AN: So, this is just something I had to write for my Writers Craft class a few months back. Since it was about CM I figured I'd upload here :) It's my first FF for anything and I know it's crap. I need to work on my writing. But if you read it, congrats cause it's pretty long lol. Any reviews (if there are any) are much appreicated. If you hate it, please don't hate. Constructive critism is welcome. Anywhooo, on with the story lol. Hopefully you enjoy :)
Flashbacks
The office was dimly lit. The soft glow from the corner lamp of the desk was the only light. The desk was covered in open files. Stacks standing ten tall of discarded and completed files. Some tipped closer to the edge, threatening to topple over at any moment. A young blonde agent sat behind the cluttered mess. She reached out her right hand for her luke-warm coffee cup on the corner of her desk. Before her was another case, another police department pushed to their limits. The phone to her right rang out shrilly in the silence. Her blue eyes widened slightly as she paused minutely, hand posed. Her eyes darting to the open case files piled on her desk. She assumed the late caller to be another cop grasping at loose ends and asking for help. "Jareau,"
She heard movement on the other line. What sounded like paper's being put into order. "Jennifer Jareau?" A young male voice whispered across the lines. Her eyes flashed to the photograph of her son on her desk. She stilled eyes wide.
"Yes," She paused as muffled movement trickled down the phone line. Her brows furrowed, making her light eyebrows mesh together as she sat straight. "Who is this?" She questioned, the lack of noise on the other end worrying her.
"H-he's go-going t-t-to-" A clang cut off the boy's desperate whispering. Muffled voices and heavy footsteps were what the agent was able to hear. She sat stock still in her chair. Almost afraid too breathe. "No! No, I'm sorry! Please." She leaned forward, eyes wide with horror as a thump sounded.
"Hello, JJ," A cold voice said loudly compared to the once whispering boy. "How're you doing?" A dark chuckle filled the strained silence. "It's too late. You're too late. You cannot save him. You'll be sorry, my darling Jennifer Jareau." He laughed again, softer this time.
"Who is this?" JJ repeated, her voice quivered slightly, she was only met with silence, until the chuckle filler her ears again.
"That's not important JJ. Just remember, darling, you could all have saved them. But you failed. This is what happens when you fail." Her eyes flickered back to the picture. Then she heard the click of the call being ended. She slowly put it back in its cradle. JJ picked up her cell phone and quickly dialled an all too familiar number.
"Hotch? It's JJ. I think we've got something…"
They gathered in the BAU room a short while later. "JJ, no offence, but it could've been a prank caller." Morgan said, leaning casually against the wall. His hands spread out in front of him defensively, as JJ shot him a dark look.
"How'd he get my number, Derek? How'd he convince a young boy to say those things?" JJ snapped arms crossed across her chest. Blue eyes narrowed with anger and shock. "Why'd he call me 'JJ?' " Morgan offered a half shrug.
"I traced the number after JJ called Hotch," Garcia said, looking up from her lap top. "His name's Owle. Gregory Owle." Garcia looked over at Hotch. He nodded his head in encouragement. "But that's it. There's nothing else to find on him. I've searched and searched but this sicko is so far off the grid the super highway is closed." She sighed, her fingers flying across the keys of her lap top, filling the room with rapid typing.
Reid looked up sharply from the table top. "You didn't get anything?" He asked incredulously of the analysis. Garcia sighed and looked at the doctor.
"Reid, there is zip, nada on this creep. Other than his name and city, I've got nothing." She sounded miserable at being so useless and resumed tapping.
"What city Garcia?" Rossi questioned, quickly cutting off Reid's retort to Garcia. Her typing increased and then she smiled a barely there smile.
"Canada. Toronto, Canada." She replied, somewhat smugly. Her typing ceased for the moment.
"Whoa, whoa, let me get this straight. This guy calls us to tell us about victims we've never heard of? Tells us, we're going to pay for not saving them. And we've got nothing on him?" Prentiss said, sounding completely confused. She shook her head, dark locks bouncing as she looked at Hotch.
