I included a character that had been introduced in the series. He gave Reid support at his NA meetings. I couldn't find a last name or job title, so I created one. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Please leave a review.

Location Unknown

He was really tired, dirty and hungry. He looked for the dingiest flop house he could find and got a room. The room was dark and he wasn't sure he really wanted to touch the bed. He pulled off all the covers and looked under the mattress. No bed bugs at least. He threw the covers back on and tried to find something to act as an alarm. He pulled the bed side table in front of the door and placed a lamp on top, in the hopes it would fall over and break if someone tried to break in. He really couldn't stand himself any longer, so he decided to take a shower. He undressed in the bathroom just in case he needed his clothes for a quick get away out the bathroom window, though he was not sure he would actually fit. After his shower, he sat on the bed and placed a phone next to him and trying as hard as he could not to fall asleep, sleep eventually won over.


FBI Headquarters

Rossi didn't even bother to knock. He rushed right in and handed the phone to Garcia.

"And hello to you too," she said in surprise. "What brings you down to my neck of the woods?"

"Garcia, no jokes. I need to get into this phone right away. It's locked and I think there is a message on it."

"What makes you think that?"

"It was delivered by a messenger and there was a note with it." He repeated the contents of the note to her and than added: "And he wished me happy birthday. It's not my birthday."

"OK, that's rather cryptic. Let's just see what we have. I'll just hook this up here, and plug this in there." Rossi heard a few tap taps and she was in.

"I'll never understand how you do that" he said exasperated.

She looked back at him over her shoulder. "Happy birthday. Actually I just used your birthdate. Garcia sucked in a breath and glared at the screen. "Oh my baby!" she cried.

There on the screen was a close up of Reid and he looked tired, dirty and scruffy. He kept looking back and forth, and when he thought it was clear he began to speak.

"Rossi,(pant, pant) it's me. (pant, pant) I'm in real trouble. Can't trust anyone, not even my team. If I don't make it back, please take care of my mom. There's a letter in the bedside table" - He heard a noise and tried to hurry - "They found me again. Gotta go. ZugZwain!"

After listening to the first part of the tape, there was a pause, then it started up again.

"I'm not really sure how long I can keep this up. I'm running out of money and I can't trust anyone. My assignment turned into a disaster, I'm not sure, but I think my team is dead. I was set up but I did manage to get away after a time. I'm trying to lay low until I can be brought in. The only ones I know I can trust are you, JJ, Emily, Garcia and Luke. I don't want to involve JJ or Garcia. It's too dangerous. Please don't talk to anyone about this or discuss this in front of anyone. There has to be a mole inside. I'm being hunted and they are good. Too good to be amateurs. The messenger I sent doesn't know anything about this. Keep this phone handy. And by the way, you owe her two hundred dollars." The message ended as abruptly as it had started.

"Oh my God, my poor Reid!" Garcia wailed.

"Shush, we don't want anyone to hear you. We have to act like nothing happened, like we are just having a friendly talk. I'm going back to my office and see if I can find out anything from our messenger. Think you can get anything off of this?"

"I'll try. Okay, okay. Just a friendly conversation. I didn't take acting classes for nothing." She walked him to the door and when he opened it she added: "Have a good day." The look he gave her sent a chill down her spine.

"Right!"


Rossi sat across from Sarah at the table where she was drinking a cola she had purchased from the machine.

"I wondered when you'd get back to me. I want to collect my two hundred dollars and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

"You'll get your money.' He reached across the table and took her hand and shook it. He slipped a paper into her hand. " We can't talk here. Meet me at this address around ten tonight." And he turned and left.

"I had a feeling I wasn't going to get paid!" She huffed and left the building.

After thinking it over for a while, Rossi came to the conclusion he needed to talk to the deputy directer. If he had started asking questions about Reid, he might be giving the mole the impression that Reid had somehow contacted him, but John might know something. He went up to his office and walked past the secretary's desk.

" John in?" The woman jumped up from her desk and tried to stop him. "I think he's on the phone."

"That's alright. I'll only be a minute. We're going out to celebrate my birthday." He opened the door with the woman on his heels.

"I'm sorry sir, I tried to stop him."

The deputy director looked up from his phone and gave Rossi a stern look. He continued his conversation on the phone. "Look, I'll have to get back to you on that. Call me tomorrow." And he hung up the phone. "It's okay, Sheila, I'll take care of it. You can leave and shut the door behind you, please."

"Yes sir", she quietly said as she gave Rossi a stern look.

"This better be good. Most people at least knock before they barge into my office."

Rossi put his index finger up to his mouth to let him know not to talk, this was serious. "Just wanted to make sure you were still coming to my birthday party tonight. You didn't RSVP." He grabbed a pad and pen from the desk and started to write on it while he spoke. (Someone might be listening)"I know it's only a small affair, but I would be so appreciative if you could come. (Can't talk here).

