Chapter Text
“You’re the Dirty Dozen?” Morgan asked, his blood running cold.
Penelope nodded, her brown eyes wide and filled to the brim with tears and terror.
“We need to tell Hotch, okay? Like, right now.”
“Okay.”
The two made their way to Hotch’s office, Penelope clinging onto Morgan’s hand for dear life. Hotch could instantly see that something was deeply wrong. “What happened?”
Penelope explained everything to Hotch exactly how she had explained it to Morgan.
Hotch was silent for a moment, considering, before quickly doling out instructions. “Garcia, take Morgan and Rossi, go to your apartment, pack a few bags, and come back here. I don’t want you going home until we can put an end to this, it’s not safe. Do you understand?”
Penelope nodded. “What do I do with Sergio, though? I can’t bring him here.”
“If it’s something you’d be open to, Jack and I can take care of him while you’re not home. He’s always been an animal lover.”
“That sounds perfect, thank you, sir.”
“Not a problem. Drive by my house on your way back here and drop off him and his things.”
“I will.”
Morgan, whose mind had been working a mile a minute, finally spoke. “Hotch, before we go, I have an idea.”
“Yes?"
“Are you familiar with the name Luke Alvez at all?”
“Yes, I’ve heard of him. He’s with the Fugitive Taskforce, correct?”
“Yeah,” Morgan confirmed. “He’s a friend of mine. He’s one of the best in his unit. I think he could help us with this, let me reach out to him and see if he can give us a hand.”
“I see no issues with that. Let me know what he says.”
“I will.”
Morgan looked at Penelope and nodded toward Hotch’s door. “C’mon. Let’s get Rossi and let’s go.”
When they arrived at Penelope’s apartment, Rossi helped her pack her things, and Morgan stayed in her living room to call Luke.
“Hey, Morgan, it’s been a while. Nice to hear from you.” To some people, those words might have seemed sarcastic or passive-aggressive, but Morgan knew his friend was being sincere. It had been a while since the two had had the opportunity to speak, but that was understandable because of their respective jobs, and Luke did genuinely think it was nice to hear from Morgan.
“Yeah, I know. Look, man, I wish I could tell you this was a social call, but I have a favor to ask you.”
“All right, shoot.”
“You remember my friend I told you about, Penelope Garcia?”
Luke scoffed. “You mean your Babygirl? Yeah, I remember. What about her?”
“We just found out that she’s the target for a group of hitmen.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. That was pretty much my reaction too. My boss and I were hoping you’d be willing to come and help our team while we hunt these sick bastards down.”
Luke hesitated. “Morgan, don’t get me wrong, you know I’d love to get to work with you and your team, but are you really sure I’d be much help? I’m a manhunter, I’m no good to you as a profiler.”
“Luke, I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t sure. Some of these people are fugitives. You could really help us. Please, Luke, I—” Morgan’s voice cracked in desperation. “I need to keep her safe and I need the best people on this.”
Luke considered. It would be nice to get out of his comfort zone a bit and to be working with a team again. He had been running solo since Phil’s incident, and it had gotten old fast. “All right, sure. I’ll do it. When do I start?”
“Tomorrow?” Morgan asked hopefully.
“I’ll see you then.”
Morgan hung up the phone and called Hotch. “Hey, Hotch, it’s Morgan. I just got off the phone with Alvez. He’s in.”
When Morgan arrived at the Bullpen the next morning with Tara and JJ, Rossi was standing there waiting, looking grim. Hotch and Penelope were nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, Rossi,” Morgan said. “Where’s Hotch and Garcia? I thought we had a case.”
“We do, but they’re behind closed doors.” Rossi gestured at Hotch’s office, where he and Penelope were undoubtedly going over the details about what the foreseeable future would look like.
“Is this about the network of hitmen?” JJ asked.
Rossi nodded. “Yeah.”
“Any update?” Tara asked him, concern for her new friend obvious on her face.
“Nothing yet,” Rossi replied. “But we’re pulling out all the stops.”
JJ looked between Rossi and Morgan, the two people who’d been with her after she received the news. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s got four hitmen targeting her, so she’s a little rattled,” Morgan told her.
“Yeah,” Rossi said. “They were briefly discussing Witness Protection.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Tara said.
“It won’t,” Morgan informed them. “Last night I called a friend of mine from the Fugitive Taskforce, his name is Luke Alvez. He agreed to come work with our team and help us track down the network.”
