Mo grá

Picture To Burn

I sat in one of the government circles in the D.C. area, already provided a disposable cell phone for the occasion as I awaited the final member of the party to join us.

I kept my eyes on the newspaper in my hands, but I wasn't reading it. I watched in my peripherals as the figure of one of my coworkers goes to sit down by the fountain.

Before too long, the disposable phone by my hand started to ring and I placed the device by my ear.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming," Tsia's voice on the phone wasn't directed toward me, but I was relieved to hear the woman's voice nonetheless.

She was practically sitting next to me, but it still felt like Tsia was a world away. "After what happened to Jeremy, I was afraid."

"Tsia, I'm so sorry," I expressed her remorse about the woman's late husband.

"You can't be at his funeral. It's today, isn't it?" Emily asked.

"Well, that's the problem with marrying a member from your own team," She admitted. "One of you is a target, and so is the other. I get it."

"Doesn't make it any easier," Emily with short locks stated.

"Hello, ladies," another voice was added into the mix and I immediately recognized it as Clyde's. He was standing across the circle, facing the street.

"All right, let's make this quick. I took a late lunch," Emily said.

"I made the excuse of a doctor's appointment but they're expecting me back soon as well," I added on.

"Well, come on girls, we all know I'm not quick about anything," Clyde told us and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know. What about that time I blew my cover in Peru?" I asked him. "You took out that sentry before I could even draw my weapon. You saved my ass, Clyde."

"I'm surprised you remember the little people from your Interpol days now that you're a posh FBI profiler," Clyde responded. "Both of you actually. Congratulations on the promotion, Sloan."

"What's being done to locate Doyle?"

"Only every agency in the northern hemisphere is looking for him."

"And what are we doing to find him?" I asked.

"My contact at DCRI tracked one of Doyle's aliases leaving France the day after Jeremy's murder," Tsia spoke. "He took a commercial flight to Beijing, then doubled back on a train bound for Berlin."

"But when GSG 9 intercepted it, he was already gone," Clyde continued.

"He sent me flowers and Leah an old necklace, so I think it's safe to assume he's coming here," Emily told us.

"Why is he doing this?" Tsia asked.

"Why do you think? We put him away, Leah broke his heart." Clyde stated.

Emily's personal phone beeped and mine did the same moments later. Both of us looked down at our phones to see texts from Garcia asking for us back at the BAU.

"Duty calls?" Clyde asked us.

Both of us were silent for a moment before I spoke up. "What about bringing-"

"Absolutely not," Clyde interrupted me. "Your team isn't under oath. They don't have clearance."

"They could help," Emily argued, agreeing with me.

"How?" Tsia questioned. "We don't even know where Doyle is. Involving them at this point would be premature."

"And reckless," Clyde added. "Leave it to Tsia and I. You two go be with your team."