Elijah had woken up earlier after a.. Dream about Emily. He'd done his best to stay quiet and was cuddled into Reid's side. Although Reid had woken up, looking down at Elijah in his arms.

Elijah looked up at him, only then realizing he was awake,"Did I wake you?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Perfectly sure."

Elijah sighed and held Reid closer to him.

"If anything, the cats woke me up."

"..I can't stop thinking about her." Elijah shook his head.

"I know." Reid sighed, stroking his hair.

"Can you.. Could you read to me?" Elijah asked quietly.

"Of course." Reid leaned over to grab a book.

"Thank you." Elijah smiled softly.

"Any preference?"

"Just.. Anything. I need to hear your voice."

Reid nodded and grabbed a nearby book, beginning to read it aloud. Elijah smiled, feeling himself start to relax and fall back asleep.. Until his phone rang.

"What now?" He groaned.

Elijah grabbed the phone from his bedside table and answered it,"What?"

"Where are you?" JJ asked him.

"I'm in bed."

"Right- Sorry. We've got to come in." JJ sighed.

"Of course we do." Elijah mumbled.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head.

"It's fine- We'll be there." Elijah told her.

"Thank you." JJ hung up.

"A case this late?" Reid asked.

"Apparently, JJ just said we needed to come in." Elijah laid back down on Reid's chest,"..Do we have to go?"

"If we want paid..And to save people? Yeah." Reid nodded.

"Fine.. But could you recite something you know off by heart or something?" Elijah looked up at him.

"I will on the way there."

"Thank you." Elijah smiled softly.

*********************************

"It's too early to have a case, and to send it by voice message?" Fleur groaned as she got dressed.

"I know what you mean." Morgan pulled on a t-shirt,, squinting at the clock,"What time even is it?"

"Five? Six? I don't know, I need to wear my glasses more often." Fleur shook her head.

"You look cute with them on." Morgan commented.

"You think?" She hummed.

"I don't think. I know."

Fleur kissed his cheek as she grabbed her shirt.

Morgan smiled at her,"Then again, you always look cute."

"Merci." Fleur winked.

"You're welcome, princess." Morgan nodded as he walked up to her.

"I hope everything's okay." Fleur sighed.

"It will be." Morgan assured her,"We'll make sure of it."

*********************************

Garcia walked into the Conference Room where everyone but Hotch already was.

"Where's Hotch?" She blinked.

"Any minute." Rossi didn't look up from his screen.

"I didn't get a file sent to me. Did the case go directly to him?" Garcia sat down.

"Don't know." He shrugged.

"When's the last time he called a meeting this early?" Seaver asked.

"Three years, eight months ago." Reid answered.

"And what happened?"

"Gideon left." Fleur sighed.

"Who's leaving?" Elijah looked around.

"Nobody's leaving." Morgan assured them.

That's when Hotch walked in,"I appreciate everyone coming in early."

"What's going on?" Rossi asked.

"The director called a meeting last night to discuss budgets." Hotch told them.

"They skipped over Struass?" Fleur blinked.

"..She's away." Hotch shook his head before he contiued,"The Bureau is facing a lot of changes and this unit is no exception. Over the next few weeks, each of you is going to be asked if you'd like to stay with the unit."

"Why wouldn't we?" Reid looked around.

"There are other options out there for you. And while I want the unit to stay together, I understand completely if you want to see what alternatives there are." Hotch explained,"Morgan, there's been renewed interest in you from the New York Office."

"No one's called me." Morgan blinked.

"They will."

"That doesn't mean I'm gonna go." Morgan shrugged.

"No, I know." Hotch nodded.

"Are you staying here?" Seaver turned to Hotch.

"It is my intention. All I'm asking is that if you're contacted by another division, that you let me know." That's when Hotch's phone rang,"Hotchner.. Yes.. Right we can be there in twenty minutes. Virginia State Police believe they've uncovered a serial killer. They need us at Zacha Road and Route 7 as soon as possible. Morgan, you, Deans and Dave head out there."

"What about this?" Elijah asked him.

"We can talk about it later." Hotch nodded.

*********************************

"They get anything from the driver before he died?" Morgan asked as they walked to the car.

"Severe head tramua. He stopped making sense. State PD said they couldn't find any ID anywhere. Ran his prints, nothing." Rossi shook his head.

"Well, the guy's got to have a record. They're both young and healthy." Elijah sighed, lifting the sheet to look at the victims,"Guys, look at what he did to them. This can't be his first time."

