CHAPTER 13

Two days in a small hotel in rural Pennsylvania. It was where the BAU team had spent their last two nights resting while still trying to solve the case.

Emily woke up to the sound of her alarm. It was six in the morning. The agent gets up from the hotel bed and takes a quick shower to start off her day.

After she finished, she grabs a pair of black dress pants and a dress shirt and wore them. She then combs her raven-colored hair.

Before she heads out to get a quick breakfast, she calls Dani to check up on her. It was an early Saturday morning so she knew the teen would most likely be asleep but she had to make sure she was okay.

The phone rings a few times before Dani eventually answers.

"Hello?" the teen answers with a yawn.

Emily let out a small chuckle. "Hey sweetie, it's me. I just wanted to know if you were okay."

"I was until you woke me up," Dani mumbles.

She looked outside her window and saw nothing but a singular sun ray peeking through the glass.

"What time is it?"

"Sorry. It's 6:35" said Emily while grabbing her keys.

"Did you finish all the homework that your teachers sent you?"

"I did, don't worry. It's not like I have anything better to do," responds the teen sounding tired.

"My options are very limited due to me being under house arrest."

"You are not under house arrest, Dan. You are just grounded," said the agent while rolling her eyes.

She knows how dramatic a teenager can be.

"I see no difference," Dani said.

"I'm surprised you didn't give me an ankle bracelet or something of that sort."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I will keep that in my notes," Emily says playfully.

"I should have kept my mouth shut."

Emily laughed at Dani's remark.

"Hey, I feel like the team and I are really close to catching this guy. I should be back in no more than two days."

"Alright," Dani said with a yawn.

"I will let you go back to sleep now before you start snoring on the phone."

"Why thank you, agent," Daniela thanks the woman as she shifts herself to the side of the bed.

"I hope I can go back to my delightful beauty sleep that was rudely disrupted."

"I said sorry," the agent apologizes. "Talk to you later. Love you."

"Mmm-hmm," Dani said and she hung up.

She wanted to fall back asleep but she wasn't sleepy anymore. She stays in bed for a few minutes, eventually standing up and heads towards the kitchen.

She wasn't starving so she just fixes herself a bowl of cereal. After she was done eating, Dani washes her plate and goes upstairs to go change.

She put on some black joggers and a white shirt. For the rest of the morning, she went on in doing chores. She cleans up her room and went to tidy up the living room.

After finishing, she decides to go play some tunes with her guitar. It was a classic guitar, with a matte natural color with a purple strap.

She remembers when she first got her guitar when she was 12. Her friends encouraged her to buy one so that they can play music together.

She saved enough money to get herself a used one at the music shop down the street where she used to live.

She remembers how excited she was when she finally held her guitar for the first time. This is why this instrument is very special to her.

It has a deep sentimental value.

For the most part, she plays when she has guitar class at school though she prefers to play in her free time.

She likes to be the one choosing what song she can play. She knew how to use the guitar with precision, never missing a note.

She could easily play the guitar in her sleep as it was second nature to her. No one taught her other than Antonio and his uncles.

They taught her the basics, from how to tune the guitar and how to play each note. She was a quick learner, catching everything quickly and teaching herself the rest.

While playing, Dani receives a call.

At first, she thought it was Emily but then she noticed that it was her long-time partner in crime, Antonio.

She picks up the phone and answers.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Sanchez speaking," Dani answers with a smug.

"The one and only," the boy replies back. "What are you doing this fine Saturday?"

"Not much really," Daniela tells him while placing her guitar to the side.

"I can only do so much when I'm grounded."

"Ohhh. Dani got in trouble, huh?" Antonio asks.

"Was it something illegal? Did you commit murder or was it arson? And why the heck didn't you invite me?"

"Bold of you to assume that I would get caught committing murder," Dani smiles at Antonio's crime assumptions.

"Nah, it wasn't none of that. I got in a fight at school. Let's just say Emily wasn't very pleased to know that I got into one. Not that I expected an award or something."

"Ohhh. La señorita Daniela used her street fighting skills to beat up someone. Did you win?"

"Well, now I feel quite offended. How dare you question my fighting skills?" The girl asks as she looks down at her knuckles.

It was only lightly bruised but she felt no pain.

"Oh, my bad. I forgot that you were trained not to lose," Antonio remarks.

" Who was dumb enough in wanting to mess with you?"

