If there are a lot of grammar mistakes, I apologize. I had this WHOLE chapter written then through a series of unfortunate events, it was completely deleted and had to be rewritten. Anyways, I hope you enjoy. The next update will be really quick because I feel as if you guys have been put through enough cliffhangers for one lifetime.
"For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."
-William Shakespeare-
Morgan's POV
The pain was excruciating, but it was bearable. I shifted my weight, testing which body parts hurt the worst. The right side of my body seemed to have taken the brunt of the trauma, but nothing felt broken. Warm liquid ran down my face, and my mouth tasted metallic. I swallowed hard, attempting to catch my breath and steady the world.
After several seconds of focused breathing, I heard Hotch moan next to me. "Hotch," I turn my head to left. Hotch is barely conscious; his eyelids are opened just enough to see his dark brown irises. Blood slips across his face from a wound above his ear.
I reach for my seatbelt to begin to help us both get out of the vehicle. I pause as I gunfire sounds in the distance. "What the hell is that?" I mutter.
"Ambush. Jacob." Hotch groans. His voice is weak and forced. His head rolls to the other side. I quit fighting with my seatbelt and reach across to force his head to look at me again.
"Stay with me, Man. I'm gonna get us out of here. Just stay with me."
His eyes flutter open. One of his hands grips my wrist with more strength than I would have thought. "Good. Hold on, buddy." I let go and start to work on my seatbelt again.
The SUV is overturned. I hold on to my seat with my right hand and release the seatbelt with my left. My legs swing down, and both my shins hit the dash painfully. I splay a string of curse words and punch the seat. I think I hear Hotch huff in what could be his own pain, or he could just be laughing at me.
Flashlights flash across the cracked windshield. I reach over again and work frantically to try and free Hotch from his restraint. I push my shoulders against his chest to brace myself for his weight once the seatbelt is undone. "No," he groans, "go."
"I'm not leaving you, Man. We're a team. We don't leave people behind."
He pushes me away weakly. I stare at him. "Hotch..."
"I can take care of myself." His eyes fully open, revealing his dark brown irises. "Emily needs you. Go."
At the sound of her name, I back away. I know he's right. I know she needs me, but that doesn't stop the sickening feeling that I'm abandoning him. I grip his hand in mine and squeeze it in good-bye. "Be safe." I whisper as I maneuver my way out of the shattered passenger window.
"You too," I hear him grunt.
Once out of the vehicle, I see our other SUV, the one JJ, Rossi, and Reid were traveling in, turned on its side not twenty feet away. Three armed men surround it. One of them is standing on top. I fight my urge to help them as flashlights zero in on me.
I run into the forest. I hear voices and the sound of pursuit behind me. The forest is nearly pitch black, but I run with all my strength. Within moments, the sounds fade until I know I'm not being chased anymore. I stop to purge the contents of my stomach.
You're a coward. I scream at myself. A damned coward. I look back, and I can still see the outline of our SUV against the backdrop of flames. Three men are standing around it. "Hotch." I know I couldn't help him. If I had stayed, I would have been taken too, and no one would be left to save Emily or any of them. I waited another moment to see what would happen, but there was no gunfire. They weren't going to shoot him, yet.
Emily needs you.
I wipe my mouth and start off in the direction I think the farmhouse is in. I pull my gun from its holster and run as fast as I can in the light. More than once I trip over a root or fallen branch. Every sound makes me jump and raise my gun into the air, but I run for minutes without seeing anyone.
The trees are starting to get smaller and spread farther apart. I must be getting close to the edge of the forest. I pick up my pace, ignoring the stitch in my side. I can just make out the end of the trees when something trips me, and go sprawling to the ground.
My face lands in leaves, but my knees slices against something solid. "Shit," I groan. I only just register the leaves stirring around me. I look up and see the end of a gun barrel pointed at my face.
In the darkness, I can't see the man's face, but I can tell he's not in uniform. I realize my weapon isn't in my hand. I must have dropped it when I fell. I curse myself for being so stupid. "Well, well, well," the man says, "looks like I hit the jackpot. Jacob's going to let me do whatever I want to your little bit-" but his words are cut off.
There's a thud then he falls to the ground. I stare, dumbfounded, at his unconscious body. "Are you a friendly?" I look up again to see another, much bigger, gun aimed at me.
"I'm Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan." The response is automatic. My mind is still trying to keep up with what's happened.
The gun doesn't move. "Show me your badge, slowly. One wrong move and I blow your brains out."
"It's in my pocket." I show him my right hand and cautiously move it into my pocket. I remove my badge and show it to him. "See?"
The gun barrel lowers. "Sorry. I just had to be sure. Are you hurt?"
I can see this new man extend an arm out to me. "Who are you?" I ask suspiciously.
The man chuckles. "I guess that's fair. I'm Calvin Hitchcock. I'm with SWAT." He extends his hand again.
This time I take it. I can see the outline of his body armor, and the four white letters glowing clearly across it now. "Where's the rest of your men?" I ask. "I'm on my way to the farmhouse. My people-" I stop, not wanting to explain it any further.
He waits a moment before answering. "I've got two in the trees not far from here. One's injured pretty badly. We're...we're all that's left."
I run my hand over my head. "All that's left. How can that be?"
There's another long pause. "They caught us off guard. Killed half the men in the cruisers before we even realized what was happening. Men were dropping left and right. We returned fire, but it was too late. Our captain," he pauses, "our captain laid come cover fire for us to get Fisher, that's the man who was injured, out of there. We ran into the forest. I tried to go back, but everyone was already dead. We ran deeper into the forest, away from the fighting. Figured the safest place to wait for rescue would be the house. Then I saw you running."
