Hotch stops by his office to leave his bag and goes straight to Assistant Director of National Security's office. He still didn't understand why they were basically being made to report to her as a section chief, and he would bring those questions to the director, he just needed to be very careful about his timing.

"I need to speak to the Assistant Director Barnes." He announces to the secretary that sits in front of the woman's desk.

"The Assistant Director isn't in, she had an emergency and had to step out of the office." Hotch couldn't keep the frown from taking over his face.

"Will she be back today?" He asked.

"Yes, she did mention she would be back as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll be back later."

Hotch leaves her office and runs into the Director on the hallway close to the BAU offices.

"Sir, I would like to talk to you if you are free on an urgent topic." Hotch starts.

"Is it something that can wait?" He asks looking at his watch.

"No, not really sir. Agent Emily Prentiss was fired this morning, something I personally don't agree with. But by this afternoon she has vanished from her apartment."

"Are we sure she didn't just decide to take a few days? This is a very serious allegation to bring up Agent Hotchner. Specially if you are going to try to use bureau employees to investigate it." The director questioned.

"Sir one of her friends was going for a visit, which expecting. And besides, her belongings were left behind. So no, I don't think she took a few days." Hotch found the direction that the conversation was taking very strange, and for that reason he decided to keep the information of Garcia's notification hidden for now.

"Well, for any police or agency efforts to be brought in there has to be at least 48 hours of a person's disappearance, no?" Hotch's blood froze at director's William reminder, did this mean the FBI was somehow involved into Emily leaving her apartment? Was she brought for questioning without anyone being advised? Or was this just the tip of the something very obscure that was happening?

"Of course, sir." Hotch replied.

"And you were in St. Luis with the team, no? Any problems?" He asked.

"My son, he isn't feeling very well and since I'm his only guardian I had to come back." Hotch replied smoothly with the first believable story he could come up with.

"I hope he feels better soon. And let's leave Agent Prentiss' life alone for now, I believe she deserves some peace from the FBI while she figures out her next steps."

"Understood sir." Hotch replied and walked away.

Hotch entered Garcia's office and slammed the door shut, scaring both Reid and Garcia who had been analyzing the tapes. They turned to him with wide eyes.

"Did you find anything?" Hotch asked before they could say anything.

"Not yet."

"Garcia, I need you to encrypt all information regarding Emily, regarding our research on this." He demanded.

"What? Why?" Reid turned to Hotch with a frown.

"Because I'm pretty sure I know who is responsible. Show me the image of the man you mentioned that appeared on the building before the cameras were turned off." He instructed.

Garcia pulled up the image on a bigger screen to their right. Hotch started looking at the image as it repeated before him on the screen.

"Calculated walk, he knows where he is walking, but we can't find evidence he has ever been there on the other tapes. He is keeping to himself; a hand is ready by his right side. What does this tell you?" He says after the image has run a few times for all of them.

"What are you talking about?" Garcia asks.

"He is talking about his behavior. This isn't just a man who dressed nice to be able to enter the building unnoticed. This is someone trained to do so." Reid confirmed.

"After the talk I just had with Director William, I'm almost sure he is one of ours."

After talking to Garcia and Reid about the latest updates and checking with the team on their current case Hotch knew he had to try and get any information regarding Barnes position on what was happening all around. He didn't know her very well, but if the FBI had any involvement in Emily's disappearance, she might be one of the missing pieces.

"She is on an important call and cannot be bothered." Barnes secretary informed him with a bored expression.

"That's okay, I'll wait." He sat down and took the time to text Reid advising he was waiting to speak to Barnes.

"She might be a while, she just got back to the building." The secretary volunteered.

"Oh, I didn't know she hadn't come in until now?" He was really playing dumb, but at this point he would try anything.

"She came in early, but had some meetings outside the headquarter and just got back. She might not take you in today." She advised kindly.

Hotch was about to reply when his phone pinged, looking at screen he could see a message from an unknown number.

'If you speak to Barnes things will get very difficult.' He didn't know what to think, this could only be related to Emily, but looking around but he couldn't see anyone.

'Don't be stupid, go back to your office and leave it alone.' Came another message quickly.

"I'll speak to her another day." He got up and started walking back to the bullpen still looking at his phone.

'Where is she?' He sent back to the unknown number.

'None of your concern, play nice Agent Hotchner and this won't be your concern for long.' The reply left him very worried; he started walking to Garcia's office when a photo was delivered.

Hotch opened the door to Garcia's office and entered without waiting for a reply.

"We need to leave, NOW." Both Garcia and Reid looked at him as if he had two heads.

"What are you talking about?" Reid replied crudely.

"Sir, I haven't been able find anything yet and we will have a lot of items to check." Garcia tried explaining quickly.

"We need to leave now. We will find a way to help in another way, but right now we need to get out of the FBI building." He showed both of them his phone.

'I can promise you her safety If all BAU members leave Quantico for the next 48 hours, I'll even promise to send one of those at every hour.' In the photo they could see Emily tied to a chair, her eyes hidden behind some sort of fabric in the same clothes they had last seen her.

Things were not looking good.