As the SUVs barreled down the road, sirens blaring and lights flashing, Gideon couldn't stop himself from going back to the first time they had gone after Matheson. He could still remember how he felt that day as they followed up on that lead, could still feel how it felt at the end of the day knowing that it was him who killed Bobby, a kid, despite all that he had done. Unbidden, the memories came back.
They had cleared the main house and the upstairs, the only place left to look was the basement. Cautiously they went down, guns at the ready. They found them, the disturbed pair that had killed so many people, cornered in the rear of the terrible room. Gideon tried to ignore the various torture devices lining the walls and shelves, some still glistening with fresh blood, others looked to have a layer of rust on them from the dried blood of the many victims who had met their end in this dismal place. Around him, Gideon could hear men curse and some leave to expel the contents of their stomachs with some dignity.
"Give it up Rick," Gideon said quietly yet firmly, "you've lost and there's nowhere for you to go."
"So Agent Gideon, we finally meet," the deranged man cackled. "It seems our game must finally come to an end, but you'll never take me alive, I plan to leave my place in history." Deciding that talking to Matheson wouldn't work, Gideon turned his attention to his accomplice.
"Bobby," he cajoled. The terrified young man snapped to attention. "Turn yourself in, there's no need for anyone else to get hurt. If you come quietly I can get you help." Gideon wasn't lying, he knew both men were in desperate need of mental help, he wanted to get both in a sanitarium where they could finally receive that help even if they were locked away for the rest of their lives.
"No!" Bobby cried vehemently. "Rick's the only one who's ever helped me and you're trying to take him away from me!" Gideon shook his head.
"I want to help you Bobby, just come quietly and no one will hurt you."
"NO! You're lying!" he screamed, holding his hands over his ears. Gideon was privately amazed that two men barely able to function had caused this much damage to this small town. He turned his attention back to Matheson.
"Rick, I know you only want what's best for Bobby, please, both of you come quietly, there's no need for anymore death." Their guns had been trained on the two but significantly focused when Matheson brought out his own gun.
"I'm going to end this," Matheson said, madness coloring his voice. He raised the gun and fired. Three men fell, one did not move again. Gideon took aim while the officers tended their fallen.
"NO!" Bobby screamed as he jumped in front of Matheson. Gideon felt bile rise in his throat as his own bullet pierced Bobby's chest, along with the bullets from the remaining officers and one from Matheson's gun. They all froze as the young man made one pained sound before collapsing in a bloody heap at his mentor's feet. The gun fell from Matheson's hand as he dropped to his knees. The officers kept their guns trained on him as Gideon grimly cuffed the catatonic man. Matheson did not resist, he simply kept staring at the body of the one person he cared about.
Days later, after the sentencing, Matheson found Gideon and said, "Someday, I will make you pay for this Jason Gideon." The officers pulled him away and Gideon never gave another thought to the threat.
Now, he wished he had.
He felt his eyes involuntarily seek out the other SUV where Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss were riding. He could feel the worried gazes of Hotch and Rossi every now and then, but he ignored them. Despite his best efforts, Gideon could not stop his mind from conjuring up some disaster befalling Reid. In his mind, he saw Bobby's death, but now Reid replaced the unfortunate young man. He could feel his mind slipping…
"We won't let anything happen to him," Rossi vowed quietly, bringing Gideon out of his dark reverie. He locked eyes with the other profiler, silently thanking him for his timely intervention. Rossi simply nodded. The rest of the ride was silent, each caught in his own private torment.
After a short eternity, they arrived at the deteriorating house. From the road, it looked quiet and harmless enough, even if it was condemned, but they had all seen enough horrors to think that the house was completely harmless. Before going in, Hotch called them all over to him.
"I don't think I need to remind you of what's at stake here," he began. "So be careful." His eyes landed on Reid. "Reid, take this and don't ever go anywhere without it." He handed the younger man a small device with a small button. "Press this if anything happens, it will alert us and turn on a GPS tracker. Please Reid, normally I wouldn't do something like this but this is important." Reid took it with only a small moment of hesitation.
"I promise," he vowed as he put it in his pocket.
"Good, now you and Morgan take the upstairs, Prentiss and Rossi take the basement, Gideon and I will take the main floor." They broke apart with a small nod and met up with the SWAT members that would go with them.
Cries of "FBI!" sounded about the old house, with no answer. Each room was systematically cleared and then searched.
"Basement's clear," Rossi announced.
"It's clear up here," Hotch echoed.
"Attic and second floor are clear," Morgan finished, sounding a bit discouraged. Having ascertained that Matheson and Hennings were not there, they combed through the house, searching for anything that would lead them to any answers.
