IN WHICH ...
spencer reid wants to make sure lilith brooks stays safe at all costs, but keeping his relationship away from the team proves harder than expected.
[ spencer reid x oc ]
[ criminal minds ]
[ secret lover trope ]
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Dr. Linda Kimura, Chief of Special Pathogens with the CDC had filled the team that the night before, 25 people checked into emergency rooms in and around Annapolis. All of them had been at the same park after 2pm.
Within 10 hours the first victim died. Now, at just past 7am the following day, and 12 people have died. The symptoms are lung failure and black lesions.
"Anthrax?" Morgan suggested earlier that day.
Spencer remembered how quick he was to point out that anthrax doesn't kill that fast – however, Dr Kimura pointed out just as fast that this particular strain does.
Spencer had been woken up unbelievably early, he had only just gotten home from their last case, slipping into bed with Lilith, being too tired to continue thinking of ways to ask her to move in and tell her he loves her.
It would seem those plans would have to wait however because before the girl was even awake he was being called back into the office and being told to swallow a pill to hopefully combat the effects of the possible strain of anthrax. At least he left a note promising to be home for dinner.
"What about mass attacks? Are we telling the public? Malls, trains, etc. could be hotspots" Prentiss had brought up.
A media black out. No one is to know. Spencer guessed he understood due to the mass panic after an announcement like this causing more harm than good but dear lord he wanted to call Lilith and tell her that she and Bella should not go to the grand opening of the mall that day.
In hindsight, he wished he would've called her.
It had been imperative to develop a profile quickly in a case like this, Dr Kimura had just told them that the spores on this strain of anthrax have been weaponized, reduced to a respiratory ideal that attacks deep in the lungs. It is odorless and invisible. It is sophisticated so only a scientist would know how to do that.
It didn't take long into the day or many developments for the team to deliver said profile.
The team had thought the locations to be personal which would be the key to identifying the unsub. This personal element also told them the unsub was probably a home-grown terrorist. They decided that, like the Amerithrax case, this is likely someone from the science or defense community, meaning it could be one of them.
They believed the unsub to see their work is of the greatest importance, theorizing that they may have even preached about the threat of an attack on America. Some key words used to describe to unsub would be histrionic, paranoid, and secretive.
To further expand on vague ideas they mentioned that the unsub may have logged more hours than usual at work recently, stayed up to date on anthrax vaccines, works out of a private space, and has access to industrial grade equipment at work.
The team stated that the unsub probably wrote and spoke about the threat of anthrax, but feels ignored which makes him angry. His trigger may have been a recent professional humiliation and he may have strained relationships with family due to his passion for his cause.
