[Criminal Minds] The Waiting Behind

Terrible scream.

When Hotch and Man finally arrived, what they saw was an unexpected scene,

The tall and burly Inspector On covered his face and wailed non-stop. It was obvious that the scream just now came from his mouth.

Meanwhile, the petite girl at the side was raising a chair and slamming it hard at the man opposite, but she didn't notice that the man who recovered was staring at her with one eye exposed, and slowly raised his hand. the gun...

"Be careful," Hotch's pupils shrank suddenly, and almost at the same moment he rushed towards the unaware Michelle.And Man also noticed this critical moment, and rushed in the direction of On.

Without words, but with a tacit understanding.

Michelle was held in Hotch's arms in a state of uncertainty, watching Man press On under him, struggling to put his hands behind his back, and handcuffed him.She turned her head slowly, looked at Hotch and asked, but her tone was very sure:

"He's the mole, isn't he?"

Hotch nodded, looking at the brave girl in front of him, "Yes, but maybe it's more appropriate to call him an undercover agent."

"Undercover?" Michelle immediately withdrew her fierce staring eyes on On, and at the same time she was surprised but understood instantly, "You mean..."

"Well, when I was talking to Brooks before, he revealed this meaning. It seems that since following up on this smuggling case, I feel that someone keeps leaking information." Hotch recalled the previous phone call in the office, and lowered his eyes.

"Agent Hoter, don't you think it's inappropriate for you to be so suspicious of my subordinates and call me on purpose?"

"I don't think you haven't caught any clues. Now I realize the deepest meaning of that look when you mentioned your subordinates when you left."

"Haha, you really deserve to be the widely praised elite FBI agent! Indeed, I admit that Agent On's background seems a bit unclear, but we don't have any evidence so far. I put it under your noses on purpose , so that he can't make any small moves."

——But after such an assurance, within 10 minutes, he received a call from Man, who learned that Steve had died.

Just half an hour before they arrived.

That's why he hates the power struggles of the upper echelons.It is obviously a very simple matter, but it has to be hidden. It seems that the biggest evil result is the news of the gang's anti-undercover incident. It seems that concealing this matter is more important than anything else.

If they had been informed of On's identity earlier, they wouldn't have been so passive during the investigation, and someone had taken advantage of their loopholes and killed the protection target.

And all of this could have been avoided.

Hotch came back from the memories and looked at the girl in his arms. It's best not to tell her such things, and let her feel that all the faults are on On. That's the best way.

Otherwise, he didn't know if Michelle would really break down when she knew all the truth.

—because Steve Jinks' death was so insignificant, a victim of a power struggle.

Thinking of this, Hotch pursed his lips, looked down at the top of the girl's hair, and said in a gentle but reproachful voice:

"Although you reacted quickly, it was too dangerous just now. If Man and I hadn't arrived, you might have been shot."

"Where did I know he still had the strength to aim and shoot someone after being splashed in the eyes with such hot coffee..." Michelle's powerless sophistry gradually became softer and softer under Hotch's increasingly stern gaze.

"Okay, okay, I admit that I was reckless just now." Michelle pouted reluctantly, and kept muttering, "But when I think that he is really the guy who killed Steve, I can't bear it." Can't help it... If what I just took was not coffee, but concentrated sulfuric acid..."

Hotch helplessly looked at the girl in front of him and muttered to himself, looking at this look, he didn't know where he was wandering.But he slowly brought up a smile, which was good, better than her being immersed in self-blame and sadness all the time.

Hotch looked out the window, and through the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the outside scenery was unobstructed.The sun has sunk into the ground at some point, leaving only a touch of warm golden color on the horizon.When night fell in Virginia, it seemed extraordinarily quiet, and even the night sky seemed to lose a layer of coolness.Although it was still dark blue, the few clusters of stars dotted in it were shining brightly, and behind the black curtain, a bright moon had risen as if awakened.

A long day is finally over.

But a new day is still to come.

It's been about a week since Steve's case, Michelle was lying behind the bar, looking at Kelly's busy figure in front of her, thinking secretly.

Looking out of the window, the drizzle of rain hit the canopy outside, making a ticking sound, which was very disturbing. Michelle felt that the entangled thoughts in her heart were churning even more, she winked with Kelly a little, then turned and went to the second floor.

This place is no longer as messy as it was when she left. Michelle collapsed on the bed, looking at the chandelier on the ceiling, feeling even more irritable.

The two of them hadn't seen each other since Hotch had dropped her off that night.It's not all because Hotch is too busy at work, it's actually more like the Cold War.

However, it was her own unilateral cold war.Every time Hotch came back from a business trip, they would meet each other in the past, even if they didn't do anything, just chatting, it would be nice.But recently, Michelle always advises Hotch to take a break and meet again when he has time.In fact, Hotch must have noticed this kind of evasion, but he didn't say anything, he just reminded her to pay attention to rest and safety every time, and kept a distance silently according to what she said.

Michelle knew that there was a big problem with her mentality, and she found that she couldn't face Hotch naturally.And Hotch also knew it was because she hadn't fully come over from the self-blame of Steve's death, so she didn't press on, but left her enough space to think clearly.

Michelle clearly understands her feelings for Hotch.It is impossible for her to just give up on such a man she has loved for so long, so hard, and finally sees the moon and the moon, but if she really wants to ignore Steve's dedication and continue to live sweetly with Hotch without any grievances, Michelle didn't think she could be so heartless.