“Oh thank god,” JJ sighed. With her past as a Communications Liason, as well as her more official, top-secret assignments, she had heard the name Luke Alvez before, and she knew he was one of the best. “When does he start?”
Just then the elevator dinged open and a tall, Latino man with short, dark curly hair entered the bullpen.
Morgan smiled. “Right now.” He walked over to his friend and gave him a bro-hug. “Alvez, hey, man, it’s good to see you.”
“Hey, Morgan, you too, man.”
The two walked back over to the middle of the Bullpen, where Morgan made the introductions. “Everyone, this is my friend, Luke Alvez. Luke, this is Dr. Tara Lewis, David Rossi, and Jennifer Jareau, but if you call her that she will kick your ass. Call her JJ.”
JJ laughed and extended her hand. “He’s only slightly exaggerating. It’s nice to meet you, Alvez.”
“Likewise,” Luke replied, shaking her hand. “I’ve heard so much about all of you, but please, just call me Luke. Alvez is way too formal for my liking.”
“You’ll meet Hotch and Garcia in a few minutes,” Morgan told Luke once he’d greeted the others. “They’re just in his office discussing details. Let’s head up to the Round Table Room in the meantime.”
Luke nodded. “Lead the way.”
Hotch entered the Round Table Room a few minutes later, Penelope hot on his heels. “Agent Alvez,” he said, extending a hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Luke got up from his chair to shake his hand. “Yeah, likewise, Agent Hotchner.”
“And as I’m sure you deduced,” the Unit Chief said, “This is Penelope Garcia.”
Penelope looked at Luke, and he was enchanted. Morgan had shown him a few pictures of his team before, but none of them did justice to the vision of a woman standing in front of him. Even in her obviously distressed state, she was beautiful. “It’s nice to meet you,” he told her. “Morgan’s told me a lot about you.
She smiled, and Luke had never seen anything like it. “It’s nice to meet you too."
“Let’s get to work,” Hotch said, effectively ending the greetings. Everyone took their seats. “The Pheonix division is requesting our help with two recent abductions, one of which has led to murder.”
Penelope took the remote that was handed to her by Morgan and began to present the case. “Uh, okay. Five days ago the body of Steven Jackson was discovered on a rural road just outside the city.”
“He was reported missing after missing several shifts at work,” Hotch continued.
“Which brings us to our second victim,” Penelope told them. “Lance Coleman. According to authorities, three days ago he was due home in Phoenix from a business trip to Tuscon.”
“And security footage shows him entering the airport, but the flight manifest says he never got on the plane,” Hotch informed the team.
“It’s as if these two vanished,” Rossi said.
“On average, 90,000 people go missing each year," Tara stated. "Fifty-four percent of those are men. Only fifteen percent return alive.”
Luke raised his eyebrows, impressed at the Doctor’s statistics and her ability to rattle them off without a second thought. From what he’d heard from Morgan, Dr. Reid—the one team member he had yet to meet—was the certified genius, and Garcia was the computer genius. He didn’t realize he’d be working with three geniuses, although he should have seen it coming. The members of the BAU had some of the sharpest minds in the country.
“The preliminary M.E. report shows deep ligature marks and lacerations on Steven’s wrists,” JJ pointed out. “He was likely restrained for an extended period of time.”
“Which probably means that the unsub has a secure secondary location where he holds them captive,” Luke suggested.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Morgan agreed, secretly proud that his friend felt comfortable enough to contribute ideas from his own expertise. “It says here that Steven suffered repeated burns and contusions all over his body.”
“Extreme torture,” Hotch guessed. “The Unsub’s found an outlet for his aggression.”
“No obvious signs of sexual assault,” Rossi stated. “The torture could be what’s getting him off.”
“That makse sense,” Tara said. “He gets sexual gratification from inflicting psychological and physical suffering on his victims.”
“Well this level of violence suggests that it’s personal,” Hotch pointed out.
“Maybe it’s about revenge,” Tara replied. “These two crossed the Unsub, now he wants to make them pay.”
“Or, at the very least,” Rossi added, “he’s using them as surrogates for the true target of his anger.”
“It’s possible he was testing to see just how much torture Steven could take before he’d break,” Morgan theorized.
