"Greetings to you too, Rossi," Morgan grumbled as he took a seat at the conference room table.
It was late on a Wednesday afternoon. Rossi had spent the first three days of the week in Florida attending the Florida State Law Enforcement Conference and, as soon as his return flight had landed, he had called everyone on the team insisting – Actually, outright demanding - That they meet as soon as possible.
"Morgan!" Lewis gently chided the agent. "I'm sure Dave wouldn't have called us in if it wasn't important."
"I second that thought," Garcia added from her place at the table. "My Favorite Italian never does anything without a good reason."
"Thank You Penelope!" Rossi beamed at the tech. "And you are right – I do have a very good reason for calling everyone together."
"It probably has to do with the conference you just attended in Florida," Reid commented wisely. "And, what about Cruz?" he added. "Does he need to be here?"
"Director Cruz won't be joining us right now," Rossi explained. "However, I will be giving him a personal briefing immediately following this meeting."
"JJ?" Lewis glanced around the table.
"Sick kids," Garcia supplied. "You know how it is – One gets sick and the other isn't far behind."
"The transmission rate of germs between siblings occurs approximately 75% faster than it does between members of the general public," Reid supplied. "Thus, it would be wise to keep the ill sibling separated from the healthy one." He looked around expectantly.
"As if you could keep them separated," Lewis pointed out. "I can tell you for a fact that there is no way that is going to happen."
"Rossi?" Morgan pulled everyone's attention back to the issue at hand. "Are you going to tell us what is going on? Because, if you're not, I have some serious clubbing to do."
"That I am," Rossi took up a position at the front of the room. "As you know, I just spent three days in the company of the State of Florida's finest. And, while I was there, I managed to seek out and speak with several officers who were familiar with the disappearances in St. Lucie County."
"You mean the ones that occurred at the same time Hotch went missing?" Reid asked.
"The same," Rossi replied. "And I found out something very interesting. It seems that when Morgan originally spoke with them they didn't exactly tell him the whole truth."
"What?" Morgan burst out. "Were they deliberately trying to hinder our investigation? Because if they were - "
"Not exactly," Rossi replied. "Rather they were trying to protect some people's reputations. It seems, for example, that Monica Taylor was in the middle of a very heated custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, Melody's father. One that both of them were determined to win. And some extremely unpleasant charges were being leveled by both sides. It also seems that Brice Williams' parents were about to be investigated by Child Protective Services, who had recently received a report indicating neglect of said child."
"In both cases, the suspects in question all had airtight alibis so the officers saw no need to pass on the information."
"That changes our perception," Lewis said slowly. "What if whoever took these people thought they were doing them a favor – Rescuing them from an unfortunate situation?"
"That does make sense," Reid spoke up. "The way they just vanished hinted at the fact that these were not random abductions. Somebody had to have been watching them."
"That would mean that they were targeted," Garcia chimed in. "I don't know if I can still access any security camera tapes from around that time, but let me see what I can do."
"But what about Hotch?" she added. "It's not like he was in an unpleasant situation."
"Maybe – Maybe not," Rossi said thoughtfully. "Think about it."
"Working twelve plus hours a day, day after day, week after week," Lewis pointed out. "With very little time off to do anything he enjoys."
"He was dealing with our problems as well as his own," Morgan said thoughtfully. "That can't be easy."
"You mean they were rescuing Hotch from us?" Garcia squeaked in dismay. "I never thought of it like that."
"Calm down, Kitten," Rossi told her soothingly. "They probably just misread the situation. Hotch was leading the life he wanted."
"At least that's what he wanted us to think." Reid had a stricken look on his face.
"Buck up, Genius!" Rossi told him. "If necessary, once we get him back we can make amends."
"We need to get him back first," Lewis pointed out. "We need to contact the police in the other locales where abductions took place and see if there were any other secrets that didn't make it into the official reports."
"Tomorrow morning?" Morgan questioned hopefully.
"Well, I doubt if anyone is still on duty tonight," Rossi conceded as he glanced at his watch. "So, tomorrow morning it is."