13x01 - Wheels Up

[bunniefuu]

Previously on “Criminal Minds”...

We're taking you home.

Do you really think that he can handle it, I mean, all that Reid's been through?

We all know what that can do to the psyche of an inmate.

Scratch has surfaced again, this time at Jack's school, which is why Hotch and Jack have now entered the program.

Witness protection.

We might have a new lead on Mr.

Scratch.

This text, it's a trap.

Let's go.

Guys?

Guys?

Don't go to voice mail.

Don't go to voice mail.

Don't go to voice mail.

This is SSA Emily Prentiss.

I can't take your call right now, so...

Hey, I came as soon as I could.

- What's wrong?

- They're gone.

They're all gone.

- I'll drive.

- Yeah.

Correct.

Penelope Grace Garcia, technical analyst, badge number 0019er0.

I am with international response team special agent Matt Simmons.

Yeah.

I know, but SSA Spencer Reid hasn't been reinstated yet, so...

Oh, my god, I know this is protocol, but you need to stop asking me questions and send backup to the coordinates I just gave you right now, please...

And medical.

Send lots of medical.

No, no...

Ok.

Come on.

I got you.

I got you.

I got you.

I got you.

Jag-off ambushed us, didn't even see him coming.

All right.

We got to get you off that leg, ok?

No, no.

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

I'll flag down the cavalry.

You go check on the team.

Yes, the team, the team, the team.

- What can I do?

- I can't see.

What can I do?

How can I help?

I can't see.

Ugh!

Wait.

All right.

I see it, ok?

I see it.

You got some broken glass in your scalp, JJ, ok?

Just hold this till the ambulance comes, all right?

- It'll be here soon.

- Stephen?

Stephen?

He's gone.

He's gone.

I can't leave him alone like this.

Luke!

Luke!

Tara, can you tell me where you're hurt?

Um, I think I'm going into shock.

Ok.

All right.

I got you.

Tara, we're gonna warm you up, all right?

Bleeding internally, but we'll get some blood to your brain.

All right.

Listen.

You're gonna want to go to sleep.

We can't let you do that.

You got to stay with us, ok?

Stay with us.

Over here!

Those spike strips took out our two SUVs.

Then the truck blindsided us.

We have 6 agents that are...

Where's Emily?

Where am I?

You were in a car crash, a bad one.

Oh, my god, what happened?

Your SUV sustained the brunt of the impact.

Specifically, you sustained it.

Do you remember?

No.

I...

Wait.

Yeah.

My team.

Take...

take it easy, Agent Prentiss.

Got you stabilized, but you got to stay put.

Where am I?

This isn't a hospital.

I've been in enough hospitals.

I know how they sound, how they smell, so where the hell am I?

You're being taken care of.

We both are.

Wait.

What...

what does that mean?

I don't understand you.

Yeah.

She's conscious.

Well, hello, Emily.

Son of a bitch.

It's nice to meet you, too, finally.

Did you grab all of us, huh?

Are we all here?

Luke!

JJ!

No.

It's just you.

Your team is fine, by the way.

Excuse me.

I take that back.

The truck I drove into your team did k*ll SSA Stephen Walker...

Whiplash, tragic, leaves behind a wife and two children, I believe.

- No.

- That's good.

Get it all out.

I will make sure you fry for this.

Will you?

Well, maybe you should take a look at yourself first...

Because from where I'm standing, you won't be doing much of anything for the rest of your life.

“Hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says, “hold on.” Rudyard Kipling.

Hey...

- Spence.

- You ok?

I'm...

I need to call Will.

I did.

I did.

He's on the way.

Right.

Right.

Oh, Monica, Stephen's wife.

Someone needs to call her and tell them.

Rossi's refusing treatment until he speaks to both of us.

What's going on?

Shut up and listen.

All right.

First, you, go through my pants pockets and find my keys.

Second, you, you're back on the team.

Not sure I should be.

Has the director approved that?

I'm making the calls now.

I'll take the heat.

You're back on the team.

I got them.

There's a little one there to a file cabinet in my office.

You following me?

Yeah.

Following you.

Inside, there's Chicago Bears season tickets.

When you get them, you call Matt Simmons.

