Chapter Fifty
Gulfstream G-IV
Tail # N4SP
Spencer
"Well, we were able to get into Goodwin's records at last." Rossi said with a sigh. "The team on the ground is boxing it all up and sending it to Quantico. And Goodwin has been arrested as part of the conspirators, a Federal judge is not going to take kindly to kidnapping an FBI agent's fiancée, regardless of what God supposedly said on the matter."
"What about Pendleton?" JJ asked.
"As it turned out his church was steeplejacked back when he was in the pipeline to join the Academy. When Goodwin realized what he had he targeted him for brainwashing, him and three other agents from across the country as well as a number of other government workers. While Pendleton is one of the conspirators the rest will be getting help."
"Good."
"And with a list of all of the Black Knights the Bureau and ATF are moving to find all of them and check for more weapons caches. If nothing else they'll be on the terrorism watch list from now on."
"Are they shutting down the church as a whole?"
"They can't. People have the right to believe what they want to believe and worship as they choose." Rossi sighed. "But any churches under his umbrella are going on the watch list."
"Susanna, how are you doing?"
"I'm all right." She replied. She had some bruises where they had hit her while trying to get her to comply, including the ones across her face, but otherwise she looked to be all right. "The doctor said I just need some ice packs and I'll be fine."
"That's not what I meant."
Susanna sighed. "It was like going down the rabbit hole; down is up, right is left. I kept telling them no and they just kept going like I wasn't even there. I never felt so invisible before. But I knew that if I kept saying no then nothing could happen. And I knew you were all coming for me, especially you." She said the last while taking Spencer's hand.
"Always." He told her.
"The one good thing was seeing Leah again."
"Is she ready to come to DC?" JJ asked.
"Not yet, she's still scared. But she promised to stay in contact no matter what the church says and she wants to at least come to our wedding. Although she was kind of shocked to hear that it's going to be in Las Vegas."
They all chuckled. "Let me guess." Morgan said. "Sodom and Gomorrah."
Susanna nodded. "She was relieved when I told her that it was only because Spencer's Mom is too ill to travel. You will all go there, won't you?"
"In a heartbeat." Rossi reassured her.
They settled in for a quiet flight. And it was a quiet flight, until they were about two thirds of the way into it. Susanna had been napping, but something woke her. "Spencer?" She called out, a note of panic in her voice.
Of course he had just left her side to go get tea. "I'm here." He said, hurrying back as people started to stir. "What's wrong?"
"I can't see!"
"Okay, not that helpful."
"No, it's like there's this blackness…" She made a motion in front of her eyes from the upper left diagonally to the lower right. "…and it's all squiggly below it until you get to the grey spot."
Uh oh. "Is it one eye or both?"
"One. My left. But my right is getting squiggly too." She gestured to the lower right corner of her field of vision.
By now they had everyone's attention. "What's going on?" Hotch asked.
Later Spencer would consider that it was only when the people he loved went away somehow that he fell apart. As long as they were there he could handle just about anything. "It's going to be all right. Just close your eyes and keep them closed." He took off his tie and tied it around her eyes to keep the light out. "You'll be all right until we get to DC. Okay?" She nodded nervously. "Now just stay here. JJ is right here in case you need anything." He nodded to Hotch and they stepped to the end of the plane. "I think one or both of her retinas are detaching."
"I thought she was cleared for travel." Hotch said.
"She was but her eyes are fragile due to all the solar damage over the years. She could have had a micro tear and gotten a bubble of vitreous fluid in behind her retinas. This could be caused by the bubble expanding from the pressure changes in flight."
"Do we need to land?"
Spencer looked out the window and took in the landscape. "No. There's no place to land that would be able to take care of it between here and DC. But we'll need to have an ambulance waiting; she'll need emergency surgery to save the sight she has. I'll call her doctor and alert his team."
"All right." Hotch moved to do what he could.
Spencer pulled out his phone and took a deep breath. Just hold on, he thought. Just hold on.