heart like yours (jennifer jareau)

2. sixteen

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"how slow life is, how violent hope is." - guillaume apollinaire

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Delilah sat in the backseat of Hotch's SUV the next morning, sipping on the coffee she'd picked up from a gas station's shitty coffee machine. Hotch was driving, Derek in the passenger seat on the phone to Penelope.

"Thank you. We just got a lead," Derek said, hanging up the phone and glancing at Hotch in the driver's seat.

"Got a name?" Delilah asked.

"And an address," Derek said.

He put the address in the sat nav, Hotch driving the three minutes towards the house where FBI swat members were already outside waiting and geared up. The three of them got out of the car and hurried over.

"How does a terrorist cell exists right here in Mayberry?" Derek mumbled, eyeing the house.

"You'd be surprised of the statistics," Delilah mumbled.

"Infrared scanning still shows no one inside. We're doing a soft entry in case it's booby trapped," the lead agent on this raid said.

Derek, Hotch and Delilah nodded, watching the team head towards the house while they waited outside. They waited for a few minutes before the agent came back out, pulling his gas mask off.

"We have five deceased males and what looks to be a crude lab, all shot in the head execution style," he said.

"Any anthrax on the scene?" Hotch asked.

"Only residue. There's also packing and tags from four new backpacks," the agent said, turning away to his team.

Delilah, Hotch and Derek started back towards the SUV.

"Backpacks?" Delilah repeated.

"They're already on the move," Derek said.

"We're too late," Hotch sighed.

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Delilah, Hotch, Derek and the DEA agents stood around the walkie in the bullpen at Quantico, Emily speaking into it as they got their bulletproof vests on and ready.

"A shopping center. A mall. It's a grand opening tonight not long after sunset. That gives you about an hour," Emily said.

They quickly headed towards the elevator, JJ hurrying down from Penelope's office to meet them with the information on where to go.

"Let's hope we have somewhere to go," Derek mumbled.

"Grand opening of the USA mall today. It's the third largest in the country, and it's right smack in the middle of McLean, Virginia," JJ said, automatically moving to Delilah's side and squeezing her hand, eyes moving to glance at the cuts stitched up on Delilah's neck and barely covered by Delilah's t-shirt's neckline.

"Let's move," Hotch said.

Delilah squeezed JJ's hand and let go, hurrying after Hotch, Derek and the DEA agents to the elevator. They got on, Delilah looking back out to see JJ watching them wait for the doors to close. She was chewing on her bottom lip and twisting the ring around her finger, a habit she'd picked up from Delilah that they both did when they were stressed.

Delilah stared at JJ for a few seconds before lifting her hand, giving JJ a peace sign with a weak smile. JJ smiled weakly back, mirroring the peace sign as the doors closed over and they lost sight of each other.