The team stared at her. Morgan was just barely able to keep from punching the wall as Hotch had moments earlier.

"You're kidding," Blake whispered. They couldn't leave now! Reid needed them!

JJ shook her head sadly. "Section chief Cruz just called me. I tried to tell him about Reid but he said that this case gets priority since there haven't been any murders from Jenny-"

"That we know of," Morgan interrupted. "Reid is an FBI agent. Surely that's more important than-"

"We have to take it," JJ cut in. "He can assign Jenny's case to another department until we come back. We really don't have a choice, guys." She stood up resignedly. "Come on, I have to brief you on the case."

No one else moved. They just sat there, silently fuming. Gideon sighed. "He's your boss. Garcia and I will stay with Reid as much as we can and update you if there are any changes."

Garcia nodded vehemently. "Go, you guys."

Morgan stood and all but stomped out of the waiting room like a child throwing a tantrum. Hotch stood shakily and Rossi and Blake schooled their expressions to become stoic. Garcia and Gideon watched them go as the blonde took out her IPAD and initiated a video chat with Morgan.

Back at the office, the team sat silently around the conference table with Garcia's image on the tablet in the middle.

"This is weird," She said sadly as she was plugging in her laptop. "I'm usually passing out the case file to the hater of trees by now."

"Let's not focus on Reid," JJ said quickly. "H-he'll be. . . He'll be okay."

Morgan's knuckles were practically turning white as he clenched them, hating this feeling of helplessness and the anger that came with it. He could imagine Reid making a Star Wars Jedi or even an X-men: First Class reference about that and clenched his jaw.

"Okay, this is FBI jurisdiction as it has crossed state lines," JJ began. "The most recent is in Las Vegas, Nevada."

Morgan looked up, shocked. Had he heard her correctly? Was fate so cruel that as Reid lay in a hospital bed, fighting for his life, they were investigating a murder in his home town? How could he forget about Reid now? They would never be able to focus. Everything in Las Vegas reminded them of their magician that always beat them at cards, put together a star puzzle in mere seconds, and had a sleight of hand that had come in useful on some cases.

The rest of the team seemed to be thinking the exact same thoughts.

"Did you say, L-las Vegas?" Garcia asked shakily from her screen. JJ nodded.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Morgan yelled.

"Calm down, Agent Morgan." Hotch said softly. He motioned for JJ to continue with a shaky hand.

"The, uh, the first victim was in Quantico, Virginia," JJ read. "One Darren Sacren." She clicked her remote and a picture of a man about Morgan's age with darker skin appeared, looking rather gloomy. "The next victim was in Maryland, Janice Perrine," an attractive brunette appeared, dark brown eyes shining as her face scrunched up in a cheerful smile. The sight of her made Morgan's heart twist as her body, slashed and bloody, showed up in the picture next to her. "The next four victims were found in the Las Vegas area, Alfred Eelman-" An old man with bags under his eyes and little to no hair- "Jenna Nagar"- A dirty blonde dressed in her pastor's robe with a large grin on her face and a bible tucked under her arm- "Joan Creeran"- a rather grumpy looking middle aged woman with sandy brown hair- "And Joseph Entle" –A young college aged kid hugging a golden retriever.

"How can we tell this is the same person?" Hotch inquired in his monotone voice reserved for such heart wrenching cases.

"Because every single one had the same symbol carved into their back." JJ clicked the remote again and a bloody back was shown that had an image that looked like a shattered heart being the source of the gore. "Images of these crimes were not released to the public which means we either have a serial killer that's settled in Las Vegas for a while or someone on the inside felt it necessary to imitate these crimes, which is unlikely."

"A broken heart," Morgan said softly, wishing Reid was here to spout some seemingly unnecessary fact about this symbolism that would turn out useful later. Instead, another voice commented in a Reid-like manner.

"'Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.'
Oscar Wilde." Gideon said from off screen. Garcia tilted the tablet towards him but he just shook his head.

"Well, flowers ain't the only thing that's dead." Morgan said bitterly as he glanced at the image of the abused back on the screen.