One True Father Figure

Chap 23 "Extra Help"

Natalya's POV
"What do you know about this case?" Mom asked.
"Up till now, Cat Adams has only worked solo," I nodded. "But this is a partnership. So, we need to figure out how these two hit women were able to work together, especially when one of them was in solitary." I sat down and so did everyone else. "Come on."
"Hit men are driven by profit and self-preservation," Luke replied. "They don't take a job unless they know all the angles."
"So, to predict their behavior, we need to ask ourselves a simple question," Prentiss nodded. "We know why Cat wanted revenge on Reid. Why does Lindsey?"
"Ten years ago, Reid tried to talk Lindsey's father out of one last murder," Rossi nodded. "Cut to last year and she finds out her BFF Cat has been arrested by the same federal agent who tried to stop her daddy."
"So Lindsey's emotions trumped her professionalism," Luke pointed. "She could grab and kill Reid's mother without a trace, but instead, she waltzed Diana into his prison because she wanted him and us to know that she was involved."
"Excuse me," Mom sighed as she looked at her phone. "I have to go."
"We'll call if we get stuck," I nodded. Mom left. "But there's risky and there's reckless, Luke. It's kind of hard to buy that Lindsey would commit to doing all of this just because Reid kind of sort of get in her way ten years ago." I started thinking. "We're missing something." My phone vibrated and I looked at it. "Oh, damn. Lindsey's APB didn't turn anything up. Neither did Diana's photo on the National Center for Missing Adults Database."
"Lindsey's too good to get caught in those dragnets," Rossi sighed. "She's probably already changed cars and appearance by now."
"Right," I sighed. I sent a text to Garcia to check if any amber alerts were issued tonight. "Okay, I want a full breakdown on Lindsey's life. Aliases, contacts, hits, where she gets her hollow point rounds." I stood up as Garcia left. "Got it?"
"Yeah, Barry and I will take that," Prentiss nodded.
"Okay, then I want a list of everyone who was in Cat's prison in the past year," I nodded. "Car was communicating with Lindsey through a maximum security facility. Somewhere there is a weak link to her chain."
"We'll find it," Luke looked at Rossi.
"Get started," I nodded. I went to Garcia's tech hub. "Garcia?"
"Hey, I got your text message," Garcia replied as I closed the door. "I'm confused. You wanted me to see if there are any missing children?"
"No, I asked if any amber alerts had bee issued tonight," I stated.
"No," Garcia nodded. "Is that important?"
"Yes, I'm gonna put one out," I sighed.
"You're gonna put out Diana Reid's face and say she's a missing child?"
"No, I'm gonna put Lindsey's out as an abductor," I clarified. "People pay attention to ambers, and that's what we need."
"Okay," Garcia turned to her computer. "I'll do it."
"Penelope, no," I stopped her. "It's my call. Which means I'll take responsibility for it. Just pull the screen up, 'kay?" She did and got up. She walked a few feet away and stopped as I sat down. "I need you to leave. Right now." I started typing and she left the room. I got the alert done. I left and saw Barry and Prentiss in the bullpen. "What have you got?"
"We looked for overlap with all of Lindsay's known aliases and we found one," Prentiss replied. "She made multiple purchases using multiple IDs at the same location."
"Fords Gun Shop," Barry added.
"And wouldn't you know it, he has the largest selection of hollow point ammunition in the tri-state area," Prentiss smiled.
"Go, quickly, and not that quickly, Barry," I pointed. I looked at my phone. "We're on Cat's clock now. We only have three and a half hours left." Rossi and Luke walked out of the conference room. Rossi's phone rang. "Who's that?"
"Go ahead, JJ," Rossi picked up.
"So, Cat has deep background on Spence," JJ stated. "She knew about Gideon's death and Morgan leaving the team for his family."
"She's throwing him off-balance," Rossi nodded.
"Yeah, but Spence also purposely gave the wrong name of Morgan's son, and she didn't correct him," JJ replied.
"She must have gotten her hands on Reid's confidential FBI file," I sighed. "It would mention relevant team information but wouldn't name Bryant Morgan because of confidentiality reasons." I smiled. "That means, she doesn't know about me just yet."
"We were thinking she's been getting help from someone inside prison," Rossi stated. "This goes deeper than that."
"Thank you," I nodded. Rossi hung up. I called JJ and she picked up and told me what was going on. "Hold on." I put the phone down. "Conference room, now." They went to the conference room. I put the phone on speaker and went to the conference room. "JJ, you there?"
"Uh, yeah," JJ replied. "Yeah, go ahead."
"So far we don't have anything on the prison employees," Luke stated. "Somebody is there is helping her, but nobody jumps out as the obvious culprit." Barry and Prentiss walked in. "And it doesn't help that they're blocking us at every turn."
"We have something, but, uh, it's out there," Prentiss added.
"I'll take out there," I nodded.
