I hope you enjoy this.
Chapter Ten:
Navy-blue checker print boxers. Cut into pieces. DNA confirmed they were his. Navy-blue checker print boxers. They've haunted J.J.'s dreams for nearly a year.
She was trying sleep in a hotel in Tampa as Prentiss had instructed. The case involved missing teenage boys and one of them looked a little like Spence. It was hard to sleep.
The phone rang.
"Hello?"
"J.J?"
The voice sent her sitting up ram-rod straight.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"It's Spence, J.J." he said croakily. "It's me."
"It can't be," she said. "No."
"Ask me anything J.J. It's really me."
"I don't know," she said. "Anything could be public knowledge. You could be anyone."
"How about this, when Henry cut his knee in the Keller park when he was three, he asked you to kiss it make it better, I told him it was very unhygienic. You spent an hour trying to explain what unhygienic meant. We went out for ice cream later. I chocolate with rainbow sprinkles and he had vanilla with chocolate sprinkles and you and strawberry with no sprinkles."
"Oh my god," she cried. "It's really you. Where have you been?"
"I don't know exactly. What Cat Adams did to me was small compared to what these people have done."
"Where are you?" she asked desperately. "I'll come and get you in an instant."
"That is hard to explain, but the important thing is: Now I'm not alone. I'm coming back J.J. and I won't let anything stop me."
"Oh Spence," she said. "Just tell me where you are."
"Melinda, has she moved on?" he asked nervously.
"She hasn't been the same since you were abducted. She quit her job and fell into alcoholism. Garcia helped her get back on her feet. She's working on an educational video game now that is due for a prelaunch party in December, called 'Spencer's great adventure.'"
She could hear him hiccup through the phone.
"Where are you, Spence?" she pleaded.
"Look up the Alluring Sentinels. They're the ones who abducted me. I don't know the whole story, but I promise, I'm coming back."
He then hung up.
"Spence!" she cried. She jumped out of bed and ran out the door. She dialed Garcia.
"Garcia, trace my previous phone call, now!" she said.
She pounded on Prentiss' door.
"Wake up, Emily!"
Seconds later she opened the door.
"What is J.J?" she asked groggily.
"Spence, he's alive!" she cried. "I just got off the phone with him."
"Are you sure it was him?" she asked.
"It sounded like him. Only he would remember things like ice cream topping and my having to explain magic kisses on cuts."
Prentiss didn't look convinced.
"He asked about Melinda, Emily. They weren't together that long and he made a point of keeping the relationship a secret. It was him, I swear!"
"Okay, J.J.," she said. "I believe you."
"HELLO, HELLO?"
It was Garcia, J.J. had briefly forgotten about her.
"Where'd you trace the call to?"
"A satellite phone on an island in Hawaii. What is this about? Did I hear something about boy wonder contacting you?"
"Yes, he did," she said. "Now, can you look up the Alluring Sentinels?"
"Who are they?" Prentiss and Garcia asked.
J.J. put it on speaker phone.
"The people who abducted him, he said."
"What else did he say?"
"He kept saying he was coming back. He didn't sound like he was in duress, he just said he was coming back."
"What do we do, Emily?" Garcia asked.
"We gather more information and focus on the matter at hand," she said. "Garcia what have you found about the group?"
"It's like some American illuminati. The member list is kept secret behind a firewall I personally know the NSA would kill for. Everything is secret except the fact that they own land in Nevada, Wisconsin, California, Hawaii, New York City, and Florida.
"Hawaii," Prentiss and J.J. said together.
"What is the address there?" Prentiss asked.
"It is literally being vacated right now. A fire was just started twenty minutes ago."
"Spencer wouldn't call from a burning building," J.J. said.
"I'm going to call the Hawaii FBI office," Prentis said. "I'll tell them we have reason to believe it was intentional."
"Could Spencer have started it to escape?" J.J. asked.
"I don't know," she said. "Or someone could be trying to cover their tracks."
"Guys, something else just popped up," Garcia said. "An anthropologist was found shot and stabbed to death. They put an APB out on a Jade Cyrano, an archaeologist and known associate of the anthropologist already wanted on suspicion of drug smuggling."
"What's the connection?" J.J. asked.
"It could be nothing," Prentiss said. "We'll see what happens."
J.J. took a deep breath.
Prentis patted her on the shoulder. "We're going to find him J.J., I promise."
"Or maybe he'll find us first," she said.