[ON HOLD] 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄 , criminal minds

002 - hard loss, boy wonder

❝ won't get fooled again ❞

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ODETTE investigated the chess board, "Check." She made her move, smiled and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in, across from Reid.

"Just because you have check doesn't mea—" Reid got cut off.

"I see checkmate in 2."

"What? No way, thats not— No." Reid couldn't accept it.

"Told ya." Odette laughed.

Morgan looked her Reid's shoulder, "Ooh, pretty boy, that's a hard loss." He patted Reids shoulder. Reid shook his head, not just at his loss, but at Morgans comment.

Odette looked at Reid, "Aww, don't be too bummed, Boy Wonder. One loss won't do much." She teased.

"One loss will turn into several losses." Morgan joked.

"Ooh, more wins for me." Odette grabbed all her pieces.

"Ooh." Reid mocked Odette in a weird voice, making the three of them laugh uncontrollably.

"Cheer up." Odette smiled.

"Conference room." Hotch said as he walked past the group. They quickly stood up and started walking to the room that Elle had just entered.

"Pipe bombs." Gideon said.

"Packed in cardboard boxes." Morgan added.

"Package bombs." Hotch corrected.

"Sent through the mail?" Gideon asked.

"No. The other picture in your hand is of the switch that ATF found. Same mechanism for both bombs, mercury-activated." Morgan explained.

"What does that mean?" Elle questioned.

"There are contacts to a detonator on either end of a bent tube full of mercury." Reid answered to Elle.

"What it means is all you have to do is tilt the package to detonate it." Morgan added to Reids explanation, explaining it an easier to understand way.

"So they couldn't have been sent through the mail." Elle realized quickly.

"Hand delivery by the bomber?" Odette examined the pictures.

"Exactly." Morgan sipped his coffee.

"Strange way to commit an act of terrorism. Why go to all this trouble to kill just a few people?" Hotch went on.

"Let's recommend not raising the terror alert level for now. No reason to spread panic." Gideon informed calmly. Odette noticed that he always seemed to always be calm.

"We got news." JJ, their media liaison, said as she walked inside.

"This is just a local channel, but the coverage is everywhere now— CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Al-Jazeera, you name it." JJ explained.

"So much for not spreading panic." Hotch stared at the TV. Odette drank her coffee.

"According to doctors, he's badly injured, but in stable condition in the I.C.U. Now, neighbors say that they heard a blast at about 10:30 this morning, and police arrived.." The TV went on in the background as the team kept talking.