"The gun store owner was more of a libertarian than you would think," Barry sighed. "He talked about how he never judged his customers or who they love."
"That's weird," Rossi replied.
"Not as weird as when he mentioned Obergefell," Prentiss looked at me.
"The Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage," I looked up at Prentiss.
"I'm surprise you know that," Rossi nodded.
"You said we were missing something in the relationship between these two women," Barry looked at me. "What if it's this?"
"The risks that Lindsey's taking, the bond that she has with Cat, it's not professional," Prentiss nodded. "It's romantic."
"This casts a big shadow over Lindsey's next move," Barry responded. "By exposing their plan to us, she knows there's no happy ending, no future with Cat."
"And she's going to take Reid's mother with her," Luke added. "And that's the ultimate act of revenge against the guy who took her lover away."
"JJ, what do you have?" I asked.
"Will you take me off speaker?" JJ asked.
"Yeah," I sighed. I went to my office. "What's up?"
"Cat's pregnant," JJ sighed. "And she's saying it's with Spencer's kid. She said she had Lindsey pretend to be Maeve when she dosed him with the drugs."
"What?" I asked. I went to my office and closed my door. I put her on speaker and slapped the phone on my desk. "Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding?!"
"Well, here's what it gets tricky," JJ replied. "Do we believe her or not?" I sighed. "On the one hand, getting pregnant is a power control move straight out of the female psychopath handbook. On the other hand ---"
"Is her story is true, it meant she sent her lesbian lover down to Mexico to get Reid to --- ugh."
"Yeah. Either way, she is pregnant," JJ stated. "I just refuse to believe it belongs to Spence."
"It could be the person inside the prison who's been helping her. Getting pregnant serves two purposes --- Gaslighting Reid and emotional blackmail against that employee."
"Yeah, but, Natalya, we don't know who that guy is yet. And Alvez and Rossi aren't going to in the time they have left." My phone vibrated and I looked at it. I got a hit on the amber alert I put out. "JJ, I gotta call you back." I hung up. After a couple minutes JJ had Garcia stream the video from the room Reid and Cat were in. They were dancing. "I don't like this."
"You're gonna hear a lot of weird stuff, like Spence saying he is the father of Cat's baby. Don't let that distract you," JJ sighed. "Okay?"
"I'm sorry. Full stop," Garcia stated. "Why would he say he's the father ---"
"Quiet," I nodded. We watched the live stream of them. "Hm."
"That's what we missed, the inside man that's been helping them," Luke nodded.
"He didn't just work at Cat's prison, he worked at hers and Reid's," Rossi stated.
"Garcia, look for any overlap," I ordered.
"Compiling now," Garcia started typing. "Here's something. Lionel Wilkins. He worked at both Mount Pleasant and the Millburn Correctional Facility."
"Okay, look, this guy could have gotten her pregnant, but there's no way he could have gotten his hand on Reid's file," Prentiss nodded.
"Well, not directly," Barry walked over to me. "He could have called in a favor from a friend at the Bureau."
"So someone must have wanted to screw us this whole time," Luke crossed his arms.
"Someone who's not gonna work for the Bureau much longer," I stated. We kept watching. "I'm gonna to make sure this person doesn't get away with this."
"Okay, Lionel Wilkins' primary residence is in Fall Church, but I also have a second address" Garcia nodded. "It's a cabin off of The Rappahannock River."
"The cabin is in Lindsey's zone based on the gas stations," Barry pointed at the map.
"Helos are on the roof warming up," I smiled. "Let's go." We got our vests on and went up to the helicopters. We were in the air in no time. We landed at the cabin and got into our positions. We walked inside and had our gun on Lindsey. "Lindsey?"
"I'm waiting for a phone call," she showed me her phone.
"Okay," I sighed as I holstered my weapon. She has holding a detonator to the C-4 around her. "So are we, Lindsey." My phone rang as soon as her phone rang. "Whoa, it's okay."
"If this is a trick, I swear, I am killing all of us," Lindsey nodded.
"I swear to you it's not a trick," I replied. "And you'll want to hear what the person on the other end of this line has to say."
I accepted the call. "At first I was furious, because the secret had to be the baby inside you," Reid's voice came from my phone as I showed it to her. It was a video call. "How could it be anything else? But then I realized that somehow, you knew I liked hurting those men. Now I know it's both things."
"So which is it, Spence?" Cat asked. "Come on. Don't fumble it now. You're at the one-yard line."
"You're not pregnant with my child," Reid looked at Cat. "You got pregnant with Wilkins to put me in as compromised a position as possible. But it should be mine." I looked at Lindsey. "I wish it were mine. Because you and I, we deserve each other. That is the real secret."
Lindsey's phone started ringing and she picked up. "Kill her," Cat stated. "I said ---"
"You bitch," Lindsey replied. "You're pregnant?"
"Lindsey, sweetheart, it's complicated, okay?" Cat nodded.
"No, it's not," Lindsey nodded.
