The operation was going well. Sean had convinced Thane that he was on his side and everyone was sure that soon, they'd be able to find and apprehend the unsub. Cassidy and Hotch sat in the van, waiting for a clear sign that they were able to make an arrest.
"What did you do, Thane?" Sean questioned as Thane looked through a few boxes of wine that he seemed concerned about.
"I spiked the wine, you idiot. 3 of the bottles were in that other case. Oh, God. Oh, God. Jim is gonna kill me." Thane started to panic.
"Why the hell would you do that?" Sean suddenly sounded very upset.
"For a laugh. I thought it was X. Girls love that crap." Thane tried to chuckle, but his nervousness was worse and he couldn't.
"Yeah, but it wasn't X, was it?" Sean shook his head, rolling his eyes.
"No, I guess not." Thane seemed ashamed of himself.
"He's going off plan, Hotch." Cassidy started to panic at the thought of her dad getting hurt because he went off the plan. She watched as Hotch lifted the mic on his vest.
"Get ready to move in." Hotch informed as they continued to let the scene play out.
"What was in the wine, Thane?" Sean demanded to know, considering his girlfriend was killed because of him.
"I don't know." Thane shrugged his shoulders like a little kid would when they got in trouble.
"Well, where did you get it?" Sean questioned.
"What does it matter?!" Thane yelled, trying not to panic more than he was.
"Linda's dead because of you. You son of a bitch. She was sober and you drugged her." Sean went to hurt Thane, but Thane stopped him.
"Yeah, not as sober as you think. Look, I wouldn't if I was you. You had that Anna girl's blood all over you. You don't let it go, I'm gonna tell them it was you." Thane laughed, threatening Sean.
"What's that? You bastard." Sean yelled before he and Thane started to fight.
"Drop it!" Hotch yelled as he, Cassidy and a few other officers busted through each of the two doors, holding up their guns.
"FBI. Drop it." Cassidy yelled.
"Keep your hands where we can see them." Hitch demanded.
"Let's go." An officer dragged Thane out of the room, taking him to a nearby police car while Sean remained in the room with Cassidy and Hotch.
"You all right?" Hotch asked Sean rolled his eyes.
"I'll wait for you two outside." Sean shook his head, leaving Cassidy and Hotch.
As they went to go and speak to Sean, Cassidy groaned when she realised that he had run off.
"Let's go back." Hotch exhaled, knowing how guilty Sean seemed right now. He and Cassidy made their way back to the police station, Spencer, Morgan, JJ, Emily and Rossi waiting for them. Spencer could see the anger on Cassidy's face. Without raising suspicion, Spencer gently held Cassidy's hand, sending a small smile her way, which she reciprocated with slight hesitation.
"Guys, I found something stranger than a time-traveling police box." Penelope explained as her face appeared on the screen.
"What's that?" Hotch questioned, everyone sitting down at the table in front of the screen.
"I ran financial records for all the people who work at the Franklin airport. There is a baggage handler named Mike Spires who's been making ridiculously large cash deposits to his checking account on a weekly basis." Penelope explained as she looked at the team.
"Here's what's weird- he's been dead for the last 4 weeks." Penelope's eyes widened, the entire team looking at her in shock.
"So how's he still making deposits?" JJ questioned as Hotch's phone started buzzing. He pulled his phone out, grabbing Cassidy's attention so she could follow him.
"Hotchner." Hotch answered the call, putting it on speaker.
"Aaron." Sean spoke.
"Sean, you need to come in." Hotch calmly spoke, hoping not to anger his brother.
"We think you may be in danger from the unsub. He's targeting Edinburgh employees." Cassidy explained, feeling worried for the safety of her dad.
"Yeah, I heard about Jim Peters. Look, I didn't kill him." Sean seemed adamant that he wasn't a killer, and they did believe him.
"We know that. We also know why you ran." Hotch exhaled.
"Of course you do." Sean scoffed.
"Just come in so that we can protect you. It's time to stop running." Cassidy begged, feeling the tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"Solve the case and I'll stop." Sean spoke before the line went dead, only leaving a dial tone to be heard. Without warning, Cassidy put her head on Hotch's chest, wrapping her arms around him. She needed comfort, and at this time, her uncle was the only person she wanted comfort from.
"It's okay, Cassie. He'll be okay." Hotch reassured her. Wiping her eyes, Cassidy and Hotch made their way back into the conference room, trying to keep the focus on Penelope.
"If Spires has been dead for a month, he can't be our guy." Emily shook her head.
"Why would the dealers keep paying him?" Derek asked as everyone looked at Penelope.
"They don't know that their courier died?" Spencer suggested.
"Someone must have taken his place." JJ shrugged her shoulders.
"The unsub. He killed Spires so he could get his hands on the drug supply." Hotch realised, his eyes widening.
"Who else knew he was a courier? Another package handler?" Rossi's eyebrows furrowed.
"Sure. They must be on the take too, paid to look the other way." Emily gave a valid explanation.
"Garcia, do any of the baggage handlers show a history of drug abuse?" JJ looked to Penelope who started typing.
"A few minor infractions, but nothing that sticks out." Penelope shook her head, exhaling.
"All right, widen the search. Have any airport employees had a drug death in the family recently?" Cassidy crossed her arms.
"Uh...yeah. The daughter of Larry Feretich, Megan, she died two months ago of a suspected Ecstasy overdose." Penelope nodded.
"There's your trigger." Derek sighed.
"Where did she die?" Spencer questioned.
"Uh...The Obsidian." Penelope spoke.
"It's the other club owned by Jim Peters. He's smart. He avoided dosing the Obsidian supply so we couldn't connect the murder to him." Rossi scoffed, seeming impressed.
"Garcia, where's Feretich now?" Hotch asked.
"At the airport." Penelope informed.
"All right. Morgan and Reid, you two go, now." Hotch instructed.
As instructed, Spencer and Morgan made their way to the airport, both of them covering the entrances so that the unsub couldn't escape.
"Larry Feretich?" Morgan called out his name, watching as the man looked up at Morgan and Spencer, panicking.
"FBI." Spencer informed, watching in annoyance as the man tried to escape Morgan. Grabbing a nearby bag, Spencer used it to push the unsub, knocking him into a nearby pile of bags. Getting on top of him, Spencer started the process of arrest, putting the handcuffs around the man's wrists.
"Larry Feretich, you're under arrest for the murder of-" Before Spencer could say anything else, the man started trying to escape his grasp, moving and shaking to get out, causing Morgan to grab his other arm.
"He killed my daughter! He killed Megan!" He argued, continuing to fight against Morgan and Spencer.
"No, he didn't. A drug killed your daughter." Spencer exhaled, trying to calm the man down as they dragged him out of the building.
"No, it was Jim Peters. I said so, but no one would listen!" The man yelled as he was pushed into a police car.
Morgan and Spencer made their way back to the precinct, watching as the team started to pack up.
"Thank you. That was the Canadian drug agency. They closed down operations at their airport." The Chief smiled before leaving the team.
"That's a relief. Now Sean can come out of hiding." JJ smiled.
"He's exonerated." Hotch informed the team.
"That's something." Rossi smiled.
Cassidy could tell that the team had suspected something going on between her and Hotch. Only Spencer knew and it would hopefully stay that way until she and Spencer had figured out what was going to happen between them. They only hoped that they didn't need to get straight back into another case when they got back to Quantico.