The Ghost of Princeton ||Spencer Reid||

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SPENCER

I sat out the front of a coffee shop, watching as Cressida walked into the crowded street. It was still daylight, but the sun was casting an orange glow all around. The meet was supposed to take place in a handful of minutes, and I felt like my heart would burst out of my chest.

She was wearing jeans, boots and an oversized jumper, one of mine. That thought didn't help ease any of the panic that was overriding my system. I wasn't sure if it honestly made it worse.

The theory behind it had been that she had been forced to wear only their clothes. It implied some form of possessiveness, that at least one person in the group thought she was their property. That she belonged to them. If she wore clothes belonging to someone else, hopefully it would throw that person off.

"She's being approached by two men." I heard Emily's voice through the ear piece.

"Only two?" I asked, just for confirmation, my eyes focused on the untouched mug of coffee in front of me.

"Yep." Emily replied, I nodded slowly.

"Which one is missing?" I asked.

"Cooper." Morgan's voice came through. Harrison Cooper, Death.

After we came to the conclusion that they were ex-military, the struggle had then been trying to find out their identities. They had been hidden by the military, mentioned only a few times in regards to top secret missions with pretty much everything else about them wiped away. Their last mission was the reason for that.

It had ended badly, with innocent children being killed along with the rest of their team. It was easier to cover up the mistakes than do anything else, because they had wiped out all the possible witnesses during the attack.

Harrison Cooper had been the team lead, and he, alongside Josh Wylan and Edward Smith were the only survivors. They copped the blame, were dishonourably discharged and from there had only each other to rely on. From what we could tell, they were going to Fort Detrick in order to take what they had been tasked with capturing in their last mission. What they succeeded in capturing in their last mission.

A synthetic variant of ebola, one without a way to stop or slow the spread. One they wanted to set loose upon the public, because the government turned it's back on them.

"As could be expected, we didn't think he'd be front and centre. He's the best shot, he's probably set up in a building somewhere." Hotch said, and I tried to stop even more panic from setting in.

"Cressida has started the conversation." Emily added, and I couldn't stop myself from looking over then.

Cress was facing away from me, so I couldn't see what she was saying, but I could watch the other two. Could see their faces turn from hatred to confusion as the minutes passed, before they turned to anger. She didn't have an earpiece like the rest of us, we wanted to give ourselves as much time as possible before they knew they were surrounded, so the only people who could hear their conversation were the ones in the surveillance van, listening with their audio device.

"Smith keeps looking towards the apartments up the street, to the east." I said. Edward Smith, Famine, was the one Cressida needed to sway first. He was the one already questioning Cooper's leadership, and Josh Wylan, War, would follow whoever was closest to him.

Whatever Cress was saying was working, because it was clear on their faces that they were questioning everything. I kept watching as she turned to face the same building that Smith kept looking towards, a phone in her hand as she eyed the building carefully. She was speaking into the phone, which meant she was speaking to Cooper.

"Is there a team on their way to cover that building? Cooper is in there." I said.

"Just entering now, Stiel just needs to buy us some time." Hotch said, implying he was a part of the team going into that building.

"She can't, she'll get shot." I said as I looked down to the coffee. Just breathe, this plan had been worked out. It would all be fine.

Well, it should have been, we all should have been calm and collected. Instead, Cressida began shouting into the phone.

"I never would have fallen for you, Cooper! And you know it's because of the person who owns this fucking jumper!"

I stood up slowly, winding my way through the crowd as calmly and as subtly as I could. But I had a feeling I wouldn't make it in time.

"You know how I got his jumper, right?! It's because the second I got to him, he couldn't keep his hands off-"

She was cut off, and I looked in her direction to see she was gone. No, not gone. Down.

Screams filled the air and agents flushed the area, running after Smith and Wylan who had already tried running for it. But me...

"Cressida!" I shouted, sprinting the last distance towards her.

She was shot. Fuck. She was shot. She was down, and she wasn't moving. What had we done? What the fuck had we done?

"Cressida!"