Prologue

"I'm sure I saw it around here somewhere," the man thought to himself as he plunged into the woods. "At least, I seem to remember that I did." He worked his way further in between the trees, kicking dead leaves out of his way as he progressed. "I definitely know that I heard something earlier. Maybe that is – "

The man stopped and turned his head, carefully surveying the area. He could identify the small lake to his left, and also saw what appeared to be a small clearing a short distance in front of him. However, was that loud panting noise that he could hear behind him? He knew for a fact that there weren't any large animals living in these woods.

Turning, Lyle Wright saw a flash of brown fur flying at him as he was knocked to the ground. Desperately he tried to fend off the creature's attack. The last thing he felt was a blow to the back of his head as his eyes closed - Permanently.

Chapter 1

SSA David Rossi was bored. No, he was exasperated. Actually, he was – aggravated, infuriated, frustrated, and enraged. He momentarily stopped his inner rant to give a small smile as he realized how much his vocabulary had expanded since he started writing. He was certain that he could now come up with at least three synonyms for any word in the English language.

Still bored (aggravated, frustrated, whatever), he picked up yet another file from the stack on the corner of his desk and prepared to begin working on it. If only unsubs would take a day off every now and then, maybe, just maybe, he could get caught up on all this paperwork.

A knock on his office door was followed by the door opening and Penelope Garcia sticking her colorful (blond and pink today) head in.

"We have a case," she announced. "Hotch wants everyone in the round table room as soon as possible."

"I'm on my way," Rossi assured her as he put the still unread file back on top of the pile before standing up and stretching. "I'm on my way."