Hi guys and gals :D Here's chapter 8... I'm off to work on chapter 9. My plan is to have them ready for you by this weekend...
Happy reading and enjoy :D
"Did you have it done?" Emily asked Aaron as they stood in PG's office with Penelope waiting for the rest of the team to join them.
Aaron nodded. "Last night. We're clear in here. My office and the round table room..." Hotch said with a shake of his head. "I had them left in place like you recommended so we don't tip anyone off that we're on to them. It's probably best not to have the bullpen swept. It could cause suspicion and if you're right then we'll be right back where we started."
Penelope's head moved back and forth between Hotch and Emily. "Can you please tell me what's going on so I can at least try to follow your conversation?"
"After I called JJ yesterday and you and she started running everyone's backgrounds, I received an anonymous text saying 'See you soon'. Aaron and I talked. If Doyle has an inside man, then he could already have someone in place here as well… Aaron had a team sweep for bugs after hours so as to avoid suspicion."
Penelope's eyes widened with horror. "But… but…"
Emily nodded her head. "I know; it bothers me to think that someone who has access to our team could be spying on us too… but we have to be sure." She said as Morgan, Reid, Dave, and Elle filed into the room.
"Sure about what?" Morgan asked as he looked at Emily and Hotch and closed the door.
Hotch glanced at Emily who nodded and pulled out a signal jammer, erring on the side of supreme caution in case anything had been missed. "Last night after Emily's calls with Tsia and JJ I had my office and the round table room swept for bugs. Listening devices were discovered in both locations. I also had Penelope's office swept as well. It was clean, but to be safe we are going to go meet in the SCIF. We'll fill everyone in down there. Make it appear like we are going down for nothing more than a briefing on sensitive materials. We have people waiting on us so we need to hurry, but let's not all head down there together. Make sure to secure your phones and iPads in your desks."
The team casually headed down to the Secure Compartmented Information Facility in small groups as if they were going to a scheduled meeting on a case involving sensitive information that needed to remain secure.
As Hotch and Emily entered the SCIF they took note of the back of the familiar blonde head sitting at the head of the table with her back to the door.
Hotch stood at the door waiting for the rest of the team to join them before he locked and sealed the door, while Emily headed over to their friend.
JJ stood up from her seat at the head of the table, which just happened to be the only seat that could accommodate her with the space she needed for her very pregnant belly.
"Did you…" Emily trailed off realizing that she really couldn't and shouldn't ask the question until the rest of the team was there and the SCIF door was secured.
JJ, however, knowing Emily for as long and as well as she had, knew what Emily was going to ask. "Yes… you remember Jamie from the Christmas party?" JJ asked as she reintroduced Jamie and Emily on a bit more formal terms.
"It's nice to see you again." Emily said as she leaned forward and shook Jamie's hand.
"I wish it was under better circumstances." Jamie replied.
"Hey" Reid said as he stepped up beside his wife and rested his hand on the small of her back.
"Hi" JJ said as she glanced up at Spence.
The rest of the team filtered into the SCIF over the next several moments. Once everyone was present, Hotch closed the SCIF door and locked out the other access codes so that the team would not be interrupted and no one else could access the SCIF until they left.
Penelope glanced around the table as JJ passed a stack of manila file folders down both sides of the table. "Wouldn't it have been easier to use everyone's iPads?" she asked.
"Only pre-approved electronic devices are allowed in the SCIF. This was short notice, so I didn't have time to get the clearance. That's why I didn't ask you to bring your laptop and everyone else left their cellphones and iPads secured in their desks." Hotch explained.
Zoe and Ashley sat looking around curious as to what could be going on.
Hotch took note of the two cadets curious expressions and realized they needed to be brought up to speed before JJ briefed them on what had been discovered. "Ashley, Zoe, I wish I could tell you that this was merely a training exercise to familiarize you with the SCIF, but I can't. We have a sensitive situation that's been developing over the course of the last few weeks. We need you both to be informed for the sake of your own safety as well as so that you can assist with the case." He said and turned to glance at Emily.
Emily filled them both in on everything she'd already shared with the team after receiving a nod from JJ letting her know that they'd cleared the background check that had been run on them. "… which brings us to last night when I called JJ." Emily said as she turned to look at JJ.
