" No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one. "
— Elbert Hubbard
➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴
16.1 ; TREASURE QUEST.
"MORGAN, YOUR FRIEND'S RESORT better be as nice as you say it is," Elle quipped as she offered the coffee pot to Caroline. She shook her head as she tilted back her mug to show her the hot chocolate inside. She usually never drinks hot chocolate at work but today was a special day.
Today was the day the BAU has been waiting for since last year—vacation time.
"Hey, I never said it was his," Derek corrected as he leaned against the kitchenette counter. "He just manages the place. But trust me when I tell you it is off the hook."
Elle raised her eyebrow as a skeptical look crossed her face. Caroline rolled her eyes as she scooped up the files from the counter and tucked them under her arm.
"Right. It's. . .how would you say it?" She mockingly tapped her finger against her lip in thought. "Oh, yeah. 'Babe Central'."
Derek threw his arms over Caroline and Elle's shoulders as they headed towards their desks. "Oh, it's so much more than that, princess," he said enthusiastically. "Hot sunny days, cool breezes at night, never-ending tropical drinks with the little umbrellas, and nothing but young, beautiful adults looking to make vacation memories."
Elle had a creamy smile on her face as she asked, "Male and female, right?"
Derek chuckled, "Elle, two weeks of pure heaven." He turned to Caroline on his right and squeezed her arm. "How about it, Care? I can still get you a room for dirt cheap."
She smiled at him as she slipped out from under his arm and plopped the files on her desk. "Thanks for the offer, but I have other plans."
"Oh?" Derek smiled mischievously. "Do these plans have something to do with the young doctor?"
She felt her face starting to burn as a pale blush brushed her cheeks. "No, he's going back home."
Elle pouted at her as she sat down at her desk. "Then what could be better than spending two weeks with yours truly?" She leaned forward and placed her chin in her hands and grinned. "Think about all the young, attractive single men we could meet. The dinner, the drinking, the dancing. . ."
"That all sounds lovely," she told her. "But I'm getting Caitlin and Cass for quality sister-time."
She couldn't help but smile at the thought. With their aunt away on a business trip and Chris and Rebecca on their honeymoon, it would just be Caitlin, Cass, and her for two weeks doing normal family things. Having dinner, playing games, watching tv. She had even planned small trips like going to D.C. for a few days.
After everything that happened at the wedding, her sisters needed the break as much as Caroline did.
"Well if you're going to ditch me, I'm glad it's for the girls," she said teasingly. She reached over and patted her hand. "Seriously, enjoy it. You deserve it."
Caroline smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks, Elle."
Her colleague winked at her before leaning back in her chair. She sighed in relief. "I can't imagine what two weeks away from this place is gonna feel like."
"Well, you better thank your man upstairs for making it the whole team, otherwise you know they'd find a reason to bring us back up in here," Derek commented.
"Why?" Elle questioned. "They have other teams."
"Okay, you can go on believing that if you want to, but I am not answering my cell phone."
Elle and Derek reached across their desks to clink their mugs together. Caroline smiled as they laughed, their jovial behavior starting to diffuse in the air. She hoped they had an amazing time in Jamaica, she really did. They all deserved a break after the last couple of weeks.
"Oh, there he is," Derek said as Reid came to his desk and started to pack his things into his bag. He got up and leaned against the young doctor's desk. "Pretty boy. Last chance. I can get my man to swing you a hotel room for practically nothing."
Spencer didn't look up as he began putting his books away. "Thanks anyway."
"Come on, Reid. Live a little, huh?"
"I have to go. I'm going home," he said quickly as he buckled his bag closed and slipped it over his shoulders. "Have a good one, guys."
"Bye?" Elle said slowly as she watched him walk away.
Before anyone could say anything else, he was already out the door and getting onto the elevator. He hadn't even looked at her. Automatically, Caroline glanced down at her desk and began to absentmindedly mess with a button on her shirt.
He had been acting strangely ever since the wedding a couple of weeks ago, but he had never outright ignored her. Sure, he only spoke to her in five to eight-word sentences and only if it was work-related, but at least he was talking to her. Now, she didn't know what to think.
This was exactly what she had been afraid of—all of it. She didn't know if it was their kiss or her past that was making him shun her, but she hated it. She just wanted to talk to him about it, to explain, but he was making that hard. Especially now with him heading out of state for two weeks.
Derek looked over at Caroline. "He look okay to you?"
Caroline shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant as Elle replied, "He looks about the way I would if I was gonna spend two weeks with my family."
"Hey, don't knock family!" Hotch claimed as he walked by their desks. "I'm gonna get nothing but for the next 336 hours."
Derek chuckled. "Good for you."
"Haley's got a list of chores a mile long and I can't wait," Hotch said with a smile on his face. "The biggest decision I gotta make is what I'm gonna do first."
Caroline liked seeing Hotch this happy, it was refreshing from the usual "down-to-business" face he usually wears. She knew that he liked his job, but she also knew that he was missing his family, too. For him, two weeks with Haley and Jack sounded like a dream come true.
"I bet she has a thought or two about that as well," Elle commented.
"Bring it on," he said with a laugh. He turned to Caroline. "You're coming to pick up Jack, right?"
