Morgan was startled awake as the door banged open and the lights came on. He sat up quickly, blinking against the sharp light, his blanket slipping unnoticed to the floor.

Two of the hired henchmen, as Morgan had started to think of them, pushed a blindfolded and bound Prentiss into the room in front of them and for a moment Morgan could only stare incomprehensively at her. What was she doing here? This wasn't how it was supposed to go, was it?

One of the hired henchmen pressed a gun to Prentiss' neck. "Don't move," he growled.

Prentiss immediately froze, but Morgan knew the man hadn't been talking to her. With clenched fists he sat on the cot and watched as the other man fastened a shackle he'd brought with him around Prentiss' ankle and then the chain was secured to the same u-bolt in the wall as Morgan's. What happened next took both agents by surprise.

The man who held the gun took a hold of Prentiss' shoulders and put his leg behind her legs, swiping them out from underneath her, felling her to the floor.

Prentiss yelped in surprise and Morgan protested with an indignant "Hey!", but the man didn't hurt her. Once she was lying flat on her back, the man put a foot on her chest to keep her down. He then pulled a digital camera out of his pocket and snapped a few shots of her with her hair fanned out around her head. Morgan wondered if they'd done the same thing to him while he'd been unconscious. Then the two hired henchmen left.

Morgan quickly got off the cot and knelt by Prentiss' side. He touched her shoulder, intending to help her sit up, but she flinched away from his touch.

"Easy, Prentiss," he soothed. "It's just me."

"Morgan?" she said, turning her shrouded eyes in his direction.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?" he asked as he sat her up and removed her blindfold.

She blinked at the sharp light and squinted as she looked at him. "I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm fine," he said, moving behind her to free her hands. "What day is it?"

Prentiss twisted to look at him. "Is that to check if I have a concussion or don't you know?"

Morgan gave her a tight smile. "I don't know. I was unconscious when I got here, I don't know for how long."

"It's Friday," she said bringing her now free hands in front of her. She peeled off the last of the duct tape from her wrist and looked at her watch. "Or Saturday, really. It's 1.45 a.m. Are you sure you're all right?" She'd just gotten a good look at the protruding lump on his head. "Here, follow my finger."

"It's been about 28 hours since I was kidnapped then," Morgan said, doing the math in his head. "And I don't have a concussion either." He batted her finger away and then took her hand to pull her up from the floor. "What did they hit me with anyway?"

"One of your football trophies."

"Oh man," Morgan groaned, sinking down on a cot. "Which one? Did it break? It wasn't the 1992 championship, was it?"

"Uh…" Prentiss stared blankly at him. "I- It was brown with a gold football on top… or something like that."

She sat down next to him, her hand once again going to his head. He winced and pulled away from her touch.

"It's not going to get better by you poking at it."

"Sorry."

They sat quietly for awhile, each lost in their own morose thoughts.

"So I assume you've been looking for me," Morgan said at length.

"Of course."

"And how's that going?"

--

The phone woke Reid at four a.m.

"Yeah?" He cleared his throat and rubbed his gritty eyes.

"Get dressed," Gideon said as a way of greeting. "I'm on my way to pick you up."

"Morgan?" Reid asked excitedly, sitting up in bed. "Do you have a lead? Did you find him?"

"No," Gideon said shortly. "Prentiss is missing."

"What?" Reid exclaimed unbelievingly as he got out of bed and started looking for clean socks. "How-?"

"Her car has been found abandoned on a parking lot, halfway between Quantico and her place," Gideon said. "It's unlocked and her things are still in it. It looks as if she's been kidnapped too. From now on none of us go anywhere alone, so wait for me. Hotch's picking up JJ and they'll meet us at the crime scene. I'm ten minutes out. And pack a bag, you probably won't be going home any time soon."

--

The parking lot outside the convenience store Prentiss favored was awash in red and blue strobing lights. Patrol cars were blocking off most of the parking lot and yellow tape had been roped in a large square around Prentiss' car.

