SUPERMAN SATURDAY DRABBLE #4

A WILD GOOSE HUNT by Ice Ziggee
Hotch walked briskly to the coffee shop. An e-mail had been delivered to his inbox from an anonymous account created at a local coffee shop asking for a meeting in regards to information on a possible murderer. According to Garcia, it would be nearly impossible to trace unless she got the video-surveillance and ran everyone that had used said computer through her face-recognition-program. That could take up to two days.

As the shop was nearby, Hotch opted to walk to meet with the mysterious person, deciding to send Reid ahead of him as he wouldn’t likely be considered an agent. Luckily, Reid had taken no offence and quickly exited the office.

The shop was packed with all kinds of people. Reid was standing in line, seemingly bored, but looking around, and the older agent did the same. No one stood out as a possible informer; everyone was seated with someone or deep in books, papers or laptops, at all the tables in the shop.

“Agent Hotchner?” was asked behind him and he swiftly turned around. A young waitress stood next to him holding a travel mug.

“Yes.”

“I was supposed to give this to you,” she said and carefully held out the mug which Hotch took suspiciously.

“Who told you to give this to me?” he asked firmly.

The girl shrugged her shoulders. “The earlier shift took the order.” Before Hotch could ask her another question, she had hurried off to her spot behind the counter.

Inspecting the mug with intensity, he noted it was full of coffee. A small sniff filled his nose with only the delicious aroma of the coffee, no foul odor of poison. He raised the mug and noticed a small piece of paper folded together and glued under the bottom.

He carefully removed the paper just as Reid appeared with his own coffee.

“What is it?” He asked curious and watched as Hotch unfolded the paper. It was the tiniest map of Quantico with a large red X marked on it.

“X-marks the spot,” Reid mumbled as he bent over the map for a better look. “Looks like it´s a building just couple of blocks east,” he said thoughtfully and looked at Hotch to see what he wanted to do.

“Maybe we should check it out,” Reid offered and took a sip of his coffee as Hotch studied the map.

“We should call for back up,” Hotch said without looking up.

“Okay,” Reid said, “or we could check it out and call for back up if we see something suspicious.”

Hotch gave him a glare before nodding. Taking the mug and the map they walked out of the shop and headed left up the street. It turned out to be a travel agency. <i>‘What kind of wild goose chase is this?’</i> Hotch thought as they entered the office.

A petite blond female looked up from the front desk and studied them for a few seconds. “Agent Hotchner?” she asked carefully.

Hotch turned around puzzled. “Yes.”

“Hi, I’m Amanda,” the woman said as she stood up from her desk. “Would you mind showing me some credentials for verification?” Hotch firmly pulled out his badge and showed it with frustration to her face.

“Thank you,” Amanda said, grabbing an envelope from her desk and handing it over to the older man. “This is for you.” Hotch´s name was printed on the front of the envelope.

“Who brought this here?” he asked and stared at the white thing in his hands.

“I’m sorry; I didn’t take the order. I was only asked to give this to a dark-haired man in a suit with an authoritative presence,” Amanda replied with a smile, and Hotch inwardly cringed at the appreciative glance-over she gave him, but kept his glare on her until she looked away to answer the phone.

“What is this?” Hotch asked impatiently and ripped up the envelope. Inside were two plane tickets and a sheet. The tickets were in his and Jack’s name, a round trip to Orlando-airport and the sheet told him they had a fully paid suite at the Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge for four nights. <i>‘What the heck?’</i>

The snap of a phone-camera made Hotch snatch his head up. Reid looked at him with a shy grin. “You being bewildered is a memorable occasion,” Reid explained and quickly hit a few buttons on his phone before Hotch could grab it and delete it.

“Come on,” Hotch told him grimly and hurried out of the shop. He was not amused. Someone knew his son’s name and was playing a prank on him.

Reid tried to keep up with his boss as they headed for Headquarters. Catching up with him at the elevators, they rode up together. Frustrated, Hotch headed for Garcia’s den to have her find out if there had been a security breach, but the Queen of All Knowledge was nowhere to be seen.

Anger boiling inside him he walked to his office but as he opened the door: “SURPRISE!!!!!” his team shouted and clapped.

Rendered speechless, Hotch looked around. On his desk lay a big birthday cake with his name and four candles. Everyone but Dave had a birthday hat on and balloons decorated the ceiling of the office. Everything fell into place.

“Happy birthday,” Reid said calmly next to him.

Hotch turned toward his youngest subordinate. “Thank you,” he said as a smile appeared on his face.

“All of you,” he said and turned his head toward his team, “Thank you.”

The group circled around the main man, hugging him, and the ladies planted butterfly kisses on his cheeks. It was a joyous afternoon spent in a sugar rush, laughter and peace.