Melissa breathed heavily as she sat on a dirty mattress, the only piece of furniture, as far as she could tell, in the cement room. She shivered the cold penetrating to her bones and she was sure if she wasn't blindfolded that she could see her own goosebumps.
The door to the pseudo-jail cell swung open with a bang, in response to which Melissa jumped. It took all she had not to cry at the thought of what was going to happen next.
"Oh, you've learned not to scream, good girl." Her main captor, whom she dubbed Leader, almost purred. He had a deep voice but still sounded pretty young, probably in his twenties, however he was as creepy as a 50-something could be.
She couldn't see his movements so when he ran his hand over her curly brunette hair she jumped at the contact.
"Sssh, guess what, today you get to go free." He whispered in his ear.
She didn't care how unlikely it was that this was true, her heart sang and she felt relief wash over her. She was so focused on that that she didn't hear the other man snicker in the background.
Before Melissa knew it she was wrenched out of a car and onto the ground covered in what felt like pine needles. Soon, however, she was jerked onto her feet and her bandana was ripped off. Around her was dark forest and no civilization in sight. She turned to see her captors, two brunette young men, looking at her expectantly. Then she noticed the shotguns in their hands.
"I-I thought you said you would let me go." Melissa whimpered.
Leader laughed a laugh she knew all too well, it was how she identified him as Leader. "We are." He stopped laughing, suddenly serious. "Now run."
"Hotch, he's back." Rossi stated solemnly into his cell.
Hotch's voice betrayed his drowsiness. "Who?"
Rossi sighed. "The Super-Killers."
Hotch bolted up in his bed, instantly awake. "How do you know?"
"They just found the body of a curly haired brunette 20-something in Washington."
Hotch took a second, wanting it not to be true, for Rossi to just be paranoid. "You can't be sure."
"She has a heart burned into her back, between her shoulder blades." There was silence on both sides. "You know, she's here, she goes to college in D.C."
"Rossi, are you sure? It's been eight years now, she might not remember enough to be any help."
"You know as well as I do that those four days will always be burned into her mind like the heart on her back. Besides, she spent time with them, she knows their pack dynamics more than anyone." There was a certain note of desperation to Rossi's voice, he wanted any help he could get to catch these men. He paused and sighed. "Hotch, there's another girl with them, she's the best shot we have at saving that girl."
Hotch sighed too. "You can ask, but don't push it."
Rossi had a sad smile in his voice, as if he was happy with his victory but what it meant depressed him. "Wouldn't dream of it."