An hour or so earlier the store had been empty of customers and the clerk had taken the opportunity to go out for a cigarette break. Prentiss was a regular during his shift, so he recognized her car. Knowing that it had been at least two hours since she'd left, he'd gotten worried. The car was parked underneath a streetlight, so it wasn't until he got close that he saw that the interior lights were on. Then he saw that the door wasn't closed properly, and when he saw both the grocery bag and purse in the car he called the police. The first patrol officer on the scene had looked in Prentiss' purse and when he found her FBI badge he had sounded the alarm.

Hotchner and JJ had beaten the other two agents to the site and when Gideon and Reid stepped out of Gideon's car JJ met them with two steaming Styrofoam cups of coffee. Reid gratefully wrapped his hands around the cup. The night was chilly and he'd forgotten his gloves.

"What have you got so far?" Gideon asked, sipping his coffee.

Hotchner, standing with his back braced against his own car, answered. "Prentiss' car was unlocked, the front door open. A grocery bag was in the back seat, her purse in the front. They just found her gun underneath the car. I'd say she's been kidnapped too. If she'd just left her car, to pursue someone for example, she would have had her gun with her. The most likely scenario is that whoever grabbed her also took away her gun and tossed it there."

"Can we assume that it's the same kidnappers?" JJ asked.

"We can never assume anything," Gideon said gravely. "But under the circumstances I think we can safely make that our working theory. The chances that there are two separate groups of kidnappers targeting our team at the same time are very small."

"That's a theory that marks all of us as potential next victims," Reid pointed out needlessly.

"Yes," Hotchner said. "We are to exercise extreme caution from here on. There's no need to give these people, whoever they are, any more ammo. Still no contact with the kidnappers?" he asked Gideon.

"I would've called you if I'd heard anything."

"Is there anything else?" Reid asked.

"Tire tracks," JJ said, pointing to the ground behind Prentiss' car. "It looks like someone accelerated hard there."

Reid walked over and looked at the black marks on the asphalt. "Will you be able to identify the make and model?" he asked the forensic tech that was photographing them.

"Probably," the tech answered. "But if it's a generic brand that's not going to help much. If you find me a car to compare it with though… See that?" he pointed to what in Reid's eyes appeared to be a smudge. "There's some kind of damage to the right back tire. A unique signature. But, as I said, I need to have a car to compare with."

The team stayed at the crime scene a little while longer, but it was soon obvious that they were superfluous there. They had already drawn their conclusions on what had happened, the rest was up to the forensic team.

The ride to Quantico was a quiet one.

Back at the office Hotchner took one look at Gideon and sent him off to get some sleep. While the others had gotten a few hours of sleep during the night, Gideon had pulled the night shift, and Hotchner wanted the whole team to be on top. Hotchner then locked himself into his office. He had some difficult calls to make. JJ too excused herself and disappeared into her office, leaving Reid alone in the empty bullpen. It was still an hour or so before the normal workday started.

Reid decided to start sketching on the victimology, because even though they felt confident to proceed with the theory that Morgan and Prentiss had been kidnapped because of their work with the BAU, Gideon was right to say that they should never assume anything. But no matter how Reid twisted and turned every thought, he always came back to the same conclusion. Except for work, Morgan and Prentiss had nothing in common. Background, social class, race, sex, hair color; they didn't share any of the focal points serial offenders usually zeroed in on.

But Prentiss hadn't been with them very long, they had only worked a handful of cases together. So if this was in retaliation to a case they had had since she joined them it shouldn't be too difficult to find out. But off the top of his head, Reid couldn't figure out which one. Unless the kidnappers had mistaken Prentiss for Elle. But that couldn't be, he deducted after some thought. Prentiss was taken from a parking lot in the middle of the night. That meant that her kidnapper would have to have been following her. Since it was highly unlikely that someone could've done that from within the Quantico area, that meant that they would have to have been waiting for her on the outside, in the dark, meaning that they had to have known what kind of car she drove and the license plate number. It was a planned abduction, and someone with that level of planning would know that Prentiss had replaced Elle on the team.

Around seven Garcia came in, a large, polka dot umbrella hanging over her arm. "Is there any news?" she asked breathlessly.

Reid faltered for a moment, not knowing how to break it to her. "I-, uh, something's happened."

Garcia looked expectantly at him. "Did you find him?"

"No," Reid shook his head, his eyes downcast. "It's Prentiss. She's been kidnapped too."

