The Female Unsub

Epilogue: Spencer's POV

*Warning: Content includes spoilers for Season 11, Episode 11 of Criminal Minds*

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I take a deep breath as my taxi pulls up to Harry & Glenns. I wipe my sweaty palms on the front of my pants before thanking the driver, handing him some cash, and getting out of the car. Tonight, I'm going undercover to hopefully arrest Miss .45 aka Cat Adams and I can't fuck this up, especially after everything with Sloane.

After Sloane left me in that coffee shop six months ago, I spiraled for a little while. I re-examined all of our evidence and tried to find holes in it, but I couldn't. She covered her tracks so well that we fell right into her trap and there was no way out of it. It also didn't help that she used her powers of persuasion to keep Nathan Graham quiet about her involvement.

I went to visit Nathan in Florida and even after I told him what Sloane said to me, he still swore that it was all him. He refused to admit that she was the mastermind behind the murders and he was just following orders. I nearly drove myself insane spending all of my spare time on this case. But it was useless, I lost and she won.

It took me a while to accept that I had to let it go and that justice doesn't always get served. But I believe that karma is going to come for Sloane Williams sooner rather than later. I've been keeping tabs on her still, making sure she doesn't leave a trail of bodies in her wake but even though I don't think she has, she's proven that she knows how to keep bodies hidden.

Currently, she's traveling the world, spending Lester Klein's fortune and enjoying every bit of it. Last I checked, she was in Greece and had plane tickets to go to Italy with a professional golfer with light brown hair and blue eyes she met in Ireland four months ago.

Even though Sloane beat me, she also taught me a lesson that I'll never forget. Never underestimate your opponent. The reason she was able to do what she did is because she was able to play every role that was required of her perfectly. Whether she needed to convince us that she was a fragile victim who never meant to hurt anyone, or someone who just found out that one of their closest friends was killing me on their behalf. Or the manic pixie dream girl who loves indie/pop music, black tea with lemon, Ansel Adams photography, and dancing to live music. She told just enough of the truth to make her lies seem honest. Still to this day I'm not entirely sure where the lies ended and she truly began, I doubt she even knows where that line is anymore.

Since she left, I read every book I could find about strategy, psychology, and con-artistry. I now know how Sloane always two steps ahead of me and how to be that way myself. With what I know now, I'm confident I could have gotten a confession out of her or at least enough to pose reasonable doubt on Nathan. But since I can't do that, I'm going to make damn sure the next unsub I deal with that's like her isn't going to get away so easily.

Cat Adams is that next unsub. She belongs to a dark web network of four hit men who we've been tracking for months. We already tracked down The Sniper and The Chemist, and found "Snowman" the teenage hacker that they had working for them. Now we just need The Bomber and Miss .45 to take them down completely.

I asked Hotch if I could be the one to make contact with Cat and he agreed. He knew I needed to do this to prove to myself that I'm become more capable after Sloane. I also need the distraction from everything happening with my moms deteriorating health.

I walk into the restaurant and the hostess guides me to a rounded booth in the middle of the restaurant. I thank her as I take a seat on the side facing the bar. I adjust the wine glass before pulling a single red rose out of the inner lining of my jacket, a sign for Miss .45 so she knows I'm the one she's supposed to meet. I keep looking around the restaurant for her, nervously tapping my knee under the table. I take a deep breath and go over my cover story one more time.

I'm married man and we've been married for four years. I feel suffocated in the marriage and it's only getting worse because she's pregnant with our first child. I started emailing back and forth with Miss .45 because I want to hire someone to kill my wife. I'm using my real name, that I have my three PHD's, I'm an avid reader and I'm not going to try to exude a different personality because I know it won't be believable. Just like Sloane taught me, if you want to win the game, you need to have some truth in the lies.

This is plan A and hopefully she follows pattern and tries to take me to a secondary location to kill me. But if plan A fails, I have multiple back up strategies already in place. I've only lost one time in my 35 years of life and I don't intend on it happening again.

"Spencer?"

I look up to see a woman with short black hair in black coat and blue dress standing in front of me. Let the games begin...

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A.N

OMG thank you all so much for reading The Female Unsub! When I posted this fic I never expected anyone to read it and I'm so grateful for everyone who voted on chapters, added it to a reading list, and decided to read this story! When I saw this story was ranked #4 in criminal minds I literally cried. You guys are seriously the best <3