Viper Strikes Again – Chapter 7
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"Irene!" Helen gasped. "What are you doing here?" She was still pointing the gun at her.
"Why are you pointing that gun at me, Helen?"
Recovering from her surprise, Helen sneered at her, "None of your business."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not worried about your nasty business, Harold told me all about it." She cut her eyes at her as she sneered back.
Helen frowned, "That low-life bastard told you about it?"
Irene nodded, "Everything. I know all about your dirty laundry, Helen. If I went to those FBI, you're going to jail, bitch."
"Why you…slut!" Helen began raising her gun higher at Irene Dunham but Harold Truman came into the mausoleum hurriedly.
"Oh no, you don't Helen! You're not going to shoot my Irene."
Helen glared from Irene to Harold and back at her and began to laugh, "You've got to be kiddin' me, Irene! You're screwing this lowlife nobody?"
"Hey!" Harold glared at her, "I ain't a low-life nobody, especially after you'd paid my twenty thousand smackaroos!" He grinned as he licked his lips greedily. "Hand it over, Helen."
Helen extended the bag out but Irene shook her head, "Hold it, Harold!" The man was about to take it and stopped.
"Why?" He looked at her.
"It could be a trap inside, honey." She said.
"Oh yeah," He grinned at her. "You're right. You're so smart, babe." He turned to Helen and said, "Take it out and show us the money, Helen, and no tricks!" He turned to look at Irene for approval and turned back to Helen.
Helen reached into the bag and pulled out a wad of fives and waved it at them, "See? It's real money, Harold. Real money!" She threw it at him, "Here's your stinking your money, asshole!" The money began to float all around as Harold began to pick them up
"You bitch! You fuckin' bitch!"
"Pick them up, hurry, Harold!" Irene directed him.
He turned around to her, "Why can you come over here and help me?"
"And ruin my nails? I just had them done, Harold." She waved them at him and shook her head, "Not a chance, this is beneath me. Now, hurry up, Harold."
Helen began to snicker, "I can see she's already a nag and a hag already."
Irene growled at her as she charged at Helen, "How dare you, slut!" and as she rammed into Helen, her gun went off and fired into Harold right into his head as he fell backwards and was killed instantly.
The two women stared at him and at each other and said simultaneously, "You killed him!"
They shook their heads together, "No, you did, I didn't!" Again, they exclaimed together.
Irene charged at her again as she angrily exclaimed, "It's your fault! You and that stupid gun!"
"You startled me!" She yelled back at her as she tried to hit her back with the butt of the gun. "Get off me, bitch!"
"Slut! Put that thing away or you'll put an eye out!" She turned her head away to deflect from being hit again as she grabbed the gun from Helen when it went off again!
Irene screamed out loud as she fell back from Helen, she looked down and saw blood trickled down from her chest and she looked up and frowned at Helen, "You...you shot me…you bitch!" She lunged for the gun which she saw laying slack on Helen's hand and pointing it at Helen fired right in the center of her forehead as she released the gun and smiled, "There, now we're even, bitch."
Helen fell back and lay dead.
Soon, Irene slumped over and died a short while later.
….
The BAU team, the local Decatur deputies and Paul arrived soon after.
Paul led them to the Thomas' Mausoleum where a year ago, there was a grand funeral in which the majority of the citizens of Decatur came out and paid their last respect to the Matriarch of the Thomas as they placed her grand mahogany coffin inside and under the family crypt, where every Thomas family member was proudly buried, even Great Uncle who was briefly disowned by Great, Great Grandfather Buford Thomas. The old man finally accepted the black sheep only because Great Uncle married Great Aunt Clara who inherited a lot of old money and brought it home and since then the money had doubled, and Paul had inherited it.
The Thomas mausoleum was now considered a historical artifact as it was more than two hundred years old.
But at the moment, the BAU team was not noticing the cultural fact, only Dr. Spencer Reid as he gave the black and gold sign a quick read before he hurried into the quaint building along with his fellow team members, led by their illustrious, not to mention overly anxious leader.
As they stepped into the warm and humid building, they came into the screeching stop when they stumble upon three unexpected bodies.
"Wha?" Dave uttered as they studied the homicide scene. "What happened here?"