She nodded. "I have a couple of things I have to finish up here and then I am heading your way."
"Great, thanks," he said as he started towards the door. "See you in a few!"
When Hotch left the bullpen, Caroline laughed. She had agreed to watch Jack for the weekend so Haley and Hotch can catch up on some "alone time". She hadn't seen Hotch this excited in years.
Following immediately after Hotch was Gideon, trucking through the bullpen with his jacket in hand. As he marched past their desks, he called from behind his shoulder, "I'll be lost in a cabin in the woods for the next 2 weeks. Do not call me for anything. Have a great time. You all deserve a break."
He paused at the door and turned around to face them. "Seriously. Don't call."
Caroline laughed after as Gideon slipped out of the office and called out, "Don't worry!"
"I guess that's our cue," Elle said as she turned to Derek. "Ready to rock?"
"Oh, you know it," he said as he slipped on his jacket. He reached over and ruffled Caroline's hair. "Don't party too hard while we're gone, princess."
"Wouldn't dream of it," she told him as she smoothed down her hair. "You guys have a safe trip. Send me lots of photos!"
"We will," Elle promised. "Take care of those girls for me, okay?"
"Sure thing."
Caroline gave them both a quick hug before they headed out of the bullpen. She watched them laugh and joke as they got on the elevator, more excited than she had ever seen them. Once the elevator doors closed and she could no longer see them, she let out a sigh as she dropped the small smile on her face.
For the past couple of weeks, she had been working really hard to show the team that what happened at the wedding hadn't affected her, that she was still capable of doing her job. She put in extra work to seem lighter and happier. She had gone to the required therapy sessions that Hotch had insisted on. She did everything she possibly could so they wouldn't suspect a thing.
But, sometimes, it was hard to hide.
Caroline scooped up the files on her desk before heading to Garcia's office. She knocked twice on the tech analyst's door before entering. Garcia sat facing her many computers with her laptop perched on her lap. She peeked over her shoulder to see what she was working on but didn't recognize what she was working on.
She leaned against the desk as she plopped the files on her keyboard. Garcia glanced up at her with a frown. "You're still here?"
"Not for long. I just had to give you the last of my files. Besides, I wanted to say goodbye before I left." She nodded towards the laptop. "What are you doing?"
"I'm in Camelot," Garcia replied with a grin.
"Camelot?"
"Yeah. It's an online world. See?" She gestured to the colorful screen. Caroline could make out the trees and mountains in the pixels. "I'm just outside the magical city of Camelot adventuring with the incredible Sir Kneighf."
"Oh, the incredible Sir Kneighf."
"Care, this guy is amazing," Garcia gushed as she placed a hand on her knee.
She sighed. "Oh, God, please tell me you don't have a crush on a fictional character."
"He's not fictional. He's the online alter ego of a real person."
"Ah, I see," she said. She gestured towards the screen. "I mean, you don't know anything about him—or even if it is a him."
"Okay, you know what, I'd—" Garcia shook her head as she held up her pointer finger, beginning to number off reasons. "Look, we meet online at specified times that he is never late to. We spend hours adventuring and chatting during which time I have his undivided attention and he lavishes me with flattery."
"Wow."
"When was the last time you had a date go that well?"
Caroline looked up at the ceiling and puffed out a breath of air. She stood up and tapped Garcia's laptop. "See if he's got a fictional brother, all right?"
"Yeah. He doesn't."
"Cousin, uncle, grandfather, whatever."
Garcia giggled as Caroline headed for the door. The tech analyst called over her shoulder, "See you in 2 weeks!"
"Bye, P.G."
Once she had shut the door behind her, Caroline let out a breath of relief. She had already said her goodbyes to JJ this morning. Unfortunately for her, she didn't get the same vacation time as the team. Garcia had been the last on her list so now she finally got to go home.
For two weeks all she had was family time. No murder, no cases, and no serial killers.
She couldn't wait.
➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴
Caroline rarely ever cooked. It wasn't that she was necessarily a bad cook, she just never had the time to practice. She could make the basics—spaghetti, soup, and pancakes. She had even learned a lasagna recipe to be a little less basic in the kitchen. However, she was learning the hard way that cooking for four people is a whole hell of a lot different than cooking for one.
"When is it going to be ready?" Caitlin asked. She tapped her fingers against the countertop in front of her as she eyed her sister at the stove.
"In a few minutes," Caroline replied calmly as she stirred the spaghetti sauce. "Does Aunt G not feed you?"
"She does. Can't a girl just be hungry?"
As she began to ladle the sauce onto the plates of noodles beside the stove, she felt someone tug on the bottom of her shirt. She glanced over her shoulder to see Cass standing behind her, clutching a piece of paper in her small hands. Once she saw that she had Caroline's attention, she presented it to her with a proud smile on her face. On the page was a grassy meadow with a yellow sun scribbled in crayon. Standing in the middle of the page were two stick figures holding hands with thick mops of blonde hair.
"Oh, wow," Caroline said, trying to force awe in her voice. "You drew this?"
Cass nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! I did it all by myself. It's me and you when we go to the park."