I promised him those tickets.

They must have given him something in the ambulance to make him loopy.

I'll get the doctor.

We'll get him into surgery.

Just shut up and listen.

Now, Emily is missing.

Stephen is dead.

As for you two ass clowns, you'll do me the courtesy of following my orders.

Your orders aren't making sense.

Follow my orders, and then I'll go into surgery.

This has got nothing to do with season tickets.

“Ass clown”?

So Scratch hacked my phone tonight using something called a man in the middle att*ck.

That means he's on a specific radio frequency.

And you're thinking he's using the same radio frequency to activate these spikes.

Well, he is a man of habit.

Maybe we can use that habit to locate him and figure out...

This is how I profile.

Oh, oh, oh.

Hold.

Freeze.

Freeze.

You just hit it.

Hold on.

All right.

Back it up.

Booyah.

Now we got the frequency.

We just have to figure out where he's broadcasting it from.

Ok.

That is easier said than done.

Radio signals work on a preset range.

We'll walk or drive in and out of proximity to it.

And he could be bouncing it off multiple buildings.

Yeah.

That's also true.

Ok.

The least I could do is make sure Scratch doesn't ambush us again, so the next time he goes live, I'll set up some sort of signal, like...

They have to take him to the hospital, anyway?

Yeah.

That's the proper procedure.

Need a minute?

So, so badly, but...

We have to help Emily.

Let's get to work.

Taking a little mindfulness break?

Trying to control your breathing?

That's smart.

It'll keep you sane...

And I need you sane.

Oh, how rude.

Excuse me.

Look.

I'm only alive because you want something.

So what do you want?

Information that only you have.

What are you waiting for, then?

Dose me with your dr*gs, the ones that make me see whatever delusion you suggest, and I'll tell you what you want.

Hmm, I would love nothing more than that.

Unfortunately, in your current physical condition, the sevoflurane and scopolamine would send you into a stroke.

I guess we're at a stalemate, then.

No.

I still have dr*gs that can make you talk, just different dr*gs.

This is morphine.

This is what is making your life very livable right now.

Without this...

Your body will be on fire, and then you really will tell me everything I want, no delusion necessary.

I can't arrest him.

- What?

- Scratch.

The second I see his face, I am going to k*ll him.

I tried to tell Rossi not to put me back on the team.

- You heard me.

- Yeah.

I did.

What's wrong with me?

My guess is, it's been going on since prison, but you haven't had time to notice.

Every time you get stressed, you go into tunnel vision.

That's why you're rubbing your palm into your eye.

Yeah.

What does that sound like, Reid?

- Sounds like PTSD.

- PTSS.

That's what they're calling it now, post-traumatic stress syndrome, because it's not a disorder.

It's an injury.

Well, what do I do?

I mean, we're in crisis mode.

I don't have time to process my emotional state.

That's exactly when you make time, right?

You ask for help.

There's no shame in that.

- Rossi's office.

- Yeah.

- I'll handle that.

- No.

There's someone in Rossi's office.

Ok.

Now that we are secure, I got that for Rossi last year.

Not only is it a cigar case, but it's also a Faraday case.

It blocks all radio and cell signals.

I think Scratch might be listening in on us with our cell phones, even when they're off.

That explains why Rossi was so cagey in the hospital.

All right.

Let's find these tickets.

What is this?

Stephen was brought on board for one reason.

That was to catch Scratch.

That is his entire investigation into him.

He kept all his records off site, updating Prentiss and Rossi through hard copies.

If it's off the cloud, Scratch can't hack it.

- Have you guys read it?

- No.

Prentiss ordered it compartmentalized, eyes-only clearance, but she also felt there should be at least one failsafe who wasn't part of the BAU who knew about it just in case of emergency.

That's why Garcia called me.

All right.

Let's dig in.

I mean, this may be our only chance at stopping this bastard.

Look.

Ok.

Look.

Ok.

Whatever it is, we can discuss it.

You don't have to do this.

Just give me the morphine, ok, and...

and...

just...

You can ask whatever you want.

It was our investigation into you?

Is that it?

Is that what you want to know?

Tangentially.

Oh!

Nngh!

Then what?

Tell me.

Tell me.

