"It just looks a bit serious, but it should be fixable. Remember to send me the bill later." Hotchner understood how Jack was feeling at the moment, but he didn't know how to comfort him.
Jack wasn't too worried that the department would treat him unfairly. Even if they did, Rossi and Hotchner wouldn't let that happen. He was simply upset about the car. After all, he had only been driving it for a few months, and deep down, he was still a man with a "frugal" mindset.
Rossi glanced at Emily, who was almost soaked through, and waved for her and Jack to head home, signaling that anything they needed to discuss could wait until tomorrow.
Just then, a vehicle identical to Jack's "Mammoth" pulled up to the roadside.
The car door opened, and out jumped two tall girls—Hannah and JJ.
"I think you'll need this," Hannah said with a cheeky smile, wrapping her arms around Jack and giving him a quick kiss.
"Uh, you two...," Jack was deeply touched. He hadn't expected them to show up with a borrowed car after being absent earlier.
"Emily's safety is the most important thing."
JJ gave a brief explanation, but the look she shot at Jack was so gentle it could drown someone.
"Thank you, thank you both." Emily's tears spilled over uncontrollably.
"If I remember correctly, this is the first time we've seen such a vulnerable Emily Prentiss." JJ helped smooth Emily's wet hair and urged her to quickly get in the car.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to stay with you?" Hannah whispered softly in Jack's ear, her eyes sparkling with concern. She had complete faith in him in every other aspect, but she was still worried about his lingering issues from the past.
After all, Emily and Jack had been "roommates" for three months, and she wasn't worried anything would happen between them because Emily wasn't Jack's type. But there had just been a shootout. What if Jack "acted out of desperation" and "lost control"?
JJ was thinking the same thing, but it wasn't the right moment for her to speak up directly, so she could only communicate her concerns with her eyes.
"It was just a small incident. After the case is solved, I'll cook something nice for you." Jack lightly patted Hannah's hand to reassure her, then winked at JJ.
—
Driving home, Jack finally asked the question that had been on his mind, "You really don't know those two families or Byron Delaney, do you?"
Emily shook her head. "'JTF-12' was only responsible for profiling and intelligence analysis. The action teams were separate, and for confidentiality reasons, the groups didn't know each other."
Jack nodded in understanding. "So they were probably part of the action team, the ones responsible for capturing Doyle back then. They were also the easiest to track down, which made them the first targets of revenge.
But how was your identity exposed? I remember you faked your death to escape, so you should have been the most well-hidden."
Emily looked conflicted. "I only found out recently. Shortly after Doyle escaped, Jeremy Wolf, a German intelligence officer who had been part of 'JTF-12,' died in a car accident.
Those jerks didn't think it was related to Doyle, so they kept it from me."
Jack scoffed. It was probably Jeremy Wolf who had leaked information about 'JTF-12' and Emily.
"So, how long were you planning on keeping your little secret?" Jack felt it was time to ask, now that things had reached this point. There was no need for Emily to hide it any longer.
"Actually..." Emily bit her lip, hesitating for a long time before finally making a decision.
"Doyle has a son."
"What the f—? You gave him..." Jack almost lost his grip on the steering wheel. Were undercover agents really expected to make such sacrifices these days?
"No! It's not like that... His name is Declan Jones. He took the last name of Doyle's female housekeeper. When we met, he was already five years old." Emily quickly clarified, realizing Jack had misunderstood.
"That was Doyle's biggest secret. He had the child raised by the housekeeper, and everyone thought the boy was hers. He didn't want the child to become his weakness."
"You discovered this secret? And used it against Doyle?" Jack thought the situation couldn't be that simple. Emily wasn't the type to resort to such ruthless tactics.
Emily looked a bit melancholic. "Doyle once hoped I would take care of his son. After he was arrested, I helped relocate the housekeeper, Louisa, and Declan. Two years later, they found me again.
They still couldn't get Doyle to talk, so they wanted me to provide another way in."
"They wanted you to use the child against Doyle?" Although Emily had phrased it delicately, Jack understood what she meant.
"But you hid the child?"
Emily smiled bitterly. "I faked a set of photos, making it look like Louisa and Declan had been shot, then put them on a plane. Even I don't know where they ended up."
"You really..." Jack didn't know what to say. Stirring up trouble like this was like painting a target on her own back.
"Then the higher-ups took those photos, and since you were the only one who knew the truth, your fake death was exposed. Doyle realized that the one who betrayed him was you, the undercover agent who pretended to be in love with him—Lauren Reynolds.
To him, not only were you the one responsible for his imprisonment and seven years of torture, but you were also the one who killed his son."
"Children are innocent, aren't they?" Emily wiped away her tears, regaining her composure and flashing her usual confident smile.
"I knew they would force me to hand over Declan and would use the boy to torture Doyle into talking. I couldn't let that happen. It was the best option at the time."
Jack shrugged, having mostly pieced the story together. "So, the encounter earlier was purely an accident. Doyle probably planned to save you for last. He might have even set up a trap to capture you alive.
Maybe he still has some doubts and wants to know if his son is really dead."
"I don't know. Right now, I just want a hot shower and to head to the office early tomorrow to work with everyone to track down Doyle." Now that she had finally revealed her long-held secret, Emily looked much more relaxed.
Jack made a face, showing his mock disgust. "Soak in the tub for a while longer. Right now, you smell like a wet dog that fell into a sewer."
They joked as they finally arrived at Jack's two-story house. Jack sent Emily to the downstairs bathroom for a bath, while he went to the upstairs one for a quick rinse.
It seemed like he might have caught a bit of a cold, feeling groggy all day. This chapter was just barely finished in time.
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