RUBATOSIS. spencer reid

| fifty-three

SYLVIA CONNELLY.

"I-UH, AHEM." I COUGHED
into my elbow, gulping hard. Spencer had given up on trying to hide his affection around me for work, his arm swung around my shoulders as we stood in the conference room.

Morgan was the first to notice our closeness, his eyebrows furrowing. "Don't tell me you two—"

"I have something to tell you all!" I blurted, my cheeks going red.

Penelope, on the other end of the table, let out a dramatic gasp, covering her mouth with wide eyes. "Sylvia, are you pregnant?!"

"What?! No!" I shrieked, facepalming.

"Guys, this is serious. I think we all should listen." Spencer said, sliding his arm off and proceeding to sit down, his eyes still on me.

"Go ahead, Connelly." Hotch said, nodding tightly.

"Okay." I gulped. I was already sweating, already panicking, not ready to open up and expose this part of my life. "Well, you all know I left the National Security Branch for a reason." I explained, chewing on my lip.

"Yeah. You were being targeted." Rossi said.

"Yeah. I was being targeted by them—" I jerked my head to the screen, viciously chewing my lip. "They call themselves Venom. They're a gang. I'm sure it was in Davrin Jones' report." I said, waving my hand.

"Yes, but how do they pertain to you?" Hotch asked.

"It was this mission me and a few others went on. We were working on arresting Jones and neutralize the gang completely. At the time, we had just been security for the Vice President. But the gang was becoming more active, and we were put on that mission." I said.

"Davrin Jones somehow got attracted to me during the process, and so my team decided to use that." I told them.

"Why am I not surprised..." Morgan scoffed.

"Yeah." I chuckled. "We ended up arresting him anyways." I said. "But uh, it wasn't really over."

"What do you mean?" Spencer asked me. His eyes were wide and soft, making me feel ten times more at ease.

"His gang went after us." I muttered, shaking my head. "We had a file of all the crimes Venom had created, and a sub-file for the murders Davrin committed. There's a code for it that only my team and the official director knows, because Venom attacked the bureau several times, trying to obtain the evidence."

"There weren't copies?" Rossi asked.

"No. Only one file. That was because Venom had been granted immunity in Italy, where the crimes had started. Italy was on their side, because of one of the leaders of Venom; he was a highly respected political member. So having multiple copies of the files and reports would be bad if Italy got their hands on it and took the case under their jurisdiction." I explained, feeling the confused stares already.

"Isn't that..." Hotch started.

"Illegal? Yes. But the director made the call to hide it from Italy, so we obliged." I said. "But having only one report and file of the case would mean that if Venom ever got their hands on it, their leader would be freed. All they'd have to do is destroy the evidence."

I paused, rapidly blinking to clear up my vision as I contemplated what to say next.

"And they targeted you and your team for that information?" Emily asked.

I nodded. "Targeted our families." I whispered, chewing on my lip. I felt a little lightheaded from the lack of air, and felt my knees wobble a little. "Sorry—I need to sit down. I don't know why I'm standing."

Spencer immediately reached over, pulling out the chair for me. I smiled at him, feeling ten times better that he was here.

"Anyways." I cleared my throat. "They wanted that file. And we couldn't give it to them—no matter what. It was a oath we all took. For the president and everyone else who had been affected by Davrin Jones." I gulped again, feeling my throat tighten. "We couldn't break it."

"But after a few months of Davrin's arrest, Venom began killing again. They sent us threats." I murmured, dropping my head slightly.

Spencer suddenly discreetly reached over, his hand covering my cold ones. I watched as he interlaced our fingers, warmth blossoming side of me.

"They took my mom." I said, my voice breaking. "And there was nothing I could do about it."

The room was silent, and I felt Spencer's hand tighten around mine protectively. I dared to turn and look at him—his eyes were wide, swimming with compassion and concern.

"What happened?" He finally asked me.

"I..." I licked my lips, letting out a sigh. "I don't know. They never found a body."

It felt like something was slowly crushing me from the inside, starting with my bones, up to my heart. It was hard to fathom—they fact that I led my mother to her death and couldn't even bat an eyelash at them—or her. It was like asking me to decide if she died, or hundreds.

I had to choose her.

And it broke me. It broke me even more when that false hope turned into dreadful realization one morning I woke up. And just like that—I knew she was gone.

"They followed me around." I said. "All of us. Sent us pictures, sent us sometimes our clothing, jewelry—just to say that they had the upper hand and could take everything."

"Why wasn't anything done about this?" Hotch asked in a tight—and slightly angry—voice.

"The file. No one could know." I said. "Telling you guys all of us right now, is risky as well."

"It was the right thing to do, Sylvia." Rossi assured.

"Yeah. The same team was transferred out of NSB a few months later, starting with me. I needed to get away from it and joined this unit instead." I muttered. "And they followed me." I looked up at the evidence board with sad eyes, a feeling of despair in my stomach.

"Have the attacks stopped?" JJ asked.

I nodded slowly. "When we got back from LA it stopped."

"Wait—they continued stalking you for two years after you joined the BAU?" Spencer asked me, anger flashing in his eyes. "Why didn't you ask us for help?"

I shrugged softly. "I didn't know if I could trust you all. Plus, I was handling it a little better. Moved houses like, four times and never went outside—eventually, they lost me. Until now. I think." I said, jerking my head towards the evidence board.

"So you're sure this is them?" Hotch asked.

I nodded.

"Okay." He said in a tight voice. "We're going to set up a surveillance team at your home at all times. This is probably them, and if you're their goal then you're in danger, Sylvia."

I nodded, biting my lip. "I know."

"I want you to destroy your cell phone immediately." Hotch said. "And we'll get you a disposable. Using that disposable, you're going to contact the members of your old team and warn them about this. We'll put them under WitSec, but that's the best we can do."

"Okay." I croaked out, feeling my lungs tighten. Hotch was already taking the initiative to protecting me—and I was grateful for it—but at the same time it produced so much anxiety, that all I wanted to do was collapse.

This was finally happening. This exact situation that I've been afraid of and dreading my entire life. This situation that scared me so much.

It was like someone tossed a freezing bucket of water onto my head. It was a wake up call—that this was happening, and that the BAU was going to solve this and put away Venom.

And for once in my life—I trusted the BAU with this. I trusted this group of talented people—my best friends. And for once in my life—I began to imagine a life without fear and paranoia. A life where I didn't have to look back.

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