The team got word that another boy had been taken during the same evening of a previous lost victim. There was one difference between the newest victim and the other ones.
"So the younger brother of Shaun Rutledge, Billy, says that a young white guy in an RV attacked him with a crowbar in the rain," Aitana relayed her notes to the group as soon as she was done talking with the family. There were very big concerning factors that pointed to a spiraling from the unsub.
"He's changed his victim selection criteria," JJ voiced Aitana's thoughts. Penelope had already done some digging on their victim. "The boy he grabbed gets straight As, plays football, even volunteers at his church. So he wanted him so badly, he was willing to leave a witness?"
"Very," Aitana replied, "Billy says the unsub tried talking to them at least twice before attacking. And in different spots."
"Which suggests he's losing touch with reality and his delusions are starting to take over," said Spencer, prompting the concern to rise.
"What is it about this kid that was so attractive to him?" asked Emily. There was nothing specifically pointing to a clear answer.
"He was teenage and Caucasian like the others," Aitana said, throwing a thumb over her shoulder to point at the clear board. "Other than that, there's not much of a difference."
"So then what the hell is driving this guy?" Morgan was left to ask.
A few minutes of silence fell over the group as they worked to figure out the answer. In the end, JJ came up with a theory.
"What if he's trying to recreate someone he loves? It is an emotion that drives us to extremes. If he's trying to recreate someone, it's probably somebody he loved and lost."
"That would make sense," Aitana nodded slowly, "And Shaun was with his little brother…"
The group called in Garcia asking her to go over past victims and tornadoes in search of a victim that would fit their unsub's current profile.
"Okay, so there's only 10 victims with younger brothers who survived," Penelope informed them after a deep and thorough search.
"The unsub might have been a high-risk kid," said Hotch, "Garcia, how many of the survivors have criminal records?"
"I got two for you. First up is 27-year-old Justin Harris, had a DUI in 2008. Next is 22-year-old Travis James. Ooh, little troublemaker. Shoplifting, possession, and prostitution. Oh, my. And all when he was a minor."
"You got a home address or a vehicle registered in his name?" asked Rossi, thinking this would be their unsub, much like the others.
"Uh-uh. None."
Morgan went down a different path. "You got a photo on this guy?"
"It's on your tablet right now!"
Each of their tablets dinged with a notification. Morgan picked up his and turned the screen on. Aitana brought him the composite sketch that Billy had described of the unsub. It was a perfect match.
"In 2001, Travis James lost his big brother Tucker and his mom Jan when a tornado hit the McCleary Trailer Park in Enid, Oklahoma," Penelope briefly read aloud.
"That's just south of here," Hotch said "So our guy's a local."
Suddenly, the lights went out, leaving everyone in the dark.
"Hang on, Garcia. The power just went out!" Hotch warned the technical analyst before she decided to send them more information.
At the same time, thunder crashed. Aitana regretfully squeaked; she was back on the fear train. She startled again when she felt something on her back. Seconds later, she realized it was Spencer who had placed his hand on the middle of her back.
I'm such a child, Aitana said to herself. And yet she couldn't deny the comfort she felt knowing Spencer was right beside her. She preferred not to think more about it. Maybe the dark isn't such a bad thing.
The lights didn't return but the generators kicked in and allowed for the continuing use of the internet.
"Garcia, I think we're good. Keep going," Hotch instructed the blonde.
"Sometime before this evil tornado touched down, Travis, along with 5 other boys, testified against a one Roscoe Gulch. It appears that this Gulch character was a notorious pedophile in the area, and he was a resident of the same trailer park as Travis and his family. I'm looking at police reports now. It looks like brother Tucker had confronted this Gulch person lots of times. He even broke the creep's nose once."
"He was protecting his little brother," Emily nodded, knowing well that this must have been the reason the unsub took Shaun earlier.
"Ohh. And then the plot thickens. According to a statement from Travis, right after Gulch was acquitted, he and his brother went to Gulch's mobile home. A fight ensued. Travis said it was like his big brother went crazy. He heard tornado sirens soon after. He then ran to a drainage pipe nearby. After that, Tucker and Gulch somehow got trapped in the mobile home when the twister hit. Travis said he saw the mobile home get swallowed up by the tornado. And when he came out there was nothing left."
