"What do you have baby girl?" Morgan asked as he strapped in his seatbelt.

"I just spoke to JayJe!" Garcia answered with a panicked excitement.

Morgan immediately stopped moving. "Whoa, wait what?" He turned his head to face Aaron who had just turned the engine over and started to pull out of their spot. Derek set his phone out so everyone could hear and pressed the speaker button.

Hotch quickly put the SUV back in park and looked over to the dark agent and then back to the other agents sitting impatiently behind them.

Garcia continued. "They just called through the boat's radio. They are alive but-"

"But what?"

"The connection we had was lost when she was about to tell me their location."

"Penelope, can you track the radio signal?" Rossi asked from the backseat.

"I think so, but the Coast Guard just checked in reporting a boat fitting the Turner's description drifting fifteen miles out from port."

"Garcia, track the radio signal, and get back to me." Hotch said adjusting the gear to begin driving. "Tell the Coast Guard not to send anyone out until we get to the station."

"Hotch, we need to get people out there!" Morgan protested leaning towards the Unit Chief. "You suggest we just make them wait for us? Isn't that just putting them more at risk?"

Hotch shook his head. "We're going to get out there, but if the Turners are still on board we can't just charge the boat. It's not like a house we can surround. They'll see us coming and it might spook them enough to kill them."

"If they have not already." Rossi interjected.

Garcia's high-pitched voice instantly stopped the debate. "GUYS!"

The cab was silent as she spoke.

"I just heard from the Coast Guard. The report from the chopper that spotted the boat," she paused to take a moment and reel in her emotions. "The pilot was able to identify one female and two males."

"Any more detail than that?" Reid pressed.

Garcia's voice suddenly hushed not wanting to deliver the information. "The woman that was laying on the deck was a brunette. One man was standing over the other man."

No one wanted to put Emily's name to the brunette or fully address the fact that JJ was not mentioned at all.

Morgan rubbed his head in frustration. "Fuck them seeing us! I say we charge the boat!"

Hotch turned to Derek. "I agree with you, but we have to treat this like any hostage situation. We do it by the book and get them out alive."

The agents fell silent again as they drove to the Coast Guard station. The air swirled with their fears of failure, anxiety, and the all-consuming darkness of the unknown.


Emily could only let out a scream as she watched JJ and Dale flip over the rail. She tried to move but James' hand grasped her tighter pulling her in. She felt his body rock with laughter, but all her focus was on the water.

Dale resurfaced almost immediately flailing his arms in a panic. When he finally found the ladder he pulled himself up cursing his brother.

James' mocking voice in Emily's ear made her cringe. "Then there was one."

"No!" Emily choked on her denial. Tears assaulted her and she couldn't hold back the sobs. "No!"

She frantically searched the water for any indication that JJ was alive. There was no sign of any movement from where they had entered. She couldn't understand why she hadn't surfaced. She tried to free herself to get closer and dive in to find her, but James held tight and began to pull her away from the edge. She wouldn't believe that JJ could be gone. This was not how it was suppose to end. They had fought so hard. Emily needed to check the water again but James had too tight a hold on her, and her body was too weak to resist the direction he was forcing.

"You're a piece of shit!" She spit out her voice filled with as much hatred as she could muster.

"I know, thank you." He shoved to her the deck. As she tried to recover he lowered himself to her level and flipped her to her back. He reached out to put his hand on her neck but changed his mind and patted her cheek instead. "Almost time to join your friend down there."

Emily felt the end coming, her mind screamed at her to fight the inevitable. She was using all her skills she had left to remain strong and not allow her all consuming fear take over. She didn't break eye contact and held silent desperately clinging onto the unraveling threads of her slipping mask.

He simply rolled his eyes at her and turned his head. "Dale, get over here."

