At 8:00 Hotch steps out of the conference room where Rossi, Reid and Morgan are now going over the intricacies of Sydney Vetch's life. He pulls out his phone and calls an old friend with the State Police.

"Goldberg," is the answer.

Hotch smiles. "Always so official sounding, Barry. You know you're just a hack LEO."

The man on the other end laughs. "And you're just a lawyer dressed up like an LEO. So that makes which of us worse?"

"It's probably a tie," Hotch admits with a chuckle.

"Damn right, Hotch," Goldberg agrees.

"Barry, I've got a problem." Hotch quickly lays out about his missing agents and gives Goldberg the coordinates. "Think you can send a unit to look for them?"

"Sure thing. That area they are in is famous for floods and shit. Plus as bad as this storm is could be they just missed a turn. Rain can knock the visibility down there to nothing. Add in the tree cover and the darkness it's easy to miss the road she was supposed to take. I'll get in touch with the station and find the closest unit. As soon as I know something I'll give you a call."

"Thanks, Barry. I appreciate it."

Hotch heads back into the conference room. Rossi looks up at him.

"Sending the Staties after the ladies?"

Hotch nods. "Yes. By now we know something's wrong. Let's just hope to hell they are stuck and not…" he can't finish the statement, memories of Winslow flashing through his mind.

Morgan raises an eyebrow, knowing exactly what's clouding Hotch's eyes. "It's not like before, Hotch. It's not like Devil's Den Park."

Hotch stares at the phone in his hand a moment. "Keep going through the information Garcia sent. The unsub could be in there somewhere."

Hotch pockets his phone and leaves the room. Rossi stands and follows him, patting the concerned Reid on the shoulder as he goes. Reid looks at Morgan once they are alone.

"He'll be running through a thousand 'what ifs' until they are found."

Morgan nods. "Yeah, he will be. Rossi will work with him. It will be okay. Come on, let's find this jackass."

Reid nods and gets back to the paperwork in front of him.

JJ is in the middle of a stretch when she sees an SUV pass them and suddenly brake. Her eyes widen as it backs up and parks beside them. She grabs for her gun…but Emily had put it in the front seat. She starts to grab at Emily's waist. Emily awakens in confusion.

"Jen? What the hell?"

"Gun! Get your gun! Get your gun!"

Emily grabs her wife's hands. "Calm. Down. What's wrong?"

JJ can only point as someone with a flashlight starts to pick their way towards them on the muddy drive. Emily looks at her wife.

"Stay. Here. And leave your gun alone."

Emily slips on her muddy boots, grabs a flashlight and gets out, ignoring the whimper of fear from her wife.

"Agent Jareau? Agent Prentiss?" the man calls out.

Now out of the vehicle, Emily can see the sate police cap on the man's head. She smiles. "Agent Prentiss. Jareau is inside and sure you're Freddy Krueger."

The man chuckles. "Nope, can't say that I am. Your boss called one of our captains and asked us to come check on you. Looks like you're in a bit of a pickle."

"To put it mildly. Any chance you can get a wrecker up here to get us out?"

The officer shakes his head. "Afraid not. Not until the storm passes. I can give you a ride back to Willamina if you want. There's a nice B&B there and then I can pick you all up tomorrow when a wrecker can pull out your SUV."

"That will work. We'll need to pull a bunch of agency materials out of the SUV."

The trooper nods. "Then let's get to it. Let me radio my boss so he can get word to yours."

Emily nods. "Appreciate it." Emily gets back into the SUV. "Hotch called the state troopers. My guess is he had Garcia locate our GPS and when we didn't move in a reasonable amount of time he sent in the cavalry."

JJ manages a smile. "I'll buy him lots and lots of chocolates."

Emily chuckles. "Good. Let's start getting the gear out of here we can't leave behind unsecured."

JJ sighs. "Yeah, I know the drill. Just like California all over again."

It takes 45 minutes to get things transferred and start their way down the mountain. Just as they clear the last of the wooded roads, the rain stops. JJ blows at a breath.

"Fucking figures," she mumbles from the backseat.

Emily can only grin.

"Hotchner."

"Hey," Emily says.

Hotch lets out a breath of relief. He hadn't recognized the number on his phone. "You're off the mountain?"

