Chapter Text
When Emily walked through the BAU doors, she noticed the whole team sat huddled together at the desks in hushed conversation. “Hey you guys – what’s –“
“Shhhh!” Spencer hissed, flapping a hand in mid air.
Emily frowned and crept closer to them. “What’s going on?” she whispered. “Why are we all whispering?”
“Hotch.” Derek nodded.
“Where is he?”
“In his office.” Derek winked.
Emily’s frown deepened. She was beginning to feel like an idiot. “Uh…so what? He’s always in his office.” She pointed out, her voice returning to its usual volume.
“Shhh!” Spencer said again.
“Pfft. Like he can hear through walls now, Superman?” Emily scoffed.
“He’s been up there for an hour and a half.” Spencer said conspiratorially. “With someone.” He added.
“A woman?” Emily grinned.
Derek shook his head. “Some suit. All very hush-hush.”
“So what’s the buzz?” she asked excitedly, sitting on the edge of her desk.
“That’s what we’re waiting to find out.” Penelope said.
Emily stared at her. “Hey – why aren’t you in your Batcave?”
“I, uh, I don’t live there you know!” she replied with indignation.
Emily laughed. “You old gossip Penelope! Scared you’ll miss out on the news?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny.” Penelope said, pushing her glasses higher onto her nose.
“Where’s Rossi?” Emily asked, looking around.
“He and JJ got called up there five minutes before you arrived.”
“Why?”
“That’s what we’re waiting to find out.” The others chorused.
“You know for a bunch of profilers you aren’t very subtle. You might at least TRY to pretend to be doing paperwork or something.”
“At least we got to work on time this morning.” Spencer crowed.
“It’s not my fault that I can’t function without coffee.” Emily sighed. “Nor is it my fault that the line at the coffee shop was Biblical.”
Derek gave her a grin. “Hey, it ain’t us you need to make excuses to. I’m sure Hotch’ll be in a wonderful mood when his meeting’s finished. He’ll love your little story.”
“Story?” Emily frowned.
“Yeah. I mean, I could be way off base… but I reckon you might’ve slept through your alarm and had to race to get here.”
“Why’d you say that?” Emily queried suspiciously.
“Your fly’s undone.” Derek nodded.
Emily flushed red and looked down – as the others burst out laughing that she fell for their joke. “Assholes.” She muttered.
“How much longer do you think they’ll be?” Penelope whispered.
“Watch out!” Reid hissed as Hotch’s door sung open and everyone scattered to their own desks and pretended to be deeply engrossed in various files.
“Prentiss!” Hotch called.
Emily glanced at the others and raised a brow.
“Don’t you be keeping secrets from your BFFs!” Penelope warned as Emily rose from her seat and walked as casually as she could across the bullpen, flipping Penelope off behind her back, knowing full well that the others would be gossiping about this as soon as the door closed behind her.
*
“Sir.” Emily greeted, nodding to Hotch. JJ and Rossi were standing together at the far end of the room. They looked gravely at the officious looking dude in a suit who stood in the corner of the room. She stared at the man for a beat. “Special Agent Jacobs?”
“You have a good memory.” Jacobs nodded as he turned to face her. “I thought the beard might have fooled you. That or a decade’s worth of wrinkles and grey hairs.” Despite the friendliness of his words, his eyes showed no humour.
Emily’s heart seemed to slow down as she took in the sight of Jacobs. It had, indeed, been almost a decade since she had seen him last – he worked for the CIA and occasionally oversaw Interpol missions. He was a bastard back then, and she doubted that he had changed much. Whatever reason he was here, could not be good.
“How can I assist you, Agent Jacobs?” she asked, cutting to the chase.
Hotch remained silent, his eyes watching Emily intently.
“You remember Frankie Furroughs?” Jacobs began.
Emily scoffed. “Frankie ‘Fury’? How could I forget, sir.”
“He’s out now, were you aware?”
Emily frowned. “I thought he was serving sixty-five for murder 1?”
Jacobs snorted in disgust. “He should have gotten the needle.”
“Did he escape?”
Jacobs shook his head. “No – he is out legally. A technicality.”
Emily scoffed. “How?”
“One of the Agents involved in the prosecution had a lot of her cases got overturned due to evidence tampering. Frankie won the lottery, I guess.”
“You’re kidding??! And some asshole let Frankie ‘Fury’ walk free?!”
Jacobs nodded soberly. “Eighteen months ago – with a big, fat compensation cheque, no less.”
“Who?” Emily demanded. “Who was it?”
