The Big Game

JJ should have known that things don't always go according to plan. She and Hotch had to be together that night after the super bowl. But just as Hotch was leaving the house the phone rang and Hailey answered it. It had been Morgan inviting them to a bar to celebrate the super bowl. Hailey had eagerly agreed to them going. Reluctantly, Hotch sent a text to JJ telling her that they could be together after the bar. JJ grabbed a ride with Garcia and was sadly surprised to see Morgan, Emily and Hotch sitting at a table with Hailey.

They walked over to the table Garcia sitting next to Morgan and JJ taking the place in between her and Hotch. Hotch quickly and subtly took her hand under the table. The movement went unnoticed by everyone except Garcia.

JJ had told everything to Garcia less then a week before when the girl had come into her office noticeably happier. Garcia had forced her to spill the beans and, although she was thrilled by the idea of her best friend, her sister, being the other woman to their boss, she was happy her friend was so happy, and she had noticed a difference in Hotch too.

Garcia smirked at the blonde.

Though JJ had hoped for an early night with Hotch, alone, she couldn't complain about being with him now in public, though they were with his wife. JJ felt intolerably safe when she was near him and decided to enjoy this feeling.

She was wondering where Gideon and Reid were and was about to ask when a handsome man walked over to her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but me and my pals are playing darts and I'm losing pathetically… would you mind helping me out?" he asked, smiling.

JJ smiled back, partly to be polite, partly because the second the man looked at JJ, Hotch's grip tightened on her hand: she finally had a chance to drive him crazy. She glanced at Garcia and her smile grew. "You're in luck… I'm pretty damn good at darts."

She stood up, forcing Hotch to let her hand go, even though she knew her good feeling would slowly disappear. She walked over to the other two men by the darts board and started throwing. Every so often she would glance back and share a quick look with Hotch. Finally she saw Hotch lead Hailey onto the dance floor and her stomach churned.

"How'd you get so good at this?" one of the men asked her.

"Where I grew up, darts was like a national sport."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, we were too small for a bowling alley." She smiled.

"Ah."

Her cell phone rang. She pulled it out and checked it. "Oh! Sorry, boys, you're gonna have to find someone else to humiliate you." She patted two of them on the shoulder and walked off to find somewhere quiet to answer the phone. She passed by Reid and ruffled his hair. She shot a glance at Hotch before she walked outside and returned the call. "Thanks. I'm sorry. Will you say that again? Okay. Um, have the police fax over everything they have so far. I'll take care of the notifications; most everyone's here with me. Thank you." She hung up. She suddenly felt sick because, despite the fact that people have been killed, she will be with Hotch tonight.

She walked back into the bar and to the table. Hotch and Hailey are sitting at the table again. She held up her cell as she approached. "Hate to cut the night the night short, but…" She trailed off knowing everyone understands.

"Did you call Gideon?"

"I will… Could someone tell Morgan? I'll get Reid."

Garcia quickly agreed to, while JJ walked over to Reid.

They arrived at the BAU fifteen minutes later. When JJ walked in Gideon was already there.

"Well, that's definitely over," she announced. She picked up the remote and started her report. A newspaper photo a young couple appeared on the monitor with a caption: 'Dennis Lacy Kyle at the fundraiser dinner.' "Georgia. The Kyles -- Dennis and Lacy--were murdered an hour ago in their

suburban Atlanta home."

"An hour ago?" Hotch questions

"Police were on scene unusually fast."

"Why?"

"One of the unsubs called them and told them that the other was about to murder the victims."

Morgan is shocked. "You're kidding me."

JJ nodded. "From inside the house. According to the dispatcher, the first male sounded terrified and begged them to get there before the other, who they both identified as Raphael, was about to kill the sinners that lived there.

"Sinners?" Hotch asked with raised eyebrows.

"The 9-1-1 centre is going to send Garcia a copy of the tape."

"How fast was the police response time?" Reid asked.

"Four minutes, 26 seconds. During which time ... Raphael managed to do this." She put the gruesome crime scene photos up on the monitors. Garcia looked away.

"In four and a half minutes?" Prentiss asks, surprised.

"Mr. Kyle is a dot com millionaire. His company is one of the largest employers in the community. There's gonna be media coverage. Also, when they arrived, the police found this displayed prominently on the bed." JJ put up a torn page of a bible with a passage highlighted.

"Revelations, Chapter 6, Verse 8," Hotch announced.

"They're killing sinners," Morgan said.

"These guys are on a mission. And mission-based killers will not stop killing," Reid said.

Hotch read from the passage. "'And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat upon me

was death.'"

"And hell followed with him," Gideon finished.

That night, Hotch and JJ are in bed, discussing the case, unable and unwilling to sleep. "So, I just talked to the Gentrys. They were the last couple to leave the Super Bowl party. According to them, the Kyles didn't have any enemies. They were good to their employees, more generous than they needed to be. They were just generally good people."

"So why them?"

"Well, if the trigger's greed, they do have a nice house."

"Yeah, but you can't tell that from the street. These people were chosen, and we need to know why and how." He kissed JJ on top of her head. "Let's get some sleep…" He knew neither would be sleeping but wanted to keep the darkness away from her for at least a few hours.

Late the next afternoon, the team has disbanded and Hotch, JJ and Reid are in the conference room of the Field Offices: Reid is eating a Rice Krispie and JJ and Hotch are standing in front of the

crime scene board.

"So, Franks is right; none of the open knife cases fit," JJ tells him. Neither make any sort of contact.

"Tell me there's a but," he pleads.

