[Criminal Minds] The Waiting Behind

In the Quantico BAU conference room, everyone except Hotch has arrived, and they were summoned almost immediately after returning home after the party.

"I don't know how long it's been since I had such a luxurious weekend." Emily chatted casually, turning the coffee cup in her hand, "Why hasn't Hotch come yet?"

"It's really not like his style." Man pinched the bridge of his nose, and the high-intensity work for several days was a bit overwhelming even for this iron man of BAU.

Rossi looked at Reid beside him, who was reading the file of this case in advance, "You are not tired after reading this every day, you need to race against time,"

Reid shrugged, seeing the incomprehensible expressions on everyone's faces, "I'm just used to familiarizing myself with it in advance, so that I don't need the information when I explain it later."

"You are really..." Man gave Reid a thumbs up in admiration, turned his gaze to Garcia, who had been silent and typing on the portable computer, and raised his eyebrows, "Hey, Babygirl, wouldn't you also be with Reid?" Are you familiarizing yourself with the information? Don’t you hate these bloody pictures the most?”

Unexpectedly, Garcia, who has always loved and talkatively with Man, was unusually silent this time. When he noticed that Man was trying to turn his head to look at the computer screen, he quickly pressed down the laptop, "No, it's okay."

Being so nervous, and the bull-headed answer caused everyone to look sideways, Emily looked at Garcia worriedly, "Is something wrong, Garcia?" The girl who has always brought them infinite happiness and miracles was uncharacteristically silent , just quite annoyed at his flaws just now.

Man grabbed the arm of Garcia's chair and turned quickly, putting his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye, "Hey, tell me, like you always do."

"I...I...I'm not sure if this matter can be said." Garcia stammered and wanted to explain to everyone, but she didn't know if she should.

"No matter what problem you have, say it, and we will solve it." Rossi, who has always used her tolerance and wisdom to help accommodate the juniors, comforted Garcia in this way. She has always helped them solve many problems. Here they are.

"No, it's not about me..." Garcia realized that everyone had misunderstood, and hurriedly said, "This is about..."

Before he finished speaking, a calm voice took over Garcia's words, "It's my business."

Everyone turned around in surprise, only to see their supervisor, who had always been flattered and humiliated, appear at the door of the meeting room in a busy manner.He spoke slowly:

"Michelle is missing, she was taken from the residence."

"What?" Reid, who had the best relationship with Michelle, jumped up from the chair first, and he rushed towards Hotch with a look of surprise, "Didn't we meet just now?"

"Hey, slow down, kiddo, don't worry, listen to Hotch." When passing by Man, Man grabbed the anxious Reid with quick eyes and hands.

"Hotch is no less worried about Michelle than you are, and neither are we. But we all need to calm down at this time, Reid?" Emily calmed down first, comforting the restless Reid.

"I know, I'm sorry." Reid also knew that sometimes he would be a little irritable when he met someone or something he cared about, so he looked at Hotch apologetically.

Hotch shook his head indifferently, then turned to Garcia, "Have you found any usable information?"

"No, nothing!" Obviously Garcia has fallen into a breakdown, her speech speed is getting faster and her emotions are getting more and more agitated, "I started to check the records of Michelle's orphanage, school and work records, and even the hospital, The library...everywhere I could dig, but I couldn't find anything! Anything!"

"Penelope!" Man couldn't bear to see such a crazy Garcia, "Calm down, you can do it."

"No, Derek." Garcia had tears in her eyes, and she sniffed hard, trying not to let the tears stay, "I literally tried everything I could think of, and there was no clue! I even looked up and talked to him as Hotch told me. Whether the vengeful murderer was released from prison after serving his sentence or released early on parole, none of them met. None!"

Looking at such a frustrated Garcia, Jordan always felt that he couldn't get in the conversation, but he could feel the anxiety of the crowd. This girl seemed really important to them.

"If the person who took Michelle is really related to Hotch, he should be contacted."

Hotch gave Jordan an approving look. She did put a lot of work into BAU herself, and maybe it wouldn't be so bad to involve someone who wasn't as close to Michelle. "Jordan, we are only investigating this case privately, not officially. If possible, I hope you can help us investigate together, after all, you will look at the issue more fairly."

Reid immediately grasped the loopholes in Hotch's words, and the anxiety in his heart gradually expanded, "What do you mean it is not official? Even if this matter does not lead to BAU's investigation, will the police not file a case?"

"Yes, they won't." Hotch pursed his lips, his serious expression made it easy to see his bad mood, "Before I came, I received a call from the police authorities, and they said that they were instructed by their superiors not to Call the police."

"What do you mean you won't go to the police?" Rossi frowned. No matter how you looked at it, there was a trace of weird atmosphere. "Could it be that they want to treat this as a simple disappearance case, and the case can only be filed after a time limit?"

Hotch shook his head and told everyone an even more surprising answer: "I called 911 as soon as I found out. The instructions from the superiors they said referred to high-level interference in my report and asked them not to open a case based on it." Big opinion, Hotch added, "They claimed that Michelle was involved in a very important case investigation and would be quarantined as an important target."

