"The local police are doing a good job dealing with a type of crime they are not used to dealing with," Hotch says to the gathered media. "Knowing this is a unique situation they have reached out to the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit and we are assisting them as they work to identify the person or persons placing these bombs."

"So you're saying they don't know what they are doing?" a reporter yells.

"I have said no such thing," Hotch responds calmly. "They have done a fantastic job with the early stages of the investigation and their continued good work will help make your city safe once more. Their ability to recognize that this unsub, meaning unknown subject, was more than they had direct experience with is what brought us here. They are truly living up to their oath to serve and protect this community by reaching out for help."

"How close are you to stopping this murderer?" another reporter yells.

"We currently have teams of agents investigating several leads as well as re-interviewing family, friends and business associates of the victims. Somewhere in the history of the businesses targeted or individuals targeted is a crossover that will lead us to the bomber and allow the police to make Lexington safe once again. As we have more developments we will be in touch. Thank you."

Hotch ignores questions called out to his back as he leaves the press room and returns to the conference room the team is using. He had felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and hopes it is one of his agents with a solid lead for them to follow. So far they are still scarily behind the unsub. As soon as the door is closed behind him he hits redial.

"Reid, what do you have?"

"Maybe something, maybe nothing. We were speaking with the family of the owner of the security company, Chuck Waverly. As we were leaving Waverly's house, Rossi noticed that there were very few pictures of his parents and siblings whereas his widow had many of her family. Turns out, Waverly was adopted and he is no longer close to his adoptive parents or siblings. We called Garcia to get more background on him since he is estranged from them."

"Did she find anything?"

"She did. Hotch, all the heads of these businesses were adopted."

"All of them?"

"Yes, all of them. Garcia is trying to see if there are any agencies, foster families, or anything in their past that they have in common."

"Damn. Well done, Reid. How close are you and Rossi to being done?"

"Two more stops."

"Good. Get back here as soon as you can. Something tells me Garcia is going to have a lot of information on that search and it will be more than just JJ can weed through."

"I concur. We'll let you know if anything more pops for us."

Hotch hangs up and dials Garcia. "Garcia, heard you have a thread to pull."

"More like a quilt to unravel," Garcia admits. "I have several filters based on things Reid said and a few more from Jayje but it still a lot of red tape bullshit to peel through."

"Tell you what, filter it lightly. We don't want to accidentally eliminate something that could tie to something else. Get the info out to all of us and we'll start weeding through it to see if we can give you more exact filters."

Garcia's fingers fly over the keyboard. "Will do, sir. I do have one more bit of info on a search Morgan and Emily had me run but they are out of signal area."

"What is it?"

"I've been able to locate the numbers for all the burn phones and locate three phones used to call those phones. They were all purchased at a Family Dollar in the heart of Lexington."

"Interesting. Shoot me the address so I can put it on Reid's map." Hotch thinks a second. "Is there any way for you to search say a 5 mile radius of that store for anyone who was adopted?"

Garcia's fingers freeze as she contemplates that. "Sir, honestly, no way."

Hotch sighs. "Didn't think so but you are so amazing I had to ask. After all, if our Oracle of Quantico can't do it no one can."

Garcia smiles. "Oh, sir, you are so sweet. Just for that I will try anyway."

Hotch grins. "Don't waste too much time on it when there are other easier searches to make, Garcia."

"I won't, Hotch, but you know I love a challenge. Oracle out!"

Hotch smiles and pockets his phone. If it can be found, she will find it. Of that he has no doubt.

Emily's hand goes to her gun as Eddie steps closer. He points to the trap then holds up the stick.

"Yeah, I get it, buddy. I stepped in your trap so now you gotta club me. No way!" Emily insists as she starts to pull her gun. Eddie lifts his left hand and starts to move his fingers rapidly. Emily stops her gun halfway out of the holster. She frowns. "Are you…signing to me?" Eddie nods. "Oh…okay. Um, I am not very good at sign language but if you go slowly I may be able to follow," she tells him. Eddie slows his hands as Emily spells out the letters. "C. A. N. G. E. T. O. P. E. M." Eddie shakes his head and signs again. "Ah. N." Emily thinks a second. "Oh! You can get the trap open!" Eddie nods, a smile on his face that Emily understood him. She shrugs. "Go for it, Mr. Stanford." He signs again. Emily smiles. "Right. Eddie."

