Chapter
11
Testing Times
"I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Morgan," Reid said quietly.
Morgan looked across at Reid, and his stomach lurched. Reid looked really ill. His skin was an unhealthy greyish white, and the shadows around his eyes were darker than usual.
"Morgan, I'm going to be sick."
"I'm taking you back to the hospital, Kiddo." Morgan said. "Right now!"
He turned the car in the road and headed back towards the Potomac Hospital.
"Not the hospital, Morgan." Reid said. "Take me back to the BAU."
Morgan stopped the car. "Look Reid, you shouldn't have discharged yourself." He reached over and rested his hand on Reid's arm. "You should be in hospital."
"Derek, I can't. I need to help find Hotch. I need to be out here."
Reid opened the door of the car and stood on the verge. He leaned a hand on the roof of the car and bent forwards. He threw up on the grass. Morgan got out and walked round the front of the car and put his hand on Reid's back, rubbing his spine between his shoulder blades.
"I'll take you back, Reid, but please, please go to the hospital if you feel any worse." Morgan said. "The truth is, we need you on this case." He handed Reid a packet of wipes.
"Thanks. " he said. "I don't think I'd be too good in the field at the moment. I'd be a liability." He held his hands up, and watched them shake.
He wiped his mouth and hands on the wipes, and gave the packet back to Morgan. "So you'll take me back to the BAU?"
Morgan nodded, pressing his lips together resignedly. "Only if you promise to call the hospital if you get any worse."
"Ok." Reid got back into the car and rested his head back on the head rest. Morgan started the engine and rejoined the traffic.
-0-0-0-
Spencer sat in Garcia's bunker, (Morgan had said he was to stay with her at all times.) going over the case files again and again. He could remember every word that was written, but sometimes looking at them again, new things jumped out at him.
Nothing was jumping. He sighed and slapped the papers down on the desk.
"I need coffee. You want one?"
"Mmm." Garcia said, not really listening. Reid got up and made his way to the kettle. He made his with extra sugar. He could think better in a sugar rush, and he surely needed to think at the moment. He took the mugs back to Garcia, and put Garcia's down on a shelf beside her desk. She didn't acknowledge him, intent as she was on the screen in front of her. Reid went back to the pile of paper he had been going through.
There had to be something. The third day was starting, and they still had no idea where the UnSubs were holding Aaron, or any clue as to why they were. There had been no ransom demand, no contact with the media or police, and there hadn't been any civilians injecting themselves into the investigation.
They needed Aaron for something. If they could work out what they needed him for, maybe they would be able to track him down before it was too late.
-0-0-0-
The night creatures didn't return after the door closed. Aaron realised that it must be morning. He moved slightly, his left arm and shoulder were tingling where he had been laying on them, and it hurt as the blood flowed to his finger tips again. He tilted his head, listening for any signs that his kidnappers were retuning. When he heard the door open, his stomach heaved.
Again, no-one spoke. Aaron was pushed onto his front, and he felt his wrist restraints being cut. His arms fell apart to his sides, and he made a crying sound in his throat as his muscles protested at being moved. Hands grabbed his ankles and he was dragged across the concrete floor. Then hands lifted him and he was sat on a chair. The agony was indescribable, a thousand blades ripping his insides asunder. His head back, he wanted to scream, the sounds of distress from his throat rising unbidden, tears filling the hollows of his eyes behind the tape.
The restraints around his knees and ankles were cut, and his feet were twisted around the backs of the chair legs and taped in place. Then more was wrapped around his chest and arms holding his body against the back of the chair, his hands falling at his sides.
His shoulder sent waves of pain through him, he thought he was going to faint. Suddenly, and without warning, the breathing tubes were removed. Instantly his swollen damaged airways were cut off, and breathing became impossible. Ha made frightened sounds in his throat, not understanding why they were torturing him. It went against everything that he had worked out about them.
They needed him as a test subject, so they needed him fairly healthy to get accurate results. Yet they couldn't seem to help hurting him. It was senseless and frightening.
He stopped thinking about it as his body was deprived of oxygen. He tried to force his airway open, and he panicked, shaking his head from side to side and shuddering with desperation.
He felt something metal and cold against his temