Fallon walked into the bullpen on Monday morning, a big smile stretched across her face. She had been on a successful date the night before, and the guy was super sweet. They were going on another date in four days, unless a case presented itself which would make Fallon reschedule
"Good morning Fal," Emily said as Fallon took her seat at her desk across from Emily.
"Morning, Em, " Fallon responded perkily, which made Emily raise an eyebrow.
"You're all happy this morning, what happened over the weekend?" Emily asked, which caught Morgan's attention.
"Get some loving this weekend Fal?" He teased, and she just shrugged shoulders, which made Emily's jaw drop.
"Oh my god you did!" She cried as she started laughing.
"Fallon Shepherd, is in the dating game," Morgan mused and Fallon just laughed along with Emily.
"It was just one date," Fall informed them.
"Well, was it good?" Morgan asked, and both of them looked at her, eagerly awaiting her answer.
"Yeah," Fallon answered as nonchalantly as possible, trying to hide how excited about the guy she really was.
"Are you going on another one?" Emily then asked, and Fallon nodded her head which made Emily grin.
"Oh my god, I need all the details," Emily said. Fallon nodded but then JJ walked over to three in boss lady mode.
"We have a case," she said grimly. The three nodded in sync and then got up to follow her into the conference room.
"I'll tell you later," Fallon whispered to Emily as they walked in to see Hotch standing in front of the tv with the remote in his hands and a video on the screen.
"Don't get comfortable, there will be time to debrief on the plane," Hotch told them, which made all of them frown in concern.
"Where are we headed?" Spencer asked.
"New York," Hotch answered.
"Five shootings in two weeks, it's about time we got the call," Rossi commented.
"I want to take Garcia with us. Hopefully they'll give us access to their surveillance systems," Hotch reported and the team all nodded in agreement.
"What do we know?" Emily asked.
"All the killings are midday, single gunshot to the head with a .22," Hotch responded.
"Any witnesses?" JJ asked.
"No," Hotch responded.
".22 caliber pistols only a 152 decibels. New York streets and subways are routinely well over a hundred. It could be people aren't even registering the gunshot until the unsub is already leaving the scene," Spencer suggested.
"They sound like mob hits," Morgan commented.
"Except none of them have ties to organized crime," Hotch countered.
"Do they have any connection to each other?" Fallon asked.
"None they've found," Hotch answered.
"How about communication with the police? Has the unsub tried to make contact?" Morgan asked, which was exactly what Fallon was about to ask, so she nodded at him in agreement with his question.
"Surveillance cameras have captured video of three of the murders, this is the latest," Hotch said, moving on from Morgan's question without and answer, which was an answer in itself. There had been no contact with the police thus far.
Hotch pressed play on a grainy video and the team watched as the unsub, dressed entirely in black, shot a bald man looking at a map. Fallon sighed sadly, that man had no idea.
"That's the best image they have?" JJ asked referring to the bad image of the unsub Hotch showed them. There was no skin on show at all, and not even the tiniest glimpse of his face.
"They're all the same. He wears a hood, and keeps his head down," Hotch informed, showing them the other two videos that were captured. Both the same as the first, the unsub with absolutely nothing identifying visible.
"This guy's bold. Crowded areas, broad daylight," Emily pointed out.
"So they're completely random?" Rossi asked.
"It seems that way," Hotch answered. The case just kept getting better and better. No witnesses, no connections, not mob related. Random victims at random places.
"Son of Sam all over again," Spencer commented, and Fallon was sure that they were all thinking the exact same thing.
They all quickly grab their go bags, and then met on the jet thirty minutes later, so that they could get to New York as soon as possible.
"How come I only get to travel with you guys like once every two years?" Garcia asked as she walked onto the jet with Morgan, and Emily behind her.
"Trust me Mama, it can get old," Morgan told her.
"Oh, right, like the way that spa treatments in five star hotels can get old," Garcia retorted as Morgan handed her the bedazzled bag she had brought with.
"Remember the time we got on board and they hadn't chilled the Cristal?" Emily asked Morgan mockingly, and Fallon laughed lightly from her spot across from Spencer, and next to Hotch.
"Oh, I almost quit the BAU that day," Morgan responded.
"Okay, you know what? You guys can joke all you want but I am never leaving this plane," Garcia announced as she moved behind them to relax.
