"Hotch." Emily looked at Hotch, who flipped through files and journals, realising who had contacted the serial killer that they were interviewing.
"I can't believe you can't see what he's doing!" Karl laughed as Emily looked at Hotch, confused.
"What is going on?" Emily asked.
"He's torturing him. It's great to see you squirm, Agent Hotchner!" Karl started clapping and laughing louder.
"Foyet." Hotch growled.
"He knew you'd come. Ha ha ha ha ha!" Karl laughed before Hotch and Emily left, heading back to the BAU office.
———
(2 days later)
It had been months since Cassidy went into protective custody with Haley and Jack. Spencer didn't know exactly how long they had been away, only that he missed her like crazy. The apartment felt so empty without her. He'd often come home from work, expecting to see Cassidy reading a book on the couch or making something to eat. But then he'd remember that she was somewhere safe - somewhere where Foyet can't get to her, Haley or Jack.
It didn't help at all that Strauss had ordered for a full investigation into the leadership of Hotch. Each member of the team was due to be interviewed by Strauss. The first team member chosen was JJ.
(JJ's Interview)
"Please say your name and rank for the record." Strauss spoke as she pressed a button, starting a recording.
"Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer with the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia." JJ spoke, facing Hotch.
"And how long have you been a member of the BAU?" Strauss asked.
"6 years." JJ clasped her hands together.
"And have you worked under Agent Hotchner the entire time?" Strauss questioned.
"No, ma'am. I currently report to acting Unit Chief Derek Morgan." JJ exhaled.
That was another thing that had changed. Hotch had to step down as the BAU's Unit Chief because he was personally involved with the George Foyet case.
"Who took over the unit because Agent Hotchner's ability to lead the team had become compromised?" Strauss looked down at her notes.
"I- I don't believe that's the reason." JJ shook her head.
"You have a different understanding?" Strauss question, intrigued.
"SSA Hotchner voluntarily stepped down so we could continue to do our jobs unhindered." JJ nodded.
"How would you describe Agent Hotchner's recent behaviour?" Strauss asked.
"Driven." She smiled.
"Driven? Agent Jareau, your entire team is on the line if I cannot reconcile an adequate account of Agent Hotchner's investigation into George Foyet." Strauss exhaled.
"We were all investigating the Reaper. SSA Hotchner was not the only one, especially after he sent us that calling card." JJ watched as Strauss nodded.
"The newspaper articles he mailed to Karl Arnold." Strauss acknowledged the evidence.
"2 letters from 2 different locations. They ramped us all back up again." JJ shook her head, exhaling.
"I should just start at the beginning." JJ took a moment before beginning to explain.
"Foyet had done a lot of injury to himself in the original string of killings, in an effort to paint himself as a victim and throw us off the investigation. As a result, he became dependent upon a large number of extremely strong medications." JJ started to explain.
"We'd been searching the country for patients with that exact prescription combination, but we hadn't had any luck." JJ spoke.
JJ stood at the pharmacy with Henry and Will. She was talking to Anderson, who was at the BAU, informing her of steps that had been taken to track down Foyet.
"Next." The pharmacist spoke. JJ and Will walked up to the counter, putting some medicine on the bench.
"Here we are." The pharmacist spoke as she put a bag in front of JJ and Will.
"Oh, actually, there should be 2 prescriptions." JJ corrected her.
"We filled the antibiotics, but we're out of the antihistamine. You know, crushing half a claritin would do the job just the same. Save you a couple bucks, too." The pharmacist informed JJ, who looked at her for a few seconds before coming to a realisation.
"Wait- Excuse me, are there a lot of over-the-counter medications that can be substituted for prescription?" JJ asked.
"Too many to count. Most of the time, it's just a matter of dosage." The pharmacist nodded.
JJ raced back to the BAU, managing to talk with Hotch.
"Foyet's meds- we have been tracking the entire combination. What if he's been using over-the-counter medsfFor some of it to mask his purchases?" JJ suggested, Hotch nodding.
