Don't own Criminal Minds

A/N

This story is an AU and a gift to a friend who wanted me to write a story using the prompt, 'People disappearing in the middle of the night with a government connection.'

I hope you all enjoy!

"You're late."

A young lanky boy slid his keycard into a scanner and pushed open a glass door, sighing in frustration as the programmed voice read out his information.

"Dr. Spencer Reid, age twenty-four. Census department." The door then locked behind him and the glass became opaque, making it impossible for anyone to see inside the room.

"I'm sorry. I got held up in a security check point." Spencer Reid breathed out, pushing back his long hair.

A smirk appeared on the other man's face, "They thought you had forged your papers, didn't they?"

Reid nodded as he pulled off his messenger bag and set it at his desk. "I guess they didn't think that someone my age could be a code reader for the Census. I'm sorry again, Gideon."

Jason Gideon sighed and pulled off his glasses, peering intently at Reid. "We'll have to fix that. Come on, let's get started."

Gideon led Reid around the pristine white room that held two crystal screens with thousands of numbers flashing across the screen at an extreme pace.

"This will be your station. Your job will be to read these lines of code and input the data into this book. You can use any means of input, whatever's easiest for you but you'll be expected to re-input it into something readable for your weekly reports."

Reid nodded and took a seat in front of the screens, easily scanning the pace of the numbers just as simple as an old pro.

"The higher ups at the academy tell me that you'll probably be one of the best code readers we'll ever have and heaven knows we've been going through them too fast to keep up."

Reid blinked and turned to look at Gideon, intent on asking him what had happened to the other code readers but Gideon forced his head forward, "Keep reading, Spencer. The code is constantly streaming in and you don't want to miss anything critical."

"Of course."

"Today is Monday, April 3rd 2056. A reminder today that sectors one through four will be experiencing formulated clouds and rain until three so please plan accordingly. Another reminder, all citizens must carry their identification keycards on them at all times and security officers have the right to ask for cards at any time. Compliance is mandatory. Curfew will be at nine o'clock tonight for restricted cards, so make sure you are in your designated block before the clock turns or enforcers will be called in."

A young blonde woman was standing in front of green screen, reading off the teleprompter of news bulletins and reminders, her voice pleasant even though the message she was broadcasting was far from it.

"And you're clear Miss. Jareau." A technician spoke as the light on the camera went off.

"Excellent." Jareau stepped neatly off her pedestal and nearly tumbled head long into another tech who was zipping by at full speed.

"Hurry and encrypt that broadcast! Someone's trying to intercept it again!"

Jareau made her way calmly through the chaotic techs who were desperately attempting to keep her noon day broadcast from being overtaken by some unknown force. It didn't matter to her though, she had done her work.

"Nice update, Miss. Jareau." A bubbly voice sounded from her left and she turned and saw a shorter blonde beaming at her from behind a pair of thick framed glasses.

"Thanks Pen." Jareau smiled and led the way to her corner office, allowing Pen to enter first before shutting the door.

"Any bugs?" Jareau asked as Pen quickly made herself comfortable.

"One but I got it. They really need to do a better job of hiding these things, huh JJ?"

JJ instantly covered her friend's mouth, "Shh! Penelope! We don't use that name here, remember?"
Penelope waves her arms over her head to signal JJ to let her go, "Sorry, forgot but you know I got all the bugs Jennifer. There's no need to worry."

JJ took a seat across from her friend and went over the next hour's broadcast notes. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. Good work with the intercept by the way, is it traceable?"

Penelope scoffed as if JJ had mortally offended her, "Traceable? Honey, not even a trained code reader could figure out where I sent that signal."

JJ laughed quietly and flipped the page on her notes, "Good."

Aaron Hotchner was an intimidating figure as he marched his way crisply down the halls, keeping his face stoic as people scrambled to get out of his way.

"Still busy scarin', kids, eh?"

Hotchner halted his march and turned sharply to the right, his hand going down to his side holster until he noticed who had spoken.

"Foyet." He greeted coldly to another man across the hall. The other man was shorter, older looking and wearing a well-worn leather jacket. He had a grin on his face that only served to make him look crazed.

"Aw come on, Aaron, you could at least call me George."

"I'd rather not and I'm rather busy at the moment so if you'll excuse me."

He moved to continue walking but Foyet caught him by his sleeve. "You got called in for that hack on the broadcast channel, right? If you need an enforcer you know who to call though…"

Hotch pulled himself from Foyet's grip, "If I need someone sliced open by a maniac I'll keep you in mind, Foyet. Now, excuse me."

