Hotch sits down across from Unit Chief Edward Mink. The real Edward Mink. The man is visibly shocked when he finds out why Hotch is there to see him.

"Bastard is using my name? How the hell did he get my name?"

Hotch shrugs. "I don't know. Could be you've spoken to him for some reason. Could be he simply knew you were an agent and used that to make his own business cards." Hotch hands the man his phone. "Do you recognize this man?"

Mink stares at it a moment, then shakes his head. "Doesn't look familiar to me. Mind if I show it around to my guys?"

Hotch shakes his head. "Not at all." Mink texts it to himself and one of his agents, asking him to pass it around. "Have any of you been looking into a potential assassin or gun for hire here in the south?"

Mink shakes his head. "No. Let me guess: that's what your investigation is uncovering?"

"Yes. In fact, this Mink brought it to our attention, even had files on various kills. Everything he gave us looked legit. But by this morning we've found so many more than he had that I got suspicious and had our analyst run your background."

Mink grins. "Guess that was the alert I received."

Hotch nods. "Yes. I apologize but I wasn't sure if you were real or not. And I think part of me was praying the agent we had come to know was an imposter and not completely incompetent, which our investigation was starting to hint at."

Mink nods. "Understandable. What do you need us to do?"

"What you're doing now: try to find this man in your files, both open and closed. I believe he may be the money man for our killer, putting a filter between the man and whoever is hiring him." Hotch takes a deep breath. "And I think him killing Will LaMontagne was a way to make sure the FBI was called in. He then gave us the breadcrumbs needed to lead us towards the killer. I think if we don't move fast enough, he'll give us more clues, either directly, through the tip line or possibly even through this office."

"Well, I can put the word out that anyone who gets anything regarding LaMontagne's murder needs to get it to me and I'll filter it to you. That way I can maybe weed out the nutcases for you."

"That would be appreciated."

The two men turn as an agent walks up and taps on his boss' door. "Sir? I think I know this guy."

"Get in here, Verta."

The man walks in and nods a greeting to Hotch. "This guy came in about a month ago. He said he might have seen a murder. He was acting scared but, well, something wasn't sitting right. I started to think he might be trying to turn in a friend or family member without actually revealing he is the snitch. The more he talked the more I became convinced he knew more than he did but I was also sure if I pushed him he'd bolt."

"What sort of things was he saying?" Hotch asks.

"Well, he wanted to know what would happen if he knew a cop killer; could he be liable if he doesn't report it; what if it turns out to be linked to others; things like that."

"So he came here to ask that question. Why wouldn't he ask the local police?" Hotch ponders.

"Maybe he did," Mink interjects. "Maybe the locals mentioned the FBI helping out and he needed to know what our involvement would be."

"And he was probably glad when you all told him the BAU would most likely be called in and you all would be just here for support," Hotch points out.

Verta nods. "Actually, yeah he was. I kinda wondered why and then shrugged it off as he wouldn't have to show himself to your team so you would never know he tried to report someone."

Hotch looks to Mink. "This guy is smart. I had pegged him as mid-30's. Now I'm thinking he may be older or at least he was around a mentor that taught him a few tricks." He looks back at Verta. "And I can imagine he left you no contact information?"

"Nope. Not even after I pointed out that if a crime has been committed and he knows about it, he could be charged as an accessory after the fact if he does nothing. I let him go but followed him out to get his car info. He grabbed a cab."

"Damn. Too smart," Hotch notes. "I've got his picture running through every database we can access. If he's out there somewhere we'll find him." He hands a card to Verta and to Mink. "If he contacts you all again, please give me a call immediately. If dares to show up, detain him any way you can."

"We will," Mink promises. "His picture will be given to everyone, even the janitor. If he dares show up again we'll arrest him for impersonating an agent at the very least."

"Good." Hotch stands and extends his hand to both men. "Thank you for your time. I'll keep you informed on the status of this case."

"Thanks. Good luck, Hotchner."