Hotch stepped into the conversation between his subordinates'. "We have to wait and see what happens. Garcia, check missing children ages fourteen to sixteen in and around Toronto. He said 'them' meaning there's more than the one who called JJ. Let's find out just how many there are." Garcia nodded at Hotch's orders.
The phone in the middle of the round table rang out loudly. All seven pairs of eyes turned to look at it. Hotch reached out and answered it. "Hotchner," He hit speaker, and they all waited with baited breath.
"H-he w-w-wants to sp-speak wit-with David Ross-Rossi." The same boy's voice sounded into the room. Then silence a pause for Rossi to fill. Rossi leaned back in his chair, waiting.
"Yes, I want to speak with BAU founder, famous novelist, expert negotiator, Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi. Are you there SSA Rossi?"
Rossi placed his hands on the table, one on top the other. "I'm right here. What is it that you want?" His gaze locked on the phone in front of him. The only answer was silence. He waited a couple of minutes. "Hello?"
A deep chuckle once again drifted from the other line. "You need a lesson in patience, David Rossi. And what I want is not important. It's what you should do and should have been doing for three years, agents." Garcia shuddered visibly, hands hovering over her lap top. "But you can't save them all, can you?" another silence filled the full room.
"No, we can't. But what is it that we should have been doing all this time? We haven't gotten any cases from Canada for a long time." Rossi said, confusion written across his aged features. The chuckle once gain answered his question. This time, the chuckle was full of anger and unconcealed contempt.
"I'm going to kill him now. You'll find his body." Garcia gasped audibly and JJ closed her eyes tightly. The others grimaced, except Rossi – he remained calm and collected. A whimpered plea was barely heard over the deep chuckle.
"You know we can't go to Canada without being invited on the case by Toronto PD." Rossi began, leaning forward and spreading his hands out to support himself. His gaze intensely locked on the telephone. "No matter what you've done to any one or what you may do to that boy, we can't do anything. Wouldn't be easier to simply wait for us to get invited into Canada before doing anything else?" He continued in vain to stall the caller from his promised actions. A loud thump rang out over the speaker.
"Do not try to stop me, Rossi. It will not work. My mind is made up. You could've saved him if you had've done your jobs." He paused momentarily, another thump sounding from his side of the conversation and more whimpering from the supposed boy he held captive.
"You're not going to hurt that boy. You need to make sure that we're going to join Canada on the search for you first. You don't want to hurt anyone. But you need us to cooperate in order for us to-"
"Do not profile me David Rossi! You are too late! You will be sorry, all of you. This is your entire fault. None of this would be happening if you would've just done your job three years ago!" He paused again before speaking. "You will be called in, again. Do not worry yourselves over that. But right now, I'm going to kill him. Goodbye agents" Calm and clarity once again filled his once anger filled voice. As if he paused to gather himself. Once again, he was the one to terminate the call.
The team all looked at each other for a few quiet moments, processing. During the few moments JJ suddenly remembered a case they had, three years ago. A man was kidnapping and torturing fifteen year old boys. He held them for two months, starving, beating and raping them. The BAU had been called in right after the fifth victim had been taken. But they never made it to Canada. "JJ, call Toronto and see if they have a case similar to this going on." Hotch started.
"Hotch," JJ began before the other agent continued as if she hadn't spoken.
"Garcia, get going on the missing boys. Go back as far as three years."
"Hotch," JJ tried again but Hotch seemed to be of a one tracked mind. He again ignored her.
"Reid and Prentiss, I want you to star-"
"Hotch!" JJ exclaimed, exasperated, finally catching her unit chief's attention.
"What, JJ?" Hotch snapped, turning to look at the blonde Liaison. She merely sighed as he glared at her.
"We've had this case before. The one right before the Amber Alert in Lexington and Strauss pulled off it and sent us there. We never made it to Toronto. They found another boy before saving the sixth. It happened three years ago." JJ explained, glancing around at the team. Realization filtered onto all of their faces.
