Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 10]

Hotch's POV:

"Garcia call the house and see if you get an answer," I direct.

"On it sir!," she pauses for a few minutes, "nothing, I've tried twice".

"Ok I'll let Morgan and Emily know," I begin type on my phone.

"Hey, Hotch?" Reid pipes up.

"Yes?" I answer.

"Could I talk to you outside?" He stares at my waiting.

I respond with a nod, as I follow him out the door.

"When Emily got back earlier, I noticed she was picking her fingernails. She uh, only does that when she's stressed. I haven't seen her like this in awhile," he whispers.

"I noticed something was up too, during the evaluations earlier? She told me she was anxious but she wouldn't tell me why," I state.

"She wouldn't tell me either," he sighs.

"I'm sure she'll be alright. We can't make her tell us, not to mention we have a case to focus on ok?"

"I know," he says while walking back into the room.

I watch has he studies the case file and our victims. I finish sending the text to both Emily and Morgan, getting a 'read' from Emily.

*time skip*

"No GSUs, no sign of strangulation," Gideon explains.

"Jason, his shoe's untied. Inject in between the toes," I notice.

"Made to look like a heart attack. Armor tech windows, six pin locks on the entrance," Gideon mumbles.

"Same as the Fagans and the Cosenzas," I add.

"20,000 in cash. Passport. This guy was on the move. Outgoing calls. 3218. That's Kerry Fagan. 10:30am. 10:31, Delaney calls the Cosenzas. Both calls last only seconds. Didn't leave a message. Didn't try to warn them," Gideon was examining his phone.

"Somebody warned him. If not on the phone then in person," I state.

"Whatever these victims have in common or whatever they were a part of... didn't happen in U.S. soil," Gideon concludes.

*time skip*

"European hit squad cleaning the house?" Morgan asks as Gideon and I approach, "it's happened before".

"They could have have taken us out—easily. Why didn't they?" Emily asks.

I watch as her body tenses.

"FBI Agents gunned down in D.C. would have definitely started a war. A war this kid wasn't prepared for. He's just a foot soldier. Whoever shot him is the leader," Morgan explains.

"Someone must have warned Byron Delaney to get out," Gideon says.

"And whoever it is, is next on the list," I declare.

*time skip*

"Reid you got anything?" Morgan asks.

We had sent Reid to draw a sketch of the tattoo that was destroyed.

"The image is pretty extensive, but luckily some of the tattoo remains," Reid replies.

"JJ, get the victims photo out to the press," I order.

Garcia walks in with some papers.

"I think I know who dug the hole. I started to follow the money, like straight up, that's what I did. It turns out there is a multinational, global conglomerate—oil, new technologies, shipping, air and ground transportation, all of which employ the services of one company— CWS," Penelope rambles.