JJ nodded and cleared her throat. "We went through everything, and I mean everything. Garcia ran background checks on everyone who was part of JTF-12. We looked at financials…" JJ paused to take a deep breath, knowing how much it was going to hurt Emily to find out that someone see thought was a friend had sold her out to the devil himself. "Jeremy bought an estate in Spain and signed all of the documents with one of his covers. He made a down payment in cash… and then he made a large cash deposit." She said as she turned to look at Emily.
Emily nodded. She'd been expecting someone on the team had sold them all out, she just wasn't sure who. "Tsia?"
"Our best guess is that she didn't know gumdrop. She didn't cash in any of her investments. If I were getting ready to run from a terrorist, I'd want as many funds available as possible." Penelope piped up.
"Wait; isn't Jeremy Wolfe the person you said died just yesterday?" Zoe asked as she looked around at the team.
JJ nodded. "And he was killed quietly. Doyle doesn't want any attention until he's ready."
Emily nodded. "That fits with his profile. He is meticulous. Knowing him, he has everything planned down to the last detail."
"Tsia is already on her way here. What about the rest of the team?" Hotch asked.
"Knowing Clyde, he's probably on his way here also. Sean will be with his family in Brussels." Emily replied.
"Can you make contact and get them both here if they aren't already on their way? We'll need all the help and expertise we can get in dealing with someone like Doyle." Rossi said.
Emily nodded. "I'll make the call as soon as we're done here."
"There's one last thing." Hotch replied. "We potentially have a mole ourselves. My office and the round table room were bugged. Penelope's office was clean."
"What does that mean?" Ashley asked.
"That somebody is listening and that Doyle could have some very powerful friends if he was able to somehow get listening devices into an FBI federal building housed on a military base." Rossi said with some concern as he looked around at the team, JJ, and Jamie.
JJ and Jamie were walking out to their car in the parking garage when they ran into Anderson. Well, Anderson ran into Jamie actually and spilled his coffee all over her.
"Oh man I am sooo…. Jamie?" Anderson asked as he looked up from the coffee that he'd spilt all over her.
"Chad?" Jamie asked as she looked at Anderson. "What are you doing here? I mean I know you work here… but I wasn't really expecting to run into you today."
"I just went out to get coffee. Real coffee, not the crappy coffee we have here…. And gosh... I am so sorry Jamie. Let me at least pay for the dry cleaning… or replace it if the stain doesn't come out." He said wincing slightly at the growing coffee stain on Jamie's front.
"It was an accident. Don't worry about it." Jamie said as she glanced down at her blouse. "and luckily I have a different shirt in my bag at work. We should probably get going…. It was good seeing you again Chad." Jamie said and then glanced over to her highly amused boss and friend.
"So…" JJ said as they climbed in the car to head back to the Pentagon. "How well exactly do you know Anderson?" she asked with an amused grin on her face.
"Well, we uh… met at your Christmas party." Jamie explained.
"Uh huh" JJ nodded remembering having seen them speaking throughout the evening.
"And we went on a few dates."
"And?" JJ asked hoping that she was about to hear good news.
"But it didn't work out. Don't get me wrong, Chad's a great guy… just not the guy for me… you know?"
JJ nodded. "I do. So when we get back let's…" JJ said wisely changing the conversation back to work. There was a lot to do and who knew how long they'd have before Doyle made his presence in DC known, and whenever that happened, they needed to be ready for him.
JJ sighed in relief as she leaned back against the headboard of the bed.
"Tired?" Spence asked he walked in the room from checking the locks and the security system.
"Yes" JJ replied. "of being pregnant." She said as she turned to look at her husband.
Spence chuckled. "And you want to do this again in a few years to see if we can have another girl?"
JJ smacked Spence on the arm as he climbed into bed next to her. "Chloe and Henry were both here by this time." She moaned as she shifted trying to get comfortable.
"Chloe and Henry were both three weeks early." Spence replied and leaned down and kissed his wife. "Come on, scoot forward and let me sit behind you." he said as he rubbed JJ's shoulder comfortingly. "Maybe a backrub will help."
JJ scooted forward and Spence slipped behind her, his fingers and thumbs rubbing over her weary lower back.
"God that feels good baby." JJ moaned as she leaned back against Spence. She tipped her head and placed a soft kiss on his neck. "How do you think Emily and Hotch are holding up really?"
Spence leaned his head against JJ's as he continued to rub. "Honestly, I'm sure they have to be terrified out of their minds… I know I would be if it was us. I'm terrified for them. But they're right, we need to keep things looking as normal as possible while we find Doyle."
