#danny wallace | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gryfflepuffinthetardis · 1 month ago

Text

Poison

Season One Masterlist

What Fresh Hell?

Riding the Lightning

Summary: The apparent spiking of citizens of a town in New Jersey, puts the BAU on the trail of a poisoner who may not be done.

Warning: Serial poisoning, Implication of sexual assault,

“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” — Buddha

January 15, 2006

On January thirteenth, a teacher, Jack Fisher and his son, Eric Fisher were driving at night from the movies when Jack got out to change the tire before going suddenly crazy and attacking Eric in a frenzy, nearly beating the boy the death with a tire iron. Eric was in a coma but Jack continuously insisted that he didn't hurt his son.

The team watched the recording of the interview the detective, Hanover did.

"State trooper took this before the paramedics showed up." Hanover said, showing Jack a picture of the state his son had been found in. "He's unconscious. Has four broken bones. He's going to be in the hospital for a month..."

Jack slammed his handcuffed hands on the metal table in frustration, "I didn't hurt my son!"

"Do you remember removing the tire iron from the trunk?" Hanover asked.

"No. No!" Jack said.

"What's the last thing you do remember?"

"I picked Eric up from school. Friday, for the weekend. What day is this?" Jack said.

JJ paused the video so Hotch could speak, "This happened two days ago in Beachwood, New Jersey. Mister Fisher had ingested LSD one afternoon and didn't come down until eighteen hours later."

"The hospital reported six other patients who ingested LSD in the last twenty-four hours." JJ said. "The hospital called the CDC. The CDC called us."

"So a bunch of people got spiked. What makes it a BAU case?"

"Am I reading this right? Have I finally cracked? Has my cyclothymia turned into Bipolar?" Zoe asked in her usual deadpan, "The average dose of LSD is twenty-five to one hundred and fifty micrograms. This is twenty times that. This is three thousand micrograms of LSD? That's three milligrams. That's enough to kill a small child."

"Or cause a grown man to kill him with a tire iron." Elle said.

"Of the seven victims, there was one death and one coma." JJ said, "This is from hospital security footage the same night Fisher lost it."

JJ pushed play on the remote, showing a video of a medical hospital this time. There seemed to be chaos, people on the screen were shouting and seemed to be panicked. One person was being pushed in a gurney, having a seizure.

"These people didn't get spiked. These people were poisoned." Gideon said.

———————————————————————————

Roman philosopher Lucretius wrote, "What is food to one, is to others bitter poison."

They were on the jet when JJ told them of the only death, handing them a photo. "Of the seven victims, Gail Norman was the only death. She was seventy-eight. Ran out in the middle of the road and was hit by a car. She was DOA."

Hotch placed down a picture of a young girl in a Christmas sweater, "The other potentially fatal case is nine-year-old Britney Cannon. She fell out of a tree house and fractured her skull. She's in a coma and the doctors don't know if she's going to come out of it."

"How do you want to handle the press?" Gideon asked.

"We still don't even know how these people got dosed. I think it would be irresponsible to issue a warning without specifics." JJ said, "It'll just cause panic. I did notify the local P.D., though, to be discreet."

"How is it possible that none of these people knew how they got poisoned?" Morgan asked.

"None of them remembers anything about the day it happened." Hotch replied.

"There could be another drug that was used that caused the memory loss that they just didn't scan for." Zoe suggested.

"And these people were so messed up it's made it difficult for local P.D. to retrace the victims' steps." JJ said.

"So we need to go on precedent." Gideon said. "We know there are four types of poisoners who target multiple victims."

"There's the True Believer—the political terrorists-slash-religious cult." Alexander listed the first.

"There's the Extortionist—a product tamperer who holds a business hostage in exchange for money." Morgan said.

"Or the Prankster. Usually a younger offender who doesn't mean any harm. And it's basically just a big practical joke." Elle said.

"And the Avenger—someone with a personal vendetta who chooses poison as their weapon." Hotch finished.

"So we need to find out as quickly as possible which type he is. Because with the exception of the prankster, all these types commonly test their poison on a small scale before carrying out a larger attack." Gideon explained.

"Let's hope this was just a prank." Morgan said.

"I would suggest we split up the victims and see if there's a pattern to the victimology." Gideon said.

"Most of them are still at the hospital. I'll call local P.D. to meet us there." Hotch said.

"I'll check the lab reports. Maybe there's a clue to the UnSub's motive in the specific nature of the poison he used." Spencer suggested.

"I can't imagine anybody could want this to happen."

———————————————————————————

Zoe, Gideon, Alexander, and Hotch stood outside Eric Fisher's hospital room where the mom sat by her son's side. Alexander could help but remember Zoe in her coma when she was twelve.

The detective who had spoken to Jack Fisher on the tape came up to them, shaking their hands. "Detective Hanover, Beachwood P.D."

