The Boss' Niece (Spencer Reid)

65. Not coming back

(Unknown Location)

"Look. Okay. Look. Okay. Whatever it is, we can discuss it. You don't have to do this. Just give me the morphine, okay, and...and...just...you can ask whatever you want." Emily begged, trying to hide the pain that she was feeling, but it wasn't working. Scratch could see the sweat on her face and the pain in her eyes.

"It was our investigation into you? Is that it? Is that what you want to know?" Emily asked, confused.

"Tangentially." He smiled.

"Oh! Nngh!" She whimpered.

"Then what? Tell me. Tell me. Then I'll tell you. It's that simple. Tell me, and I'll tell you." Emily kept begging, watching as Scratch nodded, seemingly accepting Emily's offer.

"Yeah. I believe you will now. This Agent and I had a little tete-a-tete, and I crossed a line I shouldn't have. I really couldn't help myself, and I started to stalk his son, and do you know what he did, that coward? He went into witness protection. And he has been very difficult to find ever since, so that's what I want to know. I want you to tell me where he is because I know you know." Scratch insisted.

"No. No." She cried.

"Yes, Emily. Where is Aaron Hotchner?" He glared at her, with anger in his eyes.

"I don't know where Hotch is. I don't. That's how WITSEC works. He has to be hidden from us because of men like you." She explained, trying to breathe and remain calm.

"Do you recognize this?" He asked, showing her a phone.

"Well, it was a text exchange you had with a series of burner phones, and a last text exchange between you and this mystery man reads, "Honduras connection is a go. Hunting down all leads to B-cap in D.C. Thanks. A.H." He put down his phone.

"Let's get down to the question at hand. Where is Hotch?" Scratch asked as pulled the white sheet down and grabbed a tool of some sort, holding it near the metal frames around her legs.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. He never gave me an address. All we did was text." She insisted, still whimpering from the pain.

"No. Last chance." He glared at her.

"Vermont. He's somewhere in Vermont." She spoke before Scratch knocked the tool against the metal frame, hurting her.

"Aah!" She exclaimed, feeling the pain shoot up and down her leg.

———
(At The BAU Office)

Penelope, Derek, Spencer and Matt sat in the conference room, searching through each and every file that was in Rossi's office. They were glad that Spencer had an eidetic memory.

"Emily texted Hotch?" Penelope asked, looking at one of the files.

"According to the documentation, yes." Derek exhaled.

"It must have been a coordinated attempt to share intel. Would Hotch have exposed himself like this?" Matt asked, confused.

"No, and neither would she. I mean, she wouldn't rely on a hackable app, and she sure as hell wouldn't write, "A.H.," in a text. That defeats the purpose of compartmentalizing the investigation." Spencer shook his head.

"It was a smoke screen." Penelope gasped.

"A.H. is a pretty big red flag. Maybe that's what brought him out?" Derek asked.

"Well, they used Hotch's initials in other texts before. Then they found something else, something they knew would rattle him." Matt shrugged his shoulders.