STOP MOTION
Chapter 8
New leads

"Mother's love is peace. It need not be acquired, it need not be deserved." Erich Fromm

Lester lived with his mother in a trailer outside town on a rundown park. Mrs Lester was struggling on the bread line, and Jordan's heart went out to her. She imagined her fighting the system to bring up her son, only to be beaten by it, and watch her boy sink into crime. Mrs Lester started to cry when Todd asked where her son was.

'I haven't seen Glenny for three days now.' she sobbed. 'He promised he'd be a good boy this time, but he gave me some money before he went and said there was more to come.' She rubbed her eyes.

'Where is the money now, Mrs Lester?' Emily asked gently.

'I spent it on food and some shoes.' she said. 'I haven't had new shoes before.' she looked down into her lap. 'He's in trouble isn't he?'

'We don't know, Mrs Lester. We just need to talk to him. Do you have any idea where he is, or who his friends are?'

'A lad called Roy.' she answered. He's started bringing him here about three months after he got out.' She paused. 'I didn't like him much. Not good for my Glenny.'

'Why do you say that?'

'It was about that time that he started back on the drugs.' She burst into tears, and Emily took her hand. 'He hit me once, but only since Roy became part of his life. Prison did that to him. He was never violent before.'

Emily thought back to his rap sheet. 'We'll find him for you, Mrs Lester.' She squeezed her frail old hand and stood up. Todd gave her a card.

'If you think of anything you think might interest us, give me a call, please.'

-0-0-0-

Back in the car, Jordan was driving to Edward's house. Emily was wondering how love could be so blind as to completely forget the wickedness your child can do, and simply blame everything else except the child.

'Could you be like that Jordan?'

'I don't think so.' she replied without taking her eyes off the road. 'But I think that's our training.'

'Yeah. You're probably right.' Emily said as they pulled up outside the address they had for Roy Edwards.

-0-0-0-

As they walked up the driveway, a shot over their heads sent them diving for cover. They crawled through the garden back to the road, and Emily called for back up from the local police department and Todd called Morgan. Al the time, Emily was concerned that their quarry would escape through the back of the house.

Within a few minutes, reinforcements arrived, and Morgan's SUV pulled up next to theirs.

'I think this is it.' Emily said. 'I think they are holding Hotch here, or nearby.'

Morgan nodded, hoping it wasn't too late to save him. As the police took up positions around the house, and evacuated those on either side, Emily thought back to the photographs that had been sent to them. It brought tears to her eyes thinking of the humiliation her boss had been through, and she prayed that if he was still alive, that they hadn't broken him. She knew of his immense strength of will, and thought if anyone could survive it, then he could.

Morgan had a megaphone and was calling to the occupants of the house.

'You have no-where to go. Come out with your hands up and you will survive this. Shoot at us, and I can guarantee that you will die in there. The choice is yours. You have five minutes to decide, and we are coming in.'

Their answer was a shot through the front window of the house. They had forfeited their five minutes. Morgan and Prentiss crept towards the front door while Todd drew their fire to the cars. At the same time, cops closed in to the back with the idea of entering from behind. Emily flinched as she heard more shots being fired, but she couldn't tell if they were cops guns or if they came from inside the house.

Morgan kicked the door open and they entered the house, Emily low and Morgan standing behind her. Two men at the windows on either side swung their weapons from the window. Emily shot one before he could get off a shot. Morgan took out the other. They quickly removed their guns and pocketed them. Neither man was dead, but it would be a while before they could kill anyone else. Quickly Emily checked their faces and felt a stab of sadness that one was Glen Lester. He wouldn't be hitting his Mum again for a long time. The other man who was calling Morgan things that Emily wouldn't even know how to spell was Connie Burrows.

Morgan dragged Burrows next to Lester, cuffed them together. Emily threw her cuffs to him and Morgan cuffed them both to the newel posts before they ran up the stairs to clear the rooms up there. As they went they heard more shots from downstairs, and a door slam.

Upstairs was clear of UnSubs. They came back down again. There was only one missing now; Roy Edwards. They ran back down to where the cops were standing by a door to the basement.

'He's down there.'

'Ok, we'll take it from here. Do you have any casualties?'

'One cop shot in the arm, nothing serious.'

'Two guys – Conrad Burrows and Glen Lester by the back door. Shot but not fatally. Need to get the emergency services out for them and your guy.'

The cops dispersed, and Morgan, Todd and Prentiss prepared to go down and get Edwards. They needed to know where Hotch was, or he could be down there now.

Morgan opened the door and leaned back on the wall next to the opening. Swiftly he stepped through the door and swung his weapon to take in the basement. He was standing at the top of a flight of wooden stairs. There was a light on which lit up the small empty room. There was a tiny basement window, but Edwards couldn't have gone through that as the back of the house was still covered. Slowly he descended the stairs, alert to any movement or sound. The women followed him, weapons facing opposite directions. One by one they descended into the basement, but it soon became apparent that there was no one there.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they looked at each other.