He steps forward and has Emily bend her leg so her foot and the trap are as flat as can be. He then steps on the opening release and wedges the stick between the teeth just above the top of Emily's foot. He presses down on the release and the stick. As soon as Emily feels the pressure ease she scoots back, sighing in relief as her foot comes free. As soon as she is clear, Eddie pulls out the stick and steps off the release. Emily winces as the trap snaps shut.

"Damn," she mutters, thankful for her clutch piece for a reason she had never expected to be. She looks at Eddie. "Thank you." He uses the sign for "you're welcome". "Eddie, did you set this trap?"

He signs. "No. The bad man did. Said he would send people to hurt me if I didn't let him."

"I see. And you thought Morgan and I were those bad men?" He nods. "I promise we aren't. Does the bad man have a name?" Eddie shakes his head. "Is he the one that ordered all the fertilizer for you?" Eddie nods. "Do you know if it is still here?"

"No. He brought more then took it all again when he made the special presents," he replies with his hands.

"Special presents. Were those presents toys?" Eddie nods. "Do you know how many?" Eddie shakes his head. "Do you remember what the toys were?"

He nods happily, his fingers moving almost too fast for Emily to follow. "Yes. He let me play with them before he fixed them. He even promised to send me my favorite one when he was done with his job."

"Eddie, those toys he made have hurt people. If he sends you one it could hurt you, too. Promise me if you get one you will not open it and you will tell me or the people from your church or your social worker if he sends you something, okay? Please, promise me."

"Ok," he signs.

Emily can only hope he remembers the warning. She can feel her ankle swelling in her boot. She looks down and sees blood leaking out of the holes from the trap teeth. She pulls out her phone to call Morgan but has no signal.

"Damn. Eddie, do you know where- -"

"FREEZE!"

Morgan jumps into the clearing, his gun leveled at the large man holding a big stick. Emily lifts her hand up as Eddie seems ready to run again.

"WAIT! Morgan, lower your gun! Eddie, it's okay. He is my friend and thinks you want to hurt me with your stick. He's just protecting me just like you did when you freed me from the trap."

Morgan studies the scene and slowly holsters his gun. Since Emily is free he trusts what she is saying. He kneels beside his best friend.

"You okay?"

"Been better. Didn't snap all the way closed because of my clutch piece but did some damage. Boot is getting tight as it swells."

"And it's bleeding, too. Can you walk?"

Emily shrugs. "Not sure."

He helps Emily up but she is unable to put any weight on her ankle. Morgan is about to suggest she wait here while he gets help when Eddie steps up. He drops his stick and lifts Emily up into his arms. Emily wraps an arm around his neck and smiles.

"Uh, thanks, Eddie." He nods and kicks his stick towards Morgan. "Derek, get his stick,
Emily asks.

Morgan nods and lifts it up. "Got it, Eddie," he tells the large man.

Eddie smiles and starts back through the woods. He doesn't even struggle with the added weight of Emily. Morgan just smiles and shakes his head.

"Crazy fucking day," he whispers as he starts after the man and his partner.

As they walk Emily tells Morgan what she has learned from Eddie. By the time they reach the house they know they have to convince Eddie to leave with them before the unsub decides to start getting rid of anyone who can identify him. Emily also knows they need to get her to an ER so her boot can be cut off and her ankle treated.

"Hurts bad, Derek," she mumbles as Eddie sets her into the back seat of the SUV so she can stretch out.

Morgan nods and looks at Eddie. "Eddie, I am not sure where the hospital is. Do you know?" The man nods. Morgan smiles. "Good. Maybe you can come with us and show me the way? And then you can maybe come back to Lexington with us and help us identify the special gifts the bad man made here."

Eddie looks at Emily, who smiles and nods as she bites her lip against the increased throbbing in her ankle. Eddie turns and nods to Morgan but then runs back to the house. Morgan glances at Emily then follows. He gets to the steps just as Eddie comes out with a well worn stuffed puppy dog. Eddie holds it up and smiles. Morgan smiles at the man with the child-like mind.

"I love dogs. Glad to have him with us."

Eddie hugs the dog close and goes to get in the front seat of the SUV.

"Hotchner."

"It's Morgan. I'm at an ER with Emily and one of our witnesses."

Hotch stiffens. "What happened?"

Morgan gives him a quick rundown of what they had found at the homestead and what had happened to Emily in the woods.