"Garcia, how old was Tucker when he was killed?" asked Morgan.
"Seventeen. He was found in pieces. It took his DNA and dental records to I. D. him. Travis went into foster care and he was reported missing in 2003. He ran away."
"Ten years ago his brother got ripped apart, and now he's trying to put him back together?" Rossi said, sounding utterly confused. "But why start killing now?"
"Garcia, send me current weather reports for the area, including radar images if you have them," instructed Hotch. He moved around the table to pick up a tablet.
"Ask and you shall receive. It is on your tablets!"
"With the weather in the area, he's going to be so excited, he won't wait," Hotch said to the others. "He'll take the boy to the closest area with the most activity."
When thunder crashed again, Spencer glanced at the windows. He paid close attention to the lightning now beginning to fall. It was all coming down quicker and stronger.
"It's Frankenstein," he realized,, eyes falling on Aitana who was doing her utter best to focus on her tablet and not the weather around them.
"What?" JJ prompted for the explanation.
"Aitana said it first," Spencer's words pulled Aitana's eyes off off her tablet.
"What I say?" she raised an eyebrow. "Besides my childish squeaks, of course."
"You said it way in the beginning — Frankenstein." Spencer blamed himself for not paying enough attention earlier. If he had, they could've ran with Aitana's guess long before other victims got caught.
"I say a lot of things," Aitana said nervously, "Half of them are probably stupid—"
"No," Spencer quickly dismissed such a statement. "You were onto it. The unsub isn't just trying to put his brother back together, he's trying to bring him back from the dead. He believes that tornadoes have the power to take life, so conversely, they should have the power to restore it."
"He genuinely believes in Frankenstein?" Aitana almost scolded herself for being so surprised. This wasn't the craziest case they handled.
"We need to get going now," Hotch directed the rest of the team to start getting ready.
They each gathered their thickest jackets, which weren't all that thick with this kind of weather.
They piled half and half in two cars and set out on the road. The storms were up and ready, getting stronger by the minute. Aitana would know — she was holding one tablet in her hand as Penelope updated them on the statuses.
"I found your trigger!" Penelope announced over the comms. "A year ago, a tornado ripped through a cemetery near Tulsa. One of the 53 graves that was disturbed was that of Tucker James."
"Ah, well, there's the reason for Frankenstein," Aitana said,, gripping the edges of the tablet. That last lightning sounded way too close to them. And unfortunately Morgan had to drive right to it.
"Garcia, those storm chasers at the university we talked to, they should be out in full force. I'm sending you their number now," they heard Hotch from the other car, "Tell them to be on the lookout for the unsub's RV. And, Garcia, patch into their radio chatter. They'll know where the storms are. We need to head into those areas with the most precipitation!"
"Mhm, so make a right at the next intersection," instructed Penelope, "It should be Pawnee Road."
"Hey, how exactly are we supposed to chase this storm?" asked JJ curiously. None of them had truly discussed the matter until now.
Spencer was more than helpful with the clarifications. "The unsub won't actually chase the storm. To get close to it, you have to get in front of it. It's a little like playing chicken."
"Well I don't like this game," Aitana promptly announced. She couldn't possibly sound anymore like a child and she was eternally grateful that nobody was pointing it out.
"Uh oh," they heard Emily say. "It's frozen!"
A moment later, Aitana did the same thing. She banged the side of her tablet, an old family habit when devices stopped working. "No internet! The weather must be affecting the upload."
"I'm patching Garcia in," Hotch informed the others. "Garcia, we just lost our Internet and we need you to guide us into the storm."
"Consider me your eyes and ears, sir!"
Aitana put her tablet down and resigned herself to stare out the front window. Morgan kept driving forwards until Penelope started giving them directions.
"Ok, guys, a twister has been spotted near Rose Hill just south of your position. The storm-chaser dudes are calling it a landspout!"
"We don't want that one," Spencer was quick to say, "Landspout tornados are relatively insignificant. Look for hook echoes on your monitor."