Jacobs eyed her sternly. “I cannot tell you that, Prentiss.”
Like HELL! I had to sleep with that creep! Tell me who it was!”
“Leigh Daniels.” Jacobs replied, taking a breath.
“Leigh?” Emily gasped. “I don’t believe it! She was always so fastidious about the details.”
“I guess everyone has a price.” Jacobs sighed.
“What has this all to do with me?” Emily asked. “I did my part.”
“We believe he is up to his old tricks. We have eyes on that piece of shit, but…in order to nail him once and for all... we need some bait.”
Emily’s heart sunk. “You mean me?”
Jacobs nodded. “You were pivotal in arresting him eight years ago – and he could never resist your… charms.”
Emily blushed and her eyes darted to a stony-faced Hotch.
“I took the liberty of informing Chief Hotchner of your former career talents.” Jacobs smiled.
Emily closed her eyes. “Hotch, I –“
Hotch shook his head to hush her.
Hoping that Hotch wasn’t as furious as he looked, Emily turned her attention back to Jacobs. “Frankie was told that I’d been killed, though.” She scanned Jacobs’ expression. “That IS what he was told, right?”
“We may have omitted to tell him that part.” Jacobs shrugged. “Your cover is still viable.”
“Jesus Christ.” Emily sighed. “And you want me to be her again? You want me to get close to him again?”
“We do. Honestly, Agent Prentiss, if there were any other way then we would take it. But ‘Fury’ is one slippery fish. We haven’t been able to get anyone close to him: but you… he knows you. He fell hard for you. You can do it.”
Emily swallowed, her colour draining at the thought of putting her head back in the lion’s mouth. “But my job here…”
Jacobs nodded. “Agent Hotchner is… reluctant… to sign off on this.”
“As he should be.” Noted Rossi, drawing raised brows from Jacobs at his outburst.
Jacobs chuckled. “Agent Prentiss is well versed in these matters. I am sure your chivalry is appreciated, but let us be frank here: she knows how to play the game.”
Dave’s words spurred Hotch. “I will not allow one of my Agents to be placed in harm’s way like this, Special Agent Jacobs.” He paused. “Find someone else.”
Jacobs held Emily’s gaze, choosing to ignore Hotchner. “You know what this man is capable of, Agent Prentiss. You saw his handiwork first hand.”
Emily nodded slowly before addressing Hotch. “Furroughs needs to be stopped, Hotch. He murdered eight women before we put him away. I was at the first autopsy – and that’s what made me take the mission. He pulverised her face, Hotch. He raped her and then he beat her to death. And seven more – that we know of. If I can help stop him, then I have to do it.”
Hotch looked deeply into her eyes. “And if things go wrong, Emily, then what is to stop him from killing you?”
“I have to try.” She said softly. She took a hold of his arm and led him to a quiet corner of the office. She kept her voice quiet; private. “Hotch…if Haley had been one of those women, I know you’d do whatever it took to get this guy.” She regretted using the memory of Haley’s fresh death, but she needed him to understand. “This asshole killed eight women – he was out of jail before he’d even served one year for each of them. I don’t know if he’s killing again, but those eight women deserve justice and I want to do whatever it takes. You understand that. I know you understand. Please, Hotch.”
Hotch held his breath as he fought against the tears that threatened to fall at the mention of Haley’s name. It hadn’t yet been six months since she died and the wounds were still so very raw. He could still smell how the air tasted of copper when he found Haley’s body. He could still feel the ache in his knuckles from where he connected with Foyet’s face again and again and again. And Emily was right: he would have done whatever it took. He DID do whatever it took. He beat George Foyet to a bloody pulp, and he would do it again. He would be quite the hypocrite if he denied those other women their own justice.
He looked once more into Emily’s eyes. He saw no hesitation there - only determination, and in his heart, he knew that if he said ‘no’, she’d likely hand in her badge and go do this anyway. At least with the team behind her, he could make sure the CIA didn’t use her as potential ‘collateral damage’.
He turned his gaze to Jacobs. “I have a condition before I permit you to take Prentiss for this mission: WE are going to be a part of this mission. She is our team mate and WE will keep her safe.”
Jacobs laughed softly. “The CIA oversaw the Interpol operation against ‘Fury’ that Prentiss was involved with eight years ago. We are overseeing this one now. We are more than capable of assuring Prentiss’ safety.”
Hotch raised a brow. The CIA were always after their own agenda, and he doubted that Emily’s safety was high on their list of priorities when it came to nailing this man. She was, no doubt, entirely expendable to them. “Regardless, sir – Agent Prentiss is employed by the FBI currently, and she is MY responsibility. So you either grant my demand or you find some other way to get this man.”