Luke was astounded at the way this team worked, bouncing ideas off each other like it was nothing, practically reading each others’ minds. He hoped he’d be able to pick that up a little bit in his time with them so he didn’t feel like he wasn’t contributing anything to the team that had invited him in.
“Well, Coleman’s been missing for over seventy-two hours,” JJ pointed out ruefully. “If revenge is the Unsub’s motivation, he could already be dead.”
“Well unless we have reason to believe otherwise, we have to assume Lance Coleman’s alive,” Hotch instructed. “And we need to find him. Agent Alvez, I apologize that your introduction to the team can’t be more gradual, but this is the job. Wheels up in twenty.”
Luke nodded and got up to follow everyone else out of the room, casting one last backwards glance at the woman he was supposed to be here to help protect before he left.
Once at cruising altitude, Penelope called into the jet to provide the team with information she’d gathered in the first section of their trip. Or rather, lack thereof. “Besides being residents of one of the hottest—and I’m sure they’re all pleasant-looking but I’m talking Fahrenheit—cities in the country, I can’t find any connections between the victims,” she informed them.
“Garcia, what about Lance’s credit cards?” Morgan asked. “Any activity?”
“Uh…” she searched for a moment. “His last transaction was a car service to the airport. Besides that, it’s a ghost town.”
“Both victims are low-risk,” Hotch observed. “It speaks to the unsubs confidence.”
“Steven looks like he practically lived at the gym,” JJ said. “They couldn’t be more physically different."
“Well he definitely lived the Bachelor’s lifestyle,” Tara responded. “Single, lived in a studio apartment, worked freelance as an overnight security guard.”
“Yeah, and Lance Coleman was the opposite,” Luke pointed out. “He’s a family man, been married to his wife Karen for nearly 20 years.” As much as Luke enjoyed watching the team do their thing, he did want to pull his own weight, so he spoke where he could.
“And he also owned his own business,” Penelope said over the phone, adding on to Luke’s statement. “He would take weekly commuter flights to Tuscon to meet with potential investors.”
“Maybe the Unsub’s motivation is business-related, not personal,” Tara theorized.
“Garcia, see if Steven ever worked security for Lance’s company,” Hotch instructed.
“Gotcha,” she replied, signing off with a click.
“All right, so how did he get to these guys?” Luke asked, wanting to learn how profilers came to the conclusions that they did.
“I’m leaning towards a blitz attack,” Rossi told him. Having been in the FBI a while, Rossi was also no stranger to the name Luke Alvez. The man’s reputation preceded him, and Rossi knew he had a hard worth ethic and admired his eagerness to dive right into the team. He was confident that Luke would be a good asset as they attempted to take down the group of hitmen targeting Penelope.
“These look like electrical burns, the unsub could be using some kind of taser,” JJ pointed out, adding to Rossi’s blitz attack theory.
“Both victims went missing while traveling at night,” Morgan said. “That speaks to the Unsub’s knowledge of their schedules.”
“He may have stalked them over an extended period of time,” Rossi suggested.
Hotch nodded. “Which is how he knew the most opportune moment to strike.”
“There are no witnesses, no cameras,” Tara said. “They were simply gone.”
Hotch voiced what they all knew. “He targeted these men for a reason. The sooner we find out why, the sooner we’ll find Lance. JJ, Rossi, you’ll be coming with me to the Pheonix division headquarters. Alvez, Lewis, Morgan head to the M.E.’s office, see what you can find.”
Once assignments were doled out, the team could rest a bit before they arrived at their destination.
“So Luke,” Tara called out. “What do you think of the BAU jet? Pretty sweet, right?”
Luke smiled. “Yeah, it’s great. I heard the legends about it from this one,” he pointed at Morgan, “but I never thought I'd actually get to ride in it.”
“Gideon and I begged for one for years when he first founded the BAU,” Rossi lamented. “Of course we only get one after I retire.”
“Should have stuck around then,” Hotch retorted, a small smile on his face that Luke hadn’t seen yet, nor had he expected. He laughed with the rest of the team at the easy dynamic they all had. He could get used to this.
Luke had been to M.E.’s offices in the past, but they didn’t get any less unsettling.
“He suffered facial fractures, burns, and extensive bruising,” the M.E. was telling them.
“Have you determined COD?” Morgan asked her.
She shook her head. “I haven’t finalized my findings, but preliminarily I’d say he died from cardiac arrest induced by electric shock.” She pointed at marks on the victim’s face. “I’m still trying to figure out what caused these.”