"The victims?" Rossi asked once everyone was settled in.
"Each killed in a completely different neighborhood. Hell's Kitchen, Murray Hill, Lower East Side, Chinatown, East Harlem," Hotch listed.
"It doesn't make any sense. There's no common victimology, no sexual component, no robbery, no geographical connection. Do the police have any leads?" Spencer asked.
"He's killing roughly every two days. The press is having a field day, and it sounds like the mood on the street's getting pretty edgy," Hotch responded, the lack of answer an obvious no. There were no leads.
"Do you blame them?" Fallon asked. Everyone was silent for a moment, and then Rossi spoke up.
"It's a joint FBI-NYPD task force?"
"Kate Joyner heads up the New York field office. She's running point on the case and called me directly," Hotch said. "JJ would you let them know that we're ready to go?"
"Right," JJ responded, looking a little out of it.
"Kate's starting to butt heads with the lead detectives and wanted a fresh set of eyes," Hotch continued, finishing his explanation of Kate Joyner.
"Joyner, I know her. She's a Brit right?" Morgan asked.
"Well, dual citizenship. Her father's British, her mother's American," Hotch corrected. "She was a big deal at Scotland Yard before coming to the Bureau."
"I heard she can be a little bit of a pain in the ass," Morgan commented, which made Fallon press her lips together to keep from making a disgruntled noise in reaction to the statement.
"I didn't think so," Hotch responded.
"You know her?" Emily asked.
"We liaised when she was still at Scotland Yard," Hotch explained.
"And she's good?" Rossi asked.
"I think we're lucky to have her," Hotch answered truthfully. The conversation was cut short by the pilot announcing that it was time for take-off, and soon they were in the air and on the way to stop Son of Sam round two.
***
The car ride to the field office from the airstrip was tense, the entire team well aware that they weren't going to get much sleep over the next couple of days as they delved deeper into the case.
As the elevator door opened, the first thing Fallon saw was a blonde strutting towards them, and the first thing that went through her head was that this blonde was practically identical to Haley.
"Is it just me or does she look exactly like Haley?" JJ whispered to Garcia and Fallon.
"I was just thinking that," Fallon told her.
"Kate," Hotch said with a smile on his face, which was a rare sighting in itself. Hotch and Kate must have been closer than he let on.
"Aaron, how have you been?" Kate asked, and Fallon raised an eyebrow discreetly. Aaron? That was also rare.
"Well, thank you," he answered before turning to the team. "This is my team. Kate Joyner this is David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Fallon, Shepherd, Jennifer Jareau, Penelope Garcia, Derek Morgan, and Spencer Reid." They each nodded in turn and she gave them all a brisk nod in greeting.
"Thanks for being here. Anything you need, just tell me. Please don't stand on protocol," Kate told them.
"What can you tell us about the city's surveillance system?" Garcia asked.
"It's run by the NYPD, but it's still in the infant stages. It's been rather controversial with all the American privacy laws, but they have had some success," Kate answered.
"And I'll have complete access?" Garcia asked, a hopeful smile on her face.
"They're already expecting you," Kate assured her, and it bugged Fallon how her facial expression didn't change as she talked. She seemed to be constantly annoyed, which wasn't going to go over well with some members on the team. Kate then turned to her assistant. "Shelley." The brunette woman beside Kate nodded and then proceeded to lead Garcia away as Spencer started talking.
"I'd like to get a map of the borough. I want to do a comprehensive geographical profile of the area in order to ascertain the unsub's mental map before it's clouded by our own linkage blindness." As he said this, two other men walked up to them, one younger, one older.
"I see you brought your own computer," the older one said, obviously not thrilled to have the BAU there.
"Detectives Brustin and Cooper, I'll let you do the introductions," Kate told them, motioning to the older one and then the younger one in order.
"You caught the first shooting?" Rossi asked.
"They've all been in different precincts. It wasn't until the third murder that anyone even made the connection," Cooper answered.
"I guess this is where we play nice and ask you what you need," Brustin then said, striking a nerve in Fallon. The only reason that the BAU had to be there was because these detectives and the people in New York couldn't do it themselves. She had thought that they would be more grateful for the help.
"I'll let you all figure out what that is, I just ask that you run everything back through me. It's been my experience that having one butt on the line is good enough," Kate said, earning raised eyebrows from both Emily and Fallon.