"Agent Hotchner. This is Agent Gideon, Agent Noble, and Doctor Noble-Valdez." Hotch introduced.

"Thanks for coming down on such short notice." Hanover said and looked into the room where most of the agents were still looking. "Doctors said he may have permanent brain damage. I've never seen anything like this."

"Well, let's hope we can help." Hotch said.

"Have you had a chance to review the victim's files?" Hanover asked.

"We're especially interested in talking to the boy's father." Alexander said.

"We'd like to get a sense of why he turned violent." Hotch explained, "

"While the lab analyses the specific nature of the LSD he was dosed with, we'd like to get our own sense." Zoe explained, "Was it the drug itself or was it something else going on?"

"And hopefully that can give us a little bit of a window into the motive of the offender." Alexander added.

"Well, he's in the psych ward." Hanover said.

"Yeah, we'll keep it short." Zoe promised.

———————————————————————————

Zoe and Alexander entered Fisher's room, they had decided that the father-daughter nature would provide some insight on Fisher.

"Mister Fisher?"

"Shrink or cop?" Fisher sighed.

"Well, my daughter and I here are FBI profilers. So I guess, we're a little of each." Alexander said. "I'm Alexander Noble, this is Zoe Noble-Valdez."

Fisher just sighed.

"I can't imagine what you've been through." Alexander sympathized, "I understand you recently divorced your wife. Can you tell us why?"

"What do you want to know? Was I angry about the divorce? I mean was I... Was I so angry that I wanted to hurt my son to get back at her?" Fisher's voice was raw with emotion and tired from how many times he had gone over this. "Is that what you want to know?"

"Were you?" Alexander.

"Let me tell you something about my wife, okay? About what she did. In my house. In my bed. With the investment banker next door." Fisher said, his voice breaking occasionally, again from emotion, "But you want to know what the worst part is? My son, Eric, he's angry with me. She's the cheater. And he's angry at me. Me!"

"What did you do? Did you want to hurt her?"

"Of course." Fisher admitted.

"And the kid. I mean it's her kid, right? I mean, he takes her side. You want to crush him, too? You want to shut his obnoxious little mouth up for good?" Alexander said, not believing a word he said.

"No! No. He doesn't understand." Fisher insisted.

"Why?" Zoe asked, "He took her side. I'm sure it's not the first time he's done that, sir."

"No. Eric. Oh, oh, Eric. Why did this happen to you?" Fisher cried and he hit his head against the wall, "Why did this happen to you?" He started to do it more as he became more hysterical, "Why? Why? Why?"

Zoe jumped up, "Mister Fisher. Mister Fisher!" She used her hand to soften the blow to his head when he hit it as the male nurses came to restrain him.

Zoe and Alexander left and rejoined Hotch and Gideon, now joined by Spencer, Elle, and Morgan.

"He's raw, broken, and seriously pissed off." Alexander said.

"But he didn't hurt the son to get back at the mother." Hotch finished.

"Not consciously, no." Alexander said, "The rage was real, but understandable".

"And he never apologized. When he lost control, he didn't even say, 'Eric, I'm sorry.' He said, 'Eric, why'd this happen to you?' He never even confessed to hurting the kid."

"So the drugs tapped into the rage, but didn't cause it." Hotch theorized.

"That's my guess." Alexander said.

"That's consistent with information we just received from the lab tox screens. They didn't find any trace of PCP or any other drug indicating the UnSub was intentionally trying to make people violent, but they did find traces of Rohypnol in all the victims." Spencer explained.

"A central nervous system depressant. It's similar to Valium, only ten times more potent. It's commonly known as a roofie, or a date rape drug." Zoe explained, "And one of the side effect is amnesia which explains why none of the victims remember how they were poisoned."

"Exactly." Spencer nodded.

"We compared notes on the victims we talked to. So far, there doesn't seem to be any pattern as to who got hit." Morgan said. "Maybe the drugs themselves can explain what type of offender we're dealing with. A lot of kids are using LSD and Rohypnol these days. Fisher's a high school teacher.

"So it may be a prank after all." Gideon suggested.

"Yeah, one that went horribly wrong." Hotch commented.

"You know, I'm going to get a list of students from Fisher. See you later." Elle said and she left towards Fisher's room.

Hotch's phone rang, "Hotch. Okay, we'll be right there." He hung up and spoke to his team, "Cops may have figured out where everybody was dosed."

——————————————————————————

Hotch, JJ, and Gideon went to a restaurant that four out of seven of the victims had gone to the day they had reported the symptoms. It turned out that a busboy was a high school kid who had suddenly called in sick for his shift, Danny Wallace.

Zoe and Elle went to check the school but Danny wasn't there or at his house, so they were coming up to Danny's girlfriend's house.