Hotch walks out to his SUV and calls Reid. "Bastard posed as a witness to get enough info to plan the murder of Will. When we find him, and we will find him, he'll be charged with murder, too."

"Good. I've finished mapping out the Houston murders. No crossover that I can find," Reid reports.

"So we're back to it being a contract hit for revenge or to screw up prosecution."

"I believe so," Reid acknowledges.

"Damn. Any word from JJ or Prentiss?"

"Not yet. And Morgan should be landing any minute now so it may be a while before he calls us."

"Okay." Hotch glances at his watch. "Get Garcia and make her go to lunch with you. We don't need her burning herself out on this case. We need her at her best."

"Will do. What about you?"

"I'm going to swing by the hotel to pick up Jessica and Jack and take them to the airport."

"Oh. Right. Give them a hug for me."

Hotch smiles. "I will. See you in a couple hours."

Hotch hangs up the phone and tries to turn off Agent Hotchner for a little while and concentrate on being Daddy.

Anthony Powell sits in a stolen SUV across from the police station. Yes, it's risky but he needs to see who he's up against and determine who should be taken. He'd seen one man leave earlier and decided he would not be a good bet. The determined step and stony countenance told him the man would not break quickly enough to be of use.

Now he watches as two more agents leave. The tall lanky man looks like he could be easily taken down. But looks can be deceiving. He is armed and Powell can't risk getting shot if the man was more formidable than he appears. No way would he give Koresh the satisfaction of dying.

Now the woman with the man…she looks so anti-FBI he can almost believe she is a girlfriend not an agent. She has no visible sidearm but she does have her FBI badge hanging from her neck.

"So you're not a full agent, my lady. You may be just what I'm looking for. I'll see you tonight."

He turns his SUV on and drives away to plan how to take the woman and make her answer anything and everything he needs to know to protect himself and end Koresh.

A shame-faced detective stares into Emily's eyes. "I swear I pointed out to my captain that this gun had other kills on it. He said it was probably a gang gun and had passed through so many hands it would have more kills than a whole platoon of guns in Iraq. He wouldn't let me send an alert to the FBI or other precincts to be on the lookout for that gun."

Emily sighs. "I understand. Considering the nature of the murder it wouldn't be far-fetched to think it was a drug retaliation case. What can you tell us about the victims that isn't in the official reports?"

"The woman had been at a store when it was robbed. She is studying Criminal Justice at LSU and she ended up being a stellar witness for the prosecution. Her fiancé was at the store, too, but admitted he was too scared to remember much. I think…I think he was scared about something like this happening. I don't like to speak ill of the dead but he, well, he wasn't exactly coming across as a brave sort of man, you know?"

JJ nods, thinking about her time in a bank with a chicken shit agent. "I know exactly what you mean. Did they ever give any indication that they thought they were being followed or threatened?"

The man shakes his head. "Not to me."

Emily glances up from part of the police report. "They were found right at the water's edge under the Horace Wilkinson Bridge. Any significance to that area?"

"No. But we do know it's not a romantic hide-away so it is our assumption they were taken there and not just caught down there," he tells her.

Emily nods and makes a note on the paper. "What about signs of struggle?"

"Nothing. Site looked like they were marched down there, made to kneel, then killed. No cuts or bruises on either one of them."

JJ frowns as she reads part of the coroner's report. "They weren't killed at the same time." She looks up. "Did that seem strange to you?"

"Not when I saw he'd died first. Like I said, he was the weaker witness of the two. I think she was taken down there under the pretense that he might live if she went with the killer or killers."

"Just one killer," Emily insists.

"Well, yeah we know that now," the detective concedes.

Emily looks at him. "Should have known it then, too." She holds up crime scene photos of the ground. "Only two sets of footprints: hers and his. The killer erased his after he killed the man then walked back in his victims footsteps so he didn't leave any others." She points to the edge of the print. "You can see the slight impression made by the unsubs foot. It was smaller than the victims. If there were multiple perpetrators they'd have rubbed out all the footprints or left multiple sets knowing it would add confusion."

