CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER ONE
"RYDER." The director of the intelligence analysis branch called out to the dozed off girl as he made his way out of his office, and into the bullpen.
"Sir." Cecilia's head lifted off her small, unorganized desk. Her half shut eyes were enough to show that she had a rough morning.
"Your transfer application to the BAU has been approved. Grab your stuff and go upstairs, you start today." The stoic man cracked a slight smile at the clearly shocked girl.
A month earlier, Cecilia had sent an application to the BAU out on a limb when her teammate had told her she belonged there instead of the third floor. After laughing it off, she decided to look into it, and from there on out her hunger to be apart of the BAU grew. Besides having all the credentials she needed to apply, the research she had done on the job itself pushed her to make the decision to transfer to the fourth floor. So, she talked to her director, he put in a good word for her, and her request was fulfilled.
"Thank you, sir. Has SSA Hotchner been notified?" The nerves set into her bones as she spoke, she didn't do well around new people. But, if she had to break her shy tendencies to seem professional and intelligent, she was willing to do so.
"He's aware Cecilia, in fact why don't you stop by his office first?" He remarked to the girl and put his hand on her shoulder, just above her brown corduroy jacket. "You're a great Agent and an even greater person. We will miss you down here. Now go give the criminals hell."
"Always." She muttered her goodbyes with a sweet smile. She chose to separate her personal life from her work, so the box she had began packing with her stuff wasn't going to be filled to the top. Only occupied with a few books and knick-knacks she kept with her. No photos of her family.
Once on the way to the elevator she pulled out her phone, balancing the cardboard box on her knee. She made a three-way call with her god siblings once her phone was in her grasp.
"I got the job."
Sara and Ace were of course elated to hear those four words slip through Cecilia's lips. The two had already began making plans to meet up at the florist after hours to have a Thai binge-out when Cecilia ended the short call with a quick 'Got to go. Love you both.'
The atmosphere of the fourth floor wasn't like anything else Cecilia had felt before. In fact, it was more solemn than anywhere else she had stepped foot in Quantico. She made her way to Aaron Hotchner's office, not noticing the three pairs of eyes that lingered on her figure.
"Who is that?" Agent Derek Morgan asked no one in particular. Spencer Reid scrunched his eyebrows as if he was sweeping his brain for any recollection of the girl.
"That's Cecilia Ryder, or was it Reeves?" Emily Prentiss asked herself. "I don't remember which one, but she does have two last names. She's from downstairs."
"Is she a transfer?" Spencer turned to her, eyebrows still scrunched.
"No idea, pretty boy. Guess we will find out soon. We need to go though, JJ is waiting to brief us. And, you might want to fix your hair Spence. Just in case she's a transfer." Her remark brought both of the two boys out of their trance as they followed Emily to the briefing room, Spencer taking a quick detour to the men's room.
Just above them, two quiet knocks were heard from the inside of Aaron Hotchner's office, and he muttered out a 'Come in.' He didn't look up from the case file in his hand until he heard the quiet voice of the person who had been waiting on the other side of his door.
"Agent Hotchner? I'm Cecilia Ryder, the transfer from downstairs." Her voice wasn't steady as she spoke to the intimidating man in front of her.
"All I have here is a Cecilia Reeves, would that be you Agent?" He recalled the only transfer he approved this month from memory.
"Yes sir, I go by Ryder if you don't mind." The girl swallowed the lump in her throat and the man had yet to crack a smile.
"Not at all. The rest of the team is in the briefing room with our latest case. Now, since it's your first day, would you like to join us in the field or would you like to work on the case from here?" He stood up from his desk as he spoke.
"I'd like to join in the field, if that's alright with you." She shook his hand as he held it out to her.
"Of course. Welcome to the team." He dropped her hand gently. "You can set your stuff down at any empty desk and then I'll walk with you to the briefing room."
Cecilia followed his directions and set her stuff down at the first open desk her eyes landed on. Grabbing her notebook and pencil before turning around to follow Agent Hotchner. Once they reached the room, Cecilia was met with many unfamiliar faces, in fact she could only identify one person in the room, which made her heart pound in her chest, but she ignored the feeling.
"Everyone, this is our new transfer, Agent Cecilia Ryder. Ryder, this is Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Doctor Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, and Jenifer Jareau."
"Hello, nice to meet you all." Cecilia's awkward smile formed on her lips as she shook everyone's hands and earned a few smiles back.
"You can call me JJ." A pretty blond gave Cecilia a soft smile.
Cecilia took a seat next to Rossi, before her eyes met Spencer's to which they smiled at each other in a way that the girl couldn't decipher was awkward or not.
"What have we got?" Hotch spoke from where he was standing.
"This is Delilah Grennan. She was bludgeoned and raped during the night at her home in Lower Cannaan, Ohio." JJ flicked a screen on which showcased the brutal crime scene photos of the team's latest case, to which Cecilia didn't even flinch.
"Lower where?" Prentiss retorted.
"Small town 40 miles outside of Cincinnati." JJ continued.
"Staging the body face-up with the arms across the chest like that." Spencer cut in questionably.
"Ritual." Derek walked to the table. "Nice hair by the way." He spoke to Spencer as he scuffed the boys hair earning him and annoyed 'thanks' and a faint blush.
"There's more." JJ got the conversation back on topic. "Small puncture wounds on her stomach. Note the lack of blood."
"Post-mortem." Cecilia spoke up causing the team to look at her, her eyes were dead set on the screen. "I've seen that pattern before."
"Were there any other victims?" Prentiss asked while Cecilia turned to her notebook to sketch the odd, but familiar pattern of the puncture wounds on the victims stomach.
"Kind of." The whole team scrunched in confusion, but JJ continued. "Victimology and signature match a serial killer from the same town 10 years ago, 6 victims spanning over 10 months. He called himself"—
"The Angel Maker." Both Cecilia and Aaron muttered at the same time, him choosing to continue. "I remember that case."
Cecilia had remembered reading about it when she was a teenager.
"They caught that guy." Reid mumbled.
"And executed him." Rossi finished and Cecilia's brow peaked in interest.
"That's right. He was put to death by lethal injection a year ago yesterday." JJ spoke.
"So we're looking for a copycat." Morgan stated.
"An annual one?" Cecilia questioned.
"Honoring the anniversary of his hero's death." Rossi nodded to the newbie in agreement.
"It says here they found semen at the crime scene. Perhaps locals will get a DNA match when they run it through VICAP?" Reid skimmed the case file as he spoke.
"Well, that's where it gets weird." JJ leaned forward. "They ran it already and they got a match, too."
"Well, if they already have a name why'd they call us?" Emily turned to JJ as Cecilia eyed the case file that had been passed to Rossi.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding. The match they got back on the DNA is to a Cortland Bryce Ryan." Rossi read the results out loud as the name clicked in Cecilia's head.
"The Angel Maker." She spoke bluntly.
"Wheels up in 30." Hotch exited the room. Emily Prentiss turned to the girl.
"Welcome to the team, Cecilia."