"Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction." - Edward Teller
Reid joined his teammates in the conference room fifty-seven minutes later. Working with Gideon had made sweat accumulate around his hairline and he nonchalantly brushed it away, careful not to bring attention to himself. For the entire hour they were together, Gideon's stare bore into him. Reid felt exhausted from trying to keep up appearances.
The file sitting in front of him on the desk was now much thicker. Garcia chewed on the end of a pen nervously while the rest of the team sat with a quiet but heavy calmness. Five news pictures joined the three already on the screen. JJ let out a small sigh as she opened the file in front of her. Poor JJ, Reid found himself weighed down with pity. If anyone lets this job get to them, it's her.
"Let's go, we're wasting time," Hotch nodded at her, urging her to begin.
JJ pointed the remote at the computer screen, enlarging a picture of a stern, cocoa skinned girl with long, black dreads and large, almond shaped eyes, "Johanna Almeida, 27, was reported missing by her girlfriend from Bristol, Virginia on Friday afternoon when she didn't return from a hot yoga class she taught that morning. She's been a yoga instructor for eight years."
Immediately, Reid imagined a map of the southeastern United States. He plotted Bristol on it and continued to listen closely. JJ clicked the remote, enlarging a picture of a thin, fair skinned girl with fire engine red hair and a button nose, "Simone Pack, 25, reported missing by her boss from Greenville, South Carolina on Saturday morning when she failed to show up for a private training session with a client. Personal trainer."
Reid added Greenville to his mind map. Click. Now, the picture of the bald girl they had already seen took up the screen. "Niema Keppler, reported missing by campus police from Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday night," click, and the next picture: a stunning Hispanic woman with a square jaw and beautiful cheek bones, "Nashani Galavez, 30, reported missing from Columbia, South Carolina by her boyfriend on Sunday morning when she missed her bike club's morning ride. Spin instructor for six years."
The young doctor quickly added Charlotte and Columbia to his map. All of these cities were within driving distance of one another, but there had to be some central point...
Click. The beautiful picture of one of the victims they had already seen flashed before his eyes. Reid felt a swell of shame in his stomach—he couldn't remember her name.
"Diyah Green," JJ jogged his memory, "28, missing from Knoxville since Sunday morning, runs a ballet fitness studio."
The tension in the room took over like thick smog infecting all the agents' lungs. Reid could feel the minutes ticking by; each one felt like an opportunity slipping away. Morgan sat, staring hard at the pictures, while Prentiss seemed unable to bring herself to look at the women.
Click. A picture of an Arabic woman with wild eyes and plump lips. "Tilda Westchester, 26, reported missing by her parents from Raleigh, North Carolina on Sunday when she never came back from a gymnastics lesson. She runs and teaches at a gymnastics center..." click, a picture of a determined, calm Chinese women with a polite smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "Yue Liu-Hayes, 29, reported missing from Johnson City Monday afternoon. Kick boxer."
"God..." Gideon whispered, rubbing his face. Reid looked around and saw the fear and concern written all over his colleagues' faces. He knew exactly what they were all thinking: abductions from different states, different types, no bodies...they were never going to find these women. At least, not alive.
"Go on," Hotch got them back on track.
Finally, JJ clicked to the last picture: a young woman with full lips, chocolate brown hair, and unsettling green eyes. Her stare was dull compared to the other women's; something had worn away inside of her, robbed her of the youth and innocence the other women had managed to hold on to. Reid found his eyes inextricably attached to the girl's. A familiarity ached deeply inside of his chest.
Something in her eyes...that look of deep-seated pain, of a loss of control, of a desperate desire to overcome...something.
"Violet Knox," JJ interrupted his thoughts, "24, reported missing from Fredericksburg last night at 8 PM, although..."
"Although what?" Morgan asked, shifting in his seat. He was clearly intrigued by this young woman.
JJ took a deep breath. "We have reason to suspect that she could be a potential unsub."
"Why?" Gideon asked, folding his fingers together and resting his chin contemplatively on them.
"All of the other women come from middle to upper class families, no real tragedies, no traumas. They're all married or in committed relationships and have no criminal record. Violet Knox, on the other hand, has been arrested three times, witnessed the death of her mother when she was a child, and was granted custody of her 17 year old brother two years ago when her father died of pancreatic cancer."
"Jesus," Prentiss breathed out, grimacing. "Talk about trauma..."
"That's a lot to take in, but as far as we know, there's been no stressor in the past week?" Morgan looked from JJ to Garcia.
"Uh, no, none that we could find," Garcia replied, shaking her head softly.
"Who reported her missing?" Reid asked, still staring at the girl's picture. He could feel his stomach begin to turn over, making him shift positions in his seat. What was so familiar about her?
"Her sponsor," JJ responded, "from NA."
Reid's eyes darted up and he felt his stomach drop as though he had been taken to the edge of a 90-degree angle and pushed over it without warning. No wonder the look in her eyes was so familiar—it was the same look he had been staring down every day in the mirror. He felt the sweat starting around his hairline again. He glanced nervously—was anyone noticing? He could feel eyes on his right. Hotch. He swallowed hard and wiped his hairline again.
"NA? So she's an addict, too? Damn..." Morgan shook his head.
"Recovering," JJ corrected Morgan. "She did a year in rehab before her father died—"
"Probably because she knew the state wouldn't give her custody of her brother otherwise," the unit chief finished JJ's sentence, unblinking.
Keep your mind on the case. "W-w-what did she do?" Reid asked, shaking his head a little. He squinted up at JJ, trying to keep his cool.
"What?"
"The, uh, the only c-connecting factor we have at this point is that all the women have some sort of fitness-related job. If she is a victim and not the unsub, w-what, uh, what does she do?"
JJ skimmed the file before speaking, "She has been...working as a capoeira instructor at a local MMA gym."
"Reid, did you and Gideon find a geographical center point?" Hotch asked as he began to thumb through the files.
"Uh, no, not exactly. All the locations are within four to six hours of each other, but as far as a central geographical location, there are too many possibilities..." Reid trailed off, embarrassed that he didn't have more to contribute. He and Gideon had gone over at least half a dozen possibilities, but the area was too large to say for sure, and Reid knew the worst thing to do at this point would be wrongly identify a location and waste time looking into a dead end.
Hotch closed the case file, signaling all the agents to bring their attention to him. "This is too much ground to cover with all eight of us, so we're going to split up. Morgan, I want you to go to South Carolina, talk to the families and gather as much information as you can. Gideon, you and Prentiss can head to Tennessee. I'll go to North Carolina, JJ, I want you in Bristol."
The team members nodded and stood, grabbing their go bags. Reid looked around, confused.
"W-what, uh, what about me, Hotch?"
Hotch's eyes darted to the young doctor, almost knocking the breath out of him. "I want you to stay here, help Garcia compile the information we get and try to find a central location where the unsub could be keeping these women."
Shock and anger overwhelmed Reid. "You—you don't want me out in the field?"
The entire team stopped in their tracks. Morgan and Prentiss exchanged nervous, confused glances while Garcia kept her eyes down. Did everyone know? Reid looked over to Gideon, his heart catching in his throat. He tried to find some hint of thought or feeling from his hero's squinted eyes and pursed lips, but as always, Gideon remained inscrutable, unreadable. His attention fell back on the unit chief.
Hotch's stone cold face remained emotionless. "Right now, I can best use your talents here."
And with that, Hotch gathered his things and walked out, the rest of the team following behind silently.