The detective takes the photos and studies what Emily had pointed out. "Well son of a bitch. We've been trying to match that tread pattern. No one thought it might be two treads in one."

"We're going to go speak with the suspected robber. His lawyer is meeting us at the lock up. Do you want to come or would your rather not? I will warn you he will be able to ask you to leave," Emily warns the detective.

"I doubt he'll talk to me. Will you be able to give me anything you are told?" Emily nods. "Then let's go that route. He may be more open to speak with you two if I'm not around."

"Okay. Thank you for your help in this. We'll be in touch."

Emily and JJ shake the man's hand then drive out to the local jail. In the car JJ looks at Emily.

"That footprint thing, you've used that before, haven't you? To hide your footsteps?"

Emily blushes and nods. "Yep. Worked well, too."

JJ studies her wife a moment then grins. "When did you use it, Emily?"

Emily rolls her eyes. "Not when you thought originally. I've told you I was a dog in college. I used it when I took a girl I knew down to this make out area. By walking in my own footsteps and leading the way she had no idea I'd been down there earlier that evening with someone else."

JJ bursts out laughing. "I really, really need to sit down with Tom and Regina to find out more about this Emily 'Heartbreaker' Prentiss I have never met."

Emily just grins, glad her friends don't know everything about her sordid past.

Morgan shakes his head and grabs his phone. "Hotch? There is no doubt these kills are our unsub. How the hell did Mink even question that?"

"Because Mink is a fink," Hotch answers.

"Come again."

Hotch explains what he and Reid had deduced that morning and confirmed with Garcia's help. He then runs down the visit to the FBI office and the potential meeting between the local agents and the man portraying himself as Mink.

"Shit. This guy is more sophisticated than we realized," Morgan states.

"Definitely. And I think our imposter is the money man. He arranges the hits and the payments, the unsub carries them out. But for some reason, the fink is now trying to cut ties with the killer."

"And probably hoping the guy will go down via suicide by cop."

"Most likely. And barring that, I can imagine we will have nothing but the unsub's word that there is someone else involved." Hotch glances at his watch. "Look, stay there tonight and get a look at everything that can help us convict the killer when we catch him. Maybe by tomorrow between everything we're looking at we'll know a direction to take."

"Will do. Talk to you later."

Morgan hangs up and looks at the evidence boxes in front of him. He has just pulled out another folder when he suddenly stops. He has been sent to Shreveport. Rossi ended up in Houston. JJ and Emily were headed to Baton Rouge. What if the unsub, or rather unusbs, were intentionally spreading the team out. Maybe killing Will had been a way to draw them into the investigation? But how could they guarantee their team would respond.

"Because of JJ and Henry," he answers himself. "They could have killed Will knowing our team would insist on helping find his killer."

He grabs his phone and stabs redial. "Hotch! Just had a thought!"

He lays out his concerns and Hotch stiffens. "Damn. It's so convoluted it could be a possibility. Watch your back, Morgan. If you go to speak to someone you take a detective with you. Understood?"

"Understood. I'll call Emily and JJ to warn them if you call Rossi."

"Rossi is still in the air. I'll call the ladies. You get what you need up there so you can rejoin us as soon as possible."

"Tonight?"

"Think you can be done by tonight?"

Morgan glances at all the evidence in front of him and sighs. "Doubt it. At least not before the last flight leaves."

"Then tomorrow as soon as you are sure you've seen enough."

"Alright. Talk to you later."

"Definitely. And I mean that. Call me when you are in the hotel for the night."

"I will, Dad," Morgan says with a grin.

"Smartass," Hotch mutters as he disconnects…also grinning.

When Rossi and Kevin arrive in Houston, Kevin immediately starts to work on the delicate remains of the computer, much to the anger of a CSI assigned to work with him.

"Look, the damn thing is toast. Nothing can be pulled off of there or I'd have gotten it," he insists.

