Summary: It was something he'd learned of late. If you truly wanted to hurt someone, you aimed for the heart. Teamfic. Warning, character death! Set pre-Cradle to Grave.

Disclaimer:Ava and Cara don't own Criminal Minds. But if they did, it'd probably be the most character-whump show in the world.

Author's Note:Just a reminder; this is set pre Cradle to Grave so Hotch is still the boss-man! This where those of a nervous disposition will be stepping off. Nothing too bad in this chapter, but our reign of pure and total evil begins here. No team member is safe, or will be safe in our hands. And not just team members. But pretty much every character. Thanks to Disci, nexis44, paper . creations, didi2909, Nymphadora-CullenBAU and the-vampire-act for reviewing! Hopefully you guys won't be too turned away by our ultimate evilness...Ah well, enjoy.

Cara and Ava (The Instincts. Amplified.)


Chapter Eight - Missing; Agents

'As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more than what they see.' ~ Julius Caesar.

The phone slipped out of his hand.

No, this can't be real.

He collapsed into a nearby chair, dazed, until the agent in him took over. He picked up the dangling receiver, and punched in the phone number for JJ's room.

It kept ringing.

His breath caught in his chest. Closing his eyes, he dialled a number that was all to familiar.

"Get Morgan and Reid, we have a problem."


"Hotch, it's half two in the morning, can't this wait?" Morgan yawned.

Emily burst in, tying up her hair as she hurried to the bed.

"Sorry guys. Hotch what's up? It sounded urgent."

"He…he's taken her."

"Taken who? Who's taken who?" Rossi asked urgently.

"Foyet… he… took Haley and -"

Emily sat on the bed next to him. "Hotch, we already figured that out." she said gently.

He shook his head, taking a deep breath.

"No, He took Haley….. And JJ."

"What?!"

"Son of a bitch!"

"No."

"Why are we just sitting around? JJ's out there somewhere!" Reid said struggling to get up.

"Hotch, how can you be sure?" Rossi asked, looking shell-shocked.

"I got a call. From the Reaper." he stood up. He felt ashamed that he couldn't face his team, when they needed each other most. He walked to the window, his back to the silent group.

"I spoke to her, it was defiantly JJ."

He didn't mention how terrified she sounded, that was something they didn't need to know.

"What did he say?" Rossi asked, forcing himself to remain calm, rational.

Should I tell them? Could they deal with the possibilities? Can I?

"He told me to choose between them."

"For what?" Prentiss asked her voice breaking.

"He told me to choose one to die."

There was a loud intake of breath, the atmosphere of the room changing immediately. Fear, regret, anger.

"Son of a bitch!" Morgan muttered again, kicking the bed.

"Who did you choose?" Reid asked quietly.

Hotchner turned around but refused to look at his team.

"I didn't."

"So she's ok?"

"Don't be naïve, Prentiss! This is the Reaper we're talking about." Morgan frowned. "What else did he say?"

You do like your blondes don't you.....

"Just come out and say it Hotch. We're all grown ups here."

Emily looked up at him her eyes shining, not like they were by the pool, this time they were shining with tears, not laughter or happiness.

"Please," she whispered. " We have to know."

"He - killed one of them. I don't know who."

One down, one to go....

Prentiss covered her mouth, closing her eyes, her shoulders shaking.

Morgan sat next to her and pulled her into a hug. She clung to his t-shirt, as she took slow, steady breaths, trying to control herself.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Rossi asked as he watched the sobbing woman.

"I called Garcia. She's on her way to Quantico now."

"Does she know?" Morgan asked, concern in his voice.

"She knows something's wrong, she just doesn't know what." Hotch sighed.

As if on cue Hotch's cell rang. He picked it up, heart pounding.

"Ok, Boss-man your going to tell me why I'm at work at such an obscene hour, and you're going to tell me now!"

"Baby girl, sshh! Please bear in mind none of us have had any coffee yet, we can't handle loud right now"

"Garcia, I need you to track a call for me please."

"Sure, give me a sec."

"It's the last call to my hotel room."

"Hold on. Ok, Sorry, Hotch no can do. Disposable cell."

"Well can you track it's location?" Rossi intervened.

"Doubt it, I could try though. I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks, Garcia."

"Oh, and guys? Don't think your off the hook. I still wanna know what's on. God help who ever picks up my next call."

