Chapter 20

ClearWater Headquarters
Washington DC

"That's the piece that was missing." Rossi said. "This is a grudge match for all of you."

"Yes." Zeke admitted with perfect honesty. "But what he's doing is also illegal and immoral."

"I guess you can call that a win-win too." Michael said.

"We'll get back to that." Hotch said. "We believe team 3 is after the secret as well, likely the DIA."

"I can see them wanting Zamir's secret." JJ said. "But do they know it involves children?"

"Yeah. And they're going for it anyway." Michael said. He slid another file over to Hotch. "We haven't figured out what to do about that yet. Hafitz has been our priority."

"We can help there." Hotch said as he looked over the file.

"How the hell do they plan to pull that off?" Morgan asked. "They can't just make kids disappear."

"Can't they?" Michael asked.

"At the current time the US has 397,122 children in foster care." Spencer said. "That's a potential victim pool."

"And they would only need to turn two to four." Rebecca said. "But how many would they have to test and kill like Hafitz is to get those four?"

"Oh man." Morgan shook his head. "Okay, I see where you're all going with this. We need to shut this down."

"Amen." Zeke replied.

"Team 4 is Mossad." Hotch picked up the thread again. "They want you dead."

That surprised the Capulets. "You mean reacquired." Zeke said.

"That's not what my CIA friend said." Rossi passed a copy of that file over to Zeke.

Zeke opened it, frowned at it, and held it up to show his family. A brief conversation in what Spencer assumed to be Hebrew ensued, which resulted in Rebecca stepping into another room, deeper in the SCIF, to make a phone call. "We'll get that dealt with." Zeke said.

"I thought you were off the rez." Emily said.

"Most of us are." Michael said. "None of us are ever going back, but there's a line of communication still."

"Major Gillon and her grandfather?" JJ asked. "She's not on the kill list."

"They yell at each other for the major holidays." Zeke said. "Unfortunately those of us on this side of the table are going to have to restrict our movements until that's taken care of."

"Understood." Hotch said.

"So here's what we're thinking." Michael said. "We work together to take down Hafitz and Chernikov. Then you deal with the DIA while we clean up on the Mossad end. And hopefully this whole concept will go the way of the dodo."

"Before we get that far we need to be clear on one thing." Rossi said. "Our definition of take down is not your definition of take down. You're planning on killing Hafitz, aren't you?"

"Collectively? Unfortunately yes." Michael said without hesitation.

"Unfortunately?"

"Killing is cleaner than he deserves, but it will suffice." Oh there was so much hate there, all simmering beneath that cool, corporate exterior.

"You really think that's justice?"

"You really think the DIA will let him sit in prison?" Zeke replied. "Of course they'll probably give us the transport contract. No, you want justice for those girls' families take Chernikov. Hafitz won't have given him the keys to the kingdom; if he did Chernikov wouldn't need him anymore."

"Okay, you do realize this is premeditated, right?" Morgan asked. "You can't just sit around and plan someone's murder."

"Yes, you can." Rossi said.

"I have." Emily said.

"So have I." JJ replied.

"Besides, prove any of this conversation happened." Zeke said.

"Were we having a conversation?" Hotch asked. He was studying the DIA file.

Morgan pointed to Spencer. "His memory is accepted as fact by the court."

Damn. Morgan would put him on the spot like that. On the one hand Morgan was right; they were sitting here planning a pre-meditated murder. On the other hand, based on the facts he knew there was only one moral answer he could give. "I'm sorry; I haven't heard a word anyone's said today."

Morgan groaned a little and sat back noisily. "All right. I guess we're doing this."

"None of us wanted to be put in this spot." Zeke said.

"Right."

"No, really. The American Dream is still a thing you know." Michael said. "We thought he was going to hang from a gallows the desert and we were going to start new lives. But now we have to take care of this."

"Unfortunately." Hotch said. "Do you have any ideas on how to lure him out?"

"We think so." Michael replied. "We figure Chernikov would be more interested in finished product, if it was available, than in investing in all that production effort. A couple of us are going out there as bait."

"How?" Emily asked.

"With you. You people have gotten closer to him than anyone, and you've done so publically. By now Chernikov has to be following you in the news if not more actively. Eventually he and Hafitz will realize that we're working together. He'll think that one of us is along as a bodyguard, but we think he's arrogant enough to make an attempt to reacquire."

"Reacquire." Rossi said. "I assume that means he has to get close enough to administer some kind of drug."

"Something like that." Zeke said.

"And when he does we spot whoever he sends and let that person lead us back to them." Hotch nodded. "Your people are taking quite the risk."

"We know." Michael replied. "But this needs to stop."

"And once we know where Hafitz is someone on your side takes him out." Rossi said. "I'm not disagreeing, but I want reassurances here. You all say you're here for the American Dream, that this is your one and only hit on US soil..."

"Swear." Zeke said.

"...I want something to back that up. I want your files, each and every one of you. We'll look the other way on this one but should anything ever happen again I want to be able to take you all down hard for it."

The four there looked at each other for a long moment. "Okay." Zeke said.

"Just like that?"

"If that's what it takes to prove our intentions are good, yeah. We walked away from that life; none of us are going back. Now I can't speak for Rayna or Daniel but the five of us will go there."

"Good enough." Rossi said.

"Okay, so how will we know if whoever is with us is hit by this drug?" Emily asked.

The atmosphere around the table noticeably chilled. "Yeah, you remember how we were runaways, not traitors?" Zeke said.

"Yes."

"Yeah, that."

But that wasn't good enough. "Okay, if we're going to do this we need full disclosure."

The air in the room grew colder still. The BAU could feel the two leaders in the room trying to make their final decision. Finally Zeke shook his head. "Okay, but we tell him." He pointed to Spencer. "Just him."

"Why?" Hotch asked.

"Because for some reason my sister trusts him."

Now it was the BAU's turn to look at each other. When Emily asked that question they had seen real fear in their counterpoint's eyes. Not when Rossi asked for enough intel to send any of them to prison for life but when Emily asked for more information about this secret. Whatever it was it was huge and very personal. After a long moment Hotch answered for them. "Okay."

With that Claire got up and tugged Spencer into another, smaller meeting room in the SCIF, with Ben following them. Once the door was closed the rest of the teams looked at each other. "We're going to need profiles on those two." Rossi said, nodding to the board and the pictures of Hafitz and Chernikov."

Equilibrium restored Michael nodded. "Our intel files are open." He said. "Anything you need."

Zeke got up and headed to a small kitchen in the corner. "Who wants coffee?"

Once inside the smaller room Ben turned to Spencer. "Okay, here's the thing." He said. "It's not a drug..."

Ten minutes later Spencer came out. Ten very disturbing minutes, during which he's had his worst suspicions confirmed. But he also knew now that Claire's feelings for him were honest and real. "Okay, I think we can make this work." He said.

"All right." Hotch said.

Just then Rebecca finally joined them. "Seventy-two hours." She said.

"Okay, that's when we start." Zeke said. "We'll have Juliet and..."

"Tybalt?" Ben said.

"What, don't want to be the Nurse?" Rebecca asked. She laughed at the face her brother made.

"...Tybalt at your door to start taking shifts." Zeke finished.

"All right." Hotch said. "Here's what we'll need before they start..."

BAU Headquarters
Quantico, VA

By the time they were done they had solid profiles on their Unsubs and a working plan for drawing them out. It was good work all around. But there was still one question, one that had to wait until they were back in their own SCIF. "So what are the symptoms of this drug?" Emily asked once the doors were closed.

Spencer took a deep breath. "It's not a drug." He replied. "It's DID."