Criminal Minds 1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Okay, lets try this again... Hello Readers. I know I went AWOL for a while there, I'm Sorry! I pulled the few chapters of this story down so I could revamp it a little and am excited to get it going again. Here it is new and improved! Thank you all for sticking with me!_

_If you are new to this story-It takes place about a year after events that happened in my previous story Bullseye. It would really make a lot more sense if you read that one first!_

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David Rossi pulled his coat tighter around himself as he led his colleagues across the icy tarmac of the small municipal airport. The bitter wind had begun to pick up, making their faces sting from the cold. By the time they were finished with their last interview, JJ was shivering, despite having wrapped her coat tightly around herself and burying her neck deep into its lightly furred collar. Her nose was an angry red and Rossi imagined his to look the same. Reid, surprisingly, didn't seem to mind the cold in the least. Though his wiry frame offered little bodily insulation, he'd purchased a bright red ski jacket and matching gloves when they'd first landed in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue. Combined with the colorful knit beanie and fuzzy ear muffs he wore on his head, he looked like a child whose mother had bundled him up to go out to build a snowman.

Rossi shook his head, amused, and pulled open the door to the tiny airport office. The light dinging of the bell above the door announced their arrival, but the woman at the desk merely lifted her head in acknowledgement. She didn't smile, or offer them any sort of recognition despite the numerous friendly encounters they'd had with her throughout the day. They were investigating her employees, but she had been fully cooperative and even eager to help them. This time, her attention was solely on what was being said through the phone receiver she held to her ear.

They stepped away from the door and moved to sit in the small area designated for waiting customers, and waited patiently. Rossi tried not to be nosey and listen in, but when she spoke the words "storm" and "severe", he was fully alert and didn't care if she noticed. A winter storm would most definitely put a huge dampener on their investigation.

When they'd first arrived in Alaska, they hadn't expected their sole means of transportation between communities to be rickety old bush planes, flown by some questionable looking locals. With Garcia along for the trip, they were quickly able to narrow down their possible unsubs to a short list of people working at or around the airports. So Rossi, JJ, and Reid braved the turbulent flight to question the employees at the smaller branch airport, while Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss worked with Garcia at the larger home station.

"Dave?"

JJ's voice was quiet and he turned his attention away from the woman at the desk to look at her. She'd pulled her jacket lower and he could read the question in her eyes. She'd heard it too. He opened his mouth to tell her they'd figure it out when the woman at the desk called over to them.

"I hope you've got everything you need Agents," she stepped around the desk to join them, "big storm moving in. Won't be too long until everyone is grounded."

"How long do they think it will last?" Reid asked.

"No telling with these things. Maybe a day; could be three or four. Welcome to Alaska. We have one more flight heading out in ten minutes. If you hurry we put you on it and you get you back to Kotzebue before the grounding order goes out."

"Give me just one minute," Rossi pulled his phone from his pocket and moments later Hotch was on the other end.

"Tell me you've got something." Hotch's greeting hinted that they hadn't had much luck on their end either.

"We've got a lot of information to go over, but we might have a problem. There's a storm moving in and they're telling us all flights will be grounded. We can pack up and head back now, or we risk being stranded here for a few days."

Hotch's voice was muffled as he ordered Garcia to check on the weather. A moment later his voice was crisp and clear again, "You aren't equipped to stay there for a few days. We'll regroup and go over what we have here. If we can't go anywhere in the storm then neither can our Unsub."

Rossi agreed and quickly ended the call and nodded to the woman from the desk, "We're ready to go when you are"

Then woman led them outside to one of the large open aircraft hangers and yelled out at a young man loading boxes into the cargo area of a plane, "Jeff, last minute additions."

The young man stuck his head around the side of the plane to peer at them, "Additions?"

"These folks need to get back to Kotzebue. We're grounded. You're the last out."

Rossi couldn't help but wonder how old the pilot was as the kid approached the group.

"Uh, Sue, I'd love to takem 'em, but I'm loaded for cargo." He eyed them nervously, "We'd be real close to our weight limit."

"So pull any non essential cargo," Sue directed, "These Agents are on important business and are priority."

The kid nodded and Sue shook all of their hands before leaving them in the hanger and heading back to the office.

The pilot forced a quick grin at Rossi before hurrying back to the rear of the plane and removing a cardboard box.

"Can we help you out?" Rossi called over the sound of another plane being moved into the hanger.

"Uh, no, I got it," the pilot replied, "Just gimme a couple minutes."

Ten minutes later the three agents were standing on the runway as their pilot made his final inspections of the plane small plane. The wind was already picking up, whipping up powdery snow and clouding in over the hills in the distance. The pilot waved them over, opening the door for them to climb into the cramped cabin.

"Are you sure this is safe?" JJ asked.

The man nodded, "FAA says we can still take off with anything more than a mile visibility. We've still got seven or eight."

"I was more concerned about landing," JJ mumbled as she let him help her into the back seat.

They quickly boarded the plane, Reid squeezing in next to JJ in the small removable jump seats that had the pilot had added into the cargo area after removing a half dozen boxes. Rossi climbed up into the copilot's seat and turned to look at the younger agents. JJ and Reid looked like two children, crammed into the backseat, holding their bags of "just in case" gear on their laps and staring back at him wide eyed. Already the wind was howling around the plane, making it rock slightly as the pilot climbed in.

"Kyle," the pilot finally introduced himself.

Rossi shook his hand, "Dave. I'm sorry so have shanghaied your flight."

"It happens. Weather out here is really unpredictable."

"I hope you didn't have to leave any important cargo."

The young man's eyes glanced nervously to Rossi's face, "What do you mean?"

"The cargo you had to take off to make room for us. Don't you guys move a lot of medical supplies?"

"Sometimes. It wasn't really anything that can't wait a few days."

He cranked one of the levers in front of him and the propeller roared to life, making JJ tense. She'd never had a fear of flying before, but she'd also never been about to fly through a snow storm in a plane comparable to a tuna can. They taxied down the short runway and she couldn't help but notice that the other planes had all been moved inside the stadium sized hanger and tied down in preparation for the storm. The only other human in sight wore a bright yellow vest and leaned into the growing wind as he waved orange batons in the air, directing them which way to go. Kyle spoke into his headset before giving a slight wave to the now retreating traffic controller and pushing up on the accelerator.

The plane rattled against the thick air as it began its ascent from the icy pavement. Once off the ground, its left wing caught a strong gust, tipping them sideways and JJ sucked in a breath, clenching her eyes shut and hugging her ballistic vest closer to her chest. Kyle apologized and easily leveled the plane.

"Nervous flyer?" he asked, glancing back at JJ.

"Not usually no."

"Don't worry. We fly in winds like this all the time." He offered her a small smile, "I'll have you back on the ground in no time."

_An hour and a half_, JJ reminded herself. It had taken them an hour and a half to fly from the larger airport to the glorified mobile home they called an office. It had been cloudy then, but calm. Fighting the wind and sleet, she imagined it would take longer to get back.

After they leveled out at a higher altitude, the pilot finally turned his head to look at Rossi.

"So, why is the FBI way out here?" he asked.

"We're here investigating the murder of two women," Rossi answered, watching his reaction.

He turned his attention back to the windshield, "Those girls they found in the snow a few days ago? I saw it on the news. Do you think someone in Unakleet killed them?"

"Why do you ask that?" Rossi asked curiously.

"When the FBI comes asking questions in a town as small as us, people talk."

Rossi nodded his understanding and glanced back to the backseat toward JJ. She made eye contact and read his silent request. She dug into her bag and pulled the file from the side pocket and handed it up to him.

"Maybe you can help us out," Rossi pulled a photo from the folder, "have you seen this woman before?"

Kyle glanced over at the photo and studied it for a moment before turning his eyes back out to the horizon, "Doesn't look familiar."

Rossi proceeded to run through the file with the pilot, showing him photographs and asking the questions they'd asked the numerous other airport employees over the last two days. It wasn't until the plane jerked violently to the right and Kyle fought with the controls to level it that he decided it was best to stop questioning and let him focus on flying. The snow was coming down harder, fogging up the windshield and causing the airplane to sway and shake as it powered through. JJ had taken a death grip on the bag in her lap and Reid had resorted to closing his eyes, praying for the ride to be over soon.

Their pilot had taken on an expression of concentration, leaning closer to the windshield and squinting to see through the cloud coverage. Every few minutes he'd speak into his headset, relaying their location and checking for weather reports at their destination. The silence of the plane's passengers was broken only by the sputtering of the engine as it fought through the clouds, bouncing them roughly through the air.

Suddenly a solid figure emerged from the clouds directly ahead of them. Kyle swore, jerking the yoke hard to the right. They plane shuttered and banked, slamming Rossi and Reid into their doors. Regardless of his effort, the goose collided with the propeller, bursting into a torrent of crimson debris and coated the windshield in blood and feathers. The pilot quickly recovered from the impact, jerking the controls from right to left until the small aircraft finally leveled out.

"Era five to base," he spoke quickly into his headset, "yeah Sue, I just had a bird strike. I'm level now but we're still a ways out from base."

The pilot listened for a moment before checking his instrument panels and letting out a nervous breath as he read back their location. Before he could relay the information back to the agents, the engine sputtered, choking on the remains of the goose and the plane jerked and shook against the wind.

"No, no, no!" he shouted, ignoring the voice on the other end of his headset, "come on."

"What's the matter?" Reid asked nervously.

"We're stalling Sue," he answered Reid's question into the headset, flipping switches and attempting to keep the propeller running, "I'm gonna have to put it down."

"Put it down?" Rossi looked out for the ground below, invisible through the clouds, "where?"

"I don't know," he confessed.

"How far are we from the airport?" Rossi had to raise his voice over the sputtering engine and roaring wind.

"Too far."

JJ risked a peek out the side window just as the snowcapped mountains broke through the cloud coverage, "Can you land on that?"

"I don't have a choice," he answered nervously through clenched teeth, pulling at the controls.

Despite his struggle, the plane's engine rumbled and died out in a metallic whine. The agents sat shocked at the sudden silence of the cabin, each trapped in fearful disbelief.

"Damn it!" the pilot swore, "I need your help Dave."

Rossi shook himself out of his stupor, "What do you need me to do?"

"Grab the controls and help me pull. We have no engine power, but need to use the flaps to keep us as level as possible and hopefully slow us down a little."

Rossi grabbed the controls in front of him and was surprised at how much they shook and jerked in his hands. Their quick decent made for a violent change in the wind speeds against the wings. JJ looked to Reid with wide eyes and he gave her a faint smile that he hoped was reassuring while his own heart pounded in his chest. He let go of the bag in his lap to pull at JJ's seatbelt, tightening is as much as he could before repeating the process on his own. In the front seat Kyle gave orders to Rossi, who followed instruction as best as he could, both of them using all of their strength to keep the aircraft from nose diving into the ground.

The mountain side appeared close in front of them and JJ clenched her eyes shut, burying her face into the bag in her lap while Reid just stared wide eyed at the river rushing up to meet them.

"Hold on!" Rossi shouted, as they connected with the snow.

The plane's right wheel touched down first, sinking deep into the snow at a speed much higher than it was designed for. It instantly snapped, tilting them wildly to the side and digging the end of the wing into a snow bank. The entire aircraft spun from the impact. Tearing fiberglass and twisting metal screamed in their ears as the cabin filled instantly with snow. The sudden slow in momentum slammed them all forward and a pained cry came from the rear seat and they were tossed wildly as the plane inverted and landed hard on its roof. Rossi covered his face as the windshield cracked and threatened to implode in on him. Through the web of cracks he could see the boulder rushing up on them. He tried to warn his friends to brace themselves, but they were moving too fast, he didn't have time. The last thing Rossi registered were the sounds of his friends yelling and the deafening sound of the impact before his mind dissolved away into a silent, painless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Thank you to all of my readers that stuck with me through my hiatus and for those that took a few minutes to review! You guys/gals rock! I couldn't make you wait too long so here's the next chapter. Enjoy!_

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Hotch glanced down at his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time and frowned before resuming his pacing. Prentiss and Garcia watched him nervously from the small table across the room. Rossi had called to let them know they were taking off almost two hours ago, and they still hadn't landed.