Garcia had warned Kevin other techs would be touchy about this and how to deal with it. Kevin gives the guy a shy grin and a shrug.

"Yeah, I know you're probably right but I've got Rossi and, even worse, Hotch, breathing down my neck. I have to at least try to get them to shut up, you know?"

The other tech rolls his eyes. "Do they get we can't produce wine out of rocks?"

"Not usually. They know so little they figure we can just find stuff. At least give me a work station to set up at and let me get soot on my fingers and maybe a few cuts, too, so they can see I tried."

The tech chuckles. "Yeah, okay. I can help you with that."

Soon Kevin is carefully dismantling what's left of the computer. Once it is all apart he finds the components he needs to try to recreate the hard drive. Pulling out a few toys that are exclusive to the FBI he starts to rebuild the hard drive of the burned computer. Finally all that is left to do is cross his fingers and boot it up. He takes a deep breath and launches it. His worried face gets happy as it starts to run.

"How the fuck did you do that?" a voice behind him asks in astonishment.

Kevin shrugs. "Got lucky. Of course, all this is doing is running. Now we need to see if it actually retained any data and if any of that data helps us with the case."

The tech stares at the set-up Kevin has and smiles in wonder. "I want your toys, man."

Kevin shrugs. "FBI exclusives right now. But if you ever have one like this again call me and I'll help you out if I can," he offers, handing the guy his card.

"Definitely. I think you're my new hero."

Kevin blushes, loving the praise that is normally heaped on Garcia.

Four hours later Rossi calls Hotch. "Good news is Kevin got the computer running. Bad news is, nothing on it tells us if anyone was hassling the victim."

"Please tell me there's more good news," Hotch begs.

"Only that these cases are definitely our hitman. I got the email from Emily about the footprints and found those in two of the cases."

"Damn. And still nothing to link these victims to anyone else?"

"Nothing I can see," Rossi admits.

"Okay. So, you and Kevin staying down there tonight?"

"Don't see the need. This is our guy but nothing here will help us identify him or…" Rossi's voice trails off as a handwritten notation on a folder catches his eyes. "Hold it a second, Hotch."

The older agent grabs the folder and reads the note again. He flips it open and sees copies of the case reports, crime scene photos and the autopsy. He closes the folder and reads the note again.

"Do not release to agent unless we get written request from his superiors."

"Hotch, I think our fake Mink struck here, too. It was the most recent murder and supposedly an agent asked for copies of everything but never came back with a written request for the info."

"Get with the detective and show him Fink's photo."

"Fink?" Rossi questions.

"Easier to say that than Unsub 2," Hotch explains.

"Ah, of course. I'll call you when I know more."

Rossi disconnects and goes to track down the lead detective on the case and show him a picture of "Fink". Maybe their imposter had tried to draw the FBI into a case down here first. Or maybe his attempt to get his assassin killed by the locals failed and that's why he did his best to draw in the FBI. They know this was the first time he made contact as an FBI agent but what exactly was he trying to do and what exactly rang alarm bells for the detective?

"Detective Pierman!" Rossi calls out, waving the folder. "Who asked for copies of this case file?"

Pierman looks at it and rolls his eyes. "Some agent named…damn…Lynx…no…maybe…"

"Mink?"

Pierman nods. "Yes! Claimed he needed copies for an ongoing investigation but wouldn't give me specifics nor would he give me his boss' information for my files. Told him come back with a written request and appropriate documentation on why he needed it and I'd be happy to give it to him. Made that note so no one else would pass it on to him if I wasn't here."

"Did he try?"

"Damn right he did. Watch commander told him where to stick it. Between you and me, if all FBI agents are that dumb and that rude, you won't get help anywhere in the country."

Rossi nods. "So he changed tactics in New Orleans," he mumbles.

Pierman's eyes narrow. "Tactics? What are you talking about?"

Rossi shakes the folder. "He's not an agent. Probably got the badge online. He did steal the name of a real agent in case anyone checked but we think he's actually working with the killer."

"Then why would he insert himself into the investigation?"

