Garcia had been at the station running searches on the victims to see if any name popped up in all their lives when her phone went. Checking she saw 2 text messages from JJ.
'Car broke down north highway 5miles out'
'Van stopped DY1056G'
Puzzled she rang the phone there was no answer, her heart pounding she tried again already starting the process to track her cell. Getting a lock she rang Hotch who she knew was at the station
"I think the unsub has JJ" she reported fear evident in her voice "I have a tracker on the car reporting it 5 miles out of town, its stationary, JJ's cell is moving into town. She isn't answering she did text me a license plate. I tracked it to a delivery company, I have the location of their headquarters JJ's phone is heading towards it."
"Listen up with think that the unsub has JJ, she text Garcia a license plate and isn't answering her phone. Garcia we need you to track her phone and try find out who drives that van"
"I'm on it" Garcia said her voice determined as she turned to her computer and began frantically typing.
"Morgan, Reid, Garcia has text you GPS results, go there JJ is missing" Hotch reported giving them the task of driving to where JJ's car was located to ensure she wasn't lying there hurt or a vital clue was sitting unnoticed. They both nodded running out of the station.
"Rossi, Prentiss with me were going to find the plate of the guy that JJ texted."
Prentiss drove acting like a pack of wild dogs were chasing them, using the lights and the siren they soon realised there was no need as not another soul was seen. They pulled up at the depo. The gate was locked, Rossi jumped out the van shooting the lock off the entrance gate. Driving in Hotch spotted the van.
"There" he pointed Emily sped over. Climbing out of the car guns drawn the circled the front it was empty, Rossi opened the door as Hotch and Emily took aim. Inside was empty sacks which were once filled with post with a few still full.
Hotch and Rossi stepped in searching the area for clues Hotch multitasking ringing the police to get crime scene techs sent out.
"Hotch" Emily called having circled around the front; she pulled out JJ's wallet from the pocket in the door
"So she was definitely here" Hotch concluded ringing Garcia
"We found the van she isn't here."
"Her cell is bouncing all over the place. But I think it's going South" Garcia said
"You think" Hotch snapped
"I'm doing my best." Garcia defended. "Hang on I'm patching Morgan in"
"Hey, we found JJ's truck its empty, no sign of a struggle but the petrol line is slashed it's no surprise she ran out of juice." Morgan reported
"I got a hit on the delivery company Bill Laffers. He has priors for underage sex and he likes blondes he is the only one with priors. His dad left when he was young and his mother abused him she was also blonde she died 5 weeks ago. I'm sending you his address now"
"Thank you Garcia, Reid, Morgan meet us at the address." Hotch ordered. He drove this time, Emily was fast but he wanted to get there alive.
They met up outside the house the local police meeting them there.
The door fell down with a bang they stormed in checking room after room it was empty.
"Damn" Rossi swore.
"Garcia does he have any other properties registered to him?" Hotch asked
"No nothing"
"It's off season up here now, there are plenty of empty cabins any local would know what was empty." The local deputy pointed out.
"Right Garcia where is her phone now"
"Off the grid we have had no signal for the last 10 minutes" Garcia reported
"We need plot the route" Hotch decided "who knows all the local cabins the best even the ones off the beaten track that we can trust?"
"I know just the person" the Deputy smiled knowing exactly who to call.
"Grab them we'll meet at the station" Hotch ordered. The Deputy drove to Horizon waking up Peter and Sophie. They came to the door
"We think Bill has got Shelby and is hiding her in a cabin somewhere you 2 have hiked every inch of these mountains we need your help." The Deputy begged
"Oh my God of course we'll both come" Sophie volunteered as they ran inside to throw on their hiking gear. They were ready in less than 3 minutes.
"Should we wake Kat she knows these mountains almost as well as we do?" Sophie questioned
"We'll ring her from the station" Peter decided not wanting to waste time or leave the school unattended.
They rode with the blue lights flashing to the station. Once there Hotch greeted them.
"We know who the unsub is Bill Lathers"
"Bill the delivery driver" Sophie repeated in shock
"Shelby!" Peter put the whole thing together, how Shelby always smuggled stuff into Horizon, why she was still ashamed of it.
"Shelby?" Sophie questioned feeling like a parrot
"She use to greet the delivery driver, damn that's how she smuggled everything in"
"She didn't" Sophie cried knowing who Shelby was and what this meant coming to the same conclusion as Peter. Realising where they were they turned their attention back to the case. Hotch carried on the briefing.
"We narrowed down the area to this" he indicated a large black circle on the map that they had deduced was the likely location of the cabin
"It must have good road access. JJ's cell was last transmitting on this road it didn't come back into range. This is the red area where they both connect" Spencer indicated a smaller area.
Peter and Sophie studied the map familiarising themselves with it and the landmarks.
"Ok there is a cabin here" Sophie recalled pointing to a space just out of the area
"Possible" Hotch noted.
"There another here and here" Peter pointed to 2 more one near the road the other a little further away."
"Any others?" Morgan questioned, they both shook their heads. Having fully explored that area they felt confident there was only the 3 cabins.
"Ok 3 teams, Prentiss and Rossi take this one, Reid and I will go to this one, Morgan this one is your cabin." Hotch divided up the cabins.
"We going too" Peter announced. Hotch looked like he was going to argue "These too are hard to find you'll need us" He added, Hotch relented.
"Ok Deputy please divide your men" He ordered.
They divided into 6 cars each hoping to be the ones to find her. Each hoping they got there in time.
Once on the road Morgan used the time to quiz Peter. Peter was very open and proud when he came to the school.
"It's a school for troubled teenagers, we take drug addicts, runaways, abused, abusers and give them a safe place and the tools to work through there issues."
"How many kids do you have?"
"We started with 20 we expanded a few times buying land around us. We now cater for about 120 kids in 24 cabins." He stated proudly. "We try to divide them equally into 10 groups of 12 kids."
"How did JJ find you? What does she do here each year?" Morgan questioned, Peter stayed silent, he was unsure what JJ had told them and didn't want to betray her. Morgan being a skilled profiler noticed the change as Peter became defensive and evasive.
"She comes and talks to the kids, gives them hope" Peter finally answered giving Morgan his first clue that maybe JJ's past wasn't the bed of roses he had always thought it had been.
They pulled up at the property ear marked for them. As promised Peter lead them to the cabin then stood back. Morgan kicked the door down, as he and the local 2 officers searched the properties.
Morgan kicked down the door, as the property wasn't supposed to exist they didn't need a warrant to search it. The first room was empty, the second revealed JJ on the floor, her clothes torn in places they shouldn't be. Although he tried not to look he could see bruises and scratches in the gaps where her clothes should be. Most noticeably was a bite mark on her breast. Glancing back up to her face he could see blood seeping out of a wound on her head. Behind her also undressed as a man, as they entered the front he had lifted his knife to her throat.
"Put the knife down" Morgan warned aiming his gun making eye contact with JJ. Despite her eye being black and almost closed she knew what he wanted her to do.
"I twitch she dies" The unsub threatened