"I remember that case," Rossi said, standing up slowly and looking at both Hotch and JJ in turn. "I sent them a profile after we found the girl. They caught the guy using what I sent them. Hotch, he's in prison."
Hotch looked at each of his team members in turn. "Then who is this?"
The team boarded the jet forty minutes later. JJ had called ahead speaking to an officer Andrews who was in charge of both cases. He re-invited them to Toronto. While Hotch was on the phone with the Section Chief, she wasn't pleased with the hostility coming out of Canada. Prentiss and Reid were going over the case files Toronto had sent them. Morgan sat with Garcia as she tried in vain to find something on Owle.
"MO, signature and dump sites are all the same as the last unsub," Rossi voiced, sitting across from Hotch, full cup of coffee in one hand. His case file spread out in front of him, finger trailing along the paper as he spoke.
"What are you saying Dave?" Hotch asked, looking up at the older agent.
"Is it a copy cat, a crazy fan finishing 'his work' for him?" Rossi suggested, again going back to the case file.
"It wouldn't be the first time." JJ said, looking over at him.
"Or is it the same guy?" Morgan asked, flipping the report pages. "If everything's the same, does that mean they caught the wrong guy?"
"It wouldn't be the first time." Prentiss echoed JJ's words.
"It could be completely irrelevant to the other case. It could be a sociopath using Frank Auburn as a buffer. That way we're thrown off by wondering whether we caught the right guy or not. Until something happens that shows us he's different." Reid said, excitably. "It has happened before," He paused with a pointed look at JJ and Prentiss. "It's happened with other unsub's copying the act of well known serial killers before they actually find what they like." He continued, hands moving quickly with his addition.
"Guys, I'm all for the copy cat angle. But we have to think outside of the box, here. There is a large possibility we're simply dealing with the same man. Now he's taunting us because we couldn't catch him the first time. This could be the work of an egotistical sadist." Morgan said, tossing a picture of one of the crime scenes down on the table. Reid reached across the isle and grabbed it.
"Or he could be a psychopath who just wanted a little glory."
Hotch nodded at Morgan's explanation. "Well, my fine furry friends, Morgan is right. He's not a copy cat or at least the chances of him being one are extremely thin." Garcia said, looking up from her lap top and joining the discussion. "Owle would have to be close to Auburn to get the information he got. Toronto PD never released the signature or the dump sites to the press. Either Owle and he were the best of buds or he's seen the case files."
"This means we could be looking at somebody in the legal system, it could be one of the officers at the police station." Hotch added, looking solemnly at his team. "We need to be careful about what we say and do."
Arriving in Toronto, the team headed straight to the police from the airport. A large burly, dark haired man met them as they got out of the black Suburban's. JJ met him first and offered her hand. "Jennifer Jareau. We spoke on the phone." The man gave her a curious once over. JJ quirked a pale eyebrow but didn't comment. "These are agents Hotchner, Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, Doctor Reid and our technical Analysis Penelope Garcia." She said gesturing to each in turn.
The man nodded at each, giving Garcia the same curious once over he had JJ. "I'm officer Andrews. Right this way. Captain wants to talk to you before you set anything up." He shot a look over his shoulder at the seven agents. "All of you." He stopped outside of a door with a sign saying 'Captain C. Browning.' Andrews knocked on the door and paused until a gruff reply rang out. He cracked open the door just enough to fit his head through. "Capt. FBI's here." A mumbled reply before Andrews was backing quickly out of the office. He shot the agents a look before disappearing. A tall, slim man with greying black hair stepped out of the office. His gaze automatically locked on Hotch. His eyes narrowed to slits.
"We have eleven dead boys. We called you three years ago when it was four. You didn't show up, another boy died before we caught the guy responsible. You sent us a profile, we followed it. Obviously you did something wrong or this guy would've stopped killing. We just got the call for the sixth victim, the last one victim from Auburn. Or whoever was doing this then." Browning exclaimed, wasting no time in letting his opinion be heard. "Now we have eleven dead boys, and nothing to go from here. How do you propose we catch this man a second time?" He asked an open folder in his hands. He flipped through until he seemed to have found the page he was looking for.