"My guess is there are other booby traps around the place. He was getting it ready to be stormed by the police. We need to get a team out there and get a look at it. There may be more bombs there that haven't been retrieved yet. We never did get to look into the shed."

"Any chance Eddie can sign a release for us to search his property?"

"He could but I'm not sure it would stand up to a judicial challenge due to his mental state. We'd need his social worker to witness it and anyone else who may have power of attorney over him."

"I'll get on that," Hotch offers. "Expect Reid and Rossi to meet you at the homestead with the release and the state police. How do you feel about Lindall joining you all?"

Morgan considers that a moment. "Send him. We can profile his actions on the scene where the bombs were made and either zero in on him as a suspect or eliminate him. Reid, Rossi and I know what to watch for with him."

"Good point. Don't hesitate to take him into custody if you feel the need."

"I won't. I see Em's doctor. Call you back when I know her status."

"Good. Tell her to be good and listen to the doctors."

Morgan chuckles. "I'll try, Hotch, but I'm no miracle worker." He hangs up as Hotch laughs. He walks over to the doctor and flashes his credentials. "Status on Prentiss?"

"Lucky. Her gun kept the snap from shutting completely or she would have had broken leg just above the ankle. She has three holes on the inner leg from the teeth and when she went down it looks like she probably twisted her ankle, spraining it badly. No permanent ligament damage but she'll need to stay off it and keep it wrapped and iced the next few days. No stitches needed but she'll need a topical antibiotic and to keep those holes covered until they heal. Her tetanus is already up to date but she'll need to watch those wounds for infection since I don't know the condition of the metal that bit into her."

"Looked practically new," Morgan tells him.

"Could be good or bad depending on if it had snapped shut on anything else and just general weather and other elements getting to it. All in all, she should be fine. I'll start her discharge papers now."

Morgan shakes the man's hand. "Thanks, Doc."

As the man walks away, Morgan walks into Emily's room. He sees her holding Eddie's stuffed dog as the gentle giant stands nearby. Emily smiles and holds the pup up.

"Eddie is right: he helps me feel better."

Morgan claps Eddie on the arm. "Thanks for taking care of her twice now, friend."

Eddie smiles proudly. Morgan turns back to Emily.

"Team coming down to check things out," he says, not saying too much so that Eddie doesn't get agitated. Emily nods, understanding. Morgan looks back at Eddie. "A state trooper is going to give you and Emily a ride back to Lexington. Bet if you asked nicely he'd turn on the lights and sirens for you."

Eddie smiles happily and claps his hands. Morgan just grins at the man. Emily shifts a bit in the bed. Morgan looks at her.

"You going to listen and stay off that ankle?" he asks, looking at the wrapped yet obviously swollen joint.

"Don't think I'll have a choice," Emily admits. She hands him her phone, showing him the pic she had sent to Jen before it was wrapped.

Morgan grimaces. "Ouch."

"Yeah," Emily agrees. "Might even take the one of the pain pills the doctor is prescribing. Not sure I'll be much help the rest of the day."

"Just heal up the rest of the day, Emily. We'll need your mind as we close in on this guy. Especially if we have to speak to Rhodes again."

Emily chuckles. "True. Sorry I won't have your back, buddy."

He pats her leg. "You'll have it when I need it. Of that I have no doubt."

"I know you guys love your clutch pieces but Emily might have to buy hers something pretty," Garcia says as she stares at the picture on JJ's phone.

"No shit," JJ agrees. "She is being taken to the hotel to ice it and take a pain pill."

"Damn. Princess taking herself out of the game. Scary."

"You said it. Eddie's social worker is taking him to his priest. He should be safe there and the priest is the one that taught him sign language so he's going to work with Eddie to identify how many toy bombs were made." JJ pockets her phone. "How did the unsub find these 5 individuals? Five people whose trust he earned enough to order the fertilizer to their homes with their money then take it without them questioning it. Two were easily manipulated because of their mental states. You can assumes the two widows and the widower were just happy to have someone to ease their loneliness. This unsub was able to find them and profile them well enough to know they would be perfect for this vendetta. But how the hell did he find them?"

Garcia turns back to her computer. "I have no idea. Different town, different utility companies, different everything!"

"Wait a second…not all different towns. Lexington is where he is bombing. But there were two places in Orangeburg that received deliveries of fertilizer. Why risk two hits to the same town? Why not get that fifth delivery sent to a fifth town?"