She set down her spoon as she got on her knees in front of her sister. She smiled as she carefully took the drawing from her and held it in her hands. "It's beautiful," she told her. "I love it."
Caroline stood up and grabbed a magnet from one of her drawers. She hung the picture in the middle of the fridge, the only decoration to be found.
"There," she said as she pretended to admire it. "Just what this fridge needed."
Cass grinned at her with pure joy and Caroline smiled back. She nodded over to where Jack sat in the living room under a mound of paper with a green crayon clutched in his hand. "Did Jack help you make it?"
Cass wrinkled her nose as she said, "No. He's a baby."
"Of course, sorry I asked," she laughed as she ruffled her hair. "Go wash your hands. Dinner is ready."
Cass took off towards the bathroom as Caroline and Caitlin began to set the table. Once the food was at the table, Caroline picked up Jack and set him in the high chair. He giggled in delight as he eyed his bowl of spaghetti. She knew he would probably get more on him than in his mouth, even with her help, but it was the principle that counts.
Just as all of them began to eat, the doorbell rang. Caroline turned around in her chair, glancing at the door. She sat her napkin down as she stood.
"I'll be right back," she told them.
She stepped through the small archway into the entrance and opened the door. Sitting on her welcome mat was a small package. She looked around the corners of the door but saw no one in the hall. She took a small breath as she reached down and picked up the box. She shut the door behind her and locked it.
She held her breath as she walked into the kitchen. She carefully set the box on the counter and stared at it. There were no postage markings.
From the table, she heard Caitlin ask, "What's that?"
"I don't know," Caroline said quietly. She reached behind her and pulled a knife out of its holder. She gripped the hilt tightly in her hand as she began to cut the tape away.
He couldn't have sent something else, could he? She just wanted a break from everything and if he had sent her another one of his "presents", she wasn't sure she could handle it.
Once all the tape was cut away, she lifted the cardboard flaps up and peered down into the box. Resting at the bottom of the box surrounded by bubblewrap was an ornate metal box. She reached down and carefully pulled it out of the box, the metal surprisingly cool in her hands.
She examined it in her hands, turning it over and over to see if anything was hidden. She ran her fingers over the grooved spindles etched on the lid, designed to look like vines. Once she determined the box was harmless, she unclasped the box and opened the lid.
Music began to fill the air, soft and delicate. She recognized the song immediately as Tchaikovsky's May: Starlit Nights, one of her favorite piano pieces. Inside the box was a metal figurine of a princess. She carefully lifted it out of the box and stared at it. It was intricately made with the details in her hair and dress, both flared out a little to look like she was flying. However, the princess's face was hidden behind her hair, only a small portion of her mouth and nose was visible. On the bottom of her feet was a small circular hole.
Caroline was to busy staring at the figurine to hear Caitlin approach the counter. She stared down at the box with a small smile.
"Pretty music box," she commented. "Who's it from?"
Caroline set the figurine back into the box. "No idea."
She closed the lid and the soft music abruptly stopped in the middle of the key flourish. She snapped the clasp on the lid shut.
This couldn't be from him. There was no message, no purpose. The music box didn't scare or intimidate her. He was a creature of habit and control, he wouldn't give her something that didn't incite some fear response. This was from someone else.
She shook her head, clearing her head. She had promised herself she wouldn't think of him and his mind games these next two weeks and she was sticking to that. Whoever sent the music box didn't matter to her. For all she knew, it could have been delivered to the wrong apartment.
Caroline began to usher her sister back towards the table. "I thought you were starving. Why are nosing over her instead of eating?"
She held her hands up defensively. "Fine, I'll go back."
As she followed her sister to the dinner table, she did her absolute best to push the music box out of her mind. She wanted to focus on the time she had with her family and only on that. After the last few weeks, she needed something good to hold onto.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
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It was late when she got the call from JJ. It was the same call she had gotten a million times before but, at the same time, it was wholly different. This time it was more than just another murder. This time, Gideon had a head mailed to him at his cabin, Garcia had been hacked at Quantico, and Elle had been arrested for murder in Jamaica.
So, Caroline had gotten up, threw on some clothes, and woke up her sisters and Jack. She had dropped them all off at Hotch and Haley's at the crack of dawn and was at Quantico before the sun rose. The moment she had walked into the bullpen, JJ greeted her with a scattered look.
"Thank God you're here," the press liaison said as Caroline followed her to Gideon's office. "It's been insane around here."
"I'd say," she said. "Where's Hotch?"
"By now? Probably in Jamaica to bail out Elle."
"Good. And Reid?"
JJ half-shrugged, her lips turning down in a slight frown. "I can't get ahold of him right now."
"Of course not," Caroline sighed, stopping short of Gideon's office door. She turned to face JJ, her hand resting on the doorknob. "Do you . . . Could you call him one more time?"
She took a deep breath as she began to pull her cellphone out of her pocket. "I'll try again. You'd probably have more luck than me, though."
"Thanks, JJ," Caroline whispered as she put her cellphone up to her ear.
"I'll let you know if I get ahold of him."
Once the press liaison started to head towards her office, she opened the door and stepped into Gideon's office. Her superior was sitting at his desk with his thin-rimmed glasses hanging on the edge of his nose. His hand rubbed small circles on his left temple as he looked up at her.