JJ nodded her head as she tried to imagine what it was like for Emily and Hotch.
"Derek" Penelope said as she looked up at her husband.
"Yeah baby girl?" Morgan replied as he looked down at Penelope.
"Everything is going to be okay, right? We're going to fix this right?" Pen asked as she agonized over how terrifying things had to be for Emily and Hotch right now.
"I hope so baby girl," He said as he leaned down and kissed Penelope on the forehead. "I hope so."
"What can I do to help?" Will asked as Elle finished telling him the new developments in the situation where she was snuggled into his side. "Whatever I can do to help I will."
Elle nodded where she was curled up against Will's side. "I don't know… There isn't a plan yet…"
"David, are you all right? You've been really quiet tonight." Erin asked as she walked into David's study.
"Yeah" Dave said as continued to stare at his untouched glass of scotch on his desk.
"Are you sure about that?" Erin asked as she slipped behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, and leaned down to kiss him softly just below his ear.
"No" Dave replied as he raised his hand and held onto Erin's arms wrapped across his chest.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.
Dave nodded his head and pulled on Erin's arm, pulling her around to sit in his lap and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened. She needed to be aware in case things went bad. He also needed to know in case she heard things from other parts of the Bureau. She might not be a Section Chief any longer, but he knew she still had her ear to the ground.
"Aaron?" Emily asked as she curled up tighter in his arms.
"Yeah Em?" Aaron replied.
"I'm scared." Emily admitted out loud for the first time in her life.
Aaron nodded. "I am too, but we've done everything we can for right now. We'll get more information as soon as we can… and then we'll put a plan together."
"And in the meantime we sleep with loaded guns under our pillows?" Emily asked.
Aaron nodded. "Just remind me not to piss you off in the middle of the night." He said in an attempt at dark humor. "We'll get through this Em… you'll see."
Emily nodded. "I know we will, but I'd be less scared if it was just me. I'd know how to cope if it was just me. I can't lose any of you. My greatest fear is that Doyle's punishment will be to make me watch him kill everyone I love off one by one before he finally finishes me off."
Aaron nodded and wrapped his arms more tightly around Emily and rubbed her back as he kissed her forehead. He was terrified to admit that was his greatest fear as well.
Emily placed her hand on Aaron's arm as they walked towards the car. Yes, her parents lived in a gated community, but she'd never known that to stop Doyle before. She peeked in and noted that the car was still locked. She quickly knelt down and checked underneath the car, looking for anything that looked out of place. Then she grabbed Aaron's hand and backed a good distance away from the car and used the remote starter.
Aaron turned to look at her for a moment as he realized just how rattled this Doyle situation had his wife. He took her hand and squeezed it and then they climbed into the car and headed for the BAU. They had a busy day ahead. Who knew what would happen in terms of cases and Emily had a meeting set up with Tsia, Clyde, and Sean.
Emily quickly crossed the busy plaza, full of people enjoying the early afternoon, to the predetermined meeting spot. She sat on the stone bench and pulled the disposable cell phone out of the abandoned newspaper just as it began to ring.
"I was beginning to think you weren't coming" Tsia said into the phone as she saw Emily pick the phone up from several feet away in the plaza. "After what happened with Jeremy, I was afraid."
"Tsia, I'm sorry you can't be at his funeral. Its today; isn't it?" Emily asked, making a point not to glance over at where Tsia sat at a table off to her right and dying a little inside at how hurt her friend was going to be to find out the truth about the man she had been in love with.
"Well, that's the problem with marrying a member from your own team, if one of you is a target, so is the other. I get it." Tsia replied managing to keep her emotions in check.
It killed Emily to have Tsia find out like this, but the sooner that it was said; the sooner they could focus on finding Doyle. "Tsia, there's something you need to know."
"Emily?" Tsia asked.
"Jeremy is the one who sold us out to Doyle." Emily replied.
"No" Tsia said in a harsh but low voice so as not to attract the attention of the crowds surrounding them at the moment. "He couldn't… he wouldn't do that."
"I'm so sorry Tsia… but after you called me… I checked backgrounds and financials on everyone. He bought an estate in Spain. He signed the papers in one of his aliases." Emily explained softly. "And assuming that Jeremy sold everyone out, anyone that worked Doyle's case is compromised. Sean?"
Tsia gasped into the phone as she worked to compartmentalize and pull herself together. Like she had said, there were dangers in falling in love with and marrying someone from your team.