James stood up and stepped towards his brother. He didn't avoid or bother to step over Emily. He allowed the entire weight of his body to be carried onto the one leg that pressed into her stomach. She had no chance to react or tighten her abdominal muscles to somehow absorb and deflect the immense pressure that was transferred. Instant tears formed and she let out a cry to the unexpected and excruciating pain. She was suddenly on the edge and all control was lost. Her body and mind were no longer cooperating partners. All she could do was pull her knees to her chest, and try to center her breathing. The stabbing pain increased to almost an unbearable level and she found herself losing the battle of control. She tried to look past the blur of tears and somehow understand what the two men were saying.

"One bitch down." James laughed as he addressed his brother. "Go get the phone and call in. We need someone out here for gas."

He smirked as he looked back down to Emily. "But first we have to make sure the bodies are gone."

"Uh, James." Dale hesitantly said and looked away. "I forgot the phone when we docked."

"You're an idiot! Why the hell did you shoot out the radio?" A backhand rocked the younger brother. "What are we going to do now, huh? We're out of gas and stranded!"

Dale recovered slowly but the rage that had been building overflowed. He suddenly attacked and slammed full force into his brother. Their bodies crashed onto the deck. Dale rolled on top and released and uncontrolled flurry of punches. Each blow that he landed sent James' head flopping and blood flying. Dale kept going even when James had stopped moving. When he had finally calmed he realized his actions and crawled backwards away from his dead brother. His eyes were wide with fear. He glanced quickly over to Emily, whose eyes had not left him. She tried to hide the shock of what she had just witnessed. Their eye contact was broken by a noise in the distance. A dot in the distance grew larger and the thumping sound it created grew louder as it approached the solitary boat.

Dale turned around just as the Coast Guard chopper did a fly by. Emily's mind cried out and tried to wave her arms to get their attention, but her body refused. She remained curled in a heap of pain and weakness.

When it had passed and the sound once again faded away she redirected her attention to the man holding her life in the balance. He stared back at her and slowly rose. Confusion turned to revelation and his eyes became empty and hollow. There was no longer remorse or care in them. He was compromised, his brother dead and the only thing left to do was rid him of the final burden. Emily closed her eyes for the end as he hobbled painfully towards her.


JJ felt herself falling and the surge of water came so fast she could not react. The deep cold took her breath away. But the crack of her bone was all she felt as the impact and position twisted behind Dale took hold. Her first instinct was to surface for air, but when she felt Dale kick off of her she used his momentum to swim to the side. When she surfaced she found herself on the backside of the boat out of view of the screaming man.

She kept herself just above the surface to breath so she would not be seen. She could hear Emily's cries and wanted so bad to tell her she was alive, but knew it would just make things worse.

The water made every ache in her body intensify. The fall had torn open any remaining stitches. Treading water just made the burning and stinging worse. Her wrist was useless; she only looked at it to make sure the bone was not sticking out. It floated limply in front of her, the cold water the only thing relieving the unnatural pain of the injury. JJ tried to ignore her body's agony and waited for a chance to re board the boat.

She heard fighting and the boat rocked with the movement, but a low rumble in the distance caught her attention. She squinted to make it out and her heart leapt as she recognized it to be a helicopter. It passed over but did not stop.

Suddenly Dale's voice became close to the edge she was holding onto. JJ saw his shadow overhead and quickly sucked in a breath and went under hoping the darkness hid her. She almost lost her breath when a body slammed into the water right in front of her. The water was too dark to see who it was, and her heart began to pound as the fear that it might be Emily flooded her thoughts.

Her lungs screamed for air and she moved under the boat and away from the body. She let her head surface briefly to release her breath and take in more oxygen. When she heard that no one was above her she redirected her attention to the body. She grabbed its arm pulling it in. JJ couldn't help from jumping when its lifeless eyes met hers. The face was covered in blood and almost unrecognizable.

After the initial shock her emotion switched to relief as she saw it was not Emily but James. She had never wished someone dead, but the threat of this monster being gone had an effect.

JJ knew she had to get back on board. She couldn't leave Emily with Dale, if he had killed James he was beyond repair. She used the boat as a guide to get to the ladder. The pain in her left arm took hold as she attempted to climb to the deck. She had not realized the severity of the damage done until she tried to use it. She tucked it tight against her body and slowly took one rung at a time, having to stop with each successful attempt to regain some strength to continue. Once she reached the deck she pulled herself up enough to examine everyone's location. She didn't see Dale anywhere. She took the cue to board, but stayed behind the small cabin to remain unseen.

