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"We should get Garcia to get everything she can on Alex Menendez," Hotch said as he and the other three agents entered the conference room.
"She's already on it," Rossi told them.
The foursome looked revitalized and Rossi was sure it had nothing to do with a good lunch. Perhaps the fact that Alex Menendez might be the break they'd been looking for had something to do with their attitude.
"Reid was studying the map but I don't know how far he'd gotten," Rossi said. "I made him sit down and eat."
Hotch cornered Rossi near the coffee pot. "So what did you say to him," the unit chief asked quietly.
"Hotch, I'm a hostage negotiator. I know how to talk to people." Rossi remarked assuredly.
"Sure, that's why you're paying alimony to three ex-wives," Hotch said with a grin as a tall balding man in his fifties entered the room.
"You must be the FBI profilers," he said extending his hand to Rossi, "Conrad Ecklie, head of the crime lab. I was away at a seminar when you arrived but Jim Brass has filled me in on the case. Thank you for being here, anything my lab can do for you just let me know."
"Thank you," Rossi said, shaking the man's hand. "Everyone has been very helpful so far." He introduced Hotch, Morgan, Prentiss and JJ.
"Is it just me," JJ whispered to Emily, "or does he look exactly like Fuchs?"
"It's not just you; he's a dead ringer for him, they could be twins." She replied as the man left.
Morgan smirked, "Maybe all useless bureaucrats look alike."
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Reid strode hurriedly to his father's bed to find Laura doing her checks and writing notations on a clipboard. "Has anyone been here to see my father?" He asked her.
"No, no one," she said.
"Has anyone called and asked about his condition?" Reid continued.
"Not that I know of," Laura replied. "We wouldn't be able to give them any information anyway, patient confidentiality. The only one we can give information to is you, unless you direct us otherwise."
"Okay, good, thanks," he said, taking the chair near William's bed. "Has there been any change?" He gestured with his hand to the numbers she was writing down.
"His vitals are pretty good. He has some tachycardia," she stopped, "that's when the…"
"Heart rate is increased," Reid finished for her, "likely due to the blood loss. How are his labs?"
"Sorry, I forget you're a doctor," Laura said.
"That's okay, I'm not a medical doctor anyway, his labs?" Reid asked again.
"Improving," Laura said as she put the clipboard at the foot of the bed.
"Good," Reid said as he pulled out his cell.
"You can't use that in here," Laura reminded him.
"Oh yeah, sorry," he put the cell back in his pocket. "Is there a land line I could use?"
"Sure, you can use that one at the desk. Just press nine for an outside line."
Hotch's cell rang, "Hotchner," he said as he answered.
"Hi Hotch," Reid said.
"Is your father okay?"
"Yeah he's fine, well as fine as he can be in his condition. I never got to finish looking at the map and I wondered if someone could bring it to me at the hospital. Anything on Menendez?"
"No, not yet, Garcia's working on it," Hotch told him. "I'll get that map over to you."
"Thanks Hotch," Reid said and hung up the phone. "Thanks Laura," he told the nurse.
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Hotch had barely closed his phone when Rossi's rang. "Garcia, have you got something for us?" He set his speaker on and turned it so the others could hear. "You're on speaker."
"Yeah pals, I do. I've been very busy in Alex Menendez's network. He's got a work network and a home network, no surprise there. He wouldn't want confidential client info on his home network. There're also things on his home computer that he wouldn't want anyone to see."
"What would those things be mama?" Morgan asked.
"Pictures of little children doing and having the most unspeakable things done to them," the tech replied and the team could hear the tears in her voice. She recovered quickly and anger took over. "He tried to trick me. He used a different name and had his kiddie porn collection set up behind a massive firewall." Her voice was rising. "But the sick bastard didn't know who he was dealing with. Firewalls and fake names do not scare Penelope Garcia."
"Are you okay PG?" Emily asked.
"No, but I will be when you nail this skeezy perv's ass to the wall."
"Thanks Garcia," Hotch said as Rossi closed his phone.
"Just give me two minutes with that guy," Morgan said while pacing the small room appearing to look for something to punch.
"The fact is," Hotch began, "we can't use anything that we've got. We didn't have a warrant to go into his computer files."
"Well, then let's get one," JJ seemed to state the obvious.
"On what grounds? Hotch asked. "We have telephone calls made to him from the Dinsdales. His response will be they're his clients and attorney client privilege attaches. Then there's the fact that he went to see William Reid. He can declare there's nothing wrong with a man going to visit a colleague after he's been brutally attacked. No judge would give us a warrant on this. And it would make them aware that we've linked the two cases, something we don't want, if at all possible."
"Okay," Rossi said, "so we regroup. Menendez is the only lead we have. So we monitor his movements, phone calls, that sort of thing and try to get it to lead somewhere."
"Oh and Reid wants to see the map at the hospital." Hotch said.
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Reid heard the click of her boots on the tile floor before he saw her. The nurses wore rubber soled shoes that seemed to barely make a sound. "Hotch said you wanted this," Emily said, handing Reid the map.
"Thanks," Reid said taking the map from her. "I really didn't get enough time to study it."
Emily looked around at the IVs, the ventilator and other equipment and at the man who lay in the bed, his chest rising and falling at an even pace. She took the other chair in the little cubicle. "How you holding up?" She asked.
"So, are you the next one sent to lecture me? I've had it from Hotch, JJ and Rossi. Now you're here. When should I slot Morgan in?" He asked his voice rising.
"I'm not here to…" Emily began when Laura came up to them.
"I wonder if you're going to have a conversation if perhaps you could go to the family room," she suggested.
Reid considered that a good idea after what had happened with his mother the night before. "Sorry Laura."
"As I was saying," Emily continued when they were ensconced in the family room, him in one of the two navy blue armchairs on the far side of the room and her on the steel blue sofa next to it. A matching love seat to the sofa sat against the wall opposite the two chairs. Luckily the room was unoccupied at present. Reid had set the map on an end table next to the chair that held a lamp and some magazines. "I never came here to lecture you and I'm sorry that you feel that's what's being done to you. I just asked how you were holding up. This whole thing," she gestured to the ICU, "can't be easy on you."
"Nothing seems easy for me these days." Reid said looking at the carpet instead of at Emily. "I don't feel I can trust anyone anymore."
"No," Emily grabbed both his hands that were clasped in front of him in both of hers. "Please, don't let that happen. I don't want to be the reason that you lose your faith in your friends… your family who love you. I never wanted that. I never thought when I agreed to the plan that I'd see you or any of the team again. I thought you'd grieve for a while and then go on, hopefully remembering me fondly. And that's what you were doing and if Morgan hadn't stumbled upon the information he did, you'd be doing fine."
"But he did stumble on it and now I know the truth and I'm sick of people telling me what I should and should not be feeling. Now I know Hotch and JJ schemed and lied to me for a long time and now that it's out in the open, all everyone is saying is that they never meant to hurt me. As if that's supposed to make everything okay. A lot of times people don't mean to hurt you but they do. And I resent the fact that everyone on this team thinks I don't have the right to my own feelings. Of course none of you want me to feel hurt or betrayed. That would make it so much easier to forgive yourselves and not feel any responsibility for the whole situation; assuage all your guilt. I get that. But do you have any idea how hard it is for me to trust any of you now? How hard it is for me to be Henry's godfather and not trust a thing his mother says. How hard it is for me to follow Hotch's orders when I've lost my respect for him. And you, it's like I don't even know you. It's like you're just a ghost of…"
He pulled his hands from her grasp, grabbed the map and looked at it for a few seconds. "I have an idea."