"Because he's trying to get the assassin caught. He's cutting ties for some reason. And it didn't work here so in New Orleans he got bold enough to arrange a cop's death and to approach us in person with a list of kills he is supposedly investigating. He is desperate to cut ties. Now we just have to figure out why."

"Damn. Well, I promise, if by chance he calls me again, I shove his ass in a holding cell and let you all know."

Rossi nods. "Thanks. If we get these guys taken down I'll make sure you know so you can clear your desk of three murders."

"Sounds good to me."

Rossi calls Hotch back. "Hotch? Theory holds. He tried to get the assassin caught here but failed because Pierman didn't trust him. Kevin and I will fly back to New Orleans tonight if we can. If not we'll get in first flight in the morning. He wants us in New Orleans so that's where we will be."

"Sounds good. Get me your itinerary when you can."

"Right. Let me go see if I've missed anything."

"Call me if you need us for anything."

"Will do."

Rossi pockets his phone and goes back to look over this last case one more time to make sure there is nothing else that could point to why "Fink" tried to set up his killer.

Emily and JJ drop down into chairs at the table. "This guys is beyond meticulous," Emily states.

"I'll say. He even used a tactic old Heartbreaker Emily used back in the day," JJ teases.

Hotch, Reid and Garcia grin as Emily glares at her wife.

"Emily's old habits aside, what else did you find out?" Hotch asks.

"The place he killed them would have been virtually deserted at the guesstimated times of death. Killed the man first. Then the woman a couple hours later. Erased his footprints from when he took the man. When he came back, he walked forwards and backwards in the male victims footsteps. It disguised the tread since you were looking at three impressions in one area and convinced the cops that it could have been multiple unsubs and that they just erased their own prints. Based on the size of the footprints, he could definitely be the man we caught on tape killing Will," Emily reports.

"So we're closing in on the killer's various cases but still at a loss as to who he is," Hotch notes.

"True. But we're starting to learn more on the man we're calling 'Fink' now," Reid points out. "And unless he dies while being apprehended something tells me he'll give up the killer in a heartbeat if it keeps a needle out of his arm."

"Good point. Let's hope you're right and we catch up to one of these bastards soon. For now, let's call it a night here. Rossi and Kevin are getting in around midnight. Morgan will be back tomorrow. Let's hope tomorrow is the day the hammer falls on one of these men."

The team nods and quickly gathers their things. Emily and JJ drive to Helen's house. Tomorrow Francesca and the kids would be flown back to Virginia as Gerald and Elizabeth fly back to England. The Jareau's had promised Helen they would stay as long as she needed them and she could tell them to scoot anytime. The Prentiss women had also said if Helen needs time alone they can get a hotel room with the team. But for at least one more night, there would be a good crowd at the LaMontagne house as Helen and her daughter continue to deal with their new reality.

At 12:15 Kevin opens the door to the hotel room as quietly as possible. His cellphone flashlight app gives him enough light that he doesn't need to turn anything on as he eases on in. He turns and slides on the safety chain then turns and tiptoes on in. He suddenly stops.

"What the hell?" he mutters.

Garcia's purse is strewn across the floor as if she had decided to dump it everywhere. He brings his light up and sees a glass of water spilled across the dresser, the ice bucket tipped over and ice melting on the floor. He scans around to the beds and sees Garcia's go bag on his bed and her bed empty.

"She knew I was coming," he mumbles, fear starting to grip his heart.

He walks over and flips on the light switch. It's then he sees her makeup back is dumped as if it had been knocked off the dresser in a struggle. Her pajamas are in a pile by the bed. He kneels down and looks at her shirt.

"Oh my God…that's blood."

He then sees something that convinces him she is in trouble: her electronics bag. It's dumped out and one tablet is cracked. Kevin turns and races towards the door of the room. It takes him a second to disengage the safety chain but he finally bursts out into the hall.

"HOTCH! MORGAN! ROSSI! REID! SOMEONE TOOK PENNY!"