"Yes ma'am," Brustin said almost mockingly after scoffing.
"Can I have a word with you in private?" Kate asked Hotch, taking one step closer to him, and Emily and Fallon shared a discreet glance. There was definitely something going on there.
"Sure," Hotch told her. "Excuse me." The team watched as he and Kate walked off, heading towards Kate's office located the back of the room.
JJ looked really confused and Emily just pursed her lips.
"They um, liaised when she was in Scotland Yard," Emily explained to JJ, emphasizing the word 'liaised'.
"Of course," JJ said, nodding her head as if everything made sense now. The weird tension between Hotch and Kate would either be a good thing or a bad things, and Fallon hoped for the sake of the team and the citizens on New York that it was a good thing.
***
About an hour later, Morgan, Rossi, JJ, Brustin, and Fallon were down in the subway station where the last murder took place.
"Who in the hell thinks that they can get away with murder, in the middle of the day, in New York City?" Morgan wondered aloud.
"Someone patient, who waits for the one who gets separated from the flock," Rossi answered as Morgan simulates shooting him in the back of the head with a gun.
"Bang," Morgan said when he pulled the imaginary trigger.
"Is that the spot?" JJ asked Brustin, motioning towards the spot on the ground on the subway platform, but it took Brustin a few seconds to answer.
"Yeah, thereabouts," he finally responded, before he walked away, looking utterly bored.
"Are we boring you?" Rossi asked, straight to the point, and Fallon raised an eyebrow as the older detective turned to look at the four agents. "Look, I know you don't like SSA Joyner, fine, I get it, but we're here to do a job.
"Have any of your people ever been cops?" Brustin asked.
"Chicago," Morgan told him, when they looked over at him.
"Then you'll understand. I take it real personal when something like this happens in my city. I was a beat cop during the Son of Sam, this is worse. He's not just going after one type. He's going after everybody, and I need everybody working on this case, taking it personally," Brustin told them.
"That's exactly what you have," Fallon assured him.
"We'll see," he retorted, and Fallon had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes at him.
"Anyways, this guy's definitely not afraid to get up close and personal," Morgan said and Fallon nodded in agreement.
"Or be visible," JJ pointed out.
"If you watch the tape, he ducks his head the second he steps off the train," Rossi remembered.
"So he knows when he's being filmed," JJ concluded.
"Well we've had glimpses, but the descriptions have been sketchy," Brustin informed.
"What are they saying?" Fallon asked. Why he hadn't shared this information yet was beyond her, but she let it slide so that she didn't make him any more annoyed than he already was.
"Some people said he's a light-skinned black man, Asian, Puerto Rican, basically every homeboy in the city," Brustin answered. Fallon nodded slightly, disappointed that the information wasn't more helpful. The list wasn't narrowed down much at all from that description.
"Ballistics were the same for every shooting?" Morgan asked.
"Well, we checked the records back ten years, the guns never been recycled," Brustin told him
".22s aren't exactly the weapon of choice these days," Morgan pointed out.
"Unless you're Israeli intelligence. That's what the Mossad uses for all their political assassinations," Rossi noted.
"All I know is that this guy's organized. He studies the cameras, carries a gun that's easy to conceal. He knows what he's doing," Morgan told the group.
"And that's exactly what's going to make it twice as hard to catch him," Fallon concluded.
***
When they arrived back from the crime scene, Hotch was on his way out telling them that there had been another murder. JJ, Spencer, and Emily are the only ones who stayed behind, while Hotch, Kate, and Cooper joined the rest of them as they headed down to the latest crime scene.
"Uniforms are rounding up potential witnesses," Cooper said as he and Brustin made their way over to them when they arrived. "It doesn't seem like anyone got a clean look."
"No they didn't. If this guy was just like the others, then he was careful not to let anyone see him," Fallon told him.
"It was over in a flash," Morgan then said. "He was probably gone before anyone could even realize what was happening."
"Is this what it felt like during the Son of Sam?" Kate asked Brustin.
"First we realized that if the violence was truly random, there was almost no way of stopping it. It seems like these people have figured that out."
"From the placement of that camera, it's likely it didn't pick up anything either," Morgan said.
"It only got the back of his head," Fallon agreed.
"How do you know that?" Cooper questioned
"Based on the way the body was laying," Fallon explained as she moved to show what she was talking about. "He was facing this direction meaning the unsub was walking this way when he shot the victim. Therefore, the only thing the camera got was the back of his head."
