heaven in a wildflower [criminal minds]

chapter twelve - sense

Hotch was woken up by his phone ringing, "Hotchner"

"We have those witsec files for you sir" "great thanks send them over"

"Where are Reid and Esme?" Hotch asks as everyone gathers at the station,

"I don't know, their phones go straight to voicemail, I'll call the hospital, they probably slept there." Morgan says leaving the room and dialling numbers into his phone.

Hotch stood up, indicating to the board, "So James Roe's real name is James Harley, him and his daughter were separated, and put into the witness protection scheme last year,

he's been trying to track her down for ages.

They were split up when they went into the system for her safety, he's got a history of violent crimes.

We're suspecting he's the leader of the gang, this is the address of the daughter, you don't share this with anyone,

I don't know what will happen if James finds it but I expect nothing good.

We've got extra protection at the daughter's house, she's 8 years old, her name is Macy, she's living with a foster family."

"That's all well and good, but it still doesn't explain the motive for the killings, or why the MO is so specific." Emily says.

"Guys, we've got a problem" Morgan says entering the conference room.

"Esme and Reid didn't get to the hospital." He hangs the phone up and calls Garcia.

"I need security footage for the local hospital, last night" Morgan says.

"What am I looking for?" Garcia asks.

"Reid and Esme," Morgan replies.

An uncomfortable silence fills the room and the atmosphere of panic slowly starts to build.

"Oh my god. Oh my god-"

"What is it Garcia?" Hotch asks.

"Well, I couldn't find them at the hospital, but the SUV is parked a couple of blocks away, they were walking towards the hospital and at 10:45 this van pulls up and grabs them both, there like 4 guys and they drugged them, where did they take them? What if-"

Morgan takes the phone off speaker for a second as everyone exchanges worried looks, Morgan says something to Garcia to calm her down and put the phone back on speaker, 

"uh, I can't get a trace on the car, the plates are stolen, but I'm sending you the footage now." Garcia says.

"That's why they killed the victims, it wasn't about the murders, it was to draw us out.

Only advanced teams like the BAU are allowed to have access to witsec, they needed something that would draw more attention than just the local PD.

They knew we would open the witness protection files and get the address, they played us" Emily spits angrily.

"But Reid and Esme don't know the address, they weren't here when I told you." Hotch says concerned.

"He doesn't know that; he'll assume that Reid and Esme know where his daughter is" Rossi replies.

"Oh my god- I've got an ID on one of the kidnappers, he spent 15 years in prison for aggravated assault, he's bad, like really bad.

He runs this blog on 'the perfect torture method'.

He writes that you should take the main subject and a secondary subject, that person's Achilles heel.

And you torture the secondary subject in front of the primary subject, he predicts that the emotional torture and guilt of witnessing your friend or wife or daughter in pain, and knowing you can stop it, is worse than any physical torture."

Garcia sounds disgusted and on the verge of tears, her voice trembles as she speaks again. 

"And a bonus, it reduces the risk of accidentally killing the primary subject and losing the information, the secondary subject is disposable."

"Spence is the primary subject and Esme is his Achilles heel, the secondary subject" JJ whispers lightly.

"She's basically his sister."