"Just because he's bad doesn't mean he's been busted." Rossi mentioned.

"What about the VIN and plates?" Morgan questioned.

"Running them now."

"Both victims seem to have on some type of uniform. Shorts and tanks." Morgan pointed.

"Are we dealing with a cult?" Rossi suggested.

"That usually ends in suicide, not torture." Elijah shook his head,"I mean, he was beaten and strangled. And she was.."

"Completely different injuries. Looks like more than one offender." Rossi looked at the girl's injuries.

"They can't be more than twenty years old. Somebody's gotta be missing them." Morgan sighed, getting an image of the boy's fingerprint.

Garcia then called them once the fingerprints were sent over,"Here's the thing. I can't get prints unless they're on the missing persons list, which they are. Jake Wattay has been missing since December, and Paige Hawley since Febuary."

"Local kids?" Rossi asked.

"Not even remotely. Jake is from Arizona, Paige is from Ohio."

"Was he a junior at Arizona State?" Morgan tilted his head.

"Wait, how did- Wait, we consulted this case during Christmas." Garcia gasped.

"Yeah, he was academically burned out. We thought it was suicide." He nodded.

"The body was never found."

"Until now." Elijah sighed,"So how'd be end up 2000 miles away?"

"And they'd been missing for months. Why kill them now?" Morgan asked.

*********************************

The others were back at the Headquarters, with Andi Swann who had been brought in by Hotch.

"Do you know who did this?" Seaver asked her.

"I've been two steps behind an organisation that abducts college kids throughout the US." She nodded.

"How long have you been tracking them?"

"Three years, but this is the first time there's been an identifiable body." Andi shook her head.

"Do you think this is their work?" Reid tilted his head.

"It's definitely their type. Stressed out, vulnerable kids."

"They're all from good families, making them low risk for abduction." Seaver nodded.

"Yeah, young innocents are worth a lot more money." Fleur sighed.

"And they're harder to lure, so they hold onto them for a longer period of time." Hotch crossed his arms.

"How many victims are they holding at once?" Fleur leaned against the desk.

"That's hard to say. But from what I can tell, there's a lot of turnover." Andi answered.

"Customers don't want to see the same faces twice." Hotch mentioned.

"We don't think they travel with more than a handful of victims at one time." She added.

"They hunt all over the country. All they need is a car." Seaver shrugged.

"They might be low-tech but they're organized." Hotch nodded.

"And profitable." Reid added.

"The rumor is that they hold events for two days in metropolitan areas and then they disappear." Andi told them.

"What kind of events?" Reid leaned forward.

"Where top-paying customers can do things like this and worse to the victims." She gestured to the pictures on the board.

"It seems impossible to trace." Reid shook his head.

"We study their behaviour. They're not a good breed, but they're still human. They make a few mistakes." Andi explained,"We've also recently established an undercover unit."

"Wait, how can you infiltrate them? Wouldn't your agents have to commit a crime to be accepted as a customer?" Reid asked.

"Exactly. That's why we can't pose as buyers." Andi told him,"The entire system is set up to protect the customers, but there's no way to trace them from that end."

"Your agents go in as targets?" Seaver asked.

"I did, once." Fleur nodded.

"Do you have anybody under now?" Hotch asked.

"Locally, a few." Andi told him,"They're still establishing their backstories."

"They might be able to help." He nodded.

"I'll call." Andi grabbed her phone as she walked off.

*********************************

"When were they killed?" Morgan asked the coroner.

"Best guess is eight hours ago." The coroner answered,"Skin abrasions say he got a bare-knuckled beating before he was strangled."

"What about her?" Elijah looked over at Paige's body.

"Shallow cuts look like torture, but the fatal one was quick. Severed carotid. They had bruising around both of their necks, their arm and legs."

"So, they were dragged around." Morgan nodded.

"No sign of other restraints." He shrugged.

Elijah looked down at the bruises on Jake's neck,"Guys. The Unsub's hands must be huge."

"They've got mud and dirt on them, but no signs of being held for months." Rossi tilted his head.

"I gotta tell you, they don't look like typical missings." The coroner commented,"I usually see malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies, but not here."

"They were taken care of." Morgan realised.

"Preliminary blood results confirm that he has high levels of sildenafil citrate in his system, commonly used for erectile dysfunction." The coroner looked down at his sheet.

"Not surprising, probably uppers and downers too." Elijah shook his head.

"Yes. And she has mifepristone and misoprostol in her system." He added.

"What's that?" Rossi asked.