"Well, I looked at it a different way. I looked for unsolved home invasions. Three months ago, there was a prowler called in directly outside of the Kyles' house."

Reid looks up. "A prowler?"

"The witness was walking his dog in a nearby park. Going back to his car, he saw a man in dark clothing go over the back wall and start sneaking up to the house. By the time the state police got there, prowler was gone."

"Only one man?" Hotch asked.

"Apparently."

"Was the witness able to describe him?" Reid inquired.

"If he did, it's not in this case file."

"Is there a name and address for the witness?" Hotch asked.

"Tobias Hankel. Lives about an hour from here."

"It's a long shot, but he might be able to give us a description. Why don't you and Reid go out there, see if you can find Mr. Hankel and see if he remembers something." JJ nodded and follows Reid out of the room.

It's late as the team arrive back from the latest crime scene. They move to a computer and watch the video of the latest murder.

"Jezebel's death," Gideon states.

Emily is shocked. "My God."

"You can turn it off," Hotch tells her.

"Oh, wait," the detective said. He lunges forward to stop her from turning the video off.

"You hadn't seen enough?" Morgan inquires.

The detective looks at them. "Those dogs. Those three dogs attacked someone a couple of

months ago. I would have had them impounded, but the victim knew the owner. A neighbour. He didn't want to press charges."

"You sure?" Gideon asks.

"As God is my witness." He grabs his note book and flips quickly through it for the name."Three mangy mixes. I knew those dogs looked sick. I called Animal Control. I don't know if they ever followed up on it. Here it is."

"You have the owner's name?" Hotch asked.

"Hankel."

Hotch's face fell. "Hankel?"

The detective nodded. "Tobias Hankel."

JJ!

"Hotch?" Gideon inquires.

"JJ found something… I thought it might be a lead… I sent her and Reid there to check it out…" he explained before taking off and heading for a large black SUV, praying they were safe.

JJ and Reid arrive at the house late that night. JJ feels a shiver along her spine, unsure if it's fear or coldness. Reid knocks on the door and a young man opens the door.

"Hi, Mr. Hankel?" JJ asks.

"Um ... Yeah?"

JJ smiles at him. "Mr. Hankel? FBI, I'm Agent Jareau, this is Agent Reid." Reid pulls out his FBI ID and badge.

"FBI?"

"May we come in?" Reid asks.

Tobias glances behind him. "Um ... I'm sorry, I don't let anyone in the house."

"Actually, I, uh, really have to, um ... you know, go?"

"You do?" JJ asks

"For thirty minutes."

"Why didn't you say something in the car?"

"Uh, do you mind?" He bounces up and down.

"I'm sorry, my father doesn't like it," Tobias replies.

"Your father? You're, like, thirty."

"At what age can one start disrespecting the wishes of their parents?"

JJ, knowing the shiver was from fear, starts asking Tobias some questions. "You witnessed something a few months ago that might be very helpful to us."

"I did?"

"You saw someone go over a wall into a yard; you called the police?"

"Me?"

"You didn't?"

"Sorry."

"Is there another Tobias Hankel here?"

"Just me and my father. Charles."

"There's a report on file that lists you as calling 9-1-1. You were walking a dog."

"No, that's wrong, I don't have a dog."

"Oh. All right, well, sorry to bother you, sir."

Tobias starts to close the door. "Are you sure I can't just quickly use the --?" Ried Begins. Tobias shoots him a look. "Sorry." Tobias closes the door.

"Have a good night."

Reid and JJ turn and walk away from the front porch. Tobias shuts the porch light off. Reid is no longer bouncing up and down.

"That's weird. Why bother calling the police in the first place if later you're just going to pretend you didn't?"

"To gauge the response time."

JJ is confused. "What?"

"If you were going to kill somebody, but you wanted to call the police first, what would you need to know?"

JJ realises what he means. "How long it takes them to get there."Reid rushes to the side of the house. "Reid." JJ follows him. Reid looks in through a side window.

"J.J.!" he whispers. "Get back here! He's the unsub! He's in the barn! Come on." They hurry to the barn. Reid takes his gun out. "He's in here."

"You sure?"

Reid looks down at his gun. "You ever seen me pull this thing out when I wasn't? Call Hotch."

"We're in the middle of nowhere, Reid. We have no cell service," JJ tells him.

"Right. Of course we have no service."

"What do we do?" JJ asked, getting more and more frightened. I hate the woods…

"I don't know. He's definitely in here." JJ takes her gun out. "You cover the front, I'm gonna go around back. Hotch knows we came here. He'll come looking for us. We'll just wait him out." Reid gets up and heads for the back. JJ is uncertain.

"No, Reid, are you sure we should ... ?" Reid is already at the back of the barn. "... Split up?" she finishes quietly." He disappears behind the barn.

JJ hurries to the barn. She hears Reid calling her. "What?" A wind blows the door opens. JJ whirls around, her gun pointed at the door. "Reid?" JJ continues toward the barn. "Reid." She steps into the doorway and raises her gun cautiously in front of her. She checks the barn, turning her flashlight on. She steps into a stall. There are chains hanging down from the ceiling. JJ continues to make her way through the barn. "Reid!" she whispers. She steps on something, making a loud squish. She stops and looks down. She's stepped in a mixture of dirt and blood. She shines her flashlight forward and sees the blood-soaked mattress in the stall. She hears someone panting. She raises her gun and flashlight revealing a dog. She looks around and finds two more dogs: one in the stall and another near the one in front of her. The dog runs and jumps in front of her. JJ takes a step backward and screams. She loses her footing and falls back. She fires twice.