1 | TREPIDATION. [SPENCER REID]

TWENTY TWO.

i'm sorry this keeps publishing and unpublishing it's being really strange! hope this is the last time i have to do this bc it's pissing me off tbh
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TWENTY TWO ; ENOUGH.

"Officers Keith River and and Rudy Hightower, both career prison guard, both married, kids, nothing out of the ordinary," Kate stated as she read from the file she held in her hands.

"The uniform itself could be the target," Morgan said. "Kill a guard, any guard, it doesn't matter which one."

Quinn let out a small sigh as she looked at the file, mind elsewhere. The prospect of a reunion with Nelson was something that she wasn't prepared for. She couldn't help but feel uneasy as they talked about murders that screamed Nelson's name.

"And what about the sock in the mouth?" Kate asked.

Rossi shrugged. "It might be some kind of warning to keep it quiet, you know, like, put a sock in it." Quinn didn't ignore the subtle glance Rossi sent her way to check on her once again.

"It could have also just been a gag to literally keep their victims quiet," JJ suggested, eyes following to where Rossi looked. Quinn kept her head down, buried in her file, attempting to conceal the fear she felt.

She was working with profilers. They all knew.

"Well," Hotch began, drawing all attention to him, "Either way, we're probably looking at multiple UnSubs. This would be very difficult to pull off alone."

"Multiple UnSubs in a prison? Sounds like a gang," Kate put in, with a small shrug.

"Or a greatly resourced and trained mass murder," Quinn muttered, refusing to look up from her file. She felt Spencer's gaze on her, and knew that the rest of her team was exchanging glances. The girl finally looked up to find all eyes on her. "You can't tell me that I'm paranoid for thinking this. You all caught the Horsemen and put them in prison six months ago, which is right when the murders began."

"We can't make assumptions like that yet," Hotch told her carefully. Quinn bit the inside of her cheek. "We can't have a that bias walking into this investigation with someone from our past."

"We've asked the staff about Nelson," Rossi said, making Quinn's head snap toward him. "They've all said he's been relatively peaceful since he got there."

Quinn nodded once, releasing a shaky sigh. "Okay," she said. "Back to the gang theory?"

JJ nodded. "Gangs have gang leaders and the murders could lead back to one of them. And by them, I mean him." She turned the tablet she held in her hands toward the group, revealing the mugshot of a man whose photo they all had in their files.

"Julio Watson," Morgan stated, glancing at the picture, "founder of the Southside Crip Nation"

"He transferred in a month before the murders started." JJ let out a humorless chuckle. "I wonder if it's a coincidence."