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"...my code of survival says never mess with a woman who carries a gun." I hear Derek say and I giggle, standing up.
"That's a good rule." I tell him as I walk up, "Hey, Spence." I tell him and kiss his cheek.
"Whoo! Seems like that Cowboys game did a lot." Derek teases as Spence blushes and I roll my eyes, kissing Derek's cheek as well. I walk to my desk and grab the 2 gifts for my boys.
"Here." I tell them, handing the Tardis blue package to Spence and the dark red to Derek. They look at each other confused and I explain, "I felt like giving gifts so I dropped by the store today." I had dropped Gideon, Hotch, JJ, Elle, and Penelope's gifts by their office this morning. I watch as they open the presents up and chuckle. I gave Derek one about being the best brother and Reid one about being a 'crime solving miracle worker'.
"Thank you, Kit Kat." Derek says, kissing my head.
"Thanks, Mandy." Spence says and kisses my cheek. We hear a squeal and I look to see Penelope running as fast as her heeled feet would take her. She runs up to me and gives me a big hug.
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She squeals and shoves her mug in the boys faces.
"See how cool this is?" She squeals and picks up their mugs to read them, she squeals after reading Derek's mug and laughs with an awe at the end for Spence's. I hear another set of heels followed by woman's flats. I turn to see JJ and Elle walking toward us. Penny runs up to them and reads their mugs aloud, "JJ's, 'Bada*s and Brilliant'. Elle, "God gives us only what we can handle. Apparently God thinks I'm a bada*s.' These are great, Amanda." I nod and thank her.
"Everyone, document's up on the screen regarding the kidnapping of Trish Davenport." Hotch says and we all start moving to the conference room.
"Have you read them yet." Spencer asks.
"Yeah, I got a copy from the document examiner." Hotch replies as we meet him up the steps and head toward the conference room.
"What does it say?" I question.
"That we've got until 8:00 tonight." Hotch says darkly.
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"'You will follow instructions carefully. You will do this to ensure the safety of your daughter. You will wait for the call. You will answer the call at 8:00 p.m. You will write down the instructions and follow them to the letter.'" I read out.
"That gives us less than nine hours to get to Connecticut, work up victimology on Trish Davenport, and prepare her father for the ransom drop." Hotch states.
"How do we know the letter's real?" Gideon questions.
"Uh, the handwriting is a match for Trish's. He dictated it to her, and they found saline on the paper." Hotch explains and I look down sadly.
"She was crying." I whimper and Spencer hugs me from the side. I feel immediate comfort as I bury my head into his chest.
"He never says 'I'. He doesn't say 'I will call.' He says, 'You will answer the call.' He's distancing himself from the kidnapping. If he said 'I', he'd be taking responsibility for it." I hear Morgan say.
"There's also another missing element." Hotch say, leaving it open for someone.
"He doesn't say anything about the police." I sniff, pulling my head out of Spencer's chest, "Almost all ransoms forbid police involvement." I finish.
"So is he expecting law enforcement to get involved?" Hotch questions.
"Well, if he's expecting us, let's not disappoint him." Gideon remarks.
