The team was halfway through their dinner when a cop came rushing into the room they were using. The look on his face told the team all they needed to know, and JJ immediately panicked.
"We just got a call," he announced, the team already standing and ready for action. "Cameron Marks, a single mother got home to find her daughter, Meghan, hadn't returned from school. She normally goes straight home, and her mother can't reach her on her cell phone."
"Brunette with brown eyes?" Hotch asked from where he stood at the table.
"Yes sir," the officer replied.
"Alright, JJ and Morgan you two head to the Marks house and talk to the mother," Hotch ordered, both agents nodding before heading out, knowing they could get the address from an officer on their way.
"I assume you know the girls route home from school?" Hotch then asked, turning to the officer who still stood near the door, now nodding. "Alright Rossi and I will head there and see if we can find out anything. Tara, Reid you two get with Garcia find out everything you can on Meghan and her mother Cameron, and we'll call you when we have something for the geographic profile," he said before leading Rossi out the door.
Tara immediately got on the phone, "Office of the All-knowing."
"Garcia we have another missing girl," Tara quickly told her picturing Garcia setting her hands over the keyboard, ready for instructions. "We need to find everything you can on Meghan Marks and her mother Cameron Marks."
"Find out if she has any connection to the other girls as well," Reid called out.
"Got it, I'll get back to you in a jiffy, Garcia out!"
As soon as JJ and Morgan had the address to the Mark's residence they were out the door. With Morgan at the wheel they were at the house in record time; approaching the small, redbrick home and quickly knocking on the front door. When the door opened it was to reveal a distraught looking Cameron Marks; a woman in her mid-thirties with short brown hair and eyes full of tears.
"Ms. Marks," JJ greeted, pulling out her badge, "We're Agents Jareau and Morgan with the FBI," she explained. "We have a team of agents and cops out searching for your daughter, but we need to ask you a few questions, may we come in?"
"O—of course," Cameron stuttered, wiping away a few tears as she moved to let the agents in, "Was it—I mean do you think it was—was it the same man that took those other girls?"
"We can't be certain ma'am," Morgan replied, moving into the family room. JJ caught sight of a photo of the young girl, visibly flinching as she saw the similarities to her own daughter. "But given your daughter's physical attributes we think it's very likely," he explained. "I hope you know we're going to do everything we can to find Meghan. We'll be working all night to bring her home."
"Can you tell us a little bit about your daughter?" JJ asked, gesturing towards the couch wanting Cameron to sit down. "Give us an idea of what kind of kid she is."
JJ was really trying; she was going to do everything in her power to bring this little girl home safely, but she kept thinking why the hell are all these 10 year olds alone anyways? Yes, single mother, but seriously? Why not hire someone? I could never imagine my girls being alone.
"She's uh—she's 10. I know you're probably judging me for not having anyone watching her. Normally my mother is here however, she has the flu. I was adopted and she's older than a typical mother for my age, it wasn't safe for her to drive being so sick and frail. Oh god—this is all my fault I should have just come home. I'm going to lose my daughter because I was at work."
JJ moved to sit next to her rubbing small circles on her back, "This isn't your fault, you had no way of knowing, Cameron. What's Meghan like, can you tell me?" she said lovingly.
"She's a pretty quiet kid. She likes to read and spends most of her time writing stories," she explained finding a little comfort in JJ. "She has a few close friends that she spends her weekends with, but for the most part she likes to stay home with me."
"Was she involved in any extra-curricular activities?" Morgan asked.
"No," Cameron shook her head. "Meghan doesn't particularly enjoy being in large groups, she's pretty shy when she's around people she doesn't know well."
"Did she know Angela Harris, Kathryn Jones or Haley Dekker?" JJ asked, showing Cameron school pictures of the three girls.
"No, when we saw them on the news, she said she'd never seen them before. However, I guess it could be possible she's come across them at some point or another. She always has her head in a book, like I said, she's super shy."
