Emily scans the information Harlan had been able to get. She shakes her head. "This is fucked, Harlan. We'd have never stopped these bastards without this information. We were set up to fail."
"That's my thought, too."
"What the hell is going on here?" she asks herself.
"Hey, Boss, we've got something you need to look at," Leroy Allen says as he walks over.
"What's that?"
"Had a search done on shipments to that house. There's nothing."
"Nothing? That means it was delivered somewhere else and then brought to that house."
"Exactly. We speculated that they might have more than one house. I mean, let's face it, that makes sense. But now we can be damn sure they do and they may be holding up there until they are ready for the attack."
Emily nods. "Any ideas what they may be targeting?"
He shakes his head. "Nothing shaking out as of yet. There are no major rallies or announcements on the calendar that would make us think that is the target."
"Shit. Okay, when you can't get a solid lead profiling the unsub you profile the victim." Emily walks up to a dry erase board and writes "Congress" across the top of it. The team gathers around her. "What besides the obvious makes them targets and what could make them a target in the next 4-7 days?"
"We can check bills being voted on," Natalie Brent tosses out. "May be something buried in one that the terrorists wouldn't want to see go through."
Emily nods and writes that up on the board.
"Any speeches scheduled? Could be a Senator or Representative that has been vocal against terrorism or Al Qaeda specifically," Timothy Noth adds.
Emily writes speeches. She then adds 'Special Guests'. "Could be someone coming to visit that they would want to target." Her team nods.
"What about a religious aspect? Is there anything in any religion that would make it a good date for some reason?" Ken Farrelli asks.
Emily writes that up on the board. She is about to say something more when her phone rings. She sees it is Garcia. She answers.
"Hold for a second, Garcia." She looks at the team. "Each of you take one of these things and check it out. If you come up with any more thoughts, write it up there. We have a small window to close on these bastards."
She steps out into the hallway and goes down to the office that she is using. Once she has shut the door, she goes back to her phone.
"Sorry about that, Garcia. I wanted to have this talk in private."
"Understood, Em. So, here's what I know about your team."
Garcia gives Emily a rundown of all she had been able to find in cyberspace on the members of the task force. By the time she is done, Emily has an uneasy feeling in her gut.
"So not a single red flag other than the standard CIA blocks on Noth and Wayans," she says.
"Nothing. Not even outstanding parking tickets."
"Did you scan immediate family members?"
"Of course. Again nothing leaps out. This is all a good thing, right?"
"I hope so."
"That doesn't sound positive."
"It's a gut thing, Garcia. That house was so clean. What they wanted us to find we found. Enough to give us an idea of how serious the threat is but not a single bit of evidence to nudge us towards a specific suspect. It's just…strange that it was so sterilized in some ways."
"I see what you mean."
"Any word on the 9-1-1 call yet?"
"Not yet. Wanted to call you with this before I started on that."
"Okay. Thanks, Garcia. Once again you're saving my ass and I appreciate it."
"Well, how can you make things right with my God of Chocolate Thunder, my best friend and the rest of them if I don't save your ass?"
Emily chuckles. "How indeed? Thanks, Pen."
Emily hangs up and stares up at the ceiling. No red flags. That in itself was odd. But she knows Garcia would have looked for any sign the backgrounds were scrubbed. After a half hour of thought she suddenly sits up. What if it wasn't scrubbed? What if it just didn't exist? She quickly calls Garcia back.
"Pen, quick question: the background search you did, I know you checked for scrubs in the records, right?"
"Yes, of course."
"Okay, what if it wasn't scrubbed. What if the entire bio was planted? When I was Lauren, you could actually look her up just in case I was ever taken into custody by someone who didn't know the task force."
"Ooo, good thought, Em. That's going to take some checking. Hit you back when I have something."
"Excellent." As Emily hangs up someone knocks on her door. "Come in."
Harlan opens the door. "BAU is here."
"Good," Emily says as she stands. "Let's see what they have to say." She doesn't mention she'd already been given a preview of the profile.
When Emily reaches the conference room, she closes the door and looks at Hotch. "So, you all have an idea who we are looking for?"
"We do. And it's not good," he confirms.