Then I'll tell you.

It's that simple.

Tell me, and I'll tell you.

Yeah.

I believe you will now.

There is a certain dearly departed team member of yours that I would like to discuss with you.

- Stephen.

- No, not Stephen.

This one isn't dead, at least not yet.

This agent and I had a little tete-a-tete, and I crossed a line I shouldn't have.

I really couldn't help myself, and I started to stalk his son, and do you know what he did, that coward?

He went into witness protection...

And he has been very difficult to find ever since, so that's what I want to know.

I want you to tell me where he is because I know you know.

No.

Oh, stop.

No.

Yes, Emily.

Where is Aaron Hotchner?

I don't know where Hotch is.

I don't.

That's how WITSEC works.

He has to be hidden from us because of men like you.

Do you recognize this?

Well, it was a text exchange you had with a series of burner phones, and a last text exchange between you and this mystery man reads, “Honduras connection is a go.

“Hunting down all leads to B-cap in DC.

Thanks.A.H.” Oh...

Let's get down to the question at hand.

Where is Hotch?

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

He never gave me an address.

All we did was text.

No.

Last chance.

Vermont.

He's somewhere in Vermont.

Aah!

Hi.

I'm sorry.

You don't want to do that, Monica.

Ok.

I'll come get you now.

Stephen's wife?

Tell her I'm sorry.

Prentiss texted Hotch?

According to Stephen's documentation, yes.

It must have been a coordinated attempt to share intel.

Would Hotch have exposed himself like this?

No, and neither would she.

I mean, she wouldn't rely on a hackable app, and she sure as hell wouldn't write, “A.H.,” in a text.

That defeats the purpose of compartmentalizing the investigation.

It was a smoke screen.

Stephen had a background in counterintelligence.

He must have designed this.

He faked the Hotch side of the conversation to entice Scratch to make a move.

The size and scale of which indicate desperation, a desperation he hasn't shown after a year of hiding, so why now?

A.H.

is a pretty big red flag.

Maybe that's what brought him out.

Well, they used Hotch's initials in other texts before.

Then they found something else, something they knew would rattle him.

B-cap.

What's B-cap?

Geography maybe.

I mean, it's mentioned in relevance to DC.

Maybe its a code name for a partner.

- I can't see it.

- Hey, no.

Why don't we kick it over to the team?

Maybe they can suss out...

No.

No time.

Get out.

What?

Get out.

Sorry.

You, too.

I'm really sorry, but get out.

Let me get this, and then I'm gonna go.

It's ok.

Ok.

He's had a rough couple of months.

Oh...

Oh, my god, babe.

Oh, how are the kids?

Oh, they're fine.

They're fine.

I didn't even wake them.

I got your mom to come over.

- Oh, right.

- Look at me.

How are you?

Um, he...

he gave me the front seat.

Stephen did?

Yeah.

I was all set to sit in the back, but he got there first, and I...

So is it time to call it?

That was the deal, right?

If it got too scary, one of us could call it, not today, not this week after we find Emily.

Well, if I remember, you would be a full-time mom, and I would run a breakfast place.

Mm, and I'd go to all the PTA meetings.

You'd come home smelling like grease.

Ha ha ha!

It's tempting.

Hmm, yeah, so do you want to call it?

You see these rings?

We've worn them for 5 years, but I've loved you for 10.

Hasn't been easy.

No, but I wouldn't trade a single day, not even the awful ones like today...

And I'll do whatever you want to do, but...

Oh, thank god.

Neither do I.

Mm.

Get a room, you two.

Is my leg still attached?

Yeah.

- Is Prentiss...

- Nothing.

All right.

I got to go.

Luke's here.

Oh.

- Oh, Monica...

- Don't.

I can't.

Where's my husband?

Oh, babe, what happened?

The kids are still asleep.

How do I...

Huh.

I'll take care of it, ok?

See you.

Where is that place that you go to to ground yourself?

I'd like to know.

So you can destroy it.

See, I've read your case file.

I've read about how your father was k*lled when you were 13, and earlier, you said something about crossing a line when it came to stalking a child.

I realized Hotch's son Jack, he's 13 now, too.

I'm not a pedophile.

I'm insulted by your inference.