"Did she always walk home alone?" JJ then questioned wondering why a shy girl would have walked home alone after the warning at her school that day.
"No," Cameron replied, wiping away the tears that fell down her cheek. "She always walked to our house with her best friend, she lives right down the street but—she was home sick today, I should have picked her up," she sobbed. "It's just the two of us and I work until five so I can't pick her up from school. But I should have, I should have done something! Meghan is, she's not someone who would just approach someone and ask for a ride. Gosh, I don't know what to do. She's all I have, she's my whole world!"
"I know this is hard," JJ said, "All of this, answering these questions helps us and we're going to do everything we can to find Meghan, you just need to trust us."
"Do you have children?" Cameron asked JJ.
"I do, three little girls," JJ tried not to get choked up. Morgan could see JJ starting to slowly lose it, she'd been on edge all day because of her girls.
"I can tell," Cameron said, "Please bring my baby back."
"I will do everything in my power," JJ said, grabbing Cameron's hand.
When Hotch had called about the crime scene, Reid moved to work on his map adding Meghan's school and home to his geographic profile, better able to guess the area where the unsub may live.
Hotch and Rossi had returned first explaining they had found Meghan's cell phone on her route home, knowing there was nothing they could get from it since the unsub had obviously chosen Meghan at random and out of convenience.
"Did you get anything from the scene though?" Reid asked as the two older men took seats at the table.
"We found tire marks not too far from where the phone was found," Rossi replied, "We can't really be sure but we're assuming they're from our guy."
"They were near the entrance to a park between two trees so from the looks of it he keeps his car just out of sight but somehow manages to get the girls off the road and out of sight to anyone who may pass by," Hotch explained.
"That's not conclusive, he may just park there for a while. We don't know if he actually leaves his car there. He could be using a ruse of some sort," Rossi suggested.
"That's what I thought too," Reid nodded. "Now we just have to figure out what it is because this kidnapping seems unplanned for our unsub, he likes to study the girls first, this was too random," he said just as Morgan and JJ returned.
"Well from the sounds of it, Meghan Marks is basically the complete opposite of our other girls," JJ said as she sat down, her shoulders slumping.
"Her mother described her as being shy. Her best friend who normally walks home with her was sick today, as was her grandmother who typically stays with her until Cameron gets home from work, something's off about this guys," Morgan continued.
"So Meghan fits the physical victimology of the other girls, but she has a vastly different personality," Reid said. "Which means the unsub obviously chose her on a whim. He saw an opportunity and he took it."
"Meaning he must have followed the other girls long enough to get an idea of what they were like," Tara pointed out, glancing quickly at JJ who she knew was struggling.
"So he must have seen my press conference," JJ concluded quietly.
"Most likely," Hotch nodded, "and now he's trying to prove he can outsmart us."
"So what does this mean for Meghan?" JJ asked, once again unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
"This guy wants these girls to fit some sort of delusion," Rossi replied. "Some sort of fantasy—maybe they're a surrogate for someone, but Meghan isn't going to fit this role."
"Which means?" JJ asked again.
"Which means we need to find her," Hotch told the blonde, turning his attention to the rest of the team, "and fast!"
"Agent Hotchner?" an officer asked and Hotch turned to look at him. "We just had a witness walk in."
The team didn't need to be told twice, they all jumped up knowing this was the break they needed, but also all thinking the same thing, why the hell didn't this man come in sooner.
"Mr. Grey," Rossi greeted, "I'm agent Rossi and this is agent Morgan, what can you tell us?"
"I didn't realize I had witnessed anything until I turned on the news after work. My kids are all older now and I remember many times having to physically pick them up to get anything done—I assumed this father was doing the same thing." Mr. Grey explained as the agents listened.
JJ was on the other side of the glass fuming, how the hell do you justify that? Do I pick up my kids, yes, but geez! Something isn't right. How do you just let that happen? God this sucks!
