Reid showed the team into the backroom where they gathered around the table to hear what was going on.
"Have any of you ever heard of Julian Sloane?" Alex asked.
"Yes," Hotch spoke up. "He was suspected of international human trafficking."
"That's correct," Reid answered. "The CIA was tasked with finding him. Our analysts found a strip club that he owned which we believed he used as a front. My team got the assignment to go in undercover." He glanced toward Alex.
"You worked at a strip club?" Morgan raised his eyebrow.
"I was the bartender, let's keep to the facts." Alex sassed in return.
"Is that the assignment you were telling us about earlier?" Garcia recalled.
"Yes. I was in for six months. No one had ever been closer to his organization until that operation. He had some notorious thugs coming in and out of his club, assumed to be working with him." Alex explained.
"We got some valuable intel because she was there." Reid added.
"Like what?" Rossi asked.
"That he was an arrogant son of a bitch," Alex announced. "He had a branding system for all the girls he sold."
"He branded them?" Prentiss asked in disgust.
"He developed a coding system with tattoos. Anyone in his crew would be able to look at the girl's left hip and know her status."
"What kind of system would be use?" JJ asked.
"They were Roman Numerals; each letter would have a specific meaning. First off, every girl had an 'X' which just meant that they belonged to Sloane." Alex elaborated as Garcia was frantically taking notes. "I don't remember all of them, but I know that 'M' was for the girls he would be able to sell for the highest price. 'V' stood for anyone who was not a virgin, and 'I' was the worst mark because it meant that Sloane had been with them personally."
"Sounds like a scumbag." Prentiss blurted out.
"He is," Reid nodded.
"The CIA just left you working undercover at a strip club of a known human trafficker?" Garcia looked up from her notes.
"Charles went in a few times as a customer to keep an eye on things while Hugh and I worked on other assignments." Reid explained.
"That's because Spencer was too young to even get into a strip club." Alex cracked a smile.
"We had the club under constant surveillance as we were getting closer and closer to building our case. We were all paying attention one day because Sloane was holding some sort of meeting. All of Sloane's crew was there. Then suddenly there was a massive explosion. We never saw anyone come out of the building and all were declared dead."
"You never recovered his body?" Hotch questioned.
"There were so many body parts and some people were completely incinerated. We could only go off of the video of who entered the building."
"I hate to bring this up, but could your old boss, Elis Parker have tipped him off?" Morgan asked.
"No, he wasn't in league with Parker," Alex started. "After the CIA learned of his deception, I assisted going through all of his records where we found overwhelming information in all of the nefarious things he did. Sloane was never listed as part of it."
JJ looked over to Hotch, "so, what do we do with this information?"
"We will need to contact the DOJ and report that he is still alive, as well as informing the CIA." Hotch announced.
Reid held the phone receiver in his hand, "the problem with that is our phones still aren't working."
"Sometimes the ones at the Royale work when ours are down," Alex explained.
Hotch stood up to address the group. "Alex and I will go over to the Royale and use their phone. Hopefully we can get some direction on what we should do." He started toward the door as Alex grabbed onto her keys and quickly followed.
Hotch waited out in the parking lot looking around trying to figure out what car was Alex's.
Alex approached a beat-up, yellow 1997 Jeep Wrangler with the top and doors removed.
"This is your car?" Hotch questioned.
"Yeah," she responded as she climbed into the bucket seat. "I call him Old Yeller."
"Are you insured?" He hesitantly moved toward the hunk-of-junk.
"That isn't a requirement here," she responded as she put the key in the ignition.
"That wasn't what I asked," he announced as he got in. "Does it even have seat belts?"
"Of course," she replied as the vehicle leaped backwards, she then switched gear into drive. "Not sure if they work though." She slammed on the gas and they bolted toward the highway as Hotch clutched onto the grab bar.
Alex spoke with the manager about Sloane and waited for Hotch to make the phone call from the office. She leaned forward against the desk with her foot twitching as she was scribbled down everything she had recently learned, folded the paper and slid into her back pocket.
Her heart stopped when she heard the voice that she thought she never would again. She turned around in shock as his brown eyes stared back at her.
"That can't be Alex Slater, could it?" Julian Sloane called out from across the lobby floor.
Alex forced a smile as he announced her old undercover name and she slipped back into character. "Mr. Sloane, wow, it's been a really long time."
He chuckled, "oh, please, it's Julian." Sloane crossed the floor toward her. He paused as he stared at her left hand. "I can see no one has snatched you up yet." He gently picked up her hand and placed a kiss on her naked ring finger.
Alex would like nothing more than to smash him into a million pieces but could see at least three men who worked for him throughout the room so she kept up the charade.
It had been almost a decade since she last saw him and it appeared that he hadn't aged a bit. He acted like such a charming and charismatic man that it was hard for anyone to believe that he was so dark and devious.
He wore a plum colored silk dress shirt that complimented his Mediterranean skin. Everything about him was always perfect. The way his sleeves were rolled up, both without a single wrinkle, every fold in place, perfect. The way his black hair delicately fell onto his forehead, perfect. The way his grin sparkled as he smiled, disgustingly perfect.
"So, what brings you out to a remote island like this?" He asked still holding onto her hand and lightly rubbing his thumb over her ring finger.
"Oh, you know, just for some needed vacation." She had to control her breathing to and keep from pulling away from him but was sure that he noticed that her heart was beating out of her chest.
"Alex," Hotch started as he came from the back office, "the phones still aren't working."
"That's okay, sweetheart. I am sure that your stockbroker doesn't need you to call him every ten minutes while we are on vacation." She wrapped her hand around his arm.
Hotch stared at her for a moment as he put the pieces together. He turned to Sloane and painted a cheesy grin on his face. "Hi, I'm Aaron Ho…" Alex jabbed her finger into his ribcage. "Hodges" He was quick to adjust.
"Julian Sloane," the two shook hands. "I was just catching up with your enchanting date. We actually have history together." He flashed a smug look.
"That's great that you were able to catch up." Hotch could feel how tense Alex was and wanted to get her out of there. He was also well aware of the bodyguards and didn't want any more focus put onto Alex.
"How long will you two lovebirds be here for?" Sloane asked.
Hotch looked to Alex, "um, we haven't set a definite date." He turned back to Sloane, "it all depends on if I need to get back to the office or not."
"Well, I insist that while you are here that you spend your time with me as my guests. You must not leave before the gala, you are going to that, right?" Sloane stared them down.
"We were talking about it but I am not sure yet." Hotch replied.
Sloane looked to his watch, "I am sorry, but I am late for an appointment. Please join me for dinner tomorrow evening. And I won't take no for an answer." He left them heading in the direction of the elevator.
Alex let out a deep breath as she unhooked herself from Hotch's arm. She stormed out to her jeep and jumped in without saying a word.
Hotch caught up to her, "I don't think you should be driving right now." He stood in front of the car.
"Get in or you're walking!" She barked as she turned the engine over.
Hotch climbed aboard and held on as she whipped out of the parking spot and sped off down the road back to the Paradise Hotel.