"Just a dumbass girl from school. Honestly, she was lucky security came soon. I would have knocked a tooth from her pretty Lil face."

Antonio lets out a snicker.

"I wish a was there to see that. I would have had popcorn in hand sitting in the VIP section."

"You're an ass," Dani comments while rolling her eyes.

"You know I'm just messing with you, chica," the boy replies.

"So, what punishment did your foster mom give you? Lemme guess... no dessert for a week or something of that sort."

"Haha. Que gracioso," the girl mumbles dryly.

"Nah. She told me that I cant go out or anything of that sort before she left to Pennsylvania."

"Oh. She left to another state?"

"Sí."

"Ahhh. That's good news for both of us then," the boy tells her.

"Listen, Dan. My uncle got us to play at a party tonight all last minute like always," he said, sounding annoyed.

"Anyways, it's a party for Doña Chela's son. You know him?"

"Yeah. His name is Ricardo or Richy. He would normally be just wandering around the street with his friends," Dani answers.

She knows most of the people in her neighborhood and the surroundings. She definitely knows about the guy Antonio is talking about.

He would always be around the neighborhood goofing off with his friends.

"That guy. He is turning 21 and he is having a party at his place to celebrate it. He will be having a BBQ and a DJ. He also asked my uncle if we were available to play in his party tonight and he said yes," the boy informs her.

"You have to come tonight. We are singing for two hours and then afterward we can stay at the party and have fun."

"I umm. I don't know," Dani replies with a sound of doubt.

She knows that she is grounded and isn't allowed to go anywhere. Normally, she would tell Emily about her going into a gig.

Emily would let her go as long as she told her exactly where the party was. The girl definitely knows that she wasn't allowed to leave the house when grounded, especially to a party.

"Cmon, Dan," her friend said.

"It's going to be fun. Richy is going to pay us a pretty good amount for our performance and he said that we are welcome to stay and celebrate with him."

"C'mon. It won't hurt you to come out tonight. Plus, your foster mom isn't even home. You don't have to worry about getting caught."

Dani pauses and thinks about it for a moment. She knows that if she gets caught she will get into even more trouble than she already is in.

At the same time, it didn't really matter. Dani was still mad at the fact that she got in trouble for things she didn't do.

She also was holding a grudge against Emily for what she has said about her mother.

Dani needed to relax and cool off. If she was going to get punished for something she didn't do at least she won't be stuck at home being miserable for one night.

"Alright. Send me the time and address and I will be there."

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Emily was in an office reviewing files from the latest crime scene. Pictures of the crime scene showing a dead man's corpse on the ground.

He was the latest victim of the unsub, with his body bring displayed right in front of the city's town hall.

His body was showing signs of anger and overkill, with his body filled with drilled holes with a metal pole sticking right through his abdomen.

It was a rather gruesome sight, to say the least.

Emily feels her phone vibrate and takes it out of her pocket. She reads the caller ID and sees that it was Penelope.

"Hey, Garcia. Anything new you found?" Emily asks.

"Yes! After some extensive research and digging through each victim's lives, I found something that they all have in common."

"You see, the first four victims were all working-class. From restaurant cooks to custodians, they were all living day by day with their income," Penelope explains from the other side of the line.

"So I started digging and then I found out that all of these people were in favor of a fracking company coming to the area in order for them to have a more sustainable form of income."

"This company promises higher wages and benefits than any of their jobs so they signed a petition in favor of the company's establishment."

"So they all were in favor of the company coming and establishing here. It makes sense for them, the promising salary would convince town residents to be in favor of them coming here," Emily adds.

"Yes. Exactly. Now here is where things get interesting," Garcia replied.

"Though most people in the town were in favor of the fracking company establishing over there, there was also a group of people who were against it."

"An organization called 'Action Against Fracking' or AAF was highly vocal against the establishment of such a company due to the possible endangerment of the environment and people's health," the tech woman quickly informs her.

"Well, though this organization has good intentions, some of their members take it a step too far. There are records showing that some members would go and harass workers and people who were connected to the fracking company."

"This explains why the last two victims didn't fit with the original victimology. One of them worked in finance and the other worked as a representative in AGA. Both were affiliated to the fracking company," Emily states while looking up at the crime board.

"Do you have a list of the members in the AAF?"

"My computer is still going through all members. For now, I have the name of the head of the organization, Gina Rose. I have sent the address to you as we speak."

