KATHARINE HOPED EMILY KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING.

As she sat on the edge of Spencer's desk, she couldn't help but worry for the woman that had become a close friend within the past seven or so months. She didn't share her worries with her team though. She figured they'd all be worried about the same thing and her voicing her concerns would do virtually nothing to benefit their current predicament.

So, as the team waited for Hotch to come back out of his office, Katharine stayed put. Derek had disappeared also, most likely to retrieve the document Emily had received earlier that day from her contacts.

She sighed as Spencer idly drew patterns into her thigh, relaxing under his touch. So much had happened in the past twenty-four hours. The amount of chaos that had been unleashed into their lives made her want to curl up into a ball.

She ran her hand through Spencer's curls, frowning at the thought of how angry he'd be when he found out what she was hiding from him. But he'd have to understand the situation she was in. Between wanting to keep him safe and her unwillingness to put the team at risk, she figured there'd be a good excuse as to why she didn't just tell him everything she knew the second Ian Doyle's name was mentioned.

Unfortunately for her, it was too late to just go spilling all her secrets now.

As she messed with Spencer's hair, she made a silent vow to him. After this, there'd be no more secrets. She'd tell him everything, no matter the cost. He deserved to know if she planned on marrying him. It was only fair.

Hotch left his office at the same time as Derek came back into the bullpen. In his hand was a single sheet of paper, which was extremely underwhelming for the amount of time they had waited for it.

"I got four names on the bottom of the list Prentiss gave us," Derek said, reading off the sheet. "Luke Renault, Lawrence Riley, Lila Rafferty, Lyle Rogers. All with the initials L. R."

Katharine kept her mouth shut, detangling her fingers from Spencer's hair. She smoothed back his curly locks before moving her hand to rest in her lap. Spencer stopped drawing shapes into her leg as well, both slipping back into being the professionals they were.

"The CIA uses cryptograms like that to assign to non-official cover agents working the same case," Hotch told them, looking at the list that Derek had brought into the room.

"So do other foreign countries," he said, reading the names again. "These last four names are covers. Spies."

Derek looked over at his cousin. It was no secret that Katharine did espionage work. Everything was, of course, classified to the public but since the collapse of SHIELD, most government agencies knew more about the type of work they actually did.

It wouldn't surprise Katharine if Derek had somehow gotten ahold of one of her former mission reports or even her body count.

She bit her lip. Eventually, she'd have to let her team know of the undercover work she did but she saw no point in showing all her cards now. Her connection to Ian Doyle was weak. He'd only go after her if she made any direct or outward moves toward him, as Nina assured her.

For now, Katharine was safe.

"Wait," Garcia said, breaking the staredown that was going on between the two relatives. "No. This isn't right. Do you see this space?" She pointed at the line of white in between two names. "That shouldn't be here."

"Could it be a formatting error?" Katharine asked, squinting at the sheet of paper in Garcia's hands.

"No, this is a spreadsheet template," the technical analyst told her. "Formatting doesn't allow for this. There's a missing name on here."

"It's another spy whose cover is L. R.," Hotch deduced.

Katharine froze as she heard the words Spencer muttered under his breath.

"Lauren Reynolds is dead."

"What?" Hoth asked, looking to the genius to speak louder.

"'Lauren Reynolds is dead,'" Spencer pronounced. "Prentiss said that on a phone call seventeen days ago. But her intonation wasn't surprise or grief. It was like a mantra, like she was reminding herself. Lauren Reynolds, L. R."

She swallowed harshly.

"If Emily is the last name on that list," Katharine played along, "then she's on Doyle's list, too."

"That explains her behavior the past month," Rossi said. Katharine watched as Hotch pulled out his phone to call their missing team member. "The secrets, the evasion."

"She's been biting her fingernails again, too," Spencer said, revealing his observations.

Katharine watched as Hotch walked around her to get to Emily's desk, following the sound of Emily's vibrating cell. She watched as he opened the top drawer, revealing the shaking device as well as the weapon and credentials the brunette had left behind.

"Guys," Hotch interrupted, holding up Emily's belongings.

Everyone stopped talking and turned to face Hotch.

"She left her badge and gun?" Derek asked. "Why would she do that?"

"That doesn't make sense," Spencer said, furrowing her brows. "Why run? We're her family. We can help."

"Doyle's killing families," Rossi realized. Katharine turned back around to look at the older man. "She's not married, not close to relatives. He was ready to wipe us out. She ran to protect us."

"She's a trained spy," Katharine said, not bothering to look at anyone in particular. Her gaze landed on Ian Doyle's face that had been tacked up on their board. She looked away before the urge to punch the sheet of paper became too strong. "She doesn't want to be found."

"She knows all of our tricks," Derek said, frowning. "We don't know any of hers."

"Then how do we find her?" Garcia asked. Katharine watched as Hotch came back around the desks with Emily's credentials in hand.

