Sorry for the late update. I wasn't home until about half and hour before I posted this chapter, so it's kind of rushed and I apologize. Next one will be much more thought through.
(I don't own criminal minds or any of their characters.)
Hope you enjoy!
Reid hadn't noticed that he had fallen asleep, but jolted awake when the unsub slammed the door open. Makaia stayed still, gripping Reid's hand a bit tighter as she watched the man cross the room.
The unsub pulled out his gun and trained it on Makaia before grabbing the key to Reid's ankle cuff. He unlocked the metal anklet and grabbed Reid's arm, yanking him roughly to his feet before dragging him out of the room, shutting the light off as he went.
Reid didn't fight back as the unsub led him down three dark, empty hallways and through a plain, grey door. He knew resisting would make it worse on himself and Makaia.
"I'm being nice today." The unsub pushed Reid towards a chair that was bolted to the ground in the center of the room. "I'll start you off with something easy." He forced the agent into the chair before fastening belt-like restraints over is wrists and ankles. "I'm sure you know all about electricity given your doctorate in chemistry. Tell me, how many volts does it take to cause severe brain damage?"
Reid's mouth was dry form lack of water, but he answered, deciding to see if playing into the unsub's fantasy would help him or not. "It would take an exorbitant amount of volts to cause any significant brain damage, but anything over fifty milliamps can cause such extreme side effects as death if the current is carried out for long enough." He recited.
"Well, I'll be sure not to go over fifty milliamps then." The unsub sneered as he brought over a cart with a modified ECT machine on top of it. He started attached an electrode to each of Reid's temples before unbuttoning his shirt and placing two electrodes on his chest. Reid felt extremely exposed with his shirt undone.
He watched as the unsub turned the machine on and set the amperage to ten milliamps. The unsub flipped a switch and Reid immediately felt his muscles seizing and his heartbeat becoming irregular. A sound he wasn't familiar with escaped through his clenched teeth as everything tensed and Reid felt horrible pain shooting through his entire body. He couldn't keep track of the time as the current traveled through his body, but was grateful when it was finally turned off. He panted as his head lolled forwards onto his chest. Reid saw the unsub turning the amperage up to fifteen milliamps out of the corner of his eye and pain even worse than before shot through his being.
The unsub continued his electric shocks, increasing the amperage by five milliamps each time he electrocuted the agent. Reid was terrified the entire time, knowing how much stress the electricity was being put on his brain.
When the unsub reached fifty milliamps, Reid felt the breath get sucked out of his lungs and wasn't able to replace it as he began convulsing painfully. His mind was beginning to get foggy and he fought to stay conscious as he thought about his team. He knew they would find him. The only question was when.
He hoped it would be soon.
CMCMCMCMCM
"Thank you so much for coming in, Mr. and Mrs. Charston." Hotch led the couple and their son through the doors of the family lounge. "Have a seat." Liam and Addison sat down on a couch, practically on top of one another, clinging to each other's hands. Adam sat in the chair next to the couch, looking as if he had been crying. "When was the last time you saw Makaia?" Hotch asked gently.
"We saw her Friday morning." Mr. Charston said. His voice was blank, as if he didn't know how to feel. "I dropped her off for her classes right after I dropped Adam off for his."
"I saw her after that." Adam piped up. His voice sounded distraught. He was clearly broken up about his foster sister's disappearance. "I made sure she got on the bus to Holly's place before aunt Jane picked me up."
"And where were you?" Hotch turned to the parents.
"We had left shortly after Liam dropped Makaia off at school." Mrs. Charston's voice was similar to her son's; sad and broken. "We had to leave on a business trip; I'm CEO of a home renovation company and had a consult in Orange County. We weren't planning on being back until Monday."
"What brought you back early?" Hotch pressed gently, not wanting to make the family more upset.
"Adam texted us and told us Makaia was missing." Mrs. Charston was close to tears.
"And how did you know that, Adam?"
"She wasn't answering her phone." He looked down at his hands, on the verge of tears himself. "She always does. I knew she was working on a project with Holly, but after a couple of hours I started to get worried. So I called Holly's house to see what was up and she wasn't there." A tear slid down his cheek. Hotch could tell that the kids had been extremely close. "Holly said that Mack had texted her saying she felt sick and was going to Aunt Jane's with me."
"We all got a text saying she had gotten to Holly's safely." Mr. Charston's voice was tight with emotion now.
