Wow, my writer's block is completely gone! And this chapter should get you pumped, because I've already written half of the next chapter. I feel like everything is starting to come together! And I know I don't do this nearly enough, but thank you all so much for the reviews, they really do make me feel awesome and make me want to get back to writing. Thanks so much guys!
Chapter 9: Zealots
'It's pitch black… Where am I?'
That was the first thought that came to Spencer's mind when he opened his eyes. He was lying almost completely face down on a concrete floor. He struggled to move to touch the back of his head and was immediately rewarded with sharp pains coming from his wrists to his arms. Ropes bound his hands together behind his back, and he figured they had been stuck like that for a long time. His head was pounding, and it took all of his strength to stay conscious and to not panic. He tried to stretch out his legs and found a wall preventing him doing so. He rolled over a bit and found a wall to his back, and another one right above his head. Fear took him and he started to hyperventilate.
'Oh my god… have I been buried alive?'
All his thoughts focused on the darkness and the claustrophobia. Finally, he wiggled himself into a sitting position and discovered that he was not, as he had suspected, in a coffin. As he kicked his unbound legs to the other wall he felt a door wobble on its hinges.
'I'm in a closet… What the hell happened?'
Slowly he remembered the disastrous date with Derek, their fight, and the sudden pain in the back of his head when he had unlocked his car. His coat was gone but he was still dressed, and he could feel something wet, probably blood, dripping onto the back of his neck. Kidnapped again was his conclusion. Spencer would bet money that the guys at the restaurant, Jim and Todd, had something to do with it. If they were behind it, he knew he might not have much longer to live. He started to panic again.
"Help! Is somebody there?" he screamed, agitating his headache. "Please! Somebody help me!" Claustrophobia and his fear of the dark started to overwhelm him, and he could feel tears streaming down his face. He realized he hadn't been blindfolded; he was most likely going to die. He cried harder and screamed louder. "Help me! Derek! Please, help me!"
As it was, the pain at the back of his head prevented him from continuing, and he leaned back against the wall and slowly drifted into unconsciousness again.
Morgan woke in his soft bed, rolling over to embrace the warm figure beside him. Without opening his eyes, he reached up to run his fingers through his hair. It was different: coarse, short, nearly a buzz cut.
"Spencer? Did you get a haircut or something?" he asked, opening his eyes with a confused look. Clooney, who had probably snuck into the bed sometime when Morgan was asleep, licked Morgan's face in morning greeting and ran downstairs to the kitchen. Morgan chuckled and rolled onto his back and glanced at the clock. It was 8:30; even when he had the day off he had a hard time sleeping in.
'Wonder where Spence is?' he thought to himself, getting up and putting on sweatpants and a t-shirt. At that thought the memories of last night came flooding back. He only had a few drinks at the bar and decided to go home, feeling guilty about drinking when he knew it hurt Reid so much. He groaned loudly to himself and looked at his phone. Reid hadn't even called him. Before he could throw the phone back on the dresser, it started to ring and Hotch appeared on the caller ID.
"Yeah, Hotch?" he answered gruffly, in a bad mood after Reid's and his first fight as a couple on top of the incident at the restaurant. Unfortunately, his mood was worsening as Hotch brought up the very person he was thinking about.
"Morgan. Do you know where Reid is? I need his reading skills at the office today for a few hours and he's not answering his home phone and his cell phone goes straight to voicemail. Prentiss said you would know better than she would." Morgan frowned. It was unlike Reid to not answer his phone. Especially when Hotch called.
"No, we hung out after the case last night and… well I haven't seen him since then. I can try to call him and let him know. Maybe he's just somewhere without service." He could hear Hotch's rough sigh on the other end.
"Okay, let me know if you hear anything. If not, I may have to have you and Prentiss come and help me with some of these profiles." And with that he hung up.
Morgan dialed Reid's number next. He was unprepared for who answered.
