тнe rυѕѕιan doll || spencer reid

TWENTY ONE

{THIS CHAPTER MENTIONS SH AND SA. PLEASE PROCEED W CAUTION.}

This jet ride was different from its predecessors.
Anxious, somber energy radiated through the air- making the entire team feel on edge as they proceeded to Chicago. Usually, they would take this time to unwind and then recap, but this case was different.
Because this time, it affected one of their own.

To Giselle, the entire day had been a blur of nothingness that not even Spencer could rescue her from. Her worst nightmare was coming true, and that was not something that she quite knew how to process.

Truly, how does one process a living nightmare? Do you simply grin and bare it, or do you cower? To Giselle, neither of those options seemed reasonable, so she was simply left in a limbo of uncertainty. There was no next step, no right answer... All she knew was the fear of her own ghosts- something she would ultimately have to face in the next few days.

"Gio Montana led Vivan up until it was taken down by the HTF almost two years ago,"

Hotch began, keeping his voice low as to not startle Giselle. However, she was beyond that. Giselle was tuned out completely- his voice registering as nothing but white noise. What was the point of listening anyway? She knew this entire case from start to finish- so why did she have to participate in something that could possibly send her into a spiral?

Oh, yeah- because she was reliving it all over again. 

"He and five other leaders were arrested by the HTF, and hundreds of men, women, and children were set free because of it."

Hotch cleared his throat.

"The HTF did more than anyone could have ever imagined. None of those people would be alive without you, Hernandez."

Giselle wanted to respond- to thank him or let him see her gratefulness. However, something was holding her back. It wasn't fear of judgement like it normally was. This time, it was the fear of accepting praise she didn't truly deserve. If only they knew what went on behind the scenes of that shiny, successful, immaculate FBI victory...

After the lack of a response from a cold and detached Giselle, Hotch cleared his throat once more to break the silence and turned back to the rest of them team. 

"Our four female victims all used the app Forty One..."

Derek furrowed his brows.

"What kind of a name is that?"

Hotch rolled his eyes.

"No idea. Spencer, try to figure that out."

Spencer simply nodded his head. 

"By simply looking at the layout of the page, it's not hard to tell that Forty One is made by the same developer as Vivan. We are having Garcia track them down at this very moment, but all we can do now is try to gather information from the previous case."

Hotch spoke before placing his hands on the table and looking around to the rest of the team for confirmation. They all simply nodded, agreeing to their boss's gesture. However, Giselle once again did not respond. Except this time she was listening to the conversation- she just no longer had the energy to contribute. 

This case was her breaking point. 

"Now... 5 men were arrested the night of th-"

"That's not enough."

Giselle finally spoke up. As she did, the team all looked to her in surprise- including Spencer. This was all Giselle had spoken in the last few hours, and as of recently, it had become uncommon for her to speak less than a few sentences every 10 minutes or so. Considering the circumstances, her reasoning for staying silent was absolutely valid- but the team had no idea what she was talking about.