They rang the doorbell, taking out their badges and a teenage girl opened the door.

"Samantha?"

"Yeah?" She asked.

"We're with the FBI. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Elle asked.

Samantha wordlessly opened the door for them, inviting them to come in.

Samantha sat on a couch, and Elle sat in a chair while Zoe stood.

"Where are your parents?" Zoe asked.

"Working." Samantha said. "What do you want?"

"Well, you didn't go to school today, Samantha." Zoe said.

"And neither did your boyfriend." Elle said.

"I'm sick." Samantha said.

Zoe's eyes fell to Samantha's collar shown by her sweater. A recent bruise and there were more along her neck.

Zoe moved across and sat next to Samantha, "Can I ask you something personal? I think that something might have happened to you. You wanna tell me about it?"

"I don't know. I don't remember." Samantha said.

"I understand." Zoe said, "I have some missing memories as well, so let's try a little bit at a time. What do you remember?"

"He took me someplace on his motorcycle. I-I remember... waking up. I w—I was naked, I was all beat up. And-and he was there, above me... hol-holding me down." She confessed.

"Who was?" Elle asked.

"Danny." Samantha said.

The home phone rang and Samantha reached for it, "I called the doctor earlier. It could be her. Hello?"

There was a faint voice that Zoe and Elle could hear over the phone, "Samantha, listen to me. Don't hang up." Samantha stiffened and made direct eye contact with Zoe, "Do you hear me?

"Keep him talking." Zoe whispered.

"Samantha?"

"What do you want?" Samantha asked.

"Someone's there. Who did you call?"

"Why do you think someone's here?" Samantha asked.

Zoe and Elle got up, looking out the window,

"Don't mess with me, Samantha. Don't do it. If you say anything..." Then the phone clicked.

"He hung up." Samantha said.

Zoe took her hands when Samantha put down the phone.

"Come with me." She took Samantha to the door where Elle already was, "You're going to call 911. And as soon as we leave you lock the door behind us. Okay?"

Elle got on her phone as they exited the house, hearing it lock behind them.

"Well, he's near his girlfriend's house. Hillcrest and Maple and... I can't see the other cross street. Yeah. Okay."

There was the sound of a motorcycle engine revving and Elle and Zoe took out their guns.

Zoe made a beeline to behind a white RV. Zoe stepped behind the van, pointing her gun at the back of a boy's head on his motorcycle.

"Danny Wallace. Stop! FBI!" She said and Elle joined her, pointing her gun at Danny as well. "You put your hands on top of your head. Off the bike."

Danny obeyed, getting off his bike as Elle approached, "On your head." She grabbed and pushed him roughly.

"Elle." Zoe warned. They had to keep in mind that Samantha may have been dosed as well, she had no memory of the incident.

Elle handcuffed Danny's hands behind his back. "This isn't what you had in mind when you skipped school today, is it, Danny?

———————————————————————————

Elle and Hanover sat across from Danny as Zoe stood with her arms crossed.

"You want to tell us about Saturday night, Danny?" Hanover asked.

"I didn't do anything." He insisted. "Samantha doesn't know what she's talking about."

"A lot of people saw you together at the cafe on Saturday night." Elle said, standing up with a judgemental tone in her voice. "What did you decide to do, Danny? Dose the common milk so that nobody would know that you just wanted to roofie your girlfriend?"

"That's not true." Danny protested.

"Sex was an issue in your relationship. She told me about it. She wasn't prepared to give it up so you decided to take it." Elle spat.

That wasn't exactly what Samantha had said.

"No." Danny scoffed.

"She had bruises all over her body, Danny. You hit her."

"Well, I didn't mean to. She was freaking out, punching me." Danny explained, "She was on something and I was just trying to help her. I was trying to hold her down."

"She was hitting you, but you still had sex with her?" Elle shouted.

"No." Danny scoffed again.

"Then what, Danny?" Hanover asked.

"Well, it was after! After we did it!" Danny exclaimed, "We fell asleep. But when she woke up she was seeing things."

"What things?" Elle asked.

"Look, she was on something. And if it was acid or whatever, I've taken that. You give that to someone without telling them, it doesn't exactly set the mood." Danny pointed out.

He had a point as Morgan pointed out behind the glass, "The kid is right about that. If he wanted to slip a girl a date-rape drug, why did he give her LSD, too?"

Danny seemed too scared to not be telling the truth.

They came to the conclusion that Danny working at the cafe was just a coincidence and Samantha was just an eighth victim. They deduced that the Rohypnol was used to make the victims forget how they got dosed which was much too organized for a high school prank which ruled out the Prankster profile.

There hadn't been any kind of ransom demand, which ruled out the Extortionist type. No invisible political group or cult in the area which ruled out True Believer. Which left them with the Avenger.

———————————————————————————

They gave the profile at the station.