The line went dead.

"We need to call Detective Devlin, tell him what's going on," Rossi sighed as he sat down on one of the chairs.

Hotch answered quickly, "That's a good idea. And I will have an officer assigned to protect each of you. I will not leave anyone else pay for my mistakes." He turned around and quickly left the room.


Reid was going to kill Morgan. All he did since the protection detail was assigned was smirk at Reid. Reid was almost certain that it had been Morgan's doing to have Darcey assigned to him. Maybe it was the expectant look he gave him beforehand, or the wink when Hotch had announced it, but Reid knew it had to be down to Morgan.

It could've been worse. Morgan could've made sure he got paired with Darcey in order to hint to her.

Reid was snapped out of his thoughts when a fresh cup of coffee was placed in front of his nose.

"Thought you guys could use a pick-me-up." Darcey mumbled quietly. Darcey, Reid, Prentiss and Officer Garvey, who had been assigned protection detail to Prentiss, were still in the conference room, sitting quietly. Reid had been trying to get a precise location of where the Reaper could be based, but gave up in frustration. The two agents and two police officers had since been throwing ideas around at how the Reaper had found JJ. They weren't having much luck thus far.

Darcey pushed another cup of coffee in front of Prentiss, who wrinkled her nose at the sight of it.

"No offense Darcey, but the last one tasted a little off." Emily said apologetically. Darcey looked a little dejected, but said nothing.

"I thought it was fine, Darcey," Cameron stated before quickly gulping some of the fresh cup in front of him down to emphasise his point. Despite the fact that it scalded his throat as he did so.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Emily put her head in her hands before crying in frustration, "I hate this! The not knowing!"

"Agent Prentiss, it'll be okay." Officer Garvey tried.

"Cameron, don't." Darcey warned quietly.

"How do you know it'll be okay?" Emily asked Cameron a little coldly.

"I know when you hear things like this you assume the worst, but for all you know, this Foyet could be bluffing." Garvey replied.

"Foyet doesn't do bluffing." Emily snapped irritably.

Cameron stayed quiet for a moment before quietly saying, "It couldn't hurt to keep a little fate."

"I'm sorry Officer Garvey, but you did say the most in danger any of your team has been in was a hobo fight. What would you know about being in this sort of situation?"

"I said the most in danger I was in was a hobo fight. I told a little white lie. Trust me, not too long ago I had to wait in a hospital corridor to see if a colleague of mine had made it through surgery after being attacked while on the beat."

There was a brief pause before Emily sighed, and said, "I'm sorry Officer Garvey. I'm just really... worried. For my team member. JJ..."

"That's understandable," Garvey replied.

"And come to think of it, I have a bit of a migraine..." she muttered, trailing off, her head returning to resting on her hands.

There was another period of silence before Reid let out a short laugh. The other three looked at him, perplexed.

"What is it?" Darcey asked him, curious.

"I was just thinking, I'm not used to this. The waiting around and worrying." Reid replied.

"Why not?"

Reid shot Prentiss a half-attempted smile before continuing, "Usually when a BAU member gets kidnapped or held hostage, for some obscure reason, I'm always at the top of the list."

Despite herself, Prentiss forgot the situation for a moment and left herself crack a smile.

Hotch, Morgan and Rossi walked briskly into the room, and all traces of small smiles abruptly vanished.

"There's no evidence of a struggle in JJ's room. She wasn't taken from there." Rossi stated as he stood at the opposite end of the table from those sitting around it.

Emily stood up for a moment, about to add to the conversation, but found herself collapsing back down. Morgan looked at her in concern.

"You okay Prentiss?" he asked worriedly.

"Fine, just a little tired a guess. We haven't gotten much sleep since we've been here." Emily replied, and involuntarily yawning as she did so.

"Officer Garvey, take Agent Prentiss to her room. Immediately. Prentiss, have a rest but be back here in an hour. No more. You understand?" Hotch ordered.

"Yes sir," Prentiss responded tiredly, before leaning into Officer Garvey for support as he took her back to her hotel room. She was too tired to even think of any witty remark.


They stared at map, hoping something might have changed since they last blinked.

Sighing, Morgan played with his pen, glad of the simple distraction.

Reid shifted his weight slightly from one leg to the other, staring at the pictures of their young victims.

Simple distractions from the problems, we never thought we'd face...Hotch sighed rubbing his weary eyes.

