Infiltration - Spencer Reid x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Your eyebrows immediately threaded together and your forehead creased in confusion and concern as you processed the many reasons why Hotch could want to speak with you alone.

"Hey, Hotch. What's going on?"

He stood in the doorway, looking around your office.

"Come with me." You nodded and half-jogged to the door, your body involuntarily matching the heightened urgency of Hotch's voice. Hotch held the door open for you and pulled it shut before falling into a quick stride with you, echoed by the sound of your heels clicking down the hallway at a rapid pace.

As you sped down the hallway, Hotch filled you in with a short sentence.

"I'm sorry to pull you away, but we have an urgent situation."

You didn't bother to interject a polite phrase, choosing to simply remain silent so that Hotch could inform you of what the hell was going on as soon as possible. With every second passing, your heart hammered faster against your chest. You had a gut feeling that something was wrong.

Hotch didn't offer any more discussion, but you soon found yourself at the door to another conference room, which he opened. All of his team was sitting around the conference table, Spencer included.

"We have some disturbing news, (Y/N). Please, sit down."

You took a seat wordlessly.

"An Agent has been shot. Agent Powell, previously your SSA."

"Is he dead?" Was the only question that came out of your mouth.

"He's undergoing emergency surgery right now. We won't know the severity of the shot until the doctors alert us."

You felt the elastic pull against your hair, your scalp; Had it gotten tighter?

"Do we have any leads? Where is his wife? Does she have a security detail?" You rapid fired.

"We have someone heading to his wife now, she is at the hospital. We believe that this killing is in connection to the online network you and your team began working on today. We've been asked to work with you concurrently on this case, as of only a few minutes ago."

You ran a hand over your ponytail, tugging it a bit so that the elastic would loosen its grip.

"All right. I'm going to gather my team and head to our conference room. When your briefing is over, please meet us."

Hotch nodded curtly, and without so much as a glance at anyone, you stood up, turned on your heel and walked out. Your heart had all but dissipated from your body it had sunk so low; You couldn't help but feel that you were failing as an SSA already. You couldn't bear to face any of your friends when you had tunnel vision from the sheer shock of learning a close friend may be dying.

You spoke with your team. You didn't want to neglect introductions, but the matter was too pressing to elongate that part of the meeting. Everyone understood; They all knew and liked Powell, having shared a working relationship with him for years. A little over halfway through the meeting, Agent Swan walked in with news to relay to you from the technical analyst. Once she left, you addressed your team once more:

"Our analyst confirmed that the shooting of Agent Powell was orchestrated by the network. We've managed to tap into the server. This is a much more serious issue than we realized...There are multiple contract killers serving one orchestrator, and the hits are being bought by incarcerated felons at maximum level prisons. We will be working directly with the BAU to quickly formulate a plan to infiltrate this network. The only way to shut it down is going to be from the inside."

Everyone collectively nodded, and only a moment of relative calmness had passed until the door was opened and the BAU filed into the room. They presented you with the burgeoning profile they had made based on the fairly small amount of information present, and you began to narrow down the best mode of entry.

"We've triangulated the primary user of the network to be in Baltimore, Maryland." Penelope said, pulling up a map on the projection screen at the head of the room.

"Also, a lot of the outgoing traffic can be traced to affluent areas. It looks like there are half a dozen hit men, and they are charging a pretty penny. One of the users that had the heaviest traffic is actually in D.C."

Hotch spoke up. "We are heading to Baltimore now to present a profile to local law enforcement."

As you prepared to give further directions to your team, you locked eyes with Spencer accidentally, and he motioned for you to meet him in the hallway. You told your agents that you would be right back and headed out of the door with Spencer.

"Are you all right?" He asked pressingly, concern obvious on his countenance.

"I will be once we start making more headway..." You averted your eyes from him, not wanting any iota of weakness or uncertainty to make its way into your expression.

He placed a hand on your cheek lovingly.

"Please be careful." Spencer said earnestly.

"Only if you are," you half-joked, wanting to take the darkness out of the conversation.

"I'm serious," Spencer replied indignantly. "Call me if you need anything."

You nodded gently, and Spencer dropped his hand from your cheek and moved it to hold one of your hands instead.

"I'm sorry about Powell. I know that you are close to him and Samantha." He squeezed your hand before dropping it, just as Morgan and Penelope exited the conference room.

You wished that Derek would have made a joke; Something to help you feel an ounce lighter. The fact that he didn't compelled you to drive on and waste no time — You knew that you had to act swiftly, and with precision. 

***

Prepare yourselves for drama and action! I'm sorry that this update isn't longer, but it needed to build the suspense... 

I hope everyone is still enjoying the story :) Let me know what you think!!