"Thank you, Garcia. I will inform the team and send someone to talk to Gina. Anything else?" asks Emily.

"Yes, but it has nothing to do with the case."

"What is it about?" asks the agent with curiosity.

"It's about Dani and the fight she was involved in," said the tech analyst.

"I checked the footage of when the fight broke out."

"So you're telling me you hacked into the school's security system," Emily states.

She had a feeling that Garcia would do something like this. After all, she can easily have access to such footage.

"Uhh, maybe but that is not the point of this conversation," Penelope replies quickly.

"I sent you a copy of the footage. Check your tablet."

"Okay," Emily said while unlocking her Ipad.

She clicks on the video that Garcia sent her and starts to watch it. She wasn't sure what to expect but her curiosity got the best of her.

She really did want to know what caused the fight.

She sees Dani and her friends talking to another group of teenagers.

She saw the teenager's body language and notices how tense they were, looking like they were confronting each other about something.

She sees how Daniela and her friends start walking away from the other group until Dani abruptly stops and turns around, facing the girl that she previously walked away from.

They were talking but Emily couldn't make up what the conversation was about. All she saw is how angry Daniela would get, with her furrowed brow and her arms across her chest.

Whatever the other girl was saying, she definitely said something that Daniela did not like.

The next thing she sees is how the girl abruptly pushes Daniela, making her back hit the lockers. Then Daniela threw the first punch.

Emily sees how the fight goes down, with another girl joining in but Daniela takes both of them down with ease.

The agent was surprised at how Daniela was able to defend herself. It was obvious to her that the girl had some sort of self-defense training though she wasn't certain if she did.

"Unfortunately, the video has no audio but whatever the girl said made Dani angry and I mean very, very angry," Garcia said through the phone.

" I'm all about peace and love on the planet Earth and I refrain from all violence but from what I see, Dani was just defending herself."

"That girl shoved her to the lockers. I doubt anyone would just let that slide", the blonde comments and Emily seems to agree with her.

The agent knows that if she were in Daniela's shoes, she wouldn't just let a person shove her to the lockers.

"Was it a little bit excessive? Yeah but from what it shows here, that girl quickly called for backup though she failed."

"Oh and about the stuff Dani had in her folder. None of that stuff was hers," Penelope adds.

"What do you mean?"

"Zoom in on the boy wearing the black sweater in minute 2:10," Garcia tells her boss.

Emily moves the video to the time Garcia told her and saw that through all the commotion that there was because of the fight, the teenage boy took a small bag out of his pocket and quickly crouched down on the floor where Dani's folder was.

He slid the small bag inside her folder and quickly backed away.

"He was the one who planted the bag in her folder," Garcia stated

"Yep. It's him alright," Emily said with a sigh.

She rubs her face and shook her head. Dani was right, that bag was not hers. Emily felt like a total imbecile after watching the video.

Why did he do this? Why didn't she believe Dani from the beginning?

Emily felt bad for immediately accusing her daughter instead of listening to her.

She had to fix her amends.

Emily wanted to apologize. She had to tell Dani that she was sorry for doubting her but she didn't want to do it by phone. Emily had to do it in person.

"Do you think this footage can decrease the amount of time Dani is suspended?" asks Garcia.

"It will help. I will send this to the principal and make sure the truly responsible person pays for what they have done," Emily said with full determination.

"Thank you so much, Garcia."

"Not a problem at all. Did you really think I was going to sit down doing nothing after hearing about this? I know Dani. There was no hecking way those things were hers," she told Emily.

"As her self-appointed fairy godmother, I had to work up some magic. My sugar bear needs to know that at least one person believes in her and that she is not alone."

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It was around six in the afternoon when Dani arrives at the address Antonio sent her.

The party was in a safer area in the community where gang activity wasn't much of a problem, though just for precaution, she was carrying a folding pocket knife.

Something that she carries each time she walks around her hometown area ever since she can remember.

At least she didn't have to worry about random shootouts in the middle of the night in this part of town. The party was being held in the backyard of the house.

There was a large white tent outside where music was playing. Dani sees her friends sitting at the front of the house porch, all waving at her with a smile.

"Hey, Dan," Camila said while giving her a hug.

"I'm glad you could make it."

"Me too," Dani replied.

She went to go greet Antonio and Jose, who were cleaning up their instruments.

"I knew you wouldn't let us down," Antonio said with a wink as he places an arm around Dani's shoulders.