We believe whoever poisoned these people was motivated by revenge." Hotch announced to the police officers,

"The randomness of the victimology. Average people in an average-sized town, all points to a local resident." Morgan said.

"We know that people who poison for the purposes of revenge primarily act alone." Elle said.

"However, he may have manipulated someone close to him to assist him." Hotch said

"The UnSub usually disposes of these accomplices when they are of no further use to him." Alexander said.

"The UnSub is likely a cautious, deliberate, and highly functioning male between the ages of thirty-five and fifty."

"He chose LSD for a reason. LSD is about altering perception." Zoe explained, "We think that this UnSub is striking out because he feels that he's been inaccurately perceived by the community or a subset of it. He feels that these attacks will affect and alter a reality that he is caught in that he perceives to be unjust."

"He's so self-centered he believes his victims will know the reason for the attack and who did it." Hotch said.

"This individual was savvy enough to use Rohypnol to obstruct our investigation, erasing the memories of the victims of how they were poisoned." Spencer explained.

"Hold on, if this guy believes that his victims know who he is, why is he covering his tracks?" Hanover asked.

"Because these victims aren't his primary targets." Gideon answered.

"We know from precedent that this kind of offender, the Avenger, tests his weapon first. This attack was a test run." Hotch explained.

"A test run for what?" Hanover asked.

"We don't know yet." Hotch said, "What we do know is this is not the first time he's aired his grievances. While it's not likely that he has a criminal record, it is possible that he has filed criminal charges or pursued a civil action against his perceived adversaries. And now to measure the results of his test, he's watching."

"And he wants to see the results of his test." Gideon said, "Once he has them, all those years of pent-up rage will be unleashed in the form of a larger attack. The profile indicates a lot of people could die."

JJ entered the room, going to Hotch, "We had a leak."

They put on the local news where a reporter named Suzanna Whang was speaking, "That's right, Steve, neighbors became aware something was wrong when a local Beachwood restaurant closed early. From inside sources, we learned that representatives of the CDC began testing food inside the restaurant this morning."

"If you're going to report the story, name the restaurant." Gideon hoped.

"Though unconfirmed, we were told that some of the food had apparently been tainted with hallucinogenic drugs."

"Name the restaurant."

"Before we do confirm all of this, we will not release the name of the restaurant," Gideon lowered his head and closed his eyes, "we'll only say it's a Beachwood area favorite." Who cares? "This is Suzanne Whang reporting live from Beachwood. Back to you, Steve."

JJ turned off the TV and sighed, "They didn't name the restaurant."

"What is it?" Hanover asked.

"Call the local hospital. Make sure they know what's coming." Gideon said and moved past JJ as she got on the phone, "Excuse me."

"Where do your 911 calls get routed?" Hotch asked.

"There's a county phone bank. They contact first responders, the fire department." Hanover asked, confused about this.

"Alert them, too. They're going to need additional personnel and any other backup you've got, auxiliary cops. You're going to have to call them."

"But why?"

"Because we're going to have a heck of a time just calming people down." Hotch replied. "And we really don't need the confusion to interfere with our investigation.

"Look, you want me to start making those calls?" An officer asked.

"No, no, no, no. Hey! Hey! Everybody please shut up for a minute!" Hanover shouter, sick of not having the straight answer. "Tell me what this is all about."

Then all the phones started to ring.

"Panic." Zoe said.

——————————————————————————

A little bit later, JJ got off the phone and came to them, "I just got off with the hospital. They're swamped with over fifty potential poisonings from local restaurants. But no hallucinations.

"Another poisoning?" Morgan asked.

"Or maybe more hysteria." Hotch said.

"We've looked into any civil or criminal complaints from employees, ex-employees, suppliers, regulars of the café. Not one good lead." Hanover said.

"There's got to be somebody connected to that café who'll pop as a suspect." Gideon said.

"Morgan, you want to go back there? See if we can find another angle?" Elle asked.

"Couldn't hurt."

"I should go to the hosptial and see if any of the new poisonings seem legit." Zoe said.

"Good idea. JJ, you and Reid go with her." Hotch agreed.

"JJ, you, Zoe, and Reid go to the hospital. See if any of the poisonings seem legit.

———————————————————————————

"I really can't talk right now. We just got hammered." A nurse told JJ, Zoe, and Spencer.

"Listen. Most of these food poisonings are probably psychogenic." Zoe said before she could shuffle off.

"What makes you think that?"

"A news broadcast just reported a local restaurant was poisoned. Now, it would be a huge coincidence if there was another poisoning right after that aired." Zoe explained.

"So what do you want me to do?

"Help us figure out which cases, if any, are real." Spencer said.

"People are coming in with all kinds of complaints." The nurse said, "But there's at least one case that isn't psychogenic. She's barely breathing."