"Okay, narrow the search. Focus on the meds he can't substitute. Good work." Hotch smiled.
———
(Garcia's Interview)
"Are you all right?" Strauss asked as Garcia tried to look at her, but couldn't.
"I- I'm just not, uh, comfortable with any of this. It's not okay." Garcia tried to remain calm.
"What do you mean?" Strauss asked as she sat down.
"In my opinion, everyone is asking the wrong questions. Doesn't anybody care about what the Reaper did to them, how many people he hurt? All anyone seems to care about is..." Garcia wanted to continue, but she couldn't.
"This just isn't right." She shook her head.
"Do you think that Agent Hotchner was acting...agitated or unreasonable?" Strauss tried to ask the question without judgement.
"He...no, no, he- he was freaked out about his family. Which, considering what happened, I'd say was perfectly reasonable." Garcia could feel the tears.
"The Foyet letters came from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Westminster, Maryland." Hotch spoke to Garcia.
"We can match the prescription drugs Foyet can't substitute with a geographic profile of the 2 cities." JJ smiled.
"Can't substitute?" Garcia asked, confused.
"We need you to track the drugs that can't be emulated with over-the-counter drugs and can only be dispensed by a pharmacist, and you need to do it quickly. Foyet doesn't stay in one place very long." Hotch insisted.
"We're gonna work the geographic profile. Call me when you have something and hurry." Hotch spoke before he and JJ left the room.
"Uh, okay...I am gonna start with the Ultram- no- you're gonna start with the Ultram and Naproxen. I'll work on the rest." Garcia instructed as she and Kevin got to work.
"There's approximately 115 miles between Fredericksburg and Westminster. Why mail a letter from 2 cities?" JJ asked as she, Morgan, Hotch, Spencer, Emily, and Rossi stood in the conference room.
"Maybe it's purely a forensic countermeasure. He knows that mailing letters close to home would lead us right to him, so he drives far away to mail the letters to throw us off his scent." Morgan suggested.
"The Unabomber did that. So did the 2001 Anthrax suspect." Spencer spoke.
"He could have gone anywhere, but he's trolling the D.C. area." Rossi shrugged his shoulders.
"It makes sense to stay close to Hotch. He stuck around Boston to watch Shaunessy deteriorate. Not that you're-" Emily stopped talking when she could see Hotch becoming uncomfortable.
"It's all right. I know he's been watching me. It's part of the reason I stepped down, so he'd think I was falling apart." Hotch nodded.
"Naproxen is available in generic brands over the counter." Garcia spoke.
"Naproxen's properties can be simulated by Aleve. Ultram can be substituted." Kevin typed.
"Okay, Oxycontin." Garcia looked at her screens.
"Jeez, he's on that, too?" Kevin gasped.
"Yeah, and it's highly addictive and therefore regulated, so there's no substitute for it." Garcia exhaled.
"I know the DEA has a problem with it. You can buy it on the streets if you know where to go." Kevin rolled his eyes.
"Good point. Okay, we're gonna leave that off the list for now 'cause there's another way to get it. Next up...Tapazole." Garcia went down the list on her screen.
"What's that?" Kevin asked.
"Uh, it treats hyperthyroidism." Garcia typed.
"Hey, what's wrong with this guy, anyway?" Kevin asked, intrigued.
"He stabbed himself- a lot." Garcia spoke.
"Stabbed himself?" Kevin seemed shocked.
"Yeah, so his body would have permanent internal damage and he'd need this prescription to regulate his heart rate, keep down the palpitations and the tremors. And there is no substitute for Tapazole." Garcia smiled, writing down the name on a piece of paper.
"So if this is our missing link, how do we find him?" Kevin asked, confused.
"Print out every person who's on this prescription within a 60-mile of both cities. The team will do the rest." Garcia stood up, leaving her office.
"Okay, so what are we gonna do about the 2 cities? Usually we need 3 different points to get an accurate geographic profile." JJ asked, confused.
"That's all we got right now." Morgan shrugged his shoulders.