"Caroline," he said in greeting, his voice tired. "Sorry to have to call you back in."
"It's fine," she replied quickly. "What's going on?"
Gideon picked up the two plastic evidence bags on his desk and handed them to her. In one baggie was a baseball card of Nellie Fox dated in 1963. In the other baggie was just a manilla cardholder with the words SAVE HER written in black marker.
"I received those along with the head at my cabin," he told her as he leaned back in his chair.
Caroline frowned and held up the cardholder. "Who's the she?"
Gideon sighed and shrugged. "Don't know."
She tossed the evidence bags on Gideon's desk as she rifled through her bag. "Well, you'll be relieved to know you're not the only one who got a weird delivery."
She pulled out the music box she had unceremoniously stuffed in her messenger bag before she left her apartment. She set it on her desk and his eyes focused on it, squinting at it.
"It came with no note, no message," she told him as she watched him run a hand over the finely polished lid. "I thought it was from—well, you know who, so I disregarded it at first. But, now..."
Gideon said nothing as he unclasped the lid and gently opened the box. The same music from earlier started to play, soft and melancholic in the quiet office.
"What is—"
"It's a Tchaikovsky piece," she told him before he could even finish his question. "It's apart of his twelve-piece set called The Seasons. That particular song is May: Starlit Nights. It's a...personal favorite of mine."
Gideon glanced up at her over the rim of his glasses. "I didn't know you were a music person."
"I—I'm not. Not really, anyway. I used to play the piano when I was younger."
He only hummed in response as he looked back at the music box. He carefully pulled out the small metal figurine resting inside and presented it to her. "And this?"
She shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Gideon carefully set the princess figurine back into the music box and shut the lid when someone knocked on the door. Caroline glanced over her shoulder to watch JJ step into the office, her face a little pale. In her hands looked to be a shadowbox with a white butterfly inside.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt, but I just got a really strange delivery," she stated.
Her superior leaned back in his chair as he asked, "Strange as a head in the middle of the night?"
JJ didn't say a word as she handed Caroline the shadowbox. Upon closer inspection, the butterfly was actually more of a light yellow than white and it had small black spots dotted across its wings. Above the butterfly, the caption read: "She has been searched for yet never found."
"That's a pale clouded yellow butterfly," JJ explained as Caroline passed the shadowbox to Gideon. "They're indigenous to Europe. Britain mainly."
He stared at the butterfly for a moment before setting it down on his desk. He sighed and shook his head.
"What the hell is going on here?"
➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴
Caroline tried to bury herself in researching their only lead, a man named Frank Giles, as she anxiously awaited Hotch's arrival with Derek and Elle. Hotch had called JJ roughly three hours ago to let them know that the Jamaican police released Elle and they were on their way home. She was driving herself up the wall wondering if they were alright and she knew if she didn't do something to distract herself, it was only going to get worse.
Thankfully, four hours after he called, Hotch, Elle, and Derek stepped off the elevator, bags in hand. Relief crashed into her like a tidal wave as she rushed over to them, files tightly tucked under her arm.
"You guys okay?" she asked, her worry now the most prominent thing on her mind.
"We're good, Care," Derek told her warily. She noticed how his eyelids drooped slightly and how his clothes were disheveled. Neither him or Elle had probably gotten much sleep last night.
"Are you guys sure you don't want to go home and get some rest? Maybe take a shower?" Hotch asked the two agents.
Derek simply shook his head as Elle snapped, "Like hell!"
The unit chief looked over at her. A small frown was on his face. "How much sleep have you gotten in the last 24 hours?"
"Hotch, I spent half of the night in an interrogation room," Elle replied. Despite the tiredness in her eyes, her voice was clear and sharp. "I am not sleeping until I find this Frank Giles."
"Speaking of Frank Giles," Caroline said as she handed Hotch one of the files under her arm, "he left Jamaica last night on the Red Eye. He flew to Florida, then got onto another flight to Virginia."
"Virginia?" Elle muttered in disbelief. "You mean that son of a bitch is from here?"
"I don't know if he's from here, but this is where he flew to—Arlington," She opened the file on Frank Giles she had made earlier and handed it to Elle. "He's got a long criminal record. Manslaughter, robbery, rape."
As Derek peered over Elle's shoulder to read Giles's file, he asked her, "What about the victim, Marty Harris?"
"He's a two-time convicted fetish burglar, a registered child sex offender—"
"And we have his head," Gideon said as he appeared from behind her. "CSU just positively identified the one delivered to my cabin."
"Don't waste time on the first victims," Hotch murmured. "They were unrepentant bad men. They only got what they deserved."
Morgan glanced over at the unit chief, his eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"I got a phone call last night right before you called from Jamaica," Hotch explained.
"Any mention of a 'her'?" Elle asked him.
"You must help him save her."
She scoffed. "So there's a him now, too?"
"I think he means Reid," Gideon said.
Caroline looked over at her superior as her heart began to pound. "Reid? What does he have to do with this?"
Before Gideon could answer, Hotch said, "We need to regroup."