"Colleen and Kyla are safe at the embassy. That's where they will be staying until this is over." Sean replied.
"Good" Emily nodded.
"Hello darling" Clyde interjected himself into the conversation.
Emily shook her head at the fact that Clyde never seemed to stop flirting. Ever. It was like dealing with a British version of Morgan before he settled down with Penelope. "Alright, let's make this quick. I took a late lunch." Emily said moving the conversation along.
"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not quick about anything?" Clyde replied in his British accent.
Emily raised her eyebrow at Clyde's cockiness. "I don't know" she said drawing out her response as she pursed her lips in thought. "What about that time I blew my cover in Prague? You took out that sentry before I could even draw my weapon. Saved my ass Clyde."
"I'm surprised you remember the little people from your Interpol days now that you're a posh FBI profiler." Clyde said.
"What's being done to locate Doyle?" Emily asked bringing the conversation back to the business at hand.
"Only every agency in the northern hemisphere is looking for him." Clyde said as he continued to casually look around the plaza for anything that was out of place.
"What are we doing to find him?" Emily asked brusquely.
"My contact at DCRI tracked one of Doyle's aliases leaving France the day after Jeremy's murder. He took a commercial flight to Beijing then doubled back on a train bound for Berlin." Tsia explained, having managed to pull herself back together. She glanced about, keeping aware of their surroundings while she consciously used all of her training to hold herself together. She could fall apart over Jeremy after they'd stopped Doyle. Her preference would a bullet between the Irish terrorist's eyes.
Clyde glanced behind him as he felt someone move past him. "But when GSG9 intercepted it, he was already gone."
"He sent me flowers. I think it's safe to assume he's coming here."
"I have to say you're probably right." Sean added as he glanced about.
"Why is he doing this?" Tsia asked.
"Why do you think? We put him away." Clyde replied as if stating the obvious.
Emily paused, about to reply when her cell phone went off in her pocket, signaling that she had a text message. She fished into her suit jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. '911… Case BAU ASAP'.
"Duty calls?" Clyde asked.
Emily paused as she looked down at the message on her phone.
"I know what you're thinking. Absolutely not. Your team isn't under oath. They don't have clearance." Clyde chastised.
"Too late Clyde. They already know. In fact it was because of them that we were able to figure out that it was Jeremy." Emily replied as she tucked her cell phone back into her pocket.
Clyde cursed under his breath.
"This could be a good thing." Sean interjected after having heard what everyone else had to say so far.
"How? We don't even know where Doyle is." Tsia said, her eyes darting about as she watched the crowd.
"Well we need whatever intel we can get. Your team is obviously very good at what they do and loyal to you. That is something we can't necessarily guarantee with anyone else. We also need the manpower in order to get ahead of Doyle." Sean said as he glanced about from his position on the far side of Clyde.
Clyde sighed. He might not agree with it, but he could certainly see how it could be an advantage. What was done; was done. "Leave it to Tsia, Sean, and I. You go be with your team." Clyde advised.
"Even in hiding Doyle can't resist extravagance. Track the money." Emily replied, adding her insight into Doyle.
"I will find him darling." Clyde reassured Emily. "Trust me."
"There are very few people I trust anyone anymore." Emily said as she stood up from her bench and tossed the cell phone she'd been speaking into in the nearby garbage can.
Emily ditching the disposable cell and leaving the plaza was followed immediately by Tsia, Sean, and Clyde doing the same.
"Traffic, I'm sorry." Emily explained as she quickly strode into the round table room and took the open seat next to Reid but nodded at Hotch and the team as they looked at her, letting them know that yes, she had met with Sean, Clyde, and Tsia as planned.
"Let's get started." Hotch said to the team in general as he nodded, acknowledging that he understood Emily's message.
"Ten year old Sammy Sparks of Lafayette Parish Louisiana showed up at his elementary school this morning covered in blood. When police got to his house, they found that his parents Charlie and Allison Sparks were missing." Penelope said from where she stood next to the monitor as she used the remote to cue the correct photos.
"Well forensics indicates at least one of them was injured," Morgan said as he looked back down at his iPad. "and by the looks of it, it was pretty severely."
"Has there been a ransom demand?" Emily asked.
"There's been no communication whatsoever." Garcia replied, gesturing with her hands and the remote.
"Then why call in the BAU?" Rossi asked.
"New Orleans is hoping that we can interview Sammy." Hotch explained.
"No one's talked to the witness yet?" Reid asked, confused.