"Gaithersburg, Rockville, D.C., Alexandria, Bowie, Annapolis." Emily was reading the map.
"Where the hell are you, Foyet?" Morgan growled in annoyance.
"Okay, me and the boy found a thyroid medication that has no substitute over the counter. You've gotta get it from a pharmacist. But a lot of people are on it." Garcia ran into the room, placing the laptop down onto the table.
"Find the midpoint between the 2 cities and isolate names in a 25-mile radius." Rossi spoke.
"153 names." Garcia narrowed down the list.
"Well, he's not gonna use his own name. What kind of aliases should we be looking for?" Morgan asked.
"He could have easily stolen someone's identity." Emily suggested.
"No, he's a narcissist in love with his own mythology. He'd use a name connected with the case." Hitch shook his head.
"A victim, maybe, a cop." Rossi asked. Garcia continued typing.
"Okay. Let's check the Foyet files for a list of names and...nothing." Garcia exhales.
"Wait a minute, guys. Foyet likes things to have meaning to him. The eye of providence, the addresses in blood he wrote on the bus that led us back to him. Maybe he's doing the same thing with the alias." Spencer started writing things on the board.
"Like an anagram or something." Emily smiled.
"You see something, Reid?" Morgan asked, confused.
"Not yet." Spencer shook his head.
"Reid, he named himself the Reaper." Hotch reminded him, watching as Spencer wrote out the name The Reaper and started circling and moving letters.
"Peter Rhea." Spencer spoke, everyone watching as Garcia started typing.
"There's a Peter Rhea in Arlington." Garcia smiled, putting the address up on the screen.
"We found him." Rossi exhaled.
———
(Rossi's Interview)
"Once the team located George Foyet's potential apartment, why didn't the BAU enter immediately?" Strauss asked as she watched Rossi look at his phone, clearly not paying attention.
"Agent Rossi?" Strauss called out his name.
"Hmm?" Rossi made a noise without looking up from his phone, much to Straus' disapproval.
"I asked you a question." She reminded him as he finally made contact with her.
"Gold is still going up. But knowing when to get out, that's the trick." Rossi held up his phone, drawing Strauss' attention to it before closing it and putting it away.
Strauss paused the recording, a look of confusion on her face.
"What are you doing?" She sternly asked, clasping her hands as she leaned forward.
"What's the point of all this, Erin. Why?" Rossi questioned her, watching as she rolled her eyes.
"So this never happens again." She glared at him.
"There is nothing a bureaucrat can do to make sure that something like this never happens again." Rossi shook his head.
"So we just wait for the next bloodbath?" Strauss scoffed, questioning Rossi.
He exhaled, watching carefully as Strauss pressed a button, continuing the recording.
"Why did you wait so long before going to Foyet's apartment?" Strauss asked, leaning back
"We had to be sure he was there. If we went in and he wasn't, he would know we found him. Of course, the longer we waited, the more time he had to..." Rossi stopped, exhaling as he shook his head.
"It was an impossible decision." Rossi admitted.
"So who made it? Agent Hotchner?" Strauss asked, already knowing the answer.
"How much longer do we wait?" Emily asked as she and Hotch waited in a surveillance vehicle, watching Foyet's apartment.
"I need to leave that call to someone else." Hotch exhaled.
Rossi, Spencer, Morgan and JJ sat in an empty apartment across from Foyet's location. S.W.A.T. sat nearby. Every time Spencer looked at Foyet's apartment, he imagined Foyet's arrest, which would mean that not only could Haley and Jack come home, but so could Cassidy
"S.W.A.T.'s getting antsy." JJ walked up to the three men. Morgan had been looking through binoculars to see into Foyet's apartment.
"I'll tell them when it's time to go. Right now we sit tight. Let them know." Morgan looked at JJ, who nodded.
These guys are trained to move, not just sit around. I can't really say that I blame them." Morgan exhaled as he removed the binoculars from his sight.
"He may not even be there anymore." Spencer admitted, leaning against the cane he was holding.
