Chapter 09
Carrier Strike Group Twelve
(Incorporating HMS The Lady Elizabeth and
USNS Comfort)
Lat 27.877928, Long -49.050294
In the Mid-Atlantic
September 2011
"One of the ships attached to the Theodore Roosevelt spotted them." Emily said over the link. "It wasn't much of a battle; they only had small arms on board."
"Have you heard anything more?" Hotch asked.
"They're doing a casualty count now. The NCIS officer in the strike group is working with us. We're waiting..." Just then one of the crew handed her a note. "Okay, NCIS is saying that none of the victims were injured in battle...they found forty-four women being held and two men."
"Okay, crossing everything, crossing everything..." Garcia said in the background.
"They haven't identified them yet?" Hotch asked.
"He said they have a fingerprint reader. You should get it as soon as I do."
They waited...
And waited...
And waited...
The first readout that came up was an unknown.
"That's weird." Emily said. "No missing person's report?"
"No records at all." Clyde replied, "Could be from outside the more westernized nations."
The second was a very familiar face.
They collectively let out a groan of relief. Emily was grinning as the crewman passed her another note. "Okay, they're transferring all the victims to the Comfort and she's heading back to Norfolk. We're going to go meet her now."
"Keep us posted." Hotch said. But he was smiling as he signed off.
"It's him?" Clyde asked.
"It's him." Emily's grin hurt from its size. Reid was safe. Reid was coming home. They could all go home and heal. And they had a lot of healing to do.
Nothing is ever close at sea. Over this crazy summer she had learned the actual size of the world, something that still amazed her even now. So it was a few hours before they caught up with the Comfort and her support group. When they got there she practically ran up the dock and into the ship to find the NCIS officer. "What can you tell me?" She asked.
"Agent Reid and Dr. Pettigrew claim to be uninjured." The NCIS officer said as he led her into the ship. "They deferred treatment, told us to take care of the women first."
"That sounds like Reid. Dr. Pettigrew?"
"The other male victim; his fingerprint didn't come back, but he said his name is Ashton Pettigrew, originally from Charlotte, North Carolina. He said he went missing from Wilmington, he was a student there."
That blew their other country theory. "Then why didn't his print come back?"
"No idea."
Wait a minute. "I thought this crew only took women?" She said to Clyde.
"There's your outlier." He replied, "Might want to share with your people."
"Yeah, I..." She came out on deck and stopped. Stopped so hard Clyde ran into her.
She knew Reid. Intellectual. Nerdy. Shy. Not good with women. In all the time she'd known him she only known him to go on one date, with that girl in Atlanta, which had not gone well.
Maybe this was why.
It was Spencer all right. His hair was too long again. He was wearing his glasses. And he had an honest-to-god beard going, which did not suit him at all.
A beard didn't suit the man he was kissing either.
Seriously kissing.
They were tucked into a corner, well out of the way of everyone bustling about the ship. The man Reid was with was wearing the same baggy grey clothing as the rest of the victims but it was easy to see that there was a man under there. When the kiss broke Emily could see that his body language spoke of resignation and fear, and Reid's spoke of reassurance and comfort as he held him.
"What?" Clyde asked.
"Five years, not a clue." She shook her head. "That man keeps better secrets than I do. Reid!" She called next, getting his attention. But it wasn't until he turned to look and the blood rushed from his face that she remembered. Riiiight. "You're not hallucinating, I'm not dead."
"Emily!" A heartbeat later he was there and pulling her in, or being pulled in, to a very comfortable, familiar embrace. But after a heartbeat he pushed her back. "JJ and Ashley..."
"Are safe, the man who bought them was undercover Interpol. They were out of danger that night."
He let out a long sigh of relief. "Wait, you're not dead?"
"No, I'm not. I..."
But his eyes had that twitchy look, like connections were snapping together faster than anyone could imagine. "Wait. Phone," he said, his hands fluttering with urgency. "Garcia."
"Um, yeah." She pulled out her sat phone and dialed.
But he took it away before it was answered. "Did you find him yet?" Garcia asked.
"Garcia!" Reid all but jumped in his urgency. "I need you to get everything you can find on Ashton Pettigrew, 27, currently a student at Trinity Seminary in Wilmington, North Carolina. Before that Boston University including their school of medicine."