Reid woke up to large arms dragging him from the room. He shut his eyes tightly to prevent him from seeing his kidnapper.
"Please, let me go, I haven't seen your face yet. You could blindfold me now and drop me off in the middle of nowhere and you'll never get caught. I promise. Please, I don't want to die." Reid knew he was pleading, but he was terrified. All of his nightmares from Hankle, and now he felt like he was stuck in one.
He felt himself dragged to a chair and his legs tied tightly to it. He was too tired and weak to struggle; after all, he hadn't eaten at the restaurant last night. The perpetually silent UnSub walked around and unbound his wrists, only to tie them to the arm rests. His eyes still shut tightly, Reid noted that the man was particularly gentle, and deduced that it was probably not Jim or Todd as he had previously thought. Finally, the man spoke.
"Open your eyes, son. I am not going to blindfold you." The voice was soft and kind and Spencer, realizing his defeat, opened his eyes. He must have looked stunned because his kidnapper let out a soft chuckle.
The man was a priest. He was probably in his late 40s, muscular, with sparkling blue eyes and graying blonde hair.
And they were what appeared to be a wine cellar. At least this room was well lit. Spencer could see the closet he had spent the night—or had it been a full day yet?—in and he shuddered at the tight space. There was a small furnace in the corner of the room and a few shelves housing a variety of wine. Reid's coat was lying on a work table between the furnace and another door. His analysis of the room was broken by the voice of the priest, who had sat in a stool across from him.
"I'm so sorry I kept you waiting, but I was performing a mass. Would you like a drink of water? I am sure you are thirsty." He reached behind his stool and pulled up a plastic bottle of water. Reid could see that it was unopened, but he wasn't going to play into the man's fantasy, at least until he knew what exactly it was.
"Suit yourself, Spencer. You'll be thirsty later." At Reid's confusion he tilted his head toward his coat. "I checked your wallet for your name, hope you don't mind. A real FBI agent, wow, that's something…" He chuckled and his eyes laughed with him. Reid shuddered. "I assume you know why you're here, correct?" Reid attempted to shake his head, but it hurt too badly and he was forced to talk with his kidnapper.
"Because religious zealots have a penchant for kidnapping me?"
The priest frowned.
"I'm not sure what you mean by that but I can assure you that I am not, as you said, a 'zealot.' I do follow God's law, however, and if you consider that extreme then maybe you are worse off than I thought. Spencer," he leaned forward and put a hand on the agent's shoulder, despite his flinch. "I'm here to save you." He removed his hand and stood up to grab Spencer's coat before stopping to stand next to him. "I'll let you dwell on that for awhile, until you are ready for a confession." He walked to the steps behind Reid's chair as Reid began to plead again, but as the priest climbed the stairs a loud jingle broke the tension from the room.
Spencer's phone had gotten a signal, and somebody was calling him.
After a moment of staring at the phone, the priest looked at Spencer.
"'Derek Morgan?' Is that the man you were with last night?" Spencer didn't move or say anything. "I'll take that as a 'Yes.'" And to Spencer's horror, he heard the phone flip open.
"Hello, Derek. I'm sure you are looking for Spencer. But don't worry your little head about it, he will be held accountable for his sins, and…" he was interrupted by Spencer's sudden screaming.
"Derek! Please let me talk to him! Derek! I think I'm in a—" The phone was snapped closed before he could say 'church.' Suddenly the priest was in front of him and he was hit hard across the face.
"Son, you do not want to try that again. You have already sinned more than one man should be capable, you do not want to make your penance worse, do you?" He said with a sigh, and then fumbled with the phone, turning it off after a minute. With tears in his eyes, Spencer found his voice.
"What is your name?"
The priest smiled, adjusting his starched white collar.
"Samuel Wilson. My parishioners call me Father Sam. Don't cry Spencer. You're going to need your strength for confession." And he hit the lights as he reached the top of the steps, leaving Spencer alone in the darkness.