Rossi glanced at his watch. Hotchner noticed the movement from the corner of his eye and it reminded him of the agent upstairs.

"Officer Miles can you go get Agent Prentiss? She should be up in her room." Hotch asked, and the young officer quickly left the room.

"So how does Foyet manage to take JJ?" Morgan thought aloud for the hundredth time.

"He somehow discovered what hotel we were staying at, or she left the hotel for something." Reid suggested.

"But we know now why the Reaper is in Orlando of all places." Morgan sighed, stealing a quick glance at Hotch.

Morgan's cell phone rang, and he quickly put it on loud speaker, "Baby-girl, you better give me some good news."

"You guys are really starting to freak me out. Not only did you guys have me come in here and such an unreasonable hour, but I've been sent several pictures via email of what looks like a body. Only the face isn't clear." Garcia replied, her voice quivering slightly.

There was a slight pause before Rossi had the courage to ask, "What did the body look like?"

Garcia luckily didn't sense anything off. "Like I said, the face isn't very clear. Being covered by blonde hair. Well, more strawberry blonde with all the icky, icky blood."

Morgan tried to keep all worry out of his voice as he asked, "Can you send us a copy baby-girl."

"I guess I could my knight, but it'll come at a hefty-"

Garcia's last statement was cut off by a dishevelled Officer Darcey Miles rushing back into the Conference room. Her previously spotless police uniform was now covered in blood. Her mascara was running down her face. She was crying.

"Darcey!" Reid called and rushed over to her. She wrapped her arms around him, repeating, "He's dead, he's dead, I can't believe it!" under her breath. Reid tried to ignore Morgan's raised eyebrows in his direction.

"Officer Miles." Rossi called. When she continued muttering under her breath, he tried again. "Officer Miles!" he called, louder and clearer.

Darcey let go of Reid for a moment and looked at Rossi with blue, blood-shot eyes.

"What happened?" Morgan asked.

"I... I went to get Agent Prentiss. Like you said, Agent Hotchner." Darcey said, nodding at Hotchner. She continued, "And... I... I got to Agent Prentiss' room. And Cameron was outside it..."

"Officer Garvey was assigned to protect Agent Prentiss," Rossi interrupted, a little surprised that Darcey was upset about Officer Garvey being outside Prentiss' room. It seemed like a trivial thing among all the other things they were dealing with.

"No," she sobbed, "You don't understand. Cameron.. he..." she paused, before gaining a little composure to say, "he was dead. Outside of Agent Prentiss' door. He'd been slaughtered. Quick and efficient. A long slice across his neck, two on each arm and leg. Nine in total."

The four men froze before Hotch had the guts to slowly ask, "And Agent Prentiss?"

The young female police officer slowly shock her head, "I checked her room. She's vanished."

Five audible gasps reminded the profilers that Garcia was still on loudspeaker.


Her head was pounding worse than the morning after the team had finished a case in Vegas. She groaned, trying to sit up.

"Emily?" called a terrified voice softly.

She opened one eye bracing herself for the bright light. Instead she was met by a dimly lit, windowless room.

"Emily?" the voice was becoming more hysterical.

She sighed, and tried moving towards the woman, but her muscles ached and, she discovered, her hands were bound.

"Well, this really sucks." she thought, as she crawled awkwardly to the corner.

"No! He got you too?" the blonde woman sobbed.

"That's why I'm here! Where is here?"

"You don't know, I was counting on you guys knowing!"

"Sorry, to disappoint. We only found out you were missing about half three this morning, we hadn't quite got locations yet!" she grumbled, plopping down next to the bruised bundle.

"Oh my.....! What the hell is that?!" she exclaimed, unable to take her eyes off the body thrown in the corner.

"My little friend." replied a voice behind her, "Shame your boss is indecisive, she may have lived."

"You bastard!" she screamed tears filling her eyes. "She had a son!"

"Maybe Agent Hotchner will make a choice next time."

"What do you mean "Next time"? Answer me you coward!"

The question was answered by the door slaming shut, his cruel laughter ringing around the room.

"Emily?"

Prentiss closed her eyes, and leaned against the wall.

"Yeah?"

"You think they'll find us?"

Tears trickled from beneath her closed lids. "I really hope so."


Things are going from bad to worse for our favourite team... and don't forget reviews are love...