CM: BigBang 2011
Chapter 4
Hotch realized his mistake when they got to the hotel. He approached the rest of the team with four keycards in his hand, and really, he was thinking of their already tight budget.
He showed the team the cards in his hand and looked at Jo. “I had Garcia book two rooms because I was expecting Morgan to come with us. I can get you a single if you want.”
Jo looked at him before looking at Reid and Rossi. With a smile, she pulled one of the cards from Hotch´s hand before turning to Rossi. “Come on, pops,” she said with humor as she snatched his go-bag out of his hand. “I´ll carry your bag,” she told him as she started walking toward the elevators.
Hotch locked his eyes with his old friend. “If you´re not comfortable…”
Rossi stopped him by snatching the matching key to Jo´s from his hand and giving him a I´m-taking-one-for-the-team look before turning around and following Jo. As they entered the elevator, Jo folded her arms over her chest and said something to Rossi. The last they saw was Jo smiling at Rossi´s reply and the sound of laughter was muffled by the door closing.
Looking at Reid, Hotch noticed the man was looking at him in with uncertainty. He knew Reid had seen it too, that Dave and Jo seemed to know each other. He wondered if their relationship would affect the investigation in any way. He hoped not, and knew Dave would be as professional as he could. Jo was still a wild card.
“Ready?” he asked Reid and held out a card to him.
“Yeah,” Reid quickly replied and took the card from him as they followed the path to the elevators.
They spent a few minutes talking about the profile as they got ready for bed but soon Hotch turned off the lights and they said goodnight.
***
Hotch wasn´t sure what woke him. He opened his eyes to a dark and quiet room. Looking over to Reid´s bed, he noticed it was empty and rolled to his other side, facing the room´s door. He could see a small light shining on the carpet in front the bathroom door, and finally Hotch recognized the aroma of coffee lingering in the room. He reached for his phone as he sat up. The clock read 5:26 am. Hotch sighed as he got out of bed and walked up the bathroom door. He set his ear against it but he couldn´t hear anything. Knocking on the door earned him a yelp as a reply.
“Spencer, you all right?” he asked with concern.
The door opened and Spencer stood on the other side, balancing a book and a coffee mug in one hand. A large coffee-stain colored the front of the young man´s shirt.
“You okay?” Aaron asked again.
“Yeah, I couldn´t sleep and wanted some coffee,” Spencer replied, “I didn´t mean to wake you.”
“You didn´t. The smell of coffee did,” Aaron replied truthfully. An awkward moment passed between them until Hotch beckoned the toilet. “May I?”
“Oh, sorry,” Spencer said and stepped into the small hallway.
Aaron finished his business, half smiling at Spencer´s attempt of hiding. Stepping out of the room, he was startled to a stop when he found himself staring at Spencer´s naked back. The young man leaned over the desk, desperately trying to clean the coffee off his shirt with a towel. Each vertebra stood out, tempting him to run his fingers over them and trail downward toward the elastic band of the PJ-bottoms. Aaron´s mouth went dry and he must have made a sound because the other man looked over his shoulder. Their eyes immediately locked together and Aarons´s body became warm from need. Frozen in place, he noticed as Spencer´s eyes widened in surprise at whatever the young man saw in his eyes and it brought him back to reality.
Clearing his throat, he let his eyes shift to the shirt on the desk. “You should rinse that out so it won´t stain,” he said quietly.
Spencer stared at him for a moment before turning his head toward the shirt in front of him. “Oh,” was the only sound he made.
“Here,” Aaron said and held out his hand.
The young man looked at him again, opened his mouth to say something but clearly decided against it as he closed his mouth without speaking and handed him the shirt. Aaron wrapped his fingers around it and returned to the bathroom.
Quickly turning on the faucet, Aaron set his knuckles on the counter and leaned forward closing his eyes. No, no, no, you cannot let this happen. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared at himself in the mirror. This would be a big mistake, he mentally told himself before closing his eyes again. He drew a deep and rinsed out the stain from Spencer´s…. no, Reid´s… shirt.
