"You were born a child of light's wonderful secret- you return to the beauty you have always been."
― Aberjhani
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"This is Orange County, California." Jordan spoke, "10 days ago, Judy Hannity, a real estate broker, and a mother, Was shotgunned on the 91 freeway."
"She survived this?" Emily questioned looking at a picture of the highly damaged car.
"Barely." Jordan confirmed "She's paralyzed from the waist down. The second and third victims were both d.o.a.m. There were different vehicles for each shooting. A small black SUV, a black sedan, a white sedan, no makes, no plates."
"No solid witnesses?" Derek asked her.
"The first victim described the shooter as a normal, middle-aged white guy in an SUV."
"She gave that description but she couldn't remember anything else?" Hotch questioned.
"Isn't that consistent with trauma?" Jordan asked.
"Uh, actually, no." Emily denied "Trauma victims either remember everything or nothing." She explained.
"So wait--the third victim was shot last week, we just got the phone call today?" Spencer asked.
"Until the third shooting, the locals weren't convinced it was a serial shooter." Jordan explained, "There were different cars, and in the first shooting there was a different weapon."
"It's the same weapon," Rossi said setting the photos down.
"The shot pattern on the second and third one are much wider, though," Spencer noted.
"He sawed off the shotgun." Rossi stated, "It's the same shooter He's evolving, and quickly."
"The media has already dubbed him the road warrior," Jordan informed the team.
"That explains why they wanted us there so quickly," Emily said.
"What do you mean?"
"This type of unsub is the hardest to catch." Derek spoke "Totally impersonal victims. A third of the crime scene flees with him and his vehicle. The victim's car's a wreck. And the last third, the road, is contaminated by all the other cars that drive over it."
"So how do we get him?" Jordan asked.
"We build a solid profile." Hotch stated "We release it to the public with an appeal for help. Somebody knows this guy."
"And it's my job to make them realize."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Thea Salinas, sheriff's county homicide." The dark-haired woman introduced herself "I'm running the task force."
"I'm special agent Jordan Todd, special agents Rossi, Hotchner, Prentiss... Volk Morgan... And that's Dr. Spencer Reid." She introduced the team.
"Are these the vehicles from the shooting?" Hotch asked.
"Yes."
"Did you set up the hotline?" Jordan inquired.
"Like you asked." Thea affirmed "We have the local stations putting the number out there. We're getting about a dozen calls an hour."
"I'll alert the media to stand by for our press conference." Jordan said, "Excuse me."
"The sheriff's department and the CHP are on tac alert." Thea said "We've got choppers on round-the-clock freeway patrol. The victims' vehicles, with maps, csps, and bullet points.
Everything we got on the case is in this room." She explained.
"Anything solid on the tip line?" Rossi questioned.
"Usual nutjobs, crime buffs, bored senior citizens," They told him.
"You might have got everything squared away."
"It's not me. It's the shooter." Thea said "The o.c.has an endless supply of 3 things-- Freeways, news coverage, and blond female luxury car owners."
"People are pretty scared?" Spencer said.
They looked at him "I could ask for a submarine and get it." she remarked.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"The first m.o.in the first shooting differs dramatically from the other two." Hotch commented looking at the pictures of the victims "Daylight on a crowded freeway. That's dozens of potential witnesses."
"It's high-risk. He got lucky."
"Well, he's a fast study then." Soren remarked "Sawed off the shotgun and lowered his risk by switching to nights and changing vehicles." he said.
"What if he wasn't planning on murder the first time?" Emily suggested.
"You think the first shooting was spontaneous?" Derek asked.
"Well, we know what he's capable of when he plans," Emily said.
"If I'm not planning to commit a crime, why not drive my vehicle?" Hotch spoke.
"So the SUV is his actual car."
"But then, why did he have a gun in the SUV if he wasn't planning to commit murder?" Emily pondered.
"And what happened to make him pull that first trigger?" Derek added.
"We need to re-interview the first victim," Hotch instructed.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Have you seen accidents like this before?" Rick asked looking into his mother's room in the hospital.
"A few," Emily said.
"Do people recover?"
"Doctor said she has a good chance," Soren assured.
"It's my fault." Rick's voice cracked as he spoke.
