The Intelligence Control and Analysis Program

Chapter 14

"Your Honor, we need to see what's in that basement."

"You don't have probable cause to see what's in that basement."

Hotch turned his head to the right and glared at Section Chief Jason Bale with more fire in his stomach than he knew he could have without dying. "I wasn't speaking to you." He looked back at the judge. "We have results from the psychological evaluations indicating trauma in more than eighty percent of the geniuses, and of the bloodwork we've gotten back, which is more than half, sixty-two percent were on some kind of experimental drug." He managed to keep himself from raising his voice, but it was hard to stay calm when he knew how important it was to get a foot in the door. "ICAP conducts its more questionable activities in the basement—"

"Allegedly," Bale interrupted with a slight smirk. "You have no evidence of anything untoward happening in that basement. All you have is a group of geniuses telling you something they've allegedly heard about secondhand and would very much like you to believe." Bale lifted a brow slightly, dark eyes glinting in the dim light of the judge's chambers. "Which is exactly what the separation of geniuses from the general population was supposed to prevent."

"I am not the general public," Hotch replied evenly, eyes cold.

Danica Smith, a judge Hotch had worked with many times before, met Hotch's eyes with an almost apologetic expression. "I trust your judgement, Agent Hotchner, and you've yet to bring me a case that wasn't valid. But Chief Bale makes a good point. Even if they weren't geniuses, hearsay is not enough for me to grant a search warrant for a facility that handles matters of national security."

"Allegedly," Hotch replied. "We have no proof of foul play because we have no records, and because we have no records, there's no proof that what goes on down there is a matter of national security." He was pulling rank, and he was on thin ice, but he kept going. He didn't really have much of a choice. "At the very least, ICAP should be required to release some redacted documents on operations that are now closed." He glanced at Bale and then looked back at Smith. "If we're going to ignore the evidence that gave us access to the rest of the building in the name of national security, we need some kind of proof that the claims of national security are valid."

Bale spoke up before Smith had a chance to respond. "Well, you don't need to subpoena that." He shrugged with an amicable smile. "I'll gladly supply you with those documents."

Hotch glared. I'm sure you will.

Judge Smith didn't see the glare and lifted an elegant eyebrow of her own. "You would be willing to do that?" she questioned, her tone both curious and suspicious.

"Of course." Bale spread his hands slightly. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I have nothing to hide. I'll admit not everything we did to contain the geniuses was legal, but it was all necessary. If it weren't for the public outrage it would have caused, we would have moved to change the laws on genius management years ago." He shrugged his shoulders slightly, and the smile on his lips melted into a smirk. "There's no difference between protests against the practices of my staff and protests against police corruption and brutality."

Hotch kept his mouth shut, wanting Bale to reveal as much as possible, but it was painfully difficult.

"There are a handful of legitimate cases where people abuse their authority or try to make a quick buck and put something harmful back on the street." Bale shrugged. "It's unfortunate, but it's unavoidable. But in the majority of cases, what the police do is justified. ICAP is the same. Everything we do is necessary. We have to take extreme measures because geniuses are extreme threats. It looks bad to those on the outside who don't fully understand the danger we prevent, but it's nothing a little perspective can't fix. If these documents can provide that perspective, I'll gladly comply."