Authors Note: Sorry that I kind of dropped off the face of the plant. School got really over whelming. But now I think I'm back for good and will try and get chapters out as fast as I can. I understand that this one isn't that good, but bare with me. They'll get better.

Chapter 5

Ghost In The Ruins

Kate Saunders stood in front of what was supposedly a movie theatre, though you couldn't see anything past the large tent that rose two stories in the air in front of it. It felt like a ghost town though she was standing in the middle of the street only a few blocks away from Times Square. It actually gave Kate shivers. This was not good. If it was bad enough to keep the stubborn New Yorkers from leaving their house then it had to be very bad.

Memories flashed through the twenty-one year olds mind of the last time that she had heard the city this quiet. The only thing that was different was that time it had actually been one of the loudest days of her life, filled with the screams of strangers as well as those that she loved. Cries and moaning from pain. But now whenever she thought back on it there was no sound. She could see the mouths of people moving, but never hear the words or sounds that came out. Though it was one of the realist moments in her life it still felt like it hadn't happened. Just like it felt like this wasn't happening.

Rossi and Emily stepped out of the SUV to join Kate in front of the white tent. They too felt out of place in the situation. No one knew what to do, or how to handle this. There was nothing they could do but try to stay strong and find the ones behind the attack before it was too late, and they all found themselves dead. Something told Emily that it wouldn't be long before that happened. What would they do if it did happen before they were able to find the cure? The only thing Emily could do to keep for going insane was push on, and try not to think about it. They needed to be clear headed, away from fear as much as possible to find the SOBs that had the nerve to do such a thing.

"Shall we?" Rossi asked motioning to the flap in the tent that served as a door. He too was knotted inside with fear. Actually he had never been so scared in his life. No case had been even been like this one. The danger threatening everyone in the world had never been so real. But he had trained himself over the years to not show the fear, or anger, he felt. His voice had come out as calm and collected as it always did. "We need to act quickly." He added, though everyone knew it. Knew that every second they spent standing there another person inched closer to death, and the UNSUBs came closer to another attack.

"Lets go." Emily said making her way through the flap, followed closely by Rossi. Kate chose to stay outside for a little while longer. Inside they found the tent looked pretty much like you would have expected it to. A few people sat in a pull out table in the middle of the room, with several other tables with while containment suites sitting on them. It seemed almost like a hospital in the smaller than expected space, and was so white that it made their eyes hurt.

"You must be the BAU team?" One of people at the table said standing, reviling that he was wearing a containment suite with out the helmet on. Kate slipped in next to the two agents at this point, trying to act like she had been there the whole time, though everyone in the room knew that she hadn't. Part of Emily wondered why she had stayed out a few extra seconds, but there was no time to try and figure it out. Whatever her reason it wasn't there problem. They had to focus on profiling the movie theatre. The man continued quickly before any of them could answer his question. "HASMAT has cleared the building, but for your protection we offer you containment suite, just in case. That is if you want one…"

Kate didn't even let the man finish before she was walking across the room toward a flap that was obviously the entrance to the movie theatre. She didn't even think twice about wearing one of the ridiculous suites. She didn't care if she was infected or not, anyway. After all the man had said the building was clear, and if he said it was clear then she trusted him. (Though in truth Kate trusted no one. It was a good excuse though if she was asked about it.) "Kate." She heard Rossi shout as she reached the flap, but she didn't even stop. Instead she continued through the flap and into the movie theatre.

"Damnit…."Rossi muttered when Kate disappeared through the flap. "What is she doing?" He knew that again it was none of his business what the CT agent did or not, but he wasn't about to see the young woman get herself infected and possible killed.

"I'll get her." Emily said and half ran to the flap and stepped through it. Not exactly would Rossi had been expecting. Now of course Emily was risking her own life. And what was even worse was Dave was sure this Kate wasn't going to listen to anyone. But what was he going to do? He wasn't about to run in after them, not with out a suite at least. There was no reason to get them all infected. So Rossi turned to one of the table and started to dress as fast as he could.

Kate hadn't gotten very far when Emily came into the lobby of the movie theatre. The smell of butter and popcorn a little over whelming after the too clean smell of the tent. "Kate!" Emily shouted, though the other woman didn't stop, or even look back. Emily continued forward until she was able to reach out and grab Kate by the shoulder stopping her.

"What!" Kate snapped turning around faster than humanly possible. Her eyes could have burnt a hole through Emily. Her heart was racing. She didn't like people touching her. Luckily the anger in her words most likely stopped the profiler from seeing the slightly panic in her eyes that only lasted a second, before it was replaced by the normal Kate stone cold glare.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked a little confused by the woman's behavior. Normally she could get a pretty good read on people, but there was something about this woman that kept her from learning much other than she wasn't much of a people person.

"Trying to find something that will help us catch these guys." Kate answered matter of fact. She really did hate stupid question, even if she knew that Emily had meant something else completely.