"Can you take us to the doctor that's treating that patient?" Zoe asked.

"I'll call Hotch." JJ said and Zoe and Spencer were escorted to the doctor.

The doctor brought the young agents to the patient, Lynn Dempsy, explaining her situation, "When the patient got here. Couldn't remember anything about her day and her speech was so slurred I could barely understand her."

"Sounds like Rohypnol. Did you test her?" Zoe asked.

"She was positive for Rohypnol, negative for LSD." The doctor said as Lynn coughed into her oxygen mask, "But we're running more tests because Rohypnol alone doesn't explain her symptoms. She presented with nausea, difficulty swallowing, and labored breathing. She was also having trouble moving her legs."

"How long has she been sick?" Zoe asked.

"She didn't know. I could barely understand her when she first got here. Now she can't speak at all." The doctor said.

"Do you know of biological agents that have that similar symptom? Ricin, sarin gas." Spencer asked.

"Do you think this is a biological attack?"

"You can't rule anything out."

"Something makes Miss Demsey different than the other attacks." Zoe added.

"I'll order a few more tests." The doctor decided.

———————————————————————————

Zoe stayed in Lynn's room when Hotch came. JJ and Spencer went to the counter with him as he made phone calls. Zoe sat by Lynn's side, looking over her sheet when she saw something in the corner of her eye and saw Lynn looking at her.

"Spencer!" Zoe called, getting up, "I think she's trying to say something."

"The en..." Lynn said through her mask as Zoe and JJ joined Zoe.

"The end?" JJ asked.

"She may be incoherent from lack of oxygen." Spencer said.

"No, both of you, shush. She's trying to speak." Zoe shushed them.

"It's the en..." Lynn tried again but then she started choking.

"Miss Demsey? Lynn?" Zoe asked, starting to sound worried. "Call the doctor."

While the doctors worked on Lynn, Spencer and JJ asked Zoe, the medical doctor, some questions. Zoe had ushered them away from Lynn and the doctors, Spencer noticed Zoe's body language was much different now, she was hunched with her arms crossed and she kept glancing back, anxiously at Lynn. Hotch joined them after a bit.

"Zoe, what are the chances that she's not poisoned? That maybe she just got some bad food?"

Zoe raised her eyebrows at her and said, "Highly improbable. Chances are basically zero."

"What is the rate of survival?"

"At this dose? Without antitoxin? Zero." Zoe said in a hushed voice.

"Zoe, what aren't you saying?" Hotch asked.

"I can't be sure without the tests but I suspect it's Botulism." Zoe revealed.

"Are you sure?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, I've had it before. Multiple times." Zoe said, darkly, "I know the symptoms." She looked back, "But I always had the antitoxin. I'd guess, she had a small amount and now..."

"Doctor, her BP is dropping rapidly." A nurse said.

"It's sepsis." The doctor said, "Give another amp of epi.

"She's going into v-fib."

"She's crashing. Get the paddles."

"Charging to two hundred." The nurse said.

"Clear."

"Nothing. Charging to three hundred."

"Clear."

"Still nothing."

"The test run is over." Zoe said.

———————————————————————————

They went back to the station, "Lynn Dempsey was an executive assistant. She has no expertise with chemicals. She doesn't fit the profile of the UnSub." Gideon said, after reading her file.

"But the CDC found both LSD and Rohypnol in the candies she was replacing at the bank." Morgan said.

"She must have been an accomplice." Alexander said.

"And when the UnSub finished using her to further his attack, he killed her with botulism.

"So what does that tell us about the UnSub?" Gideon asked.

"That he's far more sophisticated than we realized." Spencer said.

"Why is that?" Elle asked.

"Botulinum toxin, also known as miracle poison, is one of the most poisonous biological substances known to man." Zoe said.

"It blocks acetylcholine receptors, paralyzing its victims until basically choking you to death." Spencer added.

“Its symptoms include fatigue, weakness, vertigo, abdominal swelling, double and/or blurred vision, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, difficulty moving the eyes, difficulty breathing, then it leads to paralysis that can cause respiratory failure.” Zoe nodded, speaking with a slight cynical tone shift.

"Without an antitoxin, a lethal dose will kill you in thirty-six hours." Spencer explained.

"How many people have access to this stuff?" Elle asked and Zoe let out a dark ironic chuckle at that question.

"In New Jersey, quite a few. It's the pharmaceutical and chemical capital of the US The toxin can be ordered in the form of BOTOX through any chemical or biological lab or BOTOX clinic." Spencer explained. "It has to be purified, but any chemist or lab assistant has that capability."

"So we're looking for chemists and sophisticated lab assistants?" Elle asked.

"Basically."

"Okay, wait a minute. If the UnSub is a chemist with access to the toxin, what did he need Dempsey for?" Morgan asked.