"Here's how," he said, tacking Emily's badge up next to Doyle's photo. "Ian Doyle is our unsub, Prentiss is our victim. We profile their behavior and we treat it like any other case. Katharine, you were a former spy so your knowledge on this will help. Because terrorism isn't an area we specialize in, I've reached out to an expert from the state department, someone who can also shed light on Prentiss' past."

Katharine nodded in acknowledgment of her role in this. She hopped off Spencer's desk and made her way to her own as a familiar blonde walked in through the glass doors of the BAU.

She looked up and couldn't help the grin that slid onto her features as her eyes met the woman from across the room.

"Let's get to work," JJ said, grinning at her old team.

After a brief reunion, they all settled into the round table room. Katharine sat in between Derek and Spencer as she normally did, ready to do her part in bringing Emily home.

"Ok, so I talked to a friend from Langley," JJ said, taking up the remote as if she'd never been away. "He couldn't give me Emily's full CIA history, but he could give me this. She assumed the identity of Lauren Reynolds as part of a special task force called JTF-12."

"I heard about them," Rossi said from between Spencer and Hotch. "They were profiling terrorists, weren't they?"

"Yeah," JJ confirmed. "Assembled after nine-eleven. CIA and Western Agencies contributed their best and brightest."

"But serial killers and terrorists have different personality traits," Katharine said, utilizing her knowledge of both. "So how does Doyle fit in?"

"He was their last case," JJ told them. "And now the JTF is on his hit list. Jeremy Wolff was victim number one, from Germany's BND. Sean McAlister at Interpol was the second. He's the one that brought the JTF in to work the Doyle case. He was murdered last week in Brussels with his wife and daughter. Tsia Mosely of France's DCRI. She got engaged to Jeremy earlier this year. After he died, she fled to DC and team leader Clyde Easter, British S. I. S. He hasn't checked in since Tsia's murder. He was also in DC."

"Did JTF make the arrests?" Hotch asked.

"No," JJ shook her head, "the host countries handled that. The team moved on to the next case."

Hotch's frown deepened if possible. "If all they did was deliver a profile, how does Doyle even know about them?"

"Well, considering the shadowy nature of terrorist cells, they utilize a skill we don't," JJ said, trailing off.

"Infiltration," Katharine finished for her. The two women looked at each other. Katharine narrowed her eyes slightly, looking between the screen and the blonde. "I'm guessing Emily was undercover on Doyle."

"You guess correctly," JJ clicked the remote and a photo of Emily dressed in all white appeared on the screen. "She made contact with him in Boston to get intel on Valhalla. She was posing as another weapons dealer."

"Look at how she's dressed," Derek said, drawing attention to the outfit Emily wore. "She seems awfully comfortable."

"How close did she get to Doyle as part of her cover?" Hotch asked.

"The recon they did on Doyle included a background of all of his romantic relationships," JJ informed them. "Emily was his type."

Katharine bit her lip. Emily was in deeper with Doyle than she had originally suspected. She knew, of course, that Emily had gone undercover but to this extent... Katharine had played the lover before. She knew that it didn't always turn out for the best.

They wrapped the rest of the briefing quickly, Katharine chiming in every now and again with a detail that she thought would help in their exploration of the case.

Eventually, they all dispersed, Hotch sent Derek and Rossi to Emily's apartment while the rest of them stayed at the BAU to dig through Emily's life virtually.

To Katharine, it felt morally wrong to be digging through her friend's life like they were. From what she knew, Emily was a very secretive person, even to those she'd consider as close friends. Pulling up old files and intelligence as they were felt like a huge betrayal of trust.

Katharine returned to her desk as her phone rang. She pulled the device and checked the caller ID, grinning lightly at the photo of Nina and her infectious smile.

"Hey Nina," she answered, taking a break from her research. The Puerto Rican greeted her back before diving into what she had found.

"So there's some activity between Doyle and HYDRA," Nina said, the frown evident in her voice.

"Are you sure?" Katharine asked. Thank God Derek was out and Spencer was in the briefing room with Garcia. She didn't need them overhearing whatever information Nina had for her.

"A single confirmed mercenary for hire. Sniper."

Katharine furrowed her brow in confusion. That was odd. What would Doyle need a sniper for?

"Do you know who?," she asked.

"No."

"Okay," Katharine sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear, "I'll handle it."

"Stay safe."

"I will."

Katharine hung up the call and dropped the device on her desk. Unlike her other calls with Nina, this one upset her the most. There had been no witty back and forth banter as there usually was, no pet names, and no nonsense. Ian Doyle was sucking the fun out of her life and he wasn't even there.

Fed up, she stood from her desk and set out for the office coffee machine. If she couldn't have fun or be happy, the least she could be was caffeinated.

    Roughly thirty minutes and one cup of coffee later, Rossi and Derek returned to the BAU, drawing Hotch from his office. Katharine watched from the kitchenette as the Italian man presented a gold chain to their boss, the ring at the end clasped between two fingers.