"Why aren't you wearing a suite?" Emily asked getting annoyed. "Do you want to die?" But even though she asked it didn't mean she believe it. Actually there was something about the way Kate was acting that told Emily she didn't want to die, but at the same time she didn't seem to care. There was defiantly something else going on with the girl.

"He said we didn't need one. I know this guys, if they say its safe, its safe." Kate answered. "Anyway, you don't seem to be to concerned." She motioned to the fact that she wasn't wearing a suite either. Though Kate wasn't a profiler she needed to be just as good with reading people as they had to be. When you were undercover you needed to know who and how you could trick different people, else you could be killed. "Do you want to die?" Of course Emily didn't seem like the person to want to die, but she sure wasn't worried about catching the virus from the building.

Luckily Emily didn't have to answer because Rossi came into the room seconds later. The suite russelling as he moved. In his hands he held two other suites, for the two other agents. "Here." He said holding them out for the girls, his voice muffled by the helmet.

Emily watched Kate for a moment, thinking about what she had said. And knowing that she was far smarter than she let on. She then turned to Rossi looking at the suite for a second. Kate was right. Emily didn't think they were in any danger. She felt like the man in the tent had just been told to keep them as safe as the could, because "they were the solution to this". She didn't like being treated differently than others. But at the same time she knew that she had to take the suite. Kate could think whatever she wanted to about her, but the only one she was going to go back to Quantico with was Rossi. "Thank You." She said taking the suite and starting to step into it.

"Kate?" Rossi offered the CT agent, wondering if Emily had convinced her to wear one. But as it turned out Kate shook her head and turned away, again not even considering putting the thing on. Sure if wasn't the fashion of the month but by the cloths the agent was wearing it didn't seem like she cared about that. Rossi wasn't going to force her into anything, though, and had actually decided that he didn't like her that much. "Fine." He muttered tossing the suite near the door to be returned to the tent when they came back.

Once Emily was dressed the three agents headed through the lobby and to the theatres. The virus had been released in the first screen. (It was a small place with only two screens.) Everyone from that screen had been admitted to the hospital. Along with a few of the staff members that had cleaned the theatre after the movie was over, and even a few of the people who saw the other movie, how they were infected was still a mystery, but the theory was they had gone to the bathroom with some of the infected people and some how when they washed their hands the virus had been transmitted.

The theatre looked just like any other theatre in the world. The floor was mostly clean, but crushed popcorn could still be seen imbedded in the carpet. There were only ten rows of seats, and there wasn't that much of a slant in the room. The three agents made there way into the room and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place. And nothing seemed important about the room. It had to be mean something to the UNSUB, that was the only option. Maybe it was one of the guys' first jobs, or had a bad date here. After all one thing the theatre was was old.

"He couldn't have been in the theatre when he released the virus." Rossi pointed out. They all understood that if he had been in the theatre he could have been at risk of getting infected himself, after all this was a very contagious virus, and any contact with it could cause you to get sick. This was starting to look like an inside job. How else would the terrorists have been able to turn the sprinklers on, with the infected water inside?

"We should have Garcia run background checks on everyone who worked for the theatre." Emily said looking up at the sprinklers above their head. The water had first dome out in small drops, Mr. Trihile having sat directly under one. Then they were turned on full power. Why it was this was, she didn't know. The UNSUBs could have wanted to make sure it would work. Or one of them could have been in the theatre at the time, and left before it came on full power. But that would be very risky. Why would they risk being infected to make sure it worked?

"Krys already did that." Kate said as she moved from row to row walking around casually. "All of them are clean." The CT team had thought of the fact that the theatre staff could very well be part of the terrorist plot, after all they did this kind of stuff every week. Sadly they had found nothing that shouted "terrorist"! "And before you ask, all the victims also check out." She added. Though everyone knew that if one of them did get infected they wouldn't go to the hospital. They would rather die then compromise the group.

"What if they fit the serial killer profile, and not the terrorist one?" Rossi pointed out. Of course they were pretty much the same thing, he figured that they should be safe and ask their analyst to look into them, see if she could flag something that someone used to only working with terrorist wouldn't see. It might prove useful. "I'll call her." He said ignoring the looks Kate got him. He didn't care if she thought that he thought his team was better than her's. As he dialed the number he left the room.

The room was silent a long moment as the two agents looked around the room. Both thinking. Emily soon broke the silence saying, "They must have a cure for the virus." Kate glanced at her, and Emily took the look as her questioning how she would know. Of course Kate didn't really care how the other woman had come up with that idea, but was always open to learn something new, and she felt she could learn a lot for these people. "There had to be one of them in this room. Why, I'm not sure. But the only reason they would put some one in that much danger was if they knew they could help him if the worst did happen." At least that was a silver lining to the situation. If they could find these guys then they could get the cure and help everyone that was sick. The only thing was they had to find them.

