"Emily, you know the unsub?" Reid's voice seemed to have gone up an octave.
"Yeah, I investigated him when I worked at Interpol." Nothing about this was making since. "But this guy, he can't be the unsub, this has to be some sort of trick. It doesn't make since."
"Why not, Prentiss? What'd you investigate him for?" Morgan asked, eager to get a jump on a lead.
"It was a smuggling ring. Pirated DVD's. Pretty low level stuff. And he didn't have any priors so once we had shipped him back to the States for trial, he only got a few years. It was a clean arrest, he was cooperative. It was a clean case."
"Emily, you're sure that's all there was to this guy? You can't think of any reason he'd have to do this?"
I was baffled. "Honestly, nothing about the guy stood out. If I didn't have years of training, an above average memory and a heightened sense of paranoia, I probably wouldn't have recognized the guy," I told them truthfully.
"Well, until we get proof to the contrary, this guy is our main suspect." Hotch asserted firmly as he strode back towards Garcia's office. "Do you have a name on the guy I could give to Garcia?"
"All my old case files are on my desk. I'll go look through them and get back to you," I said pragmatically, jogging over to my desk and sorting through the files I may or may not have illegally retained. It was easy enough to find the file. "Name is Sean Lawson. Born in Indianapolis, moved to New York to be a stockbroker, only to end up how I found him- a low level offender."
Hotch took the file I offered, flipped through the papers it held. "He plead guilty and waived his right to plea the fifth," Hotch muttered, brow lowering over sharp eyes in confusion.
"By all accounts, this guy was an easy conviction," I affirmed.
"Says here that his last known address since his release is right here in Virginia. Fair Fax."
"Let's go check this guy out," JJ said from behind me.
"Not before you hear what our Forensics team just found," Garcia called, moving as fast as her canary, stiletto pumps and and tight, electric blue skirt would allow. "This guy must be loosing his touch, which if you ask me, is a good thing because we'll finally be able to nail the SOB-I mean not literally nail him, but, you know, metaphorically, because he kidnapped Emily's precious daughter and-"
"Garcia," Hotch said warningly.
"Right. We found a partial print in the painted words that the unsub left on the wall- it was a match to this guy, Sean Lawson, that you have a sketch of. They haven't completed the rest of their findings, but they're not far off."
I couldn't put my finger on it but the minute the words left her mouth, something felt off. Something about this situation was odd but I had no reason I could voice out loud nor even explain to myself. I decided to stay quiet.
"Great, that just gives us stronger probable cause for a warrant. Reid, go request a No-knock from a judge and meet us down in the parking garage in 10 minutes. JJ, go call the local police officers in Fair Fax and request back up. Make sure they don't make any moves until we're on location. The rest of you, gear up. We leave in 15." Hotch barked orders right and left, and the team hurried to oblige.
I followed suit, reaching into my desk to grab my gun and holster it, then making my way to the closet we kept our vests and other field equipment in. Hotch stopped me with my hand on the knob. "Emily, what I said earlier-about you not getting involved-I meant it. You can't be allowed to come on a warrant raid to the house of the suspect probably involved in your daughter's kidnapping. I can't allow it. You're to remain here."
"Hotch-" I began. He was quick to shut me down.
"Not another word Emily. I will have someone detain you if necessary. We'll call you when we have an update." WIth that, he and the rest of the team swept out of the bullpen, on their way to do a job that was mine from the start-protecting my daughter.
Furious, nervous and antsy as hell, I bit my lip and spent the next ten minutes oscillating between pacing and chewing the caps off all my pens. Thankfully, Garcia entered, apparently with more news. "CSU just called. They were able to get epithelial cells from the room that match both the sample you provided of Amy and the DNA records we have of Lawson. He's definitely our guy."
Alarm bells were blaring full force in my head. Something was definitely off.
"Garcia, none of this makes any sense."
"What do you mean? We have a solid trail leading straight toward this asshole," she said, clearly ecstatic and confused as to why I wasn't.
"Exactly. For nearly two years this guy has been so thorough that the best guys in the trade," I got a hurt, slightly betrayed look from Garcia at that but ignored it and continued on, "found nothing. Now all the sudden this guy gets sloppy, leaves witnesses and physical evidence just lying around for us to find? Plus, what is the guy's motive?"
"You mean besides that you threw him in federal prison? Look, maybe he heard the real best of the best was on the case and got spooked. Maybe he got bored and wanted more excitement maybe-"
"Maybe he set a trap and now the whole team is unwittingly headed straight for it," I cut it, dashing once more for my gun and vest. "I've got to get the hell to Fair Fax."
A/N: Typically officers/agents are required to knock before entering if they have a search warrant but some circumstances allow them no knock warrants-they have to ask special permission. They're not as common as TV would have you believe though. :) AAANYWAY sorry for the long time in between posts. Don't forget to tell me what you think!