"I saw the little girl walking and she smiled at me, I returned it before getting back into my car. I'm a plumber and had just left the house she was near. We were on the same street and I was about to get into my car but I heard a dog—"
"Dog?" Morgan asked in confusion. "What dog?"
"Big golden retriever. I heard barking and turned around to see the thing bounding up the street towards the girl. He was friendly, but it appeared he got away from his owner because there was a guy standing a little bit in front of the girl. I thought it must be her dad and her dog. I didn't really get a great look at him, he was wearing a hat and sunglasses but was putting something into his own van and called for the dog. His hands were full so the girl started to lead the dog back. Looking innocent enough, but I kept watching anyways because it seemed as if the dog followed the girl even though she kept looking down at it not doing anything for the dog to actually follow. One minute the girl and dog were walking, the next minute the guy was, what I thought to be dad was scooping her up and putting her in the car. Like I said, I've been in those shoes and if my kids were being defiant, I've done the same thing. It seemed like she may have been saying something, but I didn't realize she didn't know him. It wasn't until I saw the news that I knew it wasn't okay. I swear."
"We believe you Mr. Grey. Can you tell us anything about the van? Color, make, distinguishing features? License plate?" Rossi asked.
"I didn't get a license plate, but the van was dark, black, dark blue, no black. There was writing on the side, but I couldn't read what it said."
"Writing?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, and some sort of picture. It was hard to tell from the angle it was parked but it looked like some sort of animal or something. Is that helpful?"
"I think so, thank you so much for your help," Rossi said as they headed out.
"Agent Rossi? Could you let me know if you find the girl? I feel absolutely terrible I didn't realize anything until now."
"Absolutely," Rossi replied, angry at the guy for not coming in sooner.
"Could be from a shelter?" Reid quickly suggested. "Sometimes you see the vans out picking up strays that have been called in."
"Garcia is already looking, she's on it."
Just then the phone rang, "I did what you said and searched animal shelters or any places in the area associated with animals that use vans; I came up with two local shelters that have vans that look like the one you described and I emailed you those photos."
"Can you bring up a list of employees?" Reid asked.
"Can I bring up a list of employees," Garcia mumbled, sounding slightly offended, "In my sleep Reid. What do you want me to do with the list?"
"We're looking for a man most likely in his late thirties or early forties," Rossi said, the sound of Garcia's typing coming through the phone.
"I need more, what else?"
"The dog ran right towards Meghan who is extremely shy, but it also followed her—it must be well trained so it has to be our unsubs," Morgan said, "He'd have to register the dog. Baby girl, do any of the employees have golden retrievers?"
"Yahtzee! Erik Palmer recently lost what appears to be a pretty nasty custody battle with his ex when his 10-year-old daughter ultimately told the court that she wanted to live with her mother and not her father," she explained. "She and her mother moved to California at the end of last month."
"Which triggered him to start killing. Garcia the girl, is she brunette with brown eyes?"
"Just like the other victims," Garcia confirmed sadly, sending the team a photo and address for Erik. "Be safe my loves."
Erik Palmer knew he messed up. He was usually so careful. He took his time, thought things out and made sure that he wasn't caught—but today was different. In his haste to get another girl to teach her a lesson, he had forgotten himself. He didn't take his time, he didn't hide his car and he had allowed himself to be seen. Erik couldn't be positive just how much the man down the street had seen, but he had a feeling it was enough to get him into serious trouble.
But even though Erik knew all of this, he took the girl home anyways. He should have let her go, should have gotten rid of her like the rest, but he couldn't. This one was special. He had to teach her a lesson first, make sure she learned to respect her father not realizing she didn't have one. He knew he would have to be fast, he wouldn't be able to take the time that he normally would, but he was okay with that—he just needed a couple of hours, that would do.
So Erik pulled onto his property, drove his van down the long driveway, immediately pulling up in front of the back shed. Looking into the back of the van, he saw the girl was still passed out from the chloroform he had used on her earlier. Getting out of the vehicle, Erik went around to the back tying the girls hands and feet together before carrying her into the shed, leaving her on the floor and locking her in. He didn't have a lot of time, so he quickly moved his van into the garage before running inside to get what he needed for his lesson.
