Reid paced the lair's floor; the sound of Garcia's typing filled the room. She paused for a moment then glanced behind her. "I ran the general description Sammy's mom gave us for the two men and crossed matched them but I've still got a possible forty two guys" She stated.
Reid thought for a few moments, the profiles running through his head faster and faster. "Take out anyone without a driving license" He instructed while walking closer to the computer, all the screens in the room showing images of possible subjects.
Garcia's fingers glided across the keyboard, certain pictures fading from the screens. "Alright, twenty left"
"Take off any that have a job or don't live in Virginia or the surrounding states"
Garcia followed his instructions until only two faces remained on the screens. "Josh Phelps is our first man. He's twenty one years old and originally from Dallas, Texas. He moved to West Virginia five months ago leaving his job and all family behind. He got in trouble with the law a lot as a kid, petty fires, vandalism, stuff like that. He and his friend Paul Stemming used to tear it up back in Dallas until Paul was struck by a taser, suffered complications and died when they were both seventeen"
"What link does the team have to Josh?"
"That's just it, there isn't that much of a link. I mean, Paul was tasered by one of the local cops, not any of you guys" Garcia said while typing. "We assited on the case but after Paul died it seemed to fall apart. Paul and Josh's names were cleared in court and that was the end of it"
"What about the publicity leading up to it?"
Garcia rapidly typed in her search for news relating to Josh Phelps and Paul Stemming and came up with a large reward. "The media went crazy over this" She murmured while skimming through the large amount of writing. "Alright, Paul was cleared but the lead up to the trial was nuts. One of Paul's alleged victims' parents pulled several public stunts to keep Paul's name in the media as the man that raped her daughter. Seven months after Paul was cleared of any wrong doing, a man was arrested and tried without making it anywhere near the front cover"
Reid took a few moments to process what had been explained then nodded and grabbed for his phone to fill in Hotch on their latest discovery.
"Hotchner" The team leader answered when the call connected.
"Garcia found another UnSub, Josh Phelps. She's looking into another man at the moment but Phelps lives in West Virginia"
"Morgan and Prentiss are driving to the jet now, tell Garcia to send Phelps' address to one of them and they can check it out" Hotch instructed before a small pause.
"How's JJ?" Rossi finally asked.
Reid looked to Garcia to answer this, he'd always felt awkward in situations like that and the tech analyst had spent the most time with JJ since Henry had been taken. "She's coping" Garcia answered which eased some of the tension. "She knows this guy's done his research on the team and, unless he wants to come out of this in pieces, he's not dumb enough to hurt any of the kids… including Henry"
xxxxxxxxxx
"I want this all boxed" Hotch instructed as he strolled into Robert West's apartment. "Anything too big to be moved needs to be marked for a complete search. Everything else is to be brought outside to the marked police car to be brought back to Quantico" He added while pacing round the building, red tape being torn off and placed on large items of furniture while the books were tossed into boxes and carried outside.
An hour later the bed and sofa had been sliced open and the bookshelf turned on its side and smashed apart to find anything hidden. The police cars had made their way to the private jet that had been brought in to transport the two profilers back to Virginia.
Hotch and Rossi made a final sweep around the apartment. The building was now completely empty apart from a few large pieces of furniture. "What are you going to do about Jack?" Rossi finally asked the question that had been playing on everyone's mind since Henry had been kidnapped.
"I can't do anything without breaking the rules" Hotch sighed as he closed the door to the apartment and made his way to the SUV.
"You can't just sit by and do nothing, Aaron. The UnSub's proved he's not planning to stop anytime soon"
"The UnSub hasn't shown any sign of escalating past another kidnapping either" Hotch stated as they slid into the car and took off toward the plane. "If I break his rules to protect Jack it'll endanger all five other children… We need to be closer to finding him before we go against the rules"
xxxxxxxxxx
A dark male figure sauntered down a long corridor, his eyes gliding over the five doors until it fell on the middle one. He quickly unlocked the door and strode inside, his eyes locking on the crumpled body in the corner. He sighed, turned the plastic chair right side up and sat down. "I don't enjoy hurting children" He stated, his hands in his lap as he observed the boy's steady breathing. "You left me no choice, Declan"
The body slowly unfolded itself and looked up at him with watery but fierce eyes. "Let me go" He ground out.
"I could do that… But it would involve some rather unpleasant business for both of us. You'll leave eventually, of course. But the game needs to finish first"
"I don't want anything to do with your sick delusion" Declan growled.
A shrill laugh cut the silence and an uneasy tension fell on the room. "I'm not delusional, Declan" He said with a cold smile. "I am in a game between the BAU team and my pawns. You and your counterparts are the prize. There's nothing delusional about that now is there?" The man asked but didn't leave time for an answer. "Now, I need your help to bring this game to a close… I can be rather impatient when it comes to a game that took so long to plan. I believe you can offer some information on Emily Prentiss"
"She's my friend" Declan mumbled as he roughly rubbed his cheek. "I won't let you hurt her"
"Oh, I'd never hurt her, Declan. I simply want to understand her" The man explained. "I simply want the information so I can have an upper hand in the game, no one will get hurt"
Declan nervously twisted his fingers together as he weighed up the choices. "You won't hurt Emily or her friends?" He asked after a longer pause.
"I wouldn't dream of it" The man replied solemnly then waited a few moments to let Declan think through his proposition. "So, do I have your cooperation?"
Sorry this one is a little later than usual; I was behind on a lot of stuff and had to get my school work done before I could finish this off. The next update should be this Saturday as usual if all goes to plan. Please review if you've got time!