"She just had a medical abortion.. Can I ask what's going on here?" The coroner asked.

"We think they may be victims of a trafficking ring." Morgan told him.

"Evidence points there, except.."

"What?" Rossi raised a brow.

"Why would they take such good care of them and then turn around and kill them?" The coroner asked.

*********************************

"Most people pay in cash nowadays." The man at the gas station told them,"I've had to start charging more for credit cards."

"Well, in these hard times, people pay what, thirty, forty bucks?" Morgan guessed.

"That's about right, yeah." He nodded.

"Yeah, well this guy would have filled up his tank probably spent eighty."

"Your partner just did that." He commented as Rossi walked in.

Elijah shook his head,"What are you looking at?"

"I got a monitor down there." He looked at the computer.

"They got cameras." Morgan nodded to Rossi.

"I can show you them if you'd like."

"That would be helpful, yes." Elijah nodded, the three of them walking behind the desk.

"There." Rossi pointed once the video played.

After it played some more, Morgan held his hand out,"Back it up."

"He already paid." He cashier blinked.

"Where's he going?" Rossi shook his head.

Morgan looked out the window,"What's around this corner?"

"Bathrooms." The cashier answered,"Theyve been out of order for a couple days, though. My boss won't give me any money to fix them."

"Theres a payphone." Morgan walked towards the door.

"Garcia might be able to figure something out with that." Elijah nodded.

Morgan nodded, getting his phone out and called her.

"My love?" She answered.

"Hey, I need you baby girl."

"I need to be needed."

"Can you pull outgoing calls from a payphone?" He asked.

"Is that a hypothetical? Give me the digits." Garcia nodded.

"Let me see..It's 703-555-0123." Morgan told her.

"Okay. Outgoing call at 6:04am to a local number, which is a payphone." Garcia informed him.

"Is it close by?"

"Pharmacy's three miles away."

"Well, these guys cover their tracks. They don't even use disposable cells." Morgan sighed.

"Sorry I couldn't be more help." Garcia shook her head.

"No, actually you did. Local calls tell me that they're not in the middle of their journey. Those kids were killed somewhere close to here. Thanks mama." Morgan hung up.

*********************************

"I thought traffickers concentrated in port cities." Rossi shook his head.

"International ones do." Fleur nodded.

"Unfortunately, domestic traffickers abduct all over the country." Andi added.

"It doesn't appear like they stay in one location long after an abduction." Reid shook his head.

"They move quickly and efficiently. My guess was in a non-descript car and until this morning that was just a theory." Andi sighed.

"Well, they've lost their driver now, so they're in jeopardy." Elijah pointed.

"And it's all about survival for them. They'll move out tonight." Rossi tilted his head.

"But they've got customers and victims lined up. They don't want to lose the money." Hotch shook his head.

"And their location hasn't been compromised yet." Seaver mentioned.

"Who knows where they're gonna end up." Andi sighed.

"Well, based on Reid's theory, we need to see if Renee had been to any clubs before she disappeared." Morgan leaned backwards.

"She went to the local clubs. She'd report back if anyone suspicious approached her." Andi nodded,"We followed the leads, nothing panned out."

"What was the last club?"

"Scotty's in Georgetown." She told them,"If they find out she's an agent, she's dead."

*********************************

"We need to look at this from the leader's point of view. A group like this requires a strong leader." Hotch sighed.

"Yeah, this guy's in charge of some unstable personalities." Andi nodded.

"Do you have any theories?" Rossi asked.

"I have always thought he lead through fear, but this guy can always blackmail his whole team." Andi told them.

"Look at the progression of this network though. They started abducting victims for sex and then adapted to killing." Reid mentioned.

"Because he saw the growth potential in his assests." Elijah nodded,"Instead of just disposing of them, he made it into a show."

"That's why the victims are so young. Customers will pay top dollar to see them tortured." Fleur sighed

"The average guy doesn't have that kind of money lying around. So they're successful." Rossi crossed his arms.

"And incredibly deviant. That's their big secret. If it was revealed, they'd be ruined." Morgan realised.

"Okay, so they have to criminally prove themselves to join the club. If they're upstanding citizens, how do they do that?" Reid asked.

"It could be a white collar crime like money laundering." Morgan suggested.

"Thats often done through real estate." Andi nodded slowly.

"Who owned the clubs in which the victims went missing?" Hotch asked Garcia.

"Bruce Harmon owns the club in Arizona." She answered.

"And in Ohio?"

"Bob Moore."

"And Scotty's in Georgetown?" Andi raised a brow.