"Looks like," Morgan examined the bullet wounds and shook his head, "accidental shooting…a scuffle ensued and one of these ladies shot Mr. Truman by mistake and something happened, and either these women shot themselves or they shot each other."
"I'm leaning towards shooting each other. They look too vicious and vindictive to shoot themselves."
JJ gave Dave a wry look.
"What?" Dave returned her look, "Well, they are! Have you seen their claws? I'm not touching them!"
JJ shook her head, as she pulled her phone out, "I'll call for the crime unit."
Hotch glanced over to Paul, "Paul, any other place they'd hide Emily?"
Paul nodded and pointed a set of stairs, "It leads to the basement where we bury the dead down there."
Hotch nodded as he hurried down the stairs.
"I found her!" he yelled a minute later from below as the rest of them scrambled down as well.
When they arrived at the basement, they found Hotch leaning over the still unconscious Emily who was still gagged and bound tightly.
"Emily!" He was gently slapping her cheeks. "Wake up! Em!"
"It must be the narcotics she was given that had knocked her out, whatever it was, it's powerful shit." Dave uttered angrily. He was on his knees next to her.
Hotch assessed their surroundings and saw that it was filled with coffins, some really old and dusty, a few looked somewhat new but he realized that the paramedics would not have any room to come down and work on her so he'd have to bring her up.
Picking her, he remembered she was somewhat a lightweight and began to climb up the stairs and as soon as he reached to landing, he saw it was packed with deputies and his team members.
"Agent Prentiss…Emily!" Paul exclaimed when he saw her in Hotch's arms. "Is she all right?"
Hotch nodded, "She's drugged, Paul but I think she'll be fine. I need to take her to the hospital, call for an ambulance."
Paul shook his head, "The hospital is only three blocks away from here, it's faster we take her there then wait for one. My car is right out there."
Hotch nodded, "Okay, Paul, lead the way."
They were soon gone.
…
Emily opened her eyes, expecting to be in some deep dungeons and about to be slaughtered like some pig but she didn't expect seeing Hotch and Paul talking and laughing together…
Hang on….rewind…
Hotch and Paul, talking and laughing together?
Am I still dreaming? Or dead and in hell?
"I really wanted to go to heaven, Lord but I'll take purgatory." She mumbled."
The two men stopped talking and turned to her. "Hey, look who's awake and cleansed."
"Cleansed?" She sat up on the bed. "What are you talking about, Paul?"
He and Hotch exchanged grins and nodded, "You were given triple dose of narcotics, enough to knock out a horse or so the quack here says."Paul chuckled.
Emily held her head, "Yeah, I'm feeling as if my head is about to pop like a balloon."
"Sorry, Em," Hotch apologized. "They can't give you anything until they cleanse the narc out of your system completely."
She almost nodded her head until she winced as she grabbed her head, "Urgh, so in the meantime I'd to suffer, that's great… Oh yeah, Hotch, I was going to call you and someone came from behind me." She looked at them.
"It was Harold Truman, Annie Ganns, the first vic's ex-boyfriend. She was working with Helen Thomas."
"I remember now," She said, still wincing. "I had Garcia checking on Helen's phone records; it might lead to who she was talking to."
"You were right on, Garcia found out she had been in contact with him."
"So, what else did I miss since I was …ambushed?"
Hotch then gave her a concise and condensed version all that had happened since she had been missing the night before.
She giggled, "I'm sorry about Helen but seriously? They're all dead?"
He shrugged, "Not at all, there's no love there. Grant had already filed for divorce, her death just speed things up. He's free to remarry if he wants to."
Emily narrowed her gaze at him, "Something tells me, he'd found his next Mrs. Grant Thomas II, didn't he, Paul?"
He shrugged, "I'm not sure, he should give Helen's death a few months' mourning….courtesy and all and as Mayor, it'll look good for him to be circumstantial and all." He said it with a southern drawl."
Emily chuckled, "I trust your judgment, Paul." She glanced over to Hotch, "So, are we leaving?"
Hotch nodded, "Although, your doctor have not discharge you yet."
Emily frowned, "Oh come on, where's he?"
"Ahem!" A feminine voice came into the room. "Knock, knock!"