She sighed as she hesitantly followed the rest of her team into the bullpen. She couldn't figure out what Gideon meant by Spencer being involved. So far, he was the only member of the team that is unaccounted for, and that terrified her. She had called him several times and each time it went straight to voicemail. The longer the radio silence lasted, the more her stomach began to harden as if it was turning into stone.
The team made their way into the conference room where JJ sat, sifting through files. The moment they entered, she stopped as everyone took a seat except Elle, who paced behind her.
"So, clearly we have a psychopath intent on drawing us into his game," Hotch began.
"Playing with us," Gideon mused as he leaned back in his chair.
"Then let's return the favor," Elle suggested. Caroline could practically feel her colleague's emotions bubbling over. After being thrown in jail because of this guy, she could see why she was ready to find him.
"He kept telling us repeatedly to save 'her'," Caroline mentioned as she tapped her fingers against the table in a soothing, constant rhythm. "Who's the her?"
"The items he sent must be some kind of clues," Gideon said before turning to JJ. "Let's get them up on the board."
JJ stood up and walked over to the whiteboard behind her. She uncapped a black marker, her ready hand hovering over the board to write down all the clues they have so far.
"I got a Nellie Fox baseball card from 1963, and I got a head in a box," Gideon stated.
As JJ wrote down Gideon's clues, she said, "I got a rare butterfly in a shadow box."
"I got a music box that plays Tchaikovsky," Caroline murmured. "And a metal princess figurine."
"And repeated messages to save 'her'," Hotch added.
"I got the decapitated body," Elle declared, "and a nice visit to the Jamaican police headquarters."
"Reid called from Nevada a while ago," Gideon announced. "He's on the way back here with a skeleton key and a note he got, too."
A wave of cold rushed over her as Caroline's head snapped towards him. "He called you?"
Her superior lifted his shoulder half-heartedly. "About fifteen minutes ago, yes."
She dug her nails into the palms of her hands as she looked away, trying to keep the heat she felt in her face from showing on her cheeks.
He had called Gideon instead of her. She had called him at least a dozen times and a few voicemails asking—no, begging—him to let her know if he was okay. He hadn't even given her that.
"The guy who called me said the young knight holds the key," Hotch remarked. "That must be Reid."
"Wait a minute," Derek said. "Unsubs, they don't contact us this way. I mean, they might taunt us, dare us to catch 'em. But they don't drag us into their fantasy."
JJ faced him and frowned. "Why not?"
"Because they're sexual fantasies. I mean, taunting us is a show of power, but making us the object is. . .I don't know what the hell that is."
"Something else about the baseball card," Gideon commented. "Nellie Fox was one of the stars of the 1959 White Sox. I went to almost every game with my father that year. Fox was my hero." He leaned back in his chair, his shoulder sagging. "So is it a coincidence that he sends this to me? Or does he know how I feel about him?"
"I collected butterflies when I was a little girl," JJ said. "That's how I knew what butterfly was in the box."
"And I used to collect music boxes up until I was sixteen," Caroline murmured.
She couldn't believe she had forgotten that. Ever since she had started learning how to play piano at six, she had fallen in love with music. After her first recital, her parents had given her a small wooden music box that played Beethoven's Für Elise, the first hard song she had ever learned. Since then, if she ever found a music box that played a song she knew or a song she wanted to learn, she would collect it. It was how she kept track of her progress learning the piano.
"So then he knows us," Morgan said.
"I got an anonymous message," Hotch countered.
Elle scoffed. "I got a police raid."
"But he knew exactly where we were," Derek explained. "Hotel in Jamaica. Gideon at the cabin. Reid in Vegas. Caroline at her apartment. Hotch at his home."
"He got that from the Bureau computers," Garcia said from the doorway. Everyone on the team looked up at her, listening. "Your locations are always in there so they can find you if they need you. I checked the log. The hacker was definitely in the personnel folders. There were room numbers to the hotel in Jamaica, the address of Gideon's cabin, and everyone's home address."
Caroline resisted the urge to shudder. The thought that someone, especially this psychopath, has her address disturbed her. Especially now that her sisters were staying with her.
"Have you figured out how he was able to get into the Bureau's computers?" Hotch asked.
"I'm—I'm still working on that."
She raised an eyebrow at the tech analyst's face. She could tell that she was nervous by the way she kept swallowing like her throat was dry, her dilated pupils, and the clammy skin. And Caroline knew she wasn't the only one who saw that.
"Garcia, if you know something—"
"No—um...it's...I..." The tech analyst cleared her throat. "I was playing a game yesterday. An online game."
Caroline began to rub her temples as Gideon frowned beside of her, "A game?"
"Not on the Bureau computer, sir," Garcia said quickly. "On my own personal laptop."
P.G., you didn't, she thought to herself as she leaned back in her chair with her neck hanging off the edge of the chair.
"Oh, Garcia," Derek moaned, shaking his head. "No, no, no."
Hotch looked between Morgan and the tech analyst, his eyebrows scrunched together. "I don't understand."
"Wireless internet," Morgan said with a groan.
"By wirelessly hooking into the net here to get online, the hacker could have gotten into my computer first," Garcia explained, her voice a little breathy. "And I have far less protection on my own laptop."