Garcia shrugs. "I have no idea. And, sadly, I have no way to search that."

JJ squeezes her shoulder. "I know. That's something we have to find in all the information you've already gleaned for us. I'll be in the conference room looking for a needle in a haystack."

"You know Reid would tell you a needle is easily- -"

"Stop now! From what I've heard EmiReid has already played a huge part in one part of this case and I fear it may come back into play again. I have to have a sanctuary from the geekiness of my wife and little brother."

Garcia laughs as JJ goes out to try to see if she can find the one little link she feels could help break the case open.

Reid, Rossi and Morgan along with 4 investigators from the State Police and bomb specialist Seth Lindall have arrived at the home of Eddie Stanford. Morgan and Lindall go with 2 techs towards the shed while the other LEOs head into the house. Reid and Rossi immediately look around. The house is neat and clean but looks like a child lives there instead of an adult. Reid walks over to a wall holding over a hundred movies.

"All rated G," he notes. "Most animated. Lots of religious ones, probably from the church members that watch over him."

Rossi nods. "Most likely." He looks at the state police with them. "One of you with Reid the other with me. We need to locate anything that the bomber may have left here though I am almost certain he never entered the main house."

"Why do you think that?" one patrolman asks.

Rossi gestures. "Look around. Nothing here makes you think mad bomber has been inside. Nothing. Even if Eddie is a neat freak he would have left the unsub's things right where the unsub left them to keep from making his friend mad or upset."

"Oh. Right."

Rossi smiles. "Come on. Let's check things out anyway in case this old dog is wrong."

The man grins and follows Rossi down the hall towards the bedrooms as Reid and the other man start on the living room.

Out at the shed, Morgan shakes his head. "Guess we found the bomb makers lair."

A table is littered with remnants from the fertilizer bags as well as the other items needed to make the bombs. Lindall goes to one knee and pulls a box out from under the table.

"Drum box."

Morgan shakes his head. "This place gave him the privacy to build them and test them. Let's get to work."

An hour later Morgan shakes his head. "He has 4 more ready to go."

Lindall nods. "Yep."

Morgan turns to the bomb tech. "So you with us or against us?"

"Excuse me?" Lindall challenges.

"You've hidden information from us, you've acted suspicious from day one, you've pretended that you withheld information to test me. Man, I've been a profiler longer than you've been on the bomb squad. So I'll ask again, you going to continue to fuck with our investigation or are you all in?"

Lindall has the grace to look ashamed. "I'm…I'm in." He takes a deep breath. "I thought breaking this case on my own would give me a promotion I want. I held the info back hoping to impress the brass by beating the big bad FBI to the fuck killing people. When I caught you and Prentiss at the crime scene the other day I was pissed because I was concerned you had figured out what I had held back."

"The second and third ignition points," Morgan states.

Lindall nods. "Yeah. The last bombing…it shook me. I wasn't expecting the fuck to act so soon after the previous one. When he did I spent a sleepless night worrying he had been able to act because I was less than honest with you and your team and it cost 5 people their lives. Not sure I will ever forgive myself for that. It also told me that I'm probably not ready for that promotion I have been wanting. I'm sorry, Agent Morgan."

Morgan extends his hand. "Forgiven. Sorry you had to learn such a tough lesson. If it makes you feel better this guy has already set his schedule. He knows when he wants to hit his next 4 targets. Our only hope is to get ahead of him somehow or find fingerprints or something else on everything we have bagged and tagged."

Lindall nods. "Let's hope we get something. I sure as hell don't want to visit 4 more bomb sites."

"I hear that. Let's go see what they found inside."

Morgan and Lindall head for the house as the State Troopers carry the evidence to their cruiser to take to the state labs with a message to rush the tests on everything so they can stop a mad bomber. They are nearly back to the house when Morgan spots a piece of paper caught in a bush. It flutters in the breeze as if trying to get his attention. He walks over and, since his gloves are still on, pulls it out of the bush. He frowns as he sees the random series of letters and numbers on it. He grins.

"Time for Geek Force 1 to show us his stuff."

"What?" Lindall asks.

"You'll see," Morgan says with a grin.

The two men enter the house. Reid and Rossi are in the living room with their troopers.

"No way the unsub was ever in the house," Rossi says.

