I hope that nobody took my author's note the wrong way, I just needed to make some stuff clear. I hope you still enjoy this story for those who still read it. In this chapter, you'll get to know more of what exactly happened in Africa, So I hope it explains a bit more of how Kate is. Enjoy :)
"can we stay a bit longer?" Stephen questioned, walking up to her as she stood waiting by the tree that had been the gathering point. "Please Kate we're almost going home, let us enjoy Africa a bit longer." Mila nearly begged, standing beside the Stephen. Looking between the two of them she couldn' help but smile, Kate didn't know when it had happened but somewhere along the 45 days they had gotten together.
moving her eyes from the two of them she eyed every other person on her team, including her younger sister. "One hour." she agreed with a small sigh and shake of her head. the twelve people around her couldn't help but chuckle, they had their tour guide in the palm of their hand and Kate knew it. She couldn't be angry at them, it was normal that a group of people travelling together bonded but this group had gone to the extreme. Two couples had been formed and they were a merry band of thieves. Maybe it was because they were all between the age of 24 and 27, but she had certainly enjoyed being surrounded by them.
"here back in an hour, then we'll go back to the bus, we have a night of travelling to Nairobi." she told them with a pointed look, to their amusement. "sure thing boss." Michael chuckled as she turned around and kick jumped his ankles. Shaking her head at them she turned to Liz by her side. "Come on, let's make sure they don't cause any havoc." she chuckled, walking after them, although they separated on many occasions, most of the time they moved as a group.
that's how they made their way to the tree on the market square. "Ready to go?" Kate asked, making sure that everyone was there, the last thing she needed was to leave someone behind. But her team didn't even have time to reacts as gunshots rung through the air. her head shook to all sides, following the gunfire that seemed to come from everywhere.
"Get down," Kate screamed, motioning with her hand, she was the last one to do so, making sure her team members had done what she had asked of them. Taking the satellite phone from her pocket, she shoved it in her pants, making sure to keep it hidden. Just in time for a group of people in camouflage to storm the market square.
"What do we have here? Some white folk on our turf." a huge imposing black guy muttered in a heavy and grating voice from above them. "Answer me," he called out, kicking Steve in the ribs. "Leave him alone," Kate called, lifting her head from her crossed arms.
"What do we have here? a speck in the dirt that doesn't know her place?" he antagonised, crouching down beside her, pulling her head back and spitting in her face. "I said leave him alone," Kate said in a stronger voice, she was hopeful that if she kept the attention on her she would be able to get her team members out of there relatively unscathed.
"Did your father never teach you to respect men and only listen?" he questioned, pulling her up by her hair. "The day I listened to him never existed," Kate told him through gritted teeth, as she was now the one to spit in his face.
"You filthy whore," he screamed, pushing her to the ground before kicking her side. "Keep them separate, I'll deal with them when we're finished with the rest," he ordered, looking at his men.
When Kate started fighting them as they felt them up, checking for phone's and things on them, she received a fist to the face. Kate was grateful that they hadn't discovered the phone between her legs, it felt uncomfortable, but it was their only chance of getting out of there.
she was thrown into a house and she heard the door being barricaded from the outside. "Kate?" came the scared tone from the team around her. "I know," she muttered, kicking the floor with her feet. she should never have let them stay an hour longer.
"Please don't do anything to antagonise them, they'll only take it out on you." she told them with a nearly begging tone. "what about you?" Jacob asked, looking at her. "You guys are my responsibility," she told them with a small shake of her head.
reaching for the phone between her legs, she pulled it out and dialled the first speed dial, Luke her boss at the travel agency.
"Hey Kate, managed to get out of Tanzania?" came Luke's cheery voice over the tone. "Luke," she muttered with a shaky voice, it didn't take him long to figure out that something was going as the air filled with gunshots.
"what's wrong Kate? Where are you?" he fired off questions. "we're still in mosquito village, it was stormed by the rebels I guess, you need to get us out of here." she told him, looking over her terrified team. "Someone's coming," Christophe announced, peeking through the small window in the room they were. she ended the call, put it on the ground and put sand over it. "Make sure no one finds this, it'll light up if it goes off," she told them, not knowing what was going on. they had told them they would deal with them after the rest had been taking care off.
"Catherine Gainsborough, Tour guide at Intrepid Travel, what do they think putting a woman in power." the same guy, she suspected to be the leader antagonised from where he was leaning against the door frame.
swallowing the fear in her throat, she looked up at him and said: "deal with it because I am."
"let's see how tough you are." he smirked, pulling her up by her hair and dragging her out of the room and towards the tree they had discussed to meet.
looking around she smelled fire and burning flesh, looking around the sky was filled with an orange glow as night started falling. It was then she realised that the screams were coming from the same direction. "You fucking bastard," she screamed, her eyes never leaving the place where the orange glow came from.
"Don't talk to me bitch," he said, turning around and back slapping her across the face. "Tie her to the tree, let's see how much power she really has." he barked in laughter as he threw his head back. Kate didn't even know what was happening as she felt something hit the back of her head and then she felt a rope being tied around her wrists. feeling herself being lifted off the ground she hung up, her feet dangling off the floor as the leader eyed her up and down.
"They must be crazy to have a women leading people across Africa." he whispered in a menacing tone as he started running his hands over her body. "the only thing a woman is worthy of is being at the mercy of men." he whispered in her ear, before pulling back and hitting the side of her head.
she started detaching her from herself as she was being hit over and over again, her body felt as if it was on fire. she didn't know when she lost consciousness but next thing she knew she saw three men sitting on their haunches in front of her.
and before she could say anything he shot them in the head. "seeing as you had a problem with them being burned, I figured I'd humour you." he snickered as he turned back to her.
