Chapter 9
Spencer stood in the chapel office, waiting with some of the other men for Cyrus to return. When the leader entered the room, Reid saw him replacing his belt and felt anger burn hot in his veins.
"What did you do?!" he ground out as he stood before the other man, fury taking over his sense of calm or concern for the situation at hand. He noticed Cyrus look him over, taken by surprise by Reid's sudden change of demeanor.
Spencer quickly adapted, hoping to make Benjamin believe he was just reacting as a concerned man worried about a defenseless woman.
It seemed to work, because Cyrus only tilted his head, regarding Reid once more as he buckled his belt.
"Spare the rod, spoil the child," he told Spencer. "Someone had to teach her a lesson for lying," he stated. "She will be fine. A few good lashes with a belt never killed anyone…"
"She's not a child…" Reid muttered, keeping his eyes on Cyrus.
"No, and if someone had taught her the lessons when she was, she wouldn't be lying now," Cyrus looked over Reid again. Spencer lowered his gaze, pretending to consider the man's words.
She's alright, she's okay… Spencer repeated the mantra in his mind. He looked Cyrus over surreptitiously. He couldn't see any injuries that indicated Scarlett had fought back. If it had been bad enough, she would have defended herself. She would have kicked ass. She could have handled him easily… he reminded himself.
"How long have you been working alongside the agent?" Cyrus asked, breaking into Reid's thoughts.
Spencer noticed the other man pull a medical bag over off the floor, setting it on the desk. He recognized it as one of the standard issues that would have been delivered with the supplies. He knew it was wired.
Cyrus pulled some antiseptic wipes from the bag, cleaning off his scraped knuckles and removing some blood. Scarlett's blood…
Spencer pushed down his anger, feeling it burn in his stomach, even as he swallowed against the bile in his throat. He had to be careful, not to slip up with the questioning. He knew he had to get Cyrus talking for the team outside.
"Not very long… She transferred over last month…" he lied smoothly.
"Did you know she was FBI?" Benjamin asked.
Spencer shook his head negatively. "Nancy, uh, told me she was from the Department of Child Services in Denver," he said, swallowing hard as if nervous.
"In the four years that I've worked with Nancy, she'd never lied to me before…" he added, linking himself more closely to his undercover persona.
"That you are aware of…" Cyrus reminded him, falling back into a more comfortable rapport with Spencer, trusting him.
Reid blew out a soft breath and nodded as if in agreement. He let Cyrus think he was ashamed of being so easily duped. He needed to make Cyrus believe that he was looking for guidance, so the narcissistic bastard would keep talking.
"I'll send one of the women up to tend to your 'friend'," Cyrus said wryly as he watched Spencer's eyes. "I can see you have a soft heart towards her…"
"I- It's not just her… I don't like seeing anyone get hurt," he countered, playing shy, keeping his voice gentle.
"Hmm. Sometimes pain is necessary for growth," Cyrus explained to the younger man, thinking he was reading him correctly. The soft spoken man had a crush on the woman…
"But I will let you take some food and water up to her later, to see for yourself that she is fine…" Ben offered the kindness genuinely.
Reid felt the man's hand on his shoulder, resisting the urge to grab it and snap his wrist. Instead, he hoped he looked humbled when he met the sociopath's eyes.
"Thank you," he said softly.
Scarlett lay across the narrow bed, staring up at the ceiling, when she heard the door open. Kathy entered the room, bringing some clean towels and water in a bowl.
The mother sat down on the bed next to her and began to clean up her wounds.
"You should have told Cyrus right away who you were," she told Scarlett quietly. "He won't tolerate lies… and he always finds out… He's a prophet- he predicted that the devil's army would lay siege to us and they did," the woman said, wiping off the blood from Scarlett's face.
"Some would call that a self-fulfilling prophecy," Scarlett snarked.
"I don't think you realize just how dangerous it is to go against Cyrus," Kathy said sadly, worry filling her eyes.
Scarlett noticed and something occurred to her. Kathy had made that 911 call, trying to protect her daughter. She softened her tone and met the woman's eyes.
"I know it would have to take a very strong woman, with a very good reason, to stand up to him and do what's right…" she told her.
Kathy blushed slightly, looking away at the door. She bit her lips nervously, finishing wiping Scarlett's face down, ignoring the comment.
She wasn't going to admit anything, yet. Scarlett changed the subject.
"Where did they take the man I came here with?"
Kathy met her eyes. "Cyrus is keeping him close. They are in the chapel office. He's alright- I, I think Cyrus sees something in him that he appreciates… He is very good at reading people and helping them to reach their potentials…"
Scarlett resisted the urge to snort at how the woman glorified the bastard. Instead she did a little happy dance in her head. Spencer was pulling it off, duping them all.