"This is what you gave to me." He thrust the paper into Rossi's hands. "This was the advice you gave to us to catch the man," He snapped
"And it helped you then. Which means it can help you now again and find this man." Rossi said hands spread out in a reassuring gesture.
"Maybe we should take this somewhere more private." Hotch stepped in, trying to settle the situation before it became worse.
Browning turned to face him. "I'm not entirely sure I want you here. I'm not sure I can trust this team to help us find this man."
Hotch stepped forward a few steps. "I understand you're angry. I understand what you're angry about. But taking it out on my team and I will not get you any closer to finding the man doing this." Browning glanced around the room filled with his officer's and the desperate link to putting a stop to the murders. "We're here now. We're here to help. And arguing about it isn't going to stop this unsub." Hotch finished, his hands out in front of him as if in surrender.
"We have six victims now. Let's concentrate on them." Browning turned to face a desk behind him. A man sat at it, working on paperwork. "Sanders, get me Andrews up here as fast as you can." He said, the man nodded and shot off. As if happy to no longer have the paperwork to attend to. "There's a room right back there. It has a board, and all the things you'll need for you analysis. You can head there now." Browning pointed in the general direction of the room. The team set off. "I'll be right there." He added as he turned back to his office.
The team gathered in the room Browning had pointed to. They each sat around the table, grabbing case files. Garcia started hooking her computers up to the police station to have wireless access. She then began her background check and looking for missing children and matching them to the victims list. Reid and Prentiss began trying to figure out the geographical profile, going over the victims last known whereabouts, where they were found and where they were from. Rossi and Hotch started on trying to find a connection between all the victims. While JJ and Morgan waited for Browning to get back to find the last crime scene so they could head over and JJ could do a press conference. A light rap at the door a few minutes later had them all looking up. Officer Andrews had his head poked through the doorway with the man who had been sent to get him. "This is Officer Sanders, my partner on this case." Andrews said entering the room and nodding to Sanders as the man hovered behind him. The others nodded in his direction before picking up the files that had been added to the table by Sanders and Andrews. "This is all the rest of what we have on Auburn and Owle."
"This is everything?" Rossi asked glancing around the table top at the boxes piled on top and the added case files Sanders and Andrews were holding. Andrews and Sanders nodded each picking a file and going through it. "Okay, so we have eleven dead boys. What connections each of them together?"
"Well, they're all fifteen, new to high school. Were they all at the same school?"
"It says here that seven out of eleven boys went to the same school. But they didn't run in the same circles. And the other four boys went to various schools; two were friends with each other. And two boys from one of the other schools were friends with one of the seven boys." Prentiss said looking at one of the files she had. "And all the connections ended there with them and all the boys. Nothing else connected them together with anyone else."
Morgan sighed and tossed a paper down on the table. "What? We're going to have to talk to Auburn to figure this out. See how he chose his victims. What made them special to him?" Morgan sat back in his chair and sighed. "That may not work."
"Yeah, but it might work. I mean, if he's getting attention for something that made him famous before and that was his, and he finds out somebody is taking credit for his work, he just might talk." Reid said, hands flying around.
"Wait, what, his work? You guys think that what he's doing is his work and he deserves credit for it?" Sanders asked sounding incredulous. He looked at Andrews briefly before he turned back to face the agents.
"No, we don't think that. Auburn thinks that. He thinks that what he did was some form of art. And if somebody else is copying him, he'll be furious for someone trying to steal his spotlight." Hotch explained, looking up at the officers at the door.
"If Auburn believes that somebody is trying to steal from him, he'll tell us whatever we want to know so that we can prove that he actually did it the first time." Rossi elaborated.
"So, you going to the guy would basically be nothing but a ploy to get him to talk to find this other killer?" Andrews asked, glancing up from the files and at Rossi a confused expression spread across his features. Rossi nodded and looked over at Morgan.
