Once everyone was seated in the Conference room, J.J. began to lay out the new case. With a click of the remote, thirteen children, girls, and women of various ages, appeared on screen.

"Meet Bethany Kraft, 2, Tiffany Breton, 5, Patricia Stanton, 8, Veronica Matthews, 11, Georgia Boone 14, twins Jodi and Jessie Adams, 17, Ginger MacDonald, 20, Jennifer Brown, 23, Angelia Lewis, 26, Rosanna Hilson, 29, Siobhan Kelly, 32 and Christina Marx, 38. All from Virginia and the surrounding areas, all missing within the last fourteen months."

"Thirteen women and children missing and we're only hearing about this now?" Rossi asked in disbelief.

"That's because they went missing approximately one month apart using various methods, different days, different areas, different ages - starting from the oldest, Christina Marx, fourteen months ago, to Bethany Kraft, four days ago. There is nothing to connect the victims so the local LEO's didn't put it together as being related."

"Then how do we know they're connected?" Reid questioned.

J.J. swallowed visibly. Her discomfort and reluctance to continue, was as unusual as it was obvious, and it confused everyone except Derek. She looked to him for guidance and he held her gaze, silently encouraging her to continue with a barely perceptible nod. Taking a quick breath she continued. "DEA and ATF raided a tanker ship yesterday to bust up a drug trafficking ring. On the ship along with some firearms and several kilos of cocaine stored in several shipping containers, they also found a much larger container. When they opened it, they didn't find more drugs and/or guns like they'd been anticipating. Instead, they found it empty except for a few blankets, articles of clothing, blood, and... and human waste."

"So they weren't just trafficking drugs or firearms, were they?" Derek stated quietly, his eyes flat and devoid of emotion. When J.J.'s shook her head negatively, he tasted bile in the back of his throat. He didn't want to, but he had to know for sure... he had to ask for confirmation to the thought viciously circling in his head, though it came out like more of a statement than a question. "They were dealing in human cargo."

"Yes, we believe so. When they processed the container, they found traces of DNA and ran it against missing persons. The hits they got were a match to these missing girls. We were called in immediately after the connections were made even though DEA and ATF."

"You've got to be kidding me! My God there's a 2 year old little girl up there!" Emily cried out, unable to hold back her disgust any longer.

"It's not really all that surprising given that human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade. The total annual revenue for trafficking in persons is estimated to be between 5 and 9 billion US dollars. The International Labor Organization estimates worldwide that there are 246 million exploited children aged between 5 and 17 involved in debt bondage, forced recruitment for armed conflict, prostitution, pornography, illegal drug and arm trades, and other illicit activities around the world," Reid commented casually.

"Oh come on Reid that might explain the older girls, but Bethany? What good could someone that young possibly be to anyone?" Emily exclaimed heatedly.

"On a global scale, the victims of human trafficking are used in a variety of situations. Parents may sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income, or they may be deceived concerning the prospects of training and a better life for their children. They may also sell their children for labor, sex trafficking, and illegal adoptions. In cases of adoption, most would say the younger the better." He shrugged, comfortable in statistical acceptance.

"Well irregardless of the reasons, one fact remains the same. Someone out there is targeting children, young girls, and women, and selling them to the highest bidder. The only positive thing we've got is that because they're being sold, they're most likely all still alive... at least for now. That said, there's no guarantee that they'll remain that way. The Unsub or Unsubs, almost got caught so right now, they've gone to ground until they figure out what to do next. We also have to face the very real possibility that they may just decide to cut their losses and start over somewhere else. We need to find out where they've been taken and who's buying them. So what do we know?" Hotch questioned his team.

"We know they've been collecting them for over a year, so there's has to be a place somewhere in Virginia where they've been able keep them all this time. If we figured out why these particular girls we might be able to pinpoint where," Emily offered.

"Well I can tell you one thing, this Unsub may not have a preference for age, but he definitely has one for looks. All the victims have either Blonde or Red hair. There's not a brunette in the bunch," Derek ascertained. He'd been starring at the screen in silence trying to wrap his head around what was happening.

"Chances are that means one thing. They're being chosen for International distribution. It also means that our window of opportunity just got a whole hell of a lot smaller. If the Unsub gets these girls out of the country, our chances of getting them back has just gone from slim, to absolutely none. We need to find out if those girls are still in the States and fast." Rossi's words galvanized the team into action and they began the grueling task of narrowing everything down, hoping to finding a lead - fast.

A/N: A small glossary of the abbreviations used in this chapter:

LEO – Law Enforcement Officer, DEA - Drug Enforcement Agency, ATF – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Unsub – Unknown Subject

Below are the sources from which our lovely, fact spouting, Dr. Reid got his information and statistics on human trafficking.

^ a b ./trafficking/

Economic Roots of Trafficking in the UNECE Region - Regional Prep. Meeting for Beijing+10 - pr2004/04gen_

/ More4 / Ghosts / Stop the Traffik campaign

Council of Europe says human trafficking has reached 'epidemic proportions' - Europe - International Herald Tribune

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