"Hotch, man, I'm sure they'll get here anytime," Morgan offered, "they probably just got delayed and taking them longer with the snow."

"Yeah. If anything happened to them, someone would let us know," Garcia added, "I mean, they have contact with the pilot and would let us know, right?"

Garcia looked from Hotch's stoic face to Emily, eyes pleading for reassurance. Emily forced a small smile and nodded despite her gut twisting with worry. The storm was heading toward them which meant the wind should have been at their back, making them travel faster. They should have arrived an hour ago. Already the much larger airport had all but shut down, grounding all incoming and outgoing flights and resorting to a skeleton crew. The Operations Director had given them full access to a small, one room building located right off the tarmac, which was usually used for part storage. They'd used it as an office of sorts, setting up Garcia's computers and regrouping between interviews. Now it was their sanctuary from the storm while they waited for the arrival of the rest of their team.

Morgan fiddled with the noisy wall heater, adjusting the knob and frowning when it came off in his fingers. Like everything else in the airport, the machine was ancient, and made the entire room smell of burning dust each time it spouted semi warm air into the room. He shook his head and replaced the knob over the bare screw and moved to lean against the wall.

"Maybe they had to turn back or got diverted," he suggested.

"They should have told me if that were the case," Hotch finally spoke.

Hotch paced the length of the room a few more times before he sighed and pulled his phone from his pocket. Before he could dial the numbers, the door few open and the wind blew in a young, scraggly looking blond man in a yellow vest.

"Agent Hotchner?" he asked after pulling his scarf from his around his mouth.

"Yes?" Hotch cocked his head curiously at the intruder.

"They need you in flight control."

"Why? What happened?" he asked, already moving with the rest of the team hot on his heels.

"Problems with the plane your friends were on," he answered, pulling the door open, "I don't know any details."

Hotch clenched his jaw, barely noticing that the snow was coming down harder as they quickly moved across the tarmac to the flight control building. The moment they entered the office, a burly man in his fifties, with a gut that hung over the front of his pants met his eyes and joined them near the door.

"What happened?" Hotch demanded before he could speak, "Where is the rest of my team?"

The man shifted nervously under Hotch's glare, "We got a transmission from the pilot about a bird strike awhile ago. He said they were suffering mechanical failure and he needed to make an emergency landing."

"Where did they land?" Hotch asked.

The man let out a deep sigh, "We don't know. We lost contact with them shortly after that. We've been trying to narrow down their location from the last coordinates we received from the pilot. We've narrowed it down to about a six mile radius. That's assuming they weren't still in the air when we lost contact."

The agents followed him to a large map on the wall and studied the area he pointed to while he spoke. Hotch scowled at the empty space he referred to.

"What's there to protect them from the storm once they've landed?" Emily asked suspiciously.

"That's the problem," his eyes went to the floor, "This area is a steep mountain zone. There's nowhere to land."

"Are you saying they crashed?" Morgan stepped in closer, "you knew this for an hour and you're just now telling us?"

"We have procedures Agent Morgan. We had to narrow down the search area and contact search and rescue operations. These things take time."

"Time that our friends may, or may not have!" Morgan shouted.

Hotch ignored Morgan's outburst, "How long before the search team can reach them?"

The man shifted again, "They uh, they can't go until the storm's passed."

"What?" it was Emily that broke the silence this time, "that could be days!"

"I'm sorry. They're just not willing to risk the safety of their team. You don't know these mountains Agents. They're no walk in the park in the best weather."

"I don't care!" Emily pointed toward the fogged window, "We have three federal agents out there that might still be alive. The longer we stay down here, their chances of staying that way drop."

"My hands are tied," he apologized, "if there were some way I could change their minds I would. But without any communication or signs telling us anyone survived, they just can't risk a rescue mission."

"So we go out there ourselves," Morgan suggested, "the storm isn't that bad out there yet. We could take a chopper and fly the area; see if we can find any signs of the plane."

"The FAA has grounded everyone," he explained, "helicopters included. Not only is it incredibly dangerous because the storm is already closing in on the area they may be, but you'd be in direct violation of federal law."

Morgan clenched his jaw, holding back the barrage of places the FAA could stick their law. Losing his temper wasn't helping his friends, nor was it making him feel any better. The rest of his team held similar faces, each retreating into their own minds for ideas.

The flight controller watched them for a moment before stepping in close and lowering his voice, "The forecast is predicting a short break in the storm in about twelve hours. If you really want to go after them yourselves you just might be able to get a bird off the ground and out there without creating a legal nightmare. But you didn't hear it from me."

Hotch lowered his voice to match, "how big of a window will we have?"

"An hour? Two tops. If you move fast, you should be able to make it up there and at least see if there's anything there to search."

"Thank you."

The man gave him a short nod and replaced his headset over his ears, signaling the conversation was over.

Hotch turned on his heels, pulling the door open and leading the rest of the team back into the snow. They followed him quickly back to their office before any of them spoke. Once inside with the door secured, they perched themselves around the small table to come up with a plan.

"Twelve hours," Hotch said quietly, "we have twelve hours to decide if we can do this."

"What exactly are we talking about Hotch?" Emily asked, "Are we seriously going to take on this mountain in a snow storm by ourselves?"

"I'm asking," he leaned on his hands on the table to look at each of them, "Is this something we can do?"

"We have to try," Morgan replied, "we can't just leave them up there."

"I agree," Emily nodded.

Hotch nodded and thought to himself for a moment, letting the room dissipate to the sound of the rattling wall heater. After a few minutes, he raised his head and looked to Garcia. She had remained silent throughout the ordeal, but her face was bright with anxiety and worry.

"Garcia," he finally spoke and her head whipped up to meet his eyes, "I need you to get something up tracking that storm. If it changes, I don't want to have to wait to hear about it when it's convenient for them. Morgan and Prentiss, I need you to do what you can to find someone who knows that mountain. If we can't find someone crazy enough to take us up there, we at least need someone who can tell us where to look."

The remaining members of his team jumped to their tasks; Garcia whipping out more equipment to add to the stack they'd set up in the corner of the room, while Morgan and Prentiss tightened their jackets and set off into the storm to find information. Hotch felt oddly proud of his team's willingness to do whatever it took to save their friends, but he also felt a deep worry that it could all be a hopeless cause. Twelve hours was a long time to be exposed to a snow storm in the best of health. If any of them were injured, it would be pure luck, or even a miracle, that they would survive long enough to be rescued. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared out the window at the falling snow running ideas over in his head. One name came to the surface of his thoughts and he fought to push it back down. Despite his resistance, it stayed sharp in his brain and he let it linger, running his options. Shaking his head he tucked it aside for the time being. It was reckless and irresponsible, but he would risk anything to save his friends, his _family_, even if it risked his job and his reputation and maybe even his own life.

The first thing Rossi's mind registered as it pushed through the fog of unconsciousness was the cold. Not just cold, but a bitter wet cold that bit into your skin and made your bones ache. He forced himself to blink, wincing when his eyes were met with only bright white all around him. Though it was a peaceful silence, the brightness hurt his eyes and he knew he shouldn't be here. He stared straight ahead, trying to remember where he was and why he was so cold when something bumped hard against his back. Slowly he turned to see what had invaded his space. His eyes met a pair of knees and even his muddled brain decided that was unusual. He blinked hard, shaking his head to clear it, and slowly sound began to creep back to his ears.

He could hear a muffled voice, but couldn't make out what it was saying, or who it belonged to. He turned back to the knees, following the length of them until his eyes settled on the two brightly colored socks peeking out from the tops of shoes. Recognition struck him to awareness and all at once he remembered everything. He turned back in his seat, glancing at the unconscious pilot next to him, and suddenly Reid's knees hovering in front of him made sense. They were upside down. Rossi was still belted tightly into his seat, suspended in place, while Reid had somehow gotten himself down and was kneeling on the ceiling of the plane.

"JJ, don't move."

Reid's voice was clear enough to hear now, and JJ's high pitched, shuttering groan of a response was enough to have Rossi spinning back to face them. Like him, JJ was still secured in place by the simple lap belt and her hair hung over her face. She gripped Reid's shoulder in a white knuckled hold as he appeared to be trying to figure out how to get her down.

"Reid?" Rossi finally found his voice and Reid spun to look at him.

"Rossi, thank god," Reid breathed out, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, "you and JJ?"

"I'm fine but JJ is stuck. Her foot is pinned. I need your help."

Rossi nodded and turned back to his own dilemma of being upside down. He found the latch of his lap belt and braced his other hand against the ceiling to keep from falling on his face as he released it. The belt snapped open and he carefully maneuvered himself until he was sitting upright and let the blood flow back down from his head. Already he knew he'd have the mother of all headaches, but he had more important things to focus on now.

"Okay Kid, I'm here, what can I do?" he stuck his head between the two seats until he was cramped in next to Reid.

"Her foot is pinned under the pilot's seat," Reid answered, "it might be broken."

"Oh it's definitely broken," JJ gasped through clenched teeth, "can we please just get out of here?"

"Alright, hold on." Rossi slid back into the front seat and checked on the pilot.

Kyle was hunched over in his seat. Rossi reached over to check his neck for a pulse, and his head snapped up at the contact.

"Hey," Rossi spoke, "You alright, kid?"

The pilot blinked at him, shook his head then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"Can you get out?"

"What?" Kyle blinked at him, confused.

"We're upside down. My friend's foot is pinned under your seat. Can you get out?"

The pilot nodded, and pulled his seat belt, dropping himself with a thud against the roof before Rossi could help him. JJ hissed in pain as the movement of the seat dug further into her foot. Rossi turned and carefully squeezed himself out through the broken door next to his seat and out into the falling snow. Though the snow was falling steadily, it appeared they were still ahead of the storm and for that he was thankful. As he made his way to the other side of the plane, Kyle stumbled out and into the snow. He stayed on his hands and knees for a moment, staring in shock at the snow underneath him.

"We crashed," he said to himself, "Holy shit, we crashed!"

Rossi grabbed him by the elbow and helped him stand, forcing the kid to look at him. "I need to get my Agent's out of there. I need you to get on the radio and tell them what happened. Can you do that?"

He nodded quickly, slowly becoming more focused and reached into the cockpit and pulled the headset out as far as its cable would allow. Rossi pushed in past him and stuck his head inside, peering underneath the seat and grimaced when he saw JJ's foot. The weld on the bottom of the seat had snapped sometime during their crash landing. JJ's foot had wedged in, and caught on the broken metal, digging into her ankle and refusing to let her back out. He could see a small pool of blood under the seat where it had been dripping from the broken metal digging into her skin. He couldn't tell if she was right about it being broken, but it was likely a painful injury either way.

"Alright Reid, I got it," he called out, "You're gonna have to push her foot forward first. Then I'll pull the chair up and you can slide it out okay."

"Ok, give me a second," Reid answered.

Reid pushed in against the death grip JJ had on his shoulder to readjust himself in the small space. JJ gasped when any of his movements caused her leg to move, digging the metal deeper into her ankle.

"I'm sorry JJ," he apologized, "are you okay?"

"I'll be okay when you get me out of here," she grimaced.

He nodded and kneeled directly under her so he could get access to her leg, and she could brace herself on his legs while they freed her. He gave her one last look, eyes meeting and he silently apologized for the pain they were likely to cause her.

She gave him a curt node, "Do it."

"Okay Rossi," he called and pushed her leg forward.

JJ tried to bite back a cry of pain as the jagged metal pulled out from the gashes it had settled into. Rossi watched the new release of blood flowing from where the metal was as she was pushed free and he yelled out to Reid to stop. With as much leverage as he could get, he gripped the sides of the seat and pulled hard. The weakened metal cracked and gave, opening the gap wider and he quickly peeked under to see how much room he had opened up. Satisfied, he gave the seat one last pull, giving them plenty of space and gave Reid the okay to remove JJ's foot. Rossi gently reached under and guided her boot passed the jagged metal as Reid kept it steady from the other side until she was finally free of the trap.

