Twisted Vengeance

Surrogate

      "Please, don't hurt me! Please, I have a family! A son, please!" Amanda Walker screamed as a masked unsub approached her, gun in hand.

    A voice, the unsub's, began speaking. "They need to learn. If they had learned before, they wouldn't need to learn now. Your life must be sacrificed because they need to learn. "

   "Please, not me! It doesn't need to be me!" Amanda scrambled back on her couch.

   "I'm sorry, I really am. Believe me, I understand." A gunshot erupted, and Amanda Walker was almost dead, and her fate was indefinitely sealed. The hooded unsub yanked off their hood, fleeing into the night, away into the woods, away from their victim, away from the consequences they knew were present. 

"Heather Brewer once said, 'The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend,'" Prentiss said.

      Emily's phone started to ring. She turned over to her girlfriend, JJ. "Babe, you know what that means." JJ felt strange hearing the words. Her relationship was so surreal. The ringing was the unmistakable sound of a case popping up. JJ had broken up with Will a few months prior. It wasn't a messy breakup, however, and the outcome was positive. They were out to the team, and no one really seemed to care, except for the fact they were happy for the two.

       Emily swung her feet off the bed. "We don't need to bring a go-bag. I think the case is local." Local cases didn't happen very often, but it was sort of nice when they did. No long jet ride and no ear popping. Local cases didn't particularly appeal to JJ, as the idea of her kids in danger in the city was her worst fear.

      They got ready quickly and pulled into the FBI quarters at Quantico. They got into the elevator. "Hey, Spence," Jj said, seeing Reid walking in, his leather bag in hand. 

      "Hey, guys!" Reid's eyes seemed to lit up. He was too innocent for this job, Emily thought. 

       When they arrived upstairs, Hotch quickly went past them, carrying a file. "He seems to be in a bad mood," remarked Emily.

       "Is that really a surprise? I mean, come one, it's Hotch." Morgan's voice chimed in.

        "Hey, Morgan," JJ said. There was some unmistakable happiness that followed Morgan. That was probably why he and Garcia got along so well. It was pretty wholesome to Emily. She didn't really get that much from this job.

        Hotch appeared again, the file still in hand. The same sort of sinister stare that was always on his face was there, but that came as no surprise. It wasn't evil, though. Just serious. "Round table in five. We've got a case." Well, that was vague. But expected. There was no other reason they would have been called.

       "Morning, Rossi," Emily called out to Rossi, who happened to be in the kitchen.

     "In a minute, I'm drinking my coffee." Rossi laughed.

       "Well, coffee does take priority, I can't argue with that, my friend," Prentiss said. There were a lot of problems in the world, and with her job and coffee combined, she solved at least 75 percent of those. Coffee solved 50 percent of those problems.

       A few minutes later, everyone had gathered for the roundtable. It was time to be sad again, as soon, they were going to be seeing the faces and dissecting the stories of those who lost their lives to the cruel people of this world.

       "Ok, everyone, we have four women, found murdered in a home invasion." Garcia clicked to the next image. "All of them shot in the stomach. Susan Evans, Margaret Hudgeons, Elizabeth Smith," Garcia clicked her remote, "and our most recent victim, Amanda Walker." 

      "Ok, is it just me, or do these victims all look an awful lot like-" Morgan started.

      "Me," Prentiss spoke. That may have been why Hotch was so off. Was it all a coincidence or, no? The case seemed different than usual. 

     "There is another thing, they are all 38, on the dot." Garcia didn't yet notice the significance of this, as she wasn't a profiler.

      "That's how old Prentiss is," stated Reid simply. He, of course, with his eidetic memory, knew everything about everyone. He literally knew her birth time down to the minute. That was the most Reid thing to do.

    "Prentiss, something about this case doesn't sit right with me." JJ wanted to express her concern, as she couldn't lose another person in the love department.

    "Me neither." Hotch had been astonishingly quiet the entire round table. "Prentiss,  if you plan on going home, I want there to be a security detail. They are obviously targeting you. The fact that it's a local case, right in our home town, it's too much to ignore. It appears as though all these women, are a surrogate for you."

   "Hotch, we both know that's ridiculous! This job has risks, and I don't need an entire security detail! You can't just assume I'm a surrogate for this unsub!"

  "Prentiss, this is not up for debate. I'm not risking an agent being shot in the stomach. You aren't gonna be subjected to even the possibility of you getting injured!"

  Prentiss started to protest again, but JJ quickly cut her off. "Em, if there is someone out there targeting you, it can't hurt to take some extra precautions. If you won't do it for yourself, which I know you won't, do it for me." JJ was the caring, logical one in the relationship.

      "JJ's right, Prentiss," Hotch said. "I'm not your safety in jeopardy.

     "This unsub's MO seems to be the key. He leaves behind so little evidence, his signature and victimology will be more important than anything else," Morgan began. 

    "Ok, Morgan, Reid, go to the coroner's office, Rossi, you, and Prentiss, on the scene. I'll talk to Washington PD. JJ, Garcia, you're coming with me," Hotch explained everyone's roles, only this time, it wasn't on the jet. The team set off to complete their job, hardly knowing that this was only the tip of the iceberg.