The door opened and Browning burst through it, looking upset. "Another boys been taken. He was just reported missing."
"His name's Brayden Thomas. His mother reported him missing after she noticed he hadn't come home last night. And the friend's house he was supposed to be at was empty of him and his friend." Browning said reading off a report that was dropped off on his desk.
"Okay, what do we have on Auburn? What did he do to the victims? How did he capture them?" Morgan asked, leaning forward.
"He took them from all over. None of the last seen places corresponded with each other." Prentiss said.
"He held them in a room for a month each and after chaining them to the wall he beat them." Reid added.
"He tortured them. Auburn beat them and starved them and then raped them with everything in the room he could find, including himself." Rossi added.
"Okay, okay. What else?" Morgan prompted, also looking through the various amount of papers and files.
"Uhh, he could have gotten them on their way to school or on their way home." JJ spoke up, leafing through a large stack of files. "It says here that the boys all lived within the same vicinity and none of them owned cars. According to friends and family they walked to and from school. And they all went missing on dates corresponding with their schedules." She explained, adding and subtracting files from her stacks at random.
"I got something." Garcia said looking up quickly at the others. Hotch raised an eyebrow at her, indicating for her to continue. "An interview with Auburn after his arrest ended up on the internet. Apparently he took the boys because they were openly gay." She said, typing quickly and pulling up more files on each of the six original victims. "None of the boys Owle took were gay except for Shawn Pike. He's the most recent victim."
"He's also the last person Auburn had with him when we found him. We saved his life." Sanders said. "And now this creep goes and gets him again."
"Wait, didn't Owle say that we could have saved him. If only we had done our jobs. He said that we were paying for ignoring the call out here." Hotch said, recalling the phone conversation.
"Okay, so we have the connection between Auburn and his victims. Now, let's move on to Owle. What do we have on him?" Rossi asked.
"Nothing," Reid replied. "It's like Garcia said already. This guy is off the radar."
"But she also said that in order for Owle to know about the signature he would have to be close with the investigation. Who does that leave, the officers, lawyers, judges, jurors? And that's just to name a few but there were a lot of people involved with this investigation." Morgan said, gesturing at the pile of legal documents about the case on the table.
"Well, there are also the victims' families," Andrews started, going through the files he'd brought in.
Hotch looked up sharply. "What do you mean victims' families?" He asked, sharply looking between the three officers familiar with the case.
"The families were all at the trial, every court date they were all there. The signature was part of the trial. It was spoken about quite often during the proceedings." Browning answered. "It's all in the report there."
Prentiss shook her head. "Okay, so what we look through all the families and see which one of them is capable of murder?"
"You guys can't really think that one of the victims' family members is killing the kids the same way their loved ones were killed, do you?" Sanders asked, looking up shocked and incredulous.
"It is a possibility, yes." JJ answered, absentmindedly. "The last boy Auburn killed was an Alex Lowe." She continued, looking distracted and confused. "Why does that seem so familiar?"
"Oh I remember Alex's father. He was devastated when Alex didn't come home that night. And he was here for every part of the investigation. He fell apart when we found Alex's body earlier than we were supposed to. His wife left him. And about a year ago he lost his job." Andrews said, shaking his head sadly at the tragic loss for the man.
"Wait, Lowe was here for every part of the investigation? Even when you guys called us in?" Hotch asked. He stopped his movements of looking through the files and looked directly at Andrews and Sanders.
"Yeah, he was all for bringing in the big guns to find his son alive. He was pretty upset about it when you guys didn't show because of that Amber Alert." Andrews explained.
"How upset was he?" Reid asked as he also stopped looking.
"You know, really upset. His only child was murdered and we said you guys could find him alive." Andrews shrugged still looking through victims' files. The agents all froze, even Garcia stopped typing to turn and face the officers. "Then you guys never showed up. So yeah, the guy was mad."
Reid reached out and grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pen lying on the table. He wrote for a moment before looking up at the others. "What's Mr. Lowe's first name?" He asked, staring at the paper.
Sanders shrugged looking at Andrews. "I think it was Gregory Lowe."