JJ released a pained sigh of relief and let Reid help her from her belt, until she sat on the ceiling of the plane next to him, breathing hard. She slowly got her breathing under control and took in the sight around them. The right side of the plane had been ripped and bent, leaving a gaping hole where the wing had been. The contents of the cargo area where strewn about, and the bags they'd held on their laps where nowhere to be seen.

"We're alive," she breathed out, realization dawning on her.

Reid gave her a small smile, "we are."

Outside, Kyle was shouting into the headset, running his hands over his face. He was becoming more and more hysterical and finally Rossi set a hand on his should and took the headset from him. The pilot plopped down into the snow, staring in disbelief at what was left at his plane.

"Mayday Mayday, can anyone hear me?" Rossi spoke into the headset, eyes staying on the distraught pilot "This is Agent Rossi with the FBI. Can anyone hear me?"

He held his breath, waiting for an answer, but he was met with only a crackle of static.

"Our plane has gone down somewhere south of Kotzebue. If you can hear me, I have four people in need of emergency evac. Is there anyone out there?"

Rossi repeated the message four times before he pulled the headset off and let it fall to the floor. Reid and JJ watched him silently as their dire situation sank in further. They were stranded in an upside down airplane, with injuries, and a bad storm would be closing in on them any minute.

Rossi crouched down next to the young man, who suddenly looked even younger than before and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Hell of a job up there." Rossi spoke sincerely.

The kid looked up at him and grimaced, "Were you on the same plane as me? Cause I crashed mine into a fuckin mountain."

"You kept your head and did what you could. We're all alive."

"Yeah?"

Rossi nodded, "Yeah. But we need you to keep your head and help us out here. We're gonna be stuck here for awhile and that storm isn't going to wait. You know this environment, and we need to build this thing up to protect us."

Kyle looked around at the plane and debris around them as if finally realizing it was snowing heavily on them. The wind would soon be picking up and then night would come.

"Okay. Yeah I can do that," he nodded.

Dave helped him stand and they made their way around the other side of the plane.

"Dave?" JJ said quietly when he peeked his head in, "the radio?"

"Sorry," he replied, "we've been lucky this far. Maybe our luck will hold out and someone heard the message. We'll keep trying."

JJ gave him a sympathetic smile, "You know the team. They'll be looking for us."

Rossi nodded, "then we better get as comfortable and safe as possible until they get here. Kyle and I are going to try and set this thing up to shelter us from the storm as much as possible. Reid, how's the foot?"

"I can't really tell," Reid answered, "I don't want to take her boot off when it could be the best splint she has for it right now."

"There's a first aid kit in the back," Kyle interrupted, "It's a red bag."

Reid reached under the seats that he and JJ had been sitting in and pushed the various cardboard boxes around, searching for the bag.

"How do we get these seats out?" he asked, "We could use the extra room."

Kyle appeared in the opening next to Rossi, "There's a lever on the back left side. Pull it forward and slide the seat to the left."

Reid followed the instructions and with Rossi's help, removed the two jump seats, opening up the entire cargo area. He quickly pushed through the boxes and bags that had been strewn about in the crash and spotted the bright red bag in the back section. He pushed himself up onto his knees and climbed over the top of a box, and it crushed under his weight as he reached for the bag. He froze in his reach and frowned down at the box. He carefully picked up one of the plastic wrapped bricks that had spilled from the box and turned it over in his hand. He frowned and shook his head, then grabbed the first aid kit before moving back to join JJ.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," JJ groaned, looking at the wrapped white powder in his hand.

Rossi chose that moment to stick his head back into the cabin and frowned at Reid. After a moment's hesitation he shook his head and called over his shoulder, "Oh Kyle, could you come here for a minute."

The kid left the discarded jump seat and stumbled over to his side. As soon as he saw the contents in Reid's hand he froze, all color draining from his face.

"It's not mine I swear."

"They always say that," Rossi said to Reid, keeping Kyle in his vision.

"No," Kyle's voice was high pitched, "I swear. It isn't mine. I just fly it."

Rossi sighed. Suddenly the pilot's nervous demeanor when finding out the federal agents would be flying with him made sense. The kid was a drug mule, and by the looks of it, cocaine was the Alaskan drug of choice. He thought to himself for a moment on how he should react to the new revelation. In truth, there really wasn't anything they could do about it now. It didn't change their situation and they still needed to prepare what little shelter they had from the storm.

"We'll cross that road when we come to it," Rossi conceded, "for now we need to clear out as much of that cargo area as we can. Reid, do what you can with JJ's ankle while Kyle and I build up some storm shelter."

Rossi disappeared from view and Reid carefully set the cocaine brick down to open the first aid kit. He smiled to JJ and she winced when he lifted her pant leg. The deep gashes were bleeding freely now, drenching her sock and boot in thick blood.

"How far out do you think that storm is?" JJ's voice shook as distracted she herself from what he was doing.

"I have no idea," he answered, focused on her injury, "snow is starting to come down, but the wind isn't too bad yet."

"I guess the positive side of being trapped in a plane full of drugs is that we know that more people will be looking for us," she teased.

Reid's face fell slightly. He didn't want to imagine being found only to be shot by drug smugglers.

"Relax Reid," she grinned, "I was kidding. If anyone's going to find us out here, it's the team."

He nodded and turned his full attention to her ankle. He was thankful for JJ's style in footwear, which included a convenient zipper up the inside of the boot which he used to remove it. She winced as he pulled the leather and sock from her foot and he apologized before grabbing a bandage and the bottle of saline from the kit.

While Reid cleaned and bandaged JJ's foot, they could feel the plane rocking as Rossi and Kyle worked on the outside to fortify their shelter. Kyle poked his head into the cockpit, dug around in a consol for a moment before retrieving a roll of duct tape and disappearing again. Once JJ's foot was tightly bandaged, he helped her slide back until her back rested against the back of the pilot's seat, making as much room as possible for them to clear out the area around her.

A half an hour later, the guys had done all they could in preparing for the storm. Rossi and Kyle and retrieved the broken wing of the plane and braced it up against the side of the aircraft, stabilizing it as much as possible for when the wind started pounding against it. They'd used the duct tape to patch up any holes that would let in wind and moisture. It had only taken Reid ten minutes to remove the second jump seat, and clear out all of the boxes from the cargo area, carefully scanning for broken bags. They last thing they needed was free floating cocaine in their only shelter. When he was done, they had about a three by six foot open area that would act as their home until someone came and rescued them.

"I think we could put a fire right inside the plane," Reid said to Rossi as they surveyed their options, "If we remove the front seats, we should have room, and the hole in the side would vent the smoke while the rest protected it from the storm."

Rossi smiled at the genius, "are you sure you weren't a boy scout?"

Reid smiled and they set out to gather what they could to prepare for a fire. They located a patch of trees a few feet away and quickly began pulling and tearing at branches. The wind was picking up, howling and sweeping up snow all around them, and their hand and feet were frozen by the time the returned to the plane. They tossed the wet wood into the cargo area, and Reid, Rossi and Kyle climbed inside, pulling the door closed behind them and sealing it with duct tape.

Rossi rubbed his hands together, breathing into them before speaking, "Ok, let get this fire going before the wind keeps blowing it out."

Since the tree branches were too wet to burn, Rossi and Reid has stripped the stuffing from all of the seats and shredded three notebooks with of flight manuals and maps from the cockpit.

"Stand there, and block the wind," Reid directed.

Rossi stood, hovering over the younger man and Kyle pulled a lighter from his from his pocket and handed it to Reid. They'd been lucky that their pilot had turned out to be a smoker. Smokers meant lighters and they desperately needed a lighter. Reid carefully lit the crumpled paper, holding his hand over it as the wind snuck around Rossi and threatened to blow it out. The paper lit, burning and curling in on itself, and once it had a good flame he added some of the seat stuffing. It burned black and had an odd odor to it that they figured was best to inhale as little as possible of.

Soon the fire had grown large enough that they weren't worried about the snow putting it out and the three men shimmied back further into the small cabin. With all four of them sitting inside, the small cabin was cramped. They'd gone through the boxes as the pulled them from the plane, and had really only found two of any use. Luckily the small airline required all planes be equipped with emergency gear, which really only consisted of a couple thermal blankets, some water bottles, some granola bars and a handheld radio with a dead battery. They other box had been a large thick sleeping bag that someone named Richard Marshal had ordered from a store in Juneau that hadn't yet been delivered. Rossi spread unzipped it into a large blanket that covered all of their outstretched legs, and promised himself that he'd buy Mr. Marshal a new one.

Once they were settled, they fell into silence, none of them knowing what to say as the weight of their situation sank in. They were safe and warm for now, but how long would they stay that way? JJ's ankle was throbbing, Rossi had a mild concussion from the initial crash, and Reid had slowly begun favoring his right knee. The young pilot stared at the fire, unfocused while his chewed on his fingernail.

"How long do you think it'll take them to find us?" he spoke around his finger.

"I don't know, but I bet our team is down there raising hell right about now," Rossi answered.

"Oh," he nodded, "I guess they would search for FBI agents right away huh?"

They shared a smile at the image of Hotch, Morgan and Prentiss demanding something be done to find them and intimidating the locals into working faster. Even Garcia would be in on it, throwing a fuss and taking over the command center. They settled into a comfortable silence, listening to the howling wind outside as it grew and imagined their warm beds and hot coffee waiting for them.

* * *

_Author's Note: Well there you have it boys and girls! Click that review button and let me know what you think!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Alright guys and gals, there's a bit longer wait between chapters than I used to have, but I'm still going. Hope you stick with it and enjoy!_

* * *

Garcia pulled her eyes away from the spiraling colors of the weather tracker screen and removed her glasses to rub her hands over her face. She had been watching the beast of a storm work its way toward them for two hours before the high winds and icy snow began pelting against the sides of their building. Hotch had become a permanent fixture next to the window, staring off at the falling darkness. She could tell he was troubled by whatever thoughts were going on in his head, but he hadn't said a word. Morgan and Prentiss still hadn't returned and it chilled her to think of them outside in the howling wind, and blowing snow. The thought of Reid, Rossi and JJ up on the mountain, possibly injured and in the same storm made her nauseous with worry.

"What are you thinking Hotch?" Garcia's voice was barely above a whisper, but sounded harsh in the silence of the room.

Hotch flinched from his deep thoughts and turned away from the fogged window to face her. He simply stared at her for a moment before answering her with a shrug.

"I keep running our options through my head. If they can't find someone to help us make it up there, we may just have to wait out this storm," he spoke toward the floor.

"What about you guys?" she replaced her glasses to watch him, "Aren't you, Derek and Emily going to at try?"

Hotch let out a deep sigh, "We don't have the training for something like this Garcia. If Morgan and Prentiss can't find some kind of guide…" he trailed off into silence. He didn't have to tell her what would happen in that scenario. He just couldn't risk the lives of the rest of the team. Simple as that.

Garcia sat silently for a few minutes, reeling in her own thoughts before speaking.

"I wish we still had Cassi"

Hotch stiffened and looked up at her with a deep frown.

"You were thinking the same thing," she continued, "weren't you?"

Hotch glared at her for a few seconds before turning his gaze back to the window, confirming her suspicions. Cassi Maddox was a renowned expert in search & rescue. She had tracked down dozens of people in every kind of environment. Only a year prior, they had seen her work first hand as she helped them search for a killer who'd stalked the team through DC and had tormented Prentiss nearly to the point of a nervous breakdown. The woman was brilliant and skilled, which later proved to be a dangerous combination. During the time she'd worked with them, she'd spent a week gaining their trust before flipping their world upside down and revealing an evil below. Cassi Maddox was a stone cold killer.

