Hotch's POV:
There's a knock on my office door and I get up and open it. Standing there is a man with red hair, wearing a blue button down shirt.
"May I help you?" I question, not recognizing him.
"Apologies, I'm Jettson Pearce, the man you talked with on the phone." He introduces himself in a British accent and I shake his hand.
"Please, come in." I invite him into my office and he nods and walks in.
I notice my team is watching, clearly intrigued about who this is. I roll my eyes and close my door.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. What I want to tell you I don't wish to do over the phone." Mr. Pearce states as we sit down.
"I understand it's a sensitive issue in nature?" I ask and he nods.
"As I told you about my company and what we do, I fear my employees are being picked off one at a time." He explains and I furrow my brows.
Derek's POV:
"Who's Hotch talking to?" I ask, noticing the door closed.
"Don't know, but he sure is handsome." JJ states and bites her lip.
"Mmm. Very good looking, especially for a ginger!" Garcia adds.
"I'll agree to that!" Blake agrees and I roll my eyes as they drool over this man.
"So, all you know is what he looks like and you're already in love?" Rossi scoffs.
"More like infatuated." JJ defends the girls along with herself.
"The British accent certainly doesn't hurt." Blake adds and I chuckle.
The door opens and I watch as the man walks out of the room following Hotch. He looks over at us staring and I quickly avert my eyes feeling awkward.
They head to the conference room and Hotch motions for us to come as well. The girls all giggle and I roll my eyes as I go up the steps.
"Danika isn't here yet, I assume?" Hotch asks and I shake my head.
"Typical." He mutters and I see the man quirk a brow.
"Everyone, this is Mr. Pearce. He's the company owner of Helios. He's asked us to help find someone who's been killing his employees off one by one." Hotch introduces us to the man.
It's strange that we're meeting him here. We're usually asked to help on cases by police departments, not business owners.
"Isn't Helios that military contract company?" Blake asks.
"It is, we specialize in intelligence gathering." Pearce says in a deep British accent, and I now understand why the girls find him so attractive.
"You mean torture people?" Rossi speaks up.
"I'll admit, in the past the company didn't do a great job on the humanitarian end, but, I am trying to change that. I'm personally looking into and researching a lot of what you guys actually do. Read people, build profiles. Try and get information that way, instead of going straight to violence." He confesses and I can see JJ almost swooning as he talks.
"Everyone here understands that your work isn't black and white. No matter their beliefs or differences, they will do their job to the fullest of their ability." Hotch assures him and glances at Rossi.
"Definitely." Garcia says as she nods, then slowly looking the man up and down from his feet to his head.
"As I told Agent Hotchner, the CIA is looking into the death of my men, but they're coming up empty and more victims are being made. No matter what you think of the work me and my employees do, many of them still have family and loved ones they go home to-." Pearce starts to explain, not seeeing that Garcia is undressing him with her eyes, but pauses mid sentence and looks at the door.
I watch as Danika walks through the door looking down at her phone and headphones in her ears. The music is so loud I can hear the words.
I wanna Rob a bank,
Throw the money in the streets,
Walk up to a stranger
Screaming stick em' up freeze,
But I'm too worried bout what other people think
I wanna rob a bank,
Fuck around and make a scene,
make the most wanted on tv
Yeah that me
But-
Hotch walks over and yanks the headphones out of her ears and glares at her.
"You're late." He says.
"Stopped on the way to get a hotdog." She shrugs and finishes the last of it.
"It's 6am." Blake states appalled and Danika starts mocking her, but stops when she sees Pearce who is staring at her.
Danika's POV:
I freeze when I see the man standing in front of me. It's not what he looks like that's making me freeze in my tracks, it's his smell. His smell.
"Danika, this is Mr. Pearce." Hotch introduces us.
"It nice to meet you." He says and it's his voice.
I gulp as my heart starts racing inside my chest. His hand is outstretched and I hesitantly take it, not wanting to make anyone suspicious. He seems to be wanting the same thing, which is good.
It's his hands. The rough textured skin, the deep smooth British voice, it's all his. Jett.
Part of me wants to take my gun out and shoot him where he stands, another part of me wants to go into his arms. So he can hold me close and stroke my hair, tell me that everything's going to be alright. Everything was quiet with him, time moved slow.
