Flight Risk | Spencer Reid

epilogue

Bonus: In which a profiler protects a pilot and a pilot loses something important. Set five years later in the finale episode.

**Major spoilers for the series finale**

..

"We're gonna have to make a trade," Rossi declares. Every head in the room turns to him.

"What kind of trade?" Luke asks.

"Lynch wants to make a clean getaway," Rossi says. The words hang heavy in the air. Nervous glances are traded across the roundtable as they begin to understand exactly what this means.

"No," Reid says. "No, we can't."

"If we play the cards right, maybe we won't have to," Rossi counters.

"Maybe?" he shouts. "I'm not going to risk my wife flying a psychopathic killer across the country in the hopes that maybewe've profiled Lynch correctly!" He doesn't mean to raise his voice but he can't help it. He won't allow this.

"Hey," Rossi snaps back. "Right now that psychopathic killer is holding my wife hostage, in case you've forgotten."

Reid signs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry." But still – it's Y/N. He cannot lose her, not after everything they've been through, not when he's let himself believe for so long that he can keep her safe. Not now, especially not now. "But I don't want her on that jet with him. And I don't want Arthur or Martin or Fikayo or any of the BAU pilots on that jet. They're part of her team, and I won't do that to her."

The tension in the room is palpable as he and Rossi stare each other down. They've never argued like this before, and Reid hates it but he won't back down.

"There might be another way," Emily offers. "We can get a few of the Corps pilots on standby. They'll have the training to take Lynch out if needed. We tell him they won't leave U.S. airspace and we go from there. I'll even have one of them bring the jet out. Y/N doesn't even need to know." Right now, Y/N is safe at home, maybe even asleep by now. He tries not to think of how she'd react if she knew that they were about to pawn Geff off to a serial killer. They've always treated it as their jet, but while it may fall under their department, they merely use it as a means to an end. Y/N is the captain, if Geff belongs to anyone he belongs to her.

But he knows that if Y/N were the one being held hostage, he'd do whatever it took to get her back. "Okay," he says.

.

As it turns out, Lynch knows how to fly a plane. He's taken Rossi as collateral, and Geff is prepared for takeoff. "Prentiss, come on, you said we needed a great plan," Matt says through gritted teeth.

"And we have one," she says. "There are things none of you know about that jet." But Reid kows precisely what she's talking about, because Y/N knows all of Geff's secrets. There are hidden compartments Gideon commissioned, and one of them happens to hold a gun. He only hopes it's enough to stop Lynch and save Rossi. Maybe they can still pull it off and save the day and the jet can return to the hangar without so much as a scratch.

A gunshot rings out through the darkness and they hold their breath – but then it's two and then three and then Rossi is tumbling down the jet stairs. Prentiss and Matt rush over to grab him off the ground and pull him to safety while the rest of them keep their weapons trained on the cockpit. A smug grin peeks out at them and it makes Reid furious. That monster shouldn't be sitting there in her seat, on her plane.

As they try to gauge Rossi's status, Reid fires towards Lynch. Every shot just ricochets, the plane that has kept them safe protecting the man who wants to destroy them. The engines of the jet roar to life. Geff is starting down the runway. Reid and the rest of the team take off running. They shoot at the plane, some aiming for the cockpit, others aiming for the body of the jet.