"I don't understand. If Sammy was covered with blood, there's a good chance he can identify the unsub." Ashley said as she looked at Hotch.
"Sammy's autistic. Getting him to tell us what happened isn't going to be easy." Hotch explained.
"Looks like they were open to alternative methods of payment." Emily said as she flipped through the ledger at the Sparks' music store. "There's some construction work for a child's drum set, and cleaning services for sheet music."
"Bartering must be popular in a cash strapped area like this." Ashley said as she leaned against the counter. "They have video surveillance, which is good news. Do you think the unsub was here?"
"It's possible" Emily replied. "These guys like to scout their targets prior to abduction. They get off on the fact their victims never see them coming."
"There's a lot they don't teach us at the Academy." Ashley said as she looked at the screen of the laptop where the footage from the security camera was playing.
"Experience handles the rest." Emily responded just as Elle and Zoe walked up to the counter from looking over the back of the store. "Did you guys find anything?" Emily said as she turned to look at them while Ashley pulled the tape of the security footage out to send to Garcia.
"Well the kid definitely likes to draw." Morgan said as he held up a picture and showed Hotch. "Dog?" he asked as he turned to look at Hotch.
Hotch smiled at the familiarity of children's artwork. "I agree; that is definitely a dog. So I take it Jake has started to draw?" he asked as he turned and headed across Sammy's room to see what else they could find that would help them with the case.
"How do you do it?" Zoe asked as she, Emily, Elle, and Ashley stood discussing how Sammy had most likely been a recognizable fixture in the community.
"Do what?" Emily asked.
"How are you not going crazy right now? How are you able to stay focused on this case with everything that's going on in your personal life?" Zoe asked.
Emily paused for a moment in thought as she looked at Zoe.
"I… I'm sorry. That was out of line… I shouldn't have asked." Zoe said nervously attempting to retract her question.
"No, no… it's okay." Emily replied. "I was just thinking… JJ asked me the same thing once when I first joined the team… its part of the training that I went through I suppose. But it's also because I have to. I can't afford to breakdown. I can't afford to not be on the top of my game. Right now the Sparks need us to find them and then we have to find Doyle. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done. There will be more than enough time to think about it or not think about it once it's over."
Zoe nodded in understanding of what Emily was saying. Worrying about what might happen served no purpose. All you could control was the here and now and until you had more information you had to let tomorrow take care of itself.
"So the shop owner gave Allison Sparks twenty five grand." Emily said as she, Elle, Ashley and Zoe walked out of the check cashing shop.
"She wanted thirty but the owner balked." Ashley added.
"So she'd got twenty five from here, ten from the bank, he's up to thirty five, but he wants forty. Why is that the special number?" Emily asked Morgan as they walked along the side street.
"We should call Penelope and have her run those numbers against the list she compiled of local residents in foreclosure." Morgan said as he turned to look at Emily and Ashley. "See if anything matches up."
Emily held up her ringing phone, showing Morgan and Elle that it was Clyde. "I need to take this."
"I'll call Pen" Elle said as she stepped away to talk to Garcia.
"Look at that" Morgan said with a nod of his head at Zoe and Ashley when something under the dumpster caught his eye. He bent down and used a pair of gloves to pick up the crow bar from the asphalt just under the dumpster.
"Well, what do you make of that?" Morgan asked.
"It looks like it was used as a weapon." Ashley said.
"I bet this belongs to our guy." Morgan said as he examined the crow bar.
"How can you tell?" Zoe asked as she looked the crow bar in Morgan's hand.
"See how it's rusted at the hook end?" Morgan asked.
"Okay?" Zoe replied confused how that would explain the crow bar belonging to the unsub.
"It's an old fisherman's trick. You can use it to hook crab traps and shrimp catches out at sea." He explained.
Ashley shook her head. "It's probably pretty common around here."
"Yeah, but outside the same store where Allison Sparks was last seen?" Morgan asked. "Our unsub is definitely a fisherman."
Emily walked to the end of the side street where she'd been talking with Morgan, Ashley, Elle, and Zoe outside of the check cashing shop so as not to distract them from discussing the case when Clyde's number came up on her caller ID.
"We found him." Clyde said into the phone.
"Where?" Emily asked.
He's headed for DC. We'll meet you there." Clyde replied, trying to avoid giving out too many details over the phone.
"Are we sure it's him?" Emily asked as she stood looking back down the street.