"Guys, Owle and Lowe are the same person. Alex Lowe's father is the unsub." Reid exclaimed excitedly.
"Shawn Pike who was the boy who was saved, in Lowe's mind Alex should've been the last boy who was taken and saved. In his mind we failed him, but he also failed Alex as well."
"Lowe is recreating what happened to his son. That's why Shawn was the sixth victim again. This is it, we've got him." Rossi said, standing up and looking between Hotch and Browning.
Hotch looked over at Garcia and then back at the officers. "How long does Lowe keep his victims?"
"He keeps them for two weeks each. Except Shawn, he kept him longer than the others. We just figured it was because he was the only who survived before."
"When did Brayden go missing?"
"Brayden went missing Wednesday on his way home from work."
"It's Tuesday now. He's almost been gone a week. Garcia what can you find on Lowe?"
"Uhh, well he lost his job two years after his son's death. He couldn't do any work because he couldn't concentrate on it. He was a data manager at some major company. He apparently lost them a lot of money over the years after his son's death. His wife left him a year after his son's death. He currently resides in the same address as he had before. He also inherited a large amount of land after his mother passed away around the time his wife left him. We've got unsub central and a book on how to be an unsub written in his past, his mother left him alone with his father who beat him. Oh, his mother left after she found out that Lowe's father was gay. He claimed to be trying to be beating it out of Lowe when Child Services took him away when he was fourteen. I believe the stressor would have been his son being gay and his death since he and his wife had been separated prior to the divorce." She said, typing rapidly and finishing with a smile on her face.
"Address, Garcia. What are the addresses?"
The team stood outside of the house Lowe's mother left him. They had gotten a conformation that Lowe was not at his house and that it would've been impossible for him to keep the children there without witnesses, from Rossi and Reid when they called minutes earlier. Browning looked at Hotch with a heavy sigh. "How're we doing this?" He asked, gesturing to the house with a nod of his head.
Hotch sighed as well and looked over at Morgan. "We'll take the lead. Browning you follow us with Sanders. Prentiss and JJ will bring up the rear. Morgan and I'll take the back. Browning and Andrews will enter here first," Hotch nodded at the front door. "Then you two will follow. Got it?" He asked, looking to the women before returning his gaze to Browning.
Browning nodded, quickly. "Yeah, we got it. When do we go in?" Hotch again looked at Morgan, who nodded.
"Now, just remember to stay in position." They all nodded and moved into the positions Hotch had given them. Hotch and Morgan slowly and quietly made their way to the back of the house where the back door was. The loud call of 'FBI' and the sound of the door being forced open, sent Browning and the others through the front door; Browning and Sanders calling out, 'Toronto PD' and JJ and Prentiss echoing Hotch and Morgan's 'FBI'.
The sudden ruckus caused by the officers breaking open both doors and trampling through the house, slowly dissipated into shouts of 'Clear' from each person as they searched the house. Heavy footsteps on the stairs had each agent swing their guns in the direction of the front foyer; only to lower their weapons when they came face to face with Morgan. Morgan paused briefly, before continuing down the stairs. "Upstairs is clear too. Where the hell is this guy?" He glanced around, quickly as if Lowe would simply appear out of thin air.
"That's what I would like to know." Hotch answered, appearing over his shoulder, casting a curious glance around the room as well. "Is there another part of the house? Is there an attic, barn, even a shed? Somewhere he could keep them?" Hotch asked, his stony gaze moving swiftly back to Browning.
Browning exchanged a glance with Sanders who shook his head. "As far as we know, the only building on this whole plot of land is this house." Sanders replied with a small shrug. "We would know if there was. I mean, permits and such are needed to add additional buildings. Lowe never got one, neither did his mother. And the entire time he's had this place, there's never been construction." He glanced at Browning who nodded with his agreement.