"You fucking bastard." she spat out, fighting her bonds she felt the ropes burn her wrists and kicking her legs.
"Kate, Kate." she heard in the distance. "Kate, wake up." the voice said a bit stronger and more clear.
she jumped up with a start nearly head butting Reid in the head as she jumped up from her seat. Looking around she noticed the worried faces of her team members and she realised that she was on the plane back from their case in Idaho.
"Nightmare?" Morgan asked, handing her a glass of water. "Yes," she admitted with a single breath as she leant back in her seat. "Africa?" JJ asked from where she was sitting across her. "Yea," she admitted, turning her head towards the window as she saw the red light blinking on the wing of the plane.
"I'll be fine," she reassured them, watching the blinking light, she needed to focus on anything but her dream. She hated the pity looks she received, it was the first time she had gotten a nightmare in a long time, and it had to be where her team was sitting. they just started to trust her again.
"What was that about?" She heard Rossi's voice say as Hotch sat down next to her. "are we turning around?" Reid asked, seeing that something was going on she turned around and put her attention on them. "Chicago PD has three female victims attacked, raped and strangled in their homes. Garcia should be sending the information to our tablets any moment now. We've been invited by the higher ups, apparently, Intelligence unit has the case but isn't making any progress. The city is starting to get panicked." Hotch informed them as their tablets pinged.
there was a moment of quite filled the plane as they read the summaries. "He's playing with them," JJ noted, looking up as the first one to finish reading the summary. "Ligature on the wrist, strangulation," Derek muttered under his breath with a tired sigh.
"tied to the bed." Kate suggested, running a hand over her face. "probably." Hotch agreed beside her. "He bathes them, trying to get rid of the evidence?" Kate thought out loud as she swished between images.
"or ritual part of his killings." Rossi added with a thoughtful expression on his face. "okay, we should be there in half an hour, I know we haven't been able to sleep much the last couple of days, but let's catch this son of a bitch and we can all get some rest." Hotch told, looking at his exhausted team. They'd only got one day of rest before being called to Idaho and now it was immediately Chicago.
"Rossi, Kate you two head to the intelligence unit at the 21st. Reid and JJ you two head to the latest crime scene, Morgan and I will head to the morgue." Hotch told them as they agreed with nods of their heads.
"Isn't that the intelligence unit that we've all heard about?" JJ asked with a smirk after a moment of silence. "Indeed, they aren't known to follow the rules and they certainly won't like our interference," Hotch noted as Morgan patted Rossi on the shoulder.
"This should be fun from what we've heard." Kate chuckled as they got out of the car and headed up the stairs to see a stern looking women behind the front desk. "What can I do to help?" the women asked in a stern manner. "I'm SSA Rossi, this is SSA Gainsborough, we're with the FBI's BAU. We're here to see Sgt, Voight." David said as both of them held up their credentials.
"Does he know you're here?" the women smirked, looking towards a cage looking doorway. "We've been called in by the higher ups," Rossi explained, putting away his credentials.
"Well good luck with that, Burgess let these two fine agents up." the women said, motioning towards women to led them up through the cage looking door. Rossi and Kate shared a look as they followed after the officer leading them up.
they could see a bullpen with several desks as they climbed the stairs. "Sgt. these people are here to see you." the women leading them up said, getting the attention of a grey haired men, they immediately noticed that he wasn't happy with their presence.
"Sgt Voight, I'm SSA Gainsborough, this is my colleague SSA Rossi, we're with the FBI's behavioural analysis unit. We've been called in to help with your latest case." Kate explained, putting away her credentials again.
"Is that so?" he almost antagonised taking a stance opposite of them. "Yes, we're here to help with the serial killer who's been killing women in their houses," David explained, eying the board in the corner of the room. By now the unit of Intelligence had gotten up and were standing behind their Sgt.
"We don't need your help. we'll solve this on our own." the serjeant said. "With all due respect sir, but your bosses don't seem to have the same faith. we're only here to help and get this killer off the streets." Kate told the serjeant in front of her.
"Wait here." he chuckled, before turning around and heading into his office as the door slammed shut behind him.
looking to her side Rossi was doing the same, sharing a look, he certainly didn't like to be doubted or have anyone butting into his cases.
"It's Garcia," Rossi muttered, nodding his head a bit to the side as he pulled his phone out. "So what have you got?" Rossi asked as he put the phone between him and Kate. "the three girls are all middle class, haven't had any problems with the law. Alice was a lawyer, Jessica a preschool teacher and Miranda was an administrator in the city hall. Nothing seems out of the ordinary on their social media, their expenses were the same as otherwise. They were healthy fit young women, nothing over lapse, not the same coffee shop, the same friends, gym. They're just random girls in Chicago." Garcia informed as they heard her typing on the computer.
"and in the past?" Kate asked, scrunching up her brow as she stared at the phone. "No nothing, I went as far back as I could, the only thing they have in common is that they were born in the same hospital Chicago Med. but other than that." Garcia told them with a bothered sigh, "I'm sorry guys." Garcia told them. "thanks, Penelope." Kate smiled before Rossi tucked his phone away.
they turned around when they heard the door slam even harder than before. Noticing that the Sgt had returned with a very unhappy look. "Seems that these fine agents will be joining us," he said in a fake cheery voice.