    She watched them interact, dumping her empty mug into the sink, before making her way over to where the three men stood.

    "It's called a Gimmel ring," she heard as she drew near. "The husband and wife-to-be wear individual bands during the engagement and at the wedding."

    Katharine frowned, coming up between Derek and Hotch. She put out her hand and Rossi dropped the chain into it, allowing her to examine the piece.

    "You see the markings in the middle?" Derek asked, pointing at the center of the ring. She nodded, turning it slightly so that she could see if there had been anything else had been etched into the band. "Gaelic. Doyle gave it to her."

    Katharine grimaced. This was the chain that she'd seen Emily toss into the toilet earlier that day. She handed the gold piece back to Rossi, taking her hand sanitizer from her pocket and pouring a generous amount into her palm.

    "This ring is more than just a souvenir," Rossi said as she rubbed her hands together. "Otherwise, why hang on to it all this time? Why hide it from us?"

    "What makes you think she went to Boston?" Hotch asked.

    Derek held his hand out to his cousin, who squirted some hand sanitizer into his palm as well.

"Well, the Doyle case started in Boston," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Maybe she's going back to old locations trying to hunt him down."

    "If he had us in his crosshairs, she wouldn't run," Katharine said. "She'd take the fight to him. It's what I'd do."

There was a loud beeping coming from the briefing room and two seconds later, a frantic Penelope Garcia came stumbling onto the raised platform in the bullpen. Katharine looked at her and then through the glass windows of the room to see Spencer reading off a computer screen.

"Sir, TSA got a hit on one of Clyde Easter's covers,' she said. "He's on a plane to Boston as we speak."

"Have him detained as soon as he steps off," he ordered. "We need to go. Garcia, you're coming with us."

The group of four broke away from each other, Katharine heading to her desk for her go-bag while Derek did the same. She put her hand sanitizer back into her pocket and made sure that her phone was on her person before crouching to unlock the safe she kept under her desk.

"Did you know?" Derek asked, looking at her across the small desk divider.

Katharine didn't look up at him, trying to look busy as she removing her second firearm from the safe.

Derek watched as she holstered her second gun and removed a chain of keys from the safe. Katharine closed the box and stood from under her desk. She straightened out her top, grabbing her go-bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

"I knew that she threw something in her toilet," Katharine answered honestly. She looked between her cousin and picked up her keys, closing her hand over them so they wouldn't make noise. "But I didn't know it was that."

KATHARINE KEPT HER EYES ON EMILY'S FIGURE AS GARCIA PLAYED THE FOOTAGE BOSTON PD HAD SENT TO THEM. She saw her go down before Doyle approached her with that same stupid smirk he wore on his face all those years ago.

"Emily walked into a trap," Garcia detailed. "It looks like Doyle got into the SUV, but from this angle," she switched windows, pulling up another video, and hit play, "you can see that he didn't. Which I wish Boston PD Would have told me before I started watching it. Sorry again for the screaming."

Katharine watched the footage as it played again, observing the way her friend went down. In the new video, Emily picked up her head as Ian Doyle loomed over her.

"She threw a flash-bang grenade into a car," Derek said, disbelief coating his voice. "She's lucky the three people inside didn't die. Is anybody else bothered by that?"

"Well, three bad guys," Rossi said, though his comment didn't help.

Katharine scoffed. "I've definitely done worse but as illegal as it is, Emily knows she has to be as ruthless as Doyle. It's her only chance at survival."

"He's come to the US to wage a public vendetta and hired a group of mercenaries to remain loyal to him," Spencer said. "He has nothing to lose, so she has to act the same way."

Katharine tapped her fingers against her thigh. She wished Doyle would have just stayed in captivity. It would have made life so much easier.

"So how did Doyle know she was waiting for him?" Rossi asked.

"Well, the mole must have told him, right?" Katharine looked over at where JJ stood. "The same guy who's been feeding Doyle the contractors and agents?"

"And our best suspect was just arrested with a suitcase full of cash," Katharine said, frowning. "How do we get Easter to talk? He won't cooperate willingly."

"I'll handle that," Hotch said.  "The rest of you focus on Doyle's location."

"I hate to be the one to ask this," Garcia said, looking around at her teammates, "but how long does Emily have?"

"Her best chance is also the most troubling," Hotch said, looking back at their technical analyst. "Doyle saved her for last because he views her as his stressor. Which means he'll take his time."

Katharine frowned. In her experience, torture was never fun. The number of scars her body bore was a testament to how much she had managed to survive and even then, sometimes she wasn't sure she truly survived the entire time.

She rested her head against Spencer's shoulder as he read one of his many books. She didn't bother trying to keep up as he read, just occasionally allowing a sentence here and there to float across her vision until she found her eyes closing and her mind drifting away.