"Well, we don't know, yet." Gideon said, "But she worked for a... She worked for a company called..." Gideon started going through the papers in Lynn's file, ""Where'd it go? Where'd it go?" He found it, "Hichcock Pharmaceuticals." He leaned back in his chair to address his team, "I think there's a good chance the UnSub worked there, too.

"Well, let's start with people who fit the profile who've had a recent stressor. Like anybody fired from Hichcock in the past six months." Morgan suggested.

They called Garcia (and by "they", I mean Morgan, of course,) and she said over the speakerphone, "Hichcock's a giant company, Sugar Shack. There were over a hundred people fired just this past year."

"And so far none of them fit the profile?" Morgan asked.

"No. But I do have thirty names of people who were downsized and shunted off to other lame companies with a cut in pay and benefits."

"All right, send us the names. We'll cross-reference them with civil and criminal complaints filed with local P.D." Morgan said, "But I want you to keep digging. And while you're at it, look for any connection to the First New Jersey Federal Bank.

"I'm on it, sugar." Garcia said and Morgan hung up.

"Our guy's acting like a workplace mass murderer. He'd stay close, seething, and he'd plan his revenge." Hotch said.

"Well, if he is a workplace killer, what else does that tell us about him?" Elle asked.

"Well, for one, they don't give themselves up." Alexander explained. "He's lost his empathy, his moral compass. He's capable of anything."

"All those innocent people at the bank." Elle mused.

"They meant nothing to him." Gideon said, "He'll take out anybody to forward his cause.

"Like Dempsey."

"Yeah, he subjected her to thirty-eight hours of suffocating." Zoe said. "But he won't even spare himself in pursuit of his goal."

"But not until he finishes taking out his primary targets though." Gideon said.

"We have no idea where he's going to strike next. For all we know, he could poison a local reservoir." Morgan said.

"Well, local cops haven't gotten any leads out of Dempsey. Why don't you go to Hitchcock, see if you have any luck." Hotch suggested.

———————————————————————————

Morgan and Gideon had been looking over admittedly brutal lay-offs when Garcia called. Lynn Dempsey had applied for a loan at the bank from before around he same time that a chemist who worked at a company that Hitchcock had bought had applied for a patent on as Garcia put it "this anti-aging technology thing" called PCO-99 but both were rejected because Hitchcock had already applied for the patent and it had gone through.

———————————————————————————

A SWAT team wearing gas masks had to go in first. The place was a sort of warehouse, ideal for vindictive chemists' evil lairs. Morgan had found the UnSub, Edward Hill.

Back at the station, the team looked at Hill from behind the glass.

"He let us take him. He didn't kill himself. That doesn't fit the profile of a workplace killer." Hotch pointed out.

"Sometimes we miss the mark." Alexander said.

"Let's be glad we did. He's our best chance at stopping the next attack." Gideon said,

"Hill's lab had traces of botulinum toxin, but no clues as to what he's up to next." Hanover said.

"Our only chance is to make him tell us." Hotch said.

"You think he will?" Hanover asked.

"Once caught, these types usually do." Spencer explained, "They want the whole world to know about their brilliant plan to destroy their enemies."

"In case he doesn't give it up, let's play every angle. We need to re-examine everything we know about this guy." Gideon said.

"I'll check witness reports, forensic evidence, anything that might be a clue to this guy's plan." Spencer decided.

"A lot of lives could be at stake." Gideon said.

They went in, Hotch and Gideon sat at the table while Zoe leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

"You were romantically involved with Lynn Dempsey, Mister Hill." Hotch stated.

"Is that what she said?" Hill asked.

"You know she couldn't have told us that if she wanted to." Zoe said, "Botulinum toxin does that to you. Her sister told us that."

"What happened to her?" Hotch asked Hill.

"The fact is Lynn was already dead. That company killed her years ago." Hill said.

"They kill you, too?" Hotch asked.

"Well, they might as well have. They took everything from me. Fruits of my labor. Best years of my life. They took my family. And when there was nothing left to take, they took two-thirds of my salary and my health insurance."

"You have the opportunity to treat people with the mercy that they never showed you." Hotch said.

"I can't even tell you how little that means to me." Hill said.

"What would it mean to your children?" Hotch asked but Hill didn't have a reply to that.

"Listen. You worked hard. Played by the rules your whole life. You don't want to go out like this. You do, you stoop to their level." Gideon said, "There are things we can do for you. There's ways to help you if you'll let us.

"What can you do for me?" Hill asked.

"We're FBI. We have influence with Justice. If you have a legitimate claim, and I believe you do, we can see to it that you get fair compensation and credit. And that's all you wanted, right? A fair deal?" Hotch said.

"That's all I ever wanted." Hill repeated.