"our colleagues are at the last crime scene and the morgue, they'll be here soon enough," Rossi informed them, walking between the desks. "What do you guys have so far?" he asked, looking at the people in the room. They informed them of basically the same thing that Garcia had.
ten minutes later, Morgan, Hotch, Reid and JJ arrived, making the small bullpen look even smaller. "he must have been watching them before he hit." Reid announced.
"Yes we figured that as well." came the downgrading tone of the sgt. "Do we have enough for a profile?" Hotch asked, looking between his team. "preliminary maybe, but this guy is clever Hotch." Rossi noted with a small shake of his head.
"it reminds me of BTK," Rossi added, looking at the picture.
"Still, there is a hatred towards these women that BTK didn't even have," Morgan noted with a small shake of his head. "The ME said that there were signs of repeated strangulation," Morgan added.
"he likes control." Kate gave in her own two cents as she tilted his head to the side. "Still he has to watch these women, he knows their routine, knows when they're alone." Reid pointed out, leaning against the side of a desk.
"Chances are he's already picked out his next victim, been watching them," Hotch said, turning to the Intelligence unit. "So what do you think we should do?" the only women of the team said, walking up to them.
"Blanket the City, JJ prepare for a press conference: encourage women to stay together and not be alone in their home," Hotch told them, everyone nodding their head. "I'll get right on it," JJ said, slinging her go bag over her shoulder.
"I'll show you the locker room." the women of the intelligence team said, showing the way to JJ. "What else can we do?" one of the men on the team asked.
"is is possible to talk to the family members, we'd like to do a cognitive interview. They might now something they didn't even realise they did." Hotch said, looking at the remaining team of intelligence.
"We can bring them to you," Voight said with some reluctance as he turned to his own team. "Halstead, Dawson, Olinsky you go and bring them to the families," he ordered as Hotch pointed Derek, David and Kate out to go with each one of them.
"So what is it you guys do?" Halstead asked her in the car on their way to one of the family's of the killed women. "We study and profile behaviour, we look at everything and try to see it from a different perspective, the killer mostly. we try to think like he does." Kate explained, looking at the fine looking cop next to her.
"So what am I thinking?" he smirked at her as Kate turned to her with an amused expression and said. "I don't think you would want to know."
"cause you can't." he pointed out. "Alright." Kate started with a smirk on her face. "I know that you and your partner, Lindsay are dating and your team hasn't been informed yet." she started and couldn't help but chuckle when she saw his surprised face.
"I also know that you're scared of what you boss Voight might say. You're not that worried about the rest of your team. Lindsay and Voight are more than just co-workers, the way she immediately looked after him after me and Agent's Rossi's arrival." she told him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to say that she was wrong but he didn't. "You might help us solve this case after all." he agreed and Kate nodded her head. Unbeknownst to her Morgan and Rossi had been put to a similar test with their partners for the day.
"That's what our team does, we're not the bad guys Halstead. We're at the disposal of every law enforcement in the country from Alaska to Washington DC. We only want to catch monsters like we're trying to catch now. Your team has your speciality and my team has our speciality: serial killers, crazies." she told him in a soft tone as she kept staring out in front of her.
"We're used to doing this our way." Halstead defended. "Everyone does, including my team." she admitted as the car slowed down and parked in front of a typical American house. "this is the family of Alice Monroe, the second victim," he informed her as they both got out of the car.
"Detective Halstead." the man opening the door said. "Mr Monroe, this is SSA Gainsborough with the FBI we have a few more questions," Halstead said at her side. "The FBI?" He questioned with a confused look on his face.
"Yes, sir," Kate confirmed with a small nod of her head. "Come in," he said, moving aside to let both of them in. "I'm sorry for the mess but we have the family over for lunch to remember our little Alice," he explained, his voice getting tight with emotion.
"We understand sir, we won't take long," Kate reassured him as she and Halstead followed him further into the house. "Mary, Detective Halstead is here with someone from the FBI." they heard Mr Monroe say.
"Mrs Monroe, I'm SSA Gainsborough with the FBI's BAU, would it be alright if I asked you some more questions?" Kate asked them, aware the every eye in the room was on her. gazing around discretely, she assumed, grandparents, aunt, nephews, nieces, cousins, family friends.
"Why is the FBI here?" the mother asked. "Mrs Monroe, The FBI has been called in to help and catch the monster that killed your daughter," Halstead explained with a soft tone.
"Now the FBI is getting involved after my little girl was killed by some monster." The mother screeched, getting into Kate's face.
"Ma'am I apologise for the grief that's been done to you. We were called in this morning by the intelligence unit of Chicago PD, I promise you that we're going to catch whoever did this to your little girl." Kate told her in a reassuring and comforting tone.
"Do you know what he did to my little girl." the mother bawled, turning into her husband's arms. "I know Mrs Monroe." Kate whispered, helping her towards the couch. "Kate this is Mr Matthews, Alice's fiance," Halstead said, motioning towards a tall handsome man.
"Mr Matthews, I'm sorry for your loss," Kate said, shaking his hand. "For all of your loss," Kate repeated, looking around the room filled with sniffles and emotional hiccups. "What can we do to help agents?" Mr Matthews asked, sitting down on the couch. "We wanted to ask you some more questions," Kate replied, sitting down on a chair by the couches.
"Okay." he shuddered with emotion. "Did Alice have a feeling she was being watched, being followed?" Kate asked, her elbows digging into her thighs as she leant forward. "No, not that she told me," he told her with a small shake of her head.
"you were away on business the day she was murdered, do you go away on business a lot?" Kate asked him, hoping he wouldn't take this the wrong way.
