Never Together Nor Apart

[Chapter 85]

Hotch's POV:

I hear knocking at the door. I don't look up, just answer.

"Yeah?" I call out.

"You got a second?" Kate's voice calls.

"Yeah sure" I reply.

"May I?" She motions towards a chair.

"Yeah. Have a seat," I set the file down.

"I'm up to speed on all the unsub's, which means I've been reading into Peter Lewis, I saw all his victims and, uh, I saw that—" She pauses.

"I was one of them?" I finish for her.

"Yeah. I—I don't want to know what happened. I just want to know... are you okay?" She asks.

"There's a lot that goes on having a job like this. I'd be lying if I ever said I was okay, but I'm managing, that's the best you'll ever get with this job. It does make it easier to go home to someone at night, not to mention having a kid. You know all about that," I speak of her niece and husband.

"Your right. It just, this is a lot. All this," she motions around her, "I honestly don't know how you do this," she admits.

"Trust me, it's not easy. I've lost a lot doing this job, but all those victims we save. In a way, they do make up for the parts that we lose," I give a slight smile.

She lets out a breath, deciding not to speak further. She gives a small nod, then walks out the door.

*time skip*

"Guys, I think somethings wrong. You can't analyze a fugitive's actions on the outside without taking account what he did on the inside. So what did Peter Lewis do on the inside?" Morgan asks none in particular.

"Nothing. He was a model prisoner," Reid answers.

"No, it goes further than that. He had no contact with the other convicts. He didn't join or get pressured into a gang. When he gets out, he picks up as if no time had passed," Morgan details.

"So he had the resources in place before you guy's arrested him," Kate catches on.

"A safe house to stay in, backup supplies of his drugs," Rossi adds.

"He could have gone anywhere in the country, I mean, anywhere in the world probably. Then he came here. To Tempe, Arizona?" He makes an uneasy face.

"He had the highest concentration of targets with D.I.D. here," Reid explains.

"We said he wouldn't reveal himself until his plan was foolproof. Right? This isn't foolproof. Brian and Chelsea have been his failures. What part of his plan worked? Us. He's after us. Most fugitives—they do everything they can to stay on the down-low. He's courted our attention from the beginning. I just don't know why," Morgan rambles.

"Especially if he already has a list of all the kids that went to that camp," Kate adds.

"Maybe we need to re-evaluate our presumptions. When Peter Lewis needed information before, he hacked Quantico," I bring up.

"Well, he can't do that again," Alex counters.

"So maybe he's going to get his information from us," I offer.

"And we're compiling the very list he would want," Rossi agrees.

"We know all his tricks. We're not gonna give him the list. The police aren't. How is he gonna get it?" Alex questions.

"Brian," Kate shouts, "I asked Officer Dewy to go over the list with him once Garcia had something. Oh, god, Hotch, I'm so sorry," she rubs her temples.

I nod, immediately calling Garcia.

"Yes, sir" she answers.

"Garcia, don't distribute the list," I direct.

"But... I just hit send," she confesses.

"I need to call Officer Dewy," I state quickly before hanging up.

I call him. The phone continues to ring, not being answered. I try again, and again. Not answer.

*time skip*

I walk in to see Kate on the ground next to the late Officer.

"He took his phone. Peter Lewis has the list," she lets out a shaky breath.

"Kate, there's no way we could have predicted this," I try to comfort.

I hear footsteps behind me.

"We're shooting this bastard on sight," the chief seethes.

"Chief, if you do that, we lose our best lead on Peter Lewis," I warn.

"I don't care," he grits his teeth.

"You will care when he kills more people. Let us do our job," I say softly.

*time skip*

"Well, now we know who the copycat is," Rossi groans.

"What's scientifically revolutionary is that Peter Lewis isn't just inducing an already existing alternate, he's actually creating one. Brian thinks he is the Crimson King. That's undocumented in D.I.D. literature," Reid informs.

"It is possible with the right balance of drugs and torture," Alex vocalizes.

"Peter Lewis never tortured before," Kate whispers.

"He does mentally, by hypnotizing his victims into self-harm. It explains Brian's shallow wounds," I correct.

"So you mean he cut himself," Morgan turns to me.

"It was all there in the story that he told me. I just didn't see it," Kate sighs.

"D.I.D. is usually the result of trauma. If Peter Lewis could build an alternate like this through hypnotic suggestion, it means that Brian has some propensity for psychopathy in his past," Reid

*time skip*

"Kate, did you locate the parents?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies.

"Alright, see what kind of history you can get from them. The rest of us need to look at every clue again through the prism of Brian as Trojan Horse," I order.

"I'm going to the evidence room," Morgan stands to leave.

"I'll come with," Rossi stands as well.

*time skip*

"Hotch, Rossi and I found that the hand restraint at a local sex shop but get this. He used Reid's social security and driver's license to do so. He even has an address in Reid's name. We're on our way there now. I sent the address to Reid and Alex and their on the way," Morgan states quickly.

"Okay, if Lewis has this information just on Reid, we need to expect he has the same if not more information on the rest of us as well," I warn him before he hangs up.

*time skip*

"Hotch, he's gone. He's gone and he knows things about me that he shouldn't know! What if he finds out where JJ and the kids are?! What if he gets to them while we're away? He's taunting us and he has access to things not even you have access to! We need to get him Hotch, we have to!" Reid shrieks over the phone.

"Reid, calm down. I know about the drivers license and social security, but where is Peter? What do you mean he's gone?" I ask worried.

"He's just gone. We found Brian leaning over Cullen's body, he had written the word imposter on his chest. We began questioning Cullen's but he has no recollection of anything that happened, he doesn't remember his past murders or even his own name. We have nothing Hotch! Nothing!" He yells into the phone.

"Reid, hey. What wrong?" I hear Morgan in the background.

"I—we need to get back to Virginia," he states before hanging up.

He's gotten away again, taking the memory of a former serial killer with him

1205 words