The deck was small and the only other place he could have been was below deck. Her main focus turned to Emily, who lay curled up, motionless, eyes closed. JJ began to move to her when a noise from below caught her attention. Dale was coming back and she moved to hide again. She watched in horror as he approached her friend with a knife in hand.

He stood over her for a moment just staring. Emily raised her eyes lethargically to the man, her head lolling back slightly. JJ couldn't make out what Dale and Emily were saying, but JJ's heart sank when she heard the sadness in Emily's voice and saw the tears trickle down her cheek.

JJ looked around desperately for something to stop him. Her eyes landed on a hammer tucked along the side of the deck. She moved forward slowly to pick it up, but kept her head up and eyes on Dale.

Not following where she was stepping she had not seen the chain coiled next to her. As she moved her foot hit the links. Dale spun to address the clanking noise and what caused it. JJ froze as their eyes met. His were full of rage and determination and began limping towards her and adjusted the knife in his hand.

JJ had nowhere to go. She backed up towards the railing as the threat approached her. She looked past him and saw that Emily had her eyes looking towards her. When she knew she had contact she looked down to the hammer. Emily's eyes followed hers to it and gave her a small nod. JJ took a breath as she saw Emily attempted to move towards the weapon. Dale lost in his new goal didn't notice Emily as she half crawled and dragged herself across the deck.

When Emily reached the hammer she rose as far as she could. Half hunched over she moved towards Dale. She gripped and readjusted the hammer in preparation to strike. JJ did all she could to make sure Dales' focus was on her, and not alert him of Emily's movements. His face reflected the years of anger and resentment he had allowed to build up. He was at his end, but she didn't waiver as he prepared his knife for a final strike.

As Dale closed the gap between him and JJ, Emily raised her arm and leaped forward letting the momentum swing the hammer down. The weapon met its mark and Dale crashed to the ground as his lifeless body clattered on the deck.

JJ stared at him almost not believing what just happened, but knew she had to check and make sure it was really over. She knelt down and placed her finger on the man's neck. When there was no sign of a pulse she felt the sudden realization that the threat of the two brothers was gone. She couldn't move and wanted to collapse in the exhaustion that gripped her.

Emily's hushed voice shook her back to the present. "Jay-" was all she said.

The brunette was a few feet away, one hand on her half bend knee in an attempt to hold herself up. She reached her other out towards the blonde. When JJ grabbed it Emily fell forward into her. The two women could not hold their weight and it sent them down. JJ tried to catch them from hitting hard and her arms jetted out. Her broken arm screamed at her as the pressure of the bodies landed on it. She yelped in the pain and pulled her arm to her chest. Emily moved back to give her room and watched in concern as JJ worked to control the agony enveloping her. When the waves of pain reduced enough to open her eyes JJ looked to Emily. She was staring at her uncertainty and distress in her eyes. JJ tried to speak and Emily moved forward wrapping her arms carefully around the blonde.

"I thought you were dead." Emily whispered.

JJ returned the embrace but still found herself unable to speak.

The let down was taking hold and the two leaned on each other so they could move away from Dale. JJ felt every inch of her body screaming in pain. There was nowhere to go so they settled at the helm. JJ gingerly lowered down to lean against the steering column, Emily unable to sit curled into a ball in an attempt to fight the clenching torture in her abdomen. As they lay next to each other their breath slowly evened out. JJ began to shiver from the wet clothes and the fever began to take its toll. She put her hand on Emily's arm as the brunette placed her head against her thigh. JJ gently rubbed lazy circles on her bare arm in hopes that the touch would take her mind off of herself.

"I saw the Coast Guard, it shouldn't be long." She tried.

"Hmm," was all Emily said as her face contorted in pain.

There was a small sense of relief that their initial threats were gone, but as their bodies continued to break down rescue could not come quick enough.


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