"Our SUV's...we were ambushed, too. It was all a trap. I don't know if any of them are still alive..." I'm numb to the idea that they're all dead. "I have to get to Emi - to our Agent. If anyone's alive, they'll take them there."
Calvin nodded. "We radioed for back up about ten minutes ago. They're sending the entire army down on these guys, but it'll be twenty minutes before they're here."
"I can't wait twenty minutes."
Calvin sighs. "Okay, but I can't let you go alone."
"And I can't ask you to leave your men in hostile territory."
"They're holed up safely. I can radio them and tell them what's happened. I'm coming with you. I want to see that son of a bitch who did this put down."
"We'll circle the field and come up behind the barn."
XXX
It only took us a few minutes to position ourselves. Calvin made contact with his men, and they're both positioned at the opposite end of the field.
There's only a fifty foot clearing between us and the back of the barn. Calvin scans the tree line around us and nods, signaling its safe to advance. Light is streaming from cracks in the barn, but we are concealed in darkness as we make our way forward, lowered to the ground, guns raised.
We're about halfway to the barn when Calvin's radio hisses static. We both drop to the ground. "Hitchcock, this better be good," he whispers.
"There's flashlights in the field." One of his men answers. "Six of them. The men are carrying four hostages: three male and one female."
"Those are my people." I can feel my body relaxing, but at the same time a sickening dread drops my stomach. They're alive, but for how long?
"Can you get a read on their conditions?" Calvin answers back.
There's a moment of static. "The males are all beaten up. One of them is bleeding pretty badly. Looks like he's got a gunshot wound to his left shoulder. Another can barely walk. The female...they've got her stripped down to her undergarments, but I can't see any injuries."
I hiss in disgust and glare in the direction of the barn. I can hear voices now, but the words are mumbled. "Okay. Six unfriendlies. Are they armed?"
"To the teeth."
Calvin and I share a glance. "How long 'til backup?" He murmurs into the radio.
"Fifteen minutes."
I shake my head, telling him that's too long to wait. If we wait fifteen minutes, they'll all be dead.
"We're going in. No more radio."
I fear that his partner might argue with him, but there's only silence on the other side. Calvin motions with his hand for us to continue the advance. The sickening feeling in my stomach doesn't go away. I know the odds. Not everyone will come out of this alive. I could lose someone I love tonight.
I push the panic into a compartment of my mind and focus on the task at hand: saving them and killing the son of a bitch who caused all of this.
EMILY'S POV
I hear the voices before I see the flashlights. Jacob, who is sitting in a chair across the barn, grins at me. "It's time for a reunion, I think, Emily."
"If you touch them, I swear to God-"
The barn door creaks open. The man who carried me here, whose name I learned is Byron, mutters something to whoever's at the door. He disappears outside for a moment and returns carrying someone on his shoulders.
I stop fighting against my restraints. I'm frozen as Byron drops his cargo onto the ground. Rossi rolls over. There's a huge blood stain on his shirt, and his right eye is almost swollen shut. He gripping his left shoulder, and I can see blood still seeping from his wound. "Rossi," I gasp.
He opens his eyes at the sound of my voice. "Emily, don't worry. We're going to get you out of this."
I stare at him. "Rossi, I'm sorry." The guilt brings tears. "I'm so sorry. He's Ian's brother. I'm so sorry." I need him to understand that I never meant for this to happen. I should have let Jacob kill me. I shouldn't have fought to stay alive. If I would have died, their lives would have been spared.
"Emily, listen to me. Look at me!" His voice draws my eyes back to him. "You didn't do this."
I wish that were true, but my family will die because of me. I shake my head and turn away from him.
"Bring the rest of them in." Jacob orders.
I watch in horror as, one by one, my family is brought in and forced to the ground at my feet. Reid's faced is bloodied, and he keeps looking around as if he doesn't know where he is. Hotch is drug in because he can't walk by himself. Blood covers his body. His face is swollen beyond recognition. JJ is stripped down to nothing but her bra and underwear. Bruises cover her arms.
At the sight of them, all the fight drains out of me. Every hope I'd been clinging to to stay alive disappears, shattered by the broken looks in their eyes. I feel weaker than ever and more desperate.
They all stare at me in their own horror. "I'm so sorry," I murmur.
I can feel Lauren's excitement. Their faces as she imagined them are no longer just images. They are real, and they are staring back at me. My worst nightmare, and her deepest wish.
You will know what you did to me, what you put me through.
Jacob stands to his feet. He drags his right leg where I stabbed him with the branding iron. He taps the gun in his hand menacingly against his hip.
You will be the cause of the death of the ones you love. You will withstand your own torture. This is the only fitting end.
I never cried or begged during his torture, but now I do both. "Please, this is between me and you. I killed Ian. Me. Not them. Let them go, and you can do whatever you want with me. I'll do anything. Please, don't kill them." I'm panicking, giving away my life, but I don't care anymore. All that matters is getting them out of this.
"This isn't about Ian anymore."
Lauren's pleasure gags me. If they die, we die, too.
I died a long time ago, she spits.
I see everything in slow motion. Jacob stops behind Rossi. He raises the gun and aims it at the back of Rossi's head.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" I scream. I fight with all my strength against the restraints. My terror turns to rage, and my rage to power. But nothing changes. The ties don't give. The gun in his hand never wavers.
Rossi straightens in preparation. He meets my eyes again. "This is not your fault." He murmurs. It hurts worse that I know he believes it.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry..." I repeat, pushing against the chair and flailing. The terror is everything. "Please, no...I'll do anything." I beg. Tears blur my vision.
Jacob puts his finger to the trigger. "This is your fault." Both he and Lauren say in time.
"All through history there have been tyrants and murderers. And for a time, they can seem invincible, but they always fall, always."
-Mahatma Ghandi-
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