JJ gradually starts to regain consciousness. She grabs her head and asks, "Hotch? You there?" She gets no answer.
She slowly opens her eyes. Her heart leaps into her throat as she realizes she is in a small, metal crate. Her legs are bent at the knee and she leans against the back of the crate. The top is just a couple inches above her head. The width is just barely more than her own. There are a series of inch diameter air holes around the top edge of the walls.
"Oh, this is so not good," she mumbles.
She takes stock of herself and sees that she is missing her gun, cuffs and badge (no surprise there) but also her belt, blazer, socks and shoes.
"Okay, that's kind of random," she notes.
She feels along the inside of the crate and knows this must be one like Benji Alexander had described.
"So those guys have me. Do they have Hotch, too? Think, JJ," she commands herself.
She closes her eyes and thinks back to arriving at Gulliver's house with Hotch.
Hotch glances in the rearview mirror and up the street. "The locals aren't here yet," he notes.
"They should be here soon. We can wait," JJ says.
"No. We need to be on these guys quickly before they start calling each other. This is the only 'Simon' on the list so we can be sure he's the one the Alexander boy heard named. The locals will be here before we're ready to leave. Let's go," he says as he opens his door.
JJ follows him to the door, scanning the area around them to make sure they aren't ambushed by anyone. Hotch knocks on the door. They only wait a few minutes before an older woman opens the door.
"Can I help you?" she asks.
"I'm Agent Hotchner, this is Agent Jareau of the FBI," he flashes his credentials. "We're hoping to speak with Simon Gulliver."
"Oh, I don't think Simon's home. Please come in while I check."
"Thank you, ma'am."
Hotch and JJ head into the house. Just off the entryway are two rooms. Hotch steps to the room on the right as JJ steps towards the left. She has just confirmed that room is empty when she hears the distinctive sound of wood hitting bone. Hotch doesn't even make a sound as he crashes to the ground. JJ spins, her hand going to her gun. She freezes when she sees the woman already holding a .38 on her.
"Don't do it, Agent," she warns.
JJ looks down at Hotch and then back to the lady. A large man steps from the other room into the hallway.
"What do I do with her, Mother?"
The woman smiles cruelly. "She'll fit fine in a box, Simon. We'll hold on to her for now." The woman shifts the gun until it points at Hotch. "Do anything stupid, Blondie, and I put a bullet in his head."
JJ swallows in fear. Gulliver steps to her and pulls her gun out of its holster. She stares up at him and then sees the butt of her gun racing towards her head. She instinctively ducks and it glances off her shoulder. Gulliver grabs her and slams her headfirst into the wall and that is the last thing she knows until she wakes up in the box.
"Shit." JJ rolls her right shoulder and feels the pain where her own gun hit her. She feels her temple, noting the lump but thankfully no dried blood. She leans her head back on the wall of the crate. "Nothing to do but wait…and try not to notice just how small this crate is," she tells herself, drawing comfort from the steadiness in her voice.
As she is sitting there thinking about Henry and Emily, she suddenly hears crying. She eases around as much as she can and looks through the air holes behind her. She sees another crate near her own.
"Hello?" she whispers. "Who's there? Can you hear me?"
A soft, sad girl's voice answers. "Who…who's talking?"
"My name is Jennifer. Are you in the box beside mine?"
She sees small fingers grip the edge of the air holes on the other box. "I think so."
JJ stares at the holes until she finally makes out small eyes staring at her box. She eases her own fingers through the holes in her crate so the little girl can see where JJ is. "Hi. What's your name?"
"My Mommy and Daddy say I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
JJ can't help but smile. "I understand. But I'm a…a police officer," she says, knowing the child would understand that better than FBI agent. "The bad men brought me here. Just like they brought you. Can you please tell me your name?"
After a long pause, the little girl answers. "I'm Carmen. They made my parents say they wanted to keep me then took me anyway. Why did they do that, Jennifer?"
JJ sighs, knowing there is no easy answer. "I don't know, honey. But I have friends who will be looking for us and hopefully they will find us soon. If somehow you get out of here, please tell the police that Jennifer Jareau was where you were and that I'm okay. Can you remember that?"
"Yes, Jennifer. But I don't think they are going to let us go."
"Why not?"
"Because the one man was talking when they brought you in and he said that they had got to change what they is doing. They said no more free passes. It's time to make a statement."
JJ's heart freezes for a moment. She takes a steadying breath before she responds. "Well, let's just stay positive, okay, Carmen? I'm sure we'll be out of here before we know it." The little girl just sniffles. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"Like what?"
"Like what grade you're in, what you like to play, things like that. It will make the time go faster."
"Okay." The little girl starts to talk about herself as JJ prays her friends find them soon.
As Rossi paces, waiting for the D.A. to sign off on a deal for Feist, a patrolman runs up to him.
"We just got word that the Carlyle family was hit again last night."
"What? What about the police protection? Why are we just finding out now?"
"The protective units never saw anyone enter or exit. According to the family the guys came in the back door so they probably crossed through neighbor's yards to get to the house. When no one left for work, the unit outside just assumed they were taking the day off to deal with the trauma of the situation. It wasn't until Carlyle's mother called us and insisted something was wrong that we made entry. The parents and 2 of their kids were tied up in the basement. Their daughter Carmen is gone."
It takes all the self-control he has to keep Rossi from putting his fist through a wall. He demands that the patrols on the last 2 families actually stay INSIDE the houses. He is still ranting when the rest of the team arrives.
"Rossi, what's happened?"
"The Carlyle family was hit last night. Their daughter Carmen is missing. The idiots watching them didn't think to keep an eye on the backdoor."
"Son of a bitch!" Reid screams. "So they have a kid andJJ! What the hell do we do now?"
"We find them," Emily states. "What the hell's the situation with Feist?"
"Nearly done," Rossi says. "The D.A. is dragging his heels trying to keep from making a deal that could hurt his political legacy."
"Fuck politics," Hotch states and approaches the lawyer still reading over the deal Rossi has proposed.
"Sign it," Hotch demands.
"Look, Agent, I'm not signing anything that—"
"A six year old girl and an FBI agent are missing. That bastard is the only one that can help us find them. Sign it or I will personally make sure you're political career is over before it starts."
The man tries to stare down Hotch…and losses. He signs the deal and hands it to the irate agent. Hotch takes it and storms into the interrogation room containing Feist and his lawyer.
"You have 1 minute to tell us where they are keeping the kids or this deal goes in the garbage."
Feist looks to his lawyer who looks it over and starts to whisper to Feist.
"Thirty seconds, councilor," Hotch points out.
Feist finally nods…and begins to talk.