They had witnessed her execute a handful of men without a moment's hesitation, but something about that day still didn't sit right with Hotch. They had never been so wrong in a profile, and it bothered him that even a year later, with all they'd learned about her identity, they still had no idea who she was. Her personality had to come from somewhere, and he'd spent many sleepless nights wondering whether it had all been an elaborate act, or if part of what had made them trust her had been real. The reasons behind her actions spoke volumes in her profile, making him believe there was a compassionate person somewhere behind the monster she'd been molded into. When he thought back to their time in the warehouse, he even thought he'd glimpsed a moment of remorse for her actions in stopping the men who'd been only seconds away from killing them all, including her son Devin. Regardless of what any of them did or didn't think of her, Cassi was a killer. She was also a fugitive currently on the FBI's Most Wanted list. But more than anything, she was exactly what they needed to save their friends.

"It briefly crossed my mind," he lied. He hadn't been able to push her name from his mind since the moment they'd been told him there would be no rescue.

Before Garcia could respond, a loud crackle of static broke through an old radio stacked against the far wall. Both of them spun around to face the direction of the noise, listening as it crackled again. Hotch stepped closer to the dusty machine and twisted at the knob in an attempt to clear up what it was trying to convey. A male voice broke through before being drown out by white noise, but it was all Hotch needed to hear. One word spoken by a voice he knew well.

"That's Rossi!" Garcia jumped up from her seat, confirming that Hotch hadn't imagined it.

Hotch quickly dug around the dusty equipment until he pulled the attached radio mike from where it had been wedged between the device and the wall. He pulled it free and spoke into it before holding his breath to wait for a reply.

"Dave? Dave is that you? Can you hear me?"

They held their breaths as they waited, listening to nothing but static. Hotch repeated his questions as Garcia fidgeted with the frequency dial, doing what she could to clear it up.

"…otch?" The radio cracked and Hotch grabbed Garcia's hand, stilling the knob where it was.

"I hear you Dave. What's your status?"

Hotch closed his eyes, holding his breath to focus only on listening to what the broken voice was trying to tell him.

"…down…Jay… ankle…ok…"

Hotch grimaced, trying to make sense of what Rossi was trying to tell him, "You're breaking up Dave. I just need to know, are you all okay?"

They waited in silence, both afraid to breathe for what seemed like hours until the static broke again.

"We're okay."

It was as if the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders in those few words and Hotch felt his knees weaken in relief. Garcia slumped into her chair and forced herself to breathe for what felt like the first time in hours.

"Hang on Dave," Hotch spoke again, "It might take us awhile, but we're coming for you."

"..U…rstood.."

Hotch spun on his heels, flitching in surprise at the frigid wind smacking him the face when he whipped the door open to head off across the tarmac. He didn't bother to pull the door closed behind him, knowing Garcia would be right on his heels as he jogged across the slippery runway toward the flight control building. Halfway across, he spotted two bundled up figures jogging toward the building they'd just come from. He immediately recognized Morgan's posture and Emily's smaller frame and yelled out at them. They stopped, turning into the wind to look before he waved them over to him.

"They're alive," he shouted over the wind when they joined him.

"What?" Morgan shouted back, "You talked to them? Are they hurt?"

Hotch shook his head, "I don't know. Rossi just said they're all okay."

Hotch turned back to the building, and motioned them to follow him to the flight control office. They burst through the door in a gust of wind and snow, pulling the attention of the men working inside. Emily pushed the door closed behind Garcia as Hotch called out to the man in charge.

"They're alive," he said, "I just spoke to Agent Rossi on an old CB radio. They're all alive."

The man they'd spoke to early stepped over closer, "Are you sure it was them?"

"I'm positive."

"Did you get an exact location?"

"No," Hotch frowned, "the connection was bad. He was breaking up. All I got was that they were all alright."

The man nodded, "That's great news Agent Hotchner."

Then he turned away to address a younger man across the room, "Kurt, get Harris on the phone. Tell him to start prepping for a search once this storm's over. We've got four confirmed souls that need evacuated."

"Wait, what?" Morgan stepped in, "After the storm? You said you couldn't send a rescue team if there was a possibility they were dead. They aren't dead!"

"That doesn't change the fact that there is a storm out there Agent," he argued, "Agent Rossi said they're all alright, and I'm not gonna get rescuers killed trying to bring them down. They'll just have to hold on until we can safely get to them."

Hotch glared as the man walked away from them, leaving the conversation unresolved. When he was out of ear shot, Hotch turned to his team and spoke quietly.

"Any luck on a guide?"

Morgan's jaw clenched and Emily sighed, shaking her head, "No."

"We went to all of the hunting, recreation and outdoor supply shops. We went to the Ranger's stations and even the grocery store to ask around for civilians who know the mountain. Nobody is willing to take a group of feds with no experience up that mountain in a storm." Morgan added.

Hotch stayed quiet for a few minutes, running options in his head. What he was about to do would have consequences; consequences he couldn't bring on them alone.

"We can wait out the storm and hope it doesn't last more than a day or two, or we can try to contact Cassi," he leaned in closer as he finished, gaining shocked looks from Emily and Morgan.

"What?" Morgan exclaimed, "Are you crazy? That woman is a killer, Hotch."

"Shhh," Garcia smacked him, eyeing the room. Luckily his little raise in tone hadn't gained them an audience.

"I know," Hotch confessed, "It's a long shot, and it's very unlikely that we'd even be able to get a message to her. There is supposed to be a small calm in the storm in ten hours. If Garcia can somehow contact her, she may be able to get out here by then. Assuming she would even come. I can't make this call on my own. This decision would affect all of us."

"If it saves our friends, I'm willing to do anything," Garcia didn't hesitate.

Morgan and Prentiss took a little more time, thinking their options through.

"I agree," Prentiss finally answered, chewing on her lip in uncertainty.

"Morgan?"

All eyes were on Morgan now. He wanted to tell them all they were crazy. But the howling of wind and pounding ice against the window of the building swayed him. He couldn't leave his friends out there in that, freezing, hungry, and possibly injured.

"One condition," he spoke through clenched teeth, "If she shows up, we go with her. And when they're safe off that mountain, we grab her and lock her up for good."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Hotch nodded.

They took a moment letting the decision settle on their minds before Hotch set his hand on Garcia's shoulder and spoke.

"I want you to call every phone number, email every address and log on to every site you've ever contacted her through. Leave messages on all of them, even if someone answers and tells you it's a wrong number. Post in chat rooms and networking sites if you have to. We're on a deadline; she has ten, twelve hours tops before that window to get us up there closes. Go."

Garcia nodded and pulled her coat tight before rushing out the door back toward their sanctuary and her computers. Hotch stood thinking for a few more minutes, ignoring the eyes of his agents on him.

"Hotch?" Morgan pulled him from his thoughts, "wanna share what's going on in that head?"

"I have to stay here," he answered solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Emily frowned.

"If she does come, you and Morgan will have to go up there with Cassi alone," he explained, "we need someone on damage control down here. I can't go up there and leave Garcia to fend for all of us if this goes south."

"So what do we do now?" Emily asked after letting his words sink in.

"We wait."

* * *

The shrill ringing of the phone in the living room pulled the boy from his sleep. It rang five times before he heard his mother's bedroom door open down the hall. She swore quietly as she kicked something in the dark, and a stream of light peeked under his door when she flicked the light switch in the hall. Devin blinked against the intrusion of light and reached down to pet the golden retriever at his feet when the dog lifted his head to the sound. He yawned and turned to look at the clock on the desk across the room and frowned when it was passed midnight. Nobody ever called them that late. He heard his mother's muffled voice as she answered the phone. Only a few minutes later, he saw the shadow of her feet pass under his door and the light turned off.

_Must have been a wrong number_, he thought to himself, and rolled back over. Before he could even get comfortable again, he heard a strange sound coming from inside his room. He opened his eyes, staring at the empty room and listened with sharp ears. Bird's head jerked up again, and he knew that the dog had heard it too. Sitting up quietly, he scanned the room. It sounded like a voice, but very quiet, like someone had left the TV on in the other room.

He slid out of bed and carefully walked toward his closet. Here the sound was louder and he could make out words. Realization hit him and he immediately knew what the sound was. He pulled the closet door open and ripped the hanging shirts aside to grab the squawking device from the charger on the shelf. The voice was loud now as he picked up the handheld radio and smiled at it.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" the woman's voice echoed through the speaker and he turned the volume dial so his mother wouldn't hear.

"Maggie?" he spoke into the device.

"Devin?" the voice sounded odd, not like he remembered her sounding, "No, Devin, it's not Maggie."

Devin frowned, suddenly uncomfortable, "Who is this?"

"My name is Penelope Garcia. I work with Agent Hotchner and Doctor Reid with the FBI. Do you remember them?"

_Of course I do, it was only the worst day of my life_, he thought, but instead answered "Yes."

"Good, listen Devin, they need your help. Some of our friends are in trouble and we need Cas…Maggie's help to find them. Do you know where she is?"

"This is a trick," he said flatly, "It's passed my bedtime."

He moved to put the radio back on the charger, disappointed. He didn't want to talk to this stranger. They had spent weeks bothering him and his mom about Maggie and asking if they knew where she was. They kept telling them that she was a bad person, that she was dangerous. Devin knew Maggie wasn't bad. She had saved them, and they had taken her away.

"No, Devin, please," the voice begged, making him stop, "I don't need to know where she is. I don't even care. But we need her help or my friends could die. If you know how to call her, or talk to her, I just need you to give her a message for me, thats all."

Devin thought for a moment, staring into his closet at the radio. He'd seen movies, he knew they would try and trick him. They'd track his call to Maggie and go after her. But what if she was telling the truth and people would die if he didn't? He took a deep breath and picked up the radio again.

"I might not know how," he said, "but if I did, what message?" _There, that should throw them off_.

"Tell her that there was a plane crash. That Rossi, Reid and JJ are lost on a mountain. There's a big snow storm moving in and we're in Kotzebue, Alaska.

"How do you spell that?" Devin interrupted, scribbling notes on a paper on his desk. She patiently spelled it out for him and he frowned at the paper, "That's a weird name for a town."

"Devin please," she pulled his attention back in "We don't have very much time okay. Tell her that the storm here will break in twelve hours and that might be our only chance to get up there to help them."

"Okay, I'll tell her," he looked over his scribbled notes before adding, "If I know how to."

The voice thanked him and he replaced the radio on the charger. He carried the note paper over to his bed and climbed up on it to sit down.

"What do ya think Birdie?" he asked the dog.

The Golden Retriever looked at him for a moment, yawned and laid his head back down.

"I know right," he grinned, "A secret message from the FBI. Maggie would want to know about it."

Making his decision, he dropped from the bed and slid himself deep under the bed. Once he was all the way to the back corner, he turned over and removed the cell phone from the between the mattress and wooden slats. He powered it up and dialed the only number in the contact list.

* * *

Cassi Maddox, or Cassi Parker as she was now, was sitting hunched over a small dimly lit desk when her cell phone vibrated across the wood surface in front of her. She squinted up from the papers she had been studying and picked it up to look at the display. Reading the name on the screen she quickly flipped it open.

"Devin? What's the matter?" she was already standing, ready to run out and hop a flight to DC.

"I'm alright Maggie," the boy's voice instantly calmed her nerves.

"Devin, you are only supposed to call me if there is an emergency remember. It isn't safe." She chided the boy, but was really happy to hear his voice. It had been almost a year since they'd spoken.

"I know, but this could be a kind of emergency."

She frowned, "What?"

"A lady from the FBI called me on the walkie talkie a little bit ago. Do you know her?"

Cassi raised an eyebrow and waited for a second listening to papers shuffling on the other end.

"Crap," the boy swore, "I didn't write her name."

"That's okay, and don't say crap. I'm sure I could guess which one. What did she want?"

"She asked if I knew where you were. When I told her no, she said that she just wanted me to give you a message. Can they track a message? If they can track the message, then I don't want to give it to you."

Cassi smirked at the boy's concern. Only the child ofa wanted fugitive would be concerned with the FBI tracking his phone calls. Fortunately he hadn't been submerged in her life enough to know it was the phone call and not what was said on it that would be tracked.

