The team circled the house on a farm where the unsub lived. Swiftly they moved through the house and cleared it. Reid and Prentiss were still outside. They slowly approached a barn located about 100 meters behind the house to the left, guns raised. As they approached the large door at the front Prentiss glanced at Reid, who was a couple feet to her right. She suddenly had a bad feeling. She remembered what it was like to watch Reid on the computers in Tobias' house. How could we forget she scolded herself. Why did Hotch order Reid to go with her to the barn? Surely he remembered. Reid look determined. Determined to find the unsub and bring him down before another life could be lost. Prentiss glanced at him one last time before she moved to open the door. He seems okay.
She pulled on the door but it didn't move. Locked she thought. They moved to the right of the barn and found a smaller door on the side. As they approached it, Prentiss thought of JJ. I wonder how she felt going into that barn alone. Hopefully they find the unsub in the house and we don't have to go in here. She thought as they approached the door. Too late now. They had to go in. Reid motioned for her to open the door. Once Reid disappeared inside, she followed. The torches on their guns were all they had to see with until they came across a light switch, which Prentiss checked for as she walked through the doorway. She could see Reid by the movement of his torch as he scanned over walls and floor, he moved off to the far end of the barn, while Prentiss walked straight ahead.
She came across a ladder that lead to a loft. Prentiss looked behind her and could see Reid was too far away to alert to what she had found. She decided to climb up, not wanting to make a sound, and knowing that when Reid looked in her direction he would see the light from her torch and know where she was. As Prentiss was looking deeper and deeper in the loft she heard a noise. She froze, and waited to hear anything else. A couple of seconds later she heard a faint scraping noise and then the unmistakable sound of the barn door closing. Quickly turning around she went to the edge of the loft and shone her torch light down looking to see Reid or anyone of her team. But there was nothing. No light shinning back. No voices. It was completely quiet and dark. Her breathing started to get heavier. Fear started to overtake all other emotions. She started to think of the worst possible scenarios. She reminded herself to breathe. To stay calm. She was a trained field agent. She had to keep it together. Reid probably found nothing and couldn't see the light from her torch so he left to meet up with the others she told herself.
Once she was down from the loft she scanned the room with her torch, seeing no one she began to make her way to the door. When she pulled it open she found herself looking at the barrel of a gun. Morgan's gun to be exact. He lowered his weapon, "sorry."
"That's okay, no unsub in the house?" She asked stepping out of the barn.
"No. We came to help you and Reid check out the barn."
"No luck in there either. Where's Reid?" she asked, casually.
Morgan looked at her confused. "He's with you... isn't he?"
"He was... I thought he left." Prentiss suddenly started to feel sick. Oh god she thought. Hotch looked at her questioningly. She pulled out her phone and dialled Reid's number.
"Hi,"
"Reid -"
"you've reached Dr. Reid. I can't come to the phone," Prentiss hung up.
"No answer."
Morgan looked distraught. "REID!" He called out. He started towards the back of the barn as JJ came out of the house. Morgan disappeared behind the barn.
"Where's Morgan going?" JJ asked as she approached Hotch and Prentiss. They could still hear Morgan calling out for Reid.
"Reid's missing." Hotch answered simply.
"What?" JJ asked shocked.
"Prentiss, tell us what happened."
Prentiss suddenly knew how JJ felt when Reid went missing on Hankel's farm. She felt solely responsible. They shouldn't have separated. She knew how everyone would react. How could she be so stupid?
Morgan came around the other side of the barn, "he's gone. What happened?"
"It was dark. I found the ladder to the loft and Reid, he was on the other side of the barn so I climbed up it. I left him," she felt tears start in her eyes. She blinked a couple of times. Willing them to go away, "I heard a noise and then a scraping sound and the door... I scanned the room with the torch and couldn't see anyone. I thought Reid had left to join you, that's when I left."
"He can't have gone far," Hotch said, "JJ call in a search team with dogs." JJ turned away, pulled out her phone and headed towards the house.
Morgan walked into the barn. "Where's the damn light switch!" Hotch and Prentiss followed him.
"Let's try and find a light," Hotch said. They all turned on their torches and began searching the walls for a way to turn on some lights.
"Got it." Morgan said as he flicked on the barn lights.
