UNDER REVISION Silence in the Scars (A Criminal Minds Story)

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Two Days Earlier

Emily Prentiss and Derek Morgan were in the middle of an intense debate about James Bond when JJ walked past their desks. Her long blond ponytail bouncing slightly as she stopped. Neither of the agents was doing the paperwork they were supposed to be doing.

"Hey guys," JJ said.

"Hey JJ," Prentiss said. "Who do you think is the best Bond, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig?"

"Oh, I'm gonna have to go with Pierce Brosnan," JJ replied.

Both Morgan and Prentiss looked aghast.

"Conference room, five minutes," Hotch called across the bullpen, momentarily derailing the important Bond discussion.

"I can't believe that you liked Pierce Brosnan's Bond," Prentiss muttered. "His movies were terrible."

"Yeah," JJ said. "But it's worth sitting through those movies to see that man in a tuxedo."

Spencer Reid entered the bullpen while JJ and Prentiss were debating whether Pierce Brosnan in a tuxedo made up for the terrible quality of the movies. Reids hair looked like he had just woken up and his sweater vest had a slightly crumpled appearance.

"Hey pretty boy," Morgan said. "You're late."He didn't even try to keep the smirk off his face. Reid always prided himself on his punctuality. Even making fun of Morgan, who was usually late.

"Sorry," Reid apologized. "The power in the apartment building went off last night. My alarm didn't go off and the line at the coffee shop was long." He set down his messenger bag and took sip of his coffee.

"Mr. Punctuality is late," Prentiss teased. "What is this like your first time since you started working for the bureau?"

"I've been late before," Reid replied. "The average person is late to work about once every two weeks."

"There is nothing average about you Reid," Morgan said. "But I won't tell Hotch if you answer a question. Who was the better Bond, Craig or Connery?"

"Timothy Dalton," Reid responded almost immediately. "One of the more underrated actors to play James Bond."

"What is wrong with you people?" Morgan said. "The best Bond is clearly Daniel Craig."

"Nope," Prentiss replied. "The best is Connery, gotta stick with the classics."

Prentiss and Morgan continued to bicker as they made their way to the briefing room.

~

"Hope you all had a restful weekend." Hotch said as the team took their seats around the round table in the briefing room. "There have been four murders in Hill Lake, Minnesota."

Penelope Garcia, their resident technical guru, pulled up on the screen the pictures of a young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a wide beaming smile and a picture of the woman's body in the woods. Each of the agents pulled up the case files on their smaller screens.

"Okay, so the first victim, Sydney Crawford," Garcia said. "A 22 year old college student attending Hill Lake Community College. Last seen six weeks ago after work, but her car was left in the parking garage. Her body turned up in the woods on the outskirts of town." Garcia pulled up the pictures of another blond girl and her body.

"The second victim was Lindsey Jameson, a 24 intern working at the local theater. She was last seen four weeks ago. Abducted on the way to her car after going to the local gym. Her body was found in the woods about a mile and a half from the first victim's body." More pictures appeared on the screen as the bodies of Sydney and Lindsey were placed next to the smiling face of another young woman.

"Victoria Hartley, a 21 year old also attending the same college as our first victim. She was last seen two weeks ago leaving work, same MO as the other two victims. She abducted on the way to her car. Her body was found a week ago, in the same woods about two miles from the other victims."

"The latest body discovered belonged to Carrie Lord." Garcia pulled up the pictures of the latest victim. "A 26 year old grad student from out of town. She was visiting her parents when she was abducted on the way to her car at the same local gym as the second victim. She went missing same day that Victoria Hartley's body was discovered in the woods. Her body was discovered about a mile from the other three victims."

"Another girl was reported missing," Hotch said. "Abbey Warren, a 25 year old art major attending the same college as two of the victims. Her roommate reported her missing last night after she didn't come home from the local gym. Local police found her car there and her bag was lying on the ground a little ways from it."

"This UNSUB has a type," Morgan said. He flipped between the pictures of the five girls. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, medium height, and stature."

"The bodies don't show any sign of sexual assault or torture," Reid said. "That's unusual, the majority of serial killers with this pattern either sexually assault their victims or kill them violently."

"Most, don't have a statistic for use Dr. Reid?" Prentiss said.

"86%," Reid replied without missing a beat. "I'm trying to be more normal."

"Yeah not working," Prentiss said.

Hotch ignored their bantering. "The timeline between the abduction and the murder decreasing. The UNSUB has gone from two weeks between murders, to one."

"Which means Abbey Warren's probably already dead," Morgan said

"Until a body is found, we operate under the assumption that she is still alive," Hotch said. "Wheels up in twenty."

"The UNSUB might be searching for his next victim already," Rossi said. "Which means we have a week at best before he abducts and kills another girl."

"Probably less." Reid looked through the coraners notes. "The timeline is decreasing, which suggests the UNSUB is likely devolving."

"This is getting better and better," Rossi said. Garcia removed the pictures from the screen and turned it off.

"Local police will meet you there when you land," Garcia said. "Be safe." The others filed out of the briefing room.

"What's up baby girl?" Derek asked. He had noticed that Garcia had seemed down. "You worried about us?" He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"It's nothing." Garcia said with a bright smile. "You gotta go and catch the bad guy." Morgan kissed her on the forehead and left. Garcia watched him go, her smile fading. She didn't know why, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen.  

Edited: 01.26.2016