"What if they were making sure a certain person was infected." Kate offered still moved around the room. Unable to keep still. How could any one just stand around and do nothing but talk in a moment like this?

"Who?" Emily asked, though none of them had an answer. That was one more thing she would have to ask Garcia to try and find. But she wasn't going to say so out loud. Once Rossi came back in they looked around a little more. Even finding there way to the water system. But there wasn't much there to shed any light on the situation. Which was a shame. Emily had really wanted to find something that could lead them straight to the UNSUBs. Stop this madness as soon as possible.

JJ looked out at the sea of cameras. It was amazing just how dead the city seemed as they drove in, yet there were so many people ready to come out with cameras and tape records to hear what they had to say. As if it was safe to be at the front steps of the FBI building. Nowhere was safe though, However JJ knew that they needed to do there. Needed to get the information out to the public. Keep them in the loop on what was going on. The demand for knowledge on the situation had never been more needed then in this moment. And this was one of those moments that JJ agreed with what they did. The public needed to be aware and ready to act if something did happen.

JJ looked at Hayley Chezaneski next to her JJ wondered if this was how she felt ever time she had to stand in front of those cameras talking about a possible terrorist plot, or else trying to disclaim one. It was a different feeling then when you were talking about a serial killer. Everyone was a target in a terrorist act. While with psychopaths and sociopath there was a way to stop people from being a target. But there was very little they could now. Paired with the fact that they had to keep public from panicking JJ could tell why Chez had been so egger for her help.

"Agents!" Many from the crowd shouted and been shouting since the moment the two had walked out the building to give their statement, which they had been working on since the moment the BAU walked through the door. JJ knew the profile the team had come up with, and though it was a bad idea to release the details before the team had a chance to actually perfect the profile she knew that there were a few things she needed to get out.

"Everyone!" Chez shouted gaining to undivided attention of those from the crowd. Those who had known her as a kid would have been surprised that she was the one standing in front of the cameras talking to the world. She had always been quiet. But now she had found her voice. Something that had been taken from her at a very young age. Now she held on to it with her life, afraid that she would lose it again and become the helpless girl again who watching everything she cared about fade away. She would never let that happen again. She had total control of her life now. And even in times like these when she felt like the world was falling out beneath her she was able to keep that claim. It wasn't just her job it was her life.

"We are not confirming that this is a terrorist plot." Hayley said her voice strong even though she was partly lying. "It is an isolated incident where someone targeted the movie theatre, and those in side it."

"There is more than one person, yes. But they are not attacking the states, they are what we call cause driven offenders. Their attacking someone or something personally." JJ added smoothly, though her heart was fluttering because she knew that the vultures out there were ready to tare apart everything that they said.

"Does that mean the movie theatre was their target?" One of the reports shouted at the two media liaisons.

With out even thinking about which one of them should answer JJ said, "We can't be sure."

"Does that mean they are going to strike again?" A different report asked and JJ and Chez where starting to feel the pressure of the many people in front of them. They knew they their statement had been less than informative, but it was all that they could share.

"We don't know." JJ asked her voice faltering a little. She hated not having any of the answers that they needed. And that ended up being all the questions that the reports were asking.

Chez quickly stepped in saying, "If they are going to attack again the city is ready. We have all the best agents, and even those that aren't the best, on this case. We will hopefully find these guys before we have to worry about another attack. And if they do try again, we will be on them like peanut butter on bread." She said trying her hand at a little humor. She had learned that in times of crisis it was best to not be completely serious. It helped claim people down. If she could make a joke then it might not be as bad as they all thought it was. There could be some hope.

Of course that didn't seem to work this time. People were to over whelmed and shocked by the situation. There wasn't one chuckle from the crowd. And seconds later someone else was shouting out a question. One that neither JJ or Chez wanted to touch on. "How many people have died? And is there any cure in sight?"

The death toll was now sixteen. Hotch had called from the hospital to tell them that Jasper Trahile was dead. JJ gave Chez a quick glance then she looked back at the crowd. "Sixteen." She said flatly, trying not to draw to much attention to the growing number, "But things are looking up. The last person to die last far longer than anyone could have guessed. That means the doctors are doing something right, and in no time we will have a cure." JJ lied. She knew that they were no closer to finding a cure than before, and it was just chance that Trahile had lasted as long as he did, which she failed to mention to the media wasn't that long. But she knew that everyone needed to think that there was away to survive the virus if worst came to worse. An incurable virus was ten times more scary than one that could be fought.

"Thank you. That will be all." Hayley quickly said before anyone else could shout out a question to be answered. They had given all the information they could, and needed to get back to helping find the people that did this. Both woman turned and headed back into the building, maybe reports still shouting out questions as if they might get answered, but neither agent was going to go back to answer any more questions. That wouldn't do any good.