He always used a knife. He liked to take his time with the girls, but he didn't know how much time he had so he grabbed his gun and stuffed it into the back of his pants just in case. He would try to take his time, but if he had to end it quickly, he was ready.
From the satellite pictures Garcia sent of the property it looked rather large. There was a house as well as a barn and some sort of storage shed as well. Plus there were woods outlining the property, he could be hiding Meghan anywhere.
"Rossi, Reid, Tara and I will take the main house," Hotch said, "From the plans Garcia found there's three levels so we'll need to span out and ensure he's not keeping the girl anywhere in there," he explained. "Morgan, you and JJ take the other two buildings. Start with the barn and then check out the shed. Do a quiet entry and stick together."
"Shouldn't we wait for SWAT?" JJ asked, worriedly.
"There's still another half hour out," Hotch replied, "Meghan might not have that much time, we have to move now."
"Vests on, heads up, stick together. We need to bring this girl home," Rossi added.
"Alright, we'll check the barn first then the shed," Morgan said as they walked towards their destination, both scanning the area. "It looks like there's an entrance at the back as well as the front," he pointed out. "I'll go around that way and you can take the front that way if he tries to run I can cut him off."
"Hotch said we need to stay together," JJ replied, suddenly feeling anxious as a bad feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.
"We will be, but we can't risk losing this guy. We've gotta cover the back, give me 60 seconds to get there and we'll enter together, alright?"
"Okay," JJ reluctantly agreed. "60 seconds." Her senses were on high alert as she scanned the property waiting for Morgan to give her the go ahead. Glancing at her watch, JJ heard a noise coming from somewhere to her right, taking note of the shed that stood that way.
"Morgan, did you hear that?" JJ asked, waiting for an answer but receiving silence. "Morgan?" she repeated, suddenly realizing she could no longer hear the rest of her teammates in her earpiece either. "SHIT!" she muttered, just as she heard another sound coming from the shed, "Dammit."
Careful not to make a sound, JJ slowly and quietly approached the door to the shed, listening before gently pushing it forward. Entering with her gun first, JJ quickly scanned the relatively small shed seeing no movement. She looked down after hearing a muffled noise, her eyes falling on Meghan Marks whose mouth was covered with duct tape, arms and legs which were covered in cuts and taped together to prevent her from running.
"Meghan," JJ gasped, putting her gun in her holster and dropping to the ground beside the little girl, "It's okay, you're okay," she hushed, "I'm going to take this tape off. It might hurt, I'm sorry sweetie," she said, receiving a teary nod, "One, two, three," she counted before yanking off the silver tape.
"You have to help me," Meghan immediately sobbed, her head falling against JJ's shoulder, "He's going to kill me."
"You're safe now baby, I've got you," JJ assured her. "Did you see where the man went? Where did he go, honey?"
"I don't know," Meghan sobbed, her whole body shaking against JJ, "He—he was cutting me and—and then we heard something and he taped my mouth and left. I want my mommy, I want to go home."
"I know baby, let's get you out of here," JJ said, knowing they were still at risk of Palmer returning, "It'll be okay, we'll go see your mommy," she said reaching to begin untying the bonds that were holding the girls hands together not hearing anyone entering behind her.
"Get away from her," Erik Palmer's steely, calm voice sounded from behind her as he cocked his gun against her head. "Stand up slowly and don't even think of moving for your gun," he instructed as JJ raised her hands, carefully standing up. Palmer eventually taking her gun off her hip, "Good, now turn around and step away from her."
She turned to face the older man taking a step towards him keeping herself in front of Meghan while successfully getting Erik to step away. "You don't have to do this," she said, her hands still up in the air, "Just let Meghan go."
"No, I can't. She hasn't learned her lesson yet. She needs to learn," he said quickly, sounding agitated.