"And he could have gotten into the entire Bureau computer system this way?" Hotch asked incredulously.
She nodded as her eyes became silver-lined. "Yeah, it's possible."
"Playing a game?" Gideon muttered.
He slowly rose from his seat, turning his back to the team. He ran a hand over his head before he turned to the tech analyst.
"How could you be that stupid?" He demanded. "Information, files. You have a responsibility."
"I know that, sir," she said as a tear ran down her face. "I'm so sorry."
Nobody said anything for a moment. Gideon simply faced the wall, too much in his own head to speak. Caroline watched more tears build up in her friend's eyes as the guilt boiled in her stomach.
She should have stopped Garcia yesterday, warned her. She wanted to erase the heartbroken look on her face, but she had no idea how.
Then, in the silence, the tech analyst announced, "But I found him."
Elle's head whipped in Garcia's direction. "You what?"
"I know who he is, the hacker," she said. "His name is Giles, Frank Giles. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, 4 miles from here. I have his address."
➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴ ➴
The BAU had assembled a tactical team in less than fifteen minutes and headed to Giles's apartment. However, what they found was far more disturbing than Caroline could've imagined.
She rested on her hands and knees against the carpet, peering under the makeshift bed. The sword the pierced through Frank Giles's stomach went all the way to the floor, the blade covered in his blood.
She pushed herself off the ground to look at the body. His eyes were closed, looking almost peaceful. The upper half of the sword protruded straight out of the middle of his chest, upright and straight.
"He's definitely playing with us," Hotch commented in the doorway.
"His identification checks out," Elle said as she flashed them the wallet in her hands. "It's Frank Giles."
Morgan patted the blue duffle bag sitting on the dresser adjacent to the body. "There's a big old bag of money sitting right on the dresser."
"So Giles took Harris to Jamaica to kill him and then the unsub killed Giles," Caroline concluded.
"Yeah, but he paid him first," Morgan added.
Elle frowned. "And left the cash?
He scoffed and held up a stack of one-hundred-dollar bills. "He's apparently well-funded."
"He said these were unrepentant bad men," Hotch stated. "Are we looking for some kind of vigilante?"
Beside him, Gideon shook his head once. "No. The bodies are nothing but a way to get us interested. They're game pieces. The killings are secondary."
Elle brushed by her to examine the wall behind the body. Written in Giles's blood was, "Here Thy Quest Doth Truly Begin". She could tell the blood was still fresh because of blood still dripping off the edges of the words.
"Well, this guy likes to write thinks in blood on walls," Elle commented as she examined the message. "Thy? Doth? Quest? Why start phrasing things like this now?"
"That's mid-century English," Caroline noted. "But all the other messages were in modern English."
"Maybe this is the first one the unsub actually wrote," Morgan suggested.
Elle scoffed. "So we're looking for Shakespeare?"
On the floor, the CSU tech said, "Hey, guys?"
Everyone stopped and looked down at her. She was huddled over the bed, squinting at the sword as she said, "There's something etched on the blade."
Hotch squatted down next to the body and read, "To learn of what should next be done, leave the blade 'til the hour be none."
"Hour be none?" Derek asked, his face scrunched in confusion.
"Leave the blade," Caroline repeated slowly. She glanced behind her to the large window casting light into the room then back to the sword. She took a step back. "The bed's in the middle of the room, which I doubt is by chance. Maybe the light from the window casts a shadow and points to something."
"Come on," Elle groaned. "Are we in the middle of an Indiana Jones movie?"
"The hour be none," Derek started slowly as he thought. "Midnight is 00:00 hours in 24-hour time. Would that be none?"
Caroline frowned and shook her head. "Midnight wouldn't cast a shadow."
He sighed, almost in resignation. "Then what would it be?"
"3 P.M."
She heard Reid's voice and turned to face the young doctor in the doorway. He looked tired from his flight but otherwise okay. She released a breath she hadn't known she had been holding.
"Hey, guys, Garcia told me where to find you," he said in greeting. His gaze barely brushed over hers before he turned to the body in front of him. She tried to stuff down the hurt blistering in her chest, but it still felt like a dull stinging.
"3 P.M.?" Gideon questioned him.
"It's medieval," Reid replied. "The days used to be broken into hourly intervals. The canonical hours of the breviary. Prime: 6 A.M., Terce: 9 A.M., Sext: 12 noon., None: 3 P.M., and Vespers: 6 P.M."
Elle pointed at the young doctor as she claimed, "Reid, do not ever go away again."
He smiled a little at her as Gideon continued, "Medieval. That's why the language changed."
"Everything this guy does is a clue," Hotch stated.
"Okay, but, guys, it's 4:35," Derek said, gesturing to the body. "What do we do? Leave the blade in 'til 3 P.M. tomorrow?"
"Not if we wan block that window out," Reid said as he approached the window. He turned to the CSU tech. "Do you have any spotlights in your car?"
She nodded before she stood up and left the room. Once she was gone, Reid pulled a flashlight out of his bag and lowered himself to the floor. He shone the light on the sword, which cast a shadow of the blade on the wall across from him.
"The sun is right here at 5 P.M.," he explained. "Morgan, follow the shadows as I move the light higher."
