Every Moment ((ON HOLD))

chapter nine

Hotch's POV:

The team lingered, exhausted after the endless, dragging, night at the precinct, working over the profile. I rubbed between my eyes, my elbows resting on the table.

"How are we going to find this guy?" JJ sighed leaning back in her chair. She rubbed her palms over her eyes sleepily. "He's practically a ghost."

"We're hunting a well trained, navy seal, who doesn't wanna be found, he's got us running in circles." Dave responded, stirring his cup of stale coffee.

"The rage of a man with his level of tactical practice, and assassin stealth unleashed on society could mean the death of countless more civilians." Emily admitted worryingly, tensing the room as my phone rang.

"Yeah Garcia, you're on speaker."

"Guys I find something big, I mean capital, B, I, double G, it's so massive."

"What is it babygirl?"

"I found a photo, of David Sanders, Martin Warren, AND Travis Harvey, from a deployment in Tel Aviv, standing with 5 other military personnel." Everyone's iPads chimed as we rushed to view the image. I pulled up an aged, printed, photograph of a NAVY seal squadron. "There's writing in the corner, like a, ink smeared number, I think its dated in '2015' but I can't tell. I'm running a scan now."

I studied the portrait. Eight men, arms wrapped around each other's necks. All their weapons were visible, accessible, but their helmets unlatched and gear dismantled. Some of the men wore rugged, confidence, smirks for the photo, while a few had looks of exhaustion, of horror. Their uniforms were muddied and stained, along with their painted faces. Travis, David, and Martin were front and center in the photograph with large beaming smiles.

"There's Travis, right there in the middle with the cigarette." Garcia recognized as I gazed over the rest of the platoon. Five white males, three black males, all in their 20's. I lingered on the man at the end of the line, his stoic expression and clipped strap disturbed the eased appearance of the rest of the photo.

"Right next to David and Martin." Emily added.

"That's Anderson Ling, the witness who put Travis at the Warren's." David said pointing at a man in the photo.

"Garcia, let us know when you get the scans back."

"Yes sir." The door opened. Deputy Charles stood in the doorframe. His thick, dark, mustache, furrowed under his nose as he spoke.

"Family of five just found in their home off Ridgeburge. Anderson and Avery Ling, parents in the living room, kids in the bedrooms. Fathers unrecognizable, we're able to ID'd him from his dog tags."

I watched my team slip down the drain.

"You're kidding?" Derek huffed, disheartened. Deputy Charles wore a mournful expression, shaking his head.

"I wish I was." He replied. "One was a six year old girl." The team was waiting for me. I glanced through the room, looking back to the deputy.

"Gather the department, we need to deliver the profile." The stress ascended as Deputy Charles nodded firmly, taking his exit. I rose, closing the open folder, tapping the files edges against the table.