Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.
- Rollo May

Chapter Two
BAU Headquarters
FBI building
Quantico, VA
T + 3 hours

JJ left the elevator at a flat run and headed straight for the bullpen. "Will?"

"I'm here." Will stood up from the break table and caught her in his arms.

"What happened? Have you heard anything? Any word from the kidnappers?"

"No, nothing yet. There's nothing." He sighed as the rest of the team came up to them. "They got him in the parking lot over at the Whole Foods. Kelly, our nanny, stopped there after picking Henry up from kindergarten. She said a van pulled up behind them, two men piled out, one of them punched her twice and the other grabbed Henry, then they got back in the van and took off. "

"Where is she now?" Hotch asked.

"Washington Medical. She got a broken nose and a concussion out of it." Will sighed. "She said it happened in seconds. They haven't let me in since right after; DC Metro is working with you guys on it." He nodded up at the conference room.

"JJ, stay here." Hotch said as they all headed that way.

She nodded and stayed in Will's arms. "Just find him, please."

In the conference room they found a bustle of FBI and DC Metro. One woman detached herself and came over to meet them. "Agent Hotchner? I'm Carol Stewart, head of the Northeastern CARD team. I'm heading up the investigation. I was about to call your office on this anyway."

"What have you heard so far?" Hotch asked.

"We've got an Amber alert out, already getting his picture and description to all the news outlets. We have a dozen witnesses from the parking lot, I'd love to have your team interview them and the nanny, two of my people are sitting with her at Washington Medical."

Hotch turned toward the team. "Morgan." The agent immediately turned and left.

Carol continued. "According to the witnesses the three men looked to be Caucasian but their faces were covered, it was a white delivery type van without plates and no one said anything. They snatched him up and were gone in seconds."

"Is someone after our team?' Rossi asked.

"I don't think so." Carol replied as she moved to the board. "This is the fifth kidnapping from a northeastern city in the past four weeks, all the same MO. And Henry fits the victimology to a T, male, blond, between the ages of four and six, traveling with a single female in a grocery store parking lot."

"Do we have any idea why they're taking them?"

"No. No contact from the kidnappers, no ransom demands, nothing. They're just gone."

Washington Medical Center
Emergency Department
Washington DC
T + 4 hours

"Okay think back." Morgan said. "In the grocery store, was there anything unusual at all?"

"No." Kelly was distraught, sobbing through her swollen nose and blackened eye

"Was anyone paying too close attention? Maybe following you around the store?"

"No."

"Did anyone stop to talk to you or Henry?"

"No…well…."

"Well?"

"There was this one guy, but he wasn't creepy or anything."

"What did he do?" Morgan asked gently.

"He…he asked Henry if he liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Henry didn't answer him; he just came back to me. He knows not to talk to strangers. Then…he called Henry a cute kid, he said his son has a peanut allergy and can't have peanut butter and jelly, that it was sad because he loved it when he was a kid."

"What did you say?"

"I said I was glad we didn't have to deal with anything like that. Then he told Henry that he had a pretty mommy and Henry said I was his nanny. That was it, he didn't bother us again."

"What did he look like?"

"Um, brown hair…glasses…wearing a…polo shirt and khakis. Maybe 30? 40? Kind of…average."

"All right," Morgan said. "That's a help."

BAU Headquarters
FBI building
Quantico, VA
T + 4 hours

"That's him." Garcia said.

They were gathered in the conference room, watching the security tapes from the grocery store. They all watched as a perfectly bland man stopped and talked to Kelly and Henry for a few moments before moving on. As they watched he very carefully cased the pair, picking up a few items here and there, then quickly checking out and moving on. "He's paying cash." Rossi said. "That's not going to be a help."

"I don't understand." Garcia said.

"He was scoping out a victim." Rossi said with a sigh. "He wanted to make sure Henry was healthy. If a child is sick a harried mother usually welcomes the chance to talk about it."

Spencer spoke up. "Every grocery store was upscale and specialized in organic products." He pointed out. "Otherwise there are no geographic commonalities. They weren't particularly close to highway on ramps."

"Meaning they changed vehicles." Rossi said. "If we find the vans we might find forensic evidence, but that's sketchy at best. Garcia, do we ever get a good look at his face?"

"Nope, this bastard never looks up, not once."

"So we have nothing." JJ said. She was standing in the back of the room, holding Will up like he was holding her.

"What do we know about stranger abductions?" Hotch asked.

"Stranger abductions of children are actually fairly rare." Rossi pointed out. "Most of the time a child is abducted by someone they know. Given that this is an organized ring that's hit multiple cities we can probably rule that out. If it was for ransom or a political statement someone would have said something by now."

"Could be illegal adoption," Blake said.

"Too old," Rossi replied. "Those are usually taken either by a mother looking to replace the child she lost or a ring looking to profit. Either way, they're usually under five."

"Henry is small for his age." Will pointed out.

Blake took a deep breath. "I hate to be the one to go there, but trafficking…."

None of them wanted to think of that, ever. "I spoke with Katie Cole over in Innocent Images and Andi Swan over at Trafficking." Hotch said. "Both teams are on high alert but so far there's no sign of any of the boys."

"Even if it's too soon for Henry it's not too soon for the other boys." Rossi added. "I hate to say it but this might be something entirely new."

They were all focusing on Will and JJ, of course, but later on Blake cornered Spencer by the board. "How are you holding up?" She asked. She knew it wasn't just the parents they had to worry about here; it was the godparents as well. Garcia had Morgan, of course, but Spencer needed someone.

It was a moment before Spencer answered. "Thinly," he replied.

"We're going to find him, you know."

"Yes." He said. "I know we will."

Blake could only hope he was right, or there would be four adults lost as well.