"Erik she didn't do anything," JJ said, taking another step forward as Erik took another step back. "I know your daughter hurt you when she left Erik, but this girl isn't your daughter. Meghan didn't do anything. You need to let her go."
"No! No, they are all the same!" Erik shook his head, "She's just the same as my Maggie. She needs to learn."
"Please," Meghan sobbed from behind JJ. "Please, I've learned my lesson," she cried. "I just want to go home, please."
"Liar!" Erik shouted, moving to the side so his gun was now trained on the girl instead of JJ. "They always lie! She said she loved me, but she didn't love me. She just left me! Ran away with her mother and left me! She didn't love me she never did!"
"No, that's not true Erik," JJ quickly assured him, knowing she needed to do something fast, silently hoping her team was headed their way. "Your daughter loves you, but she had to make an impossible choice. So why don't you let Meghan go and we can leave here. You can go see Maggie."
"Yeah, because they're really going to let me see her now," Erik replied sarcastically, "I'm not stupid agent. I'm not going to see my daughter again, and I can't do much about that, but I can do something about her! She will learn!" The man stood with his gun shaking in front of him, still trained on the younger brunette, turning his head slightly towards JJ, "I have to do this! There's no choice."
"NO!" JJ yelled, jumping out in front of Meghan just as the shot rang.
BANG!
"Hello?" Emily answered her phone while making dinner for her girls.
"Em, I uh—I," Morgan muttered.
"Morgan what happened? What happened to Jen?"
"She uh—she's been shot." Morgan could hear a loud noise in the background not knowing what happened.
Emily had dropped to the floor, the utensil falling out of her hand. "I um—I need go—"
"Em, I've already called Garcia and she booked you tickets. I know you'd want to get to her immediately, she'll meet you there. She booked you three tickets knowing Lily doesn't need one. Jen told me yesterday your parents are out of town, we can watch them when you get here. Jen's in surgery, but she's gonna be fine."
"I'm leaving now." Emily quickly packed a bag for the girls with the essentials, diapers, snacks, Lily's blankie, Oakley's elephant, Amelia's bear, extra clothes, books and coloring supplies—by the time she finished she hadn't even known what else was in the bag. "Babies," Emily said, capturing the attention of the girls, "we're going to go on a plane, okay? We need to leave now."
"Mommy, why are you sad?" Amelia asked, starting to panic.
"I'm okay baby, we just, we need to go." Emily scooped up the littles and Amelia followed closely behind.
"Mommy, I'm scared," Amelia said, shaking as she watched her mother strap in her sisters.
"It's okay baby, we're going to see your aunt and uncles okay? We'll see them and momma okay?"
"Momma?" Oakley asked.
"Yes baby, we're going to see momma." Emily drove carefully to protect her children, but she was frantic. Her mind was racing; she knew it wasn't a good idea to bring the girls, she had no idea what was in store when she got to the hospital, but she had to. Her parents weren't home and she couldn't wait for anyone else. Garcia was meeting her at the airport and flying out with them. The help would be great, but her mind was racing. She needed them with her, she needed their comfort. Emily Prentiss needed her babies and needed her wife to be okay.
The plane ride was one of the most excruciating things she's ever been through. After getting the girls some food, the littles fell asleep. Lily was in her lap, Oakley was on her right with her head in Garcia's lap. Amelia was terrified, looking out the window, while her mother ran her fingers through her hair.
Emily tried to explain the best she could but didn't want to scare the girls. Luckily, the littles didn't understand, but Amelia did. She's lost so much, don't let her lose another mother, please. Emily was begging, begging for anyone to listen.
Morgan said on the phone she was going into surgery, said she would be fine, but Emily couldn't process that. She needed to see her wife for herself. Tears threatening to fall since boarding the plane and seeing her babies so upset.
"Mommy?"
"It's going to be okay, baby. Everything is going to be okay," Emily said, snuggling up to Amelia, her head falling onto her mother's shoulder.
