Sunshine didn't even have a chance to shine, yet, cases never did stop. The BAU had managed to survive a while without any major cases yet it seemed too quiet to be true. Until half two in the morning of a bleak Saturday.
"Tell me that I wasn't woken up at this horrendous hour just because Hotch likes an early start." The suit that Hotch was wearing was the most put-together outfit in the room and yet it was arguably the hardest outfit to put together in the room.
"Nope. This killer isn't having a cooling-off period anymore. I will wait for JJ and Elora before continuing." Garcia's happy face was up on the screen for them all to see. Her vibrant lipstick and dyed hair filling the screen.
"Sorry. Henry was up with a nightmare so didn't see the text." She sat quickly but the ticking clock was noticed and Elora still did not arrive.
"I'll call her and put her on speaker." Morgan let the phone ring once and again until it went to voicemail.
"She never leaves her phone for long and she doesn't drink so she should always answer the phone." Emily commented as Derek once again phoned Elora. On the fifth ring, however, she answered.
"Midnight, you're on speaker..." He couldn't finish as she spoke through to him.
"Hey, Morgan. How can I help you at three in the morning?" Her voice was clear but the background was completely silent.
"We have a case. We need to head out now. We will talk about the case on the plane. You just need to head there." Derek was ready to hang up when her throat cleared and the room waited for her response.
"I wouldn't do this if it wasn't the most important thing but can I fly out in a few hours? I should be done in an hour and then I will be on the next plane out." Her delaying was noted and the team could only watch each other.
"What are you doing?" Her voice had sounded sheepish but the sigh that she let out shook more than an alcoholic's hand.
"I need to see someone. It is all safe but I had to wait so long and they even agreed to come in at this time just for me. It will be really quick and I will drive to the airport and take the next flight out and all I need is which airport to go to." Hotch didn't speak for a while as he thought it over.
"We can wait for an hour. Drive straight to the jet instead and we will talk about the case then." The team didn't usually see that type of lenience from Hotch but it had seemed that he was caught on a good day.
After a moment of silence, the sound of Elora's name being called could be heard over a tannoy system.
"Thank you. I have to go, I will probably be less than an hour now." Derek hung up just as she did and the team waited for their next instructions.
"Okay, go Garcia." Her typing had begun again as she finished up what she needed and then she turned off the screen and joined them in the meeting room.
"Right, four bodies. All of them had various things done to their bodies both before and after death. Our first victim, Lee West. He was found on a patch of grass beside a road. A couple went for a bike ride and stumbled upon his body. He had his intestines removed and the local police haven't found them yet. Next is Beatrice Jones. She had her entire breathing tract taken out, it is also missing and she was found whilst a family were walking their dog." Garcia was clicking through their pictures and the crime scenes had grown to be bloodier and far more violent.
"The crime is getting more personal. The unsub is no longer just stabbing them and taking a souvenir but he also assaulted his second victim's face. Whatever it is that is triggering the killings isn't stopping and he is getting more violent. Letting out all of his pent up rages on each of them." Spencer had opened the file and he was looking at the accounts.
"And it only gets worse. The third victim, Samantha Kennedy was found with her left leg missing in a local forest by some kids who were playing. Her face was beaten up pretty bad too and the officers even found her nose in one of her pockets. It was broken off by force. Then is Tony Finch. He was found by a park ranger, oh gosh. He was found without any skin on and it took a couple of hours before the team could get a positive identification, in the end, dental records were used in comparison to a man who had gone missing only a few hours before." The team quickly moved over Tony's photos as they read what they could about the case.
"All of these victims have lost organs. Could this be illegal organ donations going wrong or maybe it is a message." Derek looked out to those around him who were just as unsure but willing to agree.
Spencer was turning the pages as he saw the messages.
"Each one of them has some sort of code. All of the victims were redressed, even Tony. Perhaps the person who is doing this doesn't want to. Maybe they feel remorse and want to be caught." His mind was slowly working up to its full potential as the morning was growing.
"I'll do some more digging but you should probably leave now, the jet has long been waiting for you and Elora should be arriving shortly." The team stood and gathered their things before heading to the jet.
No sun was spotted yet but Elora could be seen as she sat on one of the chairs off to the side and read a slip of paper in her hands. It was crumpled and well-read but there was no sign of it being particularly old. Spencer sat with her as the rest of the team took up the four main seats though Hotch was also standing to the side.
"Hey, guys." Her welcome was quiet as she sat and waited for the case to move in full swing. She had read the file well enough and was prepared to work.
"So, since you left I have found out a very interesting fact. I have sent it over to your tablets so Reid will have to share." The tablet showed articles from a local paper that were a mix of old and new.
"They were all in the paper after surviving something that they were told they wouldn't. Melanoma for Tony, Samantha was in an accident and she was told by doctors that even if she was lucky enough to keep her left leg, she would never walk again. Beatrice was choking and was pronounced dead, after an hour she started breathing on her own. Lee had intestinal cancer and was told he wouldn't survive a week, he has since lived for three years and was told that he was free of the disease." Newspapers were looked at on repeat before finally, they stopped and moved on to the case again.
"What if the unsub has been given a diagnosis? Maybe they have been told that they are going to die and they feel like these people are lucky, something that he isn't. He is dying and they got to live." For a while, JJ couldn't believe what she was saying but it also made too much sense.
"A young 20 something. Old enough to drive and to have some responsibilities. They are getting older and their life is supposed to go one way but with his diagnosis, it has flipped everything upside down. There is a force that most women can't have. The nose that was broken off, they suspect that it was done using his bare hands." Elora kept quiet as Emily spoke and occasionally she would look up at the people around her but it didn't bring her to talk. Even after they decided to take a break she kept to herself.
"Uh, Hotch. Can I have a word with you?" He nodded before he stood and walked over to a more secluded portion of the jet.
"What is it? You have been off for the whole trip. Things that you can normally pick up on have just slipped by and this secret meeting of yours hasn't been forgotten." His intentions seemed unclear to her as he spoke. There was a low tone of warning and he made sure that she knew what he was thinking at all times.
"I needed to see someone but I have to tell you that I can't do any fieldwork today. No running, no heavy lifting and nothing that will get my blood pressure rising. Also, I can't put myself in front of a bullet. To be honest, just standing here makes me feel like I could pass out at any moment." He nodded as she spoke and when she fell silent both of his eyebrows raised.
"Nothing else? You aren't going to tell me anything else? Like why this is happening." She shook her head and he let it go as the pair walked back to the others for the rest of the flight.
"When we land, Rossi and JJ, I need you to go to the last and the first sites. They aren't far away from each other. Emily and Derek, you go to the second site and I will go with the police captain to the third site. Reid and Midnight will stay back and make a profile. Reid, I also want these codes figured out." Eyes all turned to Elora as Hotch spoke.
"Is Elora not going with Rossi? We don't normally work like this. The officer is normally the third party to one of us, not your partner. Only Prentiss and I have been left in our usual pairing." Derek had sounded like he was fighting for a cause but Hotch acted oblivious to it all and Elora was too busy with her head in the clouds.
"It's just for a day, at most until the end of the case. We're nearly there so we should be getting ready to go."