Again, I do not own the characters, except maybe the unsubs.
I apologize for the feels in advance. But I'm really not sorry.
Reid didn't take long to fall asleep that night. Even with the haunting images from the case today, he was out almost as soon as he leaned back on the bed. He had planned on maybe reading a little bit or going over the case again to see if he had missed anything, but his body had other plans. The case file was still in his hand, open to show the bloody images of the victims. The ancient Greek epic poem, The Iliad, was sitting on his other side. No one on the team were heavy sleepers, but if anyone is tired enough, they can sleep through anything. That's why he didn't hear the hotel door open or the sounds of two people dressed as janitors coming in right away. It wasn't until he realized he couldn't breath that he actually woke up, and his eyes widened.
A hand was holding a rag over his nose and mouth, and he could only guess what it was soaked in. Knowing there wouldn't be much time before he would pass out, he tried to squirm away, but a second person held a knife to his throat. The last thought going through his head was 'here we go again...'
The next morning, the rest of the team met in the lobby. They were waiting for Reid to come down so they could get back to the station and hopefully get some useful information today.
"Whats he doing up there? You told him seven, right?" Kate asked, looking at Hotch.
"Yes, I did. And he answered with 'okay', so he should be awake." Hotch glanced back at the text conversation on his phone, double checking that Reid had answered.
"He's never been this late before. It's seven thirty, we need to get moving." Morgan said, checking his watch.
"Someone go check on him." Rossi said, sitting on one of the couched with a cup of coffee. As always, he seemed totally relaxed.
"I'll go." JJ offered, and headed back to the elevator. After getting off the elevator she walked down the hall to the room next to hers, which was where Reid was supposed to be staying. She knocked on the door, but there was answer. She tried to call, but it went straight to voice mail. Putting her ear to the door, she listened for the shower, but it was silent. The sink wasn't running, the shower was running, and the TV wasn't on. Had he maybe fall asleep again? Even if he did, he wouldn't sleep through someone knocking on the door.
"Spence?" She called, but again, no answer. Something wasn't right. She sent a text to the team.
He isn't answering and there's no sound behind the door. I think somethings wrong.
The team was up by the room in handful of minutes, with an extra key from the front desk. Morgan tried knocking again and calling Reid's name, but they got no answer whatsoever. Call it paranoid or prepared, the rest of the team pulled the guns from their belts as Morgan used the key and opened the door. Moving in as if they were going into an unsubs house, they spread out, guns ready. There wasn't much to really go, just a bathroom, a closet, and the main room. There was no sign of Reid anywhere, but all his stuff was still there.
On the bed was the file, but it was neatly closed with just a picture of the first victim sitting on top of it. Next to that was the Iliad, and his messenger bag was on the floor next to the bed. The team looked around for his phone, but it was no where to be found. When they saw the window the fire escape was wide open, they all got that dreadful feeling.
"Can anyone think of any reason he would go through the fire escape on his own? With just his phone?" Kate asked, hoping that he had just gone off to go see something.
"No." Morgan shook his head.
"This was the only picture from the file out. Could the unsub have actually gotten in taken him?" Rossi looked at the others. "The doors lock automatically. The window only opens from the inside, and there is no sign of forced entry. Whoever took him walked right through the door to get in. Either he had reason to believe he was safe, or they managed to sneak in while he was sleeping."
"So it could be someone who works here." Morgan realized. "Is there a security camera near his door?"
While Kate, JJ, and Rossi continued to look for anything that could tell them where Reid was, Morgan and Hotch went to look for a camera. To their relief, there was a camera right across the hall. The two men went back down to the lobby and walked up to the front desk.
"One of our agents has gone missing. Can we see security tapes from last night?" Hotch said, showing his FBI badge.
"Of course." The woman said, and lead them to the back. They stood on either side of her while she pulled the video feed from the camera outside Reid's room. It showed two women dressed in the same uniforms as the janitors of the hotel. They didn't show their faces to the camera, but pulled a key and opened the door, slipping into the room as if they were just going in to take inventory of the toilet paper.
"Fast forward. We need to see if those two women come back out." Morgan instructed. The woman fast forwarded, up to 6am, but no one came back out of the room.
"Who were those two?" Hotch asked her.
"I don't know. I don't recognize them and the badges aren't visible." She said.
"Do other employees normally go into the guests rooms while they're there?"
"No, not unless they ordered room service, and they would've brought food up if your agent ordered room service."
"We need a copy of this video." Hotch said. The woman nodded and got to work on making them a copy. Once she finished, she handed the disk to them and they Morgan called JJ.
"Grab his stuff and come back down. We have the video and we're going to bring it back to the station." He said.
A few minutes later Hotch, JJ, and Morgan were in one car while Kate and Rossi were in the other.
"Why is it always Reid?" Morgan questioned out loud, clearly stressing already.
"Because he's the most submissive." Hotch pointed out. "He's the least likely to fight back physically."
Morgan sighed and shook his head. Reid was like a baby brother to him. To the whole team! He didn't deserve this, not at all.