"Hey, hook echoes. Yeah. Ok, I'm gonna do that. Just tell me what they are!"
"Tell all of us please," they heard Rossi say, causing a small round of chuckles.
Spencer went ahead and explained it anyways. "They're swirling hook-like radar signatures that look surprisingly like what you'd expect them to."
Penelope did her diligence and searched for it on her monitors. "Ok. Uh... No, I don't see anything like that."
"They'll likely form in those red and violet areas on the map."
"I don't see anything that looks even remotely like that – oh wait! Yes, I see it. Oh, that's gotta be it!"
"Where, Garcia?" called Hotch.
"Oh, no, no!"
Everyone could feel the panic setting in Penelope's voice.
"What? What is it?" asked JJ.
"There are two!"
"We'll have to split up," Hotch decided quickly, "Which way, Garcia?"
"Uh, ok. Half of you can stay in your current heading. The other half, make a right on Meadowlark Road!"
"Morgan, take Meadowlark Road," Hotch instructed the other car, "We'll keep going."
"Got it." Morgan took a swift turn to the right as soon as it came up.
A moment later, Penelope called in again with the news that Morgan's car was the closest to their unsub. Morgan had no choice but to pick up speed despite the horrible weather. Aitana's heart raced as soon as she saw an actual tornado up ahead. It was far, yes, but to her it might as well be in front of her.
"What's that up there? Near the old house!" Spencer pointed to a flashing light in the same direction as the tornado Aitana watched.
"That's gotta be him," JJ said, spotting the shape of an RV next to the old house.
Morgan came to a stop as quickly as possible and then the four were climbing out just as fast. Behind them, the lead detective was also getting out of his car to join them.
"Travis James!" Morgan called to the brunette man across from them. "FBI! Put the weapon down!"
Their unsub turned out to be almost young looking. He was holding Shaun at knife – or jack hammer – hold.
"You get back!" Travis yelled at them urgently.
"We can't do that, Travis!"
"I said get back!"
"Are you hard of hearing or something?" JJ snapped.
Aitana silently drew back. Spencer figured it was the close proximity of the tornado getting to her and he thought it was just fine if she decided to back out. They could take it.
"Just let Shaun go and we can work this out!" Morgan insisted.
"That's his name, you know. He has a little brother, too," JJ called out. She had to scream to be heard. The tornado was closing in on them.
"We know you saw them when you attacked them," Spencer took his turn, "Let him go!"
Aitana was trudging around the RV as fast as possible but the wind was challenging her from all angles. Her hand slammed against the RV to keep her steady. She head to lower her head to avoid debris beginning to fly with the wind.
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! She pushed against the wind, finally making a turn around the RV.
"Just go!" Travis exclaimed. "Get out of here, please!" The agents and detective could hear Travis' frantic tone; he had an absolute urgency to complete his plan.
"Travis, Tucker would not want this!" Morgan insisted. "He would want to protect you like he did with Roscoe Gulch."
"That bastard was guilty!" Travis spat.
Aitana was coming up behind Travis, her body shaking both out of fear and cold and yet her hands were gripping her gun.
"Just let him go and we can help you," JJ said.
"We don't need your help!" Travis spat.
"Well if you don't, I'll have to shoot you!" Aitana called out, forcing Travis to look behind and see her.
"We need to get cover now!" The lead detective was telling the others. Thunder was turning stronger as the tornado grew only minutes away.
Aitana could feel the cold practically turn to ice on her back. Blinking steadily became hard as images came to her mind, images she tried her hardest not to remember.
"Travis, c'mon!" called Spencer, "You need to put the weapon down! The tornado's coming!"
Travis growled and shoved Shaun forwards. As soon as the teenager was free, JJ scrambled to pick him and bring him to their side. Meanwhile, Travis swung his ax at Aitana, forcing the brunette to fire. The bullet went straight to the ground but the force of her fire threw her back.
Travis didn't seem to care about anything else, not even the open shot he had at the agent. He picked up the plastic bag of body parts he'd collected and started straight for the tornado.
"Let's go! Let's go!" The lead detective yelled, now running for the nearest shelter which luckily had been unlocked.
