A/N: Here's next chapter. I hope you all like it!

There's a nice surprise coming up in this chapter, and I hope you all love it.

Special thanks to 2Addicted2YourLove, jenny crum and snuggleUP!

I don't own criminal minds!

Chapter 43: Hacker revealed

The streets were dark and empty, yet her mood was hopeful and filled with hope and joy for the future. Her day afternoon and evening spend with Hotch was something they both needed. It only reaffirmed what was already there. A love unlike either of them had ever known before.

But now it was time for JJ to focus on her job. It was almost midnight and she was walking down Corcoran Street, NW like the hacker had requested. When she finally stopped at the corner, she immediately heard the ringing of a phone. So she walked to the bench and found a burner phone taped to it. She ripped it off and answered the phone.

''Can we please stop playing games!'' JJ said in annoyance without greeting the person on the other line. She wasn't in the mood to be played around. Her meeting with him was more important than anything at the moment. The CIA had come to a complete dead stop where it concerned the location of the weapon, and now they were only relying on her relationship with Christian Ward and his associates. But she wasn't comfortable enough to put the lives of thousands in the hands of a criminal. ''Where are you?''

''I needed to check if you came alone!'' the muffled voice explained quickly. ''I'm two blocks east of you at Charlie's dinner.''

JJ ended the call and put the phone in her pocket and started walking east. As she kept walking she didn't run into a single soul. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful and gave her a feeling of calmness as she finally approached the dinner. From the outside she saw one waitress behind the counter and a few people sitting behind tables. She walked inside and looked around, not knowing what to look for. There was one couple sitting at a table in the corner, and there was an older man sitting at the counter and then there was someone sitting in a booth with his back turned towards her, wearing a hoodie. When she walked closer she saw the person was typing away at the keyboard of a laptop. So she knew she had found him. She walked towards the booth with caution, still not seeing a face. She slid into the booth across the hacker and tried to get a clear view of his face. But the shadows made it impossible, so she sat back and waited for a response.

''Nice to meet you, blondie!'' the hacker said, taking the hoodie off.

At the sound of the voice JJ was surprised, completely thrown off to say the least. And when she finally had a good view of the face across from her, she broke down in a wide smile. The hacker wasn't male. She was female. Very female. She had red hair and bright make-up and wore colorful clothing underneath the vest. ''Hi,'' JJ croaked out, trying to keep herself from laughing really hard. ''You're a woman.''

''Are you another one of those sexist?'' she asked harshly. ''My name is The Black Queen, short for TBQ.''

''I just wasn't expecting…you.'' JJ explained simply.

''So what do you need?''

''Your name for starters.'' JJ replied professionally as she looked at the woman across from her. She was truly unlike anyone JJ had ever seen before. She seemed to be someone with a very strong opinion of everything around her. ''What can I call you?''

''Garcia.'' she replied, being careful not to give anyone her full name. But if it came down to it, she knew the CIA could easily find out that she was Penelope Garcia, someone the FBI was tracking down in connection with her hacking into a cosmetics company. She may have broken the law, but she always did for a purpose. To do good. And when she was asked to help out a CIA agent with a big case, she couldn't say no. She wanted to help out in any way she could. ''Just call me Garcia.'' she breathed out a little nervously.

''Nice to meet you, Garcia. I'm JJ.'' JJ introduced. ''There are a few things I'm going to need from you, but the first is discretion. As you probably already know from my colleague, I'm CIA. I don't want anyone to know that you're my asset.''

''Asset?'' Garcia repeated.

''That's what we would call you in the CIA when you're helping me out with a case, which you are.'' JJ went on. ''I'll pay you by the hour.''

''Sounds good to me.'' she agreed as she closed her laptop and finally put her full focus on JJ. The blonde wasn't like anyone she'd ever met before. Yes, she was pretty. But she also seemed very strong headed and that's what she liked in people. ''So what do you need me to do?''

JJ leaned back and took a folder from her purse, containing documents and pictures. ''I'm working on a case of which I can't discuss the details with you.'' JJ began. ''The CIA has run out of any leads, and when you discovered Ward was in town, I realized you could do the things the CIA can't.'' she continued as she handed Garcia the folder. ''I need more than one thing from you.''

''I can manage.'' she reassured.

''Those two men,'' JJ said as she pointed at the pictures of Grigori Durov and Ivan Zhukov. ''are working with Christian Ward and I need to know everything about their backgrounds. Every little detail matters.'' she explained. ''I also need you to keep track of someone named Howard Schmidt. Hack into his computer, whatever you need to do.'' she went on. ''And the last favor is the most important at the moment.'' she said. ''My boss died and I need you to see if you can uncover any files the CIA hasn't been able to find so far.''