After I adjusted, everything was calmer, I felt safe with him. I didn't have to think about anything else in the world around me, it was just him and I.
"Why don't you take Danika and Garcia with you to your work, they'll help get the files needed." Hotch suggests, snapping me out of my thoughts and the world comes crashing back around me, beating me into the submission of my reality.
"You want me to help in your investigation?" Jett asks and I clench my jaw.
"Being the sole owner of Helios means you know more about the victims than we do, it would help us a great deal." Hotch explains.
"No." I say and everyone looks at me.
"Danika." Hotch glowers.
"No, he's not joining us." I say with venom in my voice and everyone looks confused.
"Why not?" Rossi asks.
"Because he's not even American." I come up with a lie.
"Actually, I have dual citizenship." Jett corrects me, which makes my eye twitch the slightest.
"Will you give us a minute?" Hotch asks Jett who simply nods.
"My office, now." He orders me and walks out the door.
I follow him glaring at Jett one last time.
Jett's POV:
It takes me a moment to take it all in. The girl I've been trying to identify all this time, works for the FBI. I can't wrap my head around how someone that violent is allowed to be an FBI Agent.
I can hear the two arguing on the way to Agent Hotchner's office. He seems to be used to Danika's...personality.
"What the fuck are we doing? He hires people to torture other people for a living!" I hear her shout.
"Danika, keep your voice down."
"No! He's the sick kind of fuck we hunt down! If he didn't make billions off of what he does for our government, he'd be in the fucking ground!" She shouts and then I hear a door slam and their voices are more muffled.
I can feel the awkward tension in the room I'm standing in, and it's all directed towards me.
"Did I say something?" I ask the group, trying to get a gage on who Danika is.
"Nah, she gets like this sometimes. Hotch usually straightens her out." Agent Morgan assures me.
"I just was under the impression that she doesn't like me very much." I explain, not mentioning the obvious argument we all overheard.
"Trust me, you're not the first, and you definitely won't be the last." Agent Rossi scoffs, but it doesn't comfort me all that much.
"If it makes you feel better, it takes a while before she warms up to anyone." Agent Blake explains.
"Actually, she hit it off with Derek the first day on the job. The only person she didn't get along with was Elle." Agent Reid counters.
"Who'a Elle?" I question.
"She doesn't work here anymore. She supposedly shot and killed a rapist without probable cause." Agent Reid answers and gets elbowed in the ribs by Agent Morgan.
"Danika definitely has her...quirks, but I know for a fact she'd take a bullet for all of us." Agent Jareau offers.
"She'd take a bullet for fun." Agent Rossi scoffs.
Danika's POV:
"Danika, what is this really about?" Hotch asks after he closes his office door.
"His company tortured Huck." I say and Hotch sighs.
"Your friend who was thought to have assassinated the President." Hotch sighs remembering.
"Mr. Pearce's men are being wiped out."
"Good." I scoff and Hotch narrows his eyes.
I head back into the conference with Hotch and I notice Jett watching me carefully. He's trying to read me and what I'm going to do.
After our argument, Hotch told me that if I didn't behave he'd suspend me for a month.
While the team talks with Jett more, I head to the bathroom a minute to call Huck.
"Huck, I need to know where you were on these dates." I say and tell him the dates.
"Why? What's going on?" He asks.
"It's the company who took you...us. Someone's taking out their people. I'm guessing that their gonna be looking into the victims of the employees. I wanna get you in the clear so we don't have to bother you." I explain and he sighs and looks at his calendar.
He tells me where he was on the dates and it's basically work.
"Alright, thanks."
"Danika." Huck stops me before I hang up.
"What?" I ask.
"Be careful." He tells me.
"Always am." I assure him and he chuckles, which makes me chuckle a bit.
"Okay, I have to get back. Talk to you later. Bye." I say then hang up.
I head back to the room where everyone is sitting around the table in the conference room going through each of the victims. I sit in the open seat next to Derek but am stuck right across from Jett.
"Mr. Pearce, what can you tell us about the first victim?" Blake asks, trying to sound professional, but failing.
The girls all have a crush on him, and for some reason it gets on my nerves, and not because of what he did.