"Yes. The number you see is to a B&B in Willamina. Will be tomorrow before we can get the SUV pulled out of the swamp I got it stuck in."

"How'd you do that?" he asks in amusement.

"The rain was so heavy I couldn't see very well. Missed a turn. JJ found a place on the GPS to turn around. Unfortunately the technology didn't tell us it was a dirt, make that mud, road. Sank into it and couldn't get out. We had no cell signals so we just waited. We knew you'd send someone for us eventually."

Hotch pauses a moment. "You…you trusted that?"

Emily smiles. "Yes, Hotch. We knew you wouldn't let us down."

"Thank you, Emily. You can probably guess I…had some doubts…"

"I didn't have any," she tells him sincerely.

Hotch smiles. "Thank you. Let us know when you start back tomorrow."

"Will do. We did get one lead from Judith Porter. It's thin but we've sent the name to Garcia to pull what she can. We'll follow up on it tomorrow."

"Perfect. See you when you get back to Portland."

"Right. 'Night, Hotch."

She hangs up and looks at her wife. JJ is staring out the window of their room, shame on her face. Emily walks up behind her and wraps her in a hug.

"Jennifer, it was a nightmarish situation. Stop beating yourself up."

"I was ready to shoot first and ask questions later. I was…irrationally terrified, Emily. If you hadn't been with me I- -"

"But I was. And if I hadn't been one of the team would have been. None of us would have let you shoot that trooper. And all of us would have done our best to help alleviate your fears." She smiles and kisses JJ's cheek. "Though I hope they wouldn't use the same tactic I did."

JJ smiles. "They could have tried. I wouldn't have fallen for it." She pauses coyly. "Probably."

Emily chuckles and turns her around. "Let's go get something to eat. Mrs. Benson said she'd fix up a pot of soup for us. Turns out she likes cops and lesbians equally."

JJ grins. "Lucky us."

The two make their way downstairs for a late dinner. They find she has also found old shorts and shirts for the women to wear to bed since they didn't have their go bags with them. The agents enjoy a nice dinner with a very sweet hostess. Regardless of why they are in the area, they have a very nice night.

Their teammates, however, are not having as much fun. They are still combing through pages and pages of potential suspects. Just after 10, Detective Ortiz walks in. They can tell he doesn't have good news.

"Unsub sent another package. This time he sent it to the local CBS station to the attention of their news director. Luckily their mailroom x-rays packages in the wake of 9-11. As soon as they saw the hands the called us. Two CSI techs are on their way to pick it up. We can meet them at the lab."

Hotch nods and stands. "Rossi, with me. Morgan, Reid, keep digging."

The agents ride with Ortiz to the lab. Rossi looks at Hotch.

"Unless he did this yesterday, it couldn't be Vetch."

"I know. We need to know when that package was sent and from where. M.E. can give us estimated t.o.d. based on the hands. If he was in custody was the unsub doing this to clear him completely or was it just the unsub continuing with his own mission?"

"So many questions, so little time," Rossi intones.

They pace impatiently until the techs show up with the box. Hotch immediately notices it was not mailed but instead delivered by a courier service. "Rossi, get a hold of someone at that business."

"On it."

Hotch and Ortiz stand by as the techs slowly open the box and extract the hands. Hotch blows out a breath.

"Another woman."

A tech looks up. "I'll get her prints after swabbing for trace."

Hotch nods. "Good." He pulls out his phone. "Reid, what women were listed in the Crime Beat this week?"

Reid closes his eyes as he scans that week's article in his mind. "There were 3 women: Melanie 'Mimi' Verlando arrested for prostitution, Sarah L. Coxley arrested for DUI, and Rosette Maria Vazquez arrested for assault and battery."

Hotch thinks a minute. "Find out where the women are right now. Concentrate on Vazquez as she is the most violent offender and the unsub would probably see her as the biggest threat to society."

"Alright. Since Garcia is probably already gone I'll go see if someone here can pull the information for me."

"Perfect."

Hotch hangs up and goes back to Ortiz. The detective sighs. "He knew we'd be watching for packages mailed to the precinct. We didn't expect him to go straight to the media."

"Actually, that is a natural progression. It just came a lot sooner than normal. Something made him stay away from the police station."