''Sounds good. Where is his computer?''

''It's still at Chemicaltech Industries in his office. FBI is going to come in with a warrant tomorrow and take his belongings, so I was hoping you could come with me tonight.'' JJ suggested, hoping she would agree.

Garcia rose from the booth after she had packed all the information JJ had handed her, along with her laptop. She stepped next to the booth and looked at JJ with a wicked smile. ''Let's get going, blondie!''

JJ expressed her annoyance of the name by sighing heavily. ''It's JJ!'' she reminded her, but something told JJ the name ''blondie'' was going to stick on her. So she just had to live with it.

''Whatever, I don't care.''

JJ followed the hacker out of the diner. This was the first light she had seen in a while during their investigation. She knew neither Collins nor Owen would've ever agreed to it, but she was doing it on her own. Something had to be done to uncover a location on the weapon.

Before JJ took Garcia inside Chemicaltech, she made sure that surveillance was shut off and that she could go in without anyone ever knowing that they were there together. She had done it all quickly and she was walking back inside with Garcia in no time. They eventually ended up walking onto the floor where JJ worked, and where Warren used to work. His corner office was still empty. Everyone was still grieving and no one was ready to clean out his office, even though a new CEO was already working with them. They all had the respect to keep his memory alive just a little longer. But JJ was the only one who knew what he had been up to and how he had actually betrayed every employee that ever worked there.

It was more than clear that he had been involved in the disappearance of the weapon. He had good reason to be in business with the Russians, because there was only one thing they wanted, and JJ didn't know what for.

She ended up opening up Warren's office and she was followed inside by Garcia. They walked to the desk together and JJ watched as she dropped down in the chair and immediately turned on the computer. ''This is it.'' JJ breathed out, hoping she would find some valuable information for the CIA, so their investigation would finally go somewhere. ''He always had random passwords to access his accounts.'' JJ tried to explained, but she saw that she was already in the system without any trouble. ''How did you do that?'' JJ asked in disbelief.

''Oh, it's a piece of cake.'' she responded as she kept typing away on the keyboard, bypassing security and hacking into the company's mainframe to get to the data JJ was specifically looking for.

JJ watched as a few seconds passed by and she had no idea what the redhead was doing. All she knew that she seemed to be extremely good at her job.

Garcia suddenly sat back in the chair. ''This guy was good.'' she sighed out.

''What did you find?'' JJ asked with curiosity.

''He had information stored on a hidden partition inside his hard drive.'' she began to explain. ''But all the data was deleted, but from the access logs it seems that all the information was copied onto a micro disc.''

''So you can't restore the hard drive?'' JJ questioned in disappointment.

''I can try, but it can take me weeks, moths even. It would be much easier for me to break the encryption key on the micro disc to get the data.'' she replied. ''I'm sorry, but there isn't much more I can do.''

JJ faced away from the desk, remembering a certain detail from the evidence that the CIA had collected after Warren's murder. She knew a disc had been recovered but according to their technical analyst it was clean. But JJ now realized the encryption was probably too hardcore to break for him and maybe Garcia could break it and get to the information. ''I think I can provide you with the disk.'' JJ said confidently. ''Let's get out of here.'' she insisted.

They quickly left Chemicaltech's offices and went back to JJ's car. While driving back to the diner, where Garcia insisted on being dropped off, they were both silent. There wasn't much to speak about, but before they reached their destination JJ became more and more curious with the hacker, and how she had become so good at what she did.

''So what's your story?'' she asked to break the silence in the car, hoping she could get a normal response. ''Did you spend so much time behind computers that you taught everything to yourself?''

''Basically,'' Garcia responded. ''And what's your story, blondie? How does someone like you end up with the CIA and working with me?'' she asked, being just as curious as JJ. She could easily find information on the blonde next to her if she really wanted to, but she wanted them both to be able to trust one another.

''Long story.'' JJ sighed out. ''Let's just say that I was the perfect candidate for the CIA. I had no attachments and I was looking for freedom and adventure, which I got. More than I could've ever imagined.''

''I like you.'' Garcia said as JJ pulled up in front of the diner. ''You're gutsy. I like that!'' she said before she jumped out of the car, and before closing the door she stuck her head inside. ''I'll contact you.''

''Yeah, of course you will. Goodnight!'' JJ said. She heard the door close and then she immediately drove off. She had a feeling that her partnership with Garcia was going to come in very handy, and would lead her in the right direction. Now all she had to do was go to Langley and get the disc without anyone knowing, which she knew could be the biggest nightmare yet. She wasn't ready to let the CIA know she was investigating on her own and that a bigtime hacker was involved with it. She knew the consequences of her actions could be major, so she had to be extra careful.