AN: Well from the traffic stats I know that a number of people have at least looked at the story. Thanks to the three that have put it on alert and my one reviewer! I'd appreciate any more feedback. Always nice to know how you're doing. This chapter gets into some of the case details and my warning from the first chapter still stands - I'm not a profiler or involved in law enforcement in anyway so if technical details are off I apologize. As this is a work of fiction, I ask that you please regard it as such and enjoy the ride. I am trying very hard to keep things plausible.
As Morgan and Hotch stepped off the elevator, they could see Garcia in the bull pen, some files in her hand. As Morgan headed toward his desk, which already had a file on it, Garcia placed one on Prentiss' desk and then headed toward the steps.
"Hey, Baby Girl, you forgot one," he said, motioning toward Reid's desk.
"No I didn't, my Sugar Daddy. My Boy Genius is in the conference room with Rossi already," Penelope replied, glancing over at a clock on the wall. "They've been in there for about a half hour already," she replied, handing a file to Hotch.
"Thanks for coming in early and preparing these," he told her. That task should have fallen to JJ but after this last case he felt his team needed to get some rest before they got started on this one.
"No problem. If you need anything else, I'll be in front of my computers," Garcia replied, turning and heading toward her office. She blew a kiss to Derek as she walked by. Despite his worry he couldn't help but smile.
"Shall we go see what they've come up with so far?" Hotch asked Morgan, nodding his head in the direction of the conference room.
Without a word, Morgan nodded. Picking the file up off of his desk, he quickly took the steps to the level where Hotch was standing. The two agents headed toward the conference room. Reaching the door first, Morgan opened it and headed inside.
At the sound of the door, Rossi, seated at the table, looked up. Across the table from him, Reid was so absorbed in the information in front of him that he didn't bother to look up. The two profilers had put the pictures of each victim up on the board against one wall. Notes were stuck to the board near each of the pictures. Morgan found himself looking at each picture. With the exception of one, all the victims were male.
"What are your thoughts so far?" Hotch asked, walking over to the table and taking a seat next to Rossi. At the sound of his boss' voice, Reid finally looked up.
"That there doesn't seem to be anything connecting the victims," Rossi told him. "They're all from different family backgrounds, some are from small towns others from the city. Not one of them is from the same state and from what's in their files there is no indication that they even new each other."
"The only possible link that we can come up with is physical appearance. The first four victims were all of slight built, brown hair, and brown eyes and in their early to mid twenties. That link only holds though if you ignore the last victim, Cadet Sandy Magnusen," Reid added.
Morgan and Hotch both looked to the board, taking in again the pictures of the victims.
"Yet that incident is the one that we have evidence that it wasn't an accident," Morgan commented.
"Exactly," Reid said. "So it doesn't make sense to try to connect the cases by throwing out the only person we know to have been a victim of foul play," he said. The door opened, and Emily Prentiss walked into the room as Reid continued. "It's is also highly unlikely that there would be this many accidents in a two month period in a location the size of the army base."
"Okay, so making a connection by looking at the victim's doesn't look like its going to work," Hotch said, motioning for Morgan and Prentiss to both take a seat. He was surprised that they had all showed up early this morning after the case they had just gotten off of and proud. He knew they had all come here to get a jump on this case, and he didn't see any reason not to jump right into it. "Let's look at each incident on a case by case basis and see where that leads us," he suggested looking across the table at first Reid and then Rossi. Those two had spent the most time with the information so far and were the two most qualified to lead the conversation.
After a brief look at Reid, Rossi started. "First incident occurred on April 13th at the firing range. Lt. Brian Mitchell was at the range with some of his fellow soldiers and the M-16 he was shooting exploded. Medics were called to the scene. Mitchell was unconscious when they arrived and died two days later in the hospital from complications from the injury. Cause of the incident was ruled improper maintenance of the gun."
"I'm surprised that didn't raise any flags there," Morgan commented. "The importance of gun maintenance is stressed during training in any field that firearms are involved in, military or police," he said, thinking of his own training in the various fields. "If it was a trainee involved that would be one thing, but for a lieutenant not to have properly maintained his gun, seems a little careless to me."
"It actually did raise suspicion," Reid commented. "Those investigating the incident thought it might have been an attempted suicide."
"Not as obvious as just shooting yourself," Prentiss commented.
"No but a whole lot more painful not to mention the chance of not succeeding. Someone really wanted to kill themselves, I got to believe they would choose a different method," Morgan said.
"The MPs investigating the incident had the same thought. There was also no solid evidence found to support the suicide theory. No note was left, all Mitchell's friends say he wasn't acting any different than normal, and he had a solid relationship with fiance. Hence the improper maintenance of the gun listed as the cause of the accident."
"Someone could of tampered with the gun in between uses," Prentiss commetned.