When he returned to the room, he found Reid sitting on the bed, wearing a t-shirt. He ignored the way Reid cleared his throat and leaned over the map in front of him, pretending to be occupied. Hotch made a point in taking his suit-jacket off the chair and laying it on the bed before hanging Reid´s shirt in its place. He returned to the bathroom, hit the small coffee-maker and made himself a cup of coffee.
Coming out of the bathroom with much needed caffeine in his hand, Hotch noticed Reid´s focus was now fully on the map. “Find anything?” he asked and stood by the end of Reid´s bed.
“Maybe, give me a minute,” Reid told him and Hotch gave him a small smile the young man missed before standing up and getting ready for the morning. “That´s it,” Reid shouted as Hotch was tying his tie in front of the bathroom mirror but he quickly made his way into the main room.
“What did you find?” Hotch asked and walked over to the bed.
Reid looked up and raised his eyebrows when he noticed that Hotch was already showered and dressed, probable surprised he hadn´t noticed him get ready. Quickly, Reid turned his attention toward the map. “The unsub is sticking to a small zone that has multiple bars, most of which use karaoke as an attraction for Thursday nights. Based on the location of the bars where the victims sang and the fact that he never visited the same bar twice, I found a pattern. It´s small but there. There are three locations within that pattern, but one has fourteen point fifty two percent more chance of being hit then the other two.”
“Okay, good job,” Hotch said and briefly touched the back of Reid´s shoulder before walking over to his own bed, picking up his jacket. Hotch looked at Reid and raised his eyebrows in humor. “If you want breakfast you´re going to have to get dressed,” he said as he put his jacket on.
“Oh, right.” Reid quickly found his clothes and moved to the bathroom. Hotch picked up the papers Reid had spread on and around his bed and neatly set them inside the manila folder before folding the map and setting it on top of the file.
He handed Reid the folder and map when he emerged fully dressed from the bathroom. The young man breathed out a thank you, picked up his messenger bag by the wall, checked his pocket for the keycard and followed Hotch out of the room.
***
By seven o´clock they were all at the station, going over every detail and finalizing the profile. Jo told the team that the reporter had come through for them and as she´d expected, the papers concentrated more on the victims and the fact that the FBI was now involved solving the case.
“What´s our next move?” she asked as she watched Reid write something in his file. Jo followed the pen with her eyes as Reid offered it to Hotch, who was sitting to his right. Without looking up. Hotch grabbed the pen and scribbled something in his own file before standing up. “We know where he´s going to strike and his preferences,” she finished.
“An undercover agent is our best option,” Hotch said and stuck the pen on the inside of his jacket.
Jo meet Hotch´s eyes before turning toward Dave. She caught on when she saw the smug smile on Dave´s face. Hotch intended to use her as bait.
“Are you comfortable doing this?” Hotch asked.
“Ohh, I´m sure she´ll be fine,” Rossi said, gleefully.
“Yes,” Jo said grinning. “I need to go shopping, though.”
Hotch gave her permission with a nod. “I´m going to talk to Detective Buckner about surveillances and a place we can use. Then we´ll present the profile,” he said and turned to head for the door.
“Reid, can I borrow your pen,” Jo said and watched as Reid looked around the table before looking at Hotch. Hotch patted the front of his jacket with annoyance and quickly pulled the pen out. Accepting the pen, Jo tried her best to hold back the grin.
***
Sitting in the SUV in the mall´s parking lot, Jo hit a few buttons on her cell and waited patiently for the call to be answered.
“Jeff, have you found anything?” she quickly asked.
”Sorry, boss, still working my way through the cases. So far I only found substantial things; possible contacts, possible sellers and/or buyers, et cetera.”
“You are writing down the dates of all these possibilities, right?”
”Of course. Brody is putting together the travel log for the past ten years. If there’s a pattern we´ll find it.”
“And the computer?”
“Darren hacked into the home computer. He´s still going through the data, says he found some hidden coded files he needs time to crack.”