Upstairs, Morgan and Reid combed through the bedrooms, and finding nothing, continued on to the attic. After several minutes of silence, Morgan spoke, "I don't understand this guy. He's obviously after you, but he hasn't made one single move to do so."
"He did say that tomorrow is when he'll strike," Reid replied absently as he dug through an old closet.
"But why? Why tomorrow?" Morgan mused aloud. Reid paused in his search.
"Tomorrow is the anniversary of Bobby's death," he said suddenly. "This is all personal; he's hoping that he'll find the peace he needs by killing me to get even with Gideon." Morgan stared at him.
"So why bring us here? Is this all a game to him?"
"I think so," Reid went on. "It's a game that he's playing to wear us down so that when he makes his final move…"
"We'll be so distracted that we won't see what's coming," Morgan finished. "Just like Gardner did." Reid nodded, eyes darkening at the memory of Randall Gardner and what he'd done to their team and his own daughter. Their eyes met, but before they could say anymore, an explosion shook the foundations of the house. The floor cracked and buckled beneath their feet, sending them to their knees. Through their ear pieces they could hear Hotch calling out to his team, then the floor dropped out and their worlds went black.
Hotch and Gideon were on their way to meet up with Rossi and Prentiss when the explosion rocked the house. They fell to the floor, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Once he could see straight, Hotch started calling out to his teammates. He got a response from Rossi and Prentiss, who were alright but they were trapped, but nothing from Morgan or Reid. That's when he heard the sickening sound of ancient timbers groaning and shrieking as they fell into the waiting fire.
"Where's Reid?" Gideon cried frantically. Hotch grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Jason, Jason! We need to get to Rossi and Prentiss, Reid has Morgan to help him, and right now we have to hope that's enough. You can't do anything for him at the moment." Gideon looked ready to argue but he went with Hotch to free Rossi and Prentiss. Thankfully it was only the door that was blocked and they were far enough away from the blast sight to avoid serious injury. With the help of the SWAT team they managed to clear the doorway for them to escape. The house was quickly filling with smoke, fire slowly consuming the decrepit building. They made it out, but there was still no sign of Morgan or Reid. Hotch tried contacting them again, but to no avail.
"What do you think happened to them?" Prentiss asked, wincing slightly as a paramedic prodded a gash on her forehead.
"I don't know," Hotch admitted.
"We need to find them," Gideon insisted.
"I agree but how?" Rossi demanded. "It would be impossible for us to get back in; the firemen are having a hard time putting out the flames and…"
"Agents!" one of the firemen called, waving his yellow clad arm to get their attention. "Over here, you need to see this!" Regardless of any injuries, the four agents ran to where the man had indicated, several medics following. When they got there, the sight froze them in their tracks. Morgan and Reid lay unconscious on the ground, side by side and safely away from the blaze. Resting on Reid's chest was a note, on Morgan's, a bullet. The note plainly said,
This would have been so easy, but you still have one more day.
As much as he would have liked to crush the note and thrown it into the fire, Hotch had it bagged and sent in for forensics. Gideon was already trying to wake up Reid, Prentiss doing the same to Morgan. After a few tries, the two woke up. The paramedics were already doing their jobs as Hotch asked them what they remembered.
"I don't remember anything," Morgan admitted. "We were looking through the attic and then there was the explosion and then we were here."
"I felt someone carrying me," Reid added. "I thought it was Morgan, but I guess not." Both agents were visibly rattled that they had come so close to at least one of the UnSubs and death and hadn't known.
"We'll talk later," Hotch decided. "The medics want to get us to the hospital to clear us completely." No one argued and soon they were all on their way to the hospital.
Having been cleared by the doctors, Gideon sought out his protégé. Reid was still in the examination room, waiting for the results of a test to come back. "Hey," the younger man greeted.
"Hey," Gideon returned, a small smile playing on his lips. "How're you doing?"
"I think I'm alright. How about you?"
"I'm fine, but I didn't fall from the attic to the second floor either." The conversation was ended by the return of the doctor, telling Reid he was free to go. Gideon planned on continuing the conversation, but he never got the chance. Upon being released from the hospital, the team met up again.
"How is everyone?" Hotch began. Various responses of "fine" answered his question. "Alright then, if Matheson plans on striking tomorrow, then we need to be ready, for anything. What's the significance of tomorrow for him?"
"Tomorrow's the anniversary of his partner's death," Morgan supplied. Gideon confirmed that with a grim nod.
"I'd almost forgotten," he whispered.
