Chapter 1: Time For A New Case

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"Come on, guys." Penelope Garcia said, tapping the desks of Agents Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, and Jareau as she passed. "New case today," she vaguely explained as she headed for the briefing room.

The Agents got up, all heading up the stairs and into said room in a cluster. David Rossi was already there, and so was Hotchner.

"Is it bad?" Morgan asked, biting the inside of his cheek subconsciously.

As Penelope passed out the folders holding the picture of the crime scenes, she shrugged. "That's for you to decide." Then, she turned to the screen.

"Alyssa Richman, 23, worked at a local bar in Jacksonville, Alabama. Kidnapped three weeks ago, then found dead in the middle of a forest trail five days later." Garcia paused to pull of another picture beside it, starting on the next victim. "Melody Patton. She was 21, and she worked at another bar all the way across town. She was kidnapped and found in the same pattern, and was also ditched in the same place."

"Sounds like our UNSUB likes bars." Morgan stated.

"Well, it does serve as a good hunting ground." Reid explained. "People are normally so drunk they won't be able to process that someone is kidnapping them rather than just taking them home. By the time they come out of their stupor they don't even recall what happened or how they got where they are being held."

Garcia nodded, smiling. "Exactly. But, there's still another victim." She pressed the button a third time. "Stephanie Kurt, 22, was just found this recent Friday, still following the schedule. She also worked at the same bar Melody did with almost the same schedule."

"So," J.J. said, looking through her folder, occasionally looking up at the screen, "they get kidnapped on a Monday, kept for five days, then killed and ditched on a hiking trail on a Friday. Pretty tight schedule."

Hotch spoke for the first time since the group had entered the room. "But that still gives him three days to kidnap the next victim."

"Which would be today." Rossi spoke up.

"Well, the first and second victims were redheads, while the second was a brunette. They all had green eyes, though." Reid said, studying the pictures. "Each are all of different ages, and all of them are white."

"All are about the same height, too." Emily said. "They're all about 5'8"."

Hotch nodded. "Okay. Wheels up in 30."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>ON THE PLANE<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Morgan was one of the first on the plane, second to Hotch. Rossi came next, then the two girls arrived together. Reid was the only one missing.

"Reid's not here?" Emily asked as soon as she had surveyed her surroundings. "I thought he was going with you, Morgan?"

"Nope, I came on my own." Reid said, stepping onto the plane. He had his satchel at his side, and he set it on the couch, claiming it his for the next few hours they'd be on the jet.

"Okay," Hotch said, ignoring the slight uproar behind him. "Garcia, what've you got?"

"Not much sir," Garcia said. "But I have gotten something. Just as you said, they were normally in the same group, but not exactly."

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" Rossi asked.

"Well, they were all pretty cocky. They had enough money to get by, and a little extra, but they spent it like their houses were made of gold or something." Garcia explained. "From their phone and email records, they had never met each other, but they were all pretty much similar in personality."

"Can you find out anything else?" Reid asked.

"You bet your sweet cheeks I can." Garcia said. "Over and out."

Her familiar face went of the screen, and they all huddled together to discuss.

"Okay, so when we get there, we're going to go to the local PD station and set up, getting the locations of the dump sites." Hotch said. "Reid, I don't want you leaving the station unless we say so. You're the best one for cracking this kind of case, and we don't need you getting hurt."

Reid sighed quietly, rolling his eyes at Hotch's back. But he complied, knowing that this was only for protection. The last thing he needed was to be distracted from the case.

Hotch had finished explaining their instructions long before the plane had landed, and decided to take another look at the file.

Morgan had already put on his headphones; checking out the file without distraction. Well, from others, anyway. J.J. was quietly talking with Emily about the UNSUB, while Rossi was crashing in a chair in the far corner.

Reid wasn't that surprised at Rossi. Actually, it was kind of normal. He was probably just closing his eyes and thinking through what the UNSUB had been planning to do with--snore. Okay, so maybe Reid was wrong. Reid was glad he didn't say it out loud, or else he would have been wrong in front to people, too. That would've just made it worse.

Reid couldn't focus. He was too worried about others than on the case. But, he decided to give it a shot anyway.

The entire trip to Jacksonville, Tennessee was quiet. They weren't put together yet. They needed to land, clear their heads, and set up. Without taking 5 minutes before starting, Reid was sure all their heads would explode with the pressure.

As they later exited the plane, the smell of new, fresh air hitting them, they were escorted to the local PD station immediately.

"Hello, you must be the BAU agents we've been expecting," said a man wearing a police badge. "My name is Deputy Jack Masser."

"Hello, Deputy." Hotch said, shaking hands. "Where would you like us to sat up?"

"In there is fine," he said, pointing over his shoulder to a large room that had glass windows from the floor to ceiling working as walls. For a small town, they certainly put a lot of money into this one building. Odd.

As they all entered the room, Rossi set up the computer so Garcia could come through to them. Reid passed out the files he had been keeping in his bag, and Hotch began putting the picture of the victims on the white board on the one wall that wasn't made of glass. Reid stepped out for a minute, only to return with another white board that was clear, but on rollers. He brought it up to the table, and began to write down scribbles that the rest of the team didn't understand. But, they didn't need to. If Reid understood, that was all that mattered.

"So," said Hotch, turning the computer on. He started a video chat with Garcia. "Found anything yet?"

Garcia smiled. "You know I do."

"Hit us with your best shot, Baby Girl," said Morgan.

Garcia nodded. "I traced down all the girls' old boyfriends, last shopping trips, et cetera, and nada. Zilch. Truth is, they didn't have boyfriends at all."

"These were lesbians. Our UNSUB is hunting lesbians." Morgan said without a change of expression.

"In Christianity, homosexuality is considered very wrong, so if our UNSUB is a Christian, it's most likely they think they're working in the face of God, and are actually doing the right thing." Reid said.

"Garcia, look at local bars and dig through every person's last detail. See if any of them are religious, and find out what schedule they work. They can't possibly work full time. They have to kidnap somebody on a Monday, and after working a full shift, they wouldn't be strong enough." Hotch said. "And while you're doing that, we're going to the dump site."

"Peace," said Garcia, giving the peace sign right before the screen went black.

"Now," Morgan said, standing, "let's go get this son of a bitch."

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