"what are you trying to imply?" he questioned, jumping off the couch. "I'm not trying to imply anything, sir. It's highly likely that the unsub was watching Alice for a time before he attacked her. He would have noticed you weren't there or he might not even have known she was engaged." Kate explained in a comforting and reassuring tone in her voice.
"Yes, I had been gone for a week, returned the morning after." he paused, running a hand over his face, tears filling his eyes. "I found her like that, what kind of monster does that?" he asked, shaking his head, before dropping it in his hands.
Kate and Halstead stayed for half an hour, asking questions, trying to figure out where Alice might have been. Where her usual places to go to were?
"I promise that my team and the intelligence unit will catch this guy and bring justice to Alice," Kate promised, she only hoped that she could keep that promise. nodding their head, the father led them out of the house and they headed back towards the car.
"Garcia?" Kate answered her phone and from the noise on the other side, she knew the team was tugged in the phone call as well. "I did some more digging in the lives of the three women. and I discovered they had a GPS running app. Each one of them went for a jog in Chicago's Lincoln Park Conservatory." Garcia informed them and they could hear the collaborated sigh over the line. there was something connecting all these women after all.
"Okay, guys you're all close there having interviewed the families, go over there and see what you can find," Hotch instructed them. "Will do Hotch." came the three voices of his team.
"found out anything more?" Rossi asked, leaning against of the side of the SUV along with Olinsky. "No, the fiancee travelled a lot for work, so he Alice was alone quite a bit. he'd been gone for a week, chances are the killer didn't even know about him." Kate explained with a small shake of her head. "You?" she asked as she joined Rossi by standing opposite of him as they waited on Morgan and Dawson.
"She was single, had her group of friends but didn't go out much. Once a week they would go over to her group of friends. Every week someone else hosted a dinner. Other than that she lived alone with her dog, which is still missing." David told her with a bothered sigh and shake of his head. She was sharing his thoughts though, this guy was good, nothing traced back to how he would have discovered the women.
When Morgan arrived, it was the same story, fairly private person, had her group of friends and stuck to a routine.
"So what now?" Olinsky's gruff voice asked as they started walking into the park. "we question people in the park, see if they noticed someone paying extra attention to these women or others. Chances are he runs or walks in this park often." Morgan explained as they reached an intersection of paths.
"Meet back here when you're done," Rossi noted and everyone agreed as they each took a path. It nearly felt hopeless as they questioned person after person, hoping to know that they had seen something. None had or they hadn't noticed anything at all. Kate and Jay Halstead headed back towards the car to see Dawson and Morgan waiting by the car.
"And?" Dawson asked, looking at the two approaching people. "Nothing, no one saw anything or noticed anything unusual," Kate noted with a shake of her head.
they waited for ten more minutes before they noticed Rossi and Olinsky walked up to them. "An old lady noticed a man in a black hoody and grey sneakers luring after women," Rossi told them.
"It's not much." Morgan pointed out with a shake of his head. "I know, but It's something more than we had before." Rossi tried to remain positive.
"Do we have enough for a profile?" Kate asked, looking between Derek and Rossi. "Let's head back to the station brainstorm and get one on. If he stays to his pattern another woman will be dead in two days." Rossi noted and with that, they left the park.
when they arrived at the police station they disappeared into the garage and apparent hangout for the Intelligence unit. It was the only space they had in private to discuss what they had.
an hour and a half later they called together the intelligence unit and as many cops from that district as possible. Hotch and Reid had gone to the ivory tower to inform as many cops as possible of the city. Morgan and JJ had gone upstairs to give the profile to the press whilst Rossi and Kate remained downstairs in the garage and informed the cops of the office they had been in.
Kate noticed the stern looking women with a doubtful expression standing between the intelligence team.
"We believe we're looking for a white male between 35 and 40 years old, and judging from the geological profile he lives within this circle and community." Kate started, motioning towards the board that Reid had put together.
"he is extremely organised and highly intelligent, he brings what he needs to kill and play with his victims. The nail polish, the brand of soap he uses to wash them. he leaves nothing behind, no piece of evidence of DNA." Rossi continued.
"Chances are that all of you could possibly know him, he's the guy next door, the fact that he brings everything with him in a sort of kit suggests that he has a wife and family. He'll invest in the children's life. He's very athletic and well builds, chances are he has been in the army of some sort which gives him his sense of organisation and motivation for training and working out." Kate continued, before looking back at David and then she eyed the crowd in front of her. She saw people uncertain of their given profile, others were taking notes.
"The women he's killing have a resemblance to each other, it's likely the intended person resembled these women. His aggression towards women likely stems from being abandoned by his mother, chances are he was likely abused sometime after his mother figure left him. the strangulation of these women gives him back the power he lost during that time. He blames his mother figure for everything he's ever gone through." Rossi continued, eying the people in front of him.
"This man is very normal, he'll be the last person you'll suspect of doing this, he's your friend, neighbour who's always wanting to help. the happy go, lucky guy, he very social and approachable." Kate finished, giving the people in front of her a small smile. "Any questions?" Rossi asked, looking at every single person.
"Yes, you say he's aggressive towards women, he's a family man you say, so his wife is abused as well?" came the questions.
"No, she won't, whether it's a cover or not, his wife will not be aware of anything he does. she'll see him as the loving husband and father." Kate replied, leaning against the table behind her.
"Okay let's get to work." the stern looking women from behind the desk called out and the cops spread out.
