White Flag (Jennifer Jareau x Fem!OC)

Chapter 6

I look at the team giving the profile as I am not yet qualified to do it with them. They all seem in sync, knowing perfectly what to say and when to say it. I quickly make eye contact with JJ causing her voice to shake a bit, making me smirk. She manages to continue without anyone to notice, but I've clearly noticed that.

            Once they are done with the profile, we gather in a room, and we search for answers. JJ and Spencer point out the timeline in the victims' work journey, they all had a couple months of unemployment at the same time. Maybe a common project or something like this. As soon as we found out for the timeline, the team is called on another potential crime scene. Emily asks me to stay here with Spencer, Tara and JJ to try finding something interesting. Quickly enough, it's just Spencer and me.

"Are you feeling better?" Spencer wonders. "You seemed pretty upset when we met the first time."

"I've been through bad shit recently; I feel relax now that all I have to do is finding murderers and helping you guys to do your job." I chuckle and he laughs.

"Couldn't think of a more badass answer." He winks at me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead, genius."

"When you were on the roof with that guy, you had the earpiece on and we were listening to the convo... he was talking about a little girl... can I ask you what happened?" He seems worried.

"Well..." I prevent myself from showing emotions immediately. "Five months ago, I've made contact with a CPI agent to protect my dad from a rival who wanted us all dead. Eva, that was her name, became a close friend quickly, I've spent countless nights with her trying to track the other family. Eva had a daughter, Virginia, she was spending her life in my arms, she wouldn't let go of me. She was 4, she was like my daughter or my little sister, Eva even let me have her for weekends sometimes, we would go to the soccer field or to the park. I've taught her how to swim, how to dance, how to ride a bike..."

"What happened?" Spencer wonders.

"Sergio found out about me and Eva hanging out and all, he kidnapped Virginia, forcing us to search everywhere in England and Italia. When we finally found her in London, Sergio was waiting for us, he caged me in a circle of mines and tortured Eva in front of me and Virginia. Then, he killed her with a bullet straight through her head... Virginia was crying so hard, he let her leave, so she run to me no matter how hard I told not to come to close, she wanted protection, she wanted me to hold her as we used to..." By now my eyes are full of tears and I struggle to tell the end of the story. "She didn't stop, and she run on a mine five meters in front of me, her body exploded in the air... I... I can still see her worried face the second before she put her feet on that mine... I..."

"I'm sorry, Vic..." Spencer whispers. "I didn't know..."

"It's okay." I dry my tears slowly. "I hope Garcia wasn't listening to that, she will want to hug me when we return."

"Sorry, sweetheart, you won't escape the hug." We hear Garcia through the electronic device on the table.

"I can live with that." I chuckle slightly before feeling a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm truly sorry about that, Victoria..." JJ is standing behind me with tears rolling down her face.

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm used to see people I love die in front of me..." I shrug but she looks at me with so much pain that I can't stop myself from hugging her.

"No one should be used to it." She whispers in the hug, her face hidden in my neck.

"Yeah..." I hold her tightly.

"I hate interrupting you guys every time but, we've got news." Garcia informs.

"Where should we start, Garcia?" Spencer asks.

"Tori Hoffstadt freelanced for Peakstone. She was in charge of putting together and supervising drone teams. A drone team consisted of 6 coders and one drone pilot." Garcia says while Luke and Matt walk in. "The coders were supposed to create a military drone specifically designed to appeal to gamers."

"Because blowing away computer graphics is exactly the same as killing human begins?" Matt scenically asks.

"Ok, I just want to say that multiple studies have shown that you can totally be into first-person shoot them up games and be a complete pacifist, but I guess the marketing behind this was using your gaming expertise to do something patriotic, and the pay was really good." Penelope explains.

"Money is always a good motivation." I state thinking of all the bad things I've already paid people to do.

"Well, they needed the recruits." Luke reflects. "Our enlisted men and women are stretched to the limits."

"No one wants a draft, so contractors take over." Tara rightly underlines.

"Their marketing worked. Hundreds of drone operators were stationed overseas and embedded with various air force squadrons." Garcia continues to give us all she finds.

"That could have been overwhelming to guys recruited for their ability to hang out in their mom's basement playing "Call of Duty" " Tara acknowledges.

"If our unsub is a former drone operator, it could also explain why he's targeting the coders who developed the software." Matt adds.

"He could hold them responsible for making killing seem like a game." I agree with the man.

"People who weren't in active combat but still racked up casualties, they can suffer post-traumatic stress." Luke points out.

"But, Garcia, did Tori put together a team during the employment gaps of our victims?" JJ makes the link with our case quickly. "It would have been between February and July of 2016."

"She did." Garcia taps on her computer. "And it produced a drone that was used in strikes against enemy targets until July 2016 when the contract was abruptly canceled by Peakstone."

"Any speculation as to why?" JJ seems proud of her thinking.

"None. According to official reports, the final mission was extremely successful. It was an insurgent's camp in the Helmand province of Afghanistan." Garcia says. "A lot of casualties. 372 dead."

"Garcia, we need the name of that civilian drone operator." Luke commands. "He's our unsub."

"You won't have it, it'll be crypted, I bet you." I point at him, and he sticks his tongue at me.

"I know that. I know that. Do you think I don't know that?" Garcia stresses out. "But Peakstone has its data in a vault." I smirk looking at Luke. "I'm doing the best I can."

"All good, Penelope." I comment. "You can't break the unbreakable."

"Put that smirk away, Martinelli." Luke warns me playfully.

"I've worked with Peakstone before, they are mad people, but they are good at protecting themselves." I shrug.

"You love working with mad people." Matt chuckles.

"Why do you think I agree to work with you guys?" My smirk goes wider, and JJ hits my shoulder. "Eh, that hurts."

"Poor little baby." JJ teases and we all go to separate ways.