I know it is hard for people to find time to review, but I really appreciate them. They are like guideposts for writers on FF. So, if you get the chance, please consider dropping a word or two (that isn't a flame).

Chapter Ten:

It was around two o'clock in the morning when Wick and Jameson met at a twenty-four-hour diner in a blue-collar district in DC.

"This better be good Jameson," Wick said as he sipped his coffee.

"There is a reason I asked you to put your phone in my glovebox with mine. It is a signal-blocking case installed by a friend of my sister's."

"Okay," Wick said. "Does her friend anything else up her sleeve to help Spencer?"

"She's part of a private investigation team I hired," he said. "I was told Reid would have an adverse reaction to a drug to draw a perp out into the open."

"Someone is dosing Spencer into thinking he has schizophrenia," Wick said. "This is disturbing."

"So, disturbing I am being left out of the loop about most of the investigation I am funding for my own safety."

"No kidding," Wick said taking another sip of his coffee. "So, what do you need me to do?"

"Do not make a big stink about it. I'm going to draw up a recommendation to stop the team from visiting because it would look suspicious if I didn't."

"Okay," he said. "I hope you know what you're doing for Spencer's sake."

"I do too," Jameson said. "I do too."

…

"You're lucky we got a lead out of this," Greenaway said. "Extremely lucky."

"Show me," Spalding said following her.

In their computer center there was half a dozen techs working. They approached Jordan who had an enormous cup of coffee.

"Someone made a viral video of Spencer for the dark web," she said excitedly. "We're tracing every view and the weeding down the views and comments."

"I can't even watch it," Greenaway said.

"Who recorded it?"

"A night janitor," she said. "Curtis Wright."

"Fenton is going with Bridges to interview him as we speak," Greenaway said.

"Any other leads?" Spalding asked.

"Montana," Jordan said. "Only one view of the video, but we trace it around the globe before finding the landing in a remote area in Glacier National Park."

"Bridges likes hiking," Greenaway said. "She's inviting Alex Blake to join the fun."

"Okay," Spalding said. "Let's see how this plays out."

…

"Ready?" Bridges asked as they walked up with their equipment.

"If my techie friends knew what I did now for my job," Fenton said.

Bridges tested the door. It opened.

"You owe me lunch," she said as they entered.

With their guns raised and masks on, they cleared each room. Fenton found the cameras and rewired them. Bridges found his phone in the kitchen and placed a transmitter in it. Curtis Wright was asleep in the family room with porn on.

Bridges slapped him awake while Fenton aimed her gun at him.

"Didn't you see enough action at your job?" she said.

"Who are you?" he said as he bolted awake.

"Who hired to you record that video?" Fenton asked.

"Someone pays me all cash to record footage," he said. "He always wears a mask."

"How'd he find you?" Bridges asked.

"He approached me after work one night in the shadows."

Fenton glanced at Bridges. They nodded in agreement.

"We're done," Bridges said. "Tell your boss about us and we'll come back and finish you."

"Really?" he said with a smirk.

"You have a niece whose birthday is this Sunday," Fenton said. "She's getting a bouncy house with a water slide. You wouldn't want someone to tamper with it, so she breaks her neck, would you?"

"You wouldn't," he said with a tremor in his voice.

"How about that kid you rarely see because the mother is married to another man and the man doesn't know the kid isn't his? Would like us to tell him about that and have him finish you off?"

"Okay, okay," he said. "You win. I won't tell anyone."

"Have nice day, Curtis," Bridges said as they walked away.

Fenton fixed the camera wiring on their way out.

"See," Bridges said as she pulled off her mask. "You wouldn't make a bad bad-cop."

"Looking forward to Montana?" Fenton asked.

"I hear it's beautiful this time of year," Bridges said. "I hope Alex Blake up for a hike."

"I have a friend up there who can help," she said.

"How do you friends everywhere?" Bridges asked.

"The joys of working remotely," Fenton said.

Bridges sighed.

"I had a feeling that guy would be a dead end."

"We'll see what you find in Montana and whether the little present we left behind yields anything."

…

Deep below the surface of Quantico, the team sat without their cellphones in a soundproof room. The tension couldn't be higher. They stared at the single message from what resembled a clunky old cellphone:

"Our trap was successful. Expect further contact Monday morning."

J.J. looked to Prentiss.

"What do we do?" she asked fearfully.

"Business as usual," Prentiss said.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can do this to Reid," Rossi said.

"We just need to hold out for a little longer," Prentiss said. "They haven't been at it long they have already produced results."

"But we don't know what success equals in their minds," Lewis said.

"We'll learn soon enough," Prentiss said. "This our only chance at saving Reid and we can't lose faith now."

"Okay," Simmons said. "Let's hope we'll get a less ominous note."

"I agree," Garcia said. "I'm hate the idea that Reid might have been bait in the trap."

"Don't go there Garcia," Prentiss said. "Think positive. Of anyone I know, you're the best at it."

"I'll try."

"We all need to think positive or we'll go mad and that is what the unsub wants," Prentiss said. "He can't win."

"He won't," J.J. said.

"No," Rossi said.

"Never," Lewis said.

"He will fail," Simmons said.

"We won't let him succeed," Alvez said.

"That's a promise," Garcia said.

"Let's get back to work," Prentiss said. "We have people to save while others try to save Reid."

…

Reid spent most of the day in restraints in a hospital bed staring at the ceiling. He refused to let himself think of the past. He didn't want to think about the future. He didn't want to exist.

"Hello Dr. Reid."

He turned his head to see Spalding wearing a stylish black tunic over black pants.

"You know about what happened," he said as a fact.

She leaned over the railing and stared out the window.

"Did you know that in medieval times they tried to make pawns sound more interesting?" she said. "The Doctor was always the Queen's pawn. A city guard in front of a knight."

"I did know that," he said dully.

"A weaver in front of a bishop," she said. "The bishop is an interesting piece. There can be a good bishop and a bad bishop. It all about how the pieces are arranged."

"What does chess have to do with anything?" he asked angrily.

"There are many different ways to play chess," she said. "When a pawn reaches the end of the board it can be as powerful as any other piece except the king. When your journey is over here Dr. Reid, no one will be more powerful than the doctor who helps you regain the stability you need."

"Is my time a game here?" he asked staring at her.

"To someone it is," she said. "Chess can be very difficult game, and someone is very good at it. But so am I and I play without mercy."

"What is going on?" he asked.

"You're the doctor the Dr. Reid," she said stroking his face gently. "And I am the queen."

She left as quietly as she came. If she hadn't touched him, he wouldn't have believed she was real. For the first time in months he felt something like hope even as thousands of questions popped up. Pawns don't win chess games, but maybe he wasn't going to be a pawn much longer with Spalding in the game.