"You know the women at the park said that this person she saw running is there every morning. whether he's it or not we could question him." Kate suggested, cause despite the profile they had managed to come up with they had very little on him.
"could work, maybe you and JJ should go running through the park, you're a brunette." Rossi pointed out, motioning towards her hair. "could work, wouldn't be weird for two women to go running in the park." Kate agreed with a small nod of her head.
"Alright, let's suggest it to Hotch when he comes back. When he did come back the suggestion of Rossi was put in front of Hotch and the intelligence team.
In the end, it was decided that JJ, Kate, Erin Lindsay and a cop working a lot with intelligence Burgess would go running in the park. Two pairs and three brunettes.
"God." Kate panted, pausing at a drinking fountain as JJ drunk from it, they had been running for close to an hour and the four women were ready to call it quits.
"Uh huh." JJ agreed wiping her mouth as Halstead past them on a mountain bike. Not too far away they could see Rossi pretending to read his paper. Reid was somewhere playing chess with a few kids and the van overlooking and keeping in contact with everyone was parked by the side of the park.
Dawson and Ruzek were supposed to be somewhere around as Hotch and Morgan were running around the park. They'd passed them twice so far, but the park was huge and they were spread out, although Kate and JJ stuck to their side of the park whilst Lindsay and Burgess did the same.
"let's see what Rossi has," JJ suggested when Kate finished taking a sip of her own as they started running towards the bench beside Rossi where no one was sitting.
"So?" Kate asked, looking at JJ as they pretended to rest for a moment on the bench. "Haven't seen anyone looking like the suspect," he told them, pretending to still be reading the paper.
"He's supposed to be here if the old lady said he comes here every day." JJ noted with a shake of her head. "Did Garcia discover anything on the cam pod?" Kate asked, looking across from Rossi.
"she's been checking every screen but so far nothing, many men are running in the park, could be he simply ditched the black hoody." Rossi pointed out with a chuckle as the two women beside him tried to catch their breath.
He had been watching them from his spot, had seen as the two of them tried to outrun and outdo one another. They were on equal footing if he had to choose sides but he could imagine that they were getting tired of running around the park. "30 more minutes ladies," he suggested with a smirk as he heard the two women beside him curse his existence.
he couldn't help but chuckle as they got up and he heard JJ call over her shoulder: "Race ya one round."
"You." he heard Kate muttered under her breath as she kicked up the pace trying to catch up with JJ.
"God what's with all the panting." came over the mic in what appeared to be Ruzek's voice. "Keep your damn mouth Ruzek, we've been running for an hour." they heard the reply from the other two running women.
and then ten minutes before they were about to call it quits, the call came from the other two running women. sharing a look, JJ and Kate started running as far as they could towards their part of the park to see Lindsay tackling a man with the description to the ground.
"We've got him." Lindsay panted, pulling him up and pushing him towards the arrived police car. "Let's see if it's him." JJ pointed out with a thoughtful expression on her face, Kate nodding her head beside her.
"What do you think?" Rossi asked the entire team gathered by the police car. "I don't think it's him, just another part of the puzzle," JJ noted, looking at the man having been arrested.
"Thanks, guys, we'll take it from here." Voight smirked as he walked up to Hotch. "it isn't him, Sgt." Hotch told him with a nod towards the police car driving off.
"What do you mean? he matches the woman's description." he pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sgt with all due respect, he's just another piece of the puzzle," Hotch noted, his head tilted to the side.
"As I said, we'll take over from here." he pointed out with a very smug looking face. "Hotch?" Derek started when the intelligence team started walking off. "We're staying here this isn't over, let's Garcia figure out who he is, we'll see if he matches the profile. But this isn't over." Hotch told them as Kate and JJ wiped their brows from their nearly hour and a half run.
"You three go back to the hotel and take a shower." Hotch pointed out, motioning to Kate, JJ and Morgan. They were only too glad to go and shower.
Kate met Reid, Rossi, Hotch and Morgan in the lobby of the hotel they were staying in. "So what now?" Kate asked with a yawn erupting from her mouth.
"we wait, I have a feeling another woman will have to be killed before this Voight guy will allow us to get back on the case." Hotch pointed out with an annoyed sigh. "so what we go sightseeing around Chicago." Kate quipped with a small shake of her head as she sat down on the armrest of a couch in the lobby.
"We can go to the brass," Morgan suggested, looking at Hotch. "Won't do us much good, I called them and they too believe we have caught the guy." Hotch pointed out, running a hand over his face. "so we wait." Rossi muttered under his breath, the team wasn't too happy about it. When JJ joined the team she wasn't too happy either about all of this.
"If he sticks to his plan, a new woman will be found tomorrow morning," Hotch said with a shake of his head and shrug of his shoulders.
In the meantime the team worked from one of their bedrooms, trying to get a match with what who they had, Garcia. It wasn't much they could do without the help of the CPD, They didn't have much to start with in the beginning, let alone now.
It was with much dislike that they had to go to bed, knowing a woman was probably being attacked and they couldn't help.
and then the call came, "Kate, they found another body, meet Rossi downstairs and go to the crime scene." Hotch's voice instructed as she picked up the phone.
"as we predicted?" Kate noted, walking up to Rossi and accepting the cup he held out for her to take. "Yes, unfortunately. The mayor himself called Hotch awake and demanded to take the case out of their hands if need be." Rossi informed Kate as they walked up to the SUV.
