Untouchable

Minimal Loss (S4E3)

Lydia's family stayed for about a week, attached to Lydia at the hip the whole time. She loved her sister dearly and was glad to have some time with her father, but she could barely breathe by the time she was taking them to the airport. As she explained to Spencer, she was merely frustrated they didn't give her any heads up.

Luckily, they left before her teaching schedule came back into full swing at the university. It was nice to get back into her routine and see some of her students and coworkers who were worried about her. She didn't realize how close she'd gotten to the people there until the letters, phone calls, emails, and gifts started flooding in, telling her to take it easy and get back soon.

And then, in October, Hotch finally gave her a call for a case.

It was small, but she wanted to get out of her apartment so bad.

Hotch was sending Lydia and Prentiss to Colorado where there was a claim against a separation church leader raping young girls.

Spencer wasn't exactly thrilled to hear Lydia was leaving, but the whole thing was fairly straight-forward: interview the kids, determine what they could about the cult itself, then see if there was reason to shut them down. Hotch knew that there wasn't going to be any extraneous activity, so it was a perfect start to reintroducing Lydia to the field. Not to mention, she was very perceptive and a master manipulator.

"Tell us about the 911 call," she said as she flipped through a file on the people of the church.

Emily was in the front seat with Nancy Lunde, from Child Protective Services. She was the head of the case and had the most prior knowledge on the group itself. "I believe the 'he' that they referred to is the church's leader, Benjamin Cyrus."

"Benjamin Cyrus," Lydia mumbled, flipping to his page. "No criminal record. No record at all, really. I doubt it's a real name. Correct me if I'm wrong, Emily, but Cyrus is a biblical name. A monarch. I'm seeing some subtle messages in there."

"It translates to 'sun' in persian," Emily agreed. "What else do you know about him?"

Lunde shook her head. "It's rumored that he's practicing polygamy and forced marriages," she said, but it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Any idea who the caller is?"

"Uh, Jessica Evanson is the one who the age fits, but... we can't be sure. So I negotiated interviews with all the children. It wasn't easy."

"Well, considering their view on outsiders, it would be best if you didn't identify us as FBI," Emily explained and Lydia got to work on their covers. She took their guns, holsters, and badges, hiding them in the door of the car and handed Emily two fake IDs. "Just use our real names and introduce us as child victim interview experts."

The Bureau had made them brand new drivers licences and CPS badges with Colorado addresses to complete their cover stories.

All too soon, they were approaching the front gate. The sign read 'Liberty Church Ranch' with a large cross beside it.

It was hot outside and Lydia could feel the dust coating her nose and throat as she exited the car, approaching a set of stairs leading up to the church.

"I'm looking for Mr. Benjamin Cyrus?" Lunde called to a figure on the steps.

"You found him."

Cyrus wore a light flannel and jeans, with reading glasses perched on his nose and a book in his lap. Lydia had to hold herself back from calling him out on framing the scene. Oh, look how kind and relaxed we are. Our leader sits outside and reads books all day blahblahblahbl-