The guys entered the conference room and began trying to determine what had happened to Reid. The police had finished their work on Reid's apartment and car. The team had helped with the door to door which went fine till they got stuck with Mrs. Cassidy for thirty minutes while she told them everything she knew about the young agent. She made them eat brownies and she told them she hoped they would find the nice young man as he always helped her and made her feel safe. They escaped as soon as politeness allowed and returned to the BAU.
They sat around the table going through case files and they tried to work up a preliminary profile on the unsub. They didn't have much to go on though.
"So, we know that Reid was stalked, the person that did this was watching him and knew his routine, and he is organized and careful. So his age is 30-40. He's white and he's single." Gideon thought aloud.
"Agreed, Hotch said. What we don't know is if this is random, or if Reid was targeted for revenge on a case he worked on or if there is another reason entirely."
"My question to you is do you think Reid was ambushed or do you think his killer confronted him directly? We know from the time line that his disappearance occurred after he arrived home, probably around 11 pm and before 9 am this morning when we missed him."
"I think he was ambushed and probably drugged as there were no signs of struggle at the scene." Morgan said looking upset.
"What is it Morgan?" Hotch asked. He knew Morgan thought of Reid as a younger brother he could tease but if anyone else messed with him there was hell to pay.
"I was just thinking of something he, JJ and I talked about. I laughed at him when he said he was afraid of the dark and then this happens, someone comes out of the dark and it's like his worst nightmare came true and no one helped him."
"This is not your fault Morgan, you have to stop blaming yourself." Gideon said firmly.
"But-"
"No buts Derek, we need to focus or we play into the hands of the unsub."
Morgan swallowed a harsh remark because in his heart he knew Gideon was right. His cell phone rang. It was Garcia.
"Hey gorgeous please tell me you have something." Morgan said quietly.
"You sound like you're blaming yourself, sugar, so stop it right now and listen to what your goddess has for you. I got into Reid's laptop, and he has a file on the recent homicides around Quantico, there isn't much here as the case isn't yours but I wondered-"
"I'm right there with you Pen, he interrupted sitting up in his chair. Would you be a sweetheart and send it to my laptop."
"All ready done sweet thing."
"You're the best babe," he said with a smile and hung up.
"That was Garcia she's sending a file to my laptop from Reid's computer. It looks like he was keeping up with the cases around Quantico." He said as he opened the file.
"What does he say about them?" Hotch wondered.
"Not much more than what the papers say, he didn't have access to the case files so his conclusions aren't detailed, what worries me is that he may be this guys next target, but how can we know when we don't know the specifics." Morgan said
"I'm going to cal the Agent in charge of the case and get their info; if this guy has Reid we have less then a week before he turns up in the woods. Gideon said pulling out his phone.
Meanwhile in some dark room somewhere else.
Spencer groaned and lifted his chin off his chest. His head, neck and shoulders hurt. He was sitting down and his arms were tied behind him as were his ankles in front of him. It was pitch black even though his eyes were open and his heart began to race with the irrational fear of the dark he battled with on a daily basis. He'd read everything he could get on Nyctophobia but none of that would help him now. He knew he was in big trouble and he had to concentrate on the unsub if he were going to survive this.
"Oh poor Dr Reid" a voice said out of the darkness.
Reid screamed in surprise and the voice laughed. A very bright light came on temporarily blinding him.
"Who's there?" He said squinting against the glare. There was no reply but he was grateful when the light stayed on, that is until the loud heavy metal music started to play.
"Please, he shouted, it hurts my head." But he knew he couldn't be heard and the music went on and on. He tired to ignore it but that was like trying to ignore an earthquake or a tidal wave.
The man watched Reid from the other room. He had the music level way down on the monitors. Soon Dr Reid was screaming in agony and the man laughed and laughed. He only hoped that the young agent wouldn't break as quickly as the others had.
Conference room at the BAU
JJ had joined Morgan and Hotch in going through case files. Gideon was talking to the Agent in Charge of the Quantico murders. His name was Agent Jeffrey Hansen and he didn't like Gideon trying to take over his case.
"Jeff, you know I'm not a glory hound I don't care who gets the collar on this I just want my agent back alive."
"I'm sorry Jason, I don't mean to imply anything and I want Dr Reid found as much as you do, and after all he is one of us. It's just that this unsub scares me badly, he's be at this for nearly a year flaunting his successes right under our noses and we have nothing." Agent Hansen said very frustrated.
"Look Jeff why don't we all work together, we're down two agents and we could use the help. What do you say?"
"All right Jason, I'll get all the data and meet you in an hour."
An hour later Agent Hansen walked into the conference room with Agent Samantha Wilson and Agent David Moreland. Introductions were made and JJ took her usual place with the remote for the projector. The crime scene photos began to flash across the screen and everyone on Hotch's team gasped in surprise. They were brutal beyond anything they had ever seen before even Gideon was speechless.
"Now you know from the media coverage that each body was found in the woods just out side of the fence around Quantico. They were found one week after they went missing. What you don't know is that for that week they were brutally tortured physically and I suspect mentally as well, although there is no physical evidence to back that suspicion up. They were brought to the woods and forced to run barefoot, he chases them in the dark through the woods and shoots them like fish in a barrel. We know this from the wounds on their feet. When he's had his fun he shoots them in the back of the head and drags the bodies from where they fall to the fence to be found by the military police patrolling the inside of the perimeter. Before he takes them to the fence he removes part of their anatomy. Oh, and they were all sexually assaulted as well."
Agent Wilson added, "As you can see this unsub is unique. Two of his victims are male and the other three are female."
"But that doesn't happen, Morgan said. These guys are like robots, they have specific fantasies and they never cross racial or gender lines."
Agent Wilson shrugged and said. I don't know what to tell you Agent Morgan. I can only say this guy isn't in the system.
"Is there DNA from the rape kits?" Gideon asked.
"Yes Agent Wilson said, we've successfully kept that from the media and it is what we will use to nail his ass when we find him. That's the good news the bad news is that he is getting more brutal with each victim and he is escalating, there was only two weeks between abductions this time and usually it's been about two months.
"So he's confident and cocky, he gets off by killing and leaving the victims practically on our doorstep. He wants them found right away. He isn't concerned about getting caught." Gideon said.
"Yes and I am worried we won't catch him till he makes a mistake." Hotch saying aloud what they were all thinking.
TBC