He is taller than Daniela by a fair amount of height, with him being 6 feet tall.

His dark brown hair in a faux hawk hairstyle. He is known to be both attractive and charismatic, getting the attention of every girl who would see him.

Especially right now since he is wearing a button-up white shirt and jeans, revealing his athletic body type with a sombrero norteño to top it off.

"Well, I have to admit that you do have a way of persuading people," the girl acknowledged as she walks with him towards the rest of the group.

They were all wearing the same type of clothes. All of them were wearing white button-up shirts with jeans.

Just like Antonio, they had all brought their signature sombrero norteño, which is a black cowboy hat that gave them all a grupero look.

"Oh mija, I always get what I want," he said with a grin and Dani just rolls her eyes.

"Will you two stop flirting so we can get set up," Jose says as he picks up his electric guitar.

WE ARE NOT FLIRTING!" Daniela and Antonio yell in unison as Jose laughs at how flustered both of them got with his comment.

Antonio quickly lets go of Dani and runs towards Jose, holding him onto a headlock and ruffling his hair as a form of a comeback for his comment.

Antonio and Dani were in fact not flirting. They were just friends messing around with each other.

Their relationship is a unique one, to say the least.

They have polar opposite personalities, with Antonio being more extroverted and adrenaline-seeking while Daniela is more laid back and prefers to watch in the background.

Antonio is a complete jokester and a typical jock, joining the popular kid's group inside the school. Though he may be popular he is also completely humble and down to earth.

It's a quality that Daniela has always admired about him. Though both friends would always joke and make fun of each other, they always have each other's back.

Camila adjusts her shirt and makes sure that every button is on properly.

"Anyways, where do we set up?"

"At the back. Follow me," Antonio tells her, with his pale face slowly going back to normal after he went all red with Jose's comment.

He leads the way while the rest follow. They went to the backyard where the party was being held. The bright flashing lights were all over the tent.

A DJ was playing music at the back with two large speakers. Antonio led them to an improvised stage at the opposite side where the DJ was.

He and Jose were hooking up the microphones and making sure the audio was functioning properly.

Dani was tuning her guitar while Camila was tweaking her accordion.

"What time do we play?" asks Jose to Antonio.

"We have about twenty minutes," he replies. "We can use that time to practice."

"Sounds good," Dani said while grabbing her guitar.

She then sees the host of the party, Richy, approaches them on the stage. He is short, not any taller than 5'3 and had on some jeans and a black shirt.

Daniela notices his expensive Jordan sneakers that he was wearing, the girl knowing that they at least cost over 200.

"Hola chicos. I'm glad you all made it even though this was last minute," he says while taking a sip of his beer.

Antonio nods and greets him.

"It's no problem, Richy. I'm glad you chose us to perform."

"Los Amigos Del Barrio is known to be one of the best when it comes to playing at parties. I definitely wanted you all to come to get this party rolling."

"That's good to know. We will be starting like in ten minutes from now. Do you have the list of song requests?"

"Claro que si, I have it right here," He said as he reaches for his back pocket.

He takes out a folded paper and hands it to him.

"Some of them are Corridos while others are more upbeat. You all cool with that?"

"Sounds great to me," Dani says as she places her guitar on the stand.

She walks towards Antonio and quickly reads the list of songs, recognizing them.

"Especially the songs from Chalino Sanchez. This guy over here makes us practice every song that he has," she says as she nudges Antonio.

"He's one of the best. Of course, we have to know how to play his songs."

"That's great," Richy tells them.

He then reaches for his back pocket again and takes out his wallet.

"I want to give you half upfront before the show starts. The other half I will give you all once you're done," He takes out a wad of cash that contains 100.

He hands them to Antonio and he thanks him.

The rest of the group got settled with their instrument and start practicing. The group of friends looked at the list and agrees on how to play them in order to run the show smoothly.

Just like Antonio said, after fifteen minutes the DJ announced them as the band who was going to play next. After a warm greeting, filled with applause, Antonio announced the group.

"Buenas Noches mi gente!" Antonio says in an energized tone.

He was the leader of the group as well as the announcer.

"On this wonderful night, the band and I will be bringing you the biggest hits this evening. I want to congratulate Richy on his 21st birthday. Let's all give up a round of applause to him," and the people in the party cheered Richy with a round of applause.

"Now without further ado, I present to you, LOS AMIGOS DEL BARRIO!"