"They would have had to have access to the weapons locker," Morgan responded. "While it would be difficult it wouldn't be impossible."
The team continued going through the incidents, talking about the possibilities for all of them. Individually, each did appear to be most likely an accident. Occuring as they had in close proximity of each other decreased that likelihood.
They had reached the most recent incident when Garcia entered. Hotch looked up at the clock – 9:30. ~JJ should be here by now. Wonder where she is?~ Hotch thought, even as Garcia addressed him.
"Sorry for interrupting sir, but I think you all might want to see this," Garcia told him. She grabbed a remote from where it was sitting and put the news broadcast on. The bottom of the screen gave the location of the current news story as Fort Knox, KY.
"To recap for you once more, the breaking news this morning is that a cadet on the Fort Knox Army Base was found dead in the barracks this morning by his fellow cadets. This following another training accident where a cadet from the same battalion was hurt on the obstacle course. Not much information has been released at this time on either incident, but we are waiting for a news release from Colonel Jackson, in charge of the military police unit on the base, which should begin momentarily. We will bring it to you live, as soon as it begins."
"This isn't good," Rossi commented softly.
"You can say that again," Hotch replied. Before anything else could be said, he noticed JJ coming into the room.
"Fort Knox sent the preliminary report on this latest incident as well as the victim's file," JJ told Hotch as she walked up to him. She had a stack of papers in her hand. She took one off the top and held it out to Hotch. "They also sent an official request for our help in this matter."
Aaron Hotchner quickly scanned the request. Without looking up from the paper he addressed his team. "Wheels up in thirty minutes. We'll continue our discussion on the plane."
The BAU team went into action, each member knowing what they needed to do to be ready to leave.
"Morgan," Hotch said, making the other agent stop in mid-stride. "Try getting a hold of your sister. See if either she or Colonel Jackson can join us by phone for a conference while we're enroute. I'd like to get a better feel for what we're heading into."
"You got it," Morgan told him.
Hotch turned back to JJ. "Get copies of the new information ready for each team member. You can distribute it on the plane. If you need help have Garcia give you a hand."
"Yes, sir," both women replied.
"Our investigation of the barracks revealed that there was peanut flour under Cadet Warden's pillow. As he has an severe peanut allergy, it was enough to put him in anaphlyalatic shock. Warden had an end bottom bunk near the back of the barracks. He managed to alert his bunk mate that something was wrong, the bunk mate went for help, unfortunately that help didn't arrive quick enough to make a difference," Major Rebecca Morgan said over Morgan's cell, which was currently on speaker. The BAU team was on the plane, currently gathered closely around the cellphone
The first media reports that had gotten out had details wrong. Major Morgan hoped their news conference had set things right as well calmed some fears about the situation on base. They still didn't know who had leaked the information of the latest two incidents to the media.
"We've moved the male cadets from those two barracks to another building for now. You'll be able to examine this scene as well as the scene from yesterday, which we still have roped off, for yourselves."
"We appreciate that. Was there any interaction between the two cadets involved in these latest two incidents?"
"Yeah, they are actually in the same squad. Cadet Warden is – was their current squad leader. These cadets have been on base for about two and a half weeks now so the whole platoon is pretty shaken up about what's happened the last couple of days."
"Major Morgan, during the obstacle course is there a predetermined order that the cadets would go through the obstacle course in?" Reid asked. He could feel the eyes of his team members on him.
"Well there are four platoons training together. First platoon would go through first, followed by second an so on."
"Both cadets were in first platoon right?"
"Right?"
"What about within the platoon. How would order be established?"
"Each platoon has four squads. The squads would go in order, what order the individuals in those squads would go through would be up to the squad members. Typically, the squad leader would lead their squad through the course."
"Which should have been Cadet Warden?"
"Correct."
"What are you getting at, Reid?" Derek Morgan asked.
"Well, I got to thinking, what if Cadet Magnusen doesn't fit with the other victims because she wasn't the intended target," Reid said, speaking quickly as he began to lay out his theory. He took the picture of Cadet Warden out of the file and held it out in front of him. "Cadet Warden fits with the physical pattern I pointed out in the first four victims - slight build, brown hair, and brown eyes and in their early to mid twenties. From what Major Morgan just told us, he should have been the first one on the rope. He wasn't but within twenty-four hours he's dead. None of the previous incidents were this close together."
"The UNSUB missed the first time so he tried again," Rossi commented, voicing his thoughts out loud. "Do we know why Cadet Magnusen was the first one on her squad to go on the obstacle course?"
"Apparently she was apprehensive about some of the obstacles involving height. Cadets in her squad said she was talking about not doing the course. When I talked to Cadet Warden following the incident he said he felt guilty about the accident because he talked her into going first. Getting it over with so she wouldn't psych herself out, is I think how he put it."