“Look at him, this is complete overkill,” Morgan said.
“Well, the fact that the Unsub’s stepping up his level of torture could mean that he’s getting frustrated,” Tara suggested.
Luke decided to throw out an idea of his own. “It’s possible he’s ex-military. It would explain his knowledge of multiple torture techniques.” As a former army ranger himself, he would know.
“Or the guy used Google,” the M.E. interjected. When they all looked at her confused, she quickly continued. “Trust me, I’ve seen some crazy stuff.”
“Well, that wouldn’t be the first time someone used the internet as a killing manual,” Tara conceded.
“Well typically these types of tactics are used to get a confession or information,” Luke said, continuing with his army theory.
Tara leaned over the victim, closely examining the small marks surrounding his eyes. “What caused these?”
“It appears that at some point during the torture, the killer staples his eyelids open,” she informed them.
Tara was taken aback. “Well that is sadistic.”
“It might be symbolic,” Morgan offered. “The victims could have turned a blind eye to something that affected the unsub.”
Luke nodded, seeing where his friend was going. “And now he’s punishing them for it.”
“The worst part is,” the M.E. continued, “it was done while this guy was still alive.”
Morgan nodded, unsurprised. “This Unsub wanted Steven to anticipate and witness his own torture.”
By the time the three of them made it to the Pheonix division headquarters, they already had a lead of sorts. The unsub had to have done something with Steven Jackson’s car. If they could find it, they could be one step closer to finding out how this Unsub abducted their victims.
Agent Webster, the Pheonix agent in charge, had some news for them. “According to DMV records, Steven Jackson drove a ‘91 Mustang.”
JJ sighed. “Older models, so no GPS.”
“I went ahead and issued an APB on his car,” Agent Webster informed them. “Hopefully we get a hit soon.”
Morgan’s phone began to ring, and he answered it, but didn’t give whoever was on the other line a chance to say anything first. “Hey, Babygirl, you’re on speaker, what’s up?”
Luke smirked. So that was why he was in such a hurry to say something. Luke had heard about the Speaker Phone Horror Stories of Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan. Especially the one where they were the stars of a sexual harassment seminar the year prior.
“Okay, I did some spelunking and found that after Coleman missed his flight, he used not his personal but his company credit card to foot the bill for a rental car,” Penelope told them.
“Well that’s about an hour and a half drive,” JJ said. “He probably figured he’d make it home before his wife woke up.”
“Can you track down the Rental Car’s GPS?” Rossi asked her.
“I already meowed up that tree,” Penelope replied. “It is disabled. But, I am piecing together the GPS history as we speak.”
“That’s why you’re the best, Mama,” Morgan crooned into his phone.
“Oh, don’t I know it,” she teased back before vanishing with a click.
Luke had to keep himself from laughing. He never thought he’d get to see the Morgan/Garcia banter in person.
Rossi turned to the map on the board behind them. “He could have taken a number of different routes back to Phoenix. Highway 77, 87, or 10.”
“Well he would have taken the fastest route back,” JJ said.
“That’d be Interstate 10,” Agent Webster informed them.
“Okay, but what if he’s abducting them off the road?” JJ asked.
“This could be about road rage,” Morgan said. “Perceived slight while driving might have made them a target.”
Rossi seemed a bit dubious. “An extreme case of road rage that leads to abduction and murder.”
“But,” Morgan said, countering his own point. “If that’s true, the victims’ cars would have been abandoned, both are still missing.”
“What if they’re car jackings?” Luke offered. “Think about it. The Unsub lies in wait, he blitzes the victim at an intersection, then he drives off in their cars. I see it all the time with the Fugitive Taskforce.”
Rossi considered this. “So these victims weren’t targeted, they were picked at random.”
Luke nodded. “Wrong place, wrong time.”
“It is possible he used a similar ruse like Gary Lee Sampson,” Morgan pointed out. “He posed as a hitchhiker and preyed on Good Samaritans.”
“Probable waves down a passing car,’ Rossi continued.
JJ picked up his train of thought. “Appears lost or incoherent.”
“Claims his car broke down, his phone is dead,” Morgan said. “He needs directions or a ride.”
“And the next thing you know, you’re looking down the barrel of a gun,” Luke finished. “And the good deed is punished.”