"Of course. You don't think the company knows they screwed you? You don't think everything they do, every move they make, isn't designed to screw people like you?" Gideon asked.

"You could really get me those things?" Hill asked.

"Yeah." Hotch said and took out a card from his wallet, "This is my ABA card. I'm a lawyer. And I'm offering to take your case. And if you accept I have to do what you say. This whole thing is being videotaped. I can't lie about that."

"I would like my sons to know... that their dad created something..." Hill said, clutching Hotch's card, "I created something good."

"Ed. Tell us. What did you do?" Gideon asked.

"There's a party this afternoon in the executive building. All the departments get together. There's a punch bowl."

———————————————————————————

Alexander had contacted Elle and Morgan to stop the party. JJ called to inform them that the punch had contained some botulinum toxin but everyone was given the anti-toxin.

Zoe stared at Hill from the other side of the glass with a scrunched nose.

"What is it?" Alexander asked.

"He's hiding something. Hotch is right. His current behavior doesn't fit. I've trained to understand poisoners, I've been poisoned by both UnSubs and myself to increase my tolerance to poisons. I've dealt with poisoners but... he knew we had him surrounded before Morgan found him. Why didn't he take his life? He didn't fight, he willingly told us his plan. But he showed no remorse for painfully killing Lynn, just saying she was already dead. He has the apathy of our profile but not the..."

Spencer entered the room, "Guys, I think we have a problem. I've been looking over the victim reports. One of the victims that was originally dosed was severely diabetic."

"And?"

"He wouldn't have taken candy from the candy bowl at the bank." Zoe said.

"Exactly." Spencer said, "All the victims were there. We know that, but how are they poisoned? I started looking at the security footage." He turned the tablet he was holding, showing the bank's footage. Zoe zeroed in on it at once. "We know Lynn Dempsey replaced some candy from the bowl. But look how close that jar is to the deposit envelopes. Now watch this." The camera footage zoomed in on Lynn's hand next to the candy bowl. "See that? Her hand is directly in the stack of envelopes."

Gideon chuckled without mirth.

"So you think the envelopes were poisoned as well as the candy?" Hotch asked.

"As Lynn Dempsey was dying she kept saying something like, 'The end. The end.'... she was saying 'the envelopes'." Zoe sighed.

"I mean, what was it that Hill was actually testing? The Rohypnol? The LSD?" Spencer asked.

"The delivery system." Zoe said.

"Exactly." Spencer said.

"Botulinum toxin and LSD are the only two substances in the world toxic enough to be effective in doses as small as one-thousandths of a gram. Small enough to fit on the glue strip of an envelope." Zoe said.

"But the CDC didn't find any evidence of poison on the envelopes." Hotch said.

"They wouldn't have. The envelopes were destroyed after the checks were deposited and processed." Spencer pointed out.

"So like the Rohypnol, Hill was using the candy to throw us off. To cover his tracks. To distract us from the fact that he was testing the envelopes."

"What I can't figure out is, why would he test the envelopes to poison the punch?" Spencer asked.

"Say reason he told us his 'master plan'." Zoe scoffed that she hadn't seen it. "Because the punch is a decoy just like the candy."

"He's not finished." Gideon said.

"Fuck!" Zoe cursed, suddenly and took off into the interrogation room.

Hill had his hands to his throat, choking on nothing. Zoe pulled him from his chair, putting him on the ground with his head back. With a rasp, he took his last breath with his eyes open.

"He's dead." She said when Gideon and Hotch entered. "He poisoned himself. He killed himself before we even got to him."

Morgan called Hotch and came to the same conclusion since the members of the party were lower-level employees, none of who had any hand in what happened to Hill. But the upper management were at a corporate retreat, including Dempsey’s boss. But they couldn’t contact them since it was one of those no cell phones kind of retreats. Zoe always knew that was a stupid idea. In this world, if you don’t have your phone, you could die.

"Is there a certain amount of time the victims need to get the antitoxin?" Hotch asked.

"As soon as possible is typically the recommended time. Depending on the amount, the symptoms can appear from four hours to eight days from the time they were poisoned." Zoe said, "It's not fun."

——————————————————————————

Zoe took her motorcycle while Hotch, Gideon, Alexander, and Spencer took the car and a helicopter looked above the park.

"BAU to Air One. Anything? Anything?" Gideon said in the headset in Zoe's motorcycle helmet.

"Negative."

"We checked the first three campsites. Nothing."

"How about the Park Service?"

"A couple of families on holiday. None saw the target. Wait a minute. I'm getting a radio from the Staties. They found something near the access road and trail exit 6.

"I'm near trail exit 6. I'll be there soon." Zoe said."Send medical help. I may not have enough."

"EMTs are en route."

Zoe got off her motorcycle, jumping over the stone wall.