"It's Doyle alright. We're looking at him right now." Clyde spoke into the phone as he looked down at the video of Doyle stepping off the private jet and onto US soil. "He chartered a private jet."
"How did he get past security checks?" Emily asked.
"He used an alias. Chuck Murray." Tsia said from the backseat of the car.
"Isn't that?" Emily trailed off.
"The name of his Irish wolfhound." Sean replied.
"He's baiting us. He wants us to know he's here." Emily said into the phone.
"Message received." Tsia said as she looked into the front seat at Clyde and Sean.
"Let that bastard come to us." Clyde replied and then hung up the phone. He turned and grabbed a gun and clip from the case in the backseat. As he turned back to face front, he slid the clip into the gun.
Sean in turn pulled out the gun in his shoulder harness and checked it.
"Sammy would it be alright if I sat here?" Reid asked as he sat down next to Sammy on the piano bench. He paused for a moment and then played scales on the piano.
Sammy's response was playing the scales just a few octaves lower.
"Whoa, you've been holding out on me Sammy." Reid replied with a smile.
Rossi watched the team's young genius seated at the piano with Sammy and had to smile as watched him interact with Sammy.
"Sammy, how about you play this note for yes" Reid said as he played a note on the piano "and this note for no" he said as he played a distinctively different note. "Does that sound like something you could do?"
Sammy glanced off in the other direction as he played the note for yes.
"Yeah, exactly. Just like that." Reid replied encouragingly. "Now, Sammy… do you remember when the man came and took your parents away?" Reid asked in a soft spoken voice.
Sammy blinked and hit the key for yes. Then he hit the key for yes several times in quick succession. Then he began to play a beautifully melodic piece of music.
"Sammy, I don't understand. Does this piece of music mean something to you?" Reid asked.
Sammy paused in playing and reached over setting his hand on top of Reid's. Then he lifted it and set it on the piano in the appropriate spot for Reid to be able to mirror the piece of music that Sammy had been playing, just a couple of octaves lower than what Sammy had played.
Reid watched as Sammy began to play at first, and then joined in, their keystrokes mirroring each other's as they played the piano together.
"I have run 'L' for Lizzie and nothing suspicious. Her story checks out." Penelope explained.
"And the local financial records?" Elle asked.
"Ha… I have referenced every former and currently licensed fishermen, crab men, shrimp men, friends of Poseidon, comes from the sea you name it men with financial records showing default loans totaling over thirty five k."
"Okay, what did you find?" Ashley asked.
"A hundred and twenty seven names." Penelope replied as she dashed for her chair, knowing that the team would be able to help narrow the list down. "I know, do not shoot the messenger. Just tell me how to narrow it down."
"Do all one hundred and twenty seven have children?" Emily asked as she leaned forward towards the speaker phone.
"No, but seventy six do."
"Okay, how many have homes in foreclosure versus other debt that might not put them out onto the street?" Ashley asked.
"ehhhh…. Oh you are very good. We are officially down to twenty four." Penelope replied.
"Wait… what if it was something else besides just the foreclosure that was his trigger?" Zoe asked.
"What are you thinking?" Elle asked.
"Well foreclosure takes months… so why now? What was it about now that caused him to abduct the Sparks?" Zoe asked.
"Well the Sparks just got their loan." Ashley replied.
"Sure… but the oil spill was almost a year ago so there would have been at least a few other opportunities before now." Zoe explained.
Elle nodded. "Okay so say there was something that happened recently that acted as the stressor above and beyond the foreclosure. What would it have been?"
"Okay… well his main source of income is cut off because of the oil spill since he's a fisherman… but he has bills he needs to pay so he takes any job he can get…" Zoe said.
Emily nodded. "But it doesn't quite cover the bills."
"He's struggling to make ends meet." Ashley said.
"He has to pick and choose what bills to pay and still try and put food on the table." Elle said as she nodded.
"The bills are slipping… he's underwater on his mortgage… wondering how he's going to get caught back up again but he's holding it together. Why is he still holding it together?" Ashley asked she looked around the table at Elle, Emily, and Zoe.
"Because of his family" Zoe, Emily, and Elle answered in unison.
"Did any of the twenty four people you have listed experience dramatic changes to their families in the last month?" Elle asked.
"Let's see… oh this is sad. We still have a list of six." Penelope responded.
"Better send us the files PG." Emily said.
"In two shakes of a chocolate Easter bunny's tail." Penelope replied.