——What's more, Steve's death has something to do with both of them, how can they be so at ease as if nothing happened?

For a week, Michelle fell into such a vicious circle and couldn't extricate herself.

"Oh." Michelle sighed, grabbed the pillow on the bed, and covered her face, as if this would make those conflicting distress disappear.

"Hey, Michelle!" Kelly's voice suddenly rang in his ears. Michelle took the pillow off her face, just in time to see Kelly coming to the bed with a big cardboard box in her arms, "I'll put your package here for you."

Michelle's gaze followed Kelly's movements subconsciously, watching her go down the stairs before slowly turning to the big cardboard box on the bedside table.

Will there be people in this world who send things to themselves?Is there a mistake? Michelle took the box full of doubts, but was taken aback when she saw the delivery name on the box, this is...

— "I think this belongs to you, Brooks."

Brooks? Michelle felt that the name sounded familiar, and suddenly remembered that Reid had vaguely mentioned it last time. This person is the big boss of Interpol.

Could it be...Steve's?

Michelle hesitated, but finally reached out and opened the package.There was nothing in it, except some documents and keys.

These are real estate transfer documents and related legal documents, and Michelle flipped through them one by one with a complicated expression—how long ago did Steve foresee this kind of thing, so that he could prepare everything so well.

Huh? Michelle found a white envelope with beautiful handwriting on the bottom of the box.

"To my dearest Michelle."

Michelle read the above words one by one, and it seemed that Steve's warm smile when he wrote these words appeared in his mind.

She felt her nose ache, and hurriedly opened the envelope, but she didn't expect a shiny thing to fall under her feet.

Michelle quickly picked it up, and when she saw it clearly, tears rolled down her eyes instantly...

The rain outside the window did not know when it finally stopped, and the long-lost sunshine shone into the window, reflecting on the sobbing figure of the girl.At this time, if someone came in, they could see her wiping her tears while looking at the thin paper in her hand.

……

Michelle carefully put Steve's letter back into the box, wiped the tears off her face, picked up her phone, and sent a quick text message.

Central Hospital in Harvest, Alabama.

Hotch was talking to the victim, a 10-year-old girl, and Cate's father.

Cate's mother and stepfather were killed in their sleep, and she was abandoned by her killers after being taken away, thanks in part to her epileptic seizures.

That's why they are here now. Someone met a little girl who narrowly escaped death by the road and took her to the hospital.

"So, have you ever encountered such a situation?" Cate's father, Scheuren, who was infinitely regretting that he seldom accompanied his daughter, heard Hotch's words of persuasion, and seemed to feel that he also had real feelings, and asked back.

Hotch lowered his eyes and said slowly, "My colleague asked me the other day if my son liked a Christmas present from me, so I made one up at random. But actually, I don't know anything."

Looking at Scheuren's sighing expression, another smiling face suddenly appeared in Hotch's mind. It seems that they haven't seen each other for a long time...

"Didi" is the sound of a text message coming in.

Hotch opened it casually, should it be a tacit understanding or something, it happened to be the person he just thought of.

"Aaron, when you come back this time, I want to have a serious talk with you."

She figured it out?I just don't know what her final decision is. Hotch couldn't help but frown until the sound of Emily's exit interrupted his thoughts.

"Hotch, it was a family that abducted her." Emily lowered her voice, but Hotch could hear the disbelief clearly inside, "A pair of parents, and a little boy about her age."

After listening to what Emily said about Cate's experience, Hotch and Emily left the hospital immediately. The unknown suspects narrowed down from a group of people to a family, and according to what Cate said, the family drove a station wagon. The content and direction of the survey need to be fine-tuned.

Hotch quickly dialed the phone as he walked out of the hospital quickly, "Man, you and Rossi quickly go to the nearby station wagons."

Man and Rossi tracked down the spot where the family had parked their station wagon, but found a lot of colored broken glass at the scene, which was consistent with the testimony of the venue's superintendent. Reid suspected that this was a group of fanatical religious believers who had been influenced by gypsy culture. Rossi immediately asked Man to call Garcia to inquire about similar cases in the past two years. related cases.

Garcia is a very good technician and her ability to work cannot be questioned.But when everyone in the BAU saw the piles of report documents, they couldn't help but become suspicious.

Perhaps, more is unbelievable.

"All these?" Rossi randomly picked up a document, and as far as his eyes could see, the table was full of various documents.

"Yes, a total of 30 cases..." When Garcia quickly described all the cases across the country in the past few decades with a tone of bewilderment, everyone was shocked by the conclusions they drew.

——This is almost an inherited modus operandi, a family one.

The author has something to say: Did the heroine act brave this time?

Even if it's just splashing coffee in the eyes or something

The author did not let her be held hostage again

Otherwise, I will be tired of writing, she is too weak...

PS:

This case was actually on my outline for a long time! !

I love this case of picking a wife

I remember a long time ago, someone said that he wanted to read and write about this case.

I don't know if I'm still following the article

If you are chasing, you can see what I wrote!

Try to send a double update tonight

Thank you Landi for dropping a mine!It's not easy to sell a kidney... Humo, how about a double tonight?

Thank you, Fatty Tangerine, for throwing a landmine. You are happy early... It's a double update today.