Go Spence! That's my boy… she thought, stifling a smug grin. Pride filled her heart momentarily.
Scarlett sat up as best she could, to take a drink of the water from the glass Kathy offered her. She rinsed the blood from her mouth and took another drink. Doing a quick inventory of the worse of the pain, she figured out she had nothing broken, but her ribs were bruised, as she was sure were her jaw and left eye. She could feel the welts on her back from the belt swelling up, but regulated the pain to a corner of her mind.
Kathy cleaned up the blood covered towels and bowl, hurriedly leaving the room as she heard voices outside the door.
Scarlett huffed out a breath and stared at the ceiling again, wondering how she could use Kathy to help her get herself and the others out of this mess when the time came to bolt.
Downstairs in the office, Reid was keeping Cyrus talking, knowing the team was listening.
"Their law says that a fifteen year old girl is a child," Cyrus was saying, "When fifty years ago, that same law said that a fourteen year old girl was an adult. Tell me, have children changed so much in fifty years?" he asked, trying to scope out Reid's take on the laws.
Spencer cleared his throat, thinking of his wording to gain more trust.
"I can't tell you the number of times I've investigated abuse charges against small religious groups. Almost all of them turn out to be false," Reid offered.
"What do you think of that?" Benjamin asked.
"It doesn't really matter what I think," Spencer said.
"It matters to me…" Cyrus stated, looking him over.
"Why?" Spencer asked.
"Because God wants to save you…" the other man looked at him, smiling softly, as if he was giving Reid a great gift.
"That's why he sent you here," Benjamin continued. "That's the reason…"
Spencer thought quickly, trying to push headway into the negotiations.
"Uh, on the next call- you should test them… test the negotiator…" he told Cyrus. "Make him prove that he isn't a liar," Spencer said, using the obvious push, since lying seemed to be a hot button issue with Cyrus.
"How would you suggest I do that?" Benjamin regarded him, interested.
"Ask for the identity of the FBI agent," Reid shrugged.
Christopher, Cyrus's second in command looked over at him. "No. We already know her identity," he scowled.
"But they don't know that," Cyrus considered Reid's suggestion.
"The FBI would never tell us…" Christopher scoffed.
"They keep asking you to release people… so tell them you will release a kid… and, and that you won't harm the agent, and if they really care about the children, they'll have to tell you," he said, really hoping that there were live wires in the bag, now that he'd committed himself. He pushed away the negative thought.
The team would be listening…
Morgan held his breath while he heard Reid trying to get a kid out and guarantee Scarlett's safety. He closed his eyes, hoping it would work.
"You are trying to get us to release a child!" Christopher snapped at Spencer.
"It's one kid," Reid shrugged. "If they don't hold up their end of the deal, you'll know they can't be trusted…" he argued.
"He has a point," Cyrus said, quieting Christopher.
Rossi grinned over at Hotch from where they were listening in.
"Reid's got him…"
Hotch breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that meant Scarlett was safe, at least for the time being- and that it would help take Cyrus down.
Cyrus saw a look of concern come across Christopher's face.
"What is it, Christopher?" he asked.
"Some have been talking about leaving…" he told Cyrus.
"Leaving…"
"Yeah," the man nodded.
"Wake the baby. Let's let them meet the orphan they have made…"
As the day started to turn towards evening, Spencer waited with Cyrus and the other men in the office. He stiffened nervously as the phone rang…
Cyrus answered the call.
"How are you doing today, Ben?" Rossi asked.
"I will release a child," he told Dave, without preamble. "If you tell me the identity of the FBI agent. I promise no harm will come to them, from this point forward…"
"I can't give you that information," Dave insisted.
"I will send the child now," Cyrus stated.
The team saw from the live video feed when the little girl, not much more than three, came down the stairs and into the compound's driveway.
Hotch sent Dan and Morgan to go in the sheriff's pickup truck to rescue the girl.
Morgan crossed the lot in his Kevlar vest, concern for a sneak attack very real. He wanted to get the child out of the open and away from harm as soon as possible.
"It's okay. Come here. Come to me sweetie, you are safe now," he coaxed the little girl, sweeping her up into his arms, taking her back into the truck.
"We got her, Hotch…"
Rossi nodded, picking up the phone. "We're taking a big risk here Ben…" he told the man.
"Trust is earned," Cyrus reminded him.
"Her name is Scarlett Ryan…" Dave breathed out, sounded tense. "She came in with two child service workers to interview the girls."
Cyrus smiled slightly at Reid. "There's a good chance we can work this out, Dave…" Benjamin stated. "I'm going to provide another sign of good faith…"
"You are doing a good thing here," Rossi stated.
Cyrus disconnected the call, looking over to Christopher.
"Assemble everyone in the chapel," he told his second. "Get Agent Ryan down here…"
