𝙰𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝙾𝚍𝚍𝚜 | 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚒𝚍

Puzzle Masters

Delilah was sent to her room to gather clothing for herself along with other personal items she would need to bring with her. Before doing so, she let out a couple more details to the agents about the case. Whether or not she was supposed to, no one ever asked and she didn't care.

They were looking at a possible group of 6 Unsubs if the group had decided to stick together; they were all armed and very well trained. Stealthy too. As far as Delilah knew, it was the same group that forced her into Witness Protection. However, before they crossed paths with her, they had also committed a decent amount of crimes that called upon police attention. There was no doubt in her mind that the two murdered junkies had possibly crossed them in some way to warrant the overkill. Them finding her specifically or out of simple coincidence was still in question.

"No, they definitely scoped her out," Morgan squashed whatever doubt still filled Emily and Spencer about Delilah's location. He crossed the meeting room to pin up a blurry photograph of the man Marlene had spotted in the cafe. It was pretty grainy and it could very well be anyone but it was all they had. "The barista we talked to told about a guy watching her last week. And in every shot his face is hidden."

"He knows we'd be looking at the camera," Rossi said. "The barista told us he was tall, had blonde hair and a full beard. Nothing else to set him apart."

"Yeah, and if he's smart enough then he's probably already shaved the beard off." Hotch walked up to the board himself. It was sad, really, how little they had for the case.

"That's very little," Delilah's voice made every agent turn towards the door. She was standing by the doorway with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, but her eyes were glued to the board. "And it's my fault."

Silence filled the room.

Eventually, Emily got up from her seat and walked over to Delilah. "No, no, it's not."

Delilah laughed humorlessly and let the door close behind her. "Yes, it is, and you're all probably so frustrated about it."

"Even though...it's for your own safety not to get so involved," Hotch was making way for her when she set her duffel bag on the table.

"No, enough is enough. I'm in your way and I'm not even helping," she drummed her fingers along the table as she studied the board. Her eyes flickered from one piece of evidence to the next. "They," she pointed at the two corpses, "were junkies who probably wanted new drugs from the Unsub. They were probably annoying in his eyes and since he found me he killed 2 birds with one stone. He—" her finger had moved to the grainy picture, "—is Michael Sade, if I'm seeing the beard right. He was part of the 6 men gang who terrorized practically all of Virginia. I'm not sure about the names of the other four but I know that if Michael's here then the others are too, or at least on their way. He and...Jordan Rosh are the reason I'm in Witness. They're master murderers, all of them, but Michael and Jordan were in charge."

"That's enough," Hotch's hard tone was met with a rather sharp glare from Delilah. "You're not supposed to divulge any information that could endanger—"

"—but I have to," she said. Everyone noticed the hard grip she had on the table. Her knuckles were turning white.

"Your safety—"

"Is my call." Delilah was holding Hotch's gaze quite strongly. Usually no civilian, nor anyone crossing him, was able to. "I have given you information you can use to help avoid any other unnecessary death. I will not feel bad about that and neither should your team. You have a job to do and if I can help, I will." Realizing that commanding wasn't the best strategy either — it certainly wasn't polite considering they were also risking their lives for her — she fixed her tone of voice. "Please," she said softly, "I...I need to take some command back into my life. Let me help."