Waiting had never been one of Emily's strengths. The longer she sat in the waiting room waiting for someone to come tell her about her wife, the more impatient she became. Amelia was snuggled up in her lap, Lily in Rossi's and Oakley in Garcia's, the rest of the team still not there yet. That fact alone scared Emily knowing they must still be searching for Erik Palmer if they weren't there.
"Mommy?" Amelia called softly, pulling the brunette from her thoughts.
"What is it, baby?"
"What—what if, what if momma—" she stuttered, struggling to voice her worries.
"Hey," Emily stopped her, understanding what her daughter was thinking. "Momma is going to be fine, we're not going to lose her. The doctors are fixing her boo boo and then we can go see her. Momma is the strongest person we know and she's going to be fine." Amelia nodded, tears streaking her face as she buried herself further into Emily.
"I've got you baby, mommy's got you. I know you're scared, but you don't need to be because everything is going to be okay."
The mother and daughter fell silent both taking comfort in each other's presence they continued waiting. Garcia and Rossi were both frowning watching the interaction with a little girl in their arms knowing they were both seeking comfort in the girls as well. It was a few minutes later that a shadow fell across Emily and Amelia, and Emily looked up to find Cameron Marks.
"Are you agent Jareau's family?" Cameron asked, looking slightly unsure of herself even though JJ had shared a picture of her little girls while at the house earlier. She was pretty certain they were her girls but wasn't positive.
"Yes, I am, we are," Emily replied with a confused look. Luckily for her, Rossi stood up with Lily and walked over to introduce the pair.
"I just really wanted to come and thank you," Cameron smiled after explaining what had happened.
"Oh—of course." Emily said, trying to be strong for her children.
"How's Agent Jareau?"
"She's still in surgery but she's going to be fine," Emily replied, glancing at Amelia sitting her lap, visibly upset.
"I know Meghan and I would really like to thank her when she's up for visitors," Cameron said, grateful for the woman who had jumped in front of her daughter to prevent her from being shot.
"I'm sure Jennifer would love to see you both," Emily said, smiling. Despite the fear she currently felt, she was very proud of her wife for protecting the little girl.
"Are these your daughters?" Cameron said, gesturing towards the girls in each of their arms.
"Yes, these are our girls; Amelia, Lily and Oakley." Emily nodded, pointing to each child.
"Agent Jareau showed me a picture when I asked her if she had children, I recognized you from the photo as well. They are beautiful."
"Thank you," Emily said, and Amelia looked towards the women.
"Your mother is a hero, Amelia. She saved my little girls life. You should be very proud," Cameron said, to which Amelia curled up into Emily even more. She didn't want to think about losing another mother. She knew this lady was trying to be nice but she was too upset. "Well, I will give you all some privacy and I'll check in later. Thank you again, Emily."
"Of course," Emily nodded. "Thank you, Cameron." As she walked away, Emily tightened the grip on her daughter, "I love you so much, baby girl," she whispered, once again kissing her head.
The team walked in and all took a seat next to the Prentiss family, seeing two out of the three girls were asleep. "Has there been any word yet?" Reid asked.
"Not yet, but it can't be much longer now. How did it go at the scene, did you find what you were looking for," Emily asked, raising an eyebrow and signaling Amelia in her arms. Luckily the team caught on.
"We found tire tracks leading out from the middle of the woods," Hotch replied quietly, "He must have had a vehicle stashed out there for a quick getaway."
"Em, I'm so—" Morgan started to say but Emily put her hand up to stop him. Morgan knew his best friend was upset with him for having separated with JJ in the first place and he understood.
"The locals are still looking and Garcia will do some searches as soon as we hear about—" he stopped himself, before mentioning her name.
The team gathered sitting uncharacteriscally close together for the girls and for everyone's comfort. Just then they saw a man in blue scrubs making his way into the area and turning his attention towards the group.
"Jennifer Prentiss?"