EASY WAY OUT ¹ ➢ spencer reid

XXXVIII

"Brendon Kyle is our unsub." Hotch stood at the front of the room, holding his hands behind his back as he spoke. "While Rafferty makes contact I want JJ and Prentiss in the building to keep an eye out in case anything goes wrong. Reid and I will be right outside, while Morgan, you and Rossi head to the hotel and wait. We got one shot at this."

I could feel my palms sweating profusely. I swallowed hard and nodded, following Prentiss and JJ out of the room. We wandered into a locker room, closing the door behind us as we started getting ready. It was nearly eight, which meant go time was just around the corner.

I unbuttoned my blouse, tearing it off and throwing it on the floor before peeling off my slacks. I glanced over at the other girls, watching as they did the same. "Hey, uh guys?"
Prentiss looked up. "Hm?"

"Things are gonna be okay, right?"

They both nodded. "Things are gonna be okay." JJ responded.

I nodded back and continued getting ready. Thanks to government funding we got to go shopping this morning. The short excursion definitely calmed my nerves for a while, but now that the ball was rolling my nerves were jumping out again. I ended up picking out a pair of black heels, along with an emerald coloured skater dress with thin straps and deep pockets. The unsub liked shy, ordinary girls so I figured the more casual and out of place I looked, the better. I slipped into it quickly, getting Prentiss to zip up the back before heading over to the bathroom to do my makeup. I did my usual routine (eyebrows, mascara, concealer) and then added some winged eyeliner, highlight, and lipstick. JJ came in, nodding in approval as she started doing her own.

"What happened to your lip by the way?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, I uh, tripped in my room the other night and bit down I guess."

"Yikes." JJ cringed.

By the time we were ready I could feel my whole body sweating. I breathed heavily and reached into my bag to grab some deodorant. I coated my armpits. Even though I was going to meet up with a criminal I still needed to smell nice.

"Ready?" JJ asked.

I nodded.

We walked back into the office. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my dress and gave everyone a nervous smile. I felt weird being so dressed up for work. It felt like I was on display, which only became more apparent when everyone stared at me wide eyed. I knew they'd seen me dressed up before, but this time it was different. I wasn't just dressing up to go out and have drinks.

"I'll never get over how well you manage to clean up." Morgan smiled, shaking his head.

His comment made me feel slightly better. I smiled back before glancing at Reid. He had a sloppy grin on his face. The second he made eye contact he bit his lip and looked over at Hotch who cleared his throat. "Doors open at eight so we better head out. If Kyle really is devolving he might already be ready," he said.

Jones provided a couple undercover vehicles for the girls and I. Prentiss and JJ went in one, while I hopped in the other. The second I was alone behind the wheel I could feel my breathing become irritated. I tried to steady it by turning on some music to relax, but honestly it didn't help much. Regardless of my nerves though, I pulled out of the lot and started driving. The entire way there I could feel myself panicking more and more. I'd never done anything like this before. Brendon Kyle was just another killer waiting to get caught, yet he scared me more than any other unsub we'd encountered up until this point. Probably because he had a real chance of hurting me.

I grabbed my phone from my purse and called Reid. He picked up almost immediately. "Can you just talk to me?" I stopped at a red light, gripping the phone in my hand tightly.