"Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors."
Abraham Lincoln
Hotch was having dinner with Beth when he got the text. It had been a pleasant evening, well every evening with Beth was pleasant for him. They went to a nice restaurant and then went home and had some ice cream with Jack for desert. As they did the dishes together after Jack went to bed, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He didn't look at it. He knew that it was work and he wanted just a few more minutes of peace with his girlfriend before he would have to leave. As she did the dishes he wrapped his arms around her, reaching into the sink and helping her clean off plates. He heard her giggle in front of him. Once they finished a couple of minutes later, Hotch lazily pulled out his phone. There was a single text displayed on the screen.
Penelope Garcia: 911 GET HERE ASAP.
He didn't know what was going on or why it was so urgent, but if Garcia was texting him this late with that kind of message he knew that he needed to get there right away. He said his goodbyes to Beth, gave her a quick kiss and then they both departed his house, going separate directions.
Hotch reached the BAU in 15 minutes of driving. He burst through the doors and at first saw no one until he noticed Will and Henry sitting at one of the desks. He knew that it had to be able JJ then so he rushed past them and up to the briefing room which he also found empty. Next he ventured to JJ's office then Rossi's office. They weren't in either of those rooms. Last he went to Garcia and luckily, that was where he the team all gathered around JJ who sat motionless in a chair, face pale and dark circles under her eyes.
All eyes turned on him as he entered, "What's…going on…?" He asked with eyes on JJ.
She shook her head and looked up at one of the computer screens.
Hotch followed her eyes and noticed that there was a letter displayed on it. He walked up to the closest computer screen and scanned the letter quickly. It was addressed to JJ and her family, threatening them. He shook his head as he read it. "What…" He didn't know where to start.
Garcia cut in before he could stutter on, "I scanned the letter into the database and cross-referenced it to other police reports filed. And…I found a series of letter with the same signature 'Evil Can Be Beautiful' all written to families, threatening to kill them. Every single family threatened ended up dead even if they filed a police report."
JJ's eyes dropped to the ground and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Apparently he finds all of his victims by simply reading stories in the news and…they printed a story about Will and I in the newspaper about how we were doing after that scare with him getting shot and the bomb…so that's how he found us." She shook her head, her eyes swimming.
Reid, who was sitting closest to her, took her hand in his and rubbed it comfortingly.
Hotch had regained himself by then. He knew exactly what he wanted to do, "Okay…" he started, "Rossi you need to contact headquarters and make sure we are authorized to take this on as a formal case. In the meantime, Morgan and Blake, you two go back and read the letters that police reports have on record. Look for similarities between them and start to get together some sort of preliminary profile for this unsub." He looked at Reid, "Reid stay with JJ."
Hotch didn't want to straight up tell him to try and get information out of her so he just gave him a look that communicated the message.
Reid nodded and Hotch knew that he got it.
Hotch continued, "Garcia get more information on this unsub and look for a specific MO in the killings and similarities between the victims. And I will go to the most recent dumpsite which I understand is close to here…?" He looked at Garcia.
"Radford, Virginia. I'll send you the directions." She pressed a few buttons.
The whole team got up at once, heading out of the door and going their separate directions, except for Reid, JJ and Garcia, but that didn't last for long.
"Do you want to go get Will and Henry and sit in the briefing room? You look anxious." Reid said, giving JJ a small smile.
JJ smiled back, glad that he could read her so well. "Yes." She stood up.
The pair left the room, met with Will and Henry and then traveled as a group to the briefing room where they sat around the table in silence, no one really sure what to say.
Reid was the first to break the silence between them. "Would it be okay if I asked you some…case-related questions?" He asked.
Will and JJ exchanged a look and Will stood up, walked over to Henry and started to play a game with him in the far corner of the briefing room which would make them out of earshot of Reid and JJ's conversation if they kept their voices low.
JJ leaned forward towards Reid, "What do you want to know?" She asked, her voice hoarse.
"Did you receive any other anonymous letters before this one? They may have been short, maybe even blank…" Reid asked her.
JJ shook her head. "No I don't think so. I mean, I never really check for return addresses until I need to, you know? So maybe…?" She gulped and cleared her throat.
Reid nodded, "Did you notice any strange behavior before the letter like someone following you, someone taking an odd interest in your family, a person who seemed too eager to meet you…?" He suggested.
"No." She answered, "Nothing like that. Our family is usually split because either I'm at work or Will is."
Reid nodded, "But this guy knew that. He waited until you two were both home at the same time to leave the letter for you. He had to have been stalking you then to know that."
JJ ran her fingers through her hair, trying desperately to keep her composure because she knew that if she lost it, it would tip off Henry to what was going on. "Do you think this is my fault?" She asked, "Is this someone targeting us because of my job?"
Reid shook his head, "I don't think so. From the way that he says your family was chosen rather than just you I would guess that he chose you more so because of your family than your job." He said.
JJ nodded slowly, not sure if she believed him or not. She stood up slowly, unable to sit still anymore. She was getting extremely antsy so she started pacing back and forth. "Keep going." She told Reid, "I'm listening."
"In the past few months have you noticed anything weird in your house like things out of place, things missing, windows open, doors unlocked…?" Reid asked her.
JJ stopped walking, "A couple weeks ago…everyday when I got home the window of the living room was open. I kept closing it just thinking it was probably Henry's babysitter who opened it. You think that he was in my house?"