No.

Your interest in Jack is clinical.

You want to see what it will be like if he grows up without his father like you did.

That's what I've been focusing on.

After you k*ll Hotch, you'll never leave Jack alone.

Am I right?

You are.

Then let me tell you something, Peter.

I've d*ed before protecting a child.

That was a child I barely knew, but Jack, I love Jack.

I've watched Jack grow up.

I will not betray him or his father, so it doesn't matter what you do to me.

I will not break.

Let me test that resolve.

You make an interesting point.

I need a plan “B.” Hey, you, come here...

Just for a second.

Please, I just need a second.

This I might be able to help with.

Prentiss' last text had to do with Honduras.

Scratch's last known sighting before tonight was Honduras.

Right, and we thought Scratch fled there after he framed Reid for m*rder in Mexico.

Right.

Prentiss asked the IRT to contact our central American sources just to see if we could find anything.

Now, we never did.

We also never stopped to ask why Scratch was in Honduras in the first place.

Reid'll figure this out.

He's really amazing at this kind of thing.

B-cap is short for Banisteriopsis caapi.

It's a plant, specifically a hallucinogen that's found in a tea called ayahuasca.

We worked a couple of those cases, I think.

If I remember, it's like peyote.

Yeah, in multiple ways.

They're similar legally in that taking them is considered a religious practice, and pharmacological, they're similar in that both dr*gs cause you to hallucinate intense, geometric patterns and vomit a lot.

Ok.

What does this have to do with Scratch?

Well, Scratch has a cocktail of disassociative dr*gs to induce delusions, but a mathematical mind like his would always be looking for ways to tweak and improve the formula.

So he went to Honduras to look for it.

He then brought it back to DC to experiment with it.

Stephen and Emily came to the same conclusion and tried to pretend like they were hot on his trail.

We need to track down all practitioners of the ceremony in the district...

Shamans, gurus, overnight religions that just hung their first shingle.

He could be using one of their volunteers as a partner, either witting or unwitting.

What?

You threw a book at a window.

It was jarring.

Took me 60 minutes to deduce what should have taken me 60 seconds, and if Emily dies because I was too slow, I'll be throwing a lot more than books.

Please.

Please help me.

You don't even have to get me out of here.

Just make a phone call.

You can use my phone.

Call 911, leave the phone, and run.

I can't do that.

I won't tell them you were involved.

It's not that simple.

You said we were both being taken care of.

You mean trapped.

He has your family, doesn't he?

Ok.

My team can rescue them.

It's what we do.

- I have to go.

- No.

Please.

- I can't.

- Take my phone.

Please take my phone.

It's so hard to find good help these days.

It seems like, no matter what, I'm left to do all the dirty work.

What is that?

Is that the morphine?

It's amphetamine.

I figured out my plan “B.” I can't t*rture the answers out of you, so I'll simply stop your heart instead.

If you want to live, tell me what I want to know.

Where's Hotch, Emily?

Where's Hotch?

Come on.

Of course.

I get it now.

I get it.

That's it.

Please, tell him what he wants.

If you tell him what he wants, this can all be over.

He'll release my family, and...

And then I can help you, ok?

What?

What's that?

Go get him.

Ok, so apparently, the only local place using b-cap is the church of the herbal sacrament, “where you can find everything “for your spiritual needs that only ayahuasca canfulfill.” Walk me through what's gonna happen when we get there.

We ask questions, and we come home.

No creepy weirdness?

No weirdness.

Good because I'm about full up in the creepy weirdness department for one night.

I've seen the face of God.

I've seen it.

So much for no creepy weirdness.

Scratch's radio signal.

Clear.

Come on in.

Mother lode.

Yeah.

Looks like we found Scratch's I.T.

department, no Scratch.

Yeah, but this is where he's been doing everything...

Hacking me, hacking our phones, the whole tamale...

And, just like you predicted, he's been bouncing the signal off multiple buildings.

We're close, Matt.

We need a wheelchair to [Indistinct], wheelchair to [Indistinct].

They sent me to talk some sense into you.

Can't help by lying down, and I hear Tara's waking up.

Do you...

do you want me to find you some crutches or something?

I don't need them.

I got you.

