Clyde Easter stares at Tsia Mosely. She steps closer…and punches him in the face. JJ smiles, wishing she'd had the justification to do it.
"You knew he was out and told NO ONE! You stupid FUCK!" she screams at him.
Clyde sneers at her. "Your sweetheart Jeremy knew, didn't he, darling. Seems odd to me that you didn't."
"Jeremy made a stupid, reckless, and ultimately deadly mistake. But you had to know Emily is the one he'd most want. We're all just dead meat. She's the one that he'll make suffer. Why the helldidn't you warn her?" Tsia demands.
"I couldn't! I tried to get her back on the payroll and THEN I could have told her. I even mentioned we had a case she'd love but she wasn't interested. I couldn't force her to rejoin Interpol and I couldn't reveal what we knew unless she did."
"You are so full of shit," JJ spits at him. "You wanted something to hold over her head. My guess is you were getting ready to approach her in person when she was snatched. And that's why you went under the radar. If Doyle could get Jeremy and her, he could get you. You're a coward, Clyde. A huge, fucking coward."
"And now Sean's dead," Tsia tells him. The look on his face tells them all he had no idea. "Yep, that just leaves you and me untouched, Clyde. So you better talk soon because your days on this earth are as numbered as mine."
Clyde slowly looks from her to JJ. Looking at the fiery ice in the blonde agent's eyes he suddenly thinks he might have a better chance facing off with Doyle than with JJ. He sighs.
"Two questions: What do you have so far? And what are you willing to do to stop him?"
"Everything we have is in this room," JJ tells him. "As to what we will do to stop him, I'll put a bullet in his fucking head for what he's done to her."
Clyde stares at her and nods. "I believe you will." He turns to Hotch. "I need to make a call. I can get you access to certain files that aren't easy to find."
Garcia steps forward. "If you mean the 22 ghost files, we've got them. We just need help figuring out some of the codes names and locations."
Clyde stares at her. "Who the bloody hell authorized the release of the ghost files?"
Hotch steps between them. "I did. You're on our turf now, playing our game, to find our player. Sit your ass down and start on the files. Garcia and Reid will walk you through the ones we're having the most trouble with."
Clyde steps past Hotch to the table. JJ turns and walks out of the room. She doesn't break down until she gets to her office. This man had known Emily was in danger. And he hadn't done one damn thing to protect her. Now for 1 week she's been going through a Hell the liaison can't even begin to contemplate. One thing JJ knows is if they don't find Emily, Clyde Easter is a dead man. She would see to that.
Knowing she needs to clear hear head, she grabs her gym bag. She runs into Morgan in the hallway.
"I need to punch something. If I stay up here it will be Clyde Easter."
Morgan grins. "I hear you. Mind a work out partner?"
JJ manages a small smile. "You won't cry if I hurt you?"
Morgan chuckles. "That's the JJ I've been missing. I'll see you down there."
JJ nods and gets in the elevator. As it descends she pulls out her phone and flips through the pictures of Emily and Henry. Last night Henry had screamed and screamed for his Mama. JJ and Francesca were distraught as nothing, not even the CD of Emily singing his favorite lullaby had helped. When he had finally fallen asleep, JJ had cried for hours, knowing she was unable to get him to understand why Emily wasn't there for him. She hated feeling helpless.
"Where are you, baby? Where the hell is he holding you? Please, hold on for us. We are going to find you, Emily Prentiss. Don't you fucking make me a widow." She wipes the tears from her cheeks. "And you do what you have to do to stay alive. Even if you have to…God…if he makes you…you just do what you have to do to stay alive. I can forgive anything you do to stay alive. I love you so much. Come back to me, Emily. Please. Come back to all of us."
As the elevator opens JJ storms off, nearly knocking over the person waiting for the car. She mutters an apology and keeps going towards the locker rooms.
"JJ?"
JJ stops and realizes it was Emily's old Academy friend Vicky Cartwright she had nearly tackled.
"Vicky."
The agent steps closer. "JJ, I just heard what happened. Is there any word on Emily?"
JJ sighs. "No. Not yet. We're having to pull a bunch of info in from Interpol and other agencies around the world. It's a bureaucratic pile of steaming shit. But every department that can possibly help us is working with us. We even got an assist from the CIA."
"Wow."
JJ nods. "Yeah. It's been one week but Doyle needs something from Emily so as long as she can give it to him she's safe. And as long as she's safe we'll keep looking for her. We'll find her. I know we will."
"I know. And if you need an extra hand with anything, let me know. I'm here teaching for the next month. Any free time I have is yours."
JJ squeezes the woman's arm. "Thank you. I appreciate it. I'll let Hotch know."
The women separate and JJ heads into the locker rooms to change. By the time Morgan catches up with her she is pounding a heavy bag. Without saying a word he steps up behind it to hold it and make it easy for her to attack relentlessly. His mind flashes back to a time Emily had held the bag for him in the aftermath of the Foyet and Belser cases.
"I'm taking care of her, Emily," he thinks to himself. "I'm taking care of her until you get back here to do it yourself. You fight, Emily. Don't you give up on us. Don't you give up on her."
Tsia Mosely steps outside to the smoking area. It has been nearly 4 years since she smoked but when Jeremy died she started again. She paces around the parking lot trying to get a handle on her fury at Clyde Easter.
It doesn't help that she feels claustrophobic being sequestered here at Quantico. Once Sean had died Hotch had convinced her she was safer here on the secured base than anywhere else. She wants to be out chasing leads, tracking suspects, not hidden away like some damsel in distress.
As she turns to go back inside her body jerks. An agent heading inside sees her fall and runs over to see if she's okay, thinking she had tripped. He rolls her over…and sees the bullet hole in her forehead. He pulls his gun and leaps behind a nearby bench, trying to locate the shooter. But with all the woods and cars in the lot the shot could have come from anywhere. Since he heard nothing, he knows the shooter had a silencer on the gun. He whips out his cell phone and calls security.
Ten minutes later Hotch and Rossi watch as Tsia's body is zipped into a body bag.
"He got onto Quantico, Dave. He got someone onto Quantico to kill her. This guy is so far ahead of us. I'm starting to get sick of being so far behind the bastards we're tracking."
Rossi pats his shoulder. "Maybe when we get Emily back we can all take a vacation. I'm sure JJ can find a case in, say, Hawaii for us. Maybe a lost puppy or something. Could take us weeks to find it."
Hotch manages a chuckle. "I'll mention it to her." His smile fades. "What if we don't find Emily?"
"We will, Aaron. I refuse to believe otherwise. Doyle needs her and she will do what she has to do to survive."
Hotch nods. "Keep telling me that. Right now we need to go let the others know what's happened out here. And Clyde Easter doesn't leave this building until we have Emily back. We can't afford to lose the last member of her team."
The two men head inside knowing their leads are dwindling. If they lose Easter, they lose Emily.