"Well let's not be too quick to decide what we do or don't have," Kate said, glancing between both Morgan and Fallon, before walking off, while Fallon frowned at the back of her head as she did so.
"Whoo, the Duchess of Work has spoken," Brustin said, clicking his tongue and then walking after Kate.
"You mind telling me why I'm catching attitude from her?" Morgan asked Hotch.
"Yeah, because I guarantee you that what I said did not warrant that reaction," Fallon added, crossing her arms.
"FBI Brass has made it clear to her that if she doesn't bring this case home, she's gonna be reassigned," Hotch told them, and Fallon raised her eyebrow as both Morgan and herself waited for him to continue. "You are at the top of the list to replace her Morgan, and Shepherd, you're right under him."
"You're kidding me," Morgan said, voicing Fallon's thoughts exactly.
"Why should you be surprised. You're good at your job, people notice that," Hotch explained.
"What happened to the Bureau patting itself on the back for stealing her away from Scotland Yard?" Morgan asked.
"I don't know. Politics here are different, and you can see she doesn't pull punches," Hotch said before walking over to Rossi, Cooper, and Brustin.
"Six murders and he's finally communicating with us," Rossi said.
"What's that?" Cooper asked, motioning to the card in Rossi's hand.
"That's a tarot card, Death," Morgan answered.
"Isn't that a little on the nose, even for a psycho?" Cooper questioned.
"So we think this guy's into spiritual garbage?" Brustin asked, not even waiting for the answer to Cooper's question.
"Well, if he is, he certainly doesn't know tarot. The death card doesn't actually signify physical death," Hotch explained, which made Cooper and Brustin exchange confused looks. "It's more of a transformation from one place to another, a job promotion or a marriage."
"So if he's not telling us he's into fortune telling, what's with the card?" Cooper asked.
"The D.C. Sniper left the exact same card at one of his scenes," Fallon pointed out.
"So this unsub must see himself in that role. He's thriving off creating a panic," Kate concluded, since she had made her way back over to them and had joined the conversation.
"More importantly, he studies other cases. He's telling us, he knows we're here," Rossi told the group. They all breathed out a collective sigh of frustration and then made their way back to the field office.
As they walked into the building, there were flocks of reporters on both sides of them, but all of them managed to breeze right past the reporters without giving any a second glance. The group headed through security, and then got in the elevator to head back up to where Emily, JJ, and Spencer were waiting for them.
"What've we got?" Hotch asked as he lead the group towards the three of agents.
"The latest shooting," JJ answered as they all gathered around her. She played the video and just like Morgan and Fallon said earlier, the only visual was of the back of the unsub's head. The unsub shot the victim and then ran off, being careful to avoid all cameras.
"This was the previous murder," Emily said, and the video that was showed back at Quantico began playing. That time the unsub didn't run off, but rather walked off calmly like nothing happened. "Okay, do you see anything weird here?"
"He sprints off in one and walks calmly in another. It's two entirely different demeanors," Morgan noted, before Fallon could.
"Six kills in, his behavior should be set," Rossi commented.
"Look at this," Spencer said. "Garcia, are you still there?"
"Would I ever leave you?" She joked, bringing a small smile to Fallon's face. Leave it to Garcia to make the team smile in such stressful times. "Okay, check it out. I did a digital perspective analysis rendering on the shootings where we have footage. Now the first two are inconclusive, but the last two, I found something tres weird. Your calm, walking type, he's about six foot one. But your sprinter, he's about five foot nine, five foot ten, tops." They watched as the two different heights appeared on the computer, and suddenly Fallon wished that she had taken Adderall that morning.
"We've got more than one unsub," Hotch pieced together.
"Well shit," Fallon muttered.
"So we have more than one unsub. What does that tell us?" Rossi asked.
"Most teams stick together. Uh, the Krays, Bittaker and Norris, they don't usually kill separately," Spencer commented.
"Could be some sort of gang initiation," Morgan suggested, but Fallon shook her head.
"No, gangs will kill you if you encroach on their territory, not random people all over their city," Fallon reminded and Morgan nodded in response.
"I'll coordinate with the gang task force, make sure we have an overview by morning," JJ said, walking off.
"Do you think we have enough for a working profile?" Kate asked.
