The Flight

Time to Fly

"Wheels up in thirty," Hotch say to his coworkers as he stands and walks out of the room.

He always feels bad for pulling them out on their days off to come and work a case.

This job has ruined their lives, he has lost his wife and almost lost his son to a man they had hunted.

JJ has started a family but the images have scarred her mind, so every case reminds her of what she has left at home.

Rossi is married to the job; and that has ruined three of his marriages.

Morgan and Garcia try to live their lives the best and brightest they can, but don't get very far because a criminal is always out there.

Reid is unable to go out and see the world for its beauty because of what he has seen; and because of that, he prefers to live in his head.

Kate is the newest to the BAU and the team can practically see the joy of life leave her due to the ugly sights of the job.

But they each have made a pledge to serve and protect the people of the United States; and every life saved, every victim returned home safely, makes this job worth while.

Today the team has been requested to assist on a case in Carson City, Nevada. Four bodies have been found with homemade tattoos on them, put on by the unsub; most likely a message to the police.

Hotch goes back into his office, packs away a few other case files that are laying on his desk, grabs his to-go bag and stops to look out the window from his office overlooking the bull pin where the other agents are.

He watches as they quickly throw things together and get ready to leave.

Hotch then leaves his office and walks to where the rest of the team waits.

"Ready?" He asks, not directly a real question, because he knows they are.

Morgan picks up his bag from the ground, "as much as I'll ever be," he says with a little sarcasm in his voice, as he follows the rest of the team onto the elevator.

They walk out of the FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, and load their few bags into the government issued vehicles and drive to the private airport in which they fly out of.

Once they are aboard the jet, they take their seats for takeoff. After a few minutes, the jet is smoothly flying through the air and the team adjust their seats to go over the case they have before them.

"So... we have four bodies with tattoos they didn't have before they disappeared. They were dumped around several high tourist attractions and left in the open to be spotted," JJ says, reviewing the case while the laptop on the table beeps and Garcia appears on the screen.

"Hey baby girl, what do you got for us?" Morgan says with a grin but still completely serious about the case.

Garcia looks into the screen and replies to her friend, "nothing besides what JJ just said."

"Garcia, how long was each victim missing?" Rossi asks, sitting out of view of the laptop camera.

"Three days. And we can tell he doesn't have a type because he has picked four people that couldn't be the same in any way. Age, race, job status, sexual orientation, money, religion, everything. Everything is different about these victims," she rambles from the opposite side of the camera.

"So he doesn't have a preference, then victims picked at random?" Reid speaks, sitting on the arm of the couch, looking over the case file.

He looks up from the file and looks at the lady on the computer screen, "how long was it till they were reported missing and do the have anything in common about the place where the ran into the unsub?"

The team can hear clicking from the other end of the computer as Garcia searches it up.

"The families of each victim reported them missing approximately 15 hours after the were taken. The victims were picked up a gas station and were dropped approximately 20 miles away."

Reid thanks Garcia and JJ speaks up, "so tattoos and tourist attractions must be significant to him. Not very specific."

"We don't have much.. When we land, Rossi and Reid, you go to the morgue and check the bodies. Morgan, take Kate and go visit the last drop spot. JJ and I will go to the station and see what else we can dig up. We have about one hour till landing so why don't we all rest because who knows what we'll find when we land," Hotch says as the team scatters around the plane to have some quiet time.

Everyone is resting when all of a sudden, the plane takes a turn and starts to dive down.

They are all quickly responsive, because when the realize the unexpected detour, Hotch is looking out the window.

"We are falling. Grab a seat and buckle up," he barks at his coworkers, as they all do as they are told.

Hotch makes sure his fellow agents are secure, and gets up to check on the pilot. He reaches the cockpit to find the pilot and copilot dead in their seats with all the controls ruined and unreadable.

As he races to his seat, the ground seems to be approaching much faster. He is able to pick up the laptop which had been flown off the table, as he sits and buckles up. Garcia is surprisingly still on the screen and the only thing Hotch could get out was "help" before the jet takes a nose dive and rams into the hard, mountainous ground.