TRACK MARKS
Chapter3
Breakaway EDITED VERSION
"Why is there so much controversy about drug testing? I know plenty of guys who would be willing to test any drug they could come up with" – George Carlin
Hotch became aware again in the darkness and silence.
'Reid!' he whispered. He heard the shifting of chains as his reply.
He felt sick from the chloroform, but his mind was alert. He was pleased at the accuracy of the profile they had delivered, but he was unsure why they had taken two this time. It would have been easier to carry on as they were before.
He thought it was probably the press conference that made him the target. Well that was good. All the time they had him and Reid, the public was safe. He had to make sure that either one of them lived long enough for the team to track down the UnSubs.
He looked around as his eyes got used to the near darkness. There was a beam of moonlight through the window, Hotch saw that he was still in the back of the van. There was carpet on the floor, which at least helped to keep him warmer. His clothes were gone, and he thought that was to make it easier to inject whatever drug they were testing. He saw Reid in silhouette against the side of the van, and saw that he was gagged.
'Are you hurt, Reid?' he asked, and was relieved when Reid shook his head. 'Nor me.' he said.
Just then the door of the van slid open and Hotch saw the outline of the two UnSubs as they stepped up into the van. The woman addressed Hotch.
'You know why we brought you here. Unfortunately, you are no good to us because I had to cut you. The other one we can use.'
She turned to the man. 'Chloroform him and strip him. We can do them both at the same time.
The man ripped the duct tape off Reid's face and replaced it with the pad of chloroform. Like Hotch, Reid struggled briefly to escape, and then succumbed to the solvent. He slumped forwards and closed his eyes.
The man threw the pad to one side and unlocked the cuffs. Reid took his chance. He had been holding his breath, and now he swung a fist at the man who was taken totally by surprise. Reid jumped out of the van and ran into the darkness.
He crouched down in the undergrowth and prayed they wouldn't be able to find him. He felt dizzy from the chloroform, and he hoped he wouldn't pass out now. He was going to have to get help, or free Hotch himself.
He could hear the man and woman searching for him amongst the trees, and he held his breath again. He could hear them arguing.
'You didn't leave him long enough. Now he'll get help and we will have to move from here.'
'I couldn't leave it any longer, he might have died like that first one did.'
There were sounds of smashing undergrowth, and Reid laid down and wriggled under leaves and dirt. He had to stay free if he was going to help Hotch.
'You're an idiot! I have to do everything!' More sounds of searching. 'We'll never find him now. Get the bike. And move. We'll go to the clearing. I'll follow you. We have to move. Now!'
Reid crept out of his hiding place and followed her to the van. He climbed onto the rear bumper and hung onto the handle, and hoped he had the strength not to fall. He heard the front doors slam closed, and braced himself as the van started to move.
-0-0-0-
Hotch felt rather than saw the door of the van slide shut and the engine fire up. So Reid had escaped and they were moving.
That was good. Reid needed to get help – he had seen the UnSubs, and maybe there is something on them in the data bases. There might even be hope for him.
Just run, Spencer, run away and update the team.......
As the van swerved around a corner on the rough track, Hotch fell to the side and wrenched his arm. The pain shot through him, and the cuffs cut into the skin of his wrists. He tried to keep upright on his knees but it was too difficult, especially as he still felt sick from the chloroform.
He just hoped that Reid was ok.
-0-0-0-
Reid was hanging onto the back of the van for dear life. As the vehicle bounced over the ground, his fingers threatened to let him down, and at one point, he was only hanging on with one hand. As the van took a corner, his body slammed against the back doors of the van, and he thought for a moment that he was going to fall. He clung back on and held himself close to the doors, and hoped that the driver didn't hear him. The van didn't rejoin the highway, but stayed on the rutted roads in the woods. The van was driving deeper, and the night seemed to get colder and darker.
He hoped that he was doing the right thing here. His only chance of getting Hotch out of there was to keep up with the van, but he could have been updating the team with information about the UnSubs. He was excited at how accurate the profile was, but the carpet fibres had likely come from the back of the van, and not a house.
It seemed that the victims spent their last days chained in the back of the van, and dumped straight from there.
He thought of Hotch just so close now. He clung on hard to the doors. Hotch's life could depend on him.
-0-0-0-
'Charles Elston didn't die of a drug overdose like the others.' the pathologist said. 'He had a heart condition, and he dies of shock. His heart just gave out.'
'So that is why he died before a week. It isn't an escalation.' said Rossi.
'No weapon marks again, nothing. Just marks on his wrist where he was restrained.'
'The woman cut Hotch, though. That is another deviation from their normal MO.' Emily said.
Dave rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. 'It could be important that the victims aren't cut or injured in any way. Which could make Hotch superfluous to their requirements.'
'But they have Reid too.' Morgan said. 'What ever they are doing, they could use Reid.'