"Broad strokes," Rossi confirmed.
"Dave, you and Reid talk to the agents here. Morgan, Prentiss, and Shepherd, brief the police when each shift comes on duty tomorrow," Hotch instructed and they all nodded.
"I think we should get out on the streets," Morgan said.
"I brought you here to create a profile," Kate responded coldly.
"Which we can give in the morning, and then they can share it with the afternoon shift," Morgan told her.
"We've allocated every extra man we have. This is New York City, it's not like a few more people is going to blanket the city," Kate said.
"I understand it's a long shot, but these guys, they hit at midday. We could target ingress and egress to particular neighborhoods. Position us near express stops, fourteenth, forty-second, fifty-ninth," Morgan said, more towards Hotch at that point.
"Morgan, it's not your call," Hotch reminded him.
"I'd like to join you in the profile if that's not stepping on your toes," Kate said, but her tone of voice suggested that it was not a question.
"No problem," Rossi said, a small, almost forced smile, gracing his lips. Morgan walked off in frustration, and Fallon debated on going after him, but she knew him, and she knew that at the moment he wanted his space.
"Let's see it again," Hotch said. They watched the video a few more times before Hotch told them that it was time to go back to the hotel. Emily, Spencer, Hotch, JJ, and Fallon hopped into an SUV, and made their way to the fancy hotel that they had managed to acquire. Fallon supposed that Garcia was right, five star hotels really never got old.
"Look at this," Emily said, holding out a newspaper for the team to see. "Latest edition doesn't miss a beat." They gathered around her to see the newspaper, which had the headline, 'Execution Style'.
"JJ," Spencer said, and then nodded his head motioning to something behind her. They all turned to see Will coming over to them, which was completely unexpected.
"Will," JJ said, walking over to him.
"Hey, took a shot and flew to D.C. but it didn't work. I figured a train ride to New York was only a few more hours," Will told her, his deep southern accent prominent in his speech.
"Detective," Hotch greeted, and Will shook Hotch's outstretched hand.
"I'm sorry for showing up like this, I know you're working, but um, I can't stand you being on this case and me not being here, not with what's going on," Will said, which confused all of them. What was going on?
"Is there a problem?" Hotch asked, which is what they were all wondering. JJ slowly turned around to face them as they waited for what she was going to say.
"I'm pregnant," JJ told them and a huge smile broke out each person's face.
"Oh my god, JJ, congratulations," Fallon cried as she pulled the blonde into a hug, careful not to squeeze to hard in order to not hurt the little one.
"JJ, this is amazing," Emily said, giving her a hug as well. Then it was Spencer's turn as Hotch just smiled.
"I've asked JJ to marry me," Will continued.
"Will," JJ said, in a warning tone.
"We're working out some kinks," Will explained, humorously.
"We'll give you both some privacy," Hotch told them. He walked off and JJ went to talk to him as Spencer, Emily, and Fallon congratulated Will, and then the three of them walked off with Hotch to their separate rooms.
***
The next morning, Fallon was dressed in black dress pants, a light grey shirt, and a black blazer as she stood with Spencer, Rossi, and Kate ready to give the profile to a handful of agents. The profile went smoothly and then the team gathered back in the main room going over evidence.
The phone rang and Hotch went to answer it, looking concerned.
"Does it look like it could be one of our guys?" Hotch asked.
"What's going on?" Morgan questioned as, he, Rossie, Kate, and Fallon made their way over to Hotch.
"We've got eyes on one of them. He's on the subway of fifty-ninth and Lex," Hotch informed them.
"Fifty-ninth? We could have been right there," Morgan said to Kate, who avoided eye contact with him. They listened as Garcia continued to update them.
"He shot him," Garcia said, the horror and shock in her voice evident.
"Where the hell are the police?" Kate asked, walking angrily to the nearest phone. "This is Kate Joyner with the FBI. We have a murder suspect, subway platform, fifty-ninth and Lex."
"He's getting away," Garcia continued, obviously still very distraught over what she had just witnessed. Fallon always felt bad for her friend. She was too good for the world, and seeing stuff like someone getting shot in the back of the head, tainted her soul. Fallon didn't want Garcia to be tainted in any way, shape, or form.
"Garcia can you get eyes on him above ground?" Rossi asked.
"He's heading west on fifty-ninth street," Garcia reported.
