Disclaimer: As usual
A/N: Happy July 4th
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Reid stared at the wide eyes and gaping mouths revealing the shock of the seven Canadians in the room with him.
"What the hell was that," Heeley snapped?
"She was just about to tell us where he's got Megan. Are you nuts?" Jacoby echoed his partner's sentiment.
"We need to go," Reid said to the Mounties, looking directly at Inspector Butler, who looked as confused as the others.
"Go where," Terry yelled. "How do you know where to go when you hung up the damn phone when that Garcia woman was going to tell us where my baby is? Call her back."
"We have to go," Reid said more sternly with another look at Inspector Butler.
"Where are we going," Terry asked. "You hung up the phone, remember?"
"You're not going anywhere Terry," Reid replied. "You have to stay here. Drummond said he would call with instructions. You have to be here if that happens."
"You can't just take off and leave me here in the dark. I trusted you to help find my baby."
"Then trust me now Terry." Reid repeated, "You have to stay here. I'll send Allie and the boys back in."
He turned for the door and the officers followed. In the hallway, Butler said, "Dr. Reid." Reid held up his hand to forestall any further comment as he inserted the key card to open the door. Allie and the boys were sitting on the loveseat. The television was on but no one really appeared to be watching it. They turned their heads toward the men as they entered. "Allie can you take the boys back to the suite and stay with the family."
"Do you know where he is," Allie asked?
Reid was nodding when Jacoby replied, "No we don't know where he is because Mr. FBI here hung up the phone just when she was going to tell us. What kind of game are you playing here Special Agent Dr. Reid," his voice dripped with sarcasm earning him a sharp look from Inspector Butler. The man could understand his constable's frustration but aggravating the situation wasn't helping.
Allie's eyes widened. "It's okay," Reid told her. "Take the boys and look after Terry and Judy, okay?"
Allie shepherded the boys to the door and turned back to Reid, who whispered, "Garcia found out where he was because of your work on the watermark. We're going to go find Megan.
"Please be careful, I love you." She kissed his lips briefly and turned to go with the boys across the hall.
Reid closed the door behind her, grabbed his cell and hit speed dial, "Alright Garcia, where is he?" He listened to the tech and ended the call.
"Well, are you going to tell us this time or just continue to play with us," Heeley spat out.
"What would you have had me do Heeley?" Reid snapped back at the constable's sarcasm. "Should I have just let Garcia blurt out Megan's location? Stop and think about it for a minute. You know as well as I do, Terry would have been gone in a heartbeat to find Megan, probably putting her in more danger. He's not thinking straight. He's running on pure emotion, I know what that's like so I couldn't let him know where his daughter is and have him jeopardize her life and his own."
Inspector Butler stepped forward, "You're right, Dr. Reid, I apologize. You, of course, deal with this sort of thing more often than we do and you've got the procedure down. So, can you tell us now, what did your computer tech say?"
"They're in a cabin. There are rental cabins a little higher up the mountain. He's rented one of them, number four."
"We should be ready to go at dawn," Mercer suggested.
"I don't think we should wait. He won't be expecting anything at night. I think we should go." Reid disagreed.
"You want us to go traipsing up a mountain in the dead of night. I don't think that will be too safe." Jacoby agreed with Mercer.
"There's a way," Reid said walking over to the hotel phone, "I need to make a call." He dialed the operator and asked to speak to Steven Coulter. He talked to the concierge for a few minutes although the officers could not hear what was being said. He hung up the phone saying, "We're good to go in about fifteen minutes. I've got to change." He took some clothes from the closet and went into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later in his jeans, a mock turtleneck and his grey hoodie. Although the days were lovely and warm the mountain air was quite cool in the evenings.
"Um, I didn't bring my weapon with me. I wonder if anyone has an extra one I could borrow." Reid looked from their faces to their ankles. The four policemen looked back and forth at one another and eventually Jacoby bent down, lifted his pant leg and retrieved a piece from his ankle holster. Reid checked out the weapon and tucked it in the back waistband of his jeans. Inspector Butler had also left to change while Reid was in the bathroom. He'd told his fellow Mounties he'd meet them in the lobby.
"I'm still not really keen on this," Jacoby stated.
"I think Dr. Reid is right," Praznik responded. "It might be too late in the morning. He won't be expecting anyone to try and get him in the night. He probably thinks we don't even know who or where he is yet" Although secretly he had his own reservations about traveling through unknown terrain under darkness.
The officers all took turns using the bathroom before they started their trek in search of Megan. The group headed for the elevator that took them to the lobby. "I still say it's idiocy," Heeley continued, "To be going out there in the dark, we're likely to get lost and not do Megan any good."
"We won't get lost," said a deep voice behind them. The group turned and Reid saw that Steven Coulter had been as good as his word when he'd told Reid he could get him anything he needed. Standing before them were John and Darren Woodhouse. The tall native men both wore fitted buckskin jackets in a tan color that ended at their waists, with beadwork and braiding that was both colorful and intricate. The leather looked extremely soft. John's jacket was also outfitted with a bone breastplate.
Reid thanked the men for coming. "I have to ask, if this is too dangerous, then we'll wait until daylight."
"It's not too dangerous Doc," John replied. "If you guys were going alone, I'd say yes but Darren and I know this terrain like the back of our hand. We could make the journey blindfolded. So let's go find this little girl."
The men stopped at the RCMP cruisers. Mercer opened the trunk of his vehicle and removed vests as did Jacoby from their vehicle. Mercer and Jacoby handed out the vests to all the officers and Reid. The brothers refused. Mercer also removed an assault rifle with a scope and strapped it to his back.
Reid put on the vest wondering, insanely he thought, if blue was the only color they came in. It was different than the vest he usually wore and it felt uncomfortable at first, especially the bright RCMP emblazoned on the back as opposed to the FBI on the front that he was used to. Reid waited for instructions from the Woodhouse brothers or Inspector Butler since he knew he was there as a courtesy and had no real standing in the investigation. He had expected some resistance to his participation and although Heeley looked annoyed at his presence, he said nothing.
The inspector nodded to John Woodhouse and he led the team to the opposite side of the lake from the morning's hike. The men followed and Darren once again took up the rear. The moon shone brightly on the gleaming water of the lake and the mountains glowed with a beauty that although different from the daylight was no less spectacular. Reid told himself that when he got back he and Allie would have to take a walk in the moonlight and share this fabulous vista together.
Allie, he thought, he'd done it to her again, hadn't he. He'd promised himself that nothing like what had happened in Lancaster would spoil this vacation and yet here he was headed up a mountain to find a kidnapped girl. A team of six going out on a raid, just what he was used to, Reid contemplated. The man giving the orders, however, was not the stern featured but fair, Hotch. He looked to the left and saw Mercer and Praznik, not the muscular Morgan and the gentle JJ. He looked to his right and saw Heeley and Jacoby, not the energetic Emily and the recalcitrant Rossi. Could he count on them like he counted on his team? Would they have his back? These men were strangers. No, he reminded himself, I'm the stranger, a stranger in a strange land.