Aitana had just sat up when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her off the ground. She fell into Spencer's arms, barely taking in a breath when Spencer was already pulling her towards the shelter. They were the last ones inside. The detective shut the doors right on time because the tornado was right on them. Wind howled and things crashed. All the group could do was wait it out, in the dark, and in the cold.
Aitana leaned back against the wall, her fingers digging in her hair. Images flashed in her mind again without permission.
Darkness. Howling. Agonizing wait.
Without realizing it, her breathing became the heaviest in the cellar. Everyone else did – she was going to start panicking for real.
Like before, Aitana startled at a foreign sensation. Someone's hand took hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. Aitana slowly glanced to her right and made out Spencer nodding encouragingly at her. She took in a series of shaky breaths, focusing on that and only that. But she did squeeze Spencer's hand like she was dying.
~ 0 ~
For the rest of the night, the team was remanded at the precinct. Even getting to their hotel was out of the question with the tornado. Still, things were more lighthearted now that their job was done for the time being. It was different…sort of.
When they returned, Aitana had sat herself down in the corner of the conference room and had not come out nor moved since then. She had taken to counting, both in English and Spanish – at least that's what Emily told the others when she walked past the room on one occasion. She was truly afraid, nobody could deny that.
"Hey..."
Aitana stopped on 50 and looked up from the table.
Spencer stood there holding a coffee cup in his hand, motioning it to Aitana. "I found some tea," he told her with a small smile. "My choice would've been Chamomile because that's good for the nerves but I couldn't find that one."
"Thank you but I still can't eat," Aitana shook her head. "Or drink."
"Mm," Spencer started coming with a little sway that Aitana picked up on. "Not even if I had some…chocolate?" Because a moment later, he was taking out a small chocolate bar. "Dark chocolate helps reduce stress, anxiety, all that stuff…and it's actually really good. Most people don't really like the bitter taste but I think it's pretty good." He stood in front of Aitana's chair, holding out the two options in his hands.
"Now it really feels like Harry Potter," Aitana said with a little smile on her lips. "But I really can't stomach anything right now."
"It's your own brain telling you that. You should take just a small bite, or sip?"
Aitana figured she should stop being rude when Spencer had been a lot of help lately. One little bite wouldn't be so bad. "Thank you," she whispered as she took the chocolate bar.
"I'm sorry we're stuck here," Spencer said, watching Aitana take a bite of the chocolate. He really needed her to eat something. JJ had pointed out earlier that no one had seen Aitana eat since the morning. They were halfway through the night now.
"It's not your fault. You're not in charge of the weather," Aitana said, cracking the bar in two. She held up the half she hadn't bitten from.
Spencer smiled and took it.
"I'm not a child, I promise," Aitana said, biting on her bottom lip. "I wasn't this afraid of tornadoes before…"
Spencer grabbed a seat beside Aitana and set his snacks on the table. He eyed Aitana, the profiler in him coming out whether or not he wanted it. "What tornado did this to you?" He asked.
Aitana drew in a breath. "I was still in WPP."
"Ah…"
"After I left San Diego, they stuck me in Kentucky," Aitana swallowed hard. "I lived there on my own in this house that was part of a rural town. I didn't make friends there, obviously after San Diego…"
"You didn't want to risk anyone else," Spencer understood. It was a sad logic.
"Yeah. There was a tornado warning and I had to take shelter by myself. I was underground for a whole night, on my own, in the dark…" She shook her head fervently the moment she felt tears stinging her eyes.
That made perfect sense to Spencer. It would feed a fear enough to cause this kind of fright. "And did that happen once?"
"N-o," Aitana choked the answer out. She had to lower her head. She was too embarrassed now.
It was dumb question to ask given Kentucky was known for its tornadoes but Spencer liked to think that maybe while Aitana lived there, she had only gone through that experience once. He was sad to see that it was not the case.
"I'm sorry about that, but you don't have to be ashamed of that," he told her. He lowered his head to try and catch Aitana's gaze.
"Spencer, I'm 27. I shouldn't be this afraid. This is stuff for my preschool-aged nephew."
