The Chase (Criminal Minds)

The Truth

Hey there!

Before I start this chapter, I just wanted to say that I just made a CM fanpage on Instagram, so if you want to, you can go check it out! :D

( crimsonminds)

Now I present to you...*Imaginary drum roll*...Chapter 23!

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Morgan parked the car as JJ jumped out and jogged towards the police station. Turning the corner to the conference room, she swung the door open and turned on the computer. She logged into her Skype account and sent Garcia a video chat request.

"Do you have anything yet?" JJ asked when she saw Garcia's cheery face on the screen. Morgan had called her on their way back from Fredonia to give her the suspect's name.

She smiled brightly as she began to type.

"I sure do!"

Morgan entered the room and sat down.

"Victor Andrew Hale," Garcia said as she began reading the man's profile.

"He's 58 years old, doesn't have a wife or kids, and lives alone in the small town of Fredonia. Sounds pretty lonely if you ask me."

JJ's eyebrows furrowed as she read the profile on her tablet. "What's this about his medical records?"

"Hmm..." Garcia mumbled to herself as she read through it.

"Apparently he's been hospitalized many times over the years for lung cancer."

"Jeez," Morgan sighed.

"Jeez is right, Sugar. It says here that he was diagnosed back when he was 38 years old and has been fighting ever since."

JJ couldn't help but feel a bit of sorrow for this man. He may be an evil person deep down, but having a disease that slowly and uncontrollably destroys your body day by day was something no one should ever have to experience.

"Guys..." Garcia trailed off as she searched.

"What?" Morgan and JJ replied at the same time.

"Hale was sentenced to 20 years of prison for a major felony. Apparently him and a few others tried to rob a bank in central Kansas. They held the people in the bank hostage for twelve hours until they decided to escape through the ventilation system. Police caught them as they tried to flee the scene. He was locked up when he was 25 and wasn't released until he was 45."

Morgan pressed his lips together.

"It looks like we've found our guy." JJ responded with a smirk.

"Thanks, Sweetness," Morgan smiled.

"Yeah yeah, now hurry up and find him. I miss my family way too much."

They Morgan and JJ smiled at each other as they turned off the video camera and ran out of the conference room to find the rest of the team.

                                                          ...

"Where is he?" Hotch asked stoically as he slid the photo of Victor across the table.

Prescott stared at it for a few seconds before shoving it away. "I don't know who that is."

Hotch raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure about that?"

"Damn sure."

He watched as Hunter gently tapped his foot.

Hotch leaned over the table, staring Prescott straight in the eyes.

"I know you're lying, which is an incredibly stupid thing to do when you're talking to a profiler," He stated, leaning back in his seat.

"We already looked through your phone records. That's how we found the mystery numbers and were able to track them down. Tell us where he is and what you know and we can make a deal. But remember, false information and the deal is off."

Prescott focused on the table as he thought it over. If he told the truth, they could arrest Hale, no longer making him a threat to himself or his loved ones. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the chains around his wrists.

"His name's Victor Hale," He confessed in a hushed voice.

Hotch crossed his hands in front of him and leaned forward. "We already know who he is. We need to know about your connection to him and where he is."

"Victor and I were friends a long time ago. We used to work together when we were both professors at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada. When he quit a few years later, we never saw each other again until recently. He called me around 2:30am one morning and told me it was him. When I asked him how he got my number, he didn't answer my question. All he told me was that he had a job for me, and that if I refused to accept it, he would threaten my wife and daughter. He told me that if I called the police he would know."

Prescott was silent for a moment.

"What happened after that?" Hotch asked curiously.

"He told me where to meet him and we talked. He said that he was a 'Somewhat decent man' and that he would pay me for my work."

He took a deep breath and blew it out.

"My job was to kill my former colleagues from the University. He said that I was on the list, so if I didn't do what I was told, he wouldn't have a problem finishing me off. I asked him why he wanted me, in particular, to do the job for him and he said it was because I was an old friend and since I used to work with the others on a daily basis, no one would think I did it."

Hotch was glad that Prescott finally cooperated, but there was something that didn't make sense in his statements.

"If he wanted all those people dead, why didn't he just do it himself? He sounds smart enough to get away without leaving a trace. Why'd he jeopardize the outcome of his plan by hiring you?"

He put his hand to his chest as he began to explain.

"Victor Hale has lung cancer, which you probably know already. That being said, he can't do any strenuous exercise without risking his health. He has to carry around an oxygen tank with him wherever he goes. He's in pretty bad shape. He said that he was saving all his energy for the right moment, and that killing all those professors would take too much effort for his body to handle."

Hotch's body stiffened slightly as he listened. "He told you that he was saving his energy for the right moment?" He questioned.

"Yes."

"Prescott, who was still left on your list before you were arrested?"

He thought back to the list he had been forced to carry around with him.

"Jeffrey Dallas and Diana Reid, that's all." He replied, noticing the changing expression on the agent's face.

Hotch quickly got up from his chair and walked out the door. As he entered the small room behind the glass, his team stared at him with worried faces.

"Wheels up in 30, we're going to Vegas."

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I'm so happy that I'm finally getting to the action part of this story!

I jammed (or sprained) my finger playing basketball today, which is forcing me to type a bit awkwardly, so sorry if there's a typo somewhere!

13k reads on this story, yay!

Thank you, as usual, for reading! If you have any ideas for what kind of story I should write in the future, PM me anytime :)

See ya later!

-Sammie