The next morning they got a call. A body had been found. Tara and JJ went to get check it out, and they came back with a profile. The team gathered briefly, then delivered the profile to the Pehonix agents.
“The Unknown Subject we’re looking for is a sadistic inquisitor,” Hotch started, “which means that he’s aroused sexually and emotionally by causing pain in the service of eliviting information.”
“The Unsub gets off on the fact that his victims won’t put up resistance,” JJ continued. “It allows him to push the torture even further.”
Morgan picked up the thread. “We think he’s a white male, in his thirties to early forties, who’s physically fit enough o subdue male victims.”
“He’s goal-oriented,” Rossi stated. “Driven by rage, which makes him extremely brutal in his torture methods.”
“This Unsub exerts power and control over his victims,” Tara added, “making them feel helpless until they give him whatever it is he’s looking for.”
“Based upon his systematic torutre,” Luke said, “it’s possible the Unsub is suffering from some sort of PTSD.”
Morgan picked up where his friend left off. “Given the sheer amount of work and effort he puts into torturing his victims, we think there’s a deep-seated personal reason for what the Unsub is doing.”
“It’s possible he appears unassuming with limited social skills,” Rossi offered. “Which is why he chooses to hunt at night.”
“He plays on his victims’ good will and sympathy before he blitzes them and abducts them from their vehicles,” Hotch informed the other agents.
“Becuase of the escalating torture, we believe this Unsub is becoming both increasingly desperate and volatile,” Tara told them.
“This Unsub is driven by a compulsion,” Morgan said. “A need-based desire. Because these men are surrogates, there’s a good chance his victims will never be able to give the Unsub what he ultimately wants.
“Understanding his motivation will be the key to finding him,” Hotch finished. “Thank you.”
JJ walked into the board room with some papers in hand. “Ballistics confirm the gun used to kill Lance was the same one registered to Steven Jackson.” She passed out the reports to everyone.
Agent Webster came in then with her own files. “I’ve got men canvassing gas stations, rest stops, any place where the unsub might have come into contact with the victims. So far, no solid leads.”
Luke smiled as Morgan’s phone began to ring, sure he was about to hear another legendary Morgan/Garcia interaction.
“Hey, tell me something good, boo,” Morgan said as he answered.
“I managed to partially piece together Lance’s GPS history,” came Penelope’s light and bubbly voice, “and I’ve got him on a route that takes him right up Interstate 10.”
“That’s the exact same route the first victim would have taken to work,” Tara remembered.
“Lance Coleman wouldn’t have been on that highway if he hadn’t missed his flight,” Morgan mused.
“So this is where both the victims crossed paths with the Unsub,” JJ said decidedly. “This must be the nexus.”
“I-10’s one of the most traveled roads in the country,” Agent Webster told JJ. “It stretches from California to Florida.”
JJ rolled her eyes. “Highway serial killer’s paradise.”
“Garcia, run our profile against the HSK database,” Morgan requested. “Check for any potential suspects connected specifically to I-10.”
“I’m on it,” she replied, the sound of her keyboards already clear over the line.
“How much are you willing to bet that whatever that Unsub is looking for is somehow connected to this highway?” Tara asked.
Luke was positive she was right. “I’ll believe it.”
JJ excused herself for a moment, looking absolutely exhausted.
Luke knew it wasn’t really any of his business, but he looked at Tara and Morgan curiously anyway, trusting they wouldn’t tell him if they shouldn’t.
“She has a newborn and a seven-year-old at home,” Morgan explained. “And she’s not allowed to be back on caffeine yet.”
Luke nodded, understanding. “Ah, I see. Yeah, I remember when my sister was going through that. It was hard enough and she’s not an FBI agent. JJ’s strong.”
“You have a sister?” Tara asked him.
“Yeah, two, actually. One older and one younger.”
Just then, JJ re-entered the room, looking as energized as ever. “Caffeine,” she announced.
“I am a fan,” Tara replied. “What about it?”
“You want your victims to stay awake and alert for what you’re about to do to them,” JJ said, handing everyone a new M.E. report.
Tara understood instantly. “So you give them caffeine.” She looked at the report JJ had given her. “Wow, astronomical levels, apparently. Wait, how did you… oh yeah. Sorry.” She laughed at herself, given the fact that this was just what they had been talking about before JJ came back in.
“Wait, why would he do this, again?” Agent Webster asked.