"If he makes it to the park, we've lost him," Kate told us.
"We've lost the visual," the surveillance woman Lisa, said over the phone.
"Are the police on the scene?" Fallon asked.
"Negative," Garcia answered, and Fallon pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"We could've had that guy," Morgan said angrily.
"Even if we were on the platform, odds are he would have moved on to someone isolated," Kate responded.
"Maybe, but it was worth taking a shot," Morgan snapped back.
"We had every available man on the street," Kate insisted.
"And I suggested to you that you use this team," Morgan reminded her, going to step forward, but Fallon put a hand on his arm to calm him down a little.
"Second guessing doesn't do us any good right now," Hotch said, trying to stop the full blown argument that was brewing.
"Hotch how am I supposed to look these cops in the eye and tell them that we're actually here to help them?" Morgan asked.
"We're here to present a profile, that's what we need to do," Hotch responded. Fallon exchanged a glance with Rossi, who looked just as exasperated as she was with the arguing, but Morgan did have a point.
"I said to put us at express stops fourteenth, forty-second and fifty-ninth, and that's exactly where they hit," Morgan argued back. Fallon saw that Kate was about to cry, so she discreetly went over and shielded her from view.
"Thank you," she whispered to the brunette agent, and Fallon nodded in response.
"It's not your place to have this discussion," Hotch reprimanded.
"My place?" Morgan asked.
"You need to back off," Hotch warned.
"We got seven bodies man," Morgan protested.
"Which is exactly why we need to stay focused," Hotch said. Fallon sighed and rubbed her temple, the arguing going on around her was doing nothing for her headache.
"I promise you that Morgan is not always like this," Fallon assured Kate in a low voice.
"It's okay, I get it," Kate responded.
"Focused?" Morgan asked incredulously. "From where I'm standing, all your focus is on her." Kate rolled her eyes at this, and Fallon squeezed her shoulder, earning a grateful smile from the blonde.
"Take a walk, now," Hotch ordered. Morgan looked like he wanted to cry out of anger, but he walked off anyways, and then Kate got up from her spot on the desk and walked back into her office as well. Rossi followed after Morgan, and then Hotch and Fallon followed after Kate into her office to look at the footage of the latest crime scene. Garcia went over the footage, and gave them some not so good news. The latest unsub was different than the other two. About thirty minutes later, Morgan and Rossi walked back into the office.
"Listen, um, about before," Morgan started, but Kate cut him off with a hand.
"You spoke your mind, I respect that," Kate told him.
"JJ, Reid, and Prentiss went to the crime scene with the detectives," Hotch told the two.
"This is the first time they've killed two days in a row, they're speeding up," Rossi pointed out.
"Your analyst went over the latest footage, this is a different shooter from the last two," Kate informed them.
"There's three of them now?" Rossi asked, and Hotch, Kate, and Fallon all nodded in response.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Morgan questioned.
"I want you all out on the street tomorrow," Kate told them, but she was looking directly at Morgan, who nodded slightly.
"What are we missing?" Rossi asked.
"When we first saw this case, what did it reminds us of?" Hotch asked.
"Son of Sam," Rossi answered.
"Same kind of unsub, random shootings, not need driven, no sexual component," Hotch listed.
"Except that Berkowitz admitted that he would return to the scenes of his crimes days later to masturbate," Morgan told him.
"Exactly," Hotch agreed.
"So you're thinking if the dominant unsub has a similar M.O.," Kate started.
"We get Garcia to study the footage and see if the same person keeps returning to to the crime scene in the days following the shooting," Hotch finished. "All we've been looking at right now are the immediate aftermaths of the crimes."
"It's worth a shot," Fallon said.
"We'll hit the street tomorrow. Dave, will you grab Reid and go over the profile and make sure we didn't leave anything out?" Hotch asked. Rossi nodded and then walked off, followed closely behind by Morgan and Fallon.
***
The next morning, Fallon was walking with Emily and Cooper along fifty-ninth street when Garcia talked into their comms.
"Okay people talk to me, mouseketeer roll call, fifty-ninth street?"
"Check," Fallon responded into the comm on her wrist.
"Herald square?"
"Check," JJ answered.
"Chambers street?"
"Check," one of the detectives said.
"Seventy-second street?" Garcia finished.
"Check," the last agent radioed in.