'Where the hell is he?'

That was when they heard the sound. It was of a fist against flesh and it came from behind a wall. Immediately the three agents went to the wall and searched for an opening mechanism. It was Jordan who found it.

-0-0-0-

'Make a sound and I kill you.' Edwards said. Hotch looked at him through his dark serene eyes. He was going to die anyway. Why be quiet now? What was happening?

He hadn't expected another visit. He thought he was being left to die alone. But he had heard gunfire and thought for an exhilarating moment that he was going to be rescued. The feeling dissipated when a new face showed at the door.

'Who..... are you?'

The words earned him a punch in the mouth. He spat a mouthful of blood to the floor. He had lost several teeth and the bones in his face were cracked. The punch knocked him senseless. The man pulled his head up and spoke so close to his face he could taste his breath.

'Keep your mouth closed.' and he threw Hotch's head back forward again, and Hotch felt something in his neck crack

Then the cold of the gun barrel on his neck.

Then nothing moved for an eternity while Hotch waited for him to pull the trigger.

Then the door opened.

'Take another step and I shoot his head off.'

Hotch flinched as the gun pressed harder into the nape of his neck. His head was down. He couldn't see who was at the door.

'Kill him and you will be dead.' Morgan said. He couldn't take his eyes off Hotch. He had seen the pictures, and thought he was prepared for this, but the shock was almost too much. The women, behind him and either side held their guns steady, as did he.

There was blood everywhere; cast off on the walls and ceiling, a pool of clotting blood around Hotch's kneeling body. Hotch was still hanging from the manacles that had been holding him now for almost four days. His head was forward, and his hair was matted with dried blood. He was stripped to the waist, and showed signs of having been beaten extensively. Huge livid bruises showed on his rib cage, and gashes in his skin where he had been repeatedly hit with something. The tips of his fingers were blackened and his remaining clothes were ripped and drenched with blood. He was kneeling awkwardly in a pool of body fluids.

Morgan took a step forwards. Edwards moved his gun away from Hotch's neck, and he sent a bullet into his thigh. Calmly he moved the gun back to Hotch's head.

Hotch took it silently, although he jerked as the bullet tore a hole in him.

Morgan had Edwards lined up for a head shot. He took another step into the room. Again, Edwards' gun moved towards Hotch's other thigh, but Morgan's bullet was faster and drilled a hole in Edward's head before he could injure Hotch again.

Edwards fell back with a crash.

Still Hotch didn't move.

'Get the emergency services down here quickly. Hotch is priority.'

Todd ran up the stairs two at a time. Morgan took Hotch's weight while Emily released the fetters on his arms. The burns under the irons shocked both agents who thought that there was nothing left to shock them. The burns were deep and raw, and Hotch had tears in his eyes as the manacles stuck to his wounds. Carefully they lowered him to the ground. Morgan took off his jacket and covered Hotch with it. Emily did the same, but she rolled hers up and put it behind his head. Hotch gasped in pain as his arms moved from how they had been held for so long. He was unable to lower them. His legs were bent unnaturally, and were obviously broken. His skin was very cold, and he was probably hypothermic. Morgan quickly checked his body for gunshot wounds, but the only one was from the shot in the thigh that was still pumping blood. He pressed down on the hole, and willed the medics to hurry. He wondered how Hotch was able to survive this and still be conscious, but then few men had a will like Hotch.

Emily knelt beside him, hanging onto his hand and desperately wanting to hold him. Opportunity had once handed her a possible future with this man, but she had messed up and the chance had slipped away. Now there was no chance of her ever having him, all she wanted to do was hold him.

What he had said to her at the time was true.

"You are only interested in me when I am in danger." he had said. "Now I am well and back at work, you don't want me."

Today he looked up at her with dull eyes. It broke her heart to see this man so crushed.

'You found me.' he whispered as the paramedics rushed down the stairs to him.

'Yes, Hotch, we found you. And we wouldn't have stopped looking until we did.'

Emily moved away from him but did not relinquish his hand, as the medics worked on him. He was able to breathe on his own, but they gave him oxygen to boost his respiration. They put up a wide diameter drip and administered saline and glucose. They splinted his legs and dressed his wounds temporarily. They wrapped him on a silver thermal blanket. Morgan picked up his teeth from the ground and gave them to the medics. Then they watched as he was taken from them up the stairs.

Emily looked at Morgan, who said,

'Emily, you travel with him, we'll follow in the SUV.'

She ran up the stairs to him. One of the medics held her back.

'He's crashed.' he said. 'We are trying to save him.'

Oh god! Are we too late?