A/N: Chapter 2! I can't stop writing this now. Anyway all mistakes are my own. If you find anything please let me know. Don't forget to review. xx
Disclaimer: No ownership of the characters in this fic. They belong to Criminal Minds. No copyright intended. Only O/C characters are mine.
Chapter 2: Little Clues
Garcia walked out of her office to see her team in the bullpen. She liked to check in on them through the day and make sure that her babies are all okay. She loved her office but there was only so long she could sit there and not see her chocolate thunder. She made her way through all of the desks over to Morgan's and took a seat on the edge.
"How you doing hot stuff?" she asked in her usual seductively playful voice.
"I'm doing good mama. I'm finally getting though this paperwork." Morgan replied with a smile
"I'm surprised that it hasn't found its way to Reid's desk by now." Garcia teased.
"Oh it will when he gets his lazy butt in here." He said putting down his pen.
"He's not here yet?" Garcia looked at him quizzically.
"No. At least I haven't seen him." Morgan shrugged.
"It's 10:30. That's not like him." Garcia looked serious.
"He must of just had a late night last night." He reasoned.
JJ came over then and took in the look on Garcia's face. It was her serious face and it either meant there was a case or she was planning something.
"Have you heard from Reid?"Garcia asked once JJ had settled.
"No why?" JJ asked not sure what was going on.
"He is an hour and a half late." Garcia replied.
"Oh. Last I heard from him was last night. We left the office together and he said he was going to some Russian film down town." JJ said recounting the awkward encounter from last night.
"See I'm sure he is just running late after geeking it up all night."Morgan tried to lighten Garcia's worrying mood.
"Hmm maybe. I'm going to call him."she said determined.
She turned and stalked off in the direction of her office. JJ and Morgan looked at each other with the same knowing look. Reid was in trouble for worrying Garcia he would be in for an earful on the phone.
Garcia got to her office and picked up her phone she hit speed dial number 5 and listened as the familiar ringing came down the phone. After ringing for what seemed like forever she heard a small click.
"Hi this is Dr Spencer Reid. I can't come to the phone right now so please leave a message after the beep."
She listened to the recorded Reid and waited for the beep.
"Reid it's Garcia. You're late and you're never late. Is something wrong. Call me. Let me know what's happening. Okay bye. Call me, bye." She hung up the phone and gave a small sigh. She had a bad feeling in her gut about this and it wasn't going to go away anytime soon.
She redialled the number.
"Hi this is Dr Spencer Reid. I can't come to the ph-" Garcia hung up the phone again. This time with a bit more force than she meant. She hated getting the answer phone. It was frustrating and she just wanted to know what was going on with her little genius.
She tried the phone one more time without luck and decided that she should go and tell Hotch that Reid was not here. She left her office and walked up to Hotch's office. Hotch was on the phone but he motioned for her to take a seat. She sat but couldn't stop fidgeting with her hands. Finally Hotch was off the phone but he could pick up on the unease of Garcia as soon as she stepped into the room.
"What wrong Garcia?" Hotch asked carefully. He didn't want to upset her.
"Its probably nothing its just that no one has seen Reid today. He isn't in the office and I've tried to call him and I got nothing." Garcia rushed.
"That's not like Reid. Are you sure he's not here?" Hotch lifted a brow.
"Yes, no one has seen him since last night." She affirmed.
"Okay. Let me try his phone."
Hotch picked up the phone and Garcia watched like a hawk as he dialled the number. Hotch sat patiently as the phone rang. When he got the answer phone he put the phone down. He picked up a small card for an index and read off a phone number and dialled that. He waited as it rang and still he got nothing. He put the card back in the index and turned to Garcia.
"No answer from his cell or his home phone." he said matter of factly.
"See. This is strange. Why won't he pick up. What if he is hurt?" Her voice wavered
"I'm sure he is fine. Something must have him delayed that's all."He tried to comfort her.
Garcia worried her lip between her teeth. A sign she was very worried. Hotch saw this and looked up at her with kind eyes.
"Look. If he is not here by Lunch I'll send Morgan to go find him. How about that?" he asked.
Garcia looked a little more relaxed. "Okay. I just can't shake this feeling."
"I'm sure everything is fine. He will just have got sidetracked somewhere." Hotch said looking at his watch.
Garcia got up to leave and walked over to the door.
"Thanks Hotch." She said with a sad smile.
He looked up and gave her a small smile. She closed the door and walked back out into the bullpen. She looked over to Reid's desk and felt a little calmer knowing that they had a plan. She went into her office and closed the door behind her. This morning was going to be long she knew it.
*1pm*
Hotch walked down into the bullpen to Morgan. "Is there still no sign of Reid?" He quizzed.
"No. I'm starting to worry. This isn't like him." Morgan said putting the last of his paper work in a manilla folder.
"I know. I want you to go to his apartment and see if he is there. I'm going to try his cell again." Hotch said taking out his own cell phone.