"Vetch?"

"Most likely. I think we'll find out this woman was killed after we took him into custody. They know each other. For some reason, the unsub is indebted to Vetch and this kill was to help pay that debt," Hotch concludes.

"Well with Vetch lawyered up we're stuck getting information from him. Not even Morgan's push regarding that shrine to his sister broke him. Hell, it just sent him to the hospital and gave him time to get a lawyer. What the fuck are we going to do to stop this bastard, Hotch?"

"We'll continue to tear Vetch's life apart. The answer is in there somewhere. We just have to find it." He glances at is phone as it rings. "What did you find, Reid?"

"Vazquez couldn't afford bail. Coxley is in a state rehab facility as part of her plea bargain. She went in as soon as possible so she could maybe avoid losing her teaching license. The only one I can't find is Verlando."

"A prostitute…interesting. Norma Stiles was a prostitute. I hate to do it but I'm calling Garcia. We need more information."

A very tired analyst answers after the third ring. "If this is a butt dial I am going to be so pissed."

"Sorry, Garcia, not a butt dial. We have another woman's hands."

In Virginia Garcia sits up, fear freezing her blood. "Oh God! Not Jayje or Em?"

"No! No, they are fine. They got stuck in the mud and are spending the night in Willamina since their SUV can't get towed out until the morning."

"Oh, thank God. Email what I need to know and I'll be at Quantico in about 45 minutes."

"Excellent, Garcia. I owe you a Monster."

"Oh, sir, you owe me at least a case. Talk to you when I have something."

"Thanks, Garcia."

Hotch hangs up and looks at Ortiz. "If there is something to find connecting this victim to the others and Vetch we'll find it."

"With all due respect, Hotch, what does it fucking matter if they connect to Vetch? He's alibied."

"Not as an accessory, he's not. If he knows the killer and doesn't help he'll stand for these crimes along with the unsub or on his own. I'm thinking the threat of time in jail with the guys he used to push around will get him talking. The next files we need when we talk to him are those of any inmate that ever filed a complaint against him. And the bigger the inmate the better."

Ortiz gives Hotch a grin. "Would keep a short man terrified. You're a scary man, Agent Hotchner."

"You should see us at cocktail parties," he says with a grin.

The men turn as the tech walks up. "Prints came back to Melanie 'Mimi' Verlando. Long rap sheet for prostitution."

"And she appeared in the most recent Crime Beat column. That should give us enough to get the paper to shut the column down with or without a warrant. They are the unsub's murder list," Hotch states.

"And if they won't shut it down?"

"Then we'll get the warrant. I'm sure you know a judge who would be sympathetic to our situation."

Ortiz nods. "I can think of 1 or 2."

"Good." He nods towards Rossi as the agent walks up. "What's the word?"

"It's a 24-hour messenger service used by a lot of the media outlets. Place didn't think twice about getting a package late and having to deliver it across town. They are pulling security tapes but said the guy that brought it in had a ballcap and raincoat with a hood on it."

"Figures. Let's go get them. The techs have given us what they can for now. The M.E. will have to let us know about time of death when he examines the hands."

The three LEO's leave, hoping that maybe they'll get a lucky break and catch the unsub's face on camera.

Meanwhile, at a B&B in Willamina, Emily uses a pillow to muffle her scream as her wife's mouth takes her to orgasm. Smiling happily, JJ crawls up her wife's quivering body and removes the pillow. She kisses her wife, loving the moan elicited when Emily tastes herself. When it ends, JJ strokes a hand through her wife's dark locks.

"I love you, Emily. Thank you for taking care of me out in the woods."

Emily smiles. "If this is the thanks I get remind me to get us lost out in the woods more often."

JJ chuckles. "Bite your tongue, woman."

Emily rolls them. "I'd rather bite yours."

She kisses her wife deeply, trailing a hand down an alabaster thigh. As she starts to kiss her way down JJ's neck….her cell phone rings.

"Son of a bitch," she mutters as she rolls off. She grabs it. "What, Garcia?"

"Oh, grumpiness. Must have caught you in the midst of re-consummating your marriage."

"Speak or die, Garcia. Now."

