Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters…just my own plot lines that come out of my own twisted little brain.

Chapter 8

Hotch had relayed the information about the explosives to Rossi and Prentiss who were still with the sniper, keeping watch on the apartment.

"Dave, your guy have any better shot now?" Hotch asked through the personal communication system they all wore.

Looking to the sniper with a questioning look, the armed man just shook his head back at Rossi. "No, Lynch is seated on the end of Garcia's bed. If we could somehow get him to move over towards the doorway, we might have a better shot," Rossi explained as he looked through the bedroom window with a pair of high powered binoculars. "Whatever we do, we need to do it now though, Garcia looks likes she's fading fast. If we don't get her some help and soon…" Rossi trailed off, not wanting to verbalize the last of the thought.

After thinking for a few seconds, Emily spoke up. "Hotch, I might have an idea."

"Go ahead, Emily."

"Remember when Reid and I were being held at the compound in Colorado? You guys were able to get a signal into me about the time you were going to infiltrate. What if we could get the same type of signal into Derek, show him where we need Lynch to be?" Prentiss explained.

"Sounds good, but what are we going to use to signal?" Rossi asked.

"The sniper's rifle has a laser sight on it. If we can catch Lynch while looking the other way, we can shine that red dot on the wall behind him, letting Morgan know where we need Lynch to be. Derek will recognize right away what that laser dot is originating from, he'll get the idea." Emily answered.

"That might work, Hotch," Reid interjected. "Only thing is, how do we let Morgan know what we're up to?"

"I'll take care of that," Hotch stated as pulled out his cell phone. Before calling into Lynch however, he had one final question for Rossi. "Dave, is your guy sure he can get Lynch dead in one shot? If he can't guarantee that, then this whole thing is a no-go. If he misses at all, Lynch will have time to set off that bomb and I can't risk killing everyone in that building, even for Garcia and Morgan."

With a quick nod, the sniper confirmed his shot with Rossi. "He's ready Aaron. You put Lynch in the right spot, and we got him."


Inside the apartment, Derek watched over Penelope, stroking her hair as watched her breathing become more and more labored with every breath. Between her head and abdominal injuries, he knew that time was becoming critical, she wouldn't be able to last much longer without medical attention. He could feel her slipping away from him with each passing second.

"Damnit, Baby Girl, don't you give up on me, not now!" he whispered under his breath. "You've got to give me the chance to make everything up to you." Realizing that he didn't have much time left to come up with a plan to deal with Kevin, Derek had basically made up his mind that if he didn't hear anything from Hotch within the next 15 minutes, he would have to take his chances with Lynch and the bomb. If he hit him just right, he knew he could get that remote away from him and knock him out. It wasn't the best plan in the world, but right now it was the only chance Garcia had.

Ten minutes later, as Derek was mentally prepping himself for his attack on Lynch, his phone rang on his belt. Opening it up, he saw it was Hotch calling in. With a sigh of relief, he held it out to Lynch praying that his team had come up with something.

"Put it on speaker," Lynch ordered.

"Go ahead, Hotch, Lynch is here and he's listening," Derek instructed.

"First of all Lynch, I want an update on Garcia," Hotch said. "If she doesn't make it before we have a chance to get to her, all bets are off on the deal you are about to get, understood?"

"Making threats, Agent Hotchner?" Kevin taunted. "It seems to me that you have forgotten that I hold all the cards here. But since you asked so nicely," Kevin continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "The bitch is still alive, that's all you need to know."

"I want to hear that from Morgan," Hotch demanded.

With a roll of his eyes, Kevin indicated to Derek to answer his unit chief. "Hotch, she's alive but she's not going to be for long if we don't get her some help. We need to get her out of here fast," Derek informed him as he heard Penelope gasp for breath behind him, his heart wrenching with the fear of losing her.

"Okay, Lynch, I've been able to start arrangements on a flight to Morocco. I believe that was your destination of choice considering there was no extradition treaty with them?"

Not believing what he was hearing, Derek broke in, "What the hell, Hotch? You're not going to let him get away completely free?"

"What choice do we have Morgan?" Hotch spoke with a slight smile on his face, glad that his information had gotten the response from his hot headed agent that he had hoped for. Now he had an excuse to speak with his agent without tipping off Lynch. "It's just like that case at the compound in Colorado, Morgan, sometimes you have to admit defeat, remember?"

"Hotch, you can't be serious…" Derek continued although something was setting an alarm off in the back of his head. Was Hotch trying to tell him something? Why would he mention the Colorado case?

"C'mon Derek, we don't have time for this. It's just like when Emily was being held and we had to let the unsub go in order to save her. Remember how that went down? Remember how we were able to get her out?" Hotch prodded, hoping that Derek was getting what he was trying to do.

Suddenly it came to Morgan: how he had signaled Emily, letting her know when the attack was going to take place. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Hotch, whatever he wants, if it helps Penelope," Derek answered, hoping that Lynch was buying the conversation.

"Well aint' that sweet but enough of old home week!" Kevin declared. "When is that plane going to be ready?"

"I need at least 30 minutes, Lynch," Hotch responded. "I'll call you back when we're ready to escort you out. In order to board the plane, I'm going to need that remote, though."

"You'll get the remote when I'm on the steps of that plane, no sooner!" Lynch advised Hotch and then ordered Derek to hang up the phone.

"You think he got it, Hotch?" JJ asked as she stood with her arms crossed leaned up against the van.

"We can only hope so." Hotch replied. Turning towards the building where the sniper was situated, Hotch gave the signal to shoot whenever he had Lynch sighted in.

TBC