"I know. The longer we sit here, the further away he gets." Morgan shook his head.
"You make the best call you can, kid." Rossi shrugged his shoulders.
"All right, this is what we're gonna do." Morgan spoke as he gathered the team.
An FBI agent went over to Foyet's apartment, knocking on the door a few times. When he knew that nobody was going to answer, he pulled out a long camera and pushed it underneath the door.
"Are you getting the signal?" He asked, speaking into his comms.
"Copy." Morgan spoke.
"No warm bodies. Looks like kitchen table, chair." The man spoke, describing what he saw.
"Is that a laptop on the table?" Spencer asked.
"It could be useful." Emily nodded.
"Wait, go back. What's that on the floor?"Hotch asked, confused.
"It's his mail." Morgan shook his head before Hotch quickly grabbed his gun out of it's holster.
"Go, go, go, go!" Hotch yelled as he and his team ran out of the building, heading into Foyet's apartment complex followed by S.W.A.T. and a few other undercover agents.
"Hurry up! Let's go!" Morgan yelled.
"What happened?" Emily asked after Morgan had kicked open the door, the team flooding in with their guns raised.
"He's not coming back here. He left an untouched meal." Hotch announced, seeing the amount of food left.
"You drop your mail like this when you're startled, when you need to get out of dodge quick." Rossi exhaled.
"Something tipped him off. He knew we were coming here." Hotch tried not to get angry.
"Suitcases are open, some clothes are missing. There's a safe with a stash of guns in it." Morgan walked out of the bedroom.
"He didn't even bother to lock them up again." JJ put her gun away.
"If he's in a hurry, he'll make a mistake." Rossi reassured the team.
"Yeah, but when Foyet gets cornered, He starts killing." Hotch exited the apartment, while Emily looked down at the laptop that was still open and turned on.
"We're not gonna let that happen." Rossi exhaled.
"We need to get Garcia on this." Emily shook her head.
"He is creepy good." Garcia gasped as she remotely accessed Foyet's computer from the BAU office.
"How good?" Spencer asked as he looked at the laptop.
"He wiped his hard drive. Might have been in a hurry to leave, but whatever was on there, he did not want us to see it." Garcia shook her head.
"Garcia, tell me that you're hacked in and that you can rebuild it." Morgan asked, hopeful.
"Watch me work, darling. Hello." Garcia kept typing, hearing something - an alert.
"What have you got?" Hotch asked, confused.
"Uh, he had an internet alarm on the name Peter Rhea. It alerted him as soon as we ran a check on it." Garcia informed Hotch, who rolled his eyes.
"What else did he wipe?" Hotch asked as a bunch of photos started appearing on the screen. Surveillance photos.
"Garcia, wait a minute. Freeze it right there." Morgan asked, the team watching as the photo dump paused, stopping on a particular photo.
"Oh, my god, isn't that-" JJ looked at the photo in shock.
"That's the U.S. Marshal assigned to my family." Hotch panicked as he dialled Sam's number.
"Foyet's been watching him this whole time?" Emily asked, concerned.
"Kassmeyer. Leave a message." Hotch heard as he held his phone to his ear.
"Sam, it's Aaron. We found Foyet's location, but he has surveillance photos of you. Call me for a meet location or we're on our way to you." Hotch spoke before hanging up the call.
"We're gonna need to deploy another S.W.A.T. unit." Morgan shrugged his shoulders.
"That's gonna take another half hour." JJ exhaled.
"Hotch?" Rossi asked as Hotch left the apartment.
"Go, go." Morgan nodded.
———
(Spencer's Interview)
"You left for Marshal Kassmeyer's house immediately?" Strauss asked as Spencer clasped his hands together - eyeing her, like a Hawk.
"Yes, ma'am." Spencer nodded.
"Wouldn't this be a job for a tactical team?" Strauss asked, leaning back.
"We felt that it would take too much time to get authorization for another operation." Spencer exhaled.
"We?" Strauss raised an eyebrow, confused.