They took a moment to take in their surroundings. It was like any ordinary barn. Nothing suspicious. Prentiss started walking towards where she last saw Reid. She could see something black in the hay. She bent down, "guys!" she called. She cleared some hay away, "Reid's gun."
"Look at this," Morgan said pointing to some hay where it was clear someone had been dragged. The tracks in the hay led towards the door. Just then, Rossi walked in.
"JJ told me what happened. Search team is on its way."
"We found Reid's gun," Hotch informed him, "and a weapon." Hotch pointed to a shovel lying nearby.
"There's some bush land behind the property, we can assume he went that way." Morgan headed towards the door, "where are you going?" Rossi asked.
"To find Reid." Hotch gave him a look, "he was taken only minutes ago. Hotch, we gotta find him."
"I know, but the unsub could have gone in any direction and it's dark. Wait for the search dogs."
"Fine, but I'm not happy about it."
o0o0o0o0o0
Reid and Prentiss were approaching the barn when he remembered telling JJ to split up. He noticed Prentiss giving him worried looks. Why is she so worried? I didn't have anything to do with the barn. Reid was determined to prove himself, to show everyone that the memories didn't affect his work. He was surprised when Hotch told him and Prentiss to cover the barn, but then that made sense, not letting JJ go near it.
He motioned for Prentiss to open the door and stepped into the darkness. He quickly scanned the room as Prentiss followed him. There were no obvious signs of the unsub, so he proceeded further. The fear he held of the dark was lessened with the knowledge that Emily was with him and they both had a torch. He continued in the direction he was going, scanning the walls and floor with his torch. At the same time, Prentiss started to climb the ladder to the loft.
Most people can sense when they're in danger. They have a bad feeling about something. The hair on the back of their neck stands up. Reid seemed to be in the minority. He never knew it was coming. The light from Prentiss' torch disappeared, and seconds later he felt a sharp pain on the side of his head. But it didn't last long. Reid fell to the ground unconscious before he even realized what had happened.
The first thing Reid was aware of when he woke was the pain. His head hurt more than all of his headaches combined did. He opened his eyes and found himself in a small room. The room resembled the inside of a shack. He was sitting in a chair, his hands were cuffed behind him and his feet were tied to each front leg. His bulletproof vest had been removed. Reid had no idea how he got here. The last thing he could remember was Prentiss going up to the loft and disappearing. He hoped she was alright. He didn't know how long it had been but he could tell it was still night. There were no windows in the room he was in but a light bulb hung from the ceiling, filling the room with a dim light. Reid was facing the door, he turned his head to look behind him. The back wall of the room resembled where any average guy kept his tools in a shed, except instead of hammers and wrenches there were knives of all sizes. Reid felt sick. At least there's no burning fish guts.
His captor opened the door and walked in. Reid turned back around to look at him. "I know what you're thinking, no fish guts."
A new wave of fear washed over Reid. How did he know?
"I find you... very interesting Spencer. I've read your file. All of your teams files. You are by far the most interesting." His captor smiled.
"What do you want?"
"To have my last bit of fun before your team finds me." Reid stared at the man, "you see, after I tortured and killed the last girl and saw... What was her name? JJ?" Reid's expression gave nothing away "doing a press conference on the murders, I realized that my time was limited. I looked you guys up. You're quite a team. Solving murders all over the country. I knew it was only a matter of time before you found me, so I did some research. Like I said before, you're the most interesting Spencer."
"It's Dr. Reid."
"You're my favourite."
o0o0o0o0o0o
20 minutes later the search team arrived. "It's about time." Morgan said, annoyed.
"Thanks for getting here so soon," Hotch said, ignoring Morgan, as he shook the team leader's hand. "We were hoping the dogs could get a scent off our agents' gun." Hotch handed the man the gun.
"Do you mind if I hold onto this? It helps the dogs if they can regularly be reminded of the scent."
"Of course. It's been unloaded."
"Thanks, we should be ready to go in about five." Hotch nodded and started toward the house, where the rest of the team was.
"Is it just me or is this incredibly familiar?" JJ remarked as she looked around the unsubs home.
"As long as there are no video cameras," Prentiss responded.
"Just your average laptop," Rossi added. Prentiss and JJ shared a look. Does he even know what we're talking about?