Cooper, Emily and Fallon hopped off of a train, as Emily profiled Cooper. Fallon watched in silence as Emily nailed every single aspect about him on the head, leaving him in shock as the two women walked off with a small laugh.
They headed up to the street and took a look around, but there was nothing suspicious. They were only standing there a few moments, when the unmistakable sound of a gunshot rang through the air.
"Garcia," Emily said in her comm.
"I'm on it, I'm on it," she responded. "Sixteenth and Broadway, he's running East on sixteenth."
"He's headed our way," Emily told the other two and then the three of them took off. They turned the corner and paused as they saw the crowd, and then they spotted him slow down in the middle of the crowd of people and then run in the opposite direction with the three of them trailing after him, all three with their guns in hand.
Cooper was in the front, yelling at people to move, while Emily and Fallon were practically side by side as they chased after them, passing a lot of confused people. Cooper stopped ahead of them, and there was another gunshot and suddenly Cooper fell to the ground. Emily and Fallon turned the corner, both of them firing shots into the unsub's abdomen. Fallon slowly walked forward with her gun trained on the unsub as Emily dropped to Cooper's side.
"Garcia! We've got an officer down, sixteenth, West of Union Square," Emily said into the comm urgently.
The unsub was already unconscious, so Fallon pocketed his gun and ran back to Emily and Cooper.
"Garcia, can you see us?" Fallon asked desperately as Emily put pressure on Cooper's wound.
"Yes the ambulance is on it's way," Garcia assured them. The paramedics arrived in about five minutes, and the rest of the team was right behind them.
"Are you okay?" Morgan asked as he and JJ came over to Fallon. She had shed her blazer, and given it to the detective since it had the gun in the pocket. Fallon nodded in response to his question.
"Is he going to make it?" JJ asked as Emily walks over to us.
"I don't know, he's lost a lot of blood," Emily responded, a lot more distraught about the situation than Fallon was. Sure she was a bit rattled, but Emily looked queasy. "We shouldn't have had to shoot him."
"Emily, he shot a cop. You guys did what you had to do," Morgan said.
"No, no, not that. I mean he was ahead of us, he would have gotten away but he stopped and waited," Emily clarifies.
"So he felt trapped and figured he'd shoot his way out," JJ suggested.
"I don't know," Emily said
"What do you think?" Morgan asked me, and Fallon turned her head to look at the unsub who was surrounded with paramedics.
"I don't know. It was strange that he stopped, that's for sure," Fallon answered.
"Tell me about his behavior. Was he acting panicked? Was he winded?" Morgan asked.
"No not at all, his hands were steady, and his eyes were dead calm," Fallon responded.
"I don't get it. I mean these guys have been hyper-vigilant, organized. They do pre-surveillance, I mean what are the odds they would shoot somebody two blocks from where we were standing?" Emily asked, and Fallon rubbed her arm in comfort.
"You think he deliberately shot someone where he could be caught?" JJ asked her.
"What if he did? What if they chose this spot because we were here?" Emily asked, and Fallon slowly start to piece together where she's going with this.
"Where are you going with this?" Morgan questioned, obviously not used to the way Emily and Fallon were trained to think and put things together, despite working with Fallon for a couple years.
"He had no ID on him, he waited until we caught up to him. He was strangely calm, it's almost like suicide by cop," Emily said.
"Why? Why would he do that?" Morgan asked.
"Oh....I don't know. Maybe to make us think everything was finished," Emily suggested.
"We need to walk back through this profile," Morgan told them as Hotch walked up to them.
"Are you okay?" He asked Fallon as he gently set a hand on her arm.
"Yeah, we're both fine," Fallon assured him and Hotch nodded.
"We need to get back to the office," he told the four of them. They all nodded and then hop in the SUVs, heading back to the field office as Rossi filled them in on what they were thinking over the phone.
***
"So how does this work?" Morgan asked once they were all gathered in a circle in the field office. Fallon had gotten her blazer back, which she was thankful for, because she was starting to grow cold.
"The murders simulate a bombing, from where they station someone to watch and gauge police response time," Spencer started explaining.
"At which point they know when to bring in the second bomb," Morgan pieced together.
"The goal is always to take out the first round of civilians, followed by a second wave of emergency responders," Kate told them.
"It's crazy, but it's ingenious. They get a practice run and if someone catches the shooter, they think they just have a murderer. The cell isn't compromised," Spencer mused.