“Well, there are a variety of reasons,” Luke told her, unfortunately very versed in the ways of torture. “The caffeine would open up their arteries, which would increase their nerve sensitivity, and, in turn, enhance their pain levels.”
“Sleep deprivation,” JJ said, as if she couldn’t believe she had missed it. “So the torture isn’t about his anger, it’s a reflection of what he’s going through. He wants them to stay awake.”
Later on in the day, Morgan and Agent Webster came back into the room with some bad news. “We just received news of another abduction. David Whitfield.” She placed his photo up on the board. “Reported missing an hour ago.”
“His employer confirmed that he clocked out at 1:30 yesterday morning, but according to his roommate, he never made it back home.”
“Where does he work?” Luke asked.
“An old auto factory off Interstate 10 near Canton,” Agent Webster told them.
Hotch considered these details. “Fits the geographic profile and the timeline.”
“This guy has a precise MO,” Rossi admitted.
“How much of the Interstate is isolated enough for an abduction?” Morgan asked.
“There are a couple of gas stations, a diner, and a few rest stops,” Agent Webster rattled off. “Nothing really pops out."
Luke formed a tight-lipped grin. “So, most of it.”
“Not to mention there are far more secluded stretches of Interstate,” Rossi pointed out.
“Why does he keep coming back to the same area?” Luke asked, sure the profilers probably already had a reason in mind. Little did he know, that was exactly what they all needed to find out.
This time it was Luke’s turn to call Penelope. How that happened he wasn’t really sure, but it was no big deal. He had her number in his phone, so he called her.
“Penelope Garcia’s house of everything made of sugar and spice and everything nice as well as everything sour and dour, what can I do you for?”
Luke was taken aback. “Um, hi?”
“Oh my gosh!” Penelope gasped. “Agent Alvez! Hello! So sorry for that! I didn’t think to check the caller ID! What can I help you with?”
“Hey, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. I should have been expecting one of those Great Garcia Greetings I’ve heard so much about. You’re on speaker, by the way. We have a particular stretch of the I-10 between Chandler and Phoenix that we need you to focus on, could you do that? Look for any accidents involving male drivers on that stretch of highway.”
“I absolutely can do that,” she replied. “Keep it coming.”
“We know the Unsub’s keeping his victims awake,” JJ told her, “so look for any accidents where the driver fell asleep at the wheel.”
They heard the clicks of Penelope’s keyboard for a few more moments before she spoke again. “Uh, okay, I am not finding any sleep-related incidents within that radius.”
“We know that the time of abduction is important to him,” Rossi said. “Widen the search to take in any accidents that occured between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m.”
The clicking picked back up again. “Despite on the I-10 there’s an accident like every forty-five seconds, I’ve got zilch.”
“Okay, we know this was a recent trigger, so expand your search parameters to incidents reported within the last few months.”
“Huh,” was the only response they got.
“What’d you find?” Morgan asked her.
“I don’t know if I found anything. I found a report citing sleep deprivation, but it’s not an accident, it’s a child abduction. Here we go, I managed to find the original police report from three months ago. Okay, a forty-three-year-old William Taylor was driving I-10 near Chandler, Arizona. It was late, around 11:30. He was with his five-year-old daughter Tatianna, they were returning from a dance recital. It says here he just worked a double shift at the salvage yard which he owns. He was super sleepy, he pulled off around midnight to a rest stop.”
“What happened next?” Luke asked.
“Looks like he only intended to close his eyes for ten minutes, but he woke up hours later and his daughter was missing."
JJ put her head in her hands. “I can’t imagine. A parent’s worst nightmare. There’s your trigger.”
Rossi nodded. “He’s torturing them for answers about his daughter’s abduction.”
“Yeah, in his mind he believes his victims were involved,” Tara said.
“Garcia,” Morgan called out. “Any viable suspects?”
“Uh, no, the police canvassed the whole rest stop, and they came up empty. There’s still no leads. Hold on, according to Taylor there was a man with a skull tattoo on his hand who knocked on his window moments after he fell asleep. The guy told Taylor his tail light was out, and then Taylor went back to sleep.”
“Like you said, Taylor might have been suffering from sleep deprivation himself,” Rossi said to JJ, who nodded in response.
“It’s likely he was in a micro sleep and he imagined the man with the skull tattoo.”
“And like any parent would be, the Unsub is riddled with guilt,” Morgan stated.