"Playing the game with Reid was more important than being faithful to you," I stated. "And if you do this, she wins. Don't let her win." Lindsey put the detonator down and hung up the phone. Luke cuffed her and took her out. We relaxed and holstered our weapon. Barry walked up to me and hugged me. "I didn't get us killed."
"You saved Diana and you saved the rest of us," Barry kissed me on the cheek.
"Clean the C-4, please," I sighed as I walked outside. We got it all done and went back to the Bureau. JJ and Reid were on their way back. We waited in front of the elevator. The doors opened to reveal Reid and JJ. Reid and Diana hugged. "Spencer's here." We smiled. The team went back into the bullpen. My phone beeped and I walked back inside. I walked up to Agent Anderson. "Where is he?"
"I put him in your office like you asked me to," Anderson stated.
"Thank you," I sighed. I walked to my office and walked inside. "Dad."
"Hey," Dad smiled. I walked up to him and hugged him. He let go and took a step back to look at me. "We need to talk."
"Dad," I smiled as I hugged him.
"Oh, princess," Dad sighed. "Princess, princess. It's good to see that you're fitting in well."
"I'm not crazy about how I earned them," I nodded. "It's been tough."
"Yeah, I heard some of what you've been going through," Dad nodded. "I mean, not everything. Why didn't anyone tell me that the kid had been arrested earlier?"
"Reid made a list of people he was willing to see as visitors," I replied. "You weren't on it. He was humiliated, and honestly, we were barely keeping it together. Garcia almost quit over it."
"Alright, well, that might explain this text that I got, but I don't know," Dad nodded. "Just something didn't feel right. Garcia texted me, said that Reid was out of prison and that he did want to see me. And he was staying in an FBI safehouse where he was putting his mother up for the night."
"I didn't approve that," I replied as Dad handed me his phone.
"You don't call, you don't write," Rossi walked in as I looked at Dad's phone.
"Rossi," Dad smiled as they hugged.
"You don't give us a heads-up and you decide to pop in at three in the morning," JJ smiled.
"Blondie, come here, come here, come here," Dad smiled as he hugged JJ. He took a step back. "Look, I wish I could say I was just here to say hello, but, um, we may have bigger problems." I sighed. "You see what I'm saying about that text? It does not sound like Garcia. You do know what it does sound like."
"A trap," I sighed. "Go see Garcia and then meet us in the conference room."
"Alright," Dad replied as he left.
After thirty minutes, I got everyone in the conference room. "I know we're all tired, but we might have a new lead on Mr. Scratch," I replied.
"Somebody did a bang-up job of cloning my cell phone to send Morgan a fake text luring him to a non-existent safehouse," Garcia explained. "And whoever that somebody is has mad skills."
"The kind of skills Scratch has," Barry nodded.
"Were you able to trance where the hack came from?" Luke asked.
"Do you see what I have to put up with?" Garcia asked as he looked at Dad.
"Alvez, you'll always get a location with this one," Dad pointed at Garcia. "You guys are all good to go."
"Obviously Dad can't come with us," I sighed. "He's a civilian now."
"We'll miss you out there," JJ nodded.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it out there in the field with you guys," Dad nodded. "I think about it everyday, and so does your mom. But between my old friends and my new friends, you guys are gonna go out there, you're gonna handle your business, you're gonna make people feel safe, and then you're gonna come home." I smiled as Dad hugged me with one arm. "And that's all that matters."
"Let's saddle up," I nodded. We got ready. "Okay."
"Mom and Dad?" Luke asked.
"Derek Morgan is my dad and Alee Hotchner is my mom," I replied. "I'm a legacy and Aaron Hotchner is my grandfather."
"He's your real dad?" Luke asked.
"Not biologically but he was there," I nodded. "He's my father and I do love him." We were in our SUVs. I was with Rossi and Prentiss. Rossi was driving, Prentiss in the backseat, and I'm riding shotgun. I had my cell on speaker connected to Barry's. "Have we dispatched units to the location Scratch tried to lure us to?"
"I coordinated it before we left," Prentiss replied. "They're on their way."
"SWAT will meet us on site at Scratch's house," Luke stated.
"I know we all want this son of a bitch's head on a platter, but SWAT has to clear every single room before we step foot inside," I explained.
"Have they been briefed?" JJ asked. "This guy's traps set traps."
"The house itself could be a set up," Rossi replied.
"Or a waste of our time so he can get away," Barry replied. "You know, it would be easier for me to go alone because I can polarize through traps and not set them off."
"Not taking that risk," I nodded. "But whatever it is, he's gonna try to take us by surprise. We have to be ready for anything." We spun out. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah," Prentiss nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, we're good," JJ responded. We were hit by an eighteen wheeler. "No!"
"No!" I watched from the field of grass as our SUVs were hit. I realized Barry must've pulled me out before we got hit. "Barry, go! I'll take care of our friends."