"You don't know me," Rachel managed to say.
"Eh, what's there to know? You're not a state secret," Adriano waved his hand dismissively, unbothered about all this.
He could have gone on and on about facts he had deduced, but he didn't care enough about them. He was far too lazy, too. Thankfully, Harvey appeared a second later.
"Hi. Where are you at with the research for tomorrow's hearing?" he asked Mike.
"Ahh, Nothing yet."
"You say you care about the client, but you keep playing footsie instead of finding me an argument; the client's gonna lose. I don't wanna lose."
After saying that, Harvey left.
"How inspirational. What are you two even working on that takes this long?" Adriano asked.
"It's a pro bono case. This woman, Nancy, has been sexually harassed by her boss, Charles Hunt, and then later fired from Devlin McGregor when she rebuffed his advances, despite relaying her situation to Human Resources. I wanted to get a former employee to testify against him, and subpoenaed the personnel files of every woman that had left the firm during Hunt's tenure, since--"
"If Nancy was telling the truth, he did this to more than one. But they fought the subpoena and filed a motion to dismiss due to your glaring lack of evidence," Adriano said.
"...yeah."
"So you are thinking of a way to get access to those files, then are you?" Adriano asked.
"We were, but there's nothing--"
"Duress."
"What?" Mike asked.
"Duress. It's the point you're going to make," Adriano said, placing the file on the table again.
"You mean... ohhh..."
"What?" Rachel asked.
"An investigation like this, say, sexual harassment must be conducted without any duress. Let's take you, Rachel. Let's say Jessica Pearson suddenly gets interested in you and gets too close and harasses you. What would you do?"
"Why would Jessica do something like that? What even is that example?" she asked.
"Granted, Jessica is as heterosexual as they come, but that doesn't matter in this example I am giving you. Say she does do that, what would you do? To whom would you go to complain? The person you went to investigate this and every other person in the firm answers to Jessica Pearson. How likely is it that such an investigation would yield any fruit?"
"... I see."
"What you must do now, Mike, is rather straightforward. Get Harvey to do one of those little provocative stunts that he likes so much, where he can let his arrogance truly shine and make some form of example with the judge and his plaintiff or something. You know to make it slightly funny, without being disrespectful and personal at the same time."
"It's a very good idea. Yeah, that could work... thanks, Adriano," Mike said and went off to prepare.
This left Adriano alone with Rachel, which was rather awkward for the woman.
"Sooo... that was that... thanks for your help," she said and nodded.
Adriano's phone started ringing, and he picked it up.
"Yes?"
...
"I understand. When was that?"
...
"Very well."
...
"No, I'll help, of course. It's been a while."
...
"No problem. I'll see you later."
Adriano hung up, placing his phone back into his pocket. He looked at Rachel and nodded.
"Good night, Miss Zane."
Then Adriano stood up and left without saying another word.
.
- BAU Headquarters -
The Behavioural Analysis Unit (BAU) was a part of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was one component of the National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC).
The mission of the BAU is to provide behaviour-based investigative and/or operational support by applying case experience, research, and training to complex, time-sensitive crimes that typically involve acts or threats of violence. The program areas addressed include Crimes Against Children, Crimes Against Adults, Communicated Threats, Corruption, and Bombing and Arson Investigations. The BAU receives service requests from federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies. The response to these requests for BAU assistance is always facilitated through the network of field NCAVC coordinators. BAU services are provided during on-site case consultations, telephone conference calls, and/or consultations held at the BAU with case investigators.
BAU assistance to law enforcement agencies is provided through a process known as "criminal investigative analysis". Criminal investigative analysis is the process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioural and investigative perspective. It involves assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behaviour and interactions with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the specific crime or as displayed at the crime scene. BAU staff always conduct detailed analyses of crimes to provide one or more of the following services: crime analysis, investigative suggestions, profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis, interview strategies, major case management, search warrant assistance, prosecutorial and trial strategies, and expert testimony.
In the BAU conference room, the team was discussing a new case, with Agent Hotchner briefing the others.
"Walter Derbin, age 52. His body was found in his cab in East Harlem. He was blindfolded and shot once in the chest. Death was caused by a knife stabbed through his ear. The UnSub broke off the handle with the blade lodged in his brain," he said.