"It's Lo-Fi. Smartest way to plan for a terrorist event," Kate commented.
"Creating panic ensures that they see the most urgent response times short of a bombing," Hotch pointed out.
"So there's been seven different shooters?" JJ asked.
"Having followers do the shootings would ensure they're willing to kill or be killed for the cause," Fallon reasoned.
"Fits the profile. There is something larger at play, it simulates a gang initiation," Emily said.
"Especially if they're home-grown, they haven't had a chance to prove themselves," Hotch added.
"I think they're targeting points of entry, all the murders have taken place near a bridge or a tunnel," Spencer said.
"Holland Tunnel, Midtown Tunnel, Manhattan Bridge," Fallon read off, reading the names of the entrances to the city that Spencer had marked with colored circles.
"If bombs went off, emergency response would shut down any ability to get in and out of the city. It's like people would be trapped on the island," JJ said.
"Keep in mind it's still a theory, just like any profile," Hotch reminded them. As if on cue, Morgan's phone rang.
"Talk to us Garcia," Morgan said.
"We've got a problem. I went through and checked all 4,468 cameras. They hacked into the surveillance system. They've got footage of every crime scene, they've been watching since the beginning," Garcia told them, which made all of their hearts sink. So much for a theory.
"How could we not have caught that?" Hotch asked.
"They were smart, it wasn't system-wide. You had to check each camera individually," Garcia answered.
"And this is from every crime scene?" Fallon asked.
"I'm afraid so. They hacked into one camera at every scene," Garcia confirmed, and Fallon dropped her head in dismay.
"Thanks Garcia," Morgan said, and then hung up, all of them with growing frowns on their faces.
"So much for theory," Rossi commented, which is exactly what Fallon was thinking.
"We need to hit the ground running," Kate told the group.
"I'm gonna head to the hospital. I'll check on Cooper and brief Detective Brustin," Emily said, grabbing her blazer, and walking off.
"Good, Dave will you go talk to the commissioner? And Morgan you brief Homeland Security," Hotch told them, and both of them nodded in response, going off to do their separate tasks.
"JJ, and I will talk to the port authority police," Spencer volunteered.
"Kate, Shepherd, and I will go talk to the mayor and we'll meet back here as soon as possible," Hotch said. Kate and Fallon nodded to each other, and then she stood up to speak.
"One advantage that we have right now is that they don't know, we know, they're watching," Kate announced, walking into her office to get ready to leave.
***
Hotch held the door for Kate and Fallon as they walked out of the field office side by side. After the situation with Morgan yesterday, Kate and Fallon had a mutual respect for each other. Fallon's phone rang, and she saw that it was Weston calling. She grew concerned when she saw that she also had six missed calls from him.
"I have to take this," Fallon told Hotch, who nodded. She fell behind the two by about a yard, as she answered the call. "Hey Weston."
"Fallon, are you okay?" He asked, his voice raspy.
"Yeah why?" Fallon asked. "What's wrong?"
"It's Caroline," he said, and Fallon's heart stopped. She checked the date, and her entire world stopped. Somehow, her legs kept carrying her forward following after Hotch and Kate. It was April 22, exactly two years after Michael died. He didn't wait, he stuck to the two years.
"Oh my god, I haven't even been paying attention. Is she okay?" Fallon asked, praying her sister was okay, but dreading the answer she figured Weston was about to give her.
"No, she's dead. I, um...I found her when I came home for lunch," he explained, and that was when Fallon's world shattered. She was officially the last Shepherd left, but the worst part was the knowledge that the killer was coming for her next. That thought almost made her break down in tears on the sidewalk, but she kept following after Hotch and Kate.
Then just when she thought that the situation couldn't get any worse, she was suddenly being thrown backwards by a hot blast, and then everything faded to black.
Merry Christmas you filthy animals, I've gotten you a cliffhanger, mwahahahaha.
Seriously, please don't hate me too much. I promise I'll update again soon so I don't leave you in suspense too long. But poor Fallon :(
Caroline dies, and now she's been blown up, not exactly an ideal situation, but it's Criminal Minds. Just wait for the next chapter, hehe. You guys might hate me, you might not.
Anyways, Merry Christmas! Please vote and comment what you thought about this chapter. It's also over 6000 words, so an extra merry Christmas :)
~Lauren <3