When Aaron Hotchner was jolted awake, it took him only a few seconds to realise he wasn't where he was supposed to be. First of all, he was sitting, straight-backed on a hard surface –the pain in his back and neck told him that he'd been like this for a while. Secondly, the jolt that had awakened him wasn't hard to identify, especially for someone who travelled as often as he did. It was the landing of a plane, or more likely a helicopter, as it hadn't been as smooth as the landings he was used to. He tried to look around, and felt his head rush. His vision went blurry, and he quickly tried to steady himself. He'd been drugged; he knew that much, but how, or by whom, was another story. Naturally, Aaron tried to recall what he'd been doing before he blacked out. The last thing he could remember was leaving the BAU with the rest of the team…

A thought struck him, and he began to panic. Where were the others? Had they been taken too? Were they awake? Having no choice this time, Aaron lifted his head to look around, only to be terrified by the sight in front of him. Agent Rossi lay slumped against the opposite wall of the helicopter. To Dave's right, Agent Prentiss had her head cocked to the side, resting against the back of the seat. She would have almost looked peaceful, if the direness of their situation hadn't been weighing on Hotch's mind. But the worst of it all, was turning to his left, and locking eyes with an awake – and terrified – Penelope Garcia. Hotch could see her chest rising and falling rapidly, and almost immediately knew she was in the first stages of a panic attack. And Hotch understood exactly why – she must have been the first to wake, first to take in the situation, seeing her co-workers unconscious in a landing helicopter, in God knows what part of the world. Hotch moved a hand towards her, thankful to note that none of them were handcuffed or bound. She flinched at his touch, letting out a small scream, and then began to sob as she accepted her boss' comfort, not needing to say anything, even if she could manage to. Hotch's heart broke to see the normally bubbly analyst so afraid. It wasn't fair for her to be caught up in whatever the hell this was. He was trying to think of something reassuring to say, when David Rossi began to stir in front of him. Aaron was thankful that he'd been the next one to wake – he could always count on Dave for calm advice, even when they were in the most frantic situations. It didn't take long for him to get his bearings, and the two men began to discuss what was going on – making sure to keep their voices low and calming, so as not to startle Garcia, who was still working on calming herself down.

"We landed, what, ten minutes ago now?" Rossi asked. Hotch nodded, though it could easily have been more.

"What I want to know is, why are we still here? Surely someone should have come by now, to check on us or take us somewhere? There's gotta be a bigger plan than just capturing the BAU and flying them around in a helicopter."

Hotch nodded again, considering Rossi's words. "Maybe they're waiting for someone, or for orders. They might not be expecting us to wake up yet, who knows what they drugged us with."

Something about Rossi's words was unsettling Hotch, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He fell into silence for a few seconds, before it hit him, followed by a second wave of panic.

"Dave, I think I know what they're waiting for."