The Intelligence Control and Analysis Program

Chapter 15

"Deputy McClintock, at your service, and there are others on the way. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it."

Rossi was caught off-guard by the sudden presence of police uniform, and he looked at the somewhat perky woman without saying anything at first. "Uh... forgive me, it's been a crazy night."

"Not a problem. I'm Deputy Hannah McClintock, with the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office." McClintock put her hands on her hips and flashed a smile, brown eyes bright despite the late hour. "We've got a deputy whose girlfriend works at Stafford Hospital, so when they started getting all the geniuses in, she called him to ask if he knew what had happened. He passed it on to the sheriff, sheriff made some calls, and now, every available unit is on their way. So, what'll it be?"

Rossi didn't even have to think about it. "There aren't enough ambulances to get all these guys to the hospital. If you can take them in your patrol vehicles—"

"Absolutely." McClintock nodded and gestured toward the doorway, where a couple paramedics were wheeling a genius out on a gurney. "You want us to handle this with standard procedure?"

Rossi nodded. "That would be perfect. Just pretend it's a drive-by shooting and there's no EMS on the way."

"I can do that, and I can pass it on." McClintock gave an affirmative nod, and then she walked through the open doorway.

Rossi sighed softly and sent up a silent prayer of thanks for the extra help. It had been about three hours since they first breached the basement, and they were hopelessly undermanned. They already had a body count of twenty-two, and Rossi had lost count of how many geniuses had been rushed to the hospital, some of them barely clinging to life.

"Are you in charge here?"

Rossi was pulled from his thoughts by a young man sporting the same uniform as Deputy McClintock. "Well, I am for now." Because Hotch had been asleep on his feet, and Rossi had ordered him to take a nap, at the very least. "SSA David Rossi." He extended his hand.

"Deputy John Crane." Crane shook the offered hand, radio on his shoulder speaking indistinctly. "I saw McClintock is already here, so I assume you know what's going on?"

Rossi nodded and turned to look at the open doorway, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I told her the thing we need most is transport to get these guys to the hospital."

"Cool. We'll make it happen." Crane gave Rossi a thumbs up and started toward the door, stopping short when another loaded gurney came out. "It's pretty bad, huh?"

Rossi nodded solemnly. "That's an understatement."

Crane shook his head and slipped past the gurney, disappearing through the open doorway.

Rossi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, fully prepared to lose himself in thought again, but his phone went off before he could. He grabbed the device and looked at the screen.

Garcia Call me when you can.

Rossi looked up and saw the doors to the elevator had already closed. He walked over, pressed the button, waited, got in, pressed another button, waited, and got back out. Then he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Garcia.

"Mr. Rossi! I texted you, like, twenty minutes ago."

"Sorry, kid. Service sucks in the basement." Rossi glanced toward the front doors of the building, watching the rain pour down in buckets. "What do you need?"

"Well, a couple things." Garcia rushed through the first part of her reply, but then she got caught on her words, halting a bit before she continued. "How... is it? I mean, how are they... doing?"