Slowly, Reid began to adjust the light as Derek moved all the objects away from the wall. He asked, "What do I do?"
"Tap," Caroline suggested.
He listened and started to tap along the shadow. Each tap he made was solid and clean until he hit the circular center when the sound was empty and flat.
"It's hollow," Morgan said.
"Definitely an Indiaan Jones movie," Elle declared.
He brushed his fingers over the wall. "Feels like the wallpaper's been replaced."
"Tear it open," Hotch instructed.
Morgan dug out a pocket knife from his pants and snapped it open. He found the hollow spot once more before jamming the knife into the wall and slicing an opening. He grabbed a hold on the drywall and pulled it out. He peered inside the wall as he said, "It's a box."
Hotch said, "Take it out."
As he reached into the wall, Reid said, "Wait. Are we sure it's safe?"
"What, you think it's a bomb?" The unit chief asked. "You think he'd be playing this game just to blow us up? He'd have already done that as long as we've been standing here."
Derek nodded in agreement as he set the box on the small table in front of him and attempted to open the box. "It's locked," he said as he turned to Hotch. "You want me to break it?"
He sighed. "No. We should process it first."
"The young knight holds the key," Gideon murmured as he stared at the box. Everyone turned and looked to Reid. His hand automatically went to his shirt pocket and pulled out a black skeleton key. He lowered himself in front of the box as everyone watched him with bated breath as he inserted the key.
There was a click and the lid opened as soft, twinkling music started to play. Another music box. After a moment, she started to recognize the melody.
Caroline whispered, "It's Shubert. The Trout Quintet."
Spencer reached inside the box as the melody continued to play. He pulled out a note and began to read it aloud, "Never would it be night, but always clear day to any man's sight."
"Well," Elle muttered, "that was worth it."
Caroline peered over Spencer's shoulders to look inside the music box. At the bottom was a small circular platform with a metal bolt sticking out of the center. "What's that?"
The young doctor craned his head to look back at her. "What?"
She leaned forward and pointed to the bolt. "That. It looks like a..."
She stopped for a moment, thinking, before it suddenly clicked into place for her. She reached in her bag and pulled out the metal figurine she had grabbed before they left, just in case she needed it. Now, she was grateful she had.
"I used to have a music box like this when I was a kid," she explained as she put the figurine on top of the platform. "The figurines that come with the box can act like a—"
There was a sharp snap once the figurine locked into place. The top of the lid fell out and behind it revealed a CD with a lock of blonde hair tied in a pink ribbon.
"—key," Caroline said in a quiet voice.
"Oh God," Elle murmured.
Derek carefully pulled out the CD as Elle slipped the lock of hair into an evidence bag. He paused for a moment before turning the CD to show them the front.
Written in black marker were the words: THY QUEST.
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The BAU all sat at the round table, their eyes glued to the screen. Caroline watched as the static disappeared and the screen cut on, revealing what looked to be a dimly lit office. There was a shuffling off-screen and then a large man hobbled over the chair behind the desk, his face shrouded in the shadows.
"He moves funny," Hotch observed.
Morgan nodded. "Could be an injury."
"I assure you...you'll all understand in the end why it must be this way," the man on the video said. His voice was thick and raspy, almost as if he had a sore throat. "You might even thank me."
Don't hold your breath, scumbag," Elle muttered under her breath.
"You know now you're on a quest. A young girl's life depends on the successful completion of it." On the screen, a blonde-haired girl appeared on the screen, sitting on a bed and dressed in a white nightgown. Caroline could see steel bars and stone walls like she was in some kind of prison. The video panned away as the girl began to throw things at the camera, her face contorted in anger. "As you can see, she's quite beautiful...and in distress."
"Now please listen closely for there is one rule and this rule must be followed. The one rule is only the members of your team may participate in the quest. Jason Gideon, Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Elle Greenaway, Spencer Reid, Caroline Lucas, Jennifer Jareau, and Penelope Garcia."
As the man spoke, pictures started to appear on the screen—pictures of them. Pictures of them on the job, outside of Quantico, at the grocery store, at home. He had been following them for a while, had planned everything.
"A quest must be completed in the proper way or it isn't a quest, is it?" The man mused. "That's it. One rule. Simple."
She resisted the urge to scoff. If Caroline has learned one thing while at the BAU, it's that nothing is ever truly simple.
"Now, you will be receiving an item soon that will hold the final clue you'll need to finish the quest. You will find you will also need a book which has inspired many an adventure like mine," he added quickly. He paused and took a deep breath. "Believe me when I tell you I truly hope to see you all soon. It will mean a successful end to this adventure...for all of us."
With those final words, the video cut out and static reappeared on the screen. Beside her, Elle whirled to face the table and asked, "This guy's got pictures of us?"
"What do we do now?" Spencer questioned.
"The lock of hair's being analyzed for DNA," Hotch answered. "There might be something on file."
"I'll get video to enhance the shots of the girl," JJ added as she started to head out of the room.
"Let's get the clues up on the board," Hotch sighed. "Maybe we can make sense of something."
Elle held up her hands as she demanded, "Are we really playing this guy's game?"
Caroline sighed, "Do we have a choice?"
