Part 2

People are complicated. People have secrets. It doesn't make them good people or bad people.

- David Zayas

Chapter 10

Washington Hospital Center
Washington DC

"Erg."

Spencer Reid opened his eyes and found himself looking at the distinct ceiling of an emergency room. He felt groggy, like he had just woken from an unwanted nap, and was about to start another one. The problem being that he didn't know exactly where he was or how he got there, which made napping a bad idea. Tempting, but bad.

Thankfully a familiar face hovered into view above him. "Hey, Spence." JJ smiled down at him before turning to the open door of the bay. "Nurse, he's awake."

"JJ" He managed to croak out before trying to get himself to a sitting position. "What happened?" He let out a small groan of embarrassment as his head detached and started bobbing several feet above him.

"We don't know yet. Morgan found you in Georgetown, you'd been drugged. Easy." With her on one side and a nurse on the other he managed to get up to sitting, dragging his floating head on a string after him.

"Tell me it wasn't narcotics." He was still in his good suit, his tie and jacket having gone somewhere. "How long was I out? Where's my gun? Where's Claire?!" That last question reeled his head back down to his body, where it landed with a near-sickening blast of pain across his temples.

"You've been out for about four hours, and it wasn't narcotics." The nurse informed him. "According to the blood work someone shot you up with Ativan and an antihistamine, right in the jugular vein. The effects would have been nearly instantaneous. The Ativan will have worn off by now, but the antihistamine will last another four to eight hours, maybe longer. Don't plan on driving tonight." Spencer shook his head, indicating that he wouldn't and reassuring himself that it was now firmly attached.

"Your gun is in an evidence bag, being held by DC Metro Police. They're looking for Claire." JJ answered the rest of the questions. "They're letting us in on the case because you're involved. Emily and Morgan are on their way back here to report, Hotch and Rossi are doing what they can from the office. And Garcia and Kevin are in the bunker, according to them right about the time you were drugged all out cyber war started, they've been trying to fight off attacks on their systems all night."

"Cyber war? JJ, what is going on?" Spencer felt the absurd need to hang on to the back of his head to keep it from falling over.

"Spence, I have no idea."

The hospital was kind enough to let them use an empty consultation room, while they gathered the paperwork to grant Spencer his freedom.

"Hotch is still at the office, keeping Strauss off our backs." Rossi informed them when he got there, just steps behind Morgan and Emily. "First things first. Reid, start at the beginning."

Spencer started with arriving at the Kennedy Center, through what Clair had said, her leaving. "I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary when I got to the house. I entered at the gate, went up to the front door…"

"Were the lights on or off?" Rossi asked.

"Off. It was dark."

"Was the door opened or locked?"

"Locked." Spencer managed a sheepish smile. "She gave me a key a couple of weeks ago."

"Uh-huh. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Footsteps behind me. And I didn't hear the gate close." As the headache eased the pattern began to snap together in his head. "I was followed, wasn't I?" I led them right to her.

"That's most probable." Rossi agreed. Then he turned to Morgan. "You were the next on seen, what did you see?"

"When I got there the only car nearby was Reid's. I noticed parts of his revolver scattered along the path as I came in the gate. His badge was out and open beside him. I checked him out, called 911, made sure he was safe until the ambulance got there."

"Were the lights in the house on or off?"

"On, all of them. And the door was hanging open." Morgan replied.

"Once Reid was safe you went back with DC Metro, what did they find?"

"The place had been turned over, quick and dirty."

"She had a gun under her pillow. A Glock 36." Spencer informed them, finally.

"Yea, they found it. As well as four others, and a hundred thousand in cash. They found three more at the shop as well as another hundred grand and everything still in the till. Two Sigs, the others were Glocks. Nothing smaller than a 9mm. Whatever it was, it wasn't robbery." Morgan looked over at Spencer and shook his head. "You are not allowed to date anymore."

Rossi chuckled. "Emily, what did you get from the cab?"

"She must have known whoever she saw would follow him because she never went home." Emily informed them. "The driver took her to a long term parking lot near Dulles. She got into a late model Ford and got in the wind. We were able to get a license plate off the security camera, turned out it was stolen two years ago. The plate, not the car. We have a BOLO out on her, the plate and the car. The odd thing was that there was a battery charge protector left where the car had been parked."

"So she stashed that car there in case she had to make a clean getaway." Morgan summarized. "Slick."

"Yeah, but why not just get a plane, or a train ticket?" JJ wanted to know.

"Because whoever could put a tail on Reid that fast would be watching the terminals by the time she got to them. But they couldn't watch the roads." Rossi replied. "Odds are by now she's driven far enough away to avoid any terminals they would be watching. She'll ditch the car at an airport or train station, and get a ticket to anywhere. Someone smart enough for that would leave her a change of clothes, cash, and a new identity, as well as a new gun."

"Guy, who have I been dating?" Spencer wanted to know. "Who did I fall in love with? Who is Claire anyway?"

"We don't know yet. But whoever she is, or whoever is after her, that cyber attack started about ten minutes after they read your credentials."

"What the hell is going on?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know." Rossi replied. "Are you up to working?" He asked Spencer.

"As long as I don't have to drive."

"Good. Go back to that cottage. Find something."