Summary: It was something he'd learned of late. If you truly wanted to hurt someone, you aimed for the heart. Teamfic. Warning, character death! Set pre-Cradle to Grave.
Disclaimer: Ava and Cara don't own Criminal Minds. But if they did, it'd probably be the most character-whump show in the world.
Author's Note: Just a reminder; this is set pre Cradle to Grave, so Hotch is still the boss-man! This where those of a nervous disposition will be stepping off. Nothing too bad in this chapter, but our reign of pure and total evil begins here. No team member is safe, or will be safe in our hands. And not just team members. But pretty much every character. Thanks for the major response from the last chapter, our reviewers! Thank you Dicsi, nexis44, imajazzbandnerd, RodentOfUnusualSize, paper . creations, the-vampire-act, hxchick and Nymphadora-CullenBAU for reviewing, almost all of which are very loyal reviewers! Thanks so much for the encouragement guys. Hence the quick update! And the strike today, which resulted in no school, helped too. Anyways, you all will hate our guts after this chapter. Seriously. And it will be getting worse.. You guys were warned!
Cara and Ava (The Instincts. Amplified)
Chapter Nine - Bad; Worse
Mignon McLaughlin once said; "The best work is done with the heart breaking, or overflowing"
They stared down at the body of the man they barely knew. The M.E's carefully zipped up the bag before carefully carrying him away.
Morgan paced up and down the hall, obviously aggravated "I can't believe this son of a bitch! First Haley and JJ, now Prentiss, with Garvey -" he paused, " with Garvey dead."
Rossi gruffly cleared his throat before walking into Emily's abandoned room, Hotch not far behind.
"I can't handle this right now," Morgan admitted, "at least not without a bucket of coffee. You want some Reid? Who am I kidding, you always want coffee. Tell Hotch I'll be back in a sec" he called walking to the elevator
"You really think going alone is a good idea?"
"Damn it Reid, I'm just going for some coffee!"
"And Emily came up here to get some rest. With an armed guard. Look where we are."
Morgan turned back slowly walking towards his young colleague.
"Sorry," Reid mumbled "but I don't want to be ordering a coffee while we stand over your body trying to figure out what happened."
"Hey, Reid. Nothing is going to happen to us, to me. Ok? I'm going to stay right here. Screw the coffee, we can get it from room service." he smiled slightly, hoping his attempt to lighten the situation would work. "Can you imagine Prentiss' face when she finds out we charged all our coffee to her room?"
Reid cracked a small smile. "I'd love to see that," he murmured softly, sadness seeping into his voice "She'd be so mad."
"Yeah, she will be mad." Morgan insisted, anger filling his heart at Reids negative tone, hopeless tenses."Not would be, will be. She will be mad!"
"Morgan you know the chances as well I do, she might not-"
"Reid, don't start quoting statistic against her chances, they're gonna be fine."
An officer interrupted before Reid could reply "We're finished interviewing Ms. Miles..." she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
"Thank you." Reid said stepping forward.
She nodded before walking towards the stairs.
"Darcey maybe,um... you should er... get a cup of tea or something?" he suggested.
She shook her head staring at the stain on the floor. "I'll be ok."
"Really, it's completely understandable if-"
"I'm fine, please just... don't"
"Darcey come on I'll buy you a coffee," Morgan said, putting his arm around her shoulders.
She nodded, tears catching in her throat, "Ok."
Reid was left standing in the corridor as Morgan lead the young woman to the elevator, she look back at him a smiled a watery smile. He raised his arm to wave as the doors closed, but talking to the dark agent she didn't notice.
He let it fall to his side as he stared after them.
"We come bearing coffee!" Morgan called, as Darcey walked in, their hands filled with polystyrene cups.
Reid gratefully accepted a cup from Darcey. She sat next to him,smiling as he hurriedly moved his crutches out of the way for her.
"So what's new?" Morgan asked, passing the final cup to his boss.
"We need Garcia to get the hotel security tapes." Rossi said just as Hotch's cell phone rang.
Hotch quickly scanned the number, but didn't recognise it.
"Hotchner," he greeted.
"Have you noticed that your an agent down yet Agent Hotchner?" Foyet replied by way of greeting in a relaxed tone. Hotch covered the receiver for a moment while mouthing to Morgan, "It's him. Have Garcia trace the call."
"Where is she?" Hotch snarled. He placed the call on loud speaker, for the benefit of those surrounding him trying to listen in.
"Which 'she' Agent Hotchner? There are so many women in your life, I can hardly keep track..."
"What have you done?" Hotch snapped angrily.
"Temper, temper Agent Hotchner. I just called to give you the chance to redeem yourself." Foyet said excitedly. It made the profilers sick.
"And how do you propose to do that?" he asked in frustration.