"All of us." Spencer corrected himself.
"Don't you mean Agent Hotchner wanted that?" Strauss exhaled.
"No, I mean all of us wanted that. I know what you're thinking, and I agree it would be easy for us to blame him." Spencer admitted.
"Easy?" Strauss asked, confused.
"Yeah. Why not just say it's his fault and then we can all just forget about it. But, uh, the problem is, I have an eidetic memory, and that's not what happened." Spencer glared at Strauss, who crossed her arms, confused.
Two black SUV's stopped in front of a house, each and every member of the BAU jumping out and racing inside, Spencer slowly catching up behind them.
"Sam." Hotch gasped as he and the team entered the house, guns drawn. He looked down at the badly injured man who was surrounded by dried pools of blood.
"This is Agent Rossi, FBI We need an ambulance. We have a federal officer down." Rossi yelled into his comms
"I wouldn't...I wouldn't." Sam shook his head as Hotch knelt down beside him, trying to comfort him.
"We're getting an ambulance. Hang on." Hotch basically begged.
"I tried." Sam coughed.
"I'm sorry." Sam cried as he laid on the floor, blood running down his face.
"What are you sorry for?" Hotch asked, confused.
"I...I tried." Sam exhaled.
"Are Jack, Cassidy and Haley safe?" Hotch asked, watching as Sam took a few deep breaths in and out.
"Sam, tell me what happened." Hotch asked, trying to be gentle while holding him.
"I don't know how he got in." Sam weakly shook his head, trying to breathe.
"Aah!" Sam screamed as he was shot in the leg.
"Where are they?" Foyet walked into the room, holding up his gun. When Sam didn't answer, Foyet shot his other leg.
"Aah!" Sam fell to the floor, crying out in pain.
"Where are they?" Foyet hissed.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sam groaned. Foyet wasn't happy with this answer. He shot Sam in the foot.
"Aah! Aah!" Sam yelled.
"I'm gonna find out...one way or another." Foyet stepped on Sam's injured foot, causing more pain.
"Sam, I need to understand. Does he know where Jack, Cassidy and Haley are?" Hotch asked, trying to keep Sam awake.
"I didn't..." Sam shook his head.
"This little piggy..." Foyet grabbed one of Sam's hands, slicing off one of his fingers.
"Aah!" Sam cried out.
"Look at that. he's not going anywhere, is he?" Foyet smirked, chuckling.
"What about her phone number? What's her safe phone number?" Hotch asked, his heart racing when he heard ambulance sirens.
"I didn't...it won't matter." Sam exhaled again.
"Kill me. I'm not telling you anything." Sam hissed.
"You're not gonna get off that easy. I need you alive so you can tell Agent Hotchner that it's his fault that his family's dead." Foyet sliced off another finger.
"Aah!" Sam cried out.
"I- I tried, Hotch." Sam pleaded.
"Gunshot wounds to each leg, one foot. He's missing several fingers, and appears to be badly beaten." Spencer spoke as the E.M.T.s entered the house, heading over to Sam.
"Clear out of the way." One E.M.T. spoke as Hotch nodded and moved away from Sam's badly injured body.
"Get me a c-collar, prep me a saline drip, while I grab a round of vitals. Sam, are you allergic to any medication?" An E.M.T. knelt down.
"Hotch." Sam croaked out.
"Sam, I'm right here." Hotch nodded.
"I tried." Sam exhaled.
"Make sure they have a trauma surgeon standing by." One E.M.T. demanded.
———
(Spencer's Interview, Cont'd)
"Do you believe it was Marshal Kassmeyer's fault that Agent Hotchner's family was compromised?" Strauss asked, leaning back.
"Absolutely not." Spencer shook his head.
"You answered that very quickly." Strauss scoffed.
"When you're being tortured, there's no end in sight, except giving them what they want." Spencer explained.
"And Kassmeyer didn't do that?" Strauss tilted her head, confused.
"He withstood everything that Foyet had." Spencer continued.
