[1.3]

APRIL BERRY STARED AT THE CRIME SCENE PHOTOs THAT WERE IN HER FILE ON HER DESK.

She ran her fingers through her blonde hair.

Pipe bombs packed in cardboard boxes. Mercury activated switches, meaning they couldn't have been sent through the mail. Which meant they were targeting specific people. Terrorism, unlikely. But still a possibility.

The blonde woman quickly gathered up the photos before getting into the elevator. This wasn't only a job for her, but she needed the BAU on it, too.

She stepped out of the elevator and was immediately met with SSA Gideon and Hotchner, "Sir, I'm assuming you've seen the news this morning?"

"Yes, follow me." The three of them began walking towards the bullpen, 

April handed them a file, "Clurman's was the second bombing this morning, both in residential neighborhoods in Palm Beach."

"Homeland security been notified?" Agent Gideon asked,

Agent Berry nodded, "And ATF. In addition to a profile, they want a threat assessment."

"Is the media onto it?" Gideon looked over at SSA Hotchner, 

"Of course. Jj's keeping tabs on that." The Unit Chief answered, 

"What do we know about the bombs?" Gideon asked as Hotchner opened the door into the bullpen for them,

"I've had ATF send me photos of bomb fragments and I also forwarded them to your Agent Morgan. He also has an ATF background so I had him take a look." April responded, nodding at Hotchner in thanks.

The three of them went up into the conference room where photos of the bomb fragments were scattered amongst the table for everyone to look at.

"This is Agent Berry. She's apart of the Critical Incident Response Group." SSA Hotchner introduced the blonde to the team,

"I specialise in bomb threats and hostage negotiations." April smiled, shaking their hands, "I'm here to make a threat assessment to confirm this isn't a terrorist threat."

"Pipe bombs." Gideon stated, looking at the images,

"Packed in cardboard boxes." SSA Morgan continued,

"Package bombs." Hotchner stated,

"Sent through the mail?" Gideon asked,

"No," Morgan answered, "The other picture in your hand is of the switch that ATF found. Same mechanism for both bombs, mercury-activated."

"What does that mean?" Agent Greenaway asked,

"There are contacts to a detonator on either end of a bent tube full of mercury." Dr. Reid explained to her,

"What it means is all you have to do is to tilt the package to detonate it." Morgan finished,

"So they couldn't have been sent through the mail." April stated, "The bomber had to deliver them himself. They're targeting specific people, but we haven't found a clear connection between them yet. We don't want to raise the terror alarm yet but we need to find motive as soon as possible."

"Strange way to commit an act of terrorism. Why go to all this trouble to kill just a few people?" Hotchner asked,

"Let's recommend not raising the terror alert level for now. No reason to spread panic." Gideon told April and she nodded,

A blonde entered the room,  We got news." She turned on the tv, "This is just a local channel, but the coverage is everywhere now- CNN, FOX, MSNBCc, Al-Jazeera, you name it."

April sighed, "So much for not spreading panic."

"According to doctors, he's badly injured, but in stable condition in the I. C. U. Now, neighbors say that they heard a blast at about 10:30 this morning, and police arrived-" The news reporter informed its audience,

"If DHS doesn't raise the terror alert now, they'll look weak." Agent Gideon stated,

"Make sure homeland security knows that this is everywhere." Hotchner told Agent Jareau and the blonde nodded before turning to leave the room,

An explosion lit up the screen and April jumped. She pulled out her phone to call her office when Hotchner spoke, "Looks like we're going to Palm Beach. Let's meet at the airstrip in 20."

He looked down at Agent Berry, "You coming?"

She gave him a sharp nod, "Yes, sir."

It wasn't long before they were in the jet and flying towards Florida, "The bombings occurred within 3 miles of each other. First victim was a 74-year-old widow, Barbara Keller. 2 hours after that, Clurman got hit in his driveway, and 45 minutes later... Well, we all saw that." April stated, reading it off her file,

Besides living near each other, there was no other connection to the connections that were obvious. But it made April think that maybe the bomber lived or worked in the area.

"Jill Swenson, 34-year-old housewife who lived across the street from Clurman." Agent Hotchner stated as he sat next to April, "Of the 3, only Clurman survived."

"Was there any connection between the victims?" Dr. Reid asked,

"One." Hotchner stated and April sat up more to pay attention, "Clurman was a partner in a $10-million condo development deal in which Keller was an investor, and a few weeks ago, the whole deal went bust."

April raised her eyebrows, "Went bust how?"

"Geologists discovered that the land was on methane, the condos never got built, the land became worthless, and Clurman lost a lot of people and a lot of money." He answered,

"So maybe one of them was mad enough to take aim at Clurman." Dr. Reid suggested, 

"No, let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's a little too early to theorize about motive." Gideon stated,

April shook her head, "I need to know if they're targeting at random or specific people. If the motive is terror, I need to inform my unit chief. But if it's something else, then we can deal with that."

"First we need to start from the beginning." Gideon stated, "What do we know about bombers?"

"Mostly male, loners, history of criminal activity." April replied,

"About 50% of all bombings are actually a product of vandalism." Dr. Reid commented,

"And more often than not, bombers end up accidentally blowing themselves up, so the first suspects you always look for in the bombing case are the victims." Hotch stated,

"Clurman was the only male. Losing a large business deal like that could be a powerful stressor." Agent Greenaway said, 

Gideon opened the file in front of him, "Well, then there's the crime scene. Clurman was the only victim who didn't get hit at his door. Why? What was different about this one?"