For five minutes the team lays out the profile they have come up with. Not to Emily's surprise, it hadn't changed after she left. She carefully watches each member of her new team to see their reaction to the profile. Two agents catch her eye as having odd reactions. Maybe not outright suspicious reactions but odd. A plan forms in her head. She hates that she feels it necessary but she decides to set a bit of a trap for the agents. A little misinformation, slightly different to each one and then watch to see who takes the bait.
As the team finishes, Emily walks up to them. She offers her hand to Hotch.
"Thanks for doing this on such short notice. I'll make sure you all get the credit when we stop these assholes."
"And if you don't?" he asks.
She grins. "Then I'll blame your mind games."
The team chuckles as Hotch nods. "Good idea." He looks at the others in the room. "Good luck. I hope we've helped."
After the BAU team leaves, Natalie Brent sits forward. "Uh, no offense, Prentiss, but what good does what they said do us?"
"We know we're not dealing with younger terrorists that would be scared away by the raid. They won't go into hiding; they will carry out their plans with little to no variations because they have already proved they are a step ahead of us. I don't know about you all but I don't like that a bit. Time for us to catch up and get ahead of them." She looks at Natalie. "I want to know about any houses in this area that were rented on a short term lease at the same time as the Baltimore house. I want to know who rented the house in Baltimore and where the funds for it came from."
Natalie nods. "On it."
Emily looks at Leroy and Ken. "You two go back to the neighborhood. Talk to the neighbors, the paperboy, anyone that might have seen activity at that house. Who was coming and going; what were they driving; did they get food delivered."
"And if they got food delivered, talk to the restaurant," Ken adds.
Emily smiles and nods. "You got it." She turns to Timothy Noth. "The papers from that house may be worthless but you and I are going to read every damn one of them. I don't care if one looks like a grocery list you read every word. I've ordered the CSI team to clear them first and release them to an officer as soon as they are done."
"Okay," he agrees.
She looks at her team. "We're against the clock right now. Let's get some time back on our side."
The team nods and each gets to work on their assignment. Timothy starts to go over cell tower records for the Baltimore neighborhood since he can't work on the other papers yet. As he does, Emily frowns. Yet another line for Garcia to tug. She hurries back to her office. As she goes to shut the door, Harlan stops her.
"What do you need from me?"
"I need you to find out what else we haven't been told. ATF, FBI, Homeland Security…who the hell else knew about that house? And what do they have on the people inside."
He nods. "Working on it already."
"Then keep pushing. If even one innocent person is killed and the public finds out there was crap not shared by the alphabet agencies we'll all go down for it."
He nods, not having thought of it in terms of ending his career. With a new urgency in his step, Emily's temporary boss goes to his office to get back on the horn with the other agencies. Emily closes her door and calls Garcia back.
"The team is on their way back to you," she starts. "They are going to be helping me out behind the scenes. I need you to pull cell phone records of my team. Do any have calls in that Baltimore neighborhood in the past two weeks? Also, and I don't know how you'd look this up, but are there any disposable phones in that neighborhood whose numbers track alongside the numbers of my team. Concentrate on the phones for Noth and Farrelli first if you need to narrow the focus."
"You think one of them is your mole?"
"Maybe. They had odd reactions to the profile. I'd rather apologize later if I'm wrong than the alternative."
"I second that. Will let you know when I know anything. It could take a while for the phone thing. That's an intense search. But I do love a challenge."
"And I'm sure it's a challenge you will meet. Thanks, Pen."
Emily hangs up and takes a deep breath. When her stomach growls she realizes not only has she not slept since she woke up the day before but she left in the middle of her dinner and has had nothing but coffee since. She decides to walk down to the cafeteria and get a bite to eat. As she gets off the elevator a meeting in the corner of the lobby catches her eye.
"Reginald Cervantes. What the hell are you doing talking to Timothy Noth?" she wonders suspiciously.
She steps to an area where she can watch them. The man that had allowed Myron Phillipe to go after her team twice seems upset. Noth seems nervous. Finally, a very agitated Cervantes turns and storms out of the building. Noth leans against the wall, seeming to be at war with himself over something.
"That's why you acted strange. Cervantes wants information from you," Emily murmurs. She smiles proudly. "And from the looks of it, you wouldn't give it to him."
With that theory in mind, Emily is less suspicious of Noth but decides to go ahead and let Garcia continue to investigate him just in case.
When the team returns to Quantico, Hotch calls for Garcia to meet them in the conference room. They had just started to discuss what they were going to do to help Emily when the door opens and Straus walks in.