"I don't have a problem with that," Kate muttered under her breath, closing the door as Rossi started the car. "Neither do I." Rossi agreed as they drove to the new crime scene in silence. Kate was grateful on the days she was paired with Rossi, he didn't bother her too much in the mornings. JJ was close to him, but Morgan she absolutely hated working with in the morning, well not hate, but he was too annoying for her in the morning.
stopping at the crime scene tape they immediately noticed the heads turning towards them as they got out of the car. Sharing a suspicious look with Dave they walked towards and the tape was lifted for them. "What's going on?" Dave asked Olinsky and Ruzek. "we thought you were gone." Ruzek told them, looking between Rossi and Kate.
"We knew you had the wrong guy." Kate told them. "this time he left a message." Olinsky noted, turning around and heading in the house. raising an eyebrow at one another they followed them inside and up to the bedroom where Lindsay and Voight were waiting. "I know you're here, still you can't catch me." was written in black letters on the wall.
"He knows we're here," Kate noted, walking up towards the bed to inspect the latest victim. "Mary Ann Beckett, her father discovered her when he came to visit her this morning." Linsday informed them. "what did she do for work?" Kate asked, looking back at Lindsay. "Accountant," Halstead said, entering the bedroom.
"she's a runner." David noted, nodding his head towards the running shoes in the open closet doors. "the park". Kate added with a tilted head.
"I think I saw her run there yesterday morning, We'd have to go over the candid shots we took of the people there," Kate added, looking at Rossi as she tried to remember if she had seen the women there.
"Yes, she was there," Rossi confirmed with a single nod of his head. "So he was at the park." Voight's voice boomed with anger as he stormed out of the room. with a less than impressed look, both Rossi and Kate shook their head. Had he listened to the team, chances were they would be closer to getting him.
"what do we do now?" Halstead asked, looking between the two FBI agents. "we call on the team, go over every picture that was taking yesterday morning, we didn't have a copy seeing as you were convinced you caught him." Kate started with a bit of an angry tone, it was due to their ignorance and proud another woman was death.
"We ask our tech annalist to do face recognition, check background, see who fits the profile, if need be we bring in every guy from that park yesterday." Rossi continued, pulling off his gloves.
"We'll meet you at the station," he told them, nodding his head for Kate to follow after him. "What are you thinking?" Kate asked, as they headed down the stairs. "he's growing arrogant, this could turn into a battle of wills soon." Rossi noted.
"I think he's too controlled for that," Kate commented with a small shake of her head before looking back at the house. "You think he's watching?" Kate asked, turning to the crowd that had gathered behind the crime scene tape. "might be." he sighed, ducking under the tap as they headed towards the car.
"you know it worries we that he's got such a short cooling off period and still manages to avoid making mistakes," Kate noted, looking at the crowd as they left the crime scene.
"He's meticulous in everything he does." Rossi agreed with her as Kate lend her head back. "You think you could stop at a coffee shop?" she asked him, rubbing the side of her head, the lack of sleep was catching up with her. she hated the month August, hated it cause it always brought back the memories of four years ago.
"Sure, you doing alright?" he asked with a concern in his voice, he and the entire team had seen the exhaustion in the young woman. "Yea, it's just this time of year brings back memories," she admitted with a bothered sigh.
"And nightmares," she added, turning her head towards Rossi. "I'll be fine, once this week is over I'll be fine," she assured him when he gave her a concerned look on his face.
"If you need to talk, I'm here." he told her. "thanks," she whispered with a small thankful smile on her lips. "How is your sister handling this?" he asked, he'd only met her sister last week during the terrorist threat case, but he could see the two sisters had a bond, probably because of what they had gone through.
"She's the one who always keeps it inside, if I know her, sometimes next week she'll get a breakdown, I'll have to take a few days off and get her back," she told him in a knowing tone, she knew that it was likely to happen. four the last two years it had gone down like that and she was sure that by next week, it would repeat itself again.
"you two are tough," Rossi assured her with a small smile. "We had to be from a young age," she admitted with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I'm just glad that I was able to shield them from most of it. Yes, they heard the screams of people burning alive, yes they heard the gunshots. They'll never forget the smell of burning flesh. I wasn't able to shield them from that, but at least I spared them from seeing over 10 people being killed in front of them but I couldn't spare them from seeing at least a few killed. I spared them from the same beating I had, I'll never forgive myself for what happened while they were in my care. But every day I try to tell myself that it could have been worse." Kate admitted before she even realised that she was starting to open up to David.
"What were your injuries?" he asked, he'd read the report of what had happened, they wanted to study the hostage situation there and learn something from it. But he wanted to hear it from her, hoping that talking about it would help a little.
"broken and bruised ribs, concussion, bruised liver, ruptured spleen. that was from the beating alone." Kate admitted with a deep steadying breath.
"when were you shot?" he asked, wanting to hear it from her personally. yes, the reports told them a little, but still hearing it from the person having been there was something else.
"I don't know how long I was tied to the tree, I knew that I had managed to inform my boss, but I didn't know if it was enough. All I could do was antagonise in the hope of keeping the attention on me, instead of my team. When they let me down from being bound to the tree, the later was laughing that he had nearly killed the entire village. he got my team out and put us opposite of each other in two rows. He told them, mostly the guys what a woman was really good for as he got two families from somewhere, he raped the women in front of their husbands and us, before moving on to the daughter. The husbands had been fighting the entire time but they weren't able to do anything, none of us could. When I called him a coward, he put the two men between us and shot them just like that, asking if he was still a coward for doing so." Kate paused as the lump in her throat got bigger and bigger. It was hard to talk about it, but she trusted her team and she had let them down once.