"No." Emily shook her head "This is no one's fault but the man who shot your mother."
"I got in trouble at school." Rick cried "She was on her way there. She shouldn't have even been in her car."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"What's going on?" Rossi asked as Spencer rushed over to the team with a huge map/
"Out of the 30 roadwork sites in the kill zone, only 2 were alternate merges, Both less than 3 miles from the crime scenes," Spencer spoke.
"Alternate merges?" Emily echoed.
"Multiple lanes funneled down to one." Spencer said, "One car per lane, alternating at the drivers' discretion."
"These sites allow him to set up the confrontation," Derek said.
"A guy who follows the rules may lash out once, but to do it again, he'd need similar provocation," Rossi remarked.
"So he seeks out alternate merge sites, then he goes through them over and over again Until he finds a woman that fits his victim type and who cuts him off," Hotch explained.
"So, we have to shut down every alternate merge in the county immediately," Emily commented looking up at the group.
"And we need to talk to the crews that work these sites," Derek added.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"The hyper-masculine disguise, victim preference, And the emasculating trigger of the first attack All tell us this is an unsub suffering a masculine identity crisis," Hotch informed the gathered personnel.
"A masculine identity crisis?" Jordan repeated "That's why he's driving around blowing women away?'
"No." Emily spoke up "Judy Hannity was just the trigger. We need to identify the precipitating trauma." she explained.
"Something happened in the unsub's life, something so traumatic, It turned a normal man into a serial killer," Derek stated.
"So he's suffering from some kind of psychotic break. This means the world he sees around him has changed, and so has his role in it.
"And that of his family. His perception of his home life is the key to his pathology.
"At home, this unsub feels less than a man, a failure as a father and as a husband," Hotch spoke He feels his children don't need or respect him. And that he's unwanted and obsolete in their lives." He explained
"As a husband, he feels emasculated and humiliated by his wife," Derek said. "Now, these beliefs and perceptions, real or imagined, Have destroyed this individual's masculine self-image."
"This unsub is delusional." Soren remarked "He's now dressing in this road warrior persona. It gives him feelings of power and purpose that he craves. It is now the single most important thing in his life. And he will die before giving it up."
"His new fantasy persona can't co-exist with the everyday reality of his home life. Which means sooner or later he's going to kill his entire family."
"So what do we do?"
"Our strategy's three-fold." Hotch stated "First we find every small-model blue SUV owner in the estimated kill zone. 2--We set up a single alternate merge scenario in that zone, and we manage it with our people And 3--We release our profile to the public. Somebody out there knows this man. They just don't realize it."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"What do we get?" Derek asked walking over.
"You have no idea how many middle-aged white men there are out there Who have someone close to them that thinks they're a serial killer," Emily said
"And you said that he saw the press conference, right?"
they looked up to Spencer as he took off the headphones he had on "Ok, thank you."
"Guys, I think we might have something." He told them.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"That's funny, when I heard the description in the first press conference, I thought of Norman." The man they were following through the office building told them "Then I just thought, it couldn't be, you know? He's so quiet."
"What is it that Mr. Hill does for you?" Emily asked.
"He's in charge of the company's travel expenses." The man told them "This is his desk."
"Does he have access to the company cars?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, the whole fleet," he answered
"What exactly about the first press conference made you think of Norman?" Soren asked.
"The woman mentioned something about him suffering a tragedy." The man said "His daughter died about a few months ago now. Poor girl got hit by a car." He informed them.
"How long ago did his daughter die?" Derek asked.
"6 months. I really should have done more to help him."
"Thank you." The man said to a woman who handed him a file "Norman's personnel file."
"This address current?" Soren asked.
"It should be."
"Why does he have 2 files?" Soren questioned.
"Uh, we cross-reference married couples."
"I don't understand," Emily said.
"Norman's wife Vanessa works here, too."
"We need to speak to her," Derek told the man looking up from a picture of the Norman family.
"Uh, she's not here. The man informed them "She just got a promotion, so she took a couple of weeks off."
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Morgan, we have a high-speed chase, 117 and Pacific. It sounds like our guy." Hotch spoke over the phone as they exited the building.