"Don't worry kiddo, they can't track it, but we do have to make this call quick."

"Oh," he sounded disappointed, "Ok. She said that her friends Ross, Reid, and JJ were in a plane crash and are lost on a mountain."

Cassi frowned again. She didn't know what kind of message to expect from the BAU team, but that certainly was not it.

"They are in Kot…Kotsa.." he stuttered over the word a few times before deciding just to spell it out, "K-O-T-Z-E…"

"Kotzebue," Cassi finished for him, already pulling up a browser on the laptop on the desk.

"Yeah that," he replied, then added, "Alaska. She said there is a storm and if you don't help them in twelve hours, they would die."

Cassi stopped mid movement, "What?"

"There's a big storm I guess. She said in twelve hours it will stop for a little bit and it might be your only chance to go save them."

"Jesus Devin, that's quite a bit different than _in twelve hours they're going to die._"

"Maybe they might."

"They're not going to die," she rolled her eyes.

"Because you're gonna go save them?"

She paused again. When had she become so easily manipulated? "I don't know, Devin. Alaska is pretty far away."

"Why, where are you?"

"Ha! Nice try," she chuckled, and typed away at the keyboard, doing a distance search. She was surprised when the results were a good distance closer then she'd thought.

"Are you ever gonna come back?" suddenly the boy sounded sad.

She thought hard for a moment, "Someday I will," she lied then cleared her throat, "Hey Devin, I have to go."

"Have we been talking to long?" he sounded alert again, "Are they tracking the message?"

She laughed, "No, they aren't tracking anything. I have a plane to catch."

"Cause you're gonna go save 'em?"

She smiled to the empty room. Devin Foster was a hell of a manipulator.

"I'm gonna do my best."

She hung up the phone without a goodbye, she could never actually say goodbye to him, and swiftly breezed through the door of the small room. She emerged into the dark living room, lit only by the blue hue of the television in the center. She could see a large boot propped up on the coffee table and a large hand lifted the beer bottle up out of view as the man took a swig.

"Call Steve. We need a plane. " she barked as she strode across the room, and pounded on a closed door across the hall, "Get up Milo!" she yelled through it.

"A plane for what?" the man in the recliner asked, watching her move in front of the TV and pull open the closet door on the opposite side of the room.

"We have a job."

The man jerked upright, setting his beer and the table, "What? We're already on a job."

"This is more important. Deveraux can wait."

She dug through the closet, pulling out a large jacket and tossing it to him before pulling open the door of a steel gun case. She pulled two handguns from the shelf, tucked one into the back of her jeans and tossed the other one at the man.

"Wait, What? Are you hearing yourself right now?" he argued as he caught the gun.

She turned quickly, glaring up at him and spoke with an edge of warning, "Call Steve, Mason. We're going to Alaska."

* * *

_Author's Note: Yay, Cassi's back along with a couple new characters. How do you think the team will react to her arrival?_


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Oh where Oh where have all my reviewers gone? Super big thanks to those that did review, but the ratio of feedback to hits on this story is kind of discouraging. I know I haven't been as good at speedy updates as I have in the past, but I didn't realize I'd lost majority of my readers because of it. Oh well, I'll continue because I do still have a handful of you loyal ones that want to read it. Consider that my whining for the day. Hope you enjoy this chapter._

* * *

JJ shivered awake for what seemed to be the hundredth time since letting sleep first take her. Her body was exhausted, her eyes burned from the cold, and she'd almost completely lost all feeling in her injured foot. Despite the exhaustion, her shivering kept her from getting the rest she needed. Rossi and Reid had huddled in close on each side of her, sharing their natural heat and making her feel safer. They'd eventually put on their Kevlar vests to help keep their core temperatures up, but they were stiff and uncomfortable in the tight space. The wind was whistling through the cracks in their shelter and attacked the fire from the hole they'd left for it to vent. They'd moved all of their collected wood toward the flames, hoping the heat would dry it out. It had worked, but their supply was dwindling. She only hoped it would last until the storm died down enough for them to collect more.

Next to her, Reid shifted wincing in his sleep and sinking himself further into his big red coat. Throughout the night, their excitement of making contact with the team had worn off, and their injuries began weighing on them. Reid had finally given in and asked for some of the aspirin from the bottle in the first aid kit to help with the pain in his knee. Even Rossi had admitted to a headache but refused the aspirin. Their cramped quarters and the cold air did nothing for the soreness in any of their muscles. She didn't even want to think about how stiff they would be by the time anyone got up the mountain to save them.

With a sigh she dug her cell phone from her pocket. They had no signal, they'd checked, but she wasn't trying to make a call. The clock on the screen said it was just after 2am. They had at least four hours until the sun would come up and hopefully bring an end to the storm and warm things up. Until then, she'd take comfort in knowing that rest of their teams was out there, aware of their situation, and she had Rossi and Reid with her.

* * *

It was mid morning when the high winds and pelting ice began slowing, signaling the lull in the storm. The team had spent the night in their small office, watching the weather report, listening for the radio, and studying area maps of the mountain. Eventually they'd all drifted to sleep, either on folded arms at the table or on the broken down couch in the corner. Garcia had made contact with Devin Foster early in the morning and felt confident that the boy had some sort of contact with his real mother. But as the morning stretched on and they'd heard nothing from Cassi, their hopes that she'd not only received the message, but would answer it were becoming more and more slim.

"Garcia, get on the phone with someone in the control room," Hotch instructed, pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee, "I need to know if we can get a chopper in the air soon. Preferably, we won't even need Cassi and can locate the crash site from the air."

"We really shouldn't be surprised," Morgan spoke, refilling his coffee cup as well, "why would she serve herself up on a silver platter when she's been home free for a year."

"That's assuming she even got the message," Prentiss added.

"Hello, this is Penelope Garcia with the FBI," Garcia chirped into the phone, quieting the rest of the group, "I have Special Agent in Charge Aaron Hotchner for you."

Garcia quickly handed the phone to Hotch and three sets of eyes stayed on him as he spoke into the receiver.

"This is SSA Hotchner. I'm calling to check on the status of the FAA's grounding order."

_I'm sorry Agent Hotchner, we're still grounded. _The voice on the other end replied.

"But the storm is dying down. Visibility has to be at least a mile by now. Why hasn't the order lifted?"

"_The wind speeds are still too fast. I'm estimating at least another hour until they lift it. Trust me Agent Hotchner, when the order is lifted, you'll be the first to know."_

Hotch scowled and handed the phone back to Garcia shaking his head in answer to their silent question.

"They've been out there for twelve hours," Morgan grumbled, "I hate this waiting."

"There's really nothing else we can do," Hotch replied, "Hopefully in another hour we can be in the air. With a little luck we can locate the crash site and if not extract them, we can drop off the supplies they'll need."

Prentiss half listened to the two men as she slowly walked across the small room toward the window. She glanced down at her watch before crossing her arms over her chest and staring out at the steadily falling snow as it whipped around in the wind. She could clearly see all of the buildings and aircraft hangers to the end of the snow covered runway now. The clouds were still hanging low and thick enough that she couldn't make out any of the surrounding mountains which told her that her friends were still getting hit with some serious weather. Her simple presence at the window caused a light fog on the glass, showing just how cold it was on the other side of the office walls. None of these observations did anything to help calm the twist of worry in her gut.

She continued to ignore the conversation going on between Morgan and Hotch. She didn't need to hear that there was nothing they could do anymore. She dropped her hands and stretched her back and neck. Sleeping hunched over at the kitchen table for a few hours had made her muscles stiff. If it hadn't been for the rickety old wall heater, the cold room would have made the stiff muscles even more painful with cramps. This realization made her stomach turn with guilt. Rossi, Reid, and JJ had no heater. For all she knew, they didn't even have anything blocking them from the wind. Hotch had made brief contact with them and Rossi had said they were alright, but that was nearly twelve hours ago. Nightfall would have dropped the temperature considerably. Until they heard from them again, or better yet, found them, she wouldn't be able to calm her worry. She only hoped Rossi's love for the outdoors came with some knowledge of surviving it.

After she twisted out the kinks in her neck, she turned her attention back out the window. A dark shape in the clouds caught her attention. That hadn't been there before, she was sure of it. She watched it curiously as it got larger and moved closer into view.

"Hotch!" she called, breaking into their light conversation.

Hotch and Morgan both turned to look at her and she waved them over, never taking her eyes from the window. By the time they crossed the room and joined her near the window, they could hear the loud steady thump of the approaching rotors.

"Is that a helicopter?" Garcia asked, rushing over to crowd them.

Hotch didn't answer. He was already moving to the door with Prentiss and Morgan close behind him. He ripped the door open, blasting them in the faces with cold wet air and they stepped out into the ankle deep snow that had collected outside throughout the night. The helicopter moved in quickly, swaying sideways in the wind, spinning slightly and picking up funnels of snow as it got lower to the ground. Hotch lifted his hand to shield his face from the torrent of wind and ice debris until the helicopter was solidly on the ground.

Two figures emerged from the side door of the chopper, ducking low against the wind as the engine whined down and the blades slowed. Hotch squinted against the brightness of the snow, suddenly aware of how dim the inside of their office actually was. One of the figures turned away from the helicopter to face them then tapped the other on the shoulder and pointed. The other turned to look, said something to the first and began walking toward him. She had only closed in a few feet before Hotch recognized her. Every nerve in his body told him to draw his weapon, to stop her before she got too close. She seemed to sense his discomfort and lifted her hands casually at her sides, showing that they were empty while never slowing her stride.

"Hotch," she greeted when she finally stopped in front of him.

He didn't say anything. He hadn't prepared himself for her arrival. He never thought she would actually come. She looked the same as he remembered. Her dark hair was in the same short cut, not dyed or grown out in ways of a disguise. The only thing that was missing was the wire framed glasses she'd worn before, which he doubted she ever really needed. Though she looked the same, something about her was infinitely different. During the time they had worked with her before, she was relaxed, unobtrusive, even coming across as timid at times. But now she had an air of confidence about her. Her posture was straight and demanding and her eyes bored into his, challenging him.

Before he could say anything, her eyes broke contact to look beyond his shoulder just before a loud shout behind him startled him. He turned his head to look at the burly flight controller who approached while shouting and waving his pointing finger at them.

"What the hell is going on?" he shouted, "I told you the grounding order wasn't lifted yet Agent Hotchner. You're in direct violation of a federal law lady!"

He stuck his finger in Cassi's face and she responded with a grin that would have appeared charming if Hotch didn't know any better.

"Cassi Parker, and you are?" she asked, extending her hand.

"Don't bat those baby blues and think you're getting away with this," he growled, "This is a serious offense. The FAA will have your pilot's license for this."

"Relax Boss," she dropped her unshaken hand, "We've been granted flight privileges by the FAA due to extenuating circumstances. The lives of three federal agents are at stake here sir. The FAA would like to avoid the fallout that would inevitably land on their doorstep if everything that could be done to save these agents, was not done."

"We're following every protocol we have for this. We have a search and rescue team on standby to deploy as soon as it's safe enough for them to go."

"That won't be necessary. My team will take over search and rescue operations. With a little luck, we can have them down by dinner time."

"Who the hell are you?" he raised a suspicious eyebrow as the two men from the chopper came to stand behind her.

"I'm someone that doesn't agree with a protocol that allows people to slowly freeze to death because their rescue team is afraid to take some risks," she answered, "Now if you don't mind, I think you've wasted enough of my time and I'd like to bring those people down."

"You know I'll have to check on this," he warned, after thinking it through for a few seconds.

"Of course you do," her cheeks dimpled as she smiled, "While you do that, my team and I will be briefing with Agent Hotchner, Oh, and I plan to be back in the air in an hour. Run that by the FAA operator too if you feel the need."

The man took a deep defiant breath, spun on his heels and stormed back to the office. All eyes followed his exit and when he disappeared behind the closed door of the office, Cassi's smile was gone and she barked at one of the two men that had joined her from the helicopter.