Jacobs smiled thinly. “Agreed, Agent Hotchner. I will allow two of your Agents to partake on the periphery. We’ll put Agent Prentiss in play in 48 hours.” Jacobs regarded Rossi and JJ. “Agents – I need to brief Hotchner and Prentiss. Would you mind leaving us?”
Once the plan had been laid out for them, Hotch had a few questions. “Will she be wired?”
“We will place a device on her person, yes.”
“Then I want to be present.”
Jacobs smiled tightly. “This could be a long mission, Agent Hotchner. It simply is not practical – or safe – for you to be moving to and from our location. I will send audio files to your tech analyst on a day-to-day basis, but that is the best I can do.”
“Agreed.” Hotch nodded curtly and shook Jacobs’ hand. When the CIA man had left, Hotch snagged Emily’s arm. “I want a word in private.”
*
“Jesus – I only just set foot outside Hotch’s office!” Emily groaned as the team practically leapt upon her and tried to prise information from her. Normally she would reveal nothing – but she would need them for this mission and they deserved to know at least a little.
“So…you worked for the CIA?”
“No I didn’t ‘work for the CIA’.” Emily sighed at Spencer’s excited question. “I worked for Interpol. But there were a couple of cases that the CIA had a vested interest in – and they had the final say in the nature of those operations.”
Derek eyed her keenly. “And you, uh, never thought to tell us that you were a spy?”
Emily sighed again. “I wasn’t ‘a spy’ – I was an undercover operative.”
“It means pretty much the same thing.” Spencer noted smugly.
“So, who was ‘M’ – no, wait! – who was ‘Q’?!” Penelope gasped excitedly.
Emily rolled her eyes and leaned forward, urging everyone else to do likewise. “Well…she whispered…” as everyone leaned just a little bit closer. “Henry Kiss-my-ass-inger.”
The guys groaned and chuckled, and Emily excused herself to the restroom. Once by herself, she sighed deeply. She hadn’t wanted them to find out like that. Actually, she hadn’t wanted them to find out at all about her former job. It was all so complicated. Half her missions were still marked as ‘classified’ – and the rest? God. At least here she was respected for what she could bring to the team – her brain, her heart, her instincts… but if they found out exactly what she used to do? They would just see her as the gal who gets laid to get a conviction. All the other cases – ones that she won just through being a good agent? They would go unremarked. But the ones where she had to sleep with the unsub? They were the ones she’d be judged for. JJ had barely been able to look her in the eye since they all left Hotch’s office.
Emily sighed heavily as she ran the ‘plan’ once more through her mind. She was to be the bait. Again. She was to reconnect with ‘Fury’ and… well…that was the simple part. The last time they danced this dance, she helped Fury ‘select’ his next victim and this would be a similar ploy, possibly involving months of work. She knew that and she accepted it. Jacobs had granted that Derek would be her first point of contact and the team would be permitted to co-monitor her, but all other agents involved would be CIA, and Emily couldn’t help but feel a little unsettled by that. The CIA had a pretty notorious reputation. She would be bugged and had been assigned an extraction code: Aniseed.
The restroom door opening startled her, and Emily span around to see Rossi standing there.
“The men’s room is next door, Dave.” She half-joked.
Dave nodded and walked closer. “I couldn’t say anything up there… but I don’t think you should do this.” He said softly. When Emily raised her brows in query, he continued. “That jagoff Jacobs doesn’t give a shit about you. He doesn’t give a shit about those women either. All he wants is to serve his own ego.”
“Fury in jail is all I want.” Emily told him.
Dave sighed. “You could get hurt, Emily.”
Emily smiled sadly. “It’s what we do, though, isn’t it? Any one of us could get hurt or killed on any one of these cases.”
“But we all have one another’s backs. This guy Jacobs would throw you to the sharks in a heartbeat and not blink twice so long as he gets a ‘win’ on his record.”
“That’s the CIA for you.” She agreed. “Look, thanks for caring, but… I’ve done this before, Dave. I know what I’m doing and I know the risks.” She chewed at her lip. “But, uh, can I ask a favour?”
Dave smiled. “Anything.”
“Please don’t judge me for the things I might have to do.”
Cupping her face gently, Dave’s smile broadened. “Did I judge you when you opened up to me a couple of months ago?”
“No.” she husked, moved by the softness, the love, in his eyes.
“And I will not judge you now.”