"It's the same signature as two other murders. Rachel Holman, 24, was found in her apartment three weeks ago on the Lower East Side. And Kaveh Surrani, 30. Police found him two weeks later inside his painting studio in Hell's Kitchen," Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau, the BAU's liaison with police and media officials, said.
"Different locations, different victimology. It's possible we're looking for someone who will hunt indiscriminately," Hotchner said.
"Does the NYPD have any leads?" Supervisory Elle Greenaway asked.
"The guy's a ghost," Hotchner said, shaking his head.
"He kills at night; there are no witnesses," JJ said.
"Is the NYPD feeling the strain?" Senior Supervisory Special Agent Jason Gideon asked.
Gideon is the current BAU Unit Chief and the team leader of the current unit. He was a calm and collected man, very good at what he did.
"Well, they've withheld information so the press hasn't sniffed out a link between the murders," Hotchner said.
"With no discernible victim pattern, a killer's practically impossible to stop," Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan said.
Morgan specialised in explosives, fixations, and obsessive behaviours.
"Did you know the original Zodiac Killer actually continually changed his victims? Young, old, women, men, white, black," Special Agent, Dr Spencer Reid said.
"Exactly. And he killed for 30 years without ever being caught," Gideon said.
Dr Spencer "Spence" Reid is a Supervisory Special Agent with the BAU. He was mainly noted for his social awkwardness and prodigious brilliance, which drew on his analytical thinking and established him as the encyclopedic brainiac of the group. He had an affinity for words - from reading and scrutinising texts at an astounding 20'000 words per minute. An average American adult reads text at 200–300 words per minute. Ironically, he was not the fastest reader he knew, as one of his friends was even faster. Apart from work, Reid didn't have many friends, as he sometimes missed social cues and was rather awkward around people.
The group boarded their private plane to New York, as they did and spent the time talking about the case or if they were finished, relaxing. Reid was particularly happy about getting to New York.
"This is not how I planned to spend a few days home in New York," Elle said.
"I'd kill for an afternoon at Barneys and dinner at Il Cantinori," JJ told the others.
"I'm looking forward to seeing New York," Reid said.
"You've never been to New York?" Morgan asked.
"Well, we've never had an UnSub there," Reid said.
Hearing him talk, Hotch leaned in to Gideon, who was sitting next to him, reading some documents.
"I thought you were going to talk to Reid about taking some vacation time," he said.
"What's vacation time?" Gideon asked.
"Reid, it's a one-hour flight," Morgan said, still unable to believe that Reid had never been to New York.
"Well, if we have some time, I'll show you around," JJ offered.
"It's a three-hour train ride, man," Morgan was still not finished.
"Well, thank you, JJ, but that won't be necessary. One of my best friends lives in New York. I called him last night and told him I was coming," Reid said.
This made Morgan even more confused.
"Hold on, friend? You have a friend who lives in New York?"
"Yes."
"Who is he? What does he do? And why haven't you ever told me about him?" Morgan asked.
"He is a rather successful lawyer," Reid said. "We met years ago, at a
"And why did no one know about this?" Elle asked.
"Gideon knew."
The others looked at Gideon, who pursed his lips, not feeling guilty at all.
"So you're telling me, you have a friend who lives in New York, is a lawyer, and you never once visited him?" Morgan asked.
"What's he like, Reid?" JJ asked.
Morgan leaned forward over the aisle, smiling and interested.
"Yeah, Reid. What's he like?"
Reid adjusted his posture slightly and folded his hands together.
"He's… statistically improbable," he said.
"That is not a great answer," Morgan replied.
Reid blinked. He remembered he had to change how he formulated his answer a bit. Instead, he chose to explain how they met.
"We met at an international academic summit when I was fifteen. It was a multi-disciplinary invitational program - mostly medalists from the International Mathematical Olympiad, the International Physics Olympiad, and the International Linguistics Olympiad. All participants ranked in the top percentile globally. The probability of any one student qualifying for more than one of those is already under 0.0003 per cent."
Morgan raised a brow.
"And?"
Reid tilted his head slightly, smiling as he remembered the memory fondly.
"He qualified for all three."
...
JJ blinked in surprise, and even Hotch looked serious. Naturally, he knew about the International Olympiads, since the government monitored those events.
"He competed in all three?"
"Yes."
"And?" Morgan prompted.
"And he placed," Reid said, smiling.
"How high?" Elle asked.
Reid hesitated, a bit for dramatic effect, but also because precision mattered and the results were just that impressive.