"So he doesn't plan on torturing Reid if he should get to him," Rossi mused aloud.
"No, the focus of his revenge is Gideon," Reid said, not making eye contact with anyone. "I'm just the means to an end." Gideon placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Not if we have anything to say about it," Morgan murmured vehemently.
"So, how do we keep Reid away from these guys?" Prentiss asked. "We can't keep him locked up somewhere." She glanced at Reid. "Sorry, I don't mean to talk about you as if you weren't here." Reid shrugged it off, still looking away.
"Reid, we can't let you be any more visible than you already are," Hotch said. "We can't be near you no matter how much we may want to. I'm sorry, but I'll have to place you in protective custody. I'm not confining you to your home, but you can't go anywhere without the agents I'll assign to protect you." Reid was silent, obviously not happy with the arrangement, but unable to argue. "I'm sorry Reid."
"No Hotch, it's not your fault that this has to be like this."
"Reid," Gideon began.
"No, Gideon, this isn't your fault either." A crooked grin twisted his lips. "I seem to naturally attract psychos." Turning to Hotch, he asked, "When do I get my bodyguards?"
"Tonight, when you go home." Reid nodded shortly.
"Hotch, I don't like this arrangement," Morgan protested.
"Me either," Prentiss added.
"I know, but what choice do we have? We can't do a good enough job to protect him, today proved that." Morgan and Prentiss relented grudgingly. Exhausted, they went back to their desks to work some more on whatever they could find. Unfortunately, it wasn't much.
"I don't understand this," Prentiss suddenly exclaimed. "Neither one of these guys is that smart, and yet they haven't left one thing that could lead us to them, they've only left what they've wanted us to find."
"Matheson has been to jail, he probably remembers the procedures that helped put him there," Morgan suggested.
"But they don't fit the profile of two rather disorganized men," Prentiss countered.
"Maybe we haven't given Hennings enough credit," Reid mused. "I mean, Matheson is obviously the one in charge, but maybe Hennings is a lot more organized than we first thought. I mean, he's been to jail for numerous small convictions, he'd know more about how people are sent to prison with forensics. He's following Matheson, but he's taking the initiative to fix the problems in his plans." Prentiss and Morgan took a moment to digest that, but before they continued, Reid's bodyguards arrived.
"Looks like your dates are here pretty boy," Morgan teased. Reid rolled his eyes as he gathered his things.
"See you tomorrow Reid," Prentiss called as he and his escort exited the room. Reid waved a bit without turning. Morgan and Prentiss went back to their work, halfheartedly.
Reid dropped his things unceremoniously on his living room floor. "You guys can help yourselves to whatever's in the fridge…" A loud thump cut him off. He whirled around to see one of his bodyguards lying on the floor, the other standing over him, a gun in his hand.
"I'm sorry Dr. Reid," he said, voice trembling a bit. "I have to do this."
"Why?" Reid asked, reaching for his gun.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned, nudging the fallen man at his feet. "I don't want to hurt him, but I will if I have to." Reid hadn't released his gun yet. "Doctor, cooperate with me, I don't want to hurt him."
"Then answer me, why are you doing this?" Reid pleaded. He was slowly working his gun out of its holster, hoping the man wouldn't notice his movements.
"I said to leave your gun alone Doctor!" the man cried. The gun in his hand wavered dangerously, aiming at the hapless man on the floor. "You don't want to be responsible for any more innocent people dying, do you Doctor?" Images of the husband and wife that Tobias Henkel had killed flashed through Reid's mind. Slowly, he removed his gun and holster from his belt and slid them across the floor to the agent. "Good," he said. Reid slowly raised his hands. "Very good, you've been through this before haven't you?" Reid didn't bother to answer. "Now, if you come with me without any fuss I won't have to hurt you." Try as he might, the agent couldn't keep the tremor out of his voice or hands, making Reid wonder again why he was doing this.
To his left, Reid had taken notice of an empty vase he had sitting on a nearby table, he wasn't sure why he had a vase there but at the moment he was glad it was there. Deftly moving his hand to activate the GPS Hotch had given him; Reid desperately made a dive for the vase and hurled it as hard as he could at his would be abductor. It made contact, but didn't knock him out as he had hoped. Instead, it shattered against his chest and made him angry. "I warned you Doctor!" he yelled as he aimed the gun anew. The last thing Reid heard before he passed out was the report of the gun, the last thing he saw was his clock proudly displaying 12:30 A.M. Searing pain went through his side, sending him to the ground where blackness soon embraced him.
I'm sorry Gideon…