A.N.: Sorry I was late again. I began my summer student work (or however it is called) on a dinosaur exhibition and I had to study a lot because I'm a guide there... They even made me work on my birthday, this Tuesday. In addition, here in Central Europe is awfully warm, I can hardly stand it... Okay I cut my complains so here's the next chapter.

Thanks to JustThinkHappyThoughts, SeeMeInTheShadows, the-vampire-act, Sue1313, cyn23, Rose-Harlowe and Foxgurl0000 for reviewing, and to REIDFANATIC for betaing!

Chapter 9: A Bottle of Water & Consequences

It was getting darker as the evening slowly turned into night and the window of the cell was so small it didn't let much light inside.

They had been sitting quietly for a while. Prentiss had been trying desperately to find a way out of their uncomfortable situation but so far she hadn't found any except for fighting their captor when he came back. But that appeared to be pretty risky, considering that the man weighed almost as much as the two of them put together; plus he had a gun; plus Reid was injured. He obviously wasn't a threat to the guy in his current state. However, it didn't seem as though they had any other chance to escape, unless the masked gunman suddenly changed his mind and let them walk out free.

"You have any ideas?" she called out to Reid, hoping the young man had managed to plot something out with his genius brain. But there came no answer.

"Reid?" she called out louder with more anxiety as she looked towards her colleague. Reid was sitting by the opposite wall, his legs half stretched out, his head leaning forward a bit and he was staring blankly into the air. From a distance it almost looked like he was sleeping, but his eyes were open and his gaze was hazy and unfocused. It horribly reminded Prentiss of people who were in some kind of catatonic state.

"Reid!" her voice now betrayed her fright as she got up and hurried towards him. "Reid, answer me!"

"Wha... What?" the young doctor suddenly came to as she gently shook his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Reid swallowed and tried to focus on Prentiss' face.

"Yeah, um... yeah, just a bit... my leg hurts a bit." His voice faded away at the last words as if he felt ashamed for complaining.

Prentiss nodded and gently squeezed his shoulder to give him some comfort. "It'll be all right. We're going to get out of here. Don't worry."

Her comforting words managed to put a weak smile on Reid's face.

"Just try not to sleep" she continued "You might have a minor concussion from that bastard's kick."

"'Kay" he nodded absent-mindedly. "I'll be alright."

"Good"

To tell the truth, Reid wasn't feeling alright at all. His knee hurt like hell, with waves of searing pain kicking in every few seconds, even if he didn't move his leg. There was a dull ache in his head too, he still felt somewhat dizzy and he had to fight hard to keep his continually blurring vision focused. Even breathing was slightly painful on the spot where he'd been kicked. The memory of the big, masked guy was strangely hard to recall, as if everything happened at least years ago. He didn't even remember how he had the courage to stand there facing an armed man and not obeying him. He was, of course, thinking of Prentiss and how unprotected she looked with only a cell phone in her hand. Damn it, a man is supposed to protect a woman! That was exactly what he had realized at the moment he let Cyrus take her away and beat her up in La Plata County. I failed then and now I've failed again. Thank God the guy decided not to hurt her psychically. We probably won't be so lucky next time.

As he was thinking and continually accusing himself the door suddenly opened again and the previous man's masked face peered inside. He only seemed to be there to check on his prisoners because after he threw a glance at both of them he stepped back and started to close the door. It was then Prentiss called after him.

"Hey! Wait!"

The door stopped halfway through its closing movement.

"Could you... could you bring us some disinfectant... or at least something that I can treat his wound with, please?"

There was one or two moments of silence, then the man laughed out loud.

"Sorry ma'am, but he was the one who looked for trouble. He can only thank himself for the situation he's in now. Don't expect me to help him."

The door started to close, but once again Prentiss stopped it.

"Wait! Please, at least bring some water!"

This time there came no answer. The man shut the door with a groan, locking it, and they could hear his heavy footsteps march away. Prentiss hoped that he'd do what she requested; it was their only chance.

"That's it, Reid, I have the plan," she turned to her colleague, barely daring to lift her voice above a whisper. "I'll hide behind the door, and when he comes back to give the water to you, I'll knock him down. Got it?"

"Hell, no way," Reid's eyes were big with worry and pain, "it's too risky. If he notices you're missing and something's wrong... Prentiss, he's twice your size."

"Oh, yeah, and twice your size too, but it didn't stop you from provoking him, did it?" she retorted ironically. "But don't worry, he won't notice me. And when he does, it'll be too late. You just sit here and don't move, okay?"

"Shouldn't we both just sit here and wait for the others?" Reid asked, his cautious side coming out again. "When we don't turn up tomorrow morning at the road, Hotch will find out that something's wrong and they'll come here right away."

"I doubt that Hanson, or whoever this crazy bastard behind the mask is, couldn't make them believe that we're not here," Prentiss answered. "He'll probably hide the basement door by pulling some furniture over it… and I have a idea he's already hidden our cells in the woods so when they call us or Garcia tries to track us down... they'll think we're lost somewhere out there."

Reid wanted to say something, to continue the debate, but he was out of arguments. Prentiss went on, her voice softer and more anxious.

"Of course they would find us at last, but when? You're hurt, Reid, you need to get to a hospital, and we don't have days to spare."

She was already searching through the pile of construction debris in the corner for an appropriate piece. Finding one, she grabbed it with her right hand and headed for the door, standing next to it in a position so that the opening door would completely hide her.

Just then they heard the footsteps again, slowly coming down the stairs and approaching the entrance of the room. Moments later, the door opened and the man stepped inside. He didn't have his gun now, instead there was a bottle of water in his hand. He took a couple of steps towards Reid who pretended to be unconscious, but his heart was beating so wildly he was afraid the guy would hear it too.

The man suddenly came to a halt, noticing that someone was missing, but Prentiss was already behind his back, having sneaked up to him like a hunting cat, and before he could look around in the room, she lifted her arm to strike.

But she was one second late.

The man saw her out of the corner of his eye and spun around in less than a second, dodging her attack and grabbing her arm at the same time, making her drop the debris and cry out in pain.

"What did you think, bitch?" he hissed as he pushed her against the wall. One hand was still squeezing her wrist; the other hand dropped the bottle and grabbed Prentiss' neck.

"Do you think you can handle me?" he yelled in her face.

She gasped for breath as the man tightened his grip. She tried to pull away with her free hand but it was useless, he was much stronger. Soon it became difficult to breathe, and suddenly a weird thought sprang to her mind. What a shame would that be for an FBI agent to die in a dusty basement, by the very hands of the unsub, how ridiculous it would look in her file… but then all of a sudden her neck was released and the man in front of her simply collapsed on the ground.

Prentiss took in massive gulps of air and massaged her neck as she stared at the guy on the floor, completely confused. Then she saw the cause of his fall: Reid was standing a little farther, with the piece of debris in his hand. He was sweating, panting heavily and looked like he too was about to collapse. Prentiss hurried to support him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"It's still me out of the two of us who is more okay" she replied, almost grinning.

A sudden groan from the man lying on the floor startled them.

"Let's get out of here while he's down," said Prentiss, quickly escorting Reid out of the room. " I'm afraid he isn't fully knocked-out. And thank you, by the way... I don't know how he saw me."

"I told you it was risky," Reid closed his eyes in pain as his colleague dragged him towards the stairs, trying not to place weight on his injured leg, but it seemed almost impossible at the speed Prentiss was moving.

I stopped myself writing another cliffhanger... but I think it's okay. Next one will come soon. Don't forget to review if you liked it!:) You make me so enthusiastic by that. FFV