Prologue

SSA Dr. Spencer Reid of the FBI's elite Behavior Analysis Unit fought down his growing panic attack.

"Take a deep breath," he told himself. "And relax. Nothing bad is going to happen."

Deep down inside, he knew he was wrong.

It was early on a Monday morning and he was sitting with the team at the round table in their conference room doing his best not to panic and jump to conclusions. Just because the case Garcia had just finished presenting to the team was located in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, didn't mean that his past was going to catch up with him. It only meant that he was going to have to take extra precautions to make sure that it didn't. After all, it had been several years and how many of the people involved would still be in the area? And, even if they were, what were the odds that they would remember an insignificant flight attendant named Stefan Mrazek?

And The Adventure Begins

"Reid?" Hotch was calling him and, judging from the tone of his voice, it wasn't the first time. "Reid – Your thoughts?"

Reid took another deep breath and quickly scanned the paper copy of the case file that Garcia had prepared for him. "I think it is obvious that these individuals aren't members of the Russian mob," he began. "None of them appears to have any of the tattoos or missing fingers that are hallmarks of that group."

"But they still could have crossed the mob," Morgan pointed out. "They wouldn't need to be a member to do that."

"If that's the case, there would be some indication of a mob connection, no matter how tenuous, in their background," JJ told him. "And, there isn't any. The only thing they have in common is the way they were killed."

"As far as I can tell all three of the victims are almost squeaky clean," Garcia reported. "The first victim, Petr Fedorovich was a retired letter carrier. He had a few parking tickets over the years, but that's about it. The second, Maria Anatoly, was a full time wife and mother, and I can't find any run-ins with the law for her – Nada – Nothing. The third, Ivan Novotny, worked for a local trucking company making deliveries to stores and businesses in the area. Now, he does have a couple of moving violations on his driver's license but, again, nothing serious and nothing that would tie him to the mob."

"As for their moving in the same social circles, I can't find anything there either. They may have walked down the same streets at one time or another, and they probably did, but that's about it. And their families all check out, too."

"The letter carrier," Rossi began. "I assume you have checked his route?"

"I have traced all the routes he was assigned to over the years," Garcia assured him. "And, none of them appear to go anywhere near what the local police consider to be 'Russian Mafia Territory'."

"Did he ever substitute for any other carriers?" Rossi continued. "I know my brother-in-law said he had to do that from time to time."

"Let me check on substituting," Garcia wrote a note on her pad. "And, I will get back to you on that."

"As for the method of killing," Blake was paging through the file on her tablet. "It appears to be pretty – Efficient."

"Each victim was stabbed at the base of their skull with a long, sharp object," Morgan was studying the pictures. "That means that the unsub would have had to have come up behind them."

"Either they were extremely quiet or they moved very quickly or the victims trusted them," Blake commented.

"There doesn't seem to be any preference as far as sex or age is concerned," JJ pointed out. "And no signs of sexual assault."

"None of the victims are particularly young," Hotch observed. "Although, only the first victim, Petr Fedorovich, could be considered to be old. That would appear to rule out the possibility that they met their attacker during a night out clubbing."

"Well, the Brighton Beach police have officially invited my favorite crime fighters in," Garcia announced as she closed down the flat screen with its pictures of the victims and the crime scenes.

"Even though there isn't any evidence pointing to the Russian mob being involved, they are concerned that these murders may stir up some hidden resentments," Hotch explained as he stood up. "Wheels up in 30, everyone. And, Reid, I would like to see you in my office before we leave."