"Milo, the man's calling the FAA. Make sure he gets what he needs."

The smaller man to her left nodded and jogged back to the helicopter. Hotch could see him moving around, digging through things inside the helicopter, then settle into the seat and pull a headset over his ears. Then Cassi was in his line of vision.

"We should really take this inside," she said, motioning for him to lead the way.

Hotch glared down at her for a few seconds, making sure she knew that he wasn't intimidated by her arrival, or her new presumptuous attitude. Regardless of his mixed feelings for the woman, they'd asked for her help. They needed her help. So he waved his hand, directing them toward the small office. Prentiss stepped out of her way as she moved toward it. Morgan however stood firmly in her path, arms crossed over his chest. She stopped in front of him, looked directly into his eyes and grinned. This only made him glare harder at her, giving her a silent warning before letting her step around him. The stocky man, who'd been the pilot of the helicopter, followed behind her flashing a wink at Morgan as he passed.

"Hotch, Man I don't like this," Morgan said quietly as they fell into step behind them.

"Neither do I," Hotch agreed, "stay alert."

Garcia had watched the short exchange from the office, swiping at the fog on the window every few seconds until the group moved in her direction. She hurried away from the window and sat down at the table, pulling the laptop in front of her, trying to appear the least bit interested in the arrival of their guests. When the door opened, she glanced up casually, and the whole group filed into the office, crowding the tight space. Cassi's eyes met hers momentarily before she turned her back to her and addressed the group.

"Hotch, Mason," she pointed from Hotch to her pilot in way of introduction, "Mason, Agents Hotchner, Morgan, and Prentiss. What do we know?"

Hotch thought for a moment, still slightly shocked by the situation. What were they thinking calling her here for help? _Save your friends_ his mind answered immediately.

"Not much," he answered. He turned one of the laptops around on the table to face them and pointed to the map, "their plane went down somewhere around here a little over twelve hours ago. We were able to make brief contact with them yesterday. Whether they have injuries or not, I don't know, but they were all alright when we spoke."

Cassi's brows drew together as she studied the map on the screen. She took a few paces to stand behind Garcia, crossing her arms over her chest and chewing at her lip in concentration.

"What's the storm doing now?" she asked. She leaned over Garcia's chair to look at the screen and Garcia tensed. Cassi seemed to sense her discomfort, whispered an apology and stood back up.

"Its uh…" Garcia cleared her throat, "it's moving east. Winds are staying at a steady fifteen to twenty mph right now but expected to pick up again in the next six hours."

The room was silent. Cassi was thinking and everyone else was watching her. At this moment, things could either move along, or stop directly in a confrontation that they hadn't really planned for. If Cassi didn't think they could face the storm, they would have to move on her now. That left the concerns of her guests. They hadn't planned for her to have company with her. They knew nothing about these two men or what they were capable of.

"Mason," Cassi finally broke the silence, "Help Milo. We'll need all the gear boxes unloaded and brought inside. We'll get him set up and then prep for takeoff."

The pilot stared at her for a second before looking around the room at each of them before reluctantly exiting the building. Alone with only the team, Cassi's shoulders dropped slightly and her features softened.

"You realize how difficult this is going to be, don't you?" she addressed the whole room. "I'll have Milo down here to give Garcia a hand, but not only do you have a severe storm circling in, but we're talking terrain like nothing anywhere else. It's safe to assume you'll be coming along?"

"Morgan and Prentiss will be going with you." Hotch confirmed. Now more than before he was sure he had to stay behind. There was no way Garcia would be left alone with a colleague of a killer.

Cassi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. In one motion she pulled a concealed pistol from the back of her waistband and firmly set it on the table, causing Garcia to jump and Morgan and Prentiss to reach for their own sidearms. She moved her hand, leaving the gun on the table.

"As uncomfortable as I know we all are with this, if anyone is going to come back down off of that mountain alive you're going to have to trust me." Her eyes bored into each of them as she spoke.

Hotch glanced from her to the gun and back. It was an offering of trust from one person that he knew he couldn't. There had to be a catch. She had to have a plan.

"Who are the men?" Hotch asked, hand still on his sidearm.

"Colleagues. Mason Reno and Milo Green. We need a pilot to get us up there and Mason is the best. Milo is a resource. He'll run communications and help Garcia. He's harmless."

"Harmless?" Morgan raised an eyebrow, "and Mason?"

"Not so harmless," she confessed, "but he's a friend. He may not like it, but he'll do what he's told. Listen, I'm not stupid and I know none of you are either. I walked into this fully aware that if I make it off that mountain in one piece, I'm going straight into a jail cell. I know that and I came anyway. You saved my son. It's time to return the favor. That gun is the only one I have and you're free to check. I'm turning myself in willingly."

Hotch stared at her dumbfounded. He'd sworn to himself that she would never surprise them again. She'd just made a liar out of him. He was surprised. He studied her face, searching for any twitch or shift that would hint at deceit but she was as determined as he had ever seen her. He let his eyes move from her face to look to his friends. Garcia's jaw had dropped and Morgan and Prentiss held similarly shocked expressions. If this was another plan to deceive them, they'd all fallen for it again.

The tension was broken by the door slamming open, dropping snow from the door frame onto the floor and the man she'd introduced as Milo shuffled in carrying too large plastic boxes. He mumbled something to Mason who was walking behind him carrying identical boxes as he pushed past them toward the table.

"Oh come on Cass," he set down a box and pointed at the gun on the table, "Didn't you mother ever tell you not to leave your toys lyin around."

Cassi looked to the gun, then to Hotch. He sighed and picked it up, tucking it into the back of his belt. Milo shook his head and heaved one of the boxes onto the table where the gun had been. Garcia scooted her computers away from the intrusive object, offended by the lack of finesse to her gear.

"Garcia, meet Milo," Cassi introduced, "put him to work."

"Oh so this is…" Milo started saying then shut up when Cassi shook her head, "nevermind then, nice to meet you."

Cassi rolled her eyes then picked up another of the boxes, carried it over to the couch in the corner and opened it up then turned to Morgan and Prentiss.

"I'm hoping you have some sort of clothes for this little mission," she said.

"We did some shopping," Emily answered, "We had our packs ready to go, just in case."

"Of course you did," Cassi smirked, "Milo, bring up the maps."

"On it Boss." Milo pulled a laptop from the box, dropping it onto the table and powering it up. While it hummed to life, he continued unloading piece by piece of computer equipment from the bin, crowding the table and the counter with gadgets.

Garcia quietly watched, eyeing each computer, modem, printer, radio base station, and monitor he pulled from the boxes. The man was a mobile command center. For a moment she wondered if he could do half of things that she could with it. She quickly pushed the thought aside with a smirk. Nobody could do what she could.

By the time he was done hooking a printer to the computer, the laptop had booted up and held the image of a typographical map on its screen. He quickly printed out the image and passed it over to Cassi.

"You said their plane went down around here?" she asked, pointing at the printout.

Hotch nodded, "they said they went down somewhere within a six mile radius of this area."

Cassi winced, "let's hope we spot them from the air."

"If we don't," Emily asked.

"It's a lot of ground to cover on foot in a storm." Cassie replied, "Not saying we can't do it. Just that it's a lot. It looks like there's a river running through to the east. Depending on how fast it's moving, it may or may not be frozen over. We may have to cross it at some point. Have either of you ever done anything like this before?"

"I spent a lot of time in the Alps, but never in a storm," Emily answered. Morgan simply shook his head no.

"Okay," Cassi took a deep breath and released it in a sigh, "Mason, ready the chopper. We're looking at an elevation of about thirteen thousand feet, air temp at eighteen Fahrenheit, wind speeds from the east at sixteen mph. It's changing fast so we need to move."

Mason nodded and exited the building without a word. Cassi turned to the box she'd opened on the couch earlier and pulled two hand held radios from inside and handed them to Morgan and Prentiss. Each radio was connected to an earpiece and a tactical microphone that wrapped around the neck and picked up speech directly from the vibrations of the wearers throat.

"They're already programmed to a secure frequency that will repeat right back to the base station Milo is hooking up on Garcia's desk." Cassi explained. "It'll also be picking up the small satellite booster that he'll be hooking up outside so we should have clear communications no matter where we are on the mountain. Put them on underneath your outerwear and keep the extra batteries in your inside coat pockets otherwise the cold will drain them long before we're done."

Finally getting over the initial tension of the reunion, the whole room buzzed with activity. Hotch helped Garcia and Milo hook up the various assortments of technological gadgets from Milo's boxes, while Morgan and Prentiss pulled the tags from their new extreme cold weather clothes that they purchased at the recreation store the night before. Cassi had unloaded another two boxes full of gear and helped them repack their packs with added survival equipment that made them worry more about their friends that had no such gear.

A half an hour later, the room had been transformed into a crowded computerized command center and Morgan, Prentiss and Cassi looked as if they were preparing to compete in the Iditarod. The wind outside had come to as much of a lull as it was going to and nobody came out from the control room when they began loading their things back onto the chopper.

"Morgan, Prentiss," Hotch stopped them outside and ushered them away from the group, "This is your last chance to change your minds about this. If either you aren't ready for this, walk away now."

The two agents looked at each other briefly then back to Hotch.

"We're going Hotch," Morgan answered.

"I don't know if we can trust her to really turn herself in after all of this," Emily added, "but I do trust her to do what she does best and keep us all safe up there."

"If not, we know that we're armed, and she isn't," Morgan replied, "You just keep on an eye on those two friends of hers."

Hotch nodded and they rejoined the group near the helicopter. Just as Mason cranked the engine to life, Garcia jogged over to the group and pulled Morgan and Prentiss into a tight hug.

"Please, please be careful!" she said directly into their ears, "and bring them home."

They promised and she finally let go. While they climbed into the rear of the helicopter Garcia turned to Cassi, whose hard features had softened a bit since she'd arrived.

"I'll take care of them," Cassi said, reading Garcia's silent request and turned to climb in after them.

Garcia called out her name and she stopped and turned to look at her. Garcia waved her over and when she approached, she pulled her coat around herself for comfort from the wind as well as the unease of the situation.

"You didn't have to explain yourself back in D.C., but you still called back to do it. Why?" Garcia asked.

Cassi thought for a moment before speaking, "because you would have felt guilty for the rest of your life if I didn't."

"Why did you come back now?"

"Because you asked me to."

"But why did you come?"

"Garcia, we need to go," Cassi turned to leave but Garcia caught her arm.

"I need to know," she begged, tears forming in her eyes, "the lives of my entire family are in your hands and I need to know what your motives are."

Cassi swallowed uncomfortably, and stepped in closer, "because I owe them a debt that I can never fully repay. And because they've proven to me that there are still good people in the world, and because I have to believe that I can sometimes be one of them."

Garcia took a deep breath, calming her nerves and wiped the tears from her eye, "God, Cass, that better be true."

Cassi smirked and leaned in closer, whispering, "If it wasn't, I would have killed you for involving my son again."

She stepped away, ignoring the shock on Garcia's face. She gave her a wink and a dimpled smile before turning on her heels and climbing up into the helicopter.

* * *

Once the helicopter was in the air, Cassi pulled on a headset to be able to hear Mason in the cockpit. Emily and Morgan were watching her every move intently.

"I hope neither of you get airsick," she yelled over the noise, "it's probably gonna get bumpy."

"What's the plan?" Emily yelled back.

"We'll circle the area a few times and see if we can spot them, or at least any signs of them. Then we get in as close as we can and drop down."

"Drop down?" Emily asked nervously and Cassi gave her a smile that did nothing to ease her stomach.

It took them nearly forty minutes to reach the area the plane had supposedly gone down. The weather was starting to turn on them again and the ride in the helicopter was getting pretty turbulent. They watched Mason turn his head, speaking into his headset to Cassi. Cassi turned and yelled over her should at them.

"We're in range," she told them and they all peered out the windows, searching the ground below for anything that would lead them to the plane.

