Desiderium: longing for something that has been lost

Chapter 14

Before the law sits a gatekeeper.---franz kafka

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Las Vegas

February 19, 2008

3:00 p.m.

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JJ pushed open the precinct doors, still trying to get over the phone call she had just received. 

"Hey Emily," She was heading back to the hotel, ready to work out a treatment plan with Hotch. "What's going on?" Lowering the sun visor, she popped open the sun visor, ready to touch up her hastily applied lip stick. "Wait, hold on. He contacted us already? It's been like-" Glancing at her watch, she quickly did the math. "Only a few hours since we set up the tip line, he's desperate then." Snapping the visor back, she started the car, letting the reassuring sound of the engine ground her. "The precinct? Yeah, I can be there in about twenty minutes." She massaged the steering wheel, the steady feeling of worry building up in her stomach. "Emily, was it bad?" Switching the phone to speaker, she quickly backed out of the parking lot. "Oh. This could be damaging in so many ways for us." Breathing out quickly, she pulled out a sheet of paper and ran an experienced eye over it. "Tell Hotch that I can make all the necessary calls to make sure that that tip won't leak. Ok, alright, I'll see ya soon." 

Nodding a greeting to the desk sergeant, she quickly found the rest of her team. Hotch met her eyes with a nod and refocused back on the table.  Taking a seat, she glanced around. 

Hotch looked exhausted, which to be fair, the poor man probably needed a vacation; Rossi had his feet up on an empty chair and he was bouncing ideas off of Prentiss. Prentiss was sitting against the table, arms crossed and was effectively shooting down all of Rossi's ideas. Garcia sat swiveling back and forth, a pen flipping back and forth between her ringed fingers, all her focus on her laptop. JJ smiled to herself. Even in the midst of chaos, she still felt the most at home among her team. 

"Where's Morgan?" She didn't see him anywhere. 

Hotch shuffled a page around. "He's back at the hotel, with uh, Spencer. I didn't want to leave him, but he had the best relationship so far, and I thought that he could get the information faster than one of us." He shifted in his seat, and glanced up. "So now, that most of us are here, we can discuss the situation in full. As you all know the unsub contacted us at approximately-" He glanced at his watch.

"2:46 give or take." Garcia piped up. She showed him a pink sticky note. "I wrote it down, sir." 

Nodding, Hotch continued. "2:46. He demanded that we hand over our witness or he would start killing people every few hours. That gives us a very short timeline to work here, not to mention the repercussions that could amount from this." He looked at JJ. 

"Ah, yes, I've talked to all my contacts at both the police stations and news stations. There shouldn't be a leak about this. It's been shut down." 

Standing up he walked over to the board. "I've mapped out a hesitant timeline. Within the next couple of hours, we should expect to be very busy, and I want us to be working on another profile once we get our next victim. Maybe we can warn potential victims, and decrease the bodycount by any chance."

Prentiss frowned. "When? Are we planning on processing a victim then?"

Hotch massaged the bridge of his nose. "We are dealing with a revenge-based killer trapped in a fantasy. He's intent on finishing his mission. You and I both know he will do whatever he has to do to finish the job. So yes, unless somehow, Spencer overcomes his issues enough to coherently give us the name of the unsub, I would plan on another victim."