'Let's get these drawings of the woman to Garcia and run them through face recognition. We might come up with a name. And Morgan, see if she has anything on the licence plate yet.'
Morgan nodded. He knew they had to hurry now. If Hotch was superfluous, they could just kill him.
-0-0-0-
The van pulled up in a quiet clearing deep in the woodlands surrounding the city. It was a natural clearing formed when lightening struck a tree and burnt the surrounding undergrowth. The lightening tree stood in the centre of the clearing, pointing blackened fingers towards the moon which cast its silver shadows across the clearing floor.
The woman alighted from the front of the van. The man parked the bike in the undergrowth and joined her.
'What was that? I don't like it out here.' the man said, keeping close to the side of the van, which offered him a small protection, although from what, he didn't know.
'Just some little animal, you moron!' She slapped him around the face and he stood and stared at her. She rarely hit him, and when she did, it was a sure sign that she was under extreme stress.
'It's ok, Mol.' he said gently. 'They'll never find us here.'
She sighed. 'Sorry I hit you.' she said. 'Let's go check on out captive.'
She slid open the door to the side of the van and entered. Hotch was awake, and he looked up at the two as they entered the prison. His wrists were hurting now, and blood had trickled along his bare arms and pooled on the carpet.
'So what do you want me for?' he asked.
'We are testing some chemicals to cut the drugs we sell. You are our next test subject. It's too bad your colleague escaped. But we will replace him easily enough.' the woman said.
She pulled a box out from under the seat, and opened it to reveal a portable cardiac monitor. She pulled up Hotch's tee shirt and attached electrodes to his chest. Then she took a syringe and a bottle of liquid, and Hotch watched in fearful fascination as she filled the syringe.
Is this how you felt, Spencer, when Tobias injected you?
She turned on the monitor, and it beeped steadily. The man held him and tied a tourniquet to his upper arm with a length of rubber tubing, and the woman stuck the needle in his arm.
He felt the coldness of the liquid enter his blood stream, and then his mind went crazy.........
-0-0-0-
Reid had jumped off the back of the van as soon as it stopped, and bent forwards, he ran to the cover of the undergrowth at the edges of the clearing. It was a relief to not be hanging onto the back of the van any more, but he had the fear inside that they hadn't completed their journey. If the van moved again, he wouldn't be quick enough to get back.
From his hiding place, he watched as the two opened up the back of the van. They disappeared in side, and he crept silently back. He could hear Hotch talking to them, and their reply. So it was the cutting chemicals they were testing, not the drugs themselves. He heard the beeping of the heart monitor, then the rattling of chains as Hotch resisted the injection. Then for a few seconds, everything was quiet. Then Reid heard a low moaning sound as the chemical got to work on Hotch. He so desperately wanted to go in there and help him, offer him comfort as his body succumbed to what ever it was they were poisoning him with.
But it was better that his presence remained, for now, secret. He would help Hotch later.
-0-0-0-
Hotch was engulfed in flames. His body felt pain to every cell, and he tried to cry for help but his voice wouldn't work. He thrashed about in his chains, tried to move his hands to his body, to protect himself from the agony of the fire.....
God it was hurting, too much to live through, and yet he didn't die, he just felt the greedy tongues lick flesh from his bones, and burn the blood as it fell from his peeling skin.....
Then he screamed. The sound that escaped him echoed through the clearing, and the silver moonlight became suddenly evil and foreboding.
Reid jumped at the first sound split the air. It was followed by cries and sounds of the chains being shaken. He desperately needed to help Hotch.
Hold on, Aaron, and I'll be there for you.
The scream subsided into a long drawn out moan of pain. Reid's stomach clenched at the sound. What were they doing to him?
Reid became aware that the sun was rising. He wondered what the UnSubs were going to do – leave the van and go home, or stay and sleep in the front. He heard the door slide open, and he ducked down and crept under the van. He listened to snatches of conversation......
'.....no good. We can't use that to cut the drugs.'
'It could be .........'
'.... might kill him .....'
They opened the front of the van and climbed in. Reid lay very still waiting until he thought they were sleeping, and then he would get Hotch out of the back, and somehow, find their way back to civilisation.
-0-0-0-
'I have it!' shouted Garcia to nobody. She grabbed her phone and called Dave.
'I have a licence plate for you!' she said excitedly. She told Dave the number and the address where it was registered to. 'The woman who owns it is called Margaret Bond, and I have a photo here.'
Dave looked at the photo, and then at the artists impression that was pinned to the evidence board. They could easily be he same person. When the call had finished, he printed out the picture.
Their first big mistake, he thought. They strayed from their MO, the way that had worked for them, and mistakes happened. This was a biggy.
'Get this to the hotel bar and see if it's the woman who abducted our agents, Emily. Morgan and I will check out the address. It's in the next town, just as we predicted.'
Emily took the photo, and she and Jordan left quickly. Their first break in the case.
We'll get you now, no mistake!