A trooper came up to her and she showed her badge, "Doctor Xiomara Noble-Valdez, MD. I'm with the FBI's BAU. The rest of my team and the ambulance are on their way."

"These guys are in bad shape and getting worse by the minute."

"I have some antitoxin." She said, "Who's the sickest?"

"That one over there." The trooper told her and Zoe hurried to the man he indicated as he followed, "He's having trouble breathing. Hyperventilating, I think."

Zoe came up to the man who was sweating, his muscles were stiff, and breathing heavily. She recognized the early symptoms as she put on her medical gloves.

"Hi, I'm a Federal Agent and a doctor. You're going to be fine." She said as the ambulance and the others arrived, "I need to give you an injection, just right in the vein," She rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and used an alcohol wipe to sanitize the skin before she pushed the needle into his skin and into the vein. "Relax your breathing, please. That's it. You're going to be just fine." She heard some car doors close, she nodded over to them as they jumped over the stone wall—with Spencer doing it awkwardly and stumbling on the other side, "That's my team over there. We'll make sure everyone else is fine too." She pushed the needle in and she injected him with the antitoxin, "there we go." She felt the others arrive behind her, "Make sure everyone gets a dose."

The man's breathing became deeper and more controlled, and he wheezed out, "Thank you."

Zoe smiled, "No problem, sir."

Then she got up to help the next victim.

———————————————————————————

Confucius warned us, "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."

Almost everyone was asleep on the plane. Elle was sleeping on the couch, Morgan had fallen asleep listening to his iPod, Spencer had fallen asleep and his legs had ended up over Zoe's lap until she moved them so he could get the two seats for himself across from Gideon who had fallen asleep reading a book with his glasses on until Zoe took them off for him as he had for her so many times in her youth, placing them on the file in front of him. She pulled a blanket over Alexander's body across the aisle from them and kissed her father's head before sitting across from JJ who was looking through a file.

"You two ought to sleep." Hotch said.

"How can I sleep?"

"Nightmares?"

"Worse. Memories." She said, casually.

"I'm just finishing my report." JJ sighed.

"Everything okay?" Hotch asked.

"There's always another file. This next one's pretty bad." JJ said.

“Yeah. You know, before you I had your job, unoffically. I created it and Garcia’s.”

"You did?" JJ asked.

"Yeah. It was always... chaotic and I told them they had to get someone to look through the files because the UnSubs get smarter just as we do. They stump us, nonetheless, the local police."

"Of all the departments, why'd you two choose the BAU?" JJ asked Zoe and Hotch.

Zoe knew what Hotch chose the BAU, he knew first-hand what it was like to grow up in a violent household that usually bred UnSubs, that had always stuck with him, a few different things and he could've been just like the people he now put away.

"You know, I had prosecuted dozens of murder cases and by the time they reached my desk, it always felt like it was too late. And I wanted to stop them before they got to my desk." Hotch explained. There was a brief silence. "That doesn't really answer your question.

"No, it doesn't." JJ agreed.

"I guess I'm still trying to figure it out." Hotch said.

“My mom and dad created this job. They met on this job. Did you that unborn babies can start forming memories after thirty weeks from conception? They can start hearing sounds outside the womb even before that. Because of that, I can remember her voice. Some memories come and go, but try to hold onto them. She was passionate about this job, everyone thought she wasn’t up for it but she worked as hard as she could to save lives as if she wasn’t pregnant, only working from the desk when she was nine months pregnant. She would talk to us about the UnSubs, because she knew we could be geniuses, and she made sure we understood that it’s always their fault. Sometimes people just break. She knew there would be a chance she wouldn’t be there to teach us that when we were born and she knew that empathy was the most important thing for us to understand even to those that a lot of people would deem undeserving of empathy. A lot of people don’t do that. And I guess, it always stuck with me. I made my first profile when I was three and I met with actual serial killers to interview them. When I was four, I was reading reports from police all over the country just like the ones you do. When I was five, I started writing down profiles, not exactly complete profiles because they did their best to keep me away from it while simultaneously making sure I never left Dad’s eyesight but they found that it was helpful, even with me having less information they did. I’ve always done this. I was born to do this job. I basically grew up in the halls of the BAU. I met Hotch his first day at the BAU when I was ten years old and I asked him if he was a statue come to life after I nearly ran full-speed into him. I always dreamed of having this job…” She trailed off, not finishing her sentence.

JJ recognized the heartache in Zoe's eyes. The loss of a sister and she knew the rest of that sentence. I just always imagined Zarah would be by my side,

*I changed Garcia's nickname to Morgan from "Angel" to "Sugar" because I think "Angel" should remain Alexander's nickname for his daughters.*

*Originally, I had Zoe be poisoned too. It would hit her when they got back to the BAU and she would kiss Spencer in this state but I changed my mind.*

*Edited October 22, 2024*

———————————————————————————