Garcia pulled up in front of Reid's house and turned off her headlights. She put the car in park and turned to Alex in the front seat. "Okay, last chance, we can still go pick up little Charlie from JJ's. She did say you can at any time."

"No, it's like three in the morning. I don't want to disrupt her sleep. Besides, the doctor told me to get some rest, and the last thing a six-month-old baby is going to let someone do is rest." She unbuckled her seatbelt. "Thanks for the ride, Penelope. I'll be fine from here."

"You may be, but I won't be. I am going to stay with you until Reid and Charles return. According to Hotch, they caused quite an uproar and have a lot of paperwork to do."

They entered the house, and Alex kicked back the rug on instinct before she sat down on the sofa. "Do me a favor, grab some scissors from the kitchen, and cut this hospital band off my wrist."

Garcia's mouth hung open, and she held her arms out in surprise. "Whoa! Are you telling me that Alex Marcus doesn't have a knife on her? Surely pigs must be flying, and the sky is green!"

Alex laughed wryly. "Yeah, yeah. Spencer took them from me when I was drugged."

Garcia quickly got the scissors and clipped it off. "Should I make some tea?"

"That would be great, thanks." Alex leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. "So much has happened that we still don't have answers for."

"I thought that was becoming our 'thing,'" Garcia said from the kitchen.

"I mean, why would someone do such a crappy job of planting bugs in our house?"

Garcia turned off the burner as the kettle whistled. "Uhh, maybe they're bad at what they do?"

"But wait, didn't you say that some were hidden really well?"

"Definitely, I wasn't able to find them without my handy-dandy device." Garcia came out of the kitchen and handed Alex a mug. "What are you thinking?"

"Was there anything different about the bugs?"

"I mean, yeah, whoever did it used vastly different gadgets."

Alex sat up straight. "Are they still in the faraday box?"

"Could be," Garcia said. She got up and went to the cupboard, and pulled out the box. She brought it over to the table and put it down. She signaled Alex with a finger over her lips and opened the box. They both looked inside.

Alex pulled out two separate bugs and looked at them for a minute, then put them back in the box and closed it. "Okay, I recognized the smaller one. I've used that several times."

"Yes, that's a standard issue nowadays. The other one you can basically get at RadioShack."

"So, why use two different bugs? That doesn't make sense either."

"Yeah, and the cheap ones were so easy to find. Like I barely had to look to notice them."

"What if it was two different people?" Alex proposed.

"It's hard enough thinking of one bad guy after you, and now you think there are two?"

"Okay, so what if the first person came in and hid all the bugs and hid them very well? And let's say the second person wanted to warn us that we were bugged, so they planted noticeable devices so we would then scan the house for the rest."

"I mean, that's a lot of conjecture."

"Yeah, it is. But that, to me, makes a lot more sense than someone being so dramatically different while planting devices."

Garcia took a sip of her tea and then placed the cup on the table. "Going with that theory, we would assume Shaw would have planted the more advanced bugs. So, who do you think came in afterward and planted the others?"

"But that would mean that someone else knows something is going on and either can't prove it or doesn't have the authority to do anything about it."

"Then why wouldn't they just come to you and tell you? Why plant the fake-y bugs, to begin with?"

"I don't know, Penelope." Alex picked up her mug and took a sip. "I could also be completely wrong."

Suddenly, all the lights went out in the house. Alex and Garcia both looked around. Alex got up and took a step toward the kitchen, searching for the glow from the stove's digital clock. "Power is out completely."

"Do you think a transformer blew?"

Alex stealthily walked toward the window and peeked through the blinds. "Nope, all the neighbor's porch lights are still on."

"Okay, so what do we do?"

Alex instinctively touched her hip, then her thigh. "Damn, I don't have any weapons."

"I know you gotta have some in the house. Don't you have an arsenal upstairs?"

"Yeah, and it's upstairs." Alex went over to Garcia and grabbed her hand. They walked together to the secretary desk. Alex lowered the writing desk and then felt around the hutches for a switch opening a panel. She reached in and pulled out a small pistol. She closed the desk. She then led Garcia to the stairway banister. She felt the railing and then continued down the wall until she got to a shelf. Alex reached her hand into the shelf and pulled a latch, and the shelf moved.

"You have a secret passageway?" Garcia whispered.

"It's more of a hiding place." Alex pushed it open and allowed Garcia to enter the space under the stairs. Alex did a quick scan of the room and then closed the shelf, securing them inside the small room.

"Why didn't we just go outside?" Garcia quietly asked.

"Because when I looked out the window for the lights, I spotted three cars parked out front that I have never seen before. I didn't want to take the chance of going directly into an ambush."

Alex and Garcia were hidden in the alcove, waiting for any kind of sign. Alex held up her hand as soon as she heard a creek above them. She moved in front of Garcia while holding the pistol in both hands.

Reid and Charles pulled into the driveway. "Looks like Garcia's here," Reid said as he shut the car door.

"I'm glad Alex is home alone," Charles said. They both walked around the path and started toward the door. "Why are all the lights off?"

Reid stopped. He turned around and saw the lights on the street, then back to the door. He pulled the gun from his hip and motioned for Charles to do the same. They slowly moved to the door when they heard gunshots from inside.