Hotch sighed, moving to pull his cell phone out to call Garcia when the front door flew open. The officers all whipped around, guns raised and pointed at a flustered Reid. "Hotch! He's trying to get away. Rossi's after him now. He came from some hole in the ground." Reid exclaimed, moving backwards out of the door quickly as Morgan moved past. Breaking into a run the minute he was out of the door.
Hotch quickly following with Prentiss hot on his heels. JJ moved to Reid as the officers also joined in the pursuit. "Spence, you okay?" She asked, as he doubled over, hands on his knees and breathing in deeply. He nodded and gestured with his left pointer finger he'd only need a moment.
Reid abruptly stood straight, his height towering over JJ's. "We should probably go check that hole out. Rossi took off after him right away and told me to get to the house. Did you guys know that Lowe's house is only ten minutes away from this place?" He cast a look over at JJ, eyebrows raised. JJ simply shook her. "Well it is." Reid stated needlessly.
They moved slowly towards where Reid and Rossi saw Lowe emerge. JJ had her gun at her side, while Reid kept his holstered. Reid nodded as they moved closer to the hole. He stopped as they got closer. His head cocking to the side. "JJ, do hear that?" JJ paused as well.
"It sounds like someone calling for help?" Her face scrunched up slightly in confusion. Her head also tilting to the side. Her eyes grew wide as she turned to Reid, grabbing at his arm. He looked down at her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Reid that might be Brayden!" She exclaimed as she took off running for the open doorway.
"Or it could be a trap! JJ!" Reid called, running after her, and drawing his gun as he watched her holster her own.
Reid caught up to JJ just as she went through the hole. He paused only momentarily before he too went in. He was immediately met by the darkness of the room. He squinted as he tried to find JJ in the sudden darkness. He heard muffled movements to his left, and he quickly followed its path through the darkness. "JJ?" He called out, cautiously entering further into the room. He walked faster as she didn't reply. "JJ?" He called again, his voice close to hysteria.
Another muffled movement reached his ears, briefly. "Reid? Do you have a flashlight?" JJ called out. Reid spun in a circle trying to locate the direction of her voice.
"No. Where are you?" He called back, spinning again in a desperate attempt at finding her.
"I've got Brayden!" She yelled suddenly, excitedly. Reid followed her voice to a doorway where he'd passed countless times. He got a glimpse of the boys form before JJ covered him in a blanket and ushered him out of the room.
Morgan took off out of the house. He ran in the direction that Reid had vaguely pointed in, in his exhausted state. He briefly wondered if the younger man was okay, before pushing forward. He caught up to Rossi quickly; neither he nor Lowe had gotten very far.
As soon as Rossi seen him giving chance, he fell back immediately. His hands went on his knees as he doubled over and his weapon being holstered. Hotch passed him next, a hurried 'Alright Dave?' left in his wake as he too gave chase.
Morgan gained speed on Lowe quickly. He wasn't very fast and he seemed to have used all his energy escaping Rossi and Reid. Morgan waited for the moment where he was near enough to be heard. "FBI! Stop Running!" He yelled out, breathlessly as he carried on. Lowe heard him, gave a startled jump and then sped up. Morgan sighed inwardly, before urging his legs faster.
He again gained on Lowe quickly as he pushed himself further. He called out to him again but Lowe continued to ignore him. So Morgan waited until he was close enough and holstered his weapon. He used all the energy he had left before he ran again. When he was close again, he jumped ready to tackle Lowe to get him to stop.
Hotch caught up just as Morgan and Lowe hit the ground. Morgan pinned Lowe down, and reached for his cuffs. "I thought I told you stop, not go faster." Morgan snapped as he hauled Lowe to his feet. He kept a firm grip on the other man as he once again tried to catch his breath.
Lowe shrugged as he stared at the men in front of him with a steely glare. "I couldn't really hear what you were trying to wheeze out back there agent. Sorry." Lowe smirked as Sanders and Browning approached, at a brisk walk. Browning narrowed his eyes at the man in custody. "Where's Brayden? Where is he?" He snapped, as he moved into Lowe's personal space. Lowe glowered at the man and looked away. "Where is he?"