He walked off, leaving Foyet behind with a dark look on his face. Hotch continued walking through the government building, taking an elevator to the very bottom level. He flashed his security badge at the man waiting in the hallway and continued down until he found himself sliding his keycard into a scanner and shaking hands with Jason Gideon.

"It's been awhile, Jason." Hotchner greeted as he looked around the room, "When did you get sent to the Census department?"

"Three months ago, I'm not much of a code reader but I'm good at supervising them." Gideon chuckled, waving his hand behind himself at Reid, who was busy writing his work down. "You're still with Public Security, I see."

"That's what brings me here today. I was wondering if you're reader could tell me who was accessing broadcast systems at noon."

Gideon shifted uncomfortably, "He's new. You might not get anything."

"I'd still like to talk to him."

Gideon huffed, "Fine but you'll have to wait until his break. It's dangerous to break a reader from streaming code."

Hotchner nodded and got comfortable to wait for the endless stream of code to slowly turn itself off to give its reader a break. The code would still be received and the reader would be hard pressed to catch up but in the early days, before the mandatory breaks and sleep periods, many readers died, simply unable to turn away from the code.

"How are you holding up, Spencer?"

"Fine Gideon!" The boy sounded utterly delighted, "I had one more hour left in that session."

Gideon looked completely flabbergasted, "Only an hour?"

"Yes sir, you see once I understood the pattern of code that was constantly-"

"Later, Spencer. This is Public Security Agent Aaron Hotchner. He would like to ask you some questions."

Spencer's brown eyes moved quickly over to Hotchner, who held out his hand in greeting, only to have Spencer simply wave at him.

"What did you need, Agent?"

"The code that streams into here is from the movements of everyone who scans their identification cards?" Hotchner asked.

"Correct, I help keep track of our sector's movements and help adjust things as necessary. For example if I notice that more and more people are checking out a certain book at the library I'll be able to recommend that we order more copies of that book."

"Very good and you're also able to figure out who is accessing government controlled networks? Such as broadcasting?"

"…well, yes…but I don't think that's really my job-"

"I need you to tell me who accessed that network at noon." Hotchner ordered and Reid timidly picked up his book.

"Five people did, they're all registered users of that network though."

"Give me the page of your notebook with their names."

"I don't know-"

"Now, Reid."

Reid tore out the page and handed it over to Hotchner who tucked it into his coat pocket and turned to face Gideon again, "He's good, Jason but you might want to train him a little better."

Gideon nodded and said his good byes as Hotchner left the room.

"What just happened, Gideon?" Reid asked, softly, still staring at the door that Hotchner had disappeared through.

"You just survived your first day."

Reid's next few weeks of work went by without any sort issue. He arrived on time and never needed to stay late. His weekly reports were without mistakes and Gideon often took to bringing him a snack for his break. He was enjoying his work immensely and found little problem with it until one day he noticed that three codes he had come to expect at the sector's library stopped showing up. He also noticed that their keycard activity had completely disappeared from the system, something that was impossible for anyone who wanted to be a legal citizen to do. It was strange and he made a note to ask Gideon about it on his break.

"I got a real treat for you today, Spencer. Coffee, organic, not that processed crap you're always drinking."

Reid's eyes lit up and he took the cup eagerly from Gideon, "Thank you!" He happily took a sip as he flipped through the pages of his notebook. "Gideon, I have a question."

"What is it?" Gideon asked, taking a bite of his own snack.

"If someone dies, their keycard goes inactive and that code is sent to us right?"

"That's correct."

"But what if we don't get that code and we just completely stop getting codes from that person and I-what's wrong?"

As he had spoken, Gideon had gotten up quickly and made to check on the door, ensuring it was locked.

"How many have you noticed?" He asked quietly.

"Three…but I don't-"

"Listen to me, Spencer. Forget about it, alright?"

"Gideon, I just can't forget about three people going missing. Agent Hotchner could help, couldn't he?"

"No!" He grabbed Spencer by the shoulders and held him roughly in place, "Don't ask questions around here. Just do your reports about where we need to change traffic lights or what books we should get and leave this alone."

"I-alright, Gideon. I'm sorry."

Gideon muttered that he forgave him and that it wasn't really his fault because he didn't know any better but Reid knew that he had somehow scared the older man and he was determined to find out why.

Derek Morgan hasn't show up yet but believe me he will lol, Rossi and Prentiss too and maybe a few more unsubs. If there's anyone you'd like to see let me know and I'll see if I can work them into the story

Please review!