"Be ready to go in five." Hotch said, interrupting everyone's thoughts. They all checked their weapons and exited the house.
0o0o0o0oo0o0o0
"And what makes me the most interesting?" Reid asked. He was trying to keep the unsub talking. To avoid the pain he knew he could inflict and to give his team time.
"You surely have the most colourful past," the unsub started laughing. Reid gave him a curious look. "More colourful than Penelope's wardrobe." Reid frowned. He didn't find that funny at all. "But enough chit chat. Let's have some fun." Reid looked anxious as the unsub walked behind him. He knew that it was a method of torture. Not letting him see what weapon was about to be used. Leaving him to imagine the pain that was about to be inflicted.
"You don't have to do this."
"They always beg," the unsub sounded amused. "Which one shall I start with?" He asked himself.
Reid started talking fast. The same way he did when he was nervous or scared. "Right now you're facing murder charges for four young girls. Hurting me is only going to-" he was cut off as the unsub tied a piece of cloth around his mouth.
"They didn't mention in your file that you talk so much," The unsub remarked. Reid glared at him. Mad that he had been silenced. Gideon once told him that he didn't need a gun to take down an unsub. He had found confidence in his ability to talk serial killers down, but now he had nothing. The unsub held up a hunting knife. Just then, Reid found himself glad that he had recently had a tetanus shot. Odd thing to care about considering you're about to die he thought before cursing himself, the team will find me.
The unsub lightly caressed Reid's neck with the knife, causing Reid to try and get as far away as he could while sitting in the chair, but failing, "scared Spencer?" He trailed the knife down Reid's neck and over the collar of his shirt. He moved it across the front of his shoulder to his arm. As he moved the knife down Reid's arm he started to apply pressure. Cutting through Reid's shirt and drawing blood. Reid tried not to show his discomfort.
"You know, I was thinking as I was planning your visit, about Tobias Hankel." The unsub continued to cut Reid with his knife as he talked, on his arms, and chest. Not caring for what he was doing, "I figured, why not use some of his ideas, but then we don't have much time. So I better speed up the torture before I let you have it."
o0o0oo0ooo0o0o
They had been following the dogs for about half an hour, "I can't believe we let him get away! Hotch, we should had started the search the moment he went missing."
"Calm down Morgan. The dogs still have a strong scent. He must have a place to hide out here. There were no signs of any torture weapons at the house. We'll find him." Hotch tried to reassure Morgan.
"Can anyone get a signal out here? Maybe Garcia can tell us if we're near anything." Prentiss asked.
"I got one, wait... now I don't."Morgan looked like he was about to throw his phone. "The signal is dodgy. It's hard to keep it for longer than two seconds."
"But it's still there." Hotch said, "everyone, keep your phones out, if you get a signal stay where you are and try to reach Garcia."
It wasn't until 20 minutes later that JJ announced she had signal and was able to make a call through to Garcia.
"Hey JJ, how's everything going?" Garcia asked, hopeful for good news.
"Hey, we can't get very good signal out here,"
"Well duh!" Garcia almost laughed, "You're in the middle of the bush. You're lucky that you can get even a pin prick of signal."
"I know... we need you to see if you can get a satellite view of the place. Look for a small cabin maybe. Anything that tells us we're near something."
"Bringing up satellite imagines now and you are not too far from a small building."
"Thanks Garcia."
"You're welcome. Now go bring him home."
JJ hung up the phone, "Garcia said we're close to a building." Morgan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay, everyone listen up. We're close to a small building. A cabin most likely. When we get closer part of the search team will stay with the dogs, while everyone else moves in. Remember our main priority is Dr. Reid and if you have to take a shot of the unsub, you take it. At this point, it is not necessary to bring him in alive, but let's hope everything works out in our favour."
The team circled the small shack and Morgan approached the door. Once he kicked it in, everyone began filing into the small room. After a few minutes JJ spoke up, "There's no one here..." she sounded defeated. Lost and hopeless. They thought they had him back. Morgan walked towards the corner of the room and picked something up. He turned around to show everyone.
"Reid's vest."
o0o0o0o0oo0o0
Reid was in pain. He could hear his blood dripping onto the floor from his arms. His shirt was practically red. The unsub had decided he was bored with the knife and walked over to the back wall to choose his next method of torture.