"Which means the decision was made there on the spot. Whoever cut that rope did so before the cadets were ever on site."
"The cadre walk the course to inspect it right before each use. Nothing was spotted in that investigation."
"Which means it was either missed or whoever did the inspection was involved," Hotch said.
"If this is an inside job, which it seems more and more likely, this needs to be handled delicately. Having personnel starting doubting each other is only going to add to the sense of fear that is already going around on base," Major Morgan told them. "We've upped police presence on base but we've still got some scared people here. Several cadets have dropped out of the program wanting to go home. Whoever is behind this, needs to be caught before panic sets in."
"We'll do our best," Hotch told her, trying to sound more confident then he really felt at this point. If the UNSUB was military, catching them wasn't going to be easy. They would know how to blend in with the normal functions of the base. Would be less suspicious to those on the base because his fellow soldiers would trust them.
Rossi's voice cut through Hotch's thoughts.
"Would it be possible to get one of our guys onto base undercover, Major Morgan?"
"I suppose so. We could arrange for someone to come in under a transfer, though we'd have to be careful about where the transfer came from to make sure no one else has come from whereever they're suppose to be transferring in from."
"What about bringing them in as an ROTC cadet?"
"The next wave of cadets are scheduled to begin their basic camp on Sunday. Assuming your guy can pass themselves off as a college student, it would be easy enough to plant them within the new wave of cadets. It would be important that whoever you want to put undercover is not seen on base before they're brought in."
"What are you getting at?" Hotch asked, looking across the jet at Rossi.
"Well, if this is an inside job, as Major Morgan suggests, its not going to be easy to just pick them out of a crowd. We need to draw them out someway. Especially with the attacks being as random as they are. There's nothing indicating when his next attack will be."
"If Reid's right, he'll attack when he locates the next brown eyed, brown haired soldier who has a slight build," Morgan said.
"Exactly. So what better way to draw him out than to provide the next target for him," Rossi said, letting his gaze fall on Reid.
"Are you suggesting we use Reid as the bait?" Morgan said, obviously upset by the suggestion. "That's the craziest thing I've ever heard."
Rossi's reply was indistinguishable among the voices of Prentiss and JJ, both joining in with Morgan's protests. The four agents continued to talk over one another, none of them really listening to one another.
Hotch glanced over at Reid. The younger agent hadn't said a word and Hotch could see a mixture of emotions on his face. Hotch didn't like the idea any better than Morgan did, but Rossi had a point. Baiting the guy could be the only way they could catch him.
"Silence," Hotch called out, over top of the other four agents. Rossi, Morgan, JJ and Prentiss all fell silent as they looked toward their boss. "Major Morgan, is there anything else you can think of to add at this time."
"No sir."
"Okay, thank-you for your time. I'll be in touch with you when we land. Looks like we've got some things to discuss among ourselves," he said looking at each of his team members. "If you can, start working at details to get one our agents undercover in case we need to go that route."
"Base personnel or as a cadet, sir?" Major Morgan asked, the uneasiness evident in her voice.
"Keep both options open to us at this point."
"Yes, sir. See you when you get here."
Morgan disconnected the call and flipped his cell phone closed. "Hotch, you can't seriously be thinking about letting Reid pose as a cadet to draw this guy's attention," he said.
Before Hotch could answer Reid finally spoke up.
"What? You don't think I can handle it, Morgan?"
"No, Reid it's not that. It's just . . ." Morgan let the sentence fade off not sure how to put his feelings into words, especially in front of all their co-workers. He sighed.
"Reid, I don't think anyone here is doubting your ability to handle an undercover assignment," Hotch said, trying to diffuse the situation. "Setting an agent up as a target to draw out the killer is a dangerous game to play."
"But one we might have to play," Rossi said. He was both surprised and confused at the intensity of the reaction his suggestion had invoked. Looking around at his fellow team members he got a distinct impression that he was missing something. His gut also told him that now was not the time nor the place to try and figure out what that something was.
"Agreed. However, I'm not about to tell someone that they have to put themselves in a situation like that." Hotch looked over at Reid. "This would be strictly volunteer. If you don't want to take the chance, say so and this conversation ends right here. We'll find another way. No one is going to think any less of you."
Reid took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. The idea terrified him. Tobias Hankle's face floated came to mind as he remembered the last time he had been separated from the rest of the team. ~But that wasn't planned. They'd be looking out for me. They wouldn't take any chances,~ Ried told himself.
"I think at this point we shouldn't discount any possible avenue we have open to us," Reid replied not wanting to say no but not quite able to bring himself to say yes.
"Okay," Hotch said, making a mental note to talk to Reid about this with just the two of them. He could sense the hesitancy in the younger agent's answer and didn't want Reid to feel pressured into doing anything. "Let's get back to discussing this UNSUB. What reason does he have for targeting these specific people?"