"You get to choose again. Which colleague would you prefer to save?"
At those words, Aaron Hotchner's heart sank. He now knew for sure. The reaper had killed the mother of his son. Haley. The love of his life. She had never forgiven him, and now he'd never see her again.
"You're sick." Hotch responded coldly.
"I'm giving you another chance. Choose one to die." Foyet said coldly, all conversational tone gone from his voice.
"How do I know you won't kill them both?" Hotch asked doubtfully.
"I'm a man of my word Agent Hotchner. If you choose Emily to die, I'll tell you where to find Jennifer. If you choose to have Jennifer die, I'll tell you where to find Emily. You have thirty minutes to decide."
The line went dead once again.
Agent Jennifer Jareau worried a lot more over the recent years. Since she had been a mother, her worry-meter had been sent into over-drive. Nothing made her panic more than when she thought of the well-being of her son.
Henry. That's all she could think about when she heard Foyet say those words to Hotch, who was undoubtably on the other end of the line.
If you choose Emily to die, I'll tell you where to find Jennifer. If you choose to have Jennifer die, I'll tell you where to find Emily.
JJ had narrowly escaped with her life. But it had come at a price. She had had to watch Foyet repeatedly stab Haley. Over, and over, and over. It was a sight that would replay in her head for the remainder of her life.
She wasn't sure if she could witness the same thing happen to Emily.
Emily saw the look on JJ's face. She was thinking of what she had been forced to witness. She needed to distract the young mother. "What was the BAU like before I joined?" Emily asked desperately, trying to bring back the old JJ, hoping it wasn't too late.
Emily Prentiss had seen some bad things in her life and she had coped, but watching one of her best friends die, she wasn't sure if she could bear that, she hoped Hotch would make the right decision. She watched as JJ twisted her ring around her finger, the birthstone glistening in the dull light. She really hoped he'd leave the young mother see her son again.
Little did Emily know, her wish was to soon be granted.
The thrilling of Hotch's cell caught all of the profilers off guard. The looked at the Unit Chief expectantly, who proceeded in whipping out his phone and answering with his trademark, "Hotchner."
"You made a decision yet?" the cold voice asked.
Hotch hesitated. He hated this. No matter what he did, another woman was going to die at his hands, and he hadn't the power to stop it. He thought back a few years to the last time the team had been in a situation remotely like this one. He said the only thing he was willing to offer.
"Me," he responded. He could see Morgan and Rossi staring at him in horror, Darcey in confusion and Reid in understanding. Hotch knew the Reaper wouldn't go with it, but he had to try, "Kill me."
"Not an option, Agent Hotchner." The Reaper replied, "Guess I'll be choosing for you yet again..."
"No, don't-"
"Too late. You made your decision Agent Hotchner. Or rather, didn't. I look forward to speaking with you again!"
Before Hotch was even aware of it, he was left with only a dial tone. Morgan slowly took the phone from Hotch's outstretched hand. It was too late. Another woman would die because of his decision. And he didn't know who.
"So that's why...."
"Reid's only a genuis in english, yeah" JJ said nodding.
The door slowly creaked open, interupting Emily mid laugh, and Foyet walked in, a self-assured smirk plastered across his face.
Hearing someone enter the room, she tried to sit up straight, eyes never leaving the psychotic man.
He walked over to the bloodied body in the corner, kicking it as he went.
"You leave her alone!" Emily yelled, struggling against her bounds, "No! Leave Haley alone! Haven't you done enough? She's dead, you killed her. Let her have some peace now."
"Aw, maybe your right, perhaps we should call your boss, and see what he thinks, hmm?"
She was certain that phone call would haunt her forever, become the soundtrack to her dreams.
If you choose Emily to die, I'll tell you where to find Jennifer. If you choose to have Jennifer die, I'll tell you where to find Emily.
She moved closer to JJ.
"They'll find us, Jayje. We just gotta trust them."
"They won't find us both, though." JJ looked at the brunette, her eyes dead, gaze fell back to the corner and the limp form lying there. "I watched her die, Emily. She screamed, and I begged for him to stop. But" she shrugged, "He wouldn't. She looked at him and pleaded... and he laughed."
She's losing hope.....
The door slowly creaked open, and Foyet walked in again, that same self-assured smirk plastered across his face.
"You boss couldn't pick his favourite. Guess I'll do it for him," he said coolly.
"Who to choose?" he taunted. "I could let you choose, wouldn't that bring back memories of cases past, Jennifer?"
Emily looked at the woman, the mother beside her. Her decision was made.
"Me, take me!"
That completely shocked JJ into finally responding.
"You can't expect me to watch you die too Emily?" JJ asked in disbelief. "Stab, after stab, after stab. Even after you've died. I'll never forget it."