"I kept on antagonising him, hoping that help would come and I tried to keep the attention off my team. so I kept on fighting him verbally, to prove his point he killed the two mothers as well, said he was putting them out of their misery. I'll never forget the cries of those children when they fell over their parent's bodies. Just when I thought that everything was about to slip, when I thought I wouldn't be able to protect my team anymore." she paused to take a steadying breath.
"We heard cars or something approaching and gunfire erupted again. I knew help had come but we about to be in the crossfire. He'd already sent most of his men to check out what was happening, only he and another one were left. Everything happened so fast from there, I jumped up attacked the leader who had his back towards me and yelled for my team to go back where they had been locked. He'd just send his last guy away and I kept on fighting him until they were saved, I managed to get his knife from his boots and stuck him between the shoulder blades. He wasn't dead, but it gave me enough time to get those four children away from their parent's bodies and start running for cover. I don't remember getting shot, all I could focus on was getting in that room with the children and lock it up so I could keep my team from any further harm." Kate told him as she tried to get her breathing under control.
"the last thing I remember is sliding down the door, barricading it with my body, five minutes later the gunfire quit and the army discovered us. Next thing I knew I woke up in a hospital in Nairobi having had surgery on my shoulder and chest. The bullet had just missed my heart when it hit me in the back." she finished and she was surprised that although she felt emotional having talked about it, she also felt relieved.
"I woke up a few days after it all happened, my grandparents, Liz and Abby sitting by my bedside. after a week my grandparents had to go back and I managed to convince my sister to go as well. Abby stayed with me, she used the excuse that she was a Mi6 agent, she interviewed me. Three weeks after I was medevacked to London, I stayed in the hospital for another two weeks, slowly starting my Physical therapy." Kate told him as they stopped outside of the coffee shop, but both of them stayed in the car.
"That's when you studied at the open University?" David asked, his head tilted to the side. "I did, I've always a sort of sponge I guess when I was interested in something. Psychology was one of those things, I needed to understand why somebody would do something like that. As I got stronger over the months I realised what we had escaped, I realised that I would never be able to take up that same responsibility." Kate admitted with a deep breath.
"So you became an agent?" he commented with an understanding voice. "Yes, I wanted to prevent anyone from going through something like that. The team that had been there had sent a request to the Queen to give me that damn cross, and I don't deserve it." Kate told him, running her hand over her face as she tried to get control over her emotions.
"I think you do," David told her, the report hadn't been as detailed about what had happened as what Kate had just told him. "It reminds me of how I failed," Kate told him, opening the door and getting out to get her cup of coffee, she waited in the line, gathering her thoughts. She couldn't believe she had just told David about all that had happened in Africa
thanking the women behind the till she got in the car and handed him his coffee. "Let's head to the Station and get this son of a bitch. I think we all could use some sleep." Rossi told her and Kate was grateful that he didn't continue asking, that he pretended she hadn't just spilt her guts against him.
arriving at their meeting room, the garage, they noticed the intelligence team that hadn't been at the scene and their team working already.
"Garcia started on the facial recognition, so far we are giving the names through to the cops and they are going to bring in or invite every man of them here," Hotch informed the two of them as Kate put the coffee cup card down on the table for them to take their own.
"That's going to be a lot and long work." Kate pointed out, turning to the board where everything was kept on. "You know he knows were here, he's going to get more and more arrogant, might speed up his cooling off period," Kate added as she crossed her arms, rubbing the sides of her upper arms.
"then we better speed this up. the six of us can interview them." Hotch announced just as Voight entered the garage with the three others of his team. "I'm pretty sure we can help with the questioning." Voight immediately noted with a displeased look on his face.
"With all due respect serjeant. We know what we're looking for, this guy is good, really good and we do not want another woman to end up like that." Hotch defended his decision. "Well there is six of us as well, at least let one of us sit in, maybe we can learn something," Voight told them, he didn't like outsiders butting into his cases, but these six has proven them. they were good and they probably had something that they could learn from for further cases.
"That's alright." Hotch agreed, it didn't take them long for the first few to trickle in and the work of questioning every man having been caught at the park yesterday.
Halstead with Kate, Voight with Hotch, JJ with Dawson, Morgan with Lindsay and Rossi with Olinsky, Reid with Ruzek.
for the first four hours nothing came out, there was nobody that made the bells ring with the profilers. The only thing they could hope for was that they wouldn't let the unsub slip between their fingers. That was the last thing they needed at this moment, after a quick pause for lunch, they continued, in the meantime, the intelligence unit of Chicago was learning something new as well. they had their own way of interrogating, but they learned during this that there were other ways as well, studying behaviour.
as the day continued and the men kept coming, the five teams started singling out men. They knew they were hiding something or they had a certain feeling and asked them to remain a bit longer.
It was close to midnight when from the hundred men they had questioned, 7 remained in custody.
"So what now?" Kate asked, sipping her cup of coffee as they took a small break before going at it again. "We start questioning them, make them sweat," Rossi noted, running a hand over his face in a tired manner.
"You know we can't keep them here." Kate pointed out, so far they had nothing to keep them there, they had only been asked to wait a bit longer. They hoped beyond anything that their unsub was between those seven, they were pretty sure of it, but like they had suspected he was good.
"I could make a call to the DA," Voight said, getting up and pulling out his phone.
"Want to go at it?" Kate asked Halstead with a nod towards the interrogation rooms. "Yep.," he said, getting up as the two of them headed up to their first person to go at again. The others not far behind.
"Is he it?" Kate asked, entering the observation room, The DA Peter and Anna had joined them by now, but like they had thought. They had nothing to charge them with, not a thing, they didn't have any evidence.