Lowe sighed heavily, as if it were a great effort. "He's somewhere around here." He smirked at the angry look, Sanders face took on.
Hotch's cell phone rang out, loudly in the near silence. "Hotchner," Browning moved closer to Lowe. He looked him over than looked over at Sanders.
"Get me a patrol car over here. I want this guy in lock up." He snapped as Hotch closed his phone and turned back to the small group gathered.
"That was Reid. He and JJ found Brayden Thomas. He's alive and their calling a bus for him. Rossi and Prentiss went back and met them." He said, as Lowe was hauled away in the patrol car. An angry scowl etched on his face.
After the team and local police located Gregory Lowe and saved Brayden Thomas, the team headed straight for the airport. They had found him on the property his mother had left him. Brayden Thomas was going to be fine, or as fine as a fifteen year old could be after what had happened. Captain Browning and Officer Sanders had taken them to the airport.
"Thank you for coming." Browning said hand extended to JJ as she moved towards the jet. She smiled at him warmly as she accepted his proffered hand.
"We're glad that we could be of some help." She replied, hefting her go bag higher onto her shoulder as she continued on her way to the jet. She smiled at Sanders as she passed him, pausing briefly to shake his hand as well.
Reid followed behind her, his messenger bag settled between his shoulders. He stopped in front of Browning as Garcia went shuffling past him, a brief goodbye hollered over her shoulder. Reid quirked an eyebrow as he turned back to Browning who smiled in return at the tech's retreating back. "I never would've pictured those two to be FBI agents." Sanders said, watching with a curious expression on his face. He again gave the two female agents the once over again, his eyebrow rose.
"Trust me, we know. They are both something different all together. Not what we expected either." Rossi said, walking up with a smirk on his face. He also shook each of the officer's hands. He then continued and headed for the jet, Reid in tow behind him.
Morgan followed pausing to say a quick goodbye to the two men waiting. Then he too continued to the jet without a glance backwards. Prentiss behind him, she offered a few words in departure as she shook each hand offered to her.
"Now she looks like an FBI agent." Sanders said as Hotch approached the pair, bringing up the rear of his team. Hotch offered a brief, half smile before it disappeared and his signature frown was once again on his face. "Thank you for coming." Andrews offered his hand, which Hotch took in his own for a brief shake. He turned to Browning who also offered his hand.
"Thank you." He nodded his head a little and offered Hotch a smile in truce. Hotch accepted his hand and nodded back.
"We're always happy to help. Goodbye." He said as he too gripped his go back just a little tighter on his way to the jet.
On the jet home, JJ sat looking over case files, already trying to figure out where the team was going next. Her eyes drooping as she reached for her freshly topped up cup of coffee. Reid sat across from her, his head pillowed on his shoulder, as he slept soundly. Across the isle from the two, Garcia and Morgan were looking at the formers computer screen. They were laughing quietly amongst themselves so as not to disturb Reid or Hotch, who slept behind them. The flashing of light on their faces, indicated they were watching a movie.
Prentiss walked carefully down the isle, two cups of coffee in her hands, one for herself and one for Rossi. He sat at a window, watching the blackened sky passing them by. He startled as she placed the cup in front of him, and sat down. He smiled gratefully at her as he pulled the cup towards himself. "It's not your fault those boys died." She said quietly, taking a tentative sip of her coffee.
He looked over at her and smiled again, nodding slowly. "I know. It just feels like I could've done more." He shrugged as he turned back to the window.
"You did all you could. You gave them the profile. No where in the profile did it say that the father of one of the boys was going to become a serial killer." She offered, leaning back in her seat. "Besides, we all didn't go. We all went to Lexington instead. You thought it was best to send in the profile. Without it, more boys could've died before they caught Auburn and then however long it took them to catch Lowe."
Rossi looked back at Prentiss and smiled at her gratefully again. Although this time it was for an entirely different reason. "Thank you."
She smiled back at him before picking up the book she was currently reading. "You're welcome." Rossi turned back to the sky as Prentiss immersed herself in her book.
The End.
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