"Bob Moore is a partner in that." She nodded.

"Do either of them own property in Virginia?"

"Moore is also a partner in the development of a private facility." Garcia informed them.

"What happened to it?" Andi asked.

"Looks like bad guys go through hardships too. Financiers pulled all the money out in 2009, so it isn't anything." Garcia told her.

"What was it?" Andi walked over to the table.

"It was supposed to be a tough-love rehab centre." Garcia explained,"But now it's just an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere."

"With a lot of acreage and mud." Fleur cursed.

"How close to the gas station?" Elijah asked.

"Eight miles west." Garcia nodded.

"Let's go." Hotch sighed, standing up.

*********************************

The team drove to the warehouse and were now stood outside, having rescued all of the girls and arrested the customers. Although they still couldn't find who the ring leader was.

"How's she doing?" Hotch asked Andi, who was stood by an ambulance.

"She's still out, but her vitals are good." Andi nodded as she watched her Agent go in the ambulance,"She's gonna make it."

"This is the last one." Seaver nodded as she walked over.

"How many arrests?" Hotch asked.

"Eighteen." She answered, walking off.

"And seven victims saved." Fleur sighed.

"Hey! Stop that vehicle!" They heard an officer shout, as other began firing at a red van.

Everyone began shooting at the van as he crashed into a lamppost. They quickly approached the van, guns raised. The SWAT Agent opened the driver's door and took the man's pulse and shook his head. Dead. Fleur then heard crying from the back so she opened the door and held up her gun... Only to see a girl.

"They were going to take me away.." The teary-eyed girl whimpered.

"We need to get you some help." Fleur quickly holsted her gun, helping the girl out

"I'm fine- I'm fine.." She nodded,"I'm Lucy.."

"We know what happened here." Fleur assured her.

"No, you dont."

"..Yeah, you're right. I can't imagine." Fleur shook her head.

"I just don't wanna get strapped down again." Lucy sighed.

"Strapped down?" Fleur slowly stopped, remembering that they weren't restrained,"How long have you been gone?"

"..They got me when I was seventeen." She nodded.

"Mhm." Fleur stepped back.

"But.. They go after older ones now." Lucy added.

"Y'know what? Why don't I give you a ride?"

She crossed her arms,"You know, you don't have to come with me."

"No, it's okay." Fleur assured her.

"Fleur!" Hotch called to her as he and Andi started running towards her, they must've realized too.

Fleur quickly went to grab her gun as Lucy pulled out her's, pulling the trigger. But Lucy was the one who fell to the ground, dead, from a single gunshot wound to her stomach. Fleur looked to the side and saw Morgan slowly pulling down his gun as she walked backwards.

"You okay?" Morgan asked as he holstered his gun.

Fleur nodded,"Are you? You took a beating back there."

"I'm fine." Morgan assured her, walking over to her.

*********************************

The Agents finally got back to the BAU, pulling down their evidence. Morgan, Fleur and Garcia walking through to the Conference Room, Morgan rubbing his arm.

"What happened to you?" Reid raised a brow.

"Guy was huge. Seriously." Morgan chuckled.

"You should start working out." He nodded.

"You got jokes now?" Morgan looked at him.

"Mhm." Reid smiled, holding back his giggles.

"What is it, kid?" Rossi looked at Seaver, causing Elijah to clench his fists briefly.

"We only rescued seven victims today." She looked down at the missing posters she held,"What about the rest of these?"

"It never ends." Fleur answered honestly.

"But today, I think we did good." Elijah hummed.

"Yeah, we did." Rossi nodded.

"Yeah, if we weren't so exhausted I would toast us." Garcia sighed.

"Good work today everyone." Hotch hummed,"Go home and get some rest. Nobody needs to come in until nine.. Thirty."

With that, he smiled and left, leaving the others looking around in the Conference Room.

"We were supposed to talk.." Garcia stopped,"Has he ever left before us?"

"Babygirl, I don't blame him. It's been a long ass day." Morgan sighed.

"Well, you heard the man. Go home." Rossi nodded.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Fleur grabbed her coat.

"Hey, is anyone hungry?" Reid asked.

"Starving." Seaver hummed.

"There's this super good Indian restaurant. It's a little ways away but it's open twenty-four hours and they have amazing chicken tandoori." Reid explained.

"I'm in." Fleur raised her hand.

"Only if you're paying, pretty boy. It's your turn." Elijah hummed.

"I'll pay for us, but not everyone." He chuckled.

"Fine by me." Elijah smiled.