They turned to face the new voice.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Kay Tompkins." She smiled as she came over to shake Emily's hand and then Hotch's and when she looked up to Paul she began to blush and stuttered slightly, "Er…you're the Mayor's Chief of Staff." She grinned, her cheeks was red. "I saw you on television last week, you're pretty good with speech, very eloquent."
Hotch and Emily began to grin and exchange knowing looks.
"Oh, you think so?" Paul smiled charmingly. "I've never seen you before, are you new around here?"
Emily rolled her eyes, "Oh, please Paul." She muttered under her breath. "Oldest and lamest pick-up line, evah!"
Hotch chuckled as he touched her shoulder, "Will you leave them alone?"
The doctor nodded, "Yes, I just moved here last week, been practicing for five years in Alabama until recently." They continued as if they had not heard Emily and Hotch.
"Hello!" Emily spoke up slightly louder than normal, "I hate to break up your little sweet convo but I would like to get out of here and get on our way back to Virginia."
The pretty diminutive brunette doctor jerked herself as she held her notes and glanced down and grinned sheepishly, "Oh! I'm so sorry…er, Emily Prentiss? Hey, you don't by any chance are related to Gerald Prentiss?" She looked at her.
Emily brightened, "That's my cousin, Gerry! Oh my god! You knew him?"
The doctor nodded enthusiastically as she grinned, "Yeah, we graduated in the same year in the U of Alabama and did our doctorate there…."
The two began to rapid chatter.
Hotch and Paul began to walk out of the room together, as Paul rolled his eyes, "At this rate, you'll never get out of here, Agent Hotchner."
Hotch grinned, "It's Aaron, Paul, and I'll wait for her outside in the SUV, the others are packing their things and checking out of the hotel, too. I hope everything will be well with you and the Mayor." He held out his hand.
Paul arched his brow and smiled as he took Hotch's hand and shook it, "Thank you, Aaron." He nodded. "Oh, yes, Grant is now in fine form, no offense to Helen. He's free to marry again. He was ready to file for divorce prior to all these crazy business. And thank you for your help, you and your BAU team came through again. Thank you."
"Hey!" Emily was rushing out of the room and hurrying to get to Hotch, "Are you leaving me behind?"
Hotch grinned as he shook his head. "Not a chance, Em."
She looked over to Paul, "Oh hey, your female doctor is looking for you, Paul." She grinned happily. "I think she's really keen on you, Paul! And she's really nice and pretty and smart."
"Emily…" Hotch warned her.
She turned to Hotch, "What? All I'm saying is, Kay is a very nice doctor."
"Come on, Emily, we're ready to leave." He turned to leave as he captured her hand.
Paul grinned as he caught sight of his gesture. "Oh…what is this?"
Hotch whipped his head around as he released his hand.
Emily blushed slightly, "Just mind your business, Paul."
He chuckled. "Oh, I will, Emily, I will." He turned to look down the hallway where the doctor was. "And I intend to give her my number."
"I already did, Paul." Emily smiled.
He whipped his head to stare at Emily, "You did what?"
"Emily!" Hotch exclaimed.
"What?" She looked at Paul, and then at Hotch. "I…she asked! And I thought she…Oh, come on guys! It's the 21st century!"
"Emily, let's go…say good bye to Paul." He nudged her towards him.
Emily nodded, "Okay…okay…!" She turned to Paul and smiled at him as she tilted her head slightly, "Paul, I never thought I'd say this, I'm gonna miss you."
He grinned and nodded, "And I'm going to miss you too, Emily. Thank you for rescuing me by the way and for all you and your BAU team had done. I probably wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you." He leaned forward to hug her.
She hugged him back and laughed and as she pulled back, Emily leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek, surprising them both!
Paul chuckled, "I knew you like me, Emily!" He patted her on her shoulder.
"Don't push it, Paul! Take care! Bye!" She waved at him as he returned the wave and soon his phone rang and looking at it he began to grin even more and shouted, "It's her!"
Emily turned around and grinned, "I know!"
"Come on, Em!" Hotch grabbed her by her sleeve as he gently pulled her away from the hospital grounds and towards the awaiting SUV.
….
End of Chapter 7
Er…it's not over yet, not for Hotch anyways, because our friend, Emily still have a bone to pick on him ! One more chapter, peeps!