"All right, listen, we're closer to 117, so we're on our way now," Derek said
"We'll head over to the hill house." Hotch spoke "If he's having a break, he could be on his way there to finish it. We're on our way. Be careful."
"Ok," Derek said hanging up the phone.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Turn right here," Spencer instructed Derek who was driving the car.
"Where, here?"
"Right--right-- turn right here!" Spencer shouted, "Turn right here!"
Morgan takes a sharp right turn.
"I'm gonna need a little more notice than that, kid," Derek shouted.
"Sorry. Sorry." Spencer repeated.
"All right, left."
"Where?" Derek asked.
"Uh, next light," Spencer answered.
"Repeat, shots fired!" A cop voiced over the radio "On the chase now."
"He's losin' it." Derek remarked, "Reid, does it look like the chase could be headed to his house?"
"Uh, yeah, I think so." He affirmed, "It almost looks like he's starting to go in a wide circle toward that direction."
"All units, pursuit now headed over Memorial Bridge." The radio chatter spoke.
"We're almost there." Spencer said, "Turn right at the next light." He instructed.
"Reid, get on the radio and tell them we're in the chase," Derek told him.
"This is the FBI behavioral analysis unit. We caught up to the chase and are now monitoring. We ask if you're able to stop the vehicle, You allow us to take the lead in contacting the driver. We believe him to be a severely deranged suspect."
"Copy."
A police car struck Norman's vehicle causing it to roll and eventually stop on its side. They all step out of the black SUV drawing their weapons as they approach the downed car.
Norman crawled out of the wreck approaching the agents frantically while covered in blood.
"Norman!" Derek shouted however the man seemed to ignore or just not hear him.
"What are you doing?" Norman shouted, "What are you doing?"
"Don't move!"
"My family's inside!"
"Stop and listen to me!"
"No, my family's--"
"nobody is in that car." Derek interjected "Nobody... Your family's gone, Norman."
"No, they're in there." Norman cried.
"They're gone, Norman!" Derek shouted at him "Look inside. Look in the car. Look in the car." Derek ordered as Norman ambled towards the vehicle.
"They were never there. It's over." Derek said, "They were never with you."
"No, but they were. They were..."
"Your family's gone, Norman."
"Oh, god, what did I do?" Norman cried backing from the car and holding up his shaky hands "Oh, what did I do to my family?" He wailed as Derek pulled him to the ground and handcuffed him "My family! I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry! My family..."
"It's over, Norman." Derek said as the man sobbed "We're gonna get you some help. It's over. Let's go. Get up." He instructed dragging the man up and over to the cop car.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
"Hey, you guys ever notice how the trip home always seems to go so much faster?" Emily asked as they stepped out of the elevator.
"That's because the tailwinds are in our favor," Spencer informed her.
Emily glanced at him "No, I meant 'cause-- anybody wants to get something to eat?"
"Not really," Derek said.
"You?" Rossi asked her.
"No, not really."
"There's someone in the b.a.u.room, guys," Spencer said walking towards the room in question.
"What are you doing here?" Spencer asked as they entered the room to see JJ.
Emily asked "JJ." She cooed with a smile.
"Garcia said you guys were on your way back tonight." JJ said, "I thought you could use a surprise."
"I thought I gave you strict orders to get this place out of your head for a while," Hotch told her.
"My bad." Garcia apologized walking into the room "I couldn't help myself. Here. I hated it. Room temp. Right?" She asked handing over a bottle of milk.
"I just realized, with all that we do and see in this room, it never smiles." JJ commented, "I wanted at least one good memory to hold on to."
"Excuse me, kid." Derek said pushing past Spencer to approach JJ "Um, JJ, uh... Can I?" he asked holding out his arms.
"Of course." She said handing over the small baby.
"Ok, you gotta hold his head up. Careful, careful." Garcia told him.
"I got it, I got it. I got it." He assured.
"No, you don't get it." She objected "You're smothering him."
"Look, what's he doing? What's he doing?" Derek said "He is smiling at Derek Morgan." he grinned with a grin.
Emily and Garcia shared a look "Gas." They said at the same time.
"Give me that." Derek took the bottle of heated milk from Garcia "Hey, little man." He said softly as he rocked the baby.
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