Stand In The Rain

Thirty Two

The next morning was business as usual.

"Good morning, everyone." she said as she handed folders out to them while they took their usual spots at the round table. "Today, we're going somewhere very familiar: New York City, and I will be fine, so don't worry."

She'd added that last part when she got to her spot at the head of the table, by the presentation screen, remote in hand and saw that they were all wincing or showing other various expressions as they remembered what had happened during their last visit there.

Said Hotch, "Okay, JJ, tell us why we're going to NYC again."

"For the past month now, children varying from ages five to twelve have been disappearing from various neighborhoods in Manhattan, specifically European immigrant communities. They've been vanishing without a trace, but there is clearly at least two people at work, here."

"JJ," Spencer said, looking up from his file folder. "This already sounds like a trafficking case. What makes it a case for us, and not the special victims unit?"

"Because these are the abduction victims." JJ pressed a button on the remote in her hand and a collage of eight children fitting the bracket she'd described appeared on the screen. "Does anybody notice anything about them?"

"They're all girls." Penelope answered, subconsciously rubbing her hands over her baby bump. "That's extremely specific."

"Both statistically and historically, in the trafficking trade, and even in the sex and slave trades, girls and women have always been worth more than men or boys, especially if they're virgins. That's just one facet of why we've been assigned this case."

Across the table, Rossi asked, "What's the other?"

"Like I said, nobody knows where the girls are being taken, but the unsubs are extremely aggressive and violent because for almost every girl taken, they've killed a parental figure of one of the abduction victims. Local authorities are aware of what's going on, though."

Derek, who was clearly thinking about the casualty list, spoke up. "One is an isolated incident, two is a coincidence, and three is a pattern, but JJ, eight people dead? That is a spree."

"And," Emily said suddenly. "Listen to the names of the girls here: Tatiana, Nikita, Irina, Oksana, Katija, Rada, Anya, Polina; these are all classic Russian girl names. Has anyone tried asking around Little Odessa, or any other heavily-populated Russian district like that?"

"Yes, but nobody will talk because that's the way the Russian immigrant society is, meaning that for now, the authorities' hands are tied."

JJ turned to Derek.

"And there are actually seven dead family members because the remaining family members from the eighth family have been spared."

Pressing the 'next' button yet again, they were met with a professional portrait of the eighth family: a young woman in her mid-twenties sitting atop a picnic blanket on a grassy lawn. A toddler girl of a about one sat in her lap, and next to them was a young elementary-aged girl. All three of them were in color-coordinated outfits and smiling happily for the camera, laughing, like they were having the time of their lives. They looked so happy and normal.

"That's the eighth abduction victim, Polina Sokoloff." Penelope said, pointing towards the older of the younger girls.

JJ nodded. "Polina lives in the city with her big sister, Sasha, and Sasha's little daughter, Luna. Sasha was born in Moscow, but has been a legal citizen here since she was twelve. Polina and Luna were both born here, though, so that makes them legal citizens by default."

"How old is Polina?"

"Eight."

"What happened to her parents?"

"The father was deported to Moscow a week before Polina was born, and he passed away a few days later from a stroke. The mother became so overwhelmed with grief that she took her own life the same month Sasha turned twenty-one." JJ explained. "Sasha is a single mother, but she has a steady job that allows her to provide for Polina and Luna. She even legally adopted her sister."

Hotch reviewed Polina's file. "And yet nobody knows why the Sokoloffs were spared? This report says that Polina was taken yesterday after school, around three-thirty, but wasn't reported gone until after six?"

"Sasha told the authorities that she had to wait because their neighbors were at her place, organizing their own search parties so that the 'wrong people' didn't get involved. She also said that she had to sneak off with Luna to get to the police, otherwise they would've kept an eye on her through the night."

"Does Sasha have proof that Polina was taken by the same people who took the others?"

"Technically, no, but everything else fits perfectly."

JJ turned from Hotch to her fellow blond in the room.

"Penelope?"

"Yes?"

"I will be enlisting Emily's help on this one, but from the reports that were faxed to me, I've gathered that Polina was taken near the school grounds, it was caught on tape. However, I've also heard that the system is in need of some fine-tuning, which, with computers is your speciality; we really need you on this one."

"I am happy to lend my services. What's the name of Polina's elementary school?"

"P.S. 188."

Penelope started. "My youngest stepsister, Estefani, teaches third grade there!"

"All the more reason for you to come. Estefani probably knows Polina."

Hotch cleared his throat, and the immediately gave him their attention.

"When we get to New York, Rossi and I will go to the station to meet the captain and establish a presence, and Morgan and Reid will go to the morgue to get the medical examiner's take. Garcia, Prentiss, and JJ will go to P.S. 188 to establish a presence there, but I trust you all will keep me informed?"

The trio promised they would, although JJ tacked on, "Are we not holding any press conferences right now?"

Hotch nodded. "No need in tipping our hand to the unsubs."

He stood and surveyed his team.

"Everybody get their go bags and head straight to the jet. Wheels up in twenty."