Chapter 14

Home of Aaron Hotchner
Washington DC Metro area

"Let's talk in my office." Hotch said, as calmly as he could with visions of Foyet running through his mind. Obligingly she followed him, stepped through in front of him, let him close the door, and then push her against the wall so he could pat her down. "Glock 36, you have a pattern." He said, pulling the weapon out of the back of her jeans and pushing her well away from him.

"I'm not here to harm you or your family, I swear." Claire told him. "I'm going to need that back when I go."

"No. Why are you here? Why are you in my home? Why did you bring a loaded weapon around my son?"

"I told you, I'm not here to harm anyone. I got as far as Penn Station before I realized I had to come back." Hotch watched something sad come into her eyes. "I had to warn you all. And I can't just leave him. And I couldn't call him; I didn't…have a phone."

"You mean you didn't have access to a secure phone." Hotch thought. "Why here?"

"Because…look it's all really complicated…."

Hotch interrupted her. "You're Mossad, aren't you?"

He watched all the blood drain from her face, watched her take a step back. "Not anymore. How do you know that?"

"What was your role there?"

"Who told you that?" She was insistent.

And he was curious to see how she would react. "The DIA."

"Dammit!" He watched her eyes start to brim up with tears. "You know, I was going to try to explain, ask to come in, see if I could make it work, but now…" she shook her head. "I can't. I don't dare."

She was telling the truth, Hotch realized, or at least she thought she was. She was also terrified. He found his tone softening. "Why are you in my home?"

"Because by the time I got to Spencer's the black bag team was already there." She informed him. "I've been following them around all day. Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan, Jareau, all of them have had their homes bugged, their phones tapped, and their vehicles planted with tracking devices. Except for you, you have an excellent security system, they weren't expecting it." She folded her arms across her chest, held herself as she cried quietly. "Neither was I."

It was worth the money he'd paid, then. "Good to know. What was your role for Mossad?"

She shook her head. "I can't tell you. Even if I could you wouldn't believe me. If you did you would have to act and lives would be lost. They don't deserve that. And if Mossad found out you knew your son would be without a father. Just tell Spencer I love him, and that I'm sorry. I never meant to leave him. I thought this was all over. Just...tell him I love him." She headed for the door.

"Stop." He stepped between her and the door. "I'm sorry…what is your real name?"

"I don't remember." Hotch frowned in confusion as she wiped away the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.

"All right. I have to take you in. We have to investigate this."

"No, I can't. It's not safe. I'm sorry." Somehow she managed to step around him and get to the door.

"Stop." Hotch grabbed for her shoulder….

Washington Hospital Center
Washington DC

"Claire?" Spencer's jaw was hanging in shock.

"That's what he told me." Morgan replied. "I still don't know what happened; the doctor is in there now."

The door opened and Emily and JJ walked into the waiting room. "What happened?" Emily asked.

"All I know is that Hotch called, said Claire broke into his apartment, and he was on the way to the ER. When I got here he said he thought she broke his nose." Morgan replied.

"Okay, that's not good." Emily said, as if there was more meaning to this.

"Claire?" Spencer was still stuck in the previous loop. The gentle girl he knew, he loved, would not do this. Could not do this.

"Yes." Said a familiar voice behind them. They turned and saw Hotch signing out, tape over the bruise blooming on his face. "JJ, call the Bureau, we'll want sweep teams on all of our homes and vehicles first thing in the morning and have Garcia double check our phones, she said we've been black bagged. In the meantime we might want to stay at hotels tonight. And Reid," He looked over at the younger man, "You're not allowed to date anymore."

"Man, she really broke it?" Morgan was eyeing that bandage as if it was about to go off. "I saw that little girl, there's no way…"

"It was my fault; I shouldn't have tried to subdue her. She reacted without thinking." Hotch looked at the team. "Let's go back to the office, it's easiest to sweep, and I want to walk through the interview. I think in this case the answers are in the details."

BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

When they returned to the office Hotch sat down with Morgan for a cognitive interview, which went deeper into every moment he had spent with Claire. Rossi talked to Jessica while JJ spoke with Jack. Emily went with a team to check their homes for bugs, while Garcia checked from her end. Spencer sat out for being too close to the case.