"Sure thing." Morgan replied and started to gather his things.
Morgan turned to grab his jacked when he noticed JJ behind him wearing her coat.
"I'm going to come with you. I need to know what's going on and I can't just sit here doing paper work." She looked worried and honestly he was worried too. This was so unlike Reid to just not turn up and it would be nice to have some support. Who knew what he would find.
"Okay. I'll meet you out front in five." Morgan gave a curt nod and left to go get his car.
They arrived at Reid's apartment 15 minutes later. Morgan pulled out his spare key but didn't use it. He knocked on the door and waited for a response.
"Reid." He called.
He knocked again looking to JJ. She was wearing the same worried mask that he knew he was wearing.
"Reid. Open the door." He called again.
"We just want to make sure you're okay." JJ joined in.
"Reid?" Morgan called once more. "You in there?" No reply.
That was enough Morgan put the key in the lock and opened the door. What he saw was the complete opposite from he was expecting. The room was in perfect condition, well perfect for Reid. The small living room was neat with the exception of the books that lay scattered around. Everything was in order. There was no upturned furniture, no smashed glass, nothing that would suggest a struggle.
"I'll check the rest of the place. You see if you can find a note or something." Morgan switch to FBI mode.
JJ walked into the geniuses living space and looked around. It was strange to be in here. Not that she hadn't been before but never when Spencer was not with her. She felt like she was trespassing.
She kept on looking but found no such note. There was nothing that looked like it shouldn't be there and nothing that gave any clue that Reid should not be sitting at his desk in the BAU.
Morgan came back into the small living room.
"He's not in the bedroom or bathroom and the kitchens clean." he offerd.
"I didn't find a note." JJ to to Morgan "This feels strange." she said gesturing to the apartment.
"What do you mean?" he said looking aroud the room. Nothing looked out of the ordinary to him.
"Well look at this place. It feels empty. Like no one was even here this morning." she walked over to the small kitchen.
Morgan look around but still looked confused.
"Well today's paper is still by the door outside. There is no mess from breakfast." She walked into the bedroom. "The bed is made and it looks like no one has slept in it." She walked into the bathroom. "There is no wet towels, his toothbrush is dry and look the shower is bone dry too."
She came back to the living room.
"If I didn't know any better I would think that this is just a tidy apartment but this is Spence. He isn't exactly tidy and I do know better. He hasn't been here since yesterday."
"You're right. Reid is messy at best there is no way he would be this neat normally. He must have not come home last night after his movie, but where would he have gone?"
JJ didn't answer. She didn't know. She picked up a picture of Spencer and Henry and looked at it. Where are you Spence. God I hope you're okay. She thought as she left the apartment.
They drove back to the BAU in silence. As soon as they spotted Hotch they called him over. The others all gathered round.
"I assume Hotch filled you in." Morgan asked Rossi and Blake.
They both nodded. It was the first thing Hotch said when they got back from their respective meetings.
"And we can assume his apartment was a bust." Garcia probed.
"He wasn't there but from the looks of things he hasn't been there since last night." JJ reported.
The group all nodded at this and looked to Hotch.
He stood with a neutral face. He was clearly in boss mode and was thinking about his next step.
"Garcia. Run a trace on Reid's phone. I want to know where he is. I'll meet the rest of you in the conference room in five. We are going to track him down."
Garcia rushed to her office and started tapping away at her computer. She got up the software and immediately got Reid's cell number into the search. The software worked quickly and Garcia soon had co-ordinates that lead to not to far from Reid's apartment.
She came back to see the rest of the team already in the conference room clearly all waiting for her. She walked in and started to address the group straight away.
"I have the co-ordinates. It's showing me a location not to far from Reid's house. There is not an address though. Hotch we need to go and look. I can't help this feeling that something bad has happened to him."
"Okay Rossi and I will go to the location. Send me the co-ordinates. The rest of you stay here we won't be any good if we are all worrying." Hotch barked an order.
Hotch and Rossi left the room leaving behind the rest of the agents with worried grimaces on their faces.
"I don't like this Hotch." Rossi said solemnly.
"Nor do I. Let's just go find him."
Rossi and Hotch left the SUV. The co-ordinates they had been sent lead them to an alleyway. They drew their weapons and entered the alley. Hotch immediately saw what had happened here. There was a small pool of blood at one end of the alley. He walked over to it and hoped that it was not Reid's. They began their search for the phone. Rossi called it and they soon tracked it down. It was in a corner by a trash can wrapped in a plastic bag. In the bag was Spencer's cell, gun and badge.
"This is bad." Hotch stated.
"This is very bad." Rossi agreed.
Rossi was straight on the phone to his team telling them what they had found. Hotch looked at the badge in his hand. This was not good. Reid had been taken. Who ever had him had been smart enough to get rid of his phone, gun and badge and now had a day's jump on them. There was no telling where Reid could be. This was very very bad indeed.