"I understand you all went out to profile a scene for Prentiss this morning. Care to explain?"
Hotch nods. "Baltimore PD jumped the gun on a house with ties to the task force Emily is running. The terrorists got out in a hurry but left plenty of items behind to help us give the task force a better idea of who they should be looking for. As it is an ongoing matter of national security we thought it best to respond immediately."
"I see. And what are you going to do now?"
"Prentiss asked us for some additional support her team can't provide her. For today at least we're going to give it to her. She's promised full disclosure of our involvement if we succeed and will protect us if things go haywire," he replies.
Straus nods. "Very well. Keep me informed. With so many agencies involved it could get ugly. You'll have my support and protection if anything comes down on you over this."
Hotch nods. "Appreciated." As she leaves and closes the door Hotch looks at his team. "Pod person."
Everyone starts to chuckle at the comment they normally hear from Emily. Hotch looks at Garcia.
"So, what has she got you looking for?"
By the time the team splits up they all have assignments regarding helping Emily check to see if she does indeed have a leak on her team and, if not, they will figure out how to help her find out just where that leak may be.
Morgan slips away from Quantico at 11:30 for an appointment he knows he can't miss no matter what. He had spent the morning finishing the write-up on the case the team had just come back from so the rest of the agents could concentrate on helping Emily. At 11:45 on the dot the door to Dr. Westfallen's inner office opens. She smiles.
"Hello, Derek."
He stands and nods. "Hi, Doc. I think you're going to earn your paycheck today."
She sees the fear and anger dancing in his eyes and nods. "Yes, I believe I will." She gestures to her office. "Come on in." After he is sitting, she smiles at him. "So, why do I feel this is about your best friend?"
He sighs as he sits back on the couch. "How could it not be?" He tells her about assisting with Emily's task force.
"I see. Just last week you said you wouldn't offer her a mint if she'd just sucked on garlic."
He grins. "Yeah. Think I got that crazy statement from Garcia."
"So what's changed? Was it because it was an order?"
"No. It's changed because…I looked into her eyes." He sits forward, his arms on his knees. "When I realized what had happened, when I heard Blair's voice on her phone, I swore I'd never forgive myself for leaving her out in the woods. And I swore I'd be there for her no matter what she needed or when she needed it." He runs a hand over his head. "Then she got pissed at the meeting. Even then I was willing to be there for her until…until she said she'd do the task force and voiced to everyone how pissed she was at me and Hotch. I deserved her fury, Doc. And instead of just accepting it I…I turned my guilt into anger. I shouldn't have been in that park. My pride put her in the position to be taken. And I have to live with that. But then I just decided to be pissed at her instead of at myself."
Dr. Westfallen nods. "True. Oftentimes we turn our guilt to anger, especially if the focus of that anger isn't going to be around. It's easier to hate someone else than to hate ourselves."
Morgan nods. "Yeah…it is."
"So have you talked?"
"Sort of. A bit. We both…we know we need to say more. I just…I know she wants to fix things with us but I had this sudden thought pop into my head that she's a skilled liar and maybe she's just playing me. I fucking hate that!"
"I imagine you do. Tell me, answer me immediately, do you think she's lying about wanting to fix your friendship?"
"No," he says…and a wave of relief washes over him. In his own heart he knows Emily's heart. "She owes me an ass-kicking."
Westfallen smiles. "Perhaps. But maybe a supportive shoulder will be better. Derek, are you mad she put herself out there alone?"
He thinks a moment. "Sort of. I mean, hell, we live by our profiles. None of us expected him to hunt down Emily. Not when we knew he stalked his victims in town long enough to find something to hold against them. We didn't suspect he could be out there already just waiting for her. And…and I looked Blair in the eyes. I never once got a bad vibe off of him. And now I have to wonder if it was because I was in so much pain or was it because he was such a good sociopath that he didn't give anything away."
"And now we see where more of your anger comes from. You don't trust yourself very much right now."
"No, I don't. And now Emily's life could be in the balance again. What if I screw up again, Doc?"
"Good question. Let's delve into that a bit more."
For the rest of the session they discuss what Morgan needs to do to confidently back up not only Emily but his whole BAU team. Self-doubt can be deadly in their line of work and Morgan knows if he can't get past it he cannot put himself out in the field. He wouldn't risk the lives of his friends again.