"The shed was his playground," Morgan says. He holds up the piece of paper. "But I think he lost this. It was in a bush outside. What do you make of it, Reid?"

Reid takes the paper and reads over the coded information. He lifts his head, his eyes glazing over as his mind starts to work through the cryptic message. Lindall looks at Morgan.

"What is he doing?" he whispers.

"His mind is a computer. A scary ass computer, but a computer none the less. He has a photographic memory and- -"

"Eidetic," Reid mumbles.

Morgan rolls his eyes. "Excuse me. He has an eidetic memory so he'll remember what he's read and eventually he will put it together for us. Hopefully it will be something from the unsub not from Eddie."

"Hopefully," Lindall agrees.

The agents and bomb tech get in an SUV for the drive back to Lexington as the state troopers who had helped Rossi and Reid get back to their regular patrol.

JJ had spent the afternoon digging into all the information looking for anything that connected back to Orangeburg. After 4 hours she stands and starts to pace.

"Orangeburg has to be the connection! It has to be! Think, Prentiss, THINK! What are you not seeing? What are you not putting together?"

"Jayje? How badly are you stressing?"

JJ drops back down into a seat and looks at her best friend. "More than I should but not enough to harm the nesters. Promise," she adds while rubbing her stomach.

"Good. I'm at a loss. I don't know what to refine to help you guys. I can't figure out other searches to try. I feel helpless."

"Join the club. Unfortunately it's often like this with bombers because the mission is all in their head. This guy hasn't contacted police or media. He has no desire to taunt officials. He isn't reaching out to terrify the public. It's like this is…is personal and yet there is nothing personal connecting any of the victims!"

"Except the adoptions," Garcia points out innocently.

JJ slowly sits up, staring at her best friend. "The adoptions…" her voice trails off. She jumps up and races around the table to a stack on the other side.

Garcia sits up, getting excited by JJ's eagerness. "What? What did I say?"

"The adoptions! All the victims were adopted!" She starts to read over several reports. "They were all adopted but none of them ever adopted kids of their own! Never even fostered kids!"

Garcia shrugs. "Yeah? So?"

"What if our bomber is also an orphan but never got adopted. He's looking at successful heads of businesses or business owners who were given a chance he wasn't and then didn't turn around and reach out to other orphans. That's why he uses toys as the bomb delivery method!"

Garcia is completely baffled. "JJ, I can see you are sure about this but I have no idea how you came to this conclusion."

"Kids in orphanages don't have their own toys. They are community property. Now maybe a kid gets fostered and returns with a teddy bear or something but even then they have to worry about older kids taking it from them."

"But if he had been adopted, given a home and a family like they had, maybe he would have had a better life. So you're saying he's pissed at his life so he's sending bombs disguised as toys to those he felt could have given him a better life?"

"That's my thought," JJ confirms. "I need information on orphanages or group homes in Orangeburg."

Garcia leaps up, JJ's excitement contagious. "Will get on it now!"

As Garcia hurries out JJ pulls out her phone.

"Hotch! I think I finally get what's going on." She lays out her theory. "Garcia is checking Orangeburg now for places where the unsub may have grown up."

Hotch is very impressed. "Well thought out, JJ. Run with it and see what happens. If you need more help with the files let me know. If Emily is up for assisting you split the files up with her."

"Will do. And, Hotch, thanks for not ordering me to get her to help," she adds appreciatively.

Hotch smiles. "Goodness knows we could use her help especially since Morgan found some sort of cryptogram at the Stanford place that Reid is working on. But I also know she needs to rest to get better sooner. I figure tomorrow she'll be pestering both of us to let her help so maybe you can save our sanity by making the offer sooner."

JJ laughs. "Ah, so it was self-preservation not care and concern driving you."

"Exactly. And, Jareau, it's after 6. Go home. Garcia can email you what she finds so you can work on it after you get your kids to bed."

"Thanks, Hotch. I think I will do just that. You all be careful. If the unsub knows you've found Stanford's place he may be targeting you next no matter who his initial targets might be."

"Trust me, we know. Talk to you later, JJ."

"Night, Hotch."

JJ gets with Garcia and let's her know she is heading home. As she gets into the Lexus JJ takes a deep breath.

"Okay, Agent Jareau, turn it off for a while and become Mommy Prentiss for a couple hours," she thinks to herself.

Letting her breath out slowly she turns on the car and heads home to spend some time with the two cutest kids in the world.