Once all that was done they assembled in the conference room to go over notes. "She claimed to be a college student when she got in." Emily started, "She said she was studying at George Washington, and that she was answering an ad Hotch left for a back-up sitter for Jack. She was kind and friendly with him, he didn't notice anything wrong until she was on her way out the door."

"Jessica confirmed that." Rossi said. "She told a story about being from the Midwest, her father was in construction, three younger brothers, a very thorough cover. Jessica believed all of it."

"So she wasn't there to do Hotch's family any harm." Morgan said.

"She said my home was too secure to break in so she had to lie her way in." Hotch said. "When I cornered her she said she wasn't Mossad anymore."

"She's off the reservation." Emily said. "That's a dangerous game to play. Garcia, the Kennedy center might have a list of ticket sales, was anyone from the Israeli Embassy at the opera?"

"Ummm..." Garcia checked. "Yeah, the Ambassador and his wife."

"Bingo." Rossi said. "She likely spotted someone from his security detail she recognized and got spooked."

"And he spotted her and had Reid followed." Morgan said. "Now they're following us, hoping we'll lead them to her. But if that's the case they must have been outside Hotch's apartment, if not inside. How was she able to get away? Assuming she did because they're still on us."

"Better training." JJ said. "A higher level agent. That would mean a valuable one, which would explain their response."

"She said she couldn't tell me what her former role was." Hotch said. "She said I wouldn't believe her, and if I did I would have to act and I'd be their next target."

"Yeah, that would be higher level operative there." Emily replied.

"Why did she even come back?" JJ asked. "Why didn't she keep going?"

"To warn us and leave a message for someone that she loves him." Hotch replied,

Spencer's head landed on the desk with a groan. "I told her I could protect her."

"Oh no." Emily said, patting him gently. "You're in over way your head here. The only question is how deep the water is."

The next morning Spencer stood behind Garcia, quite happy to have a mug of coffee in hand. This interview might clear up a lot. Or it might not.

"And we are hot in 5..4..3..2…" Garcia clicked something and her main screen changed over. They were looking at the inside of the FBI office in the Green Zone in Iraq. And sitting in the frame was quite possibly the biggest man Spencer had ever seen. Perhaps he wasn't that big in general, but he was clearly larger and more muscular than Morgan, and he gave off an air of utter command and control that radiated even through the video link-up. If this is what her sister married, Spencer thought, then I don't have a chance.

"Lieutenant Commander Gillon, thank you for talking with us today." Hotch took the lead.

"Sure, no problem, Agent." The man in the picture broke into a happy, open smile. "Anything I can do to help."

"We have some questions about your wife, and some of her potential associates." Hotch continued, starting the interview.

"I don't know what I can do to help you with that; I haven't spoken to my wife in over a year. She left me right after we deployed." The Lieutenant Commander lost the smile, but for some reason Spencer still thought he was amused.

The interview continued, Hotch leading the Lieutenant Commander around in the usual questions, to see if he could be trapped into tripping over his own answers. Finally they were winding up. Spencer picked up a file, made like he was checking something. "I'm sorry Lieutenant Commander, when your wife left, what did she do with your daughter? Did she leave her with your parents or…"

The Lieutenant Commander 's expression didn't change, but his eyes focused on Spencer. He's not having fun with this anymore, Spencer thought, this just became deadly serious to him. "You must have a bad file, Agent. My wife and I don't have children."

"Ah. My mistake. Sorry."

It wasn't long before they ended the interview. "Thoughts?" Hotch asked.

"Claire said they have a daughter." Spencer replied. "She's missing too."

"He said he doesn't have children." Penelope said.

"He also slipped up a few times and used the present tense when talking about his wife." Morgan replied. "He might not know where she is but they're not split up."

"If she'd had a baby it would be in their file." JJ said. "So adoption? Likely older child?"

"Is there any record of an adoption?" Hotch asked.

Garcia checked. "None. But the ClearWater techs are excellent; those records could be long gone."

"Great."