the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

014. the hunt

"Although the observable universe is continually expanding, there's really no way of knowing if the whole thing is gonna ultimately collapse into one gargantuan black hole." Spencer says.

"Wow, there's actually something our little genius doesn't know." Derek comments.

"I will tell you one thing for sure." Kate says, walking over. "My universe is expanding and it is pretty fuckin' stormy." She says, pointing to her stomach. "Gotta love nausea and vertigo."

"Which is why I got you these." JJ holds up a bag of crackers and a small bottle of ginger ale.

"You're the best." Kate says as her phone goes off. She frowns at the text.

"What's up?" JJ asks.

"I'm not sure. It's Meg." Kate says. "We have a panic code, "pepper," and... I just got a text from her sayin "pepp.""

"Maybe it's just an accident?" JJ suggests as Kate tries to call Meg.

"Damn it. Straight to voicemail." Kate says.

"Meg still acting out?" Derek asks.

Kate doesn't really answer, calling Markayla's mom.

"Hello."

"Hi. Caroline, this is Kate. Can I talk to Meg?" Kate asks, putting it on speaker.

"She's not here. Markayla told me she was gonna be working on her--"

"Science project at my house." Kate says.

"Dear Lord, what are those those up to?" Caroline sighs.

"I don't know, but they could be in trouble." Kate says. "Can you just conference in Markayla?"

"Uh, sure." Caroline says. "It's going straight to voicemail. What's going on?"

"Okay, stay put. I'm gonna have agents there ASAP." Kate says, hanging up.

Kate rushes out of the bullpen, Bedelia assuming she's going to Penelope's. Bedelia rushes to Hotch's office, not even bothering to knock as she goes in, telling him about the two girls.

+++

"Because of our work, I created very strict rules for Meg." Kate says. "That stress code, it was given for a reason."

"Canning, I just sent you the GPS coordinates of their last known position." Hotch says. "Set up neighborhood canvasses and roadblocks."

"On it." Canning says.

"It's not good." Penelope says. She puts the video on the screen. "I just got a shot of the girls, uh, from a video feed across the street from the library."

"Oh, my God." Kate whispers as they watch the minivan pull up to the girls.

"Baby girl, capture that plate right there." Derek says.

"I already did. Searching." Penelope says.

"And look at the time stamp. I got Meg's text two minutes later." Kate says.

"Okay, plates are stolen and I've got no shot of the driver." Penelope says.

"Issue the amber alert with the girls' pictures and the description of the van." Hotch tells Canning who walks off to do so.

"Anything in the girls' email accounts?" Rossi asks.

"This is really discombobulated." Penelope says. "I've got no text data or calls from the cell phone company servers for any of the girls."

"Okay, so whoever took them planned this and got rid of their texts." Kate says.

"We're still up in the air about M.O." Derek says.