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"Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow." ~ Dan Rather

CHAPTER II

Emily went ahead to press on the doorbell located by the side of the front door while JJ lingered a couple of steps behind her on the porch. She was expecting to hear a chime to pierce through the silence or at the very least, a muffled echo of the bell ringing. Much to her surprise though, there was no sound, no reverberation and the entire estate remained as silent as it was. She cocked her head and stared at the doorbell in bewilderment, wondering if it was even working at all. Furrowing her eyebrows, she decided to give it another try and hit the buzzer once more.

At the same time, JJ was scrutinizing their surroundings. She had this nagging feeling that was telling her someone was watching them. But having examining the area repeatedly with her wakeful eyes, she was unable to spot anyone or anything out of the ordinary for as far as she could see, which only left her feeling much more exposed than before. She unconsciously began to rub her hands up and down her arms for comfort.

Emily was becoming increasingly frustrated when no answer came forth after she had pressed on the doorbell for god knows how many times. She then opted for a different form of approach by rapping her knuckles on the front door and much to her surprise yet again, she realized the door wasn't as it appeared to be – paneled, wooded. It felt steely and extremely cool against her knuckles, not only because of the cold weather, but also due to the fact that it was made of metal. Without a closer inspection, the patternless, straight lines running down its surface and its unpolished, dark bronze color made it looked just like any ordinary wooden door.

Emily shook her head and chuckled humorlessly to herself. It seemed to her that the longer they stayed on the property, the more peculiarities they discovered about it. Raising her fist, she knocked on the front door, with extra force this time around. "Mr. Mullins?"

Seconds ticked by as the two agents waited patiently for an answer. JJ turned her attention to the windows next, checking them pane by pane from the first level up. Despite being fogged by condensation, they offered a clear enough view of the manor's interior and it was apparent that the rooms were not lit. She could see parts of furniture in them like the corner of a cupboard or the shade of a lamp, decorations like a vase of flowers or a framed painting hanging on the wall and by the far window on the third storey, a man in a leather mask.

She did a double-take.

"Oh my god," JJ gasped the moment she saw it. Her hand shot up to clutch her left chest where her suddenly madly thumping heart laid underneath, feeling as if she was on the verge of having a heart attack. She stumbled back a step, then another, almost falling backwards when her left foot took an unexpected step down the flight of stairs behind. Instinctively, she threw out her hand just in time to grab a hold of the pillar standing next to her. She hovered unsteadily at the edge of the porch, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide open. The near trip-up notwithstanding, they had managed to remain fixed on the window – the now vacant window, to be exact.

Emily was startled when she heard JJ gasped out of nowhere, instantly turning her head back in what could be described as a potential neck-breaking movement. She wasn't close enough to stop JJ from slipping off the step, but she was there in a flash to lend support to her swaying body by sliding an arm around her waist. She took in JJ's panic-stricken face which was close against hers and it scared her when she saw how ashen it looked, almost completely drained of blood. Her frustration was long gone and forgotten by this point. Instead, Emily was overwhelmed with concern and asked quickly, "JJ, what is it? What happened?"

JJ could barely hear Emily's voice over the sound of the pounding of her heart in her ears and she vaguely registered that the brunette was supporting her. She could hardly form a coherent thought as the image of the leather-masked man kept flashing across her mind. Did she actually see him by the window or was it simply a figment of her imagination? She debated the question with herself, but truthfully, the answer was all too clear.

"JJ, look at me," Emily told firmly. With each passing moment, she was getting more desperate, seeing how JJ was petrified and unresponsive. She shook the blonde slightly, trying to shake her out of her shock. Once JJ started blinking, she released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Softening her tone of voice, she said almost pleadingly, "look at me, JJ. Can you please talk to me? Tell me what happened."

When JJ felt her shock began to subside and the control over her senses coming back to her, she slowly turned towards Emily. It took a few moments before she found her voice, but even then, it was broken and barely audible, "I saw... I saw someone... He... He was..." Utterly frustrated by the inability to express herself properly, she squeezed her eyes shut as she willed her brain to concentrate and come up with a decent string of words.

"It's okay, JJ. Take a deep breath," Emily comforted, while doing her best to suppress the rising panic within herself. "Tell me who was it you saw. Where did you see him?"

"He... He was standing by the window," JJ breathed out. Her eyes were now opened, but instead of looking at Emily, she was simply staring off into the distance. Her face contorted into an agonized grimace when she started to describe his appearance. "I didn't see his face. He was wearing a... He was wearing a leather mask. Brown. It has stitches all over and he... He looked directly at me."

Emily's jaw dropped. Whatever unrest she had about the place that she initially brushed off as paranoia, was beginning to justify itself. She could feel her skin prickle in the most unpleasant of ways. Snapping herself out of her stupor, she did a quick scan of every window that was facing the two of them in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the leather-masked man or any sign of activity within the manor that might indicate his presence. When she came up empty-handed, she shook her head in disappointment.