"Reid!"
"Type! Type!"
"Okay, okay, I'm running my searches now. They're running."
He let out a long breath of relief. "Thank you."
"What's going on? Are you okay?"
"I'll...tell you later. I'm fine, I swear. I'm...hungry."
"Well, go eat something!"
"I will. And I'll call back. Soon. I promise."
"You better."
Garcia hung up and Emily took her phone back. "Reid, what's going on?"
"I...can't..." His eyes twitched as he mentally backed up. "You're alive."
"Yeah. It was the only way I could safely heal and go back after Doyle."
"Oh, of course. Why are you here?"
"Mission drift. We thought Doyle was on that boat, we were able to get JJ and Seaver off and then we re-directed the task force after you."
"You've been out here looking for me for...three months now?"
"Yeah."
"Just you?"
"No, we had the Navy out, Interpol. Andi Swan's team has been working with us."
"But not the team?"
"Um, it got political."
"Oh. Yeah, I understand."
She had to wonder if he really did, but he looked...fine. Which could mean fine or it could be Dr. Reid's impressive poker face. "Good. So, um, who's your friend?" She nodded to the young man sitting on the space under the stairs and obviously not watching them.
"Ash? We've been cell mates since, um, about two weeks after I was taken. He's, um..."
"Special?"
"Yeah."
"Why the quick look up?"
"Long story. And not one we can resolve until we hear what Garcia finds."
"Oookay." He was being evasive, not something he did well. "Can I meet him?"
"Yeah." Spencer said. He went to get his friend but paused a moment. "Really shy." he warned, quietly. Then he went and after a moment's convincing he took the boy's hand and brought him back. "Emily Prentiss, Ash Pettigrew."
Boy. He was 27 from what the NCIS agent said, a grad student going for his second, just the age and demographic she'd see for him. He just looked so young. "Hi." Emily said, "Nice to meet you. Sorry about the horrible circumstances..."
"That's all right." He had a soft voice, sounded as young as he looked, with a bare trace of an accent. "Spence says that happens a lot with the work you do."
"We do seem to be at higher risk of mayhem. Are you okay? Do we need to get you in to see the doctor right away?"
"No, I'm fine. The women on the boat need medical care right now."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Wouldn't mind a shower though."
"And food." Reid added.
"We can manage that. Come on." Emily led them off to find the NICS agent.
At least Reid looked happy.
Later that evening Penelope got a phone call from an unknown number, "Behavioral Analysis Unit, Penelope Garcia speaking."
"Are you really going to make me blondies and brownies?" asked a very familiar voice.
She couldn't stop the grin that nearly split her face. "Spencer! Yes, yes I am. And homemade ice cream too."
"Promise?"
"Of course! Any anything else you want?"
"Even chicken and dumplings?"
"A whole pan just for you." She sighed. "Are you okay? Like really okay?"
"Penelope, I know what you're asking. No, I was not raped. I was not tortured. I was beaten once, and to be honest Hotch did a more thorough job of it. I was not sleeping out in the rain; I had a roof over my head and a bed, even though it wasn't a very good one. I even had a bathroom I could use and soap."
"Okay. It sounds like it wasn't that bad." It wasn't great but it didn't sound that bad. He didn't sound broken.
There was a long pause, and then. "It wasn't all that good."
"What happened?"
"I can't talk about it here. I'm not sure..." There was a long pause "Did you know about Emily?"
"No." She replied. "And neither did Morgan or Rossi. Hotch and JJ kept us completely out of the loop."
"Did they fight to come after me?"
"Yes. Well...it got really political. At least they kept saying that."
"Did they look into the human trafficking case?"
"Some, mostly it was Andi. Morgan kept trying to fight them on it but it never helped." All of a sudden Garcia had a thought. "Do you trust them now?"
"I don't know. I honestly don't know If I can."
"Do you trust any of us?"
"You. Morgan. Rossi. I just don't know if I can trust Hotch or Emily right now. Or JJ. And not just because of what he and JJ did. I may need your help with something when we get back."
"Anything." Anything she could do to help her little brother get through this. Anything.
"I think if anyone can help you can."
"I'll give it my best."
She heard the warm smile come back into her little brother's voice, "That I can trust."
