Trama

The team heads to Austin, Texas, where two women are abducted and disfigured, only to be located a day later with no recollection of what happened to them. A third emerges shortly after the team's arrival in Austin.

Minus Tara who is on assignment, the team is called to Austin, Texas, where two thirtysomething women in two separate incidents were abducted, only to emerge a day later in their car with no knowledge what had happened to them since the time they entered their car before going missing. Both women had their face intricately cut with several pieces of the derma layer removed which will result in permanent scarring, and a white plastic mask next to where they awoke. They also had two small puncture wounds which are initially thought to be taser burns, but with Reid's deduction are found to be the way the unsub was able to subdue the victims. When a third victim emerges shortly after the team's arrival in Austin, they believe the unsub works in the body modification business doing more than just tattoos, and that snake imagery is important to that person. Reid is also able to tie the location where the victims' vehicles were located to point not to the unsub, but to whose attention the unsub is trying to get, possibly that person the ultimate target who the unsub feels wears a figurative mask hiding the true person underneath that façade. Working on this case, specifically in dealing with the victims, may help Alvez, whose former partner, Phil Brooks, has been struggling with physical recovery after three years, that recovery which still has him unable to walk.—Huggo