"Uh, right. Speaking of death, I found the Mimi Judith Porter bailed out along with Stiles. Her full name was Melanie 'Mimi' Verlando, age 26. She had a 2 year old son."

"Had a son?"

"Yeah, she's dead. Her hands were sent to a local TV station and just identified."

Emily strokes a hand over her face. "Son of a bitch. Okay, so she connects to Stiles. Any connect to the other two victims?"

"Not directly. Indirectly, Vetch was working each time they were arrested most recently."

"So are we sure he's not the unsub?"

"Very. But we're damn sure he knows who the unsub is. I just wanted to let you know about the lead you sent me."

Emily glances at the clock in the room. "Garcia…are you at the office?"

"Yes. Hotch asked me to come back in when the hands showed up. He's worried the unsub is going to keep escalating until Vetch is released. When his hands matched your lead I thought I should let you know."

"Thanks, Garcia. Try to catch a nap or something in Morgan's office later."

"I will. I will now let you get back to driving your wife to orgasm…or getting the ride yourself."

"PEN!"

"BYE!" Garcia quickly hangs up.

JJ raises an eyebrow. "Dare I ask?"

"About the last comment, no. About the rest…" Emily fills JJ in on the coincidence. When she finishes she is staring at the ceiling, shame in her eyes.

JJ studies her wife a moment. "Don't do that to yourself, Emily."

Emily shrugs. "Can't help it. Maybe if I hadn't missed that turn we could have had the guys talking to her and the unsub couldn't have grabbed her."

"Or maybe the unsub would have just waited until they were gone. You know you can't start concentrating on the 'what ifs' on a case. It will do nothing but cloud your judgment."

Emily sighs. "A 2 year old little boy lost his mother tonight, Jennifer."

"That happens everyday in our job. Honey, you know we can't save them all. How many times have we comforted each other over that very fact? How many times have you and Morgan beaten the crap out of heavy bags to get past that? Stop feeling the guilt, Emily. Carry the anger with you but let the guilt go."

Emily finally turns her head to look JJ in the eyes. She sees love, compassion and honesty in the crystal blue. She slowly smiles. "We're a heck of a team, Agent Jareau. A few hours ago I was pulling you out of the darkness and now you're pulling me back into the light."

JJ smiles and gives her a light kiss. "Damn right we're a good team, Agent Prentiss. And we always will be."

Emily rolls, putting JJ below her once more. "So…where were we when that crazy blonde from Quantico called?" She settles between JJ's legs and thrusts her center down against her wife's. "Was it right about there?"

JJ moans and meets the next thrust. "Oh, yeah…right about there."

Emily kisses her wife deeply and proceeds to rock both of their worlds.

At 1 a.m. Reid leaps up. "I've GOT it! I was right! It wasn't there!"

Morgan runs a hand down his face. "It is too damn late for EmiReid especially without our translator here. What the hell did you find?"

Reid races over to whiteboard. "The victims all appeared in the crime beat and they all were arrested on nights Vetch worked. BUT there is someone that didn't make it into the paper the week before the murders started."

Rossi shakes his head. "How do you know?"

"I've just read the intake reports for two Monday's before the Crime Beat column appeared that included Albert Peroles. There was a man arrested that night named Cameron Pace. He was being held for questioning regarding a series of rape-murders in Salem, OR. But before the cops from Salem arrived he had been mistakenly released."

"Mistakenly? Let me guess by who," Hotch infers.

"Right. He allegedly didn't confirm the i.d. of a prisoner that had posted bond. Got 2 days suspension over the screw up."

"Two days to talk with his new best friend about a fun way to use homicidal instincts to get back at the cops," Rossi understands.

Hotch whips out his phone. "We need information on this guy from Salem."

Rossi reaches over and grabs his hand. "We need sleep first. Send an email to Garcia telling her to get some sleep. The detectives we need to talk to are most likely asleep. We can get with them in the morning. If we go into this tired we'll make mistakes. You know that, Aaron."

Hotch stares at his mentor a moment then nods. "You're right. Let's pack in for the night guys."

He gets no arguments from the others, especially since they feel like they may finally have a somewhat viable lead. And an even better, a new line to push Vetch on. After Hotch hangs up with Garcia, he hustles the team out to get a few hours sleep before pursuing the new angle on the case.