"What?" Garcia's face fell and she stared incomprehensively at him. "How could that happen?"

Reid told her everything they knew so far and she listened intently. "Surveillance," she said then. "It's a public area, there has to be surveillance. I'll look through all CCTV footage I can get my hands on. I'll find out what happened."

--

After lunch Garcia had put together a few minuets of footage from different surveillance cameras for them to view. She had found a camera that had, at an odd angle, filmed an SUV parked behind the corner of the convince store, and two men with ski masks who kept looking around the corner for something. Suddenly they walked out of frame and a few moments later the car started. It rounded the corner, but the camera cut the frame too high for the license plate to be visible.

Another camera showed, at a distance, the short fight between Prentiss and her assailants before she was unceremoniously dragged into the car and it sped off, leaving only rubber behind.

"I tried tracking the car through different cameras," Garcia said, "But I lost it after a few blocks. I couldn't make out the license plate. Sorry."

She used the remote control to bring up a few more images. "I also managed to follow them back for a few blocks. They were definitely following her."

The team looked at each other.

"This isn't good," JJ commented. "They probably have some sort of surveillance on all of us. How do we play this?"

"Very carefully," Gideon said.

"We don't go home for awhile," Hotchner said, ticking off the points. "We never go anywhere alone, we use the bureau's cars instead of our own and we keep our eyes open. Let's make it difficult for them."

The others nodded solemnly.

"Me too?" Garcia asked.

Gideon and Hotchner looked at each other, their eyes keeping a silent conversation.

"You're not an official member of our team," Hotchner said after a while. "It's much less likely that you're a target. But nevertheless, you should be extra vigilant. Do you have anyone you can stay with or who can stay with you?"

"Sure," she said. "Henry."

Hotchner nodded. "Good. And be careful. If you see anything suspicious, don't hesitate to tell us."

Garcia promised.

--

That night Henry quietly walked into Garcia's office.

"Hi kitten," he said as he bent down and put his arms around Garcia from behind and kissed her neck.

"Henry!" Garcia gasped in surprise, having been engrossed in her work. "What are you doing here?"

"Our date, remember?" Henry asked. "It's Saturday night. I've got reservations at that Italian place you like."

"Oh. Oh! I'm so sorry, I meant to call you." Garcia turned around and faced him. "I'm gonna have to cancel."

Henry frowned as he looked down at Garcia's upset face. "What's the matter, honey? Has something happened?"

Garcia nodded. "You know Morgan and Prentiss, right?"

"Sure," Henry said. "Prentiss is the new girl, right?"

"Right. Well, both of them are missing, or rather, both of them have been kidnapped."

"Oh my god," Henry said, a shocked expression on his face. "That's terrible! Do you have any leads?"

Garcia shook her head. "Not yet."

"Well," Henry said. "Don't worry about the date. We'll have a rain check when you have found them."

Garcia stood up from her chair, threw her arms around his neck and hugged him hard. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"For what?" he asked, half-laughing as he hugged her back.

"For saying when and not if."

He pulled back and looked at her. "You work with the best people in the business. Of course you'll find them. And don't worry about me. I'll get out of your hair so you can get back to work. But I want you to call me if you need me, okay? If you need to talk or need someone to bring by some food or something. I'm there for you. Or if you need a ride. Call me for a ride home at night, okay? I don't want you to go out by yourself. Not if there's someone out there kidnapping FBI agents."

"I'm not really an agent, you know," Garcia said, picking invisible lint off Henry's suit.

"But still." Henry took a hold of her chin and turned her face up so he could look her in the eyes. "I don't want anything to happen to you. So just humor me on this one, okay? Please? Just call me when you're ready to go home and I'll come pick you up."

"Okay," Garcia smiled. "I was actually going to ask if I could stay with you for a few days."

"Mi casa es su casa," Henry immediately answered.

"Thank you, Henry. You're the best." At that moment her cell phone beeped. She read the text message. "I have to go to a briefing, but I'll probably be able to go home after that. Wait for me here?"

Henry gave her a kiss. "Of course."

She smiled at him and started towards the round table room, leaving him standing in the doorway, watching her as she walked away.

--

TBC…