"Age has nothing to do with fears," Spencer said, "It's actually pretty common. Take my fear for example."
"Germs?" Aitana managed a half smile. "Then I suppose I must be scaring living daylights out of you. You had to hold my hand for about an hour. Sorry."
Spencer laughed gently. He hadn't even thought about that. "I don't usually have the fear when it's about my friends."
"Still, you've helped me a lot today and I really appreciate it but I really should get over it."
"It doesn't work like that, unfortunately," Spencer shrugged. "We can manage it and sometimes with the right kind of therapy you can overcome it but it's not a big deal if you can't. If you can't, then you should at least let your friends help you out. But can I ask you something?"
"Mhm, anything."
"Have you talked about your time in Witness with anyone?" Spencer knew the answer as soon as he asked because Aitana stiffened in her spot and frankly looked guilty.
"It's...it's just not something I think people should hear, you know?" she pressed her lips together. "When I first got out, my family was so happy that I was finally back. I was getting hugged and kissed and reassured that everything was going to be okay now...It was hard bringing up my time in the program. It wasn't very happy, you know?"
Spencer nodded. "It's hard to break people's illusions that everything is not okay." Aitana felt like he was speaking from direct experience and wondered if it was about his mother. "I'm sure that you felt like you'd be the bad guy talking about it, but it does help. I swear."
Aitana half smiled. "I believe you. I went to therapy — it was mandated if I wanted to work in the FBI — but I never really kept up with it. I feel okay, honestly, way better than when I first got out. I just got bad at keeping the schedule, you know? And sometimes...sometimes moments like these pop up and I freeze. Tornadoes is on the bingo card, I guess."
"And that's nothing to be ashamed of," Spencer insisted. "But I'll tell you what, we can the night one hour at a time. Right now, let's start by just continuing to eat, okay? Some carbs would help too."
Aitana eyed the chocolate bar in her hand. "Mm...I'm not a nutritionist, but I'm pretty sure a chocolate bar has little to no carbs in it."
Spencer chuckled and admitted that she was right. "I can find something better, I promise. Carbohydrates raise the serotonin in your brain which can help you calm down."
"I will take your word for it," Aitana took another bite of her chocolate. "But I'm not so sure about the tea..." she said with her sights set on the abandoned tea cup on the table.
"I'll forgive you if you eat the chocolate bar."
"Ooh, I like that deal!"
Spencer smiled as he watched her take a much more excited bite of her chocolate. "So, you were counting...is that for the tornadoes?"
"You know the whole 'count to 10 and the lightning will seem like it's going away' thing? Yeah, that's what I was going for. I just wanted to be extra sure so I counted in Spanish too."
Spencer chuckled. He liked her methods. "Right. Can I count with you?"
"You want to do that? It's boring."
"It's a mechanism for you to feel less afraid," Spencer shrugged, "I want to help. Can I?"
"I mean…of course, I just…I don't know, I figured you'd want to rest after this case," Aitana said, pulling one leg up on her chair. She rested one arm over her knee and proceeded to further break her chocolate up.
"I can read on the plane. Besides, maybe I can learn a little bit of Spanish with you?" Spencer's awkward smile made Aitana laugh. "It's the only language I can't really master."
"It's pretty easy," Aitana said in between chews. "The great thing about Spanish is that the way it's written is the way it's said unlike our dear English language."
"You can see why I get frustrated then," Spencer said, "So maybe we can kill two birds with the same stone. I will help you forget the tornado and you help me learn some Spanish."
"Okay," Aitana nodded, "Va."
"Va?"
Aitana grinned. "Your first Spanish lesson. It means 'alright'. Like, 'you want to go the store'? And you can say 'va'."
"Va…" Spencer repeated as slowly as possible, eyebrows knitting together as he learned the word.
Thunder crashed much too close for Aitana's liking.
"Va, let's start counting then," she said, taking in a deep breath. This time, however, she found it easier to focus than before. Every now and then, her counting would be interrupted with her own laugh. It was hilarious the way Spencer pronounced '13'. Trece.
She forgot all about tornadoes.
A/N:
As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)