"Gold in mathematics and in physics. He didn't officially compete in linguistics because there were eligibility conflicts with the math delegation, but he still solved the final problem set easily. Unofficially, though. But faster than the gold medalist, to prove a point."
Hotch looked up from his file.
"Unofficially?" he asked.
"Yes. He wasn't registered. He just… did it for fun. Or because he had nothing better to do. So he told me."
Morgan leaned back.
"Okay. So the guy's smart."
Reid looked mildly offended.
"Morgan, statistically speaking, the word 'smart' is insufficient. The average IMO gold medalist has an IQ estimated at above 150. Cross-discipline top placements are extraordinarily rare because mastery requires years of specialisation. But... he didn't specialise."
"What do you mean?" JJ asked.
"He didn't compartmentalise. Most of us focused obsessively on one field. He treated them like variations of the same structure. Patterns, or logical architecture, if you will. He moved between combinatorics and quantum mechanics, and then to ancient languages, as if he were talking about his family. I was baffled back then, and even today I can confidently say that I have never met anyone remotely like him."
Morgan stared at him.
"You're saying this guy made you look normal?"
"Let me put it this way. I was used to being the youngest in the room, the outlier, about whom the professors spoke in lowered voices. At that summit… I watched him solve a six-hour combinatorics problem in just a few minutes."
Elle blinked. "That's not possible."
"It is if you see the structure immediately. He told me that he hated writing, which was why it took 'so long'."
"Did you talk to him?" Hotch asked.
Reid nodded.
"Yes. During a probability workshop. We corrected the lecturer."
Morgan smirked. "Of course you did."
Reid ignored him.
"I asked him how he approached the geometry section. At first, he was baffled and didn't understand what I was saying. Then he seemed to realise something and just said that he never approached anything and that it usually just 'appeared in his head'. He said he removed all that didn't matter."
JJ tilted her head. "What does that mean?"
"It means he doesn't think linearly. His brain reduces problems to their minimal informational core and solves them without him seeming to put any effort into it. He sees the finished picture when given the blank canvas and the paint, but doesn't need to actually 'paint' to get there."
"And you two became friends over that?" Morgan asked.
"We spoke four times that week," Reid said.
"That's it?" Elle asked.
"Yes. Well, we went to some Rubik's Cube Speedcubing competitions together as well."
Morgan threw up his hands. "That's not friendship, Reid."
Reid's voice softened.
"It is when you're fifteen and no one else in the world understands what you're thinking."
The cabin quieted a bit. JJ watched him carefully.
"You kept in touch?" she asked.
"Yes. Intermittently. Letters at first. Then email. As I said, he doesn't like to write. He prefers spoken communication because it is more efficient. Since he's incredibly lazy."
"And now he's a lawyer?" Morgan asked.
"Yes. Corporate and strategic litigation. He specialises in structural interpretation of law, fiduciary architecture, jurisdictional manipulation, and cross-border liability frameworks. And a few other things. He does everything that has something to do with the law, though. It's… elegant."
"You admire him," Morgan observed.
Reid didn't answer immediately.
"He reads faster than I do," Reid said instead.
Morgan's head snapped back. Looking at Reid like he had grown a second head.
"Excuse me?"
"My reading speed averages approximately twenty thousand words per minute with full retention. His exceeds that. He doesn't even seem to read. It's like he takes a picture of anything he looks at."
Gideon finally spoke, without looking up from his documents.
"He doesn't forget anything," he said quietly.
The team looked at him.
"You've met him?" Hotch asked.
"Yes."
"And?" Morgan pressed. "What was he like?"
Gideon's mouth curved slightly.
"He's dangerous. But he's also fun to be around. He's the most rational man you will ever meet, who comes across as the most irrational. His mind and thoughts are his alone."
Reid didn't correct him.
"So what's he like as a person?" Morgan asked.
Reid considered the question carefully.
"He's very calm. Socially functional, but detached, which makes sense considering how fast his mind works. He doesn't compete for recognition. He doesn't need to. He has a good relationship with his parents, which I thought was surprising."
"It's not surprising," Gideon said. "Not if you know his mother."
"Does he have friends?" Elle asked.
Reid gave a small shrug.
"Very few. At least that I know of."
"And you're one of them?" JJ asked gently.
Reid looked out the plane window for a moment before answering.
"Yes."
Morgan smirked faintly. "What's his name?"
"Adriano Mattei."