"Hey Sammy, it's almost 3 o'clock. Is there some place you should be?" Reid asked as he showed Sammy his watch.
"Should be store" Sammy said as he traced the hands of Reid's watch. He stood up from his seat on the piano bench, sat his wooden train on top of the piano, and then walked towards the front door.
His Aunt Lizzie made as if to grab him and stop him.
"No, no, let him go." Rossi said as he pulled out his phone and called Hotch as Reid followed Sammy out the door of the house.
Reid stood half smiling as he watched Sammy comfort his crying mother. The bond between mother and child was a powerful one and he was sure that with a mother as determined as Sammy's that Sammy was going to have every opportunity to connect with the world around him and live a full life. A bright and gifted mind deserved to be given every opportunity to shine.
Penelope walked up to Derek's desk in the bullpen holding Jake's hand in one hand and her red peep toe sling back pumps, a DVD, and a large bowl of popcorn in the other hand. She smiled at Morgan as his lifted his head from his paperwork to look at her.
Morgan smiled and tossed his pencil up in the air as he saw his wife and son.
Jake laughed and then ran towards his Daddy calling out. "Dada"
"Hey there's my main man!" Derek said as he stood up from his desk. He caught Jake and swung him up high in the air, causing the small boy to laugh. Then he settled Jake on his hip. "Hey mama, what's the plan for tonight?"
"'Mary Poppins'." Penelope replied cheerfully, attempting to distract her own mind.
"'Mary Poppins'?" Derek asked, capturing his giggling son's hand as he bopped him on the nose.
Penelope shrugged. "Who doesn't like singing chimney sweeps, dancing penguins, and nannies that come and go by umbrella? Toys that put themselves away? Also very cool." Penelope smirked.
Derek shook his head and smirked. "Alright baby girl… 'Mary Poppins' it is. But I'm introducing Jake to hockey this weekend."
Penelope snorted. "Okay if you can get him to sit still with you long enough to actually watch a game, you boys can watch it."
Hotch stood quietly watching Avery and Seth sleep. It killed him not to be there tonight to watch over and protect his wife. How had he let her convince him that everything was going to be okay and that it would be best if it appeared that he was out of the loop with what was happening? He shook his head. He needed to stay clear and be ready for when Emily got home. She'd have more information and hopefully then they could form a plan.
Dave smiled and shook his head as he looked down into the bullpen where Ashley and Zoe sat studying together. "All right you girls are coming out to dinner with Erin, Tim, Courtney and I. I won't take no for an answer, so put your text books away and lets go."
"But I really need to…" Ashley began to argue.
"You really need to take a break so that your brain can absorb everything you're throwing at it." Dave said as he reached over and closed her text book as he entered the bullpen. "You too" he said turning to look at Zoe.
"Are you at least going to tell us where we're going?" Zoe asked as she stood up from her desk and pulled on her coat.
"Now what would be the fun in that?" Dave asked as he led the girls out of the BAU bullpen and they headed for the elevator.
Elle laughed as she watched Will attempting to get Billy to eat. Unfortunately more food was getting on the almost one year old than in him. In fact more food was getting on Daddy than was getting in Billy too.
"Mommy thinks this is funny." Will said as he looked at Billy. "You know what I think is funny?" Will asked as he turned around to look at Elle.
"No what?" Elle asked wiping tears from the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard.
"This" Will said laughing as he jumped up from his seat and wrapped his arms around her and pulling her close as he buried his baby food covered face in her neck and making loud kissy noises.
"Will" Elle squealed in shock as she tried to pull away laughing in her attempt to escape.
Billy smiled and laughed in his high chair as he watched the antics of his parents.
Spence smiled as she pulled into their driveway. He quickly parked and hurried up to the front door of the house. "Daddy's home" he called as he opened the door and within moments was swarmed by Chloe and Henry who were very excited to see Daddy after his few days away.
"Hey guys" he said as he knelt down next to the currently smallest Reids. "Did you guys miss me? Because I missed you." he said softly.
JJ smiled as she made it to the entry way and saw the heart-warming welcome home Chloe and Henry were giving Spence; then she moved to join them as Spence stood up.
"Hi" JJ said stepping close to Spence and leaning up to kiss him and then glancing down at where both Chloe and Henry were leaning against one of Daddy's legs.
In the back of everyone's minds though, just behind their happy homecoming and quality family time, were their worries about Emily and how they all hoped she knew what she was doing and that everything would turn out okay tonight.