"Okay." Hotch poured as much sympathy into his words as possible. "I know how hard this is, but I need to ask you a few questions about Makaia. Separately."
"Why separately?" Mrs. Charston's voice was curious.
"It's protocol." Hotch said. "We don't want one person's answer to hinder the others."
"Okay." All three said in unison.
"Mr. and Mrs. Charston, you can stay here. Adam, if you'll come with me, please." Adam rose and followed Hotch out of the room. "JJ." She looked up from her files. "Talk to the parents." She nodded and headed into the room.
Hotch lead Adam to the next room over and had him sit down. "Can I get you anything?" he asked, kindly.
"No, thank you." Adam stared at the ground.
"Okay. Can you tell me a bit about Makaia?"
"Sure." He looked up at Hotch. "What do you need to know?"
"For starters, how long has she been with your family?"
"About five months. Mom and dad want to adopt her. We had just made the court date the day before she went missing."
"And you and Makaia were close?"
"Yeah. We got along from the moment she stepped into the house." He smiled a bit, as if recalling a pleasant memory. "It was weird. I didn't get along amazingly well with the other kids we brought in."
"And why was that?"
"I think it was just because of their ages. I don't want to spend a ton of time with a six year old, ya know?"
"And since Makaia was only a year younger than you, she was more a friend than a sibling."
"Exactly. It was nice to have a conversation with somebody my age that wasn't completely incompetent like most of my friends from school. It was nice to not be the smartest person in the room for a change."
"I see." Hotch nodded. "Now, would Makaia be one to start a conversation with somebody she didn't know? For example, someone who just sat next to her on the bus?"
"No." there was no hesitation, but the answer wasn't so quick that it was defensive. "She kept to herself. Hated being the center of attention even at home."
"What if someone started talking to her? Would she maybe continue the conversation?"
"Only if there was a factual error. We were at a party for one of my dad's coworkers once and two people were having a conversation about deck construction. She jumped in with information about geometric patterns and angular symmetry and trigonometry." He chuckled slightly. "She'd never met them and she started correcting their practice. She was right, of course, but it was odd. I'd never seen her so extroverted."
"Sounds like somebody I know." Hotch thought about Reid and how he was holding up with his captor and fellow prisoner that may as well have been a clone of himself. Hotch thought it might be more bearable for both of them with another person so similar to themselves there. "I'd like to try something."
"Okay…?" Adam looked curiously at Hotch.
"I'm going to conduct what we call a cognitive interview. Close your eyes." Adam obliged. "Now. You're at the bus stop with Makaia. What do you hear?"
"I'm listening to Makaia, she's telling me about the project she and Holly are working on. Something about using geographical locations and geometric patterns to locate people."
"Okay good. What else do you hear?"
"Cars. It's a busy street."
"Is there anyone else with you at the bus stop?"
"Um... no. a couple people walk by, but nobody stops near us."
"Okay. Fast forward a bit to when the bus was coming. Who sees it first?"
"Mack does. We stand up and I hand her her bag after she gets her bus pass out."
"Are you still the only ones there?"
"Yes."
"Okay, so the bus pulls up in front of you. How many people are on it?"
"It's about half full. I give Mack a hug before she gets on. Once it pulls away, I turn around and go back home."
"As you're walking away, do you hear or see anything unusual?"
"I heard… a man calling out for something to stop." He furrowed his brow. "I turned around and a man was chasing the bus. The bus driver stopped and he got on. I could see Mack through the window. He sat down right next to her." He opened his eyes and they were wide with concern. "Was it him?"
"Quite possibly yes." Hotch was both happy that they had a possible suspect and still angry that his agent was taken, possibly by this man. "If I had a sketch artist come in, would you be able to give a description of the man?"
"I'm not sure." Adam slouched. "He was facing away from me. All I could see was that he had dark hair."
"Do you remember what he was wearing?"
"A jumpsuit. Blue. And a tool belt."
"Thank you. That's very helpful information." Hotch stood to open the door and let Adam out.
"Agent Hotchner?" Hotch turned back to Adam. "Please find her before he kills her."
Hotch tried to look as reassuring as possible. "We're trying our best."
Adam stood up with a courteous nod. "Thank you."
Hotch watched him leave and wondered what it would be like to lose Sean, trying to empathize with the teenager.
He couldn't.
Until he thought about Reid.
Meh, weird ending. Oh well. Review please! Till next time, Ciao bellas!
