magnetic ◊ criminal minds

ix.

ix. lo-fi
( season three, episode twenty )

"DON'T get comfortable," Hotch said as soon as the team walked into the briefing room. He did not tear his eyes away from the screen in front of him. "There'll be time to debrief on the plane."

"Where are we headed?" Reid asked.

"New York," Hotch replied.

"Five shootings in two weeks. It's about time we get the call," Rossi said. Lyra was just happy that they had another case in New York. Of course, she likely would not be stopping by Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but it was comforting to be close. Contrarily, she hated cases in Mclean, Virginia specifically, because of all she endured at the hands of Trask Industries there.

"I want to take Garcia with us," Hotch stated. "Hopefully they'll give us access to their surveillance system."

"What do we know?" Prentiss asked.

"All the killings are midday. Single gunshot to the head with a .22."

"Any witnesses?" JJ asked.

"No."

"A .22-calibre pistol's only 152 decibels. New York streets and subways are routinely well over a hundred. It could be people aren't even registering the gunshot until the UnSub's leaving the scene," Reid said.

"They sound like mob hits," Morgan said.

"Except none of them have ties to organized crime," Hotch stated.

"Do they have any connection to each other?" Prentiss asked.

"None they've found."

"How about communication with the police? Has the UnSub tried to make contact?" Morgan asked.

"Surveillance cameras have captured video of three of the murders. This is the latest," Hotch said, playing the video on the screen. It was a quick shot, a blurry one.

"That's the best they have?" Lyra asked before JJ could. Lyra wished she could just tap the screen, enhance it, but exposing herself at this point was not an option. She had to think of the lives she could save in the long run instead of in the present. She could do more without losing her job.

"They're all the same," Hotch replied. He played another one of the videos. "He wears a hood and keeps his head down."

"This guy's bold," Prentiss said. "Crowded areas, broad daylight."

"So they're completely random?" Rossis said.

"Seems that way," Hotch said.

"It's Son of Sam all over again," Reid commented.

♢

The boarded the plane, Garcia with them this time. "How come I only get to travel with you guys, like, once every two years?" she asked.

"Trust me, mamma, it can get old," Morgan said.

"Oh, right, like the way that spa treatments and five-star hotels get old."

"Remember the time we got on board and they hadn't chilled the Cristal?" Prentiss said.

"Ooh, I almost quit the BAU that day," Morgan said. Lyra concealed a smile from her seat beside Hotch.

"Okay, you know what?" Garcia said. "You guys can joke all you want because I am never leaving this plane."

"The victims?" Rossi said, putting down the pictures of them he had been looking at.