Emily silently approached the table with two cups of coffee in hand. She sat the first on the table with a metallic clink and then settled herself in the opposite seat to wait. She slid her purse strap off her shoulder and got comfortable. Emily knew Doyle was watching and that it would just be a matter of time until he made contact.
Emily's fingers were idly spinning her now cold cup of coffee when she felt a hand on her back. She controlled her response to avoid going ramrod straight at the all too familiar feel of Ian Doyle's hand on her back.
"I knew you were watching me." Emily said as she continued to look straight ahead.
"What's the expression? Keep your friends close, your enemies under surveillance." Doyle said as he allowed his hand to slide off of Emily's back in what from a distance could have been mistaken for the caring caress of a lover and walked to the opposite side of the table.
"I've been here for two hours. You should know better than to keep a lady waiting." Emily said as she watched Doyle move.
"Seems hypocritical, seeing as I had to wait seven years." Ian replied turning to look at Emily's face, the face of the woman he had once loved and wanted to raise his son.
Emily lifted her head to look at the man that she had cared enough about to try and save him, to get him out of his life as a terrorist, arms dealer, and mercenary before it destroyed his ability to have any sort of life with his son. She watched as he took the seat across from her and then after a few moments of silence, spoke. "Hello, Ian."
"Hello, Lauren. Oh wait, Lauren Reynolds died in a car accident, didn't she?" he asked sarcastically, reminding himself that the woman in front of him was not the woman that he'd loved, that he asked to raise his son, that he'd wanted to have a family with.
"What do you want?" Emily asked.
"You." Ian paused dramatically, as he thought about how he had wanted her… and how she had betrayed him in the worst possible way. "Oh, not today, don't worry about that. But soon." Ian said nodding his head.
"I've got a Glock leveled at your crotch. What's to stop me from taking you and the little ones out, right now?" Emily asked, completely prepared to deal with this now and be done with it.
"You'd never make it back to your car, and you know it." Ian said with a smirk as he looked at the woman that had plagued his thoughts for the last seven years until her destruction became his obsession and the only thing that had gotten him through the questioning and torture at the hands of his North Korean captors.
Emily rolled her eyes and glanced away. Of course Ian had people watching this meeting in order to make sure he walked away. Really, she had expected nothing less.
"Tell me, does the lovely Penelope know the truth about you? Or are she and Derek too busy watching movies with their son Jake to care?" Ian asked as he lounged back in his seat across from Emily.
Emily attention perked up. Doyle being familiar with anyone from the team was not something that she had been expecting.
"Certainly you've been to Elle's house before and seen how she and her husband Will interact with their son Billy when their trying to get him to eat his dinner? And Here you are, all alone, while Aaron sits at your parents with your children. It amazes me how much Avery looks like her mother… and Seth for an adopted boy, he looks just like part of the family. And then there's Jack. He's really been such a good big brother. And why didn't Dave invite you and Aaron to dinner with his family, Ashley, and Zoe? Maybe they thought you'd be spending a quiet evening having dinner at the Reid with Dr. Reid and his wife."
The level of Emily's horror intensified as he listed off what each of her teammates was doing tonight and how they frequently spent their free time. Any sense of control she thought she'd had in this situation quickly slipped away at the realization that not only was Doyle watching her, but he was watching the team.
Doyle laughed, "Well, that one does have some quirks. How he managed to land a blonde beauty like Jennifer Jareau Reid, I really don't understand… let alone convince her to have his children… Jennifer's looking ready to burst any day now, Chloe is as lovely as any three year old can be… and as I understand it, you're young Henry's godmother."
"Come near my family, and I will end you." Emily replied, her voice laced with ice and determination.
"I don't have a quarrel with them. How long that remains the case, depends entirely on you. They're innocent, you're not."
"I was doing my job."
"I think you did a little more than that. You took the only thing that mattered to me; so I'm going to take everything that matters to you, and then I'll take your life" Doyle said and then leaned forward and placed a matchbook with a four leaf clover on the table between them.
"Honore de Balzac once said, 'Most people of action are inclined to fatalism and most of thought believe in providence.'" Doyle said and then stood up from his seat at the table. "Tell me, Emily Prentiss Hotchner, which do you think you are gonna be?" Then he turned and slipped into the darkness of the night.
Emily's eyes followed Doyle as he slinked off into the darkness and anonymity of the DC winter night. Then she sat staring ahead trying to figure out how they were going to take care of this before Doyle carried out his threats.