“Yeah,” JJ agreed. “In his mind he wasn’t able to protect her and keep her safe.”
“And now in his delusional state, he believes each of his victims is the man with the skull tattoo,” Tara concluded.
“He’s forcing his victims to take responsibility for his own guilt,” Rossi realized.
“If he hadn’t fallen asleep at that rest stop, his daughter might still be with him,” Morgan added.
“So he forces his victims to stay awake as he wishes he had,” JJ said.
“Work and home addresses just sent,” came Penelope’s voice from over the phone.
“I’ll let Hotch know,” Rossi said, pulling out his phone.
Luke picked up his own phone. “Thank you, Garcia.”
“You’re welcome!”
He hung up the call and followed the rest of the team out of the room to go gear up. It was time.
“Hey, where’s your head at right now?” Morgan asked Luke as they drove.
“I just don’t understand what happened a week ago to turn a grieving father into a killer.”
“It could have been the stress from the case. The leads went cold and the guy just snapped.”
“Yeah, and the not knowing is the worst part.” Morgan’s phone rang then, but since he was driving, Luke picked it up. “Hotch, you’re on speaker.”
“There’s something you should know,” he told them. “The police found Tatianna’s body.”
Morgan and Luke exchanged a brief look. There it is.
They arrived on the scene to see the Unsub cornering David Whitfield between his car and a chain link fence.
“William Taylor, step out of the vehicle with your hands where we can see them,” Luke shouted at him.
“I got him!” Taylor called back. “That is the man with the skull tattoo, he’s right there.”
“That is not him, William,” Morgan told him.
“Dammit!” he shouted. “Why aren’t you listening to me? That man has my daughter!”
“No, he doesn’t,” Luke called out.
“Yes, he does! And I’m going to find her and I’m not going to let her get away with it again!”
“All right, William, listen to me, okay?” Luke said, stepping towards him and holstering his gun, knowing Morgan had him covered. Tara and JJ took that moment of distraction to run and grab David Whitfield and bring him to safety. “You can I both know they found Tatianna,” he continued.
William looked… relieved, almost. “You found my little girl?”
“Yes, a week ago,” Luke told him. “William, you were there.”
He shook his head viciously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You remember the volunteers? The search party? William, think back. Tatianna’s remains were found in the desert not far from the rest stop.” Realizing the Unsub was suffering a complete break from reality, Luke took his gun back out of the holster, knowing things could very quickly get ugly.
“No, no, no, no!” William insisted. “That was not her! She’s still out there!”
“Think about Tatianna, William!” Tara called out to him. “Think about what she would have wanted!”
William was silent for a moment before angrily declaring, “She’s alive and I’m going to find her!”
They were left with no choice, Luke, Tara, and Morgan all took a shot. William Taylor was dead.
On the flight back, Morgan and Rossi were teasing JJ about something and Hotch was doing paperwork, so Tara sat down next to Luke on the bench. “Hey, good job with that takedown today.”
“Thanks. You too. That’s always been my favorite part, you know? Not when we have to kill someone, but the satisfaction that we did our job, and people are safe because of it.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely the best feeling we get from this job,” she agreed.
Luke was silent for a moment before asking, “So what do you think happened to Taylor’s daughter?”
“Well, the police report assumed that since he didn’t have child locks on his truck, that she wandered off into the desert for some reason. I saw where they found her body, there’s no way she could have made it back to the road. And with the way temperatures drop in the desert at night, she didn’t stand a chance. But at the same time, Taylor was adamant up until the bitter end that a man with a skull tattoo abducted his daughter. An Unsub with a ghost in his mind is always dangerous, of course, unless it wasn’t all in his mind.”
“So… you really have no idea?”
“I really have no idea.”
When they got back to Quantico, Luke decided to head down the hall to where Penelope’s office was.
"Come in," was her response to his gentle knocks.
"I can't," he called back lamely. "I don't know the passcode."
"Oh!" He heard some hurried movements inside the office before the door was flung open revealing a tired-looking but not less enchanting Penelope Garcia. "Hello, it's you. Come on in, what can I do for you?"
"Hey, I just wanted to introduce myself properly. I didn't get the chance to the other day, and I just thought, you know, since Morgan called me in to help protect you, we should probably actually meet."
