Hotch stopped his pacing, one hand holding the phone tightly to his ear, the other hand trying not to pull all of his dark hair out. He could almost feel the gray accumulating in his scalp. Fortunately, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the remaining members of his team quickly walking through the front doors of the police department. The relief he felt was palpable. Knowing that he and Garcia were no longer the only ones on the case meant that, whatever had happened to Rossi and JJ, their chances of being found quickly just rose exponentially.

Dr. Spencer Reid was the first one through the door, panic beginning to show on his face. "Hotch, we came as quickly as we could. What's going on? Your text said something about Rossi and JJ being missing." Hotch tried to keep his normally stoic face calm, silently remembering that Reid and JJ had a special relationship and not wanting to rattle the young agent needlessly. "Well, I'm not exactly sure, it may be nothing. Dave and JJ went to do the exit interview with the owner of the rental company. They should have been back by now. They left around 3pm." Lips moving wordlessly, Reid was quickly doing calculations in his head that would tell him exactly when his colleagues should have been back. "Based on the distance and speed limit to the rental agency, shave off an extra 20 minutes with Rossi driving, and they should have been back 2.58 hours ago. " Normally his co-workers would have rolled their eyes at his calculations. This time, Reid's precise measurements only served to heighten their worry. "Hotch, do we even know if they made it to the interview?" SSA Derek Morgan was trying to piece together a plausible solution to his friends' unknown whereabouts. "Maybe they had a flat or something?"

Holding his phone out, pressing the small button that would allow Garcia to communicate with the rest of the team, Hotch spoke up. "Garcia, I've got you on speaker. Prentiss, Reid, and Morgan are here. Were you able to get in touch with Mr. Remington from the rental agency?" "Hi my lovelies, I'm glad you guys are all at least safe and accounted for. After about an hour of trying, I was finally able to connect with the old man. He said that Agent Rossi and JJ never showed up for the interview. He never called us because a strange fire had been set in one of his empty storage units. Around the time that Rossi and JJ were supposed to meet with him, he was busy putting out that fire and making a police report so it wasn't until after the police left that he had even remembered about the meeting. He was about to make a call to the station here when I got ahold of him. Unfortunately, his delay in calling us means they've actually been missing, possibly even in trouble, longer ….. than we've known about." Garcia stopped talking, trying to tamper down the sobs that were about to boil to the surface along with her increasing worry.

The team was quiet, a circle of silence among a backdrop of computer keys clicking, phones ringing, and policemen murmuring to each other. When Hotch finally spoke it was a call to action. "OK, here's what we know. Rossi and JJ headed out this morning, weather clear. According to Garcia there is no current inclement weather within 75-100 miles of where Rossi and JJ were headed as well as nothing pending. So we're not looking at natural disasters. Next likelihood would be car trouble, however Garcia checked the maintenance records on the fleet SUVs they're driving on loan from the UTAH Division of the FBI and the car was just detailed about 2 weeks ago, with no issues. Of course, there's a manner of other reasons why they could have been held up, all of them benign. The real concern is that there's been no contact with either of them. Garcia has been unable to locate the GPS on their SUV or their phones."

"Hotch, not for nothing, Utah is nothing but desert in some parts. You think they could have just had a flat tire and hit a dead zone?" Morgan questioned his boss, trying to ease some of the tension in the tightly knit circle. Hotch grimaced internally at his use of the ominous phrase. "Normally I would agree with you, Morgan, however, there are two things that we need to consider. Frist, Rossi can change a flat, so, unless there were multiple flats, they should have still been able to make their appointment. Secondly, Garcia has just given me some information that I don't think anyone here was previously aware of." The team froze, almost scared to ask what that information was. Their section chief picked up where he left off, "Garcia, I'll let you fill the team in."