"We can hold him for 48 hours, if he doesn't confess by then, we have to let him go." Peter informed Kate as she came back from her short cat nap in the break room. "great." Kate muttered under her breath as she watched Morgan and Hotch go at it in the interrogation room. JJ, Reid and Rossi were taking a small nap as well in the garage on cot beds.
"How do you mean?" Anna asked with interest as she went to sit next to the FBI agent. "He knows he's smart, he knows that he didn't leave anything behind. He's arrogant, he'll antagonise them, try to prove them he's smarter but he won't confess. He isn't done yet, he has his next woman picked out. He'll wait until the 48 hours are over and walk right out of here." Kate told them with a pissed off tone as she watched the smug son of a bitch looking and answering the questions Hotch and Morgan were throwing at him.
"So basically he'll go back to killing after the first 48 hours." Voight's gruff voice said in anger.
"and I know what you're thinking. even the FBI knows how this team works." she told him a knowing look in Voight and Olinsky's direction. "even if you torture him to death, he'll never confess. we'll basically have to get him in a corner like a wild animal and he'll probably go down shooting." Kate told them with a warning look, the last thing they needed was for him to disappear and show up in Michigan lake.
"up?" Kate questioned with a yawn as Rossi appeared in the room. "How is it going?" Rossi asked with a nod to the window. "I wouldn't be surprised if either Hotch or Derek turn off the camera soon." Kate pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"He's a smug son of a bitch," Kate noted leaning her head to the side. "Reminds me of Marcus Graham from a few weeks ago," Rossi noted, leaning back against the table.
"what does Garcia have?" Rossi asked, looking at Kate. "she was digging." Kate told her, pulling out her phone and dialling penelope's number.
"Hey, hun you're on the 24/7 hotline here." Penelope's voice came over the speaker. "You're on speaker," Kate warned her with a chuckle and small shake of her head. "I charge extra for groups," Penelope replied as Rossi and Kate chuckled.
"So what do you have on Paul Spector?" Rossi asked. "He fits the profile to a T. when he was 7 years old his mother jumped off a bridge, little Paul was there when she did it. the cops found him three hours later, looking over the edge of the bridge. he was put in taking into a local convent for foster kids, the priest was thought to have been assaulting the boys. he joined the army at eighteen, he always had a problem with people in power. He has a family, two kids and he works as a bereavement counsellor at a local centre in Chicago until three weeks ago when he was fired." Garcia informed them and David and Kate knew it was him without a doubt.
"the trigger." Rossi pointed out. "he got off on the grieve and control he had over these victims." Kate noted with a tilt of her head. "when he lost that, he became the cause of grief." Rossi filled in with a disgusted shake of his head.
"so it's him," Olinsky asked his arm resting against the wall above him. "Without a doubt." Rossi confirmed. "unfortunately our profile doesn't get a conviction." Kate told them, as Hotch and Derek joined them in the observation room. "He refuses to talk." Morgan pointed out with his thumb pointed in Paul's direction.
"Let us go at it," Voight said in an almost arrogant manner. "No, I'm only going to say this once, don't lay a finger on him or we're getting him transferred to the Chicago FBI field office," Hotch warned him, staring him down in his usual warning glare.
"You think they'll listen." Kate pointed out more than actually ask the question as Voight stormed out of the room. " He better," Hotch muttered under his breath.
The next day they did discover Voight and Olinsky alone with Paul and things weren't going the way Hotch had warned them off.
It had been Derek discovering him, cut lip, bruised eye and bent over, Voight threatening him. Rossi and Kate had gotten the task of smuggling Paul out of there while Hotch ripped them a new one. They had succeeded in bringing him to the Chicago field office but then they had been ripped a new one, Voight said that it wasn't their business what happened in his city.
After another day interrogating and nothing came out it, Garcia had managed to bring the hanging piece that tied him to two of the murders.
a pod of the traffic cams had managed to catch him going into the house on the night of the murder and coming out of it much later.
"Do you think he'll ever confess?" Kate asked, looking between Rossi, Hotch and Reid. "probably, but right now he's too smug about everything he managed to escape." Hotch told her with a small shake of her head.
"I'm just glad it's over and we're headed home." Kate sighed as she rested her head against the side of the plane. "don't tell me we have another case." Morgan noted when Hotch's went off again. she felt Morgan's arms rest on the headrest above her as they waited for Hotch to finish the call.
"we all should sleep in our beds for at least one night," he told them with a small smile, knowing that tomorrow morning would be another day off catching the bad guys again. "It's a custodial interview, Kate you want to come with me?" Hotch asked her. "sure. When do I need to be in the office?" she asked, turning towards Hotch, that was the last thing she expected.
"6.30, we have to take a plane towards New Mexico." he told her and she nodded her head as she put down her head again, the last couple of days without a decent night of sleep was finally catching up to her.
"I'll be there." she told him halfway through a yawn erupting from her mouth. "tired?" Morgan chuckled, joining JJ on the couch, opposite of the four chairs.
"Aren't we all?" Kate questioned with a chuckle and shake of her head as she saw everyone nod their head in confirmation.
So that was the chapter, I hope you like it, please leave behind a comment below. Also when I started this story last year I intended to have Kate and Morgan become a couple. Now I'm thinking of introducing Luke, Walker and Tara into it as well slowly as well as bring Prentiss back. My question is who would you like to see her end up with. lately I have been leaning towards Rossi for some reason, let me know what you think, I'll keep your suggestions in mind.