They circled the area for what felt like a lifetime but the ground below held no signs of them.

"Are you positive that this is where they went down?" Cassi finally shouted from the cockpit.

"That's what air traffic control told us," Morgan answered, "they suffered a bird strike and stalled."

"This is where hit the bird or this is where they crashed?"

"I don't know."

"So it's possible they were still in flight when they called in?"

"I guess it's possible."

Cassi swore, "Then we have a much larger area than we thought."

Emily frowned at the revelation that they were probably looking in the wrong spot. They were playing all their cards on the idea of them being within the six miles. Now Cassi and Mason appeared to be in a frantic recalculation that neither she nor Morgan could hear without headsets. The weather was turning on them again and soon they would have to make the choice of going back or risking the search on the ground.

"We're going to try a new search area," Cassi shouted back to them, "We've got about forty-five minutes before this storm gets really bad. You might want to tighten your seatbelts."

* * *

Rossi climbed through the small opening in the side of the plane and tossed the new branches he and Kyle had collected on the floor and pulled the makeshift door closed behind him. The storm had died down enough for them to go outside, stretch their achy muscles and collect more wood for their dying fire. The scene outside hadn't changed all that much other than a few feet of snow against the windy side of their shelter. Rossi was happy to tell himself it would only help to stabilize the fuselage and insulate them on that side.

They'd tried contacting Hotch again, but the radio seemed to be completely dead now. They had no way of letting them know where they were, or even that they were still alright. To make things worse, they were all starting to get hungry. JJ had finally fallen asleep while they were out, and Rossi was beginning to worry about her. She hadn't complained about her foot, but he was worried about infection setting in. Reid still seemed to be doing alright, despite the pain he'd voiced in his knee.

Rossi was pulled from his thoughts from the sound of a soft crunching of snow on the other side of the wall near his head. He froze for a second, ears sharp. He heard it again. It had to have been sort of animal walking around outside. He didn't want to alert the rest of them. If it was as big as it sounded, it was probably a bear. The last thing they needed was a hungry Grizzly lurking around.

"Hello?"

The muffled voice caught him by surprise. Reid and Kyle both spun to look in his direction.

"What was that?" Reid asked, "Is there someone outside?"

"Anybody in there?" the voice called louder.

"Hello," Rossi shouted back, startling JJ awake and pushing his way out of the side of the plane.

Right outside their door stood the best thing Rossi could have hoped for, aside from his team. A tall, dark skinned man with a large black hound dog at his side had appeared from nowhere.

"My god man," the man said, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Rossi stuttered, still surprised, "Yeah, we're alright. Who are you?"

"Name's Dan." He pointed to the dog, "That's Dozer"

"How did you find us?" Reid asked, emerging from the plane.

"I was at my hunting cabin about a mile from here. I saw you going down yesterday and started out this way as soon as the weather died down. I didn't expect to find anyone alive.

"Do you have a phone at your cabin?" Rossi asked.

"No electricity up here. It's just a simple place to lay your head while out huntin. Sure beats sleepin in a busted up bush plane though. We better hurry though, the weather looks like it's turnin again."

Dan eyed Reid, who leaned lightly on Kyle for support off of his injured knee as Rossi disappeared back into the plane. Rossi helped JJ slide her way back to the door, since there was no room to stand before ignoring her protest and just lifting her up into his arms.

"I didn't realize there was four of ya," Dan smiled, "usually these things are just full of boxes and a pilot."

He kicked at one of the wet soggy boxes on the ground to emphasize his point, and Rossi groaned as it broke open, covering the man's boot with white powder. Dan stared down at his foot, confused by the substance and Reid shouted out when the dog moved in to sniff it.

"No, Sir, your dog," he said, "don't let him inhale it."

"What the hell?" Dan swore, grabbing the dog's collar and kicking his foot into the snow to rinse off the powder. "Are you drug smugglers? I ain't housing no drug smugglers!"

"No," Reid replied, "No, we aren't drug smugglers. We're FBI Agents."

Reid quickly dug into his back pocket and removed his credentials, flipping it open for him to see. Then to make his point, he unzipped his coat, pointing at the white letters of the Kevlar vest he wore underneath.

"FBI? What the hell are you all doin way out here? Was this a drug bust or something?"

"Yes," Rossi cut off Reid before he could answer. They were running out of time and he really wanted to beat the storm to the cabin, "We were transporting evidence back to Kotzebue when we crashed. Can we please just get ahead of that storm."

"Of course, I'm sorry." Dan nodded, moving around to Reid's other side to help Kyle support him. "You can never be too sure with people and drugs.

* * *

_Author's Note: And there's chapter 4. I hope you enjoyed it and want to read further. If you do, Let me know! I'm a feedback whore and need it to be motivated!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: I am so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this story. I won't even begin to bore you with the excuses I have for taking so long. Thank you so much to all of you that read and reviewed the last chapter. I whined at people for not reviewing and then when you did I made you wait for so long before updating. Inexcusable! I'm sorry. I really hope you like this Chapter. I've finally completed the whole story outline and it will have some great twists and turns as it proceeds. Stick with me. I plan to start updating regularly again soon! Lots of Love to my readers! Enjoy!_

* * *

Emily scanned the ground below them as they circled around another peak. The storm around them was getting stronger, whipping up snow and making it harder to see the ground. Mason had lowered their altitude as much as he could and had been battling the strong gusts of wind for the last half hour. As much as it hurt her, she had started preparing herself for the very real possibility that they wouldn't be able to find their friends. That they would have to go back to the airport office and face Hotch and Garcia as failures.

Suddenly Mason swore and the chopper canted hard to the right as a rocky peak broke through the thick clouds directly in front of them. Emily was slammed into her window by the sudden change of direction and was shocked at just how close the rocks of the peak were to her window. She caught a glimpse of something red protruding from the snow before the rotor above them sputtered from the roughness of the maneuver and Mason fought to level them out. It only took a few seconds, but it was enough to make Emily's heart stop in her chest and feel like a lifetime.

"Damn," Mason swore again, "That's was too fuckin close."

"Mason," Emily shouted from the backseat, "Can you circle in close to that peak again?"

"Oh sure, maybe this time I can slam directly into it," he shouted back.

"I thought I saw something," she ignored him.

"Yeah, a big fucking mountain," he spat, "This is getting crazy Cass, we need to go back."

"Please, just circle around closer," Emily pleaded. She'd seen something, she was sure of it. She saw Cassi give him a slight nod.

"Alright, we circle the peak," he agreed, "then we go back."

Emily nodded her thanks, praying what she'd seen was something important.

Mason made a wide circle, hovering as best as he could with the violent wind as they passed along the edge of the cliffs. Emily peered out her window, ignoring Morgan crowding behind her to do the same. Down a steep valley between the cliff sides she saw it again, something red.

"There!" she yelled, pointing, "See it?"

"That red thing?" Morgan squinted, "What is it?"

Cassi's hand was immediately in his face, holding out a pair of binoculars to him. He snatched them away and lifted them to his eyes, focusing the lenses and trying to make out the shape. A gust of wind shook them and Mason jerked the controls as they dropped in altitude before he was able to stabilize them back to hovering.

"This weather is starting to affect the rotors," he shouted, "We have to put it down soon or we'll join your friends up here."

"Did you see what it was?" Emily asked Morgan.

"I barely got focused on it before we moved," he answered, "it was something red with numbers on it."

"Numbers?" Cassi shouted back, "What numbers?"

"I don't know a five and a couple of threes, or maybe an eight."

"Milo," Cassi spoke into the radio microphone she now wore around her neck, "I need the tail number for the plane we're looking for."

She listened for a minute while Mason circled the area, fighting the increase of wind and getting lower with each pass. Milo answered her question and she shot a look back to Emily and Morgan before yelling at Mason.

"How close can you get us?"

"Not much closer than this," he grimaced, "those peaks are forming a wind tunnel. I can't get any closer to it. There's nowhere close that I can set you down. We'll have to backtrack and find somewhere flat."

"Find us the closest drop zone."

Emily's heart thumped in her chest. She wasn't sure what Cassi had meant by "Drop Zone" but it sounded ominous. She could already feel the adrenaline flooding her veins. Milo must have confirmed the numbers from the plane to be a match to what Morgan had seen, or at least a close enough match for Cassi to pursue it. Her stomach did a flip. They just might be able to rescue Rossi, Reid and JJ after all.

Emily pulled her radio from her pocket and switched it on, placing the microphone piece around her neck and plugging the adjoined ear bud into her ear before pulling her beanie cap down over it. She watched Morgan do the same until Cassi ducked around her seat and joined them in the back. She crouched between their seats, digging around in the cargo area, and retrieved a large black bag and ripped the zipper open.

"Put these on," she directed, handing them each a rappelling harness.

They did as they were told, watching her as she pulled a large spool of nylon rope from the bag and attached the clip on one end to a loop on the floor near Mason's seat. Then she pulled on her own harness and motioned for Morgan to move away from his door before she slid it open.

The blast of wind that gust through the open door knocked them off balance and made the whole helicopter rock from the force of it. Emily blinked, unable to see anything past the snow that attacked her eyes until she pulled the tinted ski goggles from her pocket and secured them over her face. The darker hue of the goggles seemed to dull the intensity of their situation with the darkening of the harsh white backdrop of the mountain coming up quickly underneath them. She felt Morgan grip her hand and realized he'd been talking to her.

"What?" she shouted over the wind.

"I said are you ready?" he repeated.

She saw her reflection in his similar ski goggles as she nodded, feeling like the person looking back of her from the lenses was someone else. Surely she, Emily Prentiss, was not about to rappel out of a helicopter into a brewing snowstorm. That was something a crazy person would do. Those adrenaline junkies she saw on TV and wondered about their mental stability. Then the sudden shouting from the other woman was like a slap in the face, reminding her that this was in fact real. She, Emily Prentiss was a crazy person.

"Hand me those bags," Cassi shouted, pointing over Morgan's shoulder to the cargo area.

Morgan leaned over the seat, handing her each of their packs, which she tossed out the door as far as possible and made a mental note where each of them landed, then dropped the other end of the rope down to the ground.

"Alright Derek," Cassi shouted, handing him the rope, "Get on the ground as fast as you can and get clear of the rope. Last thing you want is to get tangled in it with the wind whipping it around. Got it?"

Morgan nodded and she helped him loop the rope through his harness. He tested his grip with his weight as he stepped out onto the skid and carefully lowered himself down. It was only about a thirty foot rappel to the ground, and Mason had managed to keep the aircraft fairly steady as he dropped. The wind and ice beat against him, making the rope swing and he came very close to a tree a couple of times before his feet touched the ground. He quickly gained his balance in the deep snow and moved away from the rope as instructed and looked up as Cassi prepared Emily.

"Okay, Emily" Cassi instructed, "The rope is good and wet now. You're gonna have to grip it as tight as you can. Get down quickly and once you're at the bottom, get as far away from it as you can."

Emily nodded, taking a few deep breaths and willed her hands to stop shaking.

"Hey," Cassi waited until she made eye contact then offered her a small smile, "You got this ok. Piece a cake. Morgan's at the bottom waiting for you."

Emily nodded again and made sure her feet were steady on the slippery skid before leaning back to let the rope take her weight. The wet rope slid through her gloved hands faster than she'd intended, dropping her a good seven or eight feet before she caught herself. She winced at the pain from her hand as the rope squeezed down on it and stopped her abruptly. She could feel the rope below her, whipping around in the wind and the helicopter banked slightly, causing her to swing.

"Come on Prentiss," she heard Morgan through her ear piece, "You gotta move. Just take your time."

She took a calming breath through her nose and released it through her teeth, nodding as if he could see her. Carefully she loosened her grip, wincing as the rope continued to squeeze her hand but slid away, slowly lowering her further. A few minutes later, which was not a minute too soon for her liking, Morgan was at her side. Her feet sunk deep into the snow and she struggled to balance herself on shaky legs. Morgan steadied her then went to work helping her unwrap the rope from her hands and pull it through her harness.

