A/N – sorry for the delay work has been horrendously busy, hope that this chapter makes up for it!

Chapter 18 –

It was still dark when Alex walked into the bullpen, yawning as she made her way over to get herself a cup of coffee. Her shoulder was healing but still aggravated her some times and by rolling onto it whilst in bed she had woken herself up when a sharp yelp of pain left her mouth, unable to get back to sleep Alex had decided to head into work. As she stood behind her chair and put her coffee down Alex stretched her long arms, gently at first as she worked the knots out of her wound. Finally she sat down and turned her computer on, picking up her phone as she saw the red flashing light, indicating that she had some voicemail messages.

"Special Agent Blake this is Mark Elmore the warden at USP McCreary, I need to speak to you urgently in regards to communication from Sam Davis, you can reach me on my office phone, I'll be waiting for your call."

Immediately Alex's eyes opened wide as she put the phone down, ignoring the mass of other messages instead searching quickly for the phone number that she needed before Alex picked up her phone once again.

"Warden Mark Elmore."

Good morning Sir this is Special Agent Blake, I've just received your message, what's the problem?"

"Thank you for responding Agent Blake, I haven't left the office since I phoned you. As you know we stopped Sam Davis from having any communication privileges and he has been in isolation since your fellow agents were here a few days ago."

Alex stayed quiet, listening carefully as she heard the warden take in a deep breath.

"We have been keeping a close eye on all communication leaving the prison and a letter caught our attention it was from Drew Jackson, he was once Davis's cell mate."

"What does the letter say?"

"It's like the ones that Sam Davis sent, pretty non-descript but the fact that they read like Davis's letters certainly stood out."

"Can you send it over to me?"

"Of course."

Alex listened as Mark Elmore stood up and she could hear him faxing the document.

"I want you to know Agent Blake that we are containing this problem and we've drafted in extra staff to monitor all communication going in and out of the prison."

"Thank you Sir and your cooperation has been invaluable, we'll be in touch as soon as we've got any other information."

Alex put the phone down and immediately headed over to the fax machine, taking the single sheet of paper back to her desk where she immersed herself in decoding what it really meant.

Garcia swiftly moved out of her office, she had been closeted in there all night and she had ensured that her concentration had been on the CCTV cameras outside the safe house but then a little while ago she had seen three people leave in a black SUV and a minute ago that vehicle had pulled into the car park at Quantico. A warm smile enveloped her face as Garcia saw the three women exiting the elevator and immediately her arms wrapped around Kate's body, her face forming a frown as she felt the frail body.

"Can you take Kate up to Dave's office please Pen?"

"Of course JJ, come on sweetie."

Kate bowed her head as she walked through the bullpen, allowing Garcia to lead her as Emily and JJ slowly followed her.

"Alex?"

Emily spoke quietly, it was still early and Alex cut a solitary figure in the bullpen but Alex failed to respond, without thinking Emily and JJ moved closer to Alex's desk. JJ frowned as she and Emily perched on the edge of Alex's desk and immediately both pairs of eyes focused in on the emblem of USP McCleary decorating the piece of paper Alex had clasped firmly in her hand. JJ cleared her throat as she reached across and gently placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, causing the older woman to suddenly jerk at the contact.

"Huh!"

"Alex?"

"Oh JJ, Emily."

"What are you reading Alex?"

JJ spoke firmly as she looked at Emily and saw that her friend was in no position to vocalise anything at that point.

"I came into work in the early hours and there was a message from warden Elmore, there is a letter from an old cell mate of Sam Davis, I've just about cracked the code, here..."

Alex tore off the piece of paper from her legal pad and held it high above her head, not knowing or caring who took it off her but then she felt a soft gently hand on her injured shoulder, an involuntary wince left Alex's mouth before Emily bent down and rested her head on top of Alex's.

"Thank you Alex."

"It's nothing."

"I know how you're feeling Alex, please don't keep beating yourself up, there was nothing that you could have to done to prevent yourself getting shot and your involvement in this case is because of me."

Emily spoke quietly into Alex's ear as Alex bowed her head and placed it into her hands but both JJ and Emily could feel how exhausted she really was.

"He's angry Emily but not at you anymore, he's angry that the job hasn't been completed, that you are still alive!"

"He's lost control of the unsub."

JJ's voice broke slightly as she spoke, taking a hold of the paper from Alex as she quickly read it while Alex stood up and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sorry Emily."

"No need Alex, do you mind sitting with Kate for me I think that we're going to need Garcia to help us."

"Of course."

Alex and Emily shared a quick embrace before Alex made her way up to Dave's office.

"Uh Em?"

"I know JJ but Alex needs some space and I think that spending some time with Kate might do both of them some good."

JJ raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders before she reached for her cell phone, if what Alex had decoded was right then all them, including her children, were in danger.

Erin shepherded the three children into her SUV, luckily for her Jack and Henry knew her well enough not to argue with any of her instructions and after the night she had spent in bed with Amy the young girl was now Erin's best friend. After she had received the text message from JJ Erin knew that the safest option for herself and the children was to make their way to Quantico. Keeping an eye on the traffic that was moving alongside her Erin was reluctant to phone in and tell anyone of her movements, if her suspicions were realised then that would be a catastrophic move. Instead Erin used her training, ignoring the playful banter that was going on behind her, glaring quickly at Jack, the young teenager soon got the message and he managed to corral his younger siblings into being quiet, making the ten minute drive that much more bearable.

The flames enveloped the piece of paper as he held it in his hand, a smiled creeping across his face as he watched the orange flame move ever closer to his fingers, dropping it out of the window just before he injured himself. The words meant nothing to him, yes he had an agreement to kill her, but he would get round to that in good time, just not before he had a bit of fun for himself and as he followed the SUV he knew that it was all going to the way too easy, speeding up he overtook the SUV, knowing where it was heading was a distinct advantage. He stopped just before the turn off before he got out his favourite weapon, making sure that the sight was positioned correctly before he pulled the trigger.