She nodded, comprehending. "Yeah, that makes sense. And since you're probably going to be here for a while…" she picked up one of her fuzzy-tipped pens and wrote something on a bright pink sticky note. "Here is the passcode to my office. You should definitely have this."
He smiled and accepted the sticky note from her and slipped it into his pocket, patting it to ensure it wouldn't fall out, then sat down in the office chair across from her. “How’re you doing?”
“Well, I’m scared, obviously, and I’m also feeling really guilty about the fact that you got pulled away from your job to help with this.”
“Don’t even worry about it,” Luke assured her. “I’m excited to work with a team, I’ve only really worked alone or with one other person. Besides, I get to help take down a group of hitmen, what kind of Fugitive Hunter would I be if I didn’t want to do that?”
Penelope considered this. “That… makes sense, I supposed. Thank you, that alleviates my guilt.”
“Any time. Besides, with how much Morgan talks about you, how could I say no when he told me you’re in danger and needed help? What kind of friend would that make me?”
"How long have you and Morgan known been friends?" Penelope asked him.
"Over a decade," Luke told her. "We did eighteen months of deep cover together before he decided that wasn't what he wanted to do and joined the BAU."
"Wow," she exclaimed. "You've known him longer than I have? How have I literally never heard of you until now? Wait oh my god that sounded so rude–"
"Don't worry about it," Luke laughed, waving her off. "I'm not surprised he doesn't talk about me much. Yeah, we've known each other a while, and we trust each other with our lives, but a lot of the foundations of our friendship we can't legally talk about. You know, classified intelligence and all that."
It was Penelope's turn to laugh. "Oh yeah, I know all about that."
"But he talks about you guys all the time, especially you. You could probably quiz me on the members of your team and I'd do pretty well.
She raised an eyebrow at him, a challenge evident in her smile. "For real?"
Luke spread his arms out wide. "Do your worst."
"Who was the most recent addition to the team?"
"That would be Dr. Tara Lewis, and, for bonus points, she joined after Agent Kate Callahan left and had a baby."
"Ooh, you do pay attention, I'm impressed. Okay, which member of the team once faked their death?"
"Emily Prentiss… who now works for Interpol, I believe?"
"You believe correct. Which member of the team will politely avoid your handshake?"
"That would be the one I haven't met yet, Dr. Spencer Reid."
"Very good. Two members of our team have sons. Who has one and who has two?"
"Oh, it's JJ who has two, but that's cheating because I was told that yesterday, and Hotch has one."
"I will forgive your cheating because you were honest about it. Which member of the team is Catholic?"
"Okay, Morgan never told me that about anyone, but that has to be Rossi," Luke guessed. "It takes one to know one."
She cocked her head at him. "You're Catholic?"
"Raised Catholic," he corrected. "Unless I'm visiting my Abuela, then I'm devout."
"You lie to your grandmother? Naughty, naughty."
Luke laughed hard at that, and she joined him. He could see why Morgan was fond of Penelope. She was clearly a very good person, and easy to get along with. He could see himself developing a very close friendship with the bubbly blonde tech analyst.
"All right, last question," she said once she stopped laughing. "Which team member is vegetarian?"
"Okay, he never told me that either, but I'm going to guess you, based on other things he's told me."
"And you would guess correct. Sure you're not a profiler?"
"I'm sure," Luke replied, still laughing a bit. Then he noticed a picture on Penelope's desk of her cuddling a black cat. "Is that your cat?" he asked her. It seemed like a silly question, but he did know she did a lot of volunteering at animal shelters, it wasn't a stretch.
Her face lit up. "Yes! That's my baby, Sergio. I used to share him with Emily, but then she moved to England and left him with me because he also lived with me when did the whole fake-death thing. Do you have any pets?"
"Yeah, I've got a dog, Roxy. Do you want to see a picture?"
"Please!"
He pulled out his phone and showed her his lock screen, which was him and Roxy.
"Aw, she's your lock screen?" Penelope cooed. "That's adorable! She's adorable!"
"Yeah, she's pretty great." It was then that he noticed the time his phone screen was displaying. "Speaking of Roxy, I actually have to go pick her up from my sitter's."
Penelope stood up to usher him out. "Yes! Yes! Go! Don't let me keep you from that precious girl!"
"It was nice to meet you," he said. "Have a good night, Penelope."
"It was nice to meet you too, Luke. Have a good night."
He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as he left. "Thanks."
Oh yeah. He would enjoy getting to know her.