"Most likely." Reid answered, "Stalkers enjoy being close to their subjects of obsession often collecting pictures of them, taking items from them and in some cases, going into their home."
JJ shook her head, wobbling a little bit on her feet. She leaned over and touched the table to steady herself, "I feel like I'm going to throw up." She muttered, touching her stomach.
"It's okay." Reid soothed, "You're safe right now. The bright side of this is that, while he was in your house…he didn't hurt any of you or purposely try to turn attention towards his actions. That means he's patient and if you're here in the BAU, he won't come because he has enough self-control to wait. And we know that…so we have the advantage."
JJ nodded and gulped, willing herself to believe him.
Reid pushed on, "Alright so tell me about the article in the newspaper."
JJ shrugged, pacing back and forth behind his chair. "I don't know…" She said, "The newspaper came to our house and asked us if it would be okay if they interviewed us for an article. We said yes and they asked us questions about that day, about Henry and about how we were doing. I thought it might have something to do with an article written about that day as a whole, but it turned out they were writing about us. And I was pleasantly surprised." She shook her head, "I didn't think that it would make my family a…target."
Reid touched her arm as she paced past him, "Hey…" he said, "Come on. This isn't your fault, okay? I promise you that. This guy is just trying to get into your head and you can't let him do that because once you do…you'll be giving him what he wants. Just trust me when I say that there is no method to what this unsub is doing. He picks a family at random from the newspaper, it was horrible coincidence that he chose yours." He paused, "But your family will be okay. I'll make sure of it…because you are my family JJ so your family is mine too. And while you're here…you're safe." He finished, looking up at her.
JJ's eyes met his for a few moments.
And Reid saw something; her eyes were clouded, glazed. She looked almost sickly. He squinted and leaned closer to her for a better look, but just as he did he felt her arm slip out of his grasp as she started to fall backwards.
"JJ? JJ!" Reid exclaimed, jumping up and trying to catch her before she hit the ground, but his reaction was too delayed and she felt limply onto the ground. "Hey…" he said, shaking her a little bit. His first reaction was that maybe she had fainted from being overwhelmed or scared, but that wasn't like her…this had to be something different.
Will rushed over seconds later. "What happened? JJ? JJ?!" He shook his wife a little bit and then touched her cheek lightly, realizing that she wasn't going to wake up.
Reid shook his head, "I-I don't know…we were just talking one minute and next thing I know…she was falling. It came out of nowhere." He explained as he reached up to feel JJ's cheek, which was hotter than normal and he also noticed that her skin was glistening with sweat.
Will noticed that too, but he wasn't sure what it meant so he turned to the doctor. "What's wrong with her?"
Reid leaned over and put his ear on her chest to listen for her breathing. Luckily as he did that he could still here the thumping of her heart in her chest. She was still alive, but she was unconscious and wheezing painfully as she breathed. "Get the water on the table." He ordered Will.
He got up quickly, getting the water off the table and giving a comforting smile to his son who was sitting on the far edge of the couch with a scared look on his face. He brought the water back to Reid, "What's going on?" He asked.
Reid glanced at Will as he handed over the water. "I'm not completely sure, but I do know that she has a fever and she's probably had it for a while, meaning that for the past hour or so her body has been overheating causing her to sweat more, which then caused her to become dehydrated." He told Will, "She should wake up if we cool her down, but as for what is causing the fever and the wheezing I'm not completely sure."
Reid took the water, poured it on a paper towel that he pulled off of a role they had in the room. He laid it on JJ's head and waited. "We need to call an ambulance because I think she may have hit her head on the ground and…this…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish. "Nevermind."
He stood up and offered a hand to Will to help him off of the ground and he took it gratefully, but as Reid was pulling him up off the ground Will's legs were shaking. When he was halfway off the ground they gave out altogether and he crashed to the ground next to his wife, coughing painfully.
"Will." Reid said, crouching by his side. "Will, calm down. Breathe…easy, breathe in, breathe out…slowly….slowly…" He took the cup of water and poured it directly on Will's forehead to cool him down, but it didn't help…the man on the ground in front of him was having a coughing bout and if it didn't end soon he would pass out too from oxygen deprivation. "Will! Calm down!" He exclaimed. That would be the only way to help his coughing.
"I…ca…n't….bre…eathe…." Will said through wheezes, "Why….can…'t….I…br…e.e…ea…the?" He coughed a few more times.
And then Reid knew for sure what he had just been insinuating before. The first illness suddenly happening could have been a coincidence, but two of them…that was organized. And now they could both die if he didn't help them soon so as quickly as he could, he pulled out his phone and called 911 telling them that he needed an ambulance immediately. The second person he called was Hotch.
"Hello?" Hotch's voice came over the line as a monotone.
Reid was panting, "The letter!" He exclaimed, "The letter he sent them…it had something on it, possibly Anthrax. JJ and Will they're sick and the paramedics are taking them to the hospital. Tell everyone to meet us there and SOON! Because if they touched the letter they might start getting symptoms too."
Hotch was confused, the young doctor had been talking way too fast. "Wait, what?"
"JJ and Will have been poisoned." Reid told Hotch just before he suddenly felt a small tickle in his throat, covered his mouth, and started to cough, but it was a weird…dry kind of cough that hurt with every gasp. "Oh my god…"
When he finished and looked at his hand, it was covered in blood.
"Definitely Anthrax."
"Every sickness has an alien quality, a feeling of invasion and loss of control that is evident in the language we use about it."
Siri Hustvedt