Jordan is almost the calmest one, and pointedly pointed out, "The specific case should not be announced casually, but can you know which department is involved? This way at least you can know who implemented the isolation protection measures. Maybe you can contact Michelle."

Reid retorted almost immediately, with a high-pitched voice—"Impossible to know. This kind of secret, their so-called institutions will only follow the rules rigidly, and it is impossible to reveal the slightest bit." After he finished speaking, he was frustrated. He leaned back in his chair and stopped talking.

Emily looked at Hotch who had been standing with his arms crossed, and he was silent as expected, affirming what Reid said.It's been a long time since I saw Hotch in such an uneasy posture, he must feel a little stretched this time.

indeed. Hotch really hated those so-called political tactics at this time. When he used his contacts to find out what case Michelle was involved in or even where she was, he was unexpectedly blocked a lot.Those high-level executives who have been sitting in the office and playing tricks every day are more and more able to practice Tai Chi, but they are unwilling to bear a little responsibility for it.

He still remembers that when Strauss calmly convinced him that the bureau would handle everything and made him wait slowly on the phone, Hotch got angry almost immediately—

"These words, wait until one day, your favorite son also encounters such a thing, then come and tell me."

Pulling back his thoughts from contemplation, Hotch saw Jordan, who was a little embarrassed, understood, and coughed twice to attract everyone's attention, "I'm sorry that my personal affairs took up everyone's time, and now let's focus on this on the case."

"Hotch." It was Man who spoke, with a rare frown, and he spoke slowly, "If you don't want to follow this case, we can all understand."

"Then I won't follow either." Unexpectedly, it was Reid, who had always seemed very impatient, who answered first.

"Reid." Hotch didn't say much, just looked at Reid with disapproving eyes, until the latter slowly lowered his head in guilt.

"I'm fine. There is no clue about Michelle's matter for a while, but at least we know that she is under protection. Let's focus on this case. I will ask my acquaintances to follow up on her matter." Looking around the meeting room Bit, Hotch expressed his determination.

Jordan knew that her question was very inappropriate, but she really couldn't help it, and secretly asked Emily, who looked calmer, "The girlfriend's case is so excluded, and even her safety is in the hands of others, But I don't know about it at all, Hotch is not worried, and still so calm?"

"Because he's Hotch." Emily didn't look up, and continued to look at the case file in her hand, "Don't look at him not even acting as anxious as Reid, but he is more worried about her than anyone else. It is precisely because of this that he needs Keep your usual cool. And the only way to keep him from breaking down is to-"

Emily picked up the remote control in her hand and handed it to the stunned Jordan, signaling that it was time for her to explain the case:

"Work."

— Just work.As long as you stay calm, you will find a way to contact Michelle.He doesn't believe in what other people call isolation protection.When she was in danger, the only one he could trust was himself.

There will never be another person who is willing to protect her with his life like him.

Hotch cleared his mind and listened to the case, as long as he was working.

"This case is more urgent because it happened in Washington, so the higher-ups urgently asked us to solve the case as soon as possible within a week." Jordan called up a few photos, and the men in them were all staring in one direction with their mouths slightly open. , without exception.

"These are the bodies recently found in various hidden alleys in Washington. There are no signs of fighting, no signs of struggle, and the clothes are clean."

"No trace?" Rossi tapped his fingers on the table, thinking about the question, "What does the forensic autopsy report say, about the cause of death?"

"Cardiac arrest due to unknown cause." Emily flipped through the report in her hand, and marked the cause of death with a pen in distress.

"No drug residue?" Man thought of another possibility, "Reid, can the current drugs leave nothing behind after being metabolized?"

"Generally not. Most drugs or hallucinogens are central nervous system stimulants. Although some of them have a very short metabolism time, no residual metabolites can be detected. But if the victim dies soon, such products It will stay in the body and will not continue to be metabolized." Talking about the field of biochemistry that he is good at, Reid finally returned to his usual appearance, but after analysis, he was very puzzled, "However, the general drugs are caused by excessive use of drugs that cause central nervous system depression. As for the dead, even hallucinogens can cause excessive excitement in the central system, such as dilated pupils, flushed complexion, etc. Generally speaking, the expression cannot be like this..."

Everyone turned to the screen on the wall following Reid's gaze. The expressions of all the victims were very normal, and there was no grim or frightened expression.Looking at the expression of the man in the photo, everyone frowned unanimously. This expression can be called serene.

—as if it was not death that greeted him, but heaven.

The author has something to say: The case of Buddha has not been written yet, um, nod

The author is recently thinking about how to write the case of Buddha...

This case was thought up by the author himself, if there are shortcomings, please forgive the useless author -w-

But this is a case I imagined when I first wrote this article, I hope I can write a suspenseful feeling!

PS: I really like putting some intimidating text on the content feed hahaha!

Akimbo laugh!

At the end, please read it with me, I hope the author will recover from his illness soon!

Thank you [Landi] for the bomb and the long comments! ! !

Sure enough, true love does not explain! !Hold on tight and don't let go!

Again and again PS: If the author's condition is better tonight, there will be another chapter【Bless me!