"Then tell me exactly what happened." Strauss leaned forward.
"Is he conscious?" Hotch asked as he got into the ambulance with Sam.
"In and out." One E.M.T. spoke.
"Sam, it's Aaron. Can you hear me? I'm right here, sam." Hotch reassured him.
"Aaron." Sam mumbled as the ambulance drove.
"His pressure's dropping. 10cc morphine going in." The E.M.T. tried to keep him alive.
"Do not sedate me. I need to talk." Sam refused.
"Sam, does Foyet know where Jack, Cassidy and Haley are?" Hotch asked, holding Sam's hand.
"I wouldn't tell him. It doesn't matter." Sam insisted.
"Let me guess. The Marshal Service doesn't have anything listed by name. Case numbers only. The thing is, this relocation is a bit of a special favour, which tells me that you might bring your work home with you." Foyet leaned over Sam's injured body as he grabbed Sam's phone.
"Who knows? Maybe even on emergency speed dial." Foyet smirked, beginning to dial a number.
"Hello, Haley? I'm sorry. wrong number." He apologised.
"Hello, is Haley there? Uh, uh, no, ma'am. I'm sorry. It must have been a wrong number." Foyet tried again.
"Hello, is Haley there?" He exhaled before hanging up.
"Hello, is Haley there?" He asked.
"Sam?" Foyet smirked when he heard Haley's voice. Haley looked at Cassidy and Jack, confused.
"Haley. Oh- Hal- Uh- Sorry for using your real name, ma'am." Foyet cleared his throat to sound more believable.
"My name is Victor Collins. I'm with the Marshal Service." Foyet spoke with a hint of concern in his voice.
"Ma'am, we have a problem. Marshal Kassmeyer has been killed, and we're afraid your location may have been compromised." Foyet kept up the act, enjoying how nervous and fearful Haley sounded just by listening to her voice.
"What?" Haley started to panic, Cassidy wondering why she seemed so nervous.
"Ma'am, I need you to focus right now. This is about saving your son and niece. We're trying to save Jack and Cassidy. Do you understand me?" Foyet asked.
"Yes." Haley pulled Jack close to her, eyeing Cassidy with a concerned look on her face. Cassidy pulled the phone from Haley's hand and put the call on speaker, taking her, Jack and Haley to a private location.
"I'm afraid there's more, ma'am. I'm not quite sure how to tell you this, but...your ex-husband has been killed as well." Foyet lied, hearing the gasp from her side of the phone.
"Oh, god." Haley put her hand to her mouth, shocked. Cassidy's heart dropped. Had Hotch really been killed?
"We're gonna bring you, Cassidy and your son in safe, but I'm gonna need your help for this, okay? When we're through speaking, I want you to hang up the phone. Do not attempt to call anybody else. Do you understand me? It could be intercepted." Cassidy listened intently to the call. Something about this whole situation seemed off.
"Yes." Haley nodded, seeming none the wiser.
"The next thing I need you to do Is buy a disposable cell phone. Get back in your car, call me at this number. Once I know your mobile, I'll give you another number along with some instructions on how to proceed." The call got weird. From working with the BAU, no person or persons are advised to buy a disposable cell phone. They're instructed to meet directly at the location given in code.
"Okay." Haley nodded.
"Now, ma'am, I do not want you to worry. We're gonna bring you, Cassidy and Jack in here safely." Foyet tried not to chuckle.
"Are you...are you sure Aaron is...are you sure?" Haley asked, trying to remain calm for Jack's sake.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm terribly sorry." Foyet hung up the call, a huge smirk on his face.
Cassidy watched as Haley chucked her phone into the nearest bin.
"Wait, Haley, I don't think that's a good idea." Cassidy shook her head.
"Mr. Collins said that I had to get rid of my cell phone and buy a disposable one." Haley smiled.
"Haley, what we need to do right now is call the BAU. They can tell us if Aaron is really...you know." Cassidy insisted, but Haley shook her head.
"I'm following Mr. Collins' instructions." Haley smiled, nodding.