Suddenly the rope jerked, going tight around her wrist and she shoved Morgan away before her feet were off the ground again. Her eyes shot up to the helicopter above as it spun, fighting to level out as a piece of ice fell from the rotor. She tucked her head in as much as she could and the ice bounced off her back, breaking apart and scattering below.

"Hang on Emily," Cassi yelled in her ear and she could hear the sounds of mechanical alarms behind her voice, "We'll get you back on the ground in a minute, just hang tight."

Emily looked at the rope wrapped tightly around her wrist, cutting off circulation to her hand. Hanging on wasn't a problem. She couldn't let go of the rope if she wanted too.

As promised, Emily's feet hit the snow again, but this time much faster as she wasn't in control of her decent. Her feet sunk into the snow as the rope went slack in her hands and she tumbled, tangling her feet in the rope as she tried to catch her balance. Morgan was on her in a second, ripping the rope away from her in a panic. The last thing either of them wanted was a repeat with her getting flung through the air dangling by her feet. Before they had completely freed her from the ropes, they felt it tightening above them. They looked up and were relieved to see the movement was caused by Cassi already making her way down, not waiting for them to be clear of it. When she was a few feet above them, they both heard her voice over the radio.

"Cut it, Mason."

Suddenly the rope went slack, dropping her the few feet into the snow next to them and the rope fell away from the helicopter as it lifted up higher into the air, banked a hard left and flew away. Morgan helped Emily stand as Cassi pushed herself up onto her knees, wincing slightly when she stood.

"Well that sucked," Cassi said loud enough for them to hear when they approached her. "Are you both alright?"

"Fine," Emily answered for both of them, "You?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"What about him?" Morgan asked, motioning in the direction the helicopter had flown. He'd heard the alarms too. The helicopter was obviously suffering some sort of mechanical problems.

"He'll be fine," she answered, brushing the snow from her chest and arms. "We better get moving."

Cassi collected the rappel rope, wrapping it around her arm and securing it into a tight knot and looped it over one shoulder. She then pulled the GPS unit from her pocket and scanned their surrounding while they waited for it to power on.

"Milo, do you guys copy down there?" she tested the radio.

Their radios crackled and Garcia's voice broke through, "Are you guys alright? What happened?"

Cassi looked to Morgan and Prentiss, shrugging and motioning for them to give her an answer.

"Hey Baby Girl," Morgan answered, "We're fine. We just had to take the fast way out."

"Oh thank god! Wait, what's the fast way? Never mind, I don't want to know. Did you find them?"

"No, but we found a place to start looking. It'll probably take us an hour or two to get up there though. Keep an eye on this storm for us will ya?"

"Of course," Garcia agreed, "I've got all kinds of new toys to play with down here."

"Don't let Milo hear you say that," Cassi smirked as she walked across the clearing to collect her pack, then shouted, "I'm' sorry guys but we gotta move."

Morgan told Garcia they'd contact her soon and he and Prentiss secured their packs on their backs and regrouped with Cassi.

"Ready?" she asked while pulling the hood of her coat down over her cap. They nodded and she smirked, "Where's the yellow brick road when you need it?"

* * *

Back down at the office that had now been dubbed "base camp", Garcia let out a breath of relief. Morgan and Emily were safely up on the mountain and also had discovered something that may lead them to the rest of the team. Hotch had been standing in front of her, listening to her conversation with Morgan over the radio and even he looked relieved now. The first words that had blared over the base radio on the table had startled them all. Everyone on the other end of the radio was yelling. On their end it was merely to be heard over the wind, but on their end it had sounded like the beginning of the apocalypse. When both Cassi and Morgan started shouting at Emily, it had sounded like she was in serious trouble. Hotch would make it a point to ask Mason what had happened when he returned. Assuming he did return.

"Alright Garcia," Hotch pulled her attention away from the radio, "I want you to grab whatever gear you need and head back to the hotel. We need intel on d Milo Green and Mason Reno. I want to know what we're dealing with here."

Garcia nodded and began quickly packing up her laptop when the door to the office swung open, spitting Milo in with a blast of wet wind.

"Man, I hate snow." He grumbled as he shut the door behind him. He shook the small collection of snow from his unruly hair and stomped his feet against the floor in attempt to rid himself of the offensive substance.

Garcia ignored his look of confusion as she pulled her coat from the rack next to him and wrapped it around herself before scurrying out door into the storm.

"Where's she going?' Milo asked.

"She's going back to the hotel." Hotch answered, "We've been here all night."

Milo shrugged and shuffled across the room to plop down into the chair that Garcia had vacated. He tapped a few keys on his keyboard before slouching back in his chair and releasing a jaw cracking yawn.

Hotch watched him curiously, studying his relaxed movements and careless demeanor. The man was probably in his mid twenties but his thin frame and lanky limbs made him look more like an awkward teenager. He wore rumpled jeans and a hooded sweatshirt under his dirty jean jacket that made him look as if he'd just rolled out of bed and found whatever clothes he had tossed on the floor the night before.

"Got anything to drink around here besides coffee?" Milo asked, breaking Hotch away from his scrutiny.

Hotch eyed the case of water bottles on the counter next to the coffee pot.

"Just water," he answered dryly.

Milo sighed and slunk further down into his chair, pulling a plastic bag full of gummy worms from his pocket and cramming one into his mouth, never once looking up at Hotch.

"What all do you have running here?" Hotch asked, moving to stand behind him to look at the computers.

"The satellite I just hooked up outside is tracking the radios on the search team," he answered, using the slobbery gummy worm to point at the computer screen.

Three red dots now adorned the digital map on the screen and they were slowly moving up into the highlighted area that Garcia had expanded as possible area for the plane to be. Hotch frowned at the vast area in comparison to the small dots.

"It should also keep their frequency clear so they can talk to us without interference," Milo added.

"Meaning what exactly?" Hotch frowned.

"Meaning nobody can hear or use our radio frequency unless they're using one of our radios."

Hotch thought this through for a moment, hoping that the man hadn't hijacked one of the airport's frequencies in order to have the communication line.

"Do you always do that?" Milo asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Do what?"

"Zone out into your own head every time someone tells you some new piece of information," Milo smirked, "cause I gotta say, it makes for some long awkward pauses in the conversation."

Hotch simply scowled at him.

"Not the type for casual conversation then," Milo nodded, "Got it. You're the boss, Boss."

"I'm the Boss?" Hotch hadn't expected that.

"Boss says give you what you want. That makes you the boss while she's gone."

"So Cassi is your boss?"

"Did you see any other Napoleonic Power mongers running around barking orders at people while she was here?"

"How long have you worked for her?"

Milo finally looked up from his bag of candy and made eye contact with Hotch.

"A long time."

It was a simple yet nonspecific answer, but the look in his eyes answered the question Hotch had been asking himself. Was Milo involved with Cassi back in DC last year? Everything about the way he'd answered that question told him yes. Milo knew exactly what had taken place between Cassi and the team. He probably knew everything about him. A sudden realization hit him.

"You sent that Archer file to Sikes' computer," Hotch now understood one of the missing pieces that had nagged at him for the last year. "You told us Cassi was Archer."

Milo held his eyes and nodded, then shocked him again.

"She told me to."

* * *

It seemed like they'd been walking for days when the cabin they'd been hiking to finally peaked around through the trees. Rossi's arms were stiff and his back ached from carrying JJ. After only a few yards of carrying her in his arms, JJ had suggested the much easier style of a 'piggy back'. The change had done wonders for his arms but after a mile in the deep snow, his whole body threatened to dump them both to the ground. Kyle and Reid seemed to be in a similar state with Reid leaning heavily on the young kid and hobbling along.

The wind was beginning to whip around them and the sky was darkening by the minute. The appearance of the cabin was like a godsend just when their stamina was at its end.

"I'll hurry in and get a fire going," Dan hollered and shuffled ahead of them with Dozer bounding happily behind him.

"Oh my god, a fire sounds amazing." JJ grumbled from Rossi's back.

By the time they made it to the front door of the dingy dwelling Dan had the kindling in the stone fireplace lit and was attempting to get it to swallow the logs he'd thrown in on top of it. The cabin was dark, true to Dan's words that it had no electricity. It was only a single room with an old brown leather couch in front of the fireplace and a queen sized bed made up in the corner. A small wooden counter extended away from the front door, lined with various battery powered kitchen appliances and large red ice chest sat on the floor against the wall.

"Make yourselves comfortable," Dan spoke over his shoulder, "there's a bathroom out back."

"There's running water?" Rossi asked while depositing JJ to sit on the end of the bed.

Dan laughed, "Sorry no. Outhouse style."

JJ grimaced and wrapped her arms around herself, immediately missing the warmth from the contact with Rossi.

"How do you communicate out here Dan?" Rossi asked, "Someone's got to drop off supplies or pick you up at the end of the season right?"

"I have an old battery powered CB."

"We need to use it to contact our team. They'll be searching for us."

"Sure. It's in that footlocker over there. Help yourself."

Rossi hurried across the room to the box and lifted the lid. He shouldn't have been surprised at the revealing of two large hunting rifles inside the box considering they were in a hunting cabin, but they momentarily distracted him.

"Are these loaded?" he called over his shoulder.

"One of them is," Dan answered back casually.

Rossi frowned and carefully pulled both guns from the box and set them gently on the floor for safety while he dug through the contents of the box for the radio. He located it stuffed between a wool blanket and bag of beef jerky and pulled it out and turned it on.

"Hello?" he keyed it up and spoke loudly, "can anyone out there hear me?"

All eyes were on him as they waited, met only by static and silence. He waited for a whole minute then keyed it again.

"This is FBI Agent David Rossi, can anyone hear me?"

The device beeped and he looked down, heart stopping at the battery indicator. They battery was dying. With a new sense of urgency he tried again, then switched frequencies and tried again.

"Dave?"

Hotch's voice broke through the static and the three agents let out a breath that could have put out the fire.

"Hotch! Hotch can you hear me this time?"

"Yeah, I read you Dave. What's your status?"

"We're all okay," Rossi answered, flinching as radio beeped again, "The storm seems to be picking up again though."

"Just hang tight. Morgan, Prentiss and Cassi are coming for you."

Rossi paused and stared at the radio for a second, he couldn't have heard him correctly.

"Did he just say Cassi?" Reid asked confirming what he thought he'd heard.

Rossi had questions, loads of questions, but no time for any of them. They'd be sorted out after they got off the mountain.

"Hotch, we're no longer at the crash site. We moved to a hunting cabin about a mile away."

The radio beeped and Hotch's voice came back, distorted in static while asking him to repeat his last transmission.

"We're not at the plane." Rossi spoke out crisply, "We're a mile east of it at a cabin. Do you copy?"

"I copy…plane….a cabin?...mile…what's your loc…"

Hotch's voice crackled and broke away as the radio's battery died completely, drowning the cabin into silence. Rossi frowned at the useless electronic and turned back to face the wide eyes of his friends.

"Sounded like he got the important parts," he shrugged.

"Rossi, Morgan and Emily are out there in this looking for us," JJ shivered at the thought, "what if they get to the plane and we aren't there?"

"Hotch copied the cabin. He knows we aren't at the plane anymore. Don't worry kiddo, they'll find us."

"With Cassi?" JJ shook her head, "That can't be right. Hotch would never…"

She trailed off knowing it wasn't true. Hotch and the rest of the team would do anything to save them. Even if it meant risking their jobs.

"I don't know," Rossi confessed, "We'll just have to wait until they get here."

Reid quietly limped over and sat down on the bed next to JJ.

"Look on the bright side," he gave her a slight grin, "If anyone could get them up here in a storm to find us, it would be her."

She gave him a sympathetic grin back, not quite feeling better about the situation.

"Plus," Rossi added nudging her shoulder with his own, "at least there's no arrows flying at them this time."

* * *

_Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry it was a bit short for me. We'll start seeing some more action and lots more information on Cassi's reappearance in upcoming chapters. Let me know what you think! See you soon!_


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