heaven in a wildflower [criminal minds]

chapter eleven - eclipse

We arrived at the station in the early afternoon. The Sheriff introduced himself, and the cops were all very welcoming, which is pretty rare for the local PD.

"You can set up in here" the Sheriff says, "thank you" Hotch replies.

"So, assuming it's a gang, what do we know about them?" Rossi says,

"well they're highly organised, no prints or material evidence were left at the scene, that level of organisation needs a strong leader." I say,

"But we still don't have any motivation for the kills, now it might just be a power play to show off to a rival gang, but this area is upper-class suburban families, it isn't really gang territory" Emily says

"it's pretty rare to have a group this large of sadistic killers, so it's not about the enjoyment of the kill, they aren't robbing the houses, and nothing points to a revenge kill, so why are they doing it?" I say

"there isn't anything ritualistic about it so it's not religious, could they be a group of contract killers?" I ask.

"But why the MO, if it's a contract killing group, surely the point is to stay under the radar, and an MO this specific is only going to attract attention," Spencer says.

"Maybe it's a power thing, they like the attention?" JJ replies.

"Sorry to interrupt, we've got a witness" the Sheriff says stood in the doorway,

"They left a survivor?" Morgan asks.

"No, a woman came in just now, says she saw the appeal on TV, she saw a group of people in hoodies get out of a van near the most recent victims house. She said that she just thought it was kids messing about, but she got the number plate of the van."

"Garcia?" Hotch says on the phone, "can you run a plate? FGY5597"

"It belongs to a James Roe, unemployed, aged 27, divorced no children."

"I'm sending you his address" Garcia says

"Wait" I say, thinking

"For something this organised, why would they use a car that's so easy to trace?" I ask.

"It could be a trap, I'll call SWAT" Hotch says.

We arrive at the house, "FBI" Derek shouts, kicking down the door, it leads to an empty room, there's a desk with computers in the furthest corner.

In the other corner there's a man, he's different to what I expect though, he's short and skinny, he looks tired and he has a black eye.

The interrogation room is dark and cold, Derek and Rossi sat opposite the man,

"So, what's your name? Are you James?" Rossi asks.

"James is one of them, I'm Thomas, I'm just the tech guy, they took me and made me hack stuff."

"What stuff?" Derek asks.

Thomas sighs "They wanted witness protection files for this girl, but the security is too good I couldn't do it".

"Do you remember the girl's name?" Rossi asks,

"James never told me, he said when I got in, he would tell me her name."

"Did you ever see James' face?"

"No," Thomas replied.

We were all sitting in the briefing room and the phone rings "Garcia I'm going to put you on speaker" Spencer says.

"Hello my kittens, now the reason we don't know much about this guy James Roe, is because he's also in witness protection."

"I'll make some calls and see if we can get those filled opened" Hotch says.

"So, our friend James probably knew the girl and when they went into witsec, they got separated and now he needs to track her down. They're probably related, a girlfriend or a daughter or something." Rossi says.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain the killings, none of the victims were involved in the witness protection scheme," JJ says.

"You guys can go to the hospital now, there isn't much we can do until we get those files open" Hotch says to me and Spencer.

"Can I drive?" I say to Spencer as we approach the SUV.

"Absolutely no way." He replies

"I've got my licence, and you hate to drive, it's just to the hospital." I say

"You're only like 14 years old you are not driving" Spencer says

"I'm 18 so technically I'm an adult" I say laughing.

"You're still not driving," Spencer says, getting in the SUV.

We parked a couple of blocks away and walked the rest of the way to the hospital, the street was dark and empty, I looked at my watch, the time was 10:43pm.

A van pulled up beside us and 3 men got out quickly, grabbing my wrists, ankles, and shoulders. I tried to fight them off, I got a few punches in when I felt a cold sensation drag my body down, slowing my heart rate.

My arm itches from where the needle went in, I turned slowly to see Spencer, also in the back of the van.

I tried desperately to keep my eyes open but the pressure was too intense and I found myself drifting off as the van rocked side to side.