Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, but if I did…
This chapter doesn't have much from the team, it's basically just Garcia's story.
As soon as the jet landed the team made their way to the FBI field office. Morgan didn't say a word the whole time as they went up stairs. He could only think about his goddess and the fact that he hadn't seen or heard from her in eight months. He knew that if he didn't find her soon, he'd probably leave the FBI for good. He just couldn't do it without her.
The others were thinking similar thoughts. They couldn't believe it'd been seven months since they'd seen her. Since she'd left it took longer for cases to be solved and when they needed to talk, she wasn't there. They just didn't work as well without her there to help them and when she stopped e-mailing them things had gradually gotten worse. They hadn't realized just how much they needed her until she was gone.
When they got off the elevator at the fourth floor a man in a suite walked up to them.
"Agent Hotchner?" He asked.
"Yes." Hotch said as he stepped forward.
"Agent Hotchner, the director is waiting for you and your team. If you will all follow me please." The man said. Hotch nodded before following the man down the hall and to a conference room. The man knocked before opening the door and standing aside so the team could go in.
As they entered they looked around. In the middle of the room was a large table similar to the 'round table' back at Quantico, two men in suites stood by the window talking quietly, and a guard was standing by the door to their left. Once they were all in the man who led them there closed the door.
"Agent Hotchner." Greeted one of the men with slightly graying hair as he walked over to the team and shook Hotch's hand.
"Director Malloy." Hotch said in return as he shook the director's hand. "I'm sure you know the rest of my team." He said and nodded to the others.
"Yes of course." The director said with a slight smile as he shook the rest of the team's hands. "This is Director Leroy of Homeland Security." He added and motioned to the brown haired man standing next to him.
"Homeland Security?" Rossi asked.
"Yes. I apologize for cutting this short, but I have many things I have to do today, so if you don't mind I'd like to get started." Director Leroy said and led the slightly confused team over to the table.
Once they were all seated around the table Director Malloy waved the guard out so it was only the eight of them.
"We heard that you have been trying to locate Agent Garcia." Malloy began.
"Yes, she was transferred about seven months ago. At first she kept in touch, but we haven't heard from her for about three months now." Hotch explained.
"Do you know where she is?" Reid asked from next to a silent Morgan.
The two directors glanced at each other before answering.
"Yes Agent Reid, we do." Leroy answered.
"Where is she?" Morgan asked as he glared at the two men.
"And what does Homeland Security have to do with her disappearance?" Rossi asked.
"First of all she did not disappear." Malloy said. "We simply made sure no one knew where she was."
"Excuse me?" JJ said disbelievingly.
The FBI director sighed before looking around at the team. "I suppose we should start at the beginning."
"About seven and a half months ago, not long after Agent Morgan transferred to New York, a…matter of national security arouse." Malloy began. "I can't tell you much about the case, but basically that's why Director Leroy is here."
"The case was being dealt with by both the FBI and Homeland Security along with some help from the CIA." Leroy said.
"What does Garcia have to do with it?" JJ asked.
"I was getting to that." Leroy said. "We needed help from a tech, but not just any tech. We needed the best, and that's were Agent Garcia comes in."
"I asked her to help us and she agreed of course, but she couldn't tell anyone." Malloy added. "The case was classified and not pleasant to say the least. But Agent Garcia defiantly earned the title of 'best'." He said with a slight chuckle.
"Garcia was working on this and helping us at the same time?" Emily asked.
"Yes, though we offered to take her off all BAU cases, she is apparently very good at multitasking." Leroy answered. "Your team got a case only two days after Agent Garcia started helping us."
"Unfortunately about half way through your case something came up. The main person we were after found out about Miss Garcia and how she was helping us." Malloy continued. "This man was very good at what he does, very smart, and was very dangerous."
"Not to mention he had many supporters and contacts." Leroy added.
"We wanted to hide her right away, but she insisted on finishing your case." Malloy explained. "So we put her transfer in and as soon as your case was over we had her taken somewhere else."
"We didn't want anyone to know where she was because the man we were after might have had informants on the inside. So we simply made it look like she transferred. At first we weren't going to let her have any contact with you, but she insisted that if we didn't then you'd get worried and start investigating it."
"She was right. We would have." Reid stated.
"Well anyways, Miss Garcia was basically in witness protection." Malloy continued. "She was working with us on the case; we gave her a new name and also had 24 hour guards with her at a secured house." He said. "She really didn't like being cooped up all day in a room and being watched constantly." Malloy said with a slight smile making the others laugh too.
"We did our best to make sure none of you figured out where she was, though it was hard seeing as you apparently have many of your own contacts." Director Leroy added. "We got the man we were after about three and a half months ago, but he still had men out there along with his second in command, all of who wanted revenge against Agent Garcia. So we increased security. She was still helping us round up some people and finish up the case, but we just couldn't catch the second in command."
"We needed to capture him not only to get him off the streets, but also so he couldn't get to Agent Garcia. We needed bait and Miss Garcia volunteered."
"What?!" Morgan said about ready to explode.
"Agent Morgan please let us finish." Malloy said and held up a hand. Hotch gave Morgan a look before nodding for Malloy to continue. "We didn't approve, but after awhile we found it to be the only way. So she started working at a local police station using the false name. I assure you that we had the best security measures in place."
"We hoped that her working there would bring the person we were trying to capture out." Leroy said. "I believe that's about when she stopped e-mailing you. You see she was really working there along as with us so she was busy."
"The bait worked, but unfortunately it didn't work quite the way we wanted." Malloy said and sighed before continuing. "A little over a month later a distraction was set up to lure us away. When we got back to the police station Agent Garcia was gone, seven other agents were died, and two were seriously wounded."
There was an intake of breathe from the team as JJ grabbed Reid's hand and Morgan clenched his fists trying not to punch anyone.
"Agent Garcia basically saved herself though. We found her cell phone open outside the station. It was tracking her; apparently she had a devise hidden in her hair pen." Leroy stated. "We followed it and were able to capture the second in command along with some supporters, but unfortunately they had already begun getting their revenge on Garcia."
"Oh my God." JJ said and closed her eyes.
"Is…is she ok?" Reid asked worriedly.
The two directors looked at each other sadly before Leroy spoke. "She's in the hospital." He stated simply.
"We would have contacted you as soon as she entered the hospital since you're her emergency contacts, but we wanted to make sure that she was completely safe first." Malloy explained.
"Wait, that means she's been in the hospital for over a month." Emily stated angrily. "Almost two months."
"We understand you're upset, but we had to make sure everything was clear." Malloy said. "You probably don't want to listen to us anymore so we'll have someone take you to the hospital she's at." He said and stood up.
"Wait." Morgan said as he and the others stood as well. "You didn't answer the question. Is she alright?"
"Her doctor can tell you more, but basically…" Malloy began and sighed sadly. "She's in a coma."
So what did you think?