"And you expect me to just stand by and watch you die? You have a son! And Will! You can't forget them!"
Foyet paused. He knew that if he let the women choose, he'd never get a proper decision. Maybe this had to come back to him after all...
"You know," he began. There was a brief pause, before he continued, "I always preferred brunettes." With all the force he could muster, he grabbed as many strands of JJ's blonde hair as he could, undid her bounds with his free hand, and dragged her out of the room by the hair.
"NO! Take me! Please take me" Prentiss sobbed, her dark hair falling over her face. It was useless. His choice had been made.
"Please take me..."she mumbled. she could hear his voice, but not what he was saying. JJ replying.
She was still alive, there was hope.
"You have something to live for, JJ." she yelled."You have someone waiting for you to come home everyday. I don't. I have nothing to live for compared to you. Foyet, you coward. Take me!"
JJ ignored Emily's pleas. She was too busy looking at the monitors in front of her. There were several video feeds. She saw the conference room where the team met to discuss the case. She saw Emily's hotel room. Her hotel room. Some of the other crime scenes.
Foyet had been watching them the whole time. But it was one particular video feed that stuck out to her.
Henry.
"That's your kid right?" Foyet asked in a gruff manner.
JJ looked at him defiantly. "I'd die before I let you hurt him."
That familiar, self-assured smirk reappeared on his face, "Precisely."
He walked up behind her, "Take a good look sweetheart. Remember that face. You won't be seeing it again."
He grabbed her arm in one hand, while the other reached for her soft neck. She saw the glint from the corner of her eye and her heart froze.
She looked back at the screen to see Will picking up Henry and swinging him around. Her fiance and son, laughing, carefree.
"Henry, Will." she whispered tears falling slowly. "I love-"
Emily sat up as she heard the door open.
"Here's your friend." he smiled throwing JJ towards Emily. She landed on the profiler's lap, hair spilling over her face.
"JJ, what happened. Are you ok?" She gently moved the blonde hair covering her friends face."Talk to me..." she said tipping the young woman's head, slightly.
"NO!" she looked down into JJ's blue eyes, still shining softly, as the blood ran from her neck staining Emily's pants.
"Baby-girl, please God, give us something good."
"Sorry my hunky dory, the entire hotel security footage was wiped clean. I have until adorable cop Garvey says 'Sleep tight' to our Emily princess and than I have little Darcey Miles discovering her dead buddy. Not a pretty sight. Poor kid will be traumatised after that."
"I think we all will be after this case. We strongly think that Foyet-" Morgan quickly glanced around to see Rossi and Hotch deep in conversation before continuing, "We believe Foyet may have killed Haley. He made Hotch choose between JJ and Emily. No mention of Haley."
Garcia gasped, and sniffled a little, "My poor boss-man."
"Penelope." Morgan asked quickly, "Do you have anything else you found? Anything useful?"
"As a matter of fact," Garcia replied, "It turns out that a computer store near International Drive has equipment missing. Since last night. Now you may ask where this fits prêt ell? Turns out that this store recently had an employee murdered - who we know as Georgia Everett, our second Orlando victim to the slime-ball reaper. And that got me thinking. The reaper takes something from each of the victims right? What if he took Georgia's keys to the shop? And stole a few things?"
"Garcia that doesn't make any sense. Why would he steal a computer? Does Foyet even know how to use them?"
"Morgan - the email address that sent me those photos in text speak, pretty much says 'Nine times, from the Reaper.' You telling me that's just a freaky-deaky co-ink-ee-dink?"
Morgan paused. "Baby girl, you may be onto something. You're a genius. Ciao." He turned to face the rest of the team. "The computer store Georgia Everett worked in was robbed, but they didn't force their way in. Garcia thinks that Foyet stole Georgia's keys and walked right in, took what he needed. It would explain how the security footage has vanished."
"We need to make sure it's consistent with the time frame. Morgan, you go to the computer store, and Officer Miles, you go with him." Hotch ordered, "Be back here as soon as possible."
"Will do Hotch," Morgan replied as he pulled out the keys of the SUV.
Garica quickly speed-dialed Morgan's number once again. She knew he was still on his way to the computer store and felt she should give him a heads-up of what to expect.
"Baby girl, tell me you have something, anything," was his answer.
"Oh, my prince I always have something, only you might not like this. The computer store? Footage is nil, wiped again, the alarm wasn't set off, drum roll please - because a key was used."
"Garcia, my love goddess, I don't know-" he stopped dead, mid-sentence.
"Morgan? Really funny. Come on hunkster, finish your sentence don't leaving me hanging. Your mom spent a long time teaching you to talk, make her proud!"
Silence filled the line.
"Morgan?"
She could now here the dialing tone. She redialed his number. Nothing.
"Come on Derek, don't do this to me, not again! Not now."
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