Chapter 11 – Counterblow

Tick-tock… Tick-tock… Seconds…. Minutes… Almost three hours she stood rigid behind the door. Conscious of any noises and the blinking light on the video camera. She knew they'd be watching and she hoped they understood. Sam desperately hoped they were OK.

Suddenly - a noise. Yes. A noise... Footsteps!

She didn't know who it would be, but if she listened very carefully she could hear the familiar sound of dragging denim. So that meant it must be the man from before. The man who had sprayed something on her back... From what she could remember he had been wearing dark jeans over scruffy trainers.

It was a shame he was going to be the first one. It had seemed as though he was beginning to show

a twisted sense of compassion, she'd have preferred it if it was the man in leather. As moral as she

was, she was going to enjoy killing him. Because after what he'd done to her- She couldn't even bear

to think about it- UGH!

But she needed to focus. Centre herself. Breathe. Breathe.

Not make a noise. Don't give away her position.

Sam knew he was alone because there was only the sound of one pair of footsteps and he wasn't talking to anyone. Silent, just like her.

Wait, wait, wait… Wait for him to walk in, yes, just a little further.

He was right in front of her now. She crept up behind him… Getting closer and closer…

Then he spotted the chains and saw she was no longer in them.

Now was her chance to strike.

Grabbing his hair ferociously, catching him off guard, she brought the knife up, too fast for him to react, and sliced his throat. The blood sprayed over her hands and floor as he fell. His life already extinguished before he hit the ground.

Sam stood there, staring down at the body, trying to hold in her tears. Then, mechanically, she put the knife back in her belt, bent down and moved the body; far enough behind the door so that the next person wouldn't see him until too late.

Once all this was done she resumed her place behind the door, careful not to stand on the man who she had just killed.

The teamed stared at the screen, their faces blank and emotionless. Then the man walked in and Garcia squealed as Sam drew the blade across his neck and his lifeblood flowed out over his body. Morgan comforted her and looked between the others, his face portraying both pity and revulsion.

Possibly admiration for her strength.

"She's doing the right thing Garcia." Hotch said.

"Oh trust me I know," Garcia responded, "They deserve to be punished for what they've done to her, but that doesn't take away the fact that I just watched someone get killed in real time." She shuddered. Reid sighed, "I just hopes she makes it out of there alive. I can't vouch for her mental state right now."

"Nobody can," said Hotch, "But if she's in control enough to formulate this plan then we have to believe in her… She's our only hope." They continued to sit in silence, each of them considering what Sam would be thinking at that moment. Whether she'd enjoyed taking the life of one of the men who'd tortured her or whether it had just been a part of her strategy. Whatever the reason, they hoped she was OK and that she'd find her way to them soon.

Rossi spoke up, looking to Hotch for confirmation. "I'd say she only needs to take out another one before she can leave. None of them have had guns up to this point so making it one on one would be easier. Especially if she has the element of surprise. The only variable which would alter her plan would be if there are more people, which we just don't know. So far there must have been about ten people involved in the plot to get us all here but they may not be all on this site. Considering the fact that it has been the same three people to bring us our food and torturing her I'd say they aren't."

"They could still be here though, just working behind the scenes to make sure no one finds us." JJ added.

"It's a possibility," said Blake, "But if that is the case then she won't have the chance to take them out one by one. They'll be alerted to her presence long before that. At the moment we can't even assume that she knows where we are, though we know she must be close because of what we've heard." She shuddered.

"I think she knows," said Reid, "You see, as they took her out it seemed like she passed out again, but as I watched her I saw her making movements with her hands. She was tracing the path they took her on. She must know that it wasn't far."

"One thing that is buggin' me," Morgan began, "Is her ability to be able to continue after all that torture. Her ability to be able to overpower a man twice her size. And yeah I know it was a blitz attack, but something just doesn't seem right here for me. Hotch, what work did she do before the BAU?"

Hotch considered his answer, careful how to phrase it, "She has done work in the field before; work which has been of high physical demand. She knows how to handle herself in these kinds of situations."

"Hotch," Morgan warned, "If this is anything like Emily-" He was unable to finish the sentence.

"I can assure you that this situation is nothing like that one and I'm sure that once this is all over she'll explain her abilities as best she can but it wouldn't do to doubt her now. The fact of the matter is that she is free and able to take them on, for the moment, and we are not. On our side this is just a waiting game until she can get here."

The man who came to check on his partner was the other man in denim; not the man in leather. Damn.

But it didn't stop her because she knew what she had to do. Creep, creep, grab, slice, and he's dead.

She didn't enjoy the killing, in fact it made her sick to the stomach.

She had never enjoyed killing but it always seemed to be part of her job, which while disappointing, was unavoidable if she had wished to stay within her field.

