Battleground | Criminal Minds (gxg)

Chapter 33

Elle's POV

A few hours later I'm with the team at our setup just outside the DC field office. Two wide, white tents have been erected on the front lawn, the van (also known as, to Garcia and Garcia only, the Mobile Office of Supreme Genius) parked beside it in the parking lot. Our team stands around a folding table inside one of the tents. Evidence is laid before us, along with what's left of the first and second bombs.

Everyone else stands, but I'm sitting, because Carli, Reid, and Garcia collectively forced me too.

"His latest message says the third attack is scheduled for tonight. He didn't give us a specific time or location," Hotch says as he paces at one end of the table. His blazer has been removed, a rare occasion, and his button-up tightens around his biceps as he crosses his arms.

"We need to analyze the message further," Gideon decides.

"Can I take a look at it?" I ask from my chair.

All heads swivel to me. Carli gives me a worried look.

I roll my eyes. "It's a shoulder wound. My eyes work fine."

Carli gives me a grudging smile and grabs the note from the table. The beige paper is pressed flat in an evidence bag. She hands it to me and leans over my shoulder, one hand on the back of my chair. Her fingers brush my back, but we both pretend she isn't touching me on purpose.

Tonight. One for home, two for pleasure, destroying the domain of money-sweltering pockets. Why, Agents? Why must the world be the way it is? When did our children grow up with war in their hearts? Scraps in their hands? A half-penny for your thoughts. Two nickels and a dime. Change. Change is coming. And you cannot stop it.

The note ends with the unsub's signature: It is better this way.

"What do we know about this?" I ask, my eyes scanning the page again and again.

"It was sent to a member of Congress to be given to us," Hotch explains.

"Baby girl, can you track it?" Morgan suggests.

Garcia shakes her head as her fingers click away at a keyboard. "No can do, mi amor. No paper trail, no return address, no video footage of a delivery. It was dropped into a postal box and delivered with no evidence."

"I've been reviewing it, trying to crack the unsub's code," Reid speaks up. "I've analyzed the first few lines and I think he could be using a specific formula that would change the order of the letters–"

"An anagram?" Morgan wonders.

"Exactly. I've deciphered a few words but I need more time to finish the message."

"It's already getting dark outside. We need–"

"Garcia, locate any expensive apartment buildings being built in the city, specifically for politicians, lawyers, and the like." Carli interrupts the conversation, her eyes never leaving the note in my hand.

"Um, yes o goddess of crime. Let's see... oh, we got a hit. In the heart of the political district, a new apartment complex is being built but the workers are on leave this week. They're calling it Washington's Victors."

Carli straightens and looks around the room. "That's our location."

To say we all stare in surprise is an understatement. I have never seen Hotch more caught off guard. When he speaks, he actually stutters. "How... how do you know?"

Carli gestures to the note. "'One for home, two for pleasure.' If you have the money, you buy a second house. Or an apartment. 'Destroying the domain of money-sweltering pockets.' Sounds a bit like hurting the wealthy, right? Rich apartments. He would need an empty site to go in and prepare the bomb. A construction site, no one lives there yet. And it seems like there's only one place in the city that currently fits that description."