“Well, tell Darren to stop flirting with whoever his target is for today and get his ass back in front of the computer. Tell him I know a hacker who can do his job in quarter of the time and I´m not afraid to replace him,” Jo said and let the frustration into her voice.
Jeff chuckled. “Will do, boss, but we all know you won´t be replacing him after this.”
Sighing, Jo closed her eyes. “Yeah, but I still have four months to go, so tell him to get to work,” she told him evenly.
”On it.”
“Thank you, Jeff, and keep me updated.” Jo ended the call. She hooked up the phone and started the car before hitting a speed dial.
”Hey, Jo,” a cheerful female voice answered.
“Hi, sweetie. How´s your day going?” Jo turned into the traffic.
“Good, the girls missed you this morning.”
“I miss all of you. Hopefully I´ll be home tomorrow,”
“Okay, something going down?” Jo heard the concern in her wife´s voice.
“Maybe.”
”Be careful,” Anna said.
“I will,” Jo replied as she turned into the stations parking-lot.
”How´s the team? Did Dave say anything?” Anna asked with interest.
“They’re alright. Hotch, the unit chief, is stiff as a rock but he cares. Dave was right when he said they’re the best there is. He hasn´t said anything but I think Hotch and Reid know something is up.”
“Reid? How is he?”
Jo smiled. “Actually he reminds me of you, being a genius and all. He can rattle of statistics on just about anything. A bit awkward, but he´s a good man.” Jo turned the car off. “I have to go. I´ll call you tomorrow if I´m not home.”
“Okay, be safe.”
“You too, and hug the girls from me.”
“I will. Later.”
“Bye.” Jo ended the call and hurried inside.
She found the men talking in the conference room. Hotch informed them he´d gotten a safe-house and a few trust worthy man to work with them. Reid pointed out where it would be best to put undercover officers on the lookout around the bar and gave an estimate of the patrol in the residential area of the safe house.
“Let´s head over to the club and talk to the owner, then go check out the house,” Hotch said and the others agreed.
The bar was an average one. Against one wall the bar ran from the front to the back, a small stage on the other side of the room and about two dozen tables scattered around the floor in between. A small sound booth was set up next to the stage. The owner wasn´t too happy about filling his place with cops, but Hotch managed to get him to agree.
They gathered in front of the stage after checking the layout.
“We´ll try to get a table up front,” Hotch said. “Dave, you´re by the side-door. Reid you´re in the back. If anyone looks suspicious we´ll have the BPD pick them up on their way out. You need to co-ordinate with the policeman acting as a bouncer. There will also be around ten officers in and around the bar.””
Everyone agreed. “Let´s check out the house,” Hotch said and beckoned everyone to get to the cars.
The ride was short and soon they stood outside a small yellow single story house with a small yard separated from the street with a white fence. The neighbors’ trees leaned heavily over the side. Hotch unlocked the front door and they followed him inside. Well worn sofa and a sturdy table were in the living room and a camping table with two plastic chairs stood in the kitchen. In the bathroom Jo found a half a roll of toilet paper and two single roll-out beds in the bedroom.
Jo made sure to familiarize herself with every room and corner of the house. She even went down into the basement and found it empty except for the water-heater.
Hotch came up to her and told her to follow him into the bedroom. The window overlooked the back yard which was as tidy as the front yard. “He´ll either come through this window or the side window in the living room.”
“Yeah,” Jo agreed and looked around. “We should remove the beds, at least fold them so I´ll have better space to move in.”
“Are you sure you are alright with doing this?” Hotch asked in a low voice and focused his attention on her.
Jo met his eyes. She quickly noticed how soft his face had become as he let the concern shine through. She smiled softly. “I´ve sat in the dark waiting for the bad guy before, and all of you will only be a few steps away. I´ve worked with less.”
Hotch nodded and looked over to room again. He didn´t question her further and she was glad he didn´t. She wasn´t sure if she´d be able to tell him the whole story but this assignment was a walk in the park in comparison.
***
Ch: 5