphone. JJ's in the room. Anything else you want to share with the class?"

"Belikova. Varvara Belikova. I worked with her during my stay with the revolutionaries."

Garcia started searching for her and JJ moved in to watch. "How do you know it's her?"

"She's a spy and a great fighter, definitely could take the victims down. And using a small silver knife is her kill move."

"Ehgh." Garcia shuddered. "I do not want to know how you know that. Have you told Hotch?"

"No, not yet." Reid crossed the street, heading for the metro station. "I just realized it myself when -" his text notification alarm went off, and he pulled his ear away to check it.

303 Hershell Hollow Road. Get here in 20 minutes or I'll go to Bennington next.

She'd do it, too. If she got to Bennington, she'd impersonate her way in and kill Diana without a second thought, then find another way to get through to Reid.

Reid's instincts to talk and convince, but not negotiate, were strong. His instincts to go face her were stronger. But at some point, backup would be needed.

"Reid, you still there?" JJ's voice floated through the speaker.

"303 Hershell Hollow Road. Get there." he snapped the phone shut.

Criminal Minds

Reid paid the taxi driver and looked up at the building. He knew the name – it was an airplane factory, and it was enormous. For the first time in months, it was a warehouse that was not abandoned.

Christmas. It was closed for Christmas.

The high security gate was left open, and two security guards dead just outside it. He went in and toward the door that was propped open by the body of a third security guard. This was how she wanted him to enter.

She wanted him to come in that door?

Fine.

He would.

He pushed the door all the way open and when he turned to check behind the door, he was face to face with Belikova.

She might have said something in greeting – probably something sarcastic, but Reid wasn't playing that game. He struck out, nearly hitting his target, but she moved away quickly. He pulled his gun and she knocked it away, then backed off again.

"I see how it is." she twirled her knife by the circle hole on the end. "You think you've gotten better than me."

Reid risked a glance around. There was a partially completed airplane near them, catwalks erected around it for the workers to stand on. One extended over just a few feet away. If he needed to –

Belikova reached behind her –

Gun.

He didn't think, he just moved. By the time her gun was up, he was swinging himself up onto a catwalk, then jumping to the next.

Bullets ricocheted off the metal he'd been standing on as he sprinted around the nose of the plane. She stopped shooting but the sound of her shoes told him that she was just stepping up onto one of the catwalks.

"You think you can take me on, Taryn?" he heard her snort. "Never. Especially now that you've let your guard down."

Reid's heart lurched. She wasn't one to taunt or throw off guard with words. She meant that he'd done something wrong.

How have I let my guard down?

He tried to calm. "You're not going to hurt anyone else."

"Oh, yeah?" she said, sarcastically, and clicked the safety off her gun. She pointed it straight at him.

"FBI!" a voice shouted. "Put your weapon down!" A slim figure stood behind Belikova on the platform.

Reid stepped into sight. "JJ?!"

"Reid – what were you thinking?" JJ snapped, holding her gun up cautiously. "Coming here without backup!"

Reid sprinted toward them. "No, JJ, get out of here!"

She shot him a look. "Varvara Belikova, put the gun down!"

Belikova sighed. Reid stared as she tossed the gun to the floor and put her hands on her head.

She can't be surrendering. Belikova never surrenders . . .

JJ strode behind her prisoner, slipping the gun into her holster and the cuffs from her belt. "Do not move." JJ warned, grabbing Belikova's wrist.

Belikova moved and Reid knew what she was going to do. "JJ – don't!" he warned too late.

Belikova's foot shot backward, and Reid heard the thud as it connected with JJ's leg. The Russian woman spun around and slammed JJ down on her back. She snatched up her gun, and tucked it in her jeans waist.

JJ blinked as her own cuffs were snapped on one of her wrists and the railing of the catwalk.

"And now she's out of the way, let's get started." Belikova turned her back to JJ.

Reid stopped a few steps from the two women, then lunged forward. She shifted and he only hit her wrist. He heard her knife clatter across metal as she dropped it. She hit him in the sternum and he stumbled back, but she didn't advance.

"You beginning to see how outclassed you are?"

Belikova, give yourself up. We don't have to do this. His FBI training told him.

Taryn won out, leaving the room in silence.

He just watched her. She didn't have her gun out, but she was deadly enough without it.

"Come on, Taryn." she mocked. "We need to get this over with. Honestly, why don't you just give up? I've been doing this as an expert before you even started learning."

He took a few steps backward, keeping a defensive stance. "You're not getting away with what you've done."

Belikova snorted. "With what I've done? I killed – what, five people this week? Five people who really could've fought back, if they hadn't been busy begging for their lives."

Distract her. "You would've killed them anyway."

"Yeah, but what about you? I was monitoring Oklahoma City, remember? That was more than five, and they couldn't fight back. I know everything you did, and that was all you." She took a step forward.

Maybe two yards away – but keep her talking a moment more. "I was hypnotized."

"Hypnotized and in a second personality, but that personality is still part of you. I hope your friends are ready when you show 'em what you really can do. What you did in Saint Petersburg."

Reid struck out. Belikova blocked his blow, then whipped out her gun and pointed it away from Reid, behind her – at -

Reid's eyes snapped to JJ struggling with the cuffs, and Belikova shifted and viciously kicked his knee.

"Gah!" he managed to bite back a scream as his leg snapped. He hadn't even noticed Belikova moving. He collapsed backwards on the catwalk.

"See, Taryn?" she smiled. "You let your guard down."

"Ahh – uhhhn." Reid breathed hard, trying to adjust to the throbbing pain. His fingers scrabbled on the metal guardrail as he felt for a hold to pull himself up.

"Boy, I thought we were going to have more fun than that." Belikova sighed. She rolled her eyes at his efforts to get up. "What're you going to do, fight one-legged? That was a clean break. Even if you managed to get away from me, you're not standing on that for a while." She paused and the muscles on her gun hand tensed. He knew she was thinking about shooting.

He managed to grab onto something and pull himself away from her, sitting against a railing.

She swung her gun up casually and pulled the trigger.