Scratch.

Scratch took Emily.

I saw him.

Yeah.

We know.

We're looking for him.

He dosed her.

In the SUV while she was knocked out?

Yeah.

He brought his gas with him.

Your legs are broken.

Your right arm is broken.

You're in severe traction, and you're paralyzed.

You feel unimaginable agony all over your body unless I give you high doses of painkiller.

She would wake in a delusion he'd have total control over.

He think she knows where Hotch is, so he's trying to trick her.

She's one of the smartest people we know.

She'd see through it.

So Scratch would go even farther.

Sometimes interrogators even simulate death.

Man, he could make it feel like the real thing.

No.

That wouldn't work.

Remember, Rossi, when Prentiss told us about when she d*ed, for real d*ed, how for her, it was just dark and cold?

That's right.

If he made her experience some out-of-body vision, she'd know it was a lie.

Yeah.

I get it.

He probably combined the delusion with a classic prisoner interrogation tactic.

At first, he would take away any chance of escape.

Then he would introduce somebody else and give her a sliver of hope.

It could be a second interrogator who is a nice guy.

He's on his way, ok?

That guy would be her blind spot.

She'd trust him and then reveal something she shouldn't.

Ok?

Ok?

Ok?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ok.

Hey, what do you got, Matt?

Well, we pinned down Scratch's most likely location based on his radio frequency.

It's a warehouse in the district.

Garcia just texted the address.

She included Reid on the text.

Reid's not in a good place.

I'm 10 out.

All right.

So am I.

If I would've known that putting you at death's door would get you to talk, I would've started with that.

Now, are you ready to tell me where Hotch and Jack are?

Good.

Go ahead.

They're at...

Tell me.

8...

5...

Aagh!

Aagh!

Argh!

Agh!

Uh!

FBI!

Uh!

Prentiss!

Reid!

Uh!

Prentiss!

Lower your w*apon, damn it.

Where's Scratch?

Oh, he's upstairs.

Tag in here.

Simmons and Alvez can box him in.

No.

I need to go find him.

No, no, no, Spence.

Please.

I need someone I know is real right now, all right?

You ok?

Uh-huh.

Help me, please.

Help me.

Help me.

Aah!

Scratch is down.

Repeat...

Scratch is down.

He fell trying to escape.

Oh...

We never get to say good-bye the way we want, and when we deal with a loss so sudden and cruel, our emotions can overwhelm us.

Stephen Walker was a good agent, but he was a better man.

He made the world a better place, and we can honor him by doing the work he never got to do.

- There are no words.

- No.

There are not.

Monica, I asked Stephen to join the BAU.

I asked him to hunt Scratch.

I got him k*lled, and...

Peter Lewis k*lled my husband...

And I choose to believe Stephen can rest knowing he helped this team catch him.

Thank you.

If there's anything the Bureau can do for you or your family, please...

I will.

Right now, my kids need me...

And your team needs you.

Hey...

Ohh...

Ok.

We're ok.

I wanted to thank you for all of your help.

Well, it was good to be of help.

Ever since the IRT went down, I've been sitting on my hands waiting for a new assignment.

We should sit down tomorrow.

We can talk about that.

I'd like that.

So we all need to discuss what Peter Lewis' death means for this team.

It means that Hotch can come back.

Yeah.

We spoke to him.

He was relieved that he and Jack were out of danger.

They're out of Witness Protection, but, um...

He's not coming back, is he?

He loves being a full-time dad.

He never got to do that before, and...

let's face it...

in this job...

There's always gonna be another Scratch, and he's lost enough.

We all have.

Yes.

We have, which is why the director has ordered us to take some time off from handling cases, but before we all leave, there's one last thing I need to say.

Scratch got deeper into my head than I care to admit, and the only way I was able to stay sane was by repeating a mantra, two words.

You know what those two words were?

“Wheels up.” it saved my life when I wasn't sure I was gonna make it because it reminded me that you were out there fighting, so take your rest...

You've earned it...

But when we get back, wheels up, Matt.

Wheels up, Emily.

Wheels up, Tara.

Wheels up.

Wheels up.

Wheels up.

Wheels up.

Damn right, wheels up.

Wheels up.