Spencer Reid sat in his hotel room, surrounded by case files, each more perplexing than the last. The BAU had been working for weeks on a string of bizarre murders, and every time they thought they were close to catching the unsub, something new threw them off course. But now they had hit an entirely different kind of roadblock—a legal one. The suspect had connections, powerful ones, and every move the team made was met with swift legal retaliation.

Reid pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated. The unsub’s legal team was masterfully delaying their progress, using every trick in the book to stall warrants and subpoenas. They were getting nowhere fast, and every hour that passed meant more lives in danger.

That’s when he thought of them—his partner. They were brilliant, one of the top defense attorneys in the city, but more than that, they knew how to navigate the labyrinth of legal loopholes the BAU now found itself trapped in. Though they worked on the opposite side of the courtroom most of the time, he trusted their expertise implicitly.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed their number.

“Hi,” he wastes no time, his voice tinged with the stress of the past few days. “I know you’re busy, but I need your help. We’ve hit a legal wall, and I think you’re the only person who can help us get through it.”