timeless, spencer reid [ 1 ]

028. amplification

"Case must be local. JJ said not to bring a go bag." Spencer says as he, Emily, Derek, and Bedelia get off the elevator.

"What's the army doing here?" Derek asks.

"What the hell is going on?" Emily questions as they walk into the bullpen that is full of people.

They go to the round table room, JJ and a woman in there.

"Guys, this is Dr. Linda Kimura, chief of special pathogens with the CDC." JJ informs as Hotch and Rossi walk in from the other door.

"Hello." Emily greets.

"Hello. I'm sorry to meet under these circumstances." Linda says.

"What circumstances?" Spencer asks.

"We need to get started." Hotch says.

"Last night, 25 people checked into emergency rooms in and around Annapolis. They were all at the same park after 2 PM yesterday." JJ says as they go through the case files. "Within 10 hours, the first victim died. It's not just past 7 A.M. the next day, we have 12 dead."

"Lung failure and black lesions. Anthrax?" Derek asks.

"Anthrax doesn't kill this fast." Spencer says.

"This strain does." Linda says.

"What are we doing about potential mass targets -- airports, malls, trains?" Emily asks.

"There's a media blackout." Hotch states.

"What?" Bedelia asks.

"We're not telling the public?" Emily asks.

"We'd have a mass exodus." Derek says.

"The psychology of group panic would cause more deaths than this last attack." Rossi says.

"Yeah, and if it does get out, whoever did this might go underground or destroy their samples." Spencer says.

"Or if they wanted attention and didn't get it, they might attack again." Bedelia says.

"Doesn't the public have the right to know that?" Emily asks.

"If there is another attack, there's no way we'll be able to keep it quiet." Hotch says. "Our best chance of protecting the public is by building a profile as quickly as we can."

"What do we know about this strain?" Spencer asks.

"The spores are weaponized, reduced to a respiral ideal that attacks deep in the lungs. Odorless and invisible." Linda says.

"A sophisticated strain. Only a scientist would know how to do that." Rossi says.

"These lesions are doubling in size in a matter of hours." Derek says.

"It's not the lesions I'm worried about." Linda says. "It's the lungs. We don't know how to combat the toxins once they're inside. And the reality is, we may lose them all."

"The remaining survivors have been moved to a special wing at Walter Reed Hospital. Our offices will become a small command center." JJ says.

"We'll be working with military scientists from Fort Detrick." Hotch informs.

"General Whitworth is coming here?" Rossi asks.

"He's in charge of site containment and spore analysis. Determining what strain this is will help inform who's responsible." Hotch says.

"My team is in charge of treating all victims." Linda says.

"Reid, Davis, go with Dr. Kimura to the hospital. Interview the victims. Morgan and Prentiss, there's a hazmat team that will accompany you to the crime scene. There's cipro. Everybody needs to take it before we go." Hotch instructs.