Chapter 17

BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

"We suck." Emily grumbled.

The Director had come down on practically the entire bureau for this one. Despite being sedated, in the middle of a major medical center, surrounded by cops and FBI, Ali Bailey was somehow kidnapped a second time.

Her parents were pissed and frantic, of course. The media was having a field day. About the only ones not in the line of fire were the BAU people who had been there. Spencer was the logical choice for the lab, so his being on the other side of the building was understandable. And Morgan and Emily had at least tried to fight back. But Morgan had been tazered, twice, and Emily was black and blue from the fight. "If we're right, you went head to head against as Mossad assassin." Rossi said. "And you're still standing. That's actually impressive."

"Great." She put the ice pack back on her face.

The one thing they had not done was pin all this on Rebecca Ellensworth. They had no other proof, only Emily's word that she had been there. The Ellensworth family was too well connected to try to arrest one on such flimsy evidence. "Let's see the security camera footage again." Hotch said.

The footage at the hospital had been erased, of course, as had all of the test results. But they couldn't get to two copies. Garcia had been monitoring the cameras since they found out that Ali was in the hospital, waiting for Team 2, in a way that made going after it nearly impossible. And Spencer had seen all of the test data; it was now where no one could get to it, safely stored in his head. "Are we saying ClearWater is Team 2?" Morgan asked.

"They fit the criteria." Rossi replied. "And they were in charge of the missing explosive shipment that was used in the Merced bombings. Although if three of them were in Chicago, who blew up the buildings in DeKalb?"

"I'm trying not to think about that." Spencer replied. If their identifications were correct then Rebecca, likely Zeke, and likely Ben were in Chicago. Which left Michael, Daniel and Rayna in DeKalb.

And maybe Claire.

"Okay, here we go." Garcia said.

They watched the footage for a few moments. The dark-haired woman in the hoodie entered separately and took up a lookout position. When she spotted Emily she left, and they were able to follow them until the fight got started. Once Emily was down the woman limped her way out of the building. "It's no good." JJ said. "She never looks up at the cameras."

"What about the other two?" Hotch asked.

The other two wore scrubs to fit in, moved with the confidence that said that they belonged there, and even seemed to be wearing counterfeit badges that no one noticed. They helped themselves to a gurney and headed straight for Ali's room. One got Teri Bailey out of the way while the other went in, subdued Morgan, and got Ali out, right under the nose of the local LEO on duty. "They are smooth." JJ said. "And they're not looking up either. Damn it."

"Wait." Spencer said. "Run that back." Garcia did. "To...there. His body language just changed."

"Something made him nervous." Hotch said. "Something at the far end of the hall, by the elevators. Garcia?"

"Yes Sir." She switched cameras.

"I think we just found Team 3." Morgan said.

At the same time that Ali was being taken from her room Samson and Bennett, the two DIA agents, were stepping out of the elevator.

"Giant, looping circles." JJ muttered.

The team was back in the conference room, trying to make sense of a board that didn't want to come together. "Okay, where are we?" Morgan asked.

"Team 1 is made up of one MadScientist and a bunch of Russian mobsters." Rossi said. "They're kidnapping little girls to use as lab rats."

"Team 2 is ClearWater." Emily said. "Former Mossad with lots of money, power and connections. They're after whatever Team 1 is developing."

"Team 3 is the DIA." JJ said. "They're also after whatever Team 1 is developing. Team 4 is Mossad, they likely want to kill Team 2. But this makes no sense. Why is Team 2 kidnapping little girls to get to this drug? They could outbid or out muscle any Russian oligarch. Why not just put the MadScientist on the payroll?"

"Because he needs a steady stream of nine year old girls to work on." Morgan said.

"If they took the two survivors they clearly don't have a problem with that." JJ replied.

"Assuming they took them for lab rats." Hotch said. "Emily, what did Rebecca Ellensworth say to you again?"

Emily sighed. "She asked me why I was hiding Declan."

"To keep him away from his father." Morgan replied.

"Not entirely. I knew there were some people in the intelligence community, in our intelligence community who wouldn't have any problem using Declan to break Ian."

"Using him?" JJ asked.

