The Intelligence Control and Analysis Program

Chapter 10

"Can someone please explain to me the appeal of these sites?" Rossi squinted at the paper in his hands and read the status updates aloud. "'Having sushi for dinner. Yum!' 'Boss is keeping me late at work. Grr.' I mean, whose life is so important that we would be interested in this kind of detail?"

Morgan chuckled. "I mean, I don't know, I guess that's the running joke." He shrugged his shoulders. "No one's life is that important, but we'd all like to believe there's a group of people out there who care about all those little details."

Rossi just looked back at the papers with a scowl. "I don't even care about these kinds of details in my own life, let alone someone else's."

Genius laughed, which drew Rossi's attention toward the far end of the plane. It seemed Genius found the interaction funny, if the lingering smile was any indication, but Garcia was switching between glaring at the team and looking at Genius with concern on her face.

"Light?" she asked quietly, almost in a whisper.

"Yellow," was the seamless reply, equally quiet.

"Coffee?"

"Straight."

"Deaf?"

"Maybe."

"Snapback?"

"Single."

"Candy?"

"Penny."

Garcia nodded affirmatively and then went back to glaring, her eyes silently daring them to make her decipher the code. Rossi was half-tempted to take her up on that dare, but he waited to see what Hotch would do.

"Garcia, Genius, you know you can't speak in code." Hotch still had a file open in his lap, but his gaze was fixated on the other end of the plane.

"Sorry, sir." Genius bowed his head slightly, a guilty expression crossing his face.

Garcia looked Hotch dead in the eye. "He's not yellow. He's green."

Genius turned to her and, with a danger Rossi did not often hear in his voice, growled his reply. "No, he really isn't."

"Spencer and Garcia!" Hotch barked, openly displeased.

Genius hung his head again, his anger fizzling out. "Yes, sir."

Garcia expressed no regret, but she didn't push her luck, either.

Hotch leveled a serious but not quite angry stare at the duo. "Both of you, sit down here where I can keep an eye on you."

Genius quickly slid down the couch-like seat, stopping about a foot and a half away from Rossi. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

Hotch looked at Garcia expectantly.

Everyone looked at Garcia expectantly, though some were more discreet than others.

Garcia smirked. "No." She pulled her feet up onto the seat and made herself comfortable. "I like it here."

Hotch looked at her for a moment, and then he nodded. He closed his file and got to his feet, perfectly calm as he ordered, "Everyone, move to this end, please."

Garcia blew her bangs out of her eyes, irritated at worst. "I'll just move again."

"No, you won't." Hotch sat down next to her, waiting patiently for everyone else to make their way down.

Rossi stayed where he was—he had been in the middle of the jet to begin with—and gave Genius' arm a reassuring squeeze; a silent reminder that Hotch was fair and kind and wasn't going to hurt one of the very few friends Genius had.