Morgan stared at the phone for a minute before bursting into action.
"Damnit, Pretty Boy, don't do this to me. Please, be okay." He called Hotch again. "Hotch, I think Reid's been kidnapped." There was a swear on the other end.
"I was afraid of that. Meet at the B.A.U. as soon as you can. I'll have Garcia call the others in. Are you positive he was really kidnapped?" Morgan felt his eyes watering in anger.
"Yes, Hotch. I spoke to the kidnapper and I could hear Spencer… screaming in the background."
In less than 15 minutes, the entire team was in the conference room of the B.A.U. Emily was in sweats and t-shirt and had obviously come straight from the gym.
The brainstormed, having Garcia set up Morgan's cell phone to a recording device. Local police called and said that they found Reid's car on the side of the highway, deserted. JJ called the restaurant but only got an answering machine, saying it didn't open until four. She left a message saying to call them as soon as possible and returned to the team. She was having trouble controlling her tears.
"Who would want to take Reid?" Rossi asked, looking pointedly at Morgan. "You said you were with him last night?" Derek shot him a warning look and continued to pace around the small conference room.
"Yeah. We went to a restaurant. He left and I didn't hear from him since then." He wanted to tell them about the altercation that had happened, but he didn't know how to tell them without revealing the nature of their relationship.
"Morgan…" Prentiss started, knowing that he was trying to keep the relationship a secret, but right now Reid's safety was more important. She gave him a sympathetic look before saying, "You need to tell us everything…" Morgan slammed a fist against the doorway, effectively cutting her off and causing the team to exchange nervous glances.
"We had got in a small fight with some hicks in the restaurant," he spat quietly. "The owner kicked them out, but they could've taken Reid when he left. I… I didn't see him leave." He hated having his personal life under scrutiny, but he could hear Spencer's cries ringing in his ears.
'God, Spencer, if the last thing I said to you was in anger…'
"What was the fight about?" Hotch pressed, his face more serious than any of them had thought possible. Morgan shook his head.
"No, Hotch. It's not relevant."
"Morgan, anything could be relevant. We'll be the judge of that."
Before Derek could yell back at him, his cell phone began to go off on the table. They froze. It was an unknown number.
"Keep calm, Morgan," Hotch said, and pressed the speaker button and the recording device simultaneously. Derek tried as hard as he could to keep his voice steady as he spoke.
"Hello?" A creepily calm voice answered him.
"Hello, Derek. Spencer was kind enough to give me your number so I could give you a call on my phone. I felt rude using his."
"Spencer… Let me speak to Spencer," he said. He could feel the others watching him.
"Not yet. He hasn't even started his penance." Morgan shuddered at the idea of Spencer being hurt. "But you need to pay for your sins as well, Derek Morgan. You had a large part to play in this blasphemy. I won't lie to you, you are much stronger than I, so I won't be able to bring you here to do it like I did for Spencer." He laughed heartily.
"I'll go there of my own will. I want to do my penance," Derek lied. "Just let me speak to Spencer. You can give me the address and I will be there." He hoped Penelope would be able to trace the call soon. The man laughed even louder. JJ and Prentiss visibly shivered with the noise.
"Oh no, boy, your penance is a different kind. Spencer will suffer corporally, as those like you did in Sodom and Gomorrah. But you, Derek, you will have to listen to his cries, and face the guilt of knowing that you soiled this beautiful child of God." Suddenly they heard a cry of pain.
"Derek! Please help me!" Spencer screamed and Morgan snapped.
"Spencer! Can you hear me? Baby, just hold on, I'm going to get that son of a bitch!" He felt his eyes stinging with tears. And again, the UnSub was back on the phone.
"I will call you later, Derek. God bless." And with that the line went dead.
Just a warning, I love Reid in pain, and I love vulnerable Morgan. Be prepared for the next few chapters to be chock full of it!
Once again, thanks for the reviews!