The unsub stood in front of Reid, with a cup of what looked like water in his hand. He then threw the contents onto Reid's chest. Reid let out a cry into the gag. Vinegar! He thought. The unsub went to fill the cup up again, pleased with the pain he was causing.
He soon became bored and decided it was time to move on with the torture before he was found by the BAU. The unsub picked up an iron bar and blow torch. He watched Reid as he began heating the iron. Reid looked at him with desperation in his eyes. He was still in pain from the vinegar. He wanted his team to rush into the small room any second and stop the pain. He didn't want to be a victim again. He didn't want to deal with the aftermath of what he knew was coming. If his team couldn't save him in the next few minutes, then he didn't want them to come at all. He didn't want to see the sympathy in their eyes, to be confronted about his addiction. He could beat it discretely before, he wasn't sure he could do it again. He would lose his job, his friends.
Reid was pulled from his thoughts as the unsub brought the heated iron down onto his leg. Reid screamed into the gag until the unsub removed the iron. His breathing was laboured, as he tried to breathe through the pain. The unsub continued to burn Reid in various places until he heard a noise outside in the bush.
Quickly, the unsub put down the iron bar and blow torch. He walked to the bench behind Reid and returned with a needle in his hand. Reid shook his head distraught, of all the ways to be tortured, this was the worst. Reid wasn't sure if he'd ever recover from his addiction if he survived this. The unsub advanced on Reid, and took the gag off.
"No! Don't! Please, I can't, I don't want it. Please!"
The unsub tied the cloth around Reid's upper arm, and prepared the needle. "Don't you want the pain to go away Spencer?"
"Not like this, please." He thought of Tobias, he could remember everything from that first time so vividly. The unsub injected him with the drug took the cloth off his arm and gagged him again. Reid felt the effects almost instantly. He could hear the sound of the unsubs footsteps disappearing as he closed his eyes.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Did Garcia mention any other building?" Hotch asked, desperate.
"All she said was that we were near one," JJ replied.
"It must be a diversion," Morgan started, "think about it. There were no torture weapons at the house, indicating that the unsubs uses a second location, most likely a cabin in the bush near where he lives." Hotch understood what Morgan was saying, "We followed the dogs here, where Reid's vest is, but there's no sign that he tortured anyone here either."
Prentiss smiled, "he has a third location."
"But why?" JJ asked.
"In case someone came looking." Prentiss replied.
"And leaving Reid's vest here is a message to us saying..."
"I tricked you." Hotch finished.
"We need to get the dogs on the scent again" Prentiss said.
"No, we need to call Garcia," Rossi interrupted, "he could have doubled back or kept going. It took us an hour to get here. Who knows where they are now."
"He's right," Hotch took over, "Everyone needs to look for a signal, getting Garcia on the phone is top priority to finding the third location."
Within 10 minutes, Morgan was the first to find a signal and learn that they were about a 15 minute walk North East from the third location. Everyone prepared themselves again, and took off.
The second cabin was larger than the first. It looked like it held at least four separate rooms. Upon further inspection, they discovered that there was only one way in or out. Not taking any chances, Hotch ordered the local police with them to cover the windows from a distance, where they couldn't be seen, in case the unsub tried to escape.
Once again Morgan approached the door, when he was about 5 feet away from it, the door swung open. Everyone raised their guns.
"FBI! Put your hands where I can see them!"Morgan shouted.
The unsub knew there was nowhere to run or hide. He knew it was all over, so he complied with Morgan, and let himself be handcuffed.
"You're too late," was all he said as he was handed over to the local police.
Morgan ran into the cabin, followed by the rest of the team. They opened the door to the room Reid was in and saw him tied to a chair, drifting in and out of consciousness.
"Reid," Morgan kneeled next to him and started untying his feet while Prentiss took the cuffs and gag off. "Reid," Morgan repeated, trying to get his attention.
Hotch bent down next to Reid and picked up the needle that had rolled under the chair.
"Oh no..." Morgan said.
"I think it's safe to say, we know what's in this. Come on, the best we can do for him, is get him into an ambulance. We'll deal with the repercussions when it's out of his system." Hotch took one last look at the room before helping Morgan to lift and carry Reid back through the bush, and to the waiting ambulance. He knew the next few months would be hard. But everyone was willing to do the best they could to help.