Once an Agents cover is compromised there is no other choice. Not that she'd been in many large undercover programmes, just that the ones she had been in had usually not ended well… For the other side.

As quickly as she had immersed herself within her thoughts she drew herself out of them. Now was her chance, she needed to find the others.

All she had to do was be careful, be quiet and trace the route the men took her on to get back to her team. Her family. Because they were like family and every moment she was away from them was another moment they could be getting hurt.

Before she left her room she bent down and searched the two corpses. Looking for anything which could help her. On one she found a better fashioned knife… But then, she supposed, anything was better than the crude weapon she had been using.

Apart from the knife she found little which could be of use. Bullets but no gun, a key to her chains and a ball of paper. She opened it to see what was written on it. She read: 560, Warrenton Rd… Sam stopped herself, knowing that what was written on the paper was the address of the hotel they'd been staying at. The hotel they'd been abducted from.

Leaving the room, Sam took only the key, with the hope that it unlocked either the door of the room the others were in or, even better, their handcuffs. With only a fleeting glance at the camera she turned her attention to the hallway she entered.

As quietly as was possible she crept along, counting her steps.

Five, six, seven, and then left turn, and another ten… She paced them out, making barely a breath of noise with each step, until finally she got to a door. Cautious of what was a round her she quickly examined it. Yes, it appeared to be the door from which she had left. Old, large and touched with rust here and there. Trying the handle slowly, she realised it was locked.

Using the key she managed to get it open, she slithered through the small gap and closed it behind her. Turning the key again, to seal herself in.

It was only once this was done that she turned to peruse the contents of the room, keeping low to the floor in a crouch which made her calves scream. Back and forwards her eyes went, until they fell upon a group of figures on the far wall. Doing her best to count in the darkness which surround her, she concluded that there must be about six or seven people over there. If it was her team then she hoped seven, for if there were six then that meant one had befallen a fate worse than death.

They should have learnt swiftly enough that their capture was not to be messed with.

While she was considering whether or not to call out to them a noise met her ears. "Who's there?"

It was Hotch.

Sam whispered back. "Hotch is that you?"

The voice spoke again. "Sam" Yes it's me, we're all here, no one else is in the room. Where are you?"

"Stay quiet," she replied, "I'm going to turn on the lights."

Her voice was met with sighs and murmurs of relief and joy from the small group. She could hear their individual voices mixing together in a flurry of reprieve.

Sam felt along the wall for the switched, knowing they were here as she'd seen them used by the man in leather. 'God', she thought to herself while searching, 'that must have been about a week ago!' Before her surprise could consume her, he fingers met with the metal switches and she flicked them.

The low hum of electricity filled the hall and everything went very bright for a few seconds; her eyes finding it hard to adjust after living in relative darkness for so long.

When she was ready, she took her hand away from her eyes and blinked a couple of times. She looked over to the far wall and the sight which met her was a great one.

Garcia huddled next to Morgan who was sat next to Rossi who, with Hotch two spaces from him, almost hid JJ from site. Then next to Hotch was Blake and right on the end, next to Blake, was Reid.

"Oh!" she cried, tears springing to her eyes but not falling, "Are you guys OK?!"

Their faces were a mixture of pity and guilt but she received a unanimous 'yes, we're fine, are you OK?'. Knowing they'd seen her whole ordeal over the video connection she tried to assure them that yes she was fine and yes she could handle this.

"Do you have the key?" Hotch asked.

She felt around in her pockets while she walked toward them. Finding the key she had just used she held it up and said, "I've got this one, but something makes me think that they wouldn't make the door key and the cuff key the same. It would be too easy."

Sam was about 30 feet from them when the door crashed open behind her.

Without turning she felt the impact of her week of torture finally hit her. She was naïve to think that she would be able to save them and they'd all get away without losing anyone. She should have known better than to underestimate him like that.

Just as she was thinking this a voice echoed from behind her, confirming her fears.

"You were foolish to think that you could escape me. You've managed to rid yourself of me once before but now I'm not stopping until you're dead. It's a shame though… Your team didn't have to die with you. Oh well, more's the pity."
Tears stung her eyes and fell, despite her wishes. She felt men starting toward her, trying to corner her. There must be at least seven. Not to mention her son of a bitch ex step dad. Emphasis on the ex, as she always liked to say.

"Devin you don't have to do this. Please just let us go!" Sam was beginning to get frustrated.

Who was he to follow her here after all these years? To make her suffer and threaten her family. How dare he?!

By now she had worked herself up from sadness to anger, and so when he responded with the obvious 'no', she spun, knife in her hand. Ready to fight for those she truly loved.

I really hope you liked this chapter! Sorry it's so much longer than all the others. As you can probably guess, ninja skills are going to immerge very soon indeed. I just hope she wins! Please READ AND REVIEW! Thank you so, so, so much! :)