He knew Rossi would only do this if it was serious, so he played along."Oh, alright. What time?"

"Around 10? The caterers should be set up by then. See you there!" And he turned and left.


Rossi's House

The taxi pulled up in front of the mansion, not too far from the catering van. It was really exquisite. Oh my God, she thought. Who's house is this anyways? I didn't think these guys got paid that well. If it belongs to Rossi, at least he can afford to pay me. She exited the taxi and paid the driver. Three men walked out the door carrying some equipment she didn't recognize. " Weird stuff for caterers to use." she said to herself. They put it in the van and pulled away. " I ain't eating any stuff from them," she whispered.

"Don't worry. You won't have to." Sarah jumped a mile.

"Don't ever do that again!", she commanded. "You scared me!"

"Sorry. Won't you come in?" Rossi asked.

"Wow! This is your place?" Rossi nodded. "I just might have to join the FBI if you guys get paid this good."

"It wasn't the FBI that paid for it." He walked up to the door and opened it up, gesturing her to enter.

Suddenly she didn't feel quite so brave. "I just came to get paid. I'll wait here."

"I promise you'll be safe. Please?" and he gestured again.

"If I show up on tomorrow's news, I'm going to haunt you."

Rossi chuckled. "I'm too old to be chasing young women around. However, I was quite the ladies man when I was younger."

"I'll bet. If the FBI didn't pay for this, who did?" Sarah asked, taking a look around the foyer.

"My publisher. Come on into the study." He lead her down the hall and into a dark room, with paneled walls and a large desk. There was a seating area with a couch and two over sized chairs, and the back wall was one big shelving unit full of books.

"Check it out!" Sarah said as she ran to the books. "You could start your own library." She started running her hands over some of the leather bound books.

"Those books are older than I am." Rossi said as he sat in one of the lounge chairs. "Have a seat."

Sarah slowly walked over to the couch across from Rossi and sat down. The leather felt cool against her bare legs. She hadn't known what to expect, so she had thrown on a skirt.

Suddenly Rossi's desk started to buzz. "That must be the others. I'll be right back."

Sarah ran over to the door and yelled as he walked away. "What others? If this turns into an orgy, I'm outta here." When he was out of listening range, she walked back over to the books and started reading the titles.

JJ , Prentiss and Alvez arrived just before John Western did. They waited on the steps for him. "Mr. Western?" Prentiss asked. "I didn't know you were meeting us here."

"Either did I." He reached up and rang the doorbell.

Rossi opened the door and shook hands with John and the others. He lead them to the office.

After everyone was settled, Rossi took care of the introductions. "Everyone, this is Sarah Lang, our messenger. You remember JJ, this is John, Luke, and Emily." He raised his hand pointing around the room. "The caterers just left, they were checking for bugs. The place is clean."

"A place like this better be clean. I bet you don't have roaches in this place."

Rossi cleared his throat. "Sarah, they weren't looking for roaches, they were looking for bugs, you know, listening devices."

Sarah tried to cover up her mistake. "I know, I was just joking."

John wanted to get down to business. "Now that that is settled, would you mind telling me what's going on Dave?"

Rossi explained to everyone what had happened up to that point. He even played the message on the phone.

Emily was the first to speak up. "Who gave you the phone to deliver?"

"I never really saw his face clearly. He was tall and thin, scruffy looking, like he hadn't shaved in a while, knit hat pulled down over his brown hair, old dirty clothes. I was playing my guitar and singing in the park. The pickings were pretty thin. He came over and dropped a couple of dollars into my guitar case and handed me that envelope. He gave me some directions, and then he left. In it was two hundred dollars, a cell phone, and a note, instructing me how to deliver the envelope to David Rossi. The rest you know."

She jumped up and suddenly she was excited. " Did you get anything off of the phone? Was he a spy? I don't wanna get involved with any spies. Those guys tend to get killed." She was talking a mile a minute. "I've seen the movies. The flunkies always get killed." She stopped and looked around. "I'm not going to get killed am I?" She seemed so serious.

"Not if I can help it." Rossi answered.

Sarah did a double take. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Dead serious."

"That's not funny!"

"It wasn't meant to be." Luke chimed in. "Tell us about the guy. Did he say anything to you? Did he start a conversation? Try to remember everything he said."

"Well, when he came over to me and sat on the bench. he kept looking around like he was looking for someone. I thought maybe he was looking for the cops. They don't like bums in the park. He told me he had enjoyed my singing. He handed me the envelope, told me there were directions inside, gave me instructions on how to find you, and said to tell you he was sorry about Krystall, and walked away. I watched him leave. He kept looking over his shoulder. When he got to the end of the walkway, he leaned over and placed his coat on the guy that was asleep on the bench. I thought it was real nice. When I opened the envelope and saw the two hundred bucks, I knew he wasn't a bum. I needed the money, so I went through with it. Can I get paid now, so I can leave? My cat must be going nuts."