JJ, who was still feeling the remnants of her shock, panicked once she saw Emily shook her head. It immediately sent her thoughts into a frenzy. What does it mean? Was she dismissing her? Did she not believe her? Her chest started to rise and fall intemperately as her breathing became heavier. Uncertainty, dread and anger welled up inside JJ until they reached a point at which she was no longer able to contain them.

"I saw him, Emily!" She practically yelled out, causing the other woman to jump. "He was there one second and then he's gone the next. It sounds absurd, I know... But I saw him, Emily! It wasn't an imagination. I know I saw him. You have to believe me!"

"Okay, JJ, calm down! I believe you! Of course I believe you," Emily responded quickly, albeit a bit defensively. She put her hand on JJ's shoulder, forcing it down lightly. She had no idea what had set JJ off all of the sudden, but figured it was probably because she was still freaked, which she had the absolute right to be. It's not everyday that a witness happened to be some leather mask-wearing creep, whom you caught watching you from the window of his creepy house.

Looking at Emily then, JJ realized that her panic was unwarranted and she cursed herself mentally for losing control of her emotions, her sanity. Seeing the man in the leather mask had caught her completely off guard, but she didn't help by allowing fright to take over her. With her eyes closed, she took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly through her nose as she tried to settle herself down and steel her nerves.

"I'm sorry, Em. I didn't mean to lose it," she said softly after a moment, running a tired hand through her hair.

Emily nodded understandingly and pressed her lips together to form a straight line, which was just about the biggest smile she could give given their circumstance.

JJ would have returned it, but she simply couldn't find it in her to do so and thus, she continued, "things are just getting out of hand. I really think that we should get out of here, Emily. We don't know enough about Mullins to go barging in to his house. In fact, we can't even be sure if that's actually him I saw. There might be some power lines running near the second intersection, so if we can drive there and get a reception, we can call Hotch."

Pressing on both sides of her temple with her thumb and middle finger, Emily ran through their options in her head, as fast and as many as she possibly could. Neither of them had anticipated this, granted, the long drive was rather disconcerting. It was supposed to be another routine questioning, much like the million others they had done before.

Clearly, this had turned out to be nothing comparable to those.

"Okay," Emily drawled out after a few seconds of contemplative silence. "Alright. C'mon, let's go."

JJ was relieved to no end when Emily motioned in the direction of the SUV, considering how she was dying to get the hell out of the god-forsaken place.

The two agents then turned towards their vehicle, but hadn't so much as taken a step forward when a high-pitched screech resonated from behind them, causing them to freeze on their spots. It was so sickening that they felt like their teeth were melting, making them shudder involuntarily.

Mercilessly, the sound continued to stretch out for next few instances.

Stunned silence hung heavy in the air once the screeching stopped. Almost simultaneously, they turned their heads back tardily and their wide eyes came upon the source of that dreadful noise – the heavy metal door was now opened halfway. Inviting. Luring. Its sharp edge must have scraped against the marble floor when it was opening, evident by the nasty scratch marks on the ground and the marble specks running along their borders.

JJ's mind was blank as she stared disbelievingly at the open door, except for a single thought. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and whispered, "did the door just..."

"Open by itself?" Emily finished, almost sardonically. She flicked her gaze to JJ and she could clearly see fear shimmering in those watery blue eyes, no doubt a reflection of her own fear as well.

Their fight-or-flight response screamed at them to run in the opposite direction, but they simply couldn't bring themselves to move. They were reconciling in their minds with the reality that this was the very unsub they had been searching unrelentingly for the last three days and not a standard witness that he had led them to believe he was. This was his way of telling them he knew they were here, had seen their every move.

He was presenting them with no other choice.

As if on cue, the two agents drew out their guns from their holsters in one swift motion and cautiously approached the open door. Emily took the lead while JJ fell in as close as she could behind her. She stopped right outside the entrance and then turned her head back to face JJ, lifting an eyebrow ever so slightly. Receiving a rather nervous nod from the blonde, Emily raised her Glock out in front of her and proceeded to step into the manor.

JJ followed Emily and set foot into the last place she wanted to be in on the face of the earth, with her heart hammering painfully against her chest and her knees feeling as though they were going to buckle anytime.

Once both of them were in the manor, they heard an all too familiar high-pitched screech before- Boom!

- - - v - - -

"Where're Prentiss and JJ?" Morgan asked as he stepped into the small conference room, noticing only Hotch and Reid were in it. He had just arrived back at the local police station with Rossi and the Sheriff after talking to the parents of their most recent victim, Shelley Dawson.

"They're out interviewing a potential witness. I don't expect them to be back soon, so let's just go over what we have now," Hotch replied. "Reid?"