"Torturing him in front of his father. I didn't want that to happen to him. Rebecca indicated that that's why they were there."

"So they took the girls to protect them." Rossi said. "Likely from the DIA, given how they reacted."

"That sounds more like the Claire I know, guys." Spencer said.

"Yeah." Garcia nodded. "I can see that."

"Would that mean they're trying to stop Team 1?" JJ asked.

"Probably." Morgan replied. "But we're having trouble finding them, and we have access to the law enforcement network they don't. They just can't catch the guy."

"What if this isn't a drug he's developing?" Rossi said. "ClearWater was on our MadScientist from the get go, and that set up was polished. What if what he has is already developed?"

"What, you think they're active Mossad, trying to get something back?" Morgan asked.

"No. Gillon went off the rez four years ago. Daniel Ellensworth set up ClearWater eight years ago. No, whatever happened that made them cut loose happened well before the MadScientist landed in Poland. But what if they knew about him and what he had before then?"'

"So are we saying the MadScientist is a former Mossad asset?" JJ asked. "He left with some secret?"

"It would fit." Emily said. "They know what he knows, they want to keep it out of DIA hands."

"But then why is Mossad after them? I mean, if they're both trying to require?"

"This could be a grudge match." Morgan replied. "Mossad wants to reacquire, they want it gone."

"Well, it does require a steady stream of nine year old girls." Emily said. "Anyone with a conscious would want that secret to disappear."

"And they have been going through a lot of trouble to use non-lethal methods whenever possible." Spencer said. "I mean if we're right the only time they used lethal force was when those two men in Poland were actively executing children. Even we would use lethal force in that situation."

"Uh, excuse me." Garcia said. "Are we saying that Mossad was doing something that required medical experimentation on little girls?"

The weight of that dropped over the table. "When Clare was in Hotch's apartment she did say if he knew what she knew he'd have to act, and lives would be lost." Emily said. "If there was any kind of proof of them doing that we would be talking major international incident here. That could bring down the whole country, destabilize the region."

"Which is already not that stable." Rossi said. "And they would have to clean house to get rid of the evidence, there's the lives lost, her former colleagues."

"And any kids in the pipeline." JJ replied.

"And that would paint a big, retaliatory target on this team." Emily added.

"We may all be in over our heads on this one." Morgan said. He looked over at Spencer. "You are not allowed to date anymore."

That broke the tension. "That would explain why ClearWater can't just put the MadScientist on their payroll." Spencer said. "If he left out of anger he might be unwilling to work with anyone ever connected to Mossad. Or this could be a grudge match, they left over what the MadScientist was doing."

"That fits." Rossi said. "Okay, so where are we?"

"Team 1 is headed by the MadScientist." Emily said. "He got away from Mossad with the secret of the century and put it out there for the highest bidder. Now he's likely working for the Russian Mob trying to do whatever he did for Mossad."

"Team 2 is ClearWater." Morgan said. "They know what the MadScientist is doing, they likely went off the rez over it. Now that the MadScientist is outside of Mossad protection they're trying keep what he knows from getting into the hands of any other agency before any more kids get hurt."

"Team 3 is the DIA, they want the secret." JJ said.

"And Team 4 is Mossad." Hotch said. "They want to require or terminate the MadScientist, ClearWater and anyone else who could leak their secret."

"So where do we fit in with all of this?" Garcia asked.

The team considered this a moment. "Legally we should be on the side of Team 3." Rossi said. "We should be acquiring an asset for our side. But personally I can't do that. I have to be on the side of Team 2 with this one, whatever this secret is it needs to disappear to keep kids safe. I'm going to throw in with them, even if it costs me my badge."

"I'm in." Emily said. "God knows I already did it once with Declan."

"I'm in." Morgan said. "Kids."

"I'm in." Spencer said. "Like Morgan said. Kids. And Clare."

"I am so in." Garcia said.

"I'm in." JJ said. "I couldn't go home and look at Henry if I didn't.

"I'm in." Hotch said. "I'll contact ClearWater and set up a meeting.

"What did they say?" Rossi asked when Hotch returned.

"They invoked lawyers." Hotch replied.

"Great."