"A man should live with his superiors as he does with his fire: not too near, lest he burn; not too far off, lest he freeze." – Albert Pike
"I'm the un-sub." FBI Agent Aaron Hotchner kept his eyes on the road as he outwardly thought. "I place a packaged bomb on the doorstep of each of the seven FBI agents in the BAU. What is my motive?"
"Revenge," the tone in Agent Morgan's suggestion danced between a question and an answer. "This guy obviously has something against what we as a team have done to him. And considering he knew all of our home addresses, that probably means that he knows a lot abut us."
"Not to mention the fact that he knew to address Reid's package from Gideon," Hotch added.
Agent Rossi turned from the passenger seat to look at his colleague, "You don't think there's a chance the un-sub could be Gideon?"
Before, Hotch could reply, Morgan spoke up again from the back, "Hotch, I know it's a hard possibility to consider but when Gideon left he wasn't in the best mental state. He left on the verge of another break down."
"Yes, I remember, Morgan, I was there," Hotch didn't mean to snap at the man but he was tired and didn't want to believe his old friend was capable of something like this, "But that was four years ago and we can't know anything until we see the rest of the evidence. We've got three defused bombs from Garcia's, Rossi's and my place. Until it's confirmed that all the packages were addressed from him, we have to assume someone is making it look like Gideon."
"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Rossi interjected. "Whether you like it or not, Hotch, a friend and an ex-teammate is our most likely un-sub at this point. You're letting your personal relationship jeopardize this case."
Through grit teeth, Hotch shot back, "No. I'm not." He took the corner into Reid's apartment roughly and added, "I've already had Garcia track down Gideon's last recorded vehicle purchase and I've issued an APB."
An awkward silence fell upon the three men as they came to a stop. Morgan and Rossi exchanged an uneasy gaze before piling out of the SUV. As they made their way toward the scene of the explosion, a familiar but rather unpleasant face waited for them.
"What the hell?" Morgan dragged his words out flat and went to no lengths to hide his irritation. "What is she doing here?"
Agents Hotchner and Rossi had no reason to inquire who he was referring to. Just a few yards ahead of them and moving closer was Erin Strauss. In the past, their female superior seemed to consider it her own personal hobby to meddle in the BAU at the times when they were most vulnerable.
"Gentlemen, I'm terribly sorry for the loss of Agent Prentiss and the near loss of Dr. Reid. However given the circumstances, your team will not be taking on this case."
"The hell we aren't!" Morgan blurted out without thinking.
As Strauss's cold eyes fell on the man, Hotch stepped between the two and did his best to remain calm, "With all due respect, ma'am, I believe we deserve a better reason that 'given the circumstances.'"
With an irate expression, the woman went on to explain, "The fact of the matter is, as the victims of this case, jurisdiction granted to the BAU would be inappropriate. That aside, there is also the evidence linking this un-sub directly to one of your own former members."
"That hardly makes for a legitimate restriction of our involvement in this case." Agent Rossi was the first to argue.
Hardly in the mood to argue, Strauss rolled her eyes and turned her nose up to the men, "It's personal. Now, as professionals, I expect you to understand and accept this order. If you don't recall, in the past when your cases became personal, there were dire mistakes made."
Her last few words seemed to take a personal stab at Agent Hotchner who lost his wife during an investigation that got too personal for his liking. It rendered him a bit speechless that his superior would even mention such a tragic event.
Morgan was not nearly as silent, "Do you really expect us to just sit by and let this bastard get away with what he's done to our team?"
"No," Strauss answered with a strange tone in her voice that none of the profilers around her could quite read. "Because as it just so happens… we already have Jason Gideon in custody."
~ Author's Notes ~
It's the shortest one yet, I know. But you will not be disappointed in the next chapter. Oh and let the record show that despite that seemingly chauvinistic line in this chapter, I too am in fact a female. I just don't like Strauss. Can you tell?
So today on ION (positively entertaining) there is the Criminal Minds Memorial Day Marathon at 4 PM (Seattle time)! You best know I'mma be all over that! What about you guys, any plans?
On a side/funny note: When I got to where Hotch mentioned issuing and APB for Gideon's arrest, I realize that I knew how and when to use that term but I had no idea what it was. So just to be sure, I did some research and low and behold I was right. Though, in the end, I wasn't sure whether to feel ridiculously smart or incredibly stupid. (And just for those of you like me who didn't know, APB stands for All-Points Bulletin.)