Right then, Gideon stormed out of the room. She watched him march all the way to his office and slam the door.
Hotch stood up. "I'll be right back," he said. "You guys keep working."
They spent all of fifteen minutes discussing theories when Hotch came back into the room. In his hand was a folded up piece of paper. But she was more focused on the look in his eyes.
"Hotch, what's wrong?" Caroline asked as she stood from her seat in the table.
He handed her the note, pressing it into her hands. She gave him a skeptical look as she unfolded it. Numbers sprawled across the page. She looked back up at him.
"Is this the final clue?"
He nodded, his lips pulled into a tight grimace. "Someone came by the house and gave it to Haley. Told her that a girl's life depended on it."
A stab of fear pierced through her stomach. "What? Is—is she okay?"
"She's a little shaken up, but she's fine," he answered. "She's in my office with the kids."
Oh God. In the complete chaos of this morning, she had completely forgotten that she had dropped Caitlin and Cass off at Hotch's house. She balled her hands into fists in an effort to keep her hands from trembling, but it was pointless.
"Caroline," Hotch said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "The girls are fine. Haley and Jack are fine."
"Right," she whispered. "Fine."
But they so easily couldn't be.
Once Hotch left to go check on Haley, Caroline taped up the paper on the board for everyone to look at. All she could really get was that the numbers were grouped by threes. There was something they were missing.
"My eyes are so heavy, I can barely see it," Elle groaned as she took a step away from the board, rubbing her eyes.
"I think it's a coded message of some sort," Reid said. "The unsub said we needed a book, didn't he?"
"Yeah. 'A book that inspired many an adventure'," Morgan said as he leaned forward in his chair, pressing his elbows on his knees.
"It's a book code. Each one of these sets of numbers represents a particular word." Spencer pointed to the first set of three numbers. "For instance page 118, line 30, word 3."
"So we need to figure out what the words are and fill in the blanks," Caroline surmised.
He nodded. From across the room, Elle asked, "But from what book?"
"I don't know," Reid replied with a small shrug. "The trouble is it has to be the exact same edition of the exact same book that he used."
JJ breezed into the conference room, holding a file in her hands. "Just got a DNA hit on the lock of hair," she announced. "Rebecca Bryant. She's been missing out of Boston for 2 years."
Caroline blinked. "2 years?"
JJ gave her a half-shrug as Derek questioned, "Guys, how are we supposed to figure out which book this code is copied out of?"
It was silent for a moment as they all looked at each other. She could tell by the look on everyone's faces that no one had a clue what to do first.
"Well, he said we have everything needed to complete the quest," Reid finally spoke up, trying to come up with something.
"I agree with Reid," Caroline said. "The answer's gotta be here somewhere."
As she looked over to the clues listed on the board, Gideon walked in, his face full of determination. "JJ, get some reporters here as soon as possible," he instructed.
The press liaison blinked at him once, a look of confusion on her face. "For what?"
"Just say we need help on a new case."
And just like that, Gideon walked back out of the room with no explanation. Caroline stared at the spot in the doorway where he stood, trying to process everything happening around her. She thought they were playing by the unsub's game, trying to work through his delusion. Why would they go against that by breaking the only rule he laid out for them?
"A press conference?" Derek asked, casting a glance at JJ. She just shook her head at him in resignation as she left the room, her phone already in her hand.
Once JJ had left the room, the team had started back to work. At some point, Elle had drifted over to the couch and had fallen asleep. Derek, Caroline, and Spencer continued to attempt to work through what book they were looking for.
"A pale clouded yellow butterfly indigenous to Great Britain," Spencer mumbled to himself as he paced across the room. Caroline sat cross-legged in a chair, watching him walk from wall to wall.
From behind her, she heard Hotch ask, "How's it going?"
The press conference must be over. She wondered how it went or if any good came out of it. Right now, that press conference was the best tool they had because the rest of them were exhausted and confused.
"The answer to what book we need has to be in here," Caroline said as she rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up.
"Yeah," Derek mumbled, "but we sure as hell can't see it."
Hotch went to Elle resting on the couch and gently shook her shoulder. She sat up quickly, her eyes darting around the room.
"I'm awake," she said quickly.
"I'm sending you home," Hotch stated. "You need to get some rest."
Elle's head lolled to the side slightly as she shook her head. Her eyelids fluttered with sleep.
"Seriously, Elle, we're not any closer than we were," Caroline reassured her. "Go home adn get some rest. We won't do anything without you."
She looked to the unit chief. "But—"
"That's an order."
She leaned her head back and groaned. "Fine."
Elle collected her bags resting beside the couch and slung them on her shoulder before she followed Hotch out of the office. Caroline was glad she was finally going home to get some rest. She hadn't slept in over 36 hours. She knew she had to be beyond exhausted by now.
In the corner of the room, the wall clock ticks like the timer on a bomb. It slowly ticks forward, one by one, dragging her mind with it. She couldn't stop it, reverse it, or slow it down.
There was so much she didn't know—so much that they were missing about this case. She didn't really know why, but she couldn't help but feel dread building in her stomach, weighing her down.
No matter how hard she tried, no matter what she did, she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go utterly and horribly wrong.
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addy here.
hi. luv u <3