"Well, the first victim was killed in London. Stanley Tomforde 53, about 5'7 and 240 pounds." He starts saying and I freeze, recognizing Stan's name and face.
"When was he killed?" I ask, looking up from the file and he has a small smirk on his lips.
"Right after I was questioned by the New York police, about one of the doctors who was employed with my company." He explains and says the date.
"Good old Dr. Sutton." I mutter to myself.
"I'm guessing you saw the paper." He scoffs about the trial and I nod.
"Well, that's why I reported her to the medical board." He says and I stare at him, trying to read him.
"You reported your own employee?" Reid questions.
"Probably to take suspicion off himself." I mutter under my breath and he quirks a brow.
"As I've stated, I'm trying to make a change within the company. I can't have people working for me who don't believe it will work." He states and I narrow my eyes, trying to figure out if he's lying or not.
"Which is also the reason why I let Tomforde go. He was one of the much more violent people I employed." He adds, still looking at me and I clench my jaw.
"Then why did he go to London?" JJ asks, getting his attention.
"He thought someone was following him. I hired a PI to look into it, but...they didn't come up with anything." He answers.
"So, he fled to London?" Derek asks.
"He always did go to extremes." Jett sighs and leans back in his chair.
"Fled to a different country and still was killed. Impressive." Rossi chides.
"Why do you think he was the first victim and that it wasn't coincidence?" Hotch asks.
"Gut feeling." Jett says, glancing at me and I furrow my brows.
I flip through the file and look at the other victims but don't recognize their names. He looks down at his file as well.
"That one, Daniel Philips' throat was slit and tongue pulled through like-." He says after clearing his throat.
"Columbia neck tie." I finish, quite familiar with the MO of some gangs.
"Wanted to make it look gang affiliated. Smart, keeps it under the radar as far as CIA goes." I mutter.
"The third one is interesting, massive blood loss." Reid points out.
"Henry Mack, he was actually one of the good ones. Lived in New Orleans before working for me. He retired back there a few years later, the work took a toll on him." Jett explains.
"He was only 40." Rossi counters.
"I give my employees a five year contract, when the five years is up, they are more than welcome to retire with full benefits. I understand that this work can take a toll on people, and I don't want to ruin themselves over their work." Jett explains.
"That's very generous." Blake applauds him while batting her eyelashes.
"All at the expense of the people you torture." I mutter and Hotch kicks my leg and gives me a look.
Luckily for him, Jett didn't seem to hear me.
"America is a country that thrives on work and production, but often times it's a the cost of the people. The way I see it, if you're willing to work for your government you should be given a more than affordable lifestyle when finished. Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case." Jett points out.
"You don't have to tell me twice." JJ scoffs.
"What about this Hank Wallace?" Hotch asks, moving forward with the victims.
"It says he was killed in a home robbery invasion in New York." Derek states.
"Some of these look like natural causes." Blake points out the fifth one, Jeff Smith who died in New York as well.
"Easier done than you might think, very effective too." I mumble and she furrows her brows and looks at Hotch.
"Danika's right. It keeps police off a possible trail. That's why they've gotten this far." Hotch states.
"The sixth one is unusual. No cause of death found yet." Rossi points out.
"Steven Hollis, New Jersey. That one was a bit of a shock to me, especially since he was supposed to be in a different country on the job." Jett explains.
Jett's POV:
I walk out of the room after speaking with Agent Hotchner a moment. He apologized for Danika's outburst, I told him it was fine, that not everyone agreed with my line of work, that I was expecting a bit of resistance when I asked for their help.
I see Danika joking with her teammates, hopping on the back of Agent Morgan. She obviously didn't tell them about being held captive by the CIA or the likes of me. They have no idea what she went through and she shows absolutely no sign of have gone through any of it.
"Danika! Go with Mr. Pearce to his building to start gathering the complete files on the victims and possible future victims, bring Garcia with you." Hotchner orders her.
"Isn't filing more of a Reid thing?" She complains as she hops off of Agent Morgan's back.
"Now!" He orders and she rolls her eyes as he tosses her some keys.
"We can take my car." I offer and she snatches the keys out of my hand before I can even react.
"I'm driving, us off a cliff." I hear her mutter the last part as she gets to my car.
I get in the passenger's side, which still takes me getting used to every time. She starts the car without saying a word or even looking at me.
"So, you're just going to ignore me the entire time?" I question.
"Like a figment of my imagination." She mutters, adjusting the seat and mirrors to how she needs it.
"I have to say, I'm impressed. Most people can't even look at their torturers without having traumatic flashbacks, yet you sit next to me as if it's nothing." I state, but she doesn't respond.
"You know, it's not healthy to keep your emotions bottled up inside." I say.
"I don't take things personally. You were doing your job, I was doing mine." She says as she glances at the side mirror.
The tech savvy girl, Garcia, gets in the back of the car with her computer, forcing me to stop the conversation. Danika takes something out of a bag and stick it to the dashboard.
"What is that?" I question.
"A cool light that lets me break the law." Danika mutters, Garcia doesn't seem the least bit fazed at what she just said.
"Sorry, had to grab my bag. This is really nice!" She compliments me on my car.
"Thank you. What did she mean-." I start asking Garcia about what Danika just said.
"Let's get this over with." Danika huffs and starts the car, peeling out of the parking lot, doing three donuts in the process.
I quickly buckle myself in and Garcia is just sitting there as if she's not going to end up in a big fiery car wreck.
Danika drives like a speed demon on the road, I try to tell her to slow down but she completely ignores me, going even faster. She turns the dashboard light on and a siren emits from it as well.
Cars start getting out of the way and I can see Danika smirking to herself. Now I understand what she meant by a light that lets her break the law.
We finally get to my building street and for a moment I think she's going to slow down in the parking lot. But instead, I find myself shouting as I see another car headed towards us but Danika doesn't slow down.
The other car finally swerves and Danika goes into a parking space and stops the car as if she wasn't just about to kill us all. I'm trying to figure out what the hell all that was.
"You trying to bloody kill us?" I ask out of breath.
"Nah, playing chicken with Tony." She says as she hops out of the car without opening the door and I furrow my brows.
"The bloody hell are you talking about?" I ask as I open my door and allow Garcia to get out as well, then two people get out of the other car.
"Sup Tony." Danika chuckles as she makes her way over to a tall male with dark spiky hair.
"I was so close." Tony huffs annoyed as he walks over but I stay by the car along with Garcia who's blushing, clearly having a crush on Tony.
"The hell are you doing here?" Danika asks the two men.
"Case landed in our laps. Dan Philips." Tony says and hands over a file as if this is a normal encounter between them.
"You gotta be kidding me." She scoffs as she looks at the file.
"No way?" Tony asks sounding excited.
"What's going on?" The other male asks.
He's tall with light hair and a long clean shaven oval face.
"We're working together, Probie." Tony calls the lad.
"Good thing too." Danika mutters and goes to the car to show the stack of files.
"Damn. So, all of them have something to do with this company?" Tony asks.
Just as Danika's about to say something another car pulls into the parking lot.
"You have gotta be fucking kidding me." Danika scoffs as two people I recognize get out of the car.
"Let me guess, you're here to ask about Hank Wallace?" Danika asks Detective Stabler and Benson.
"How'd you know?" Stabler asks, not seeing me yet.
"Why don't you asks him?" Danika mutters and nods in my direction.
Their eyebrows raise in surprise and look between us. Tony and the other agent look confused as to what's going on.
"Just the man we were hoping to talk to." Stabler scoffs and comes over and shakes my hand.
Danika rolls her eyes clearly annoyed, which makes me smirk a bit. I've been trying to get under her skin in a certain way, and this seemed to do the trick.
"What to do you say, make this a three way?" Danika jokes and Stabler scoffs.
"Not up to us." Benson answers.
"Wait, who are you?" Tony asks me as he walks over.
"Apologies-."
"Mr. Pearce, the owner of Helios." Benson answers.
"You mean, as in the entire company?" Tony asks shocked.
"That would be correct." I chuckle.
"Come on, let's continue this inside, shall we?" I offer the group and they nod.
I glance back at Danika who's talking with Stabler. His arm is wrapped around her shoulders and she's laughing as she leans into him. Something inside of me swirls, seeing someone else so close to her.
I unlock the doors to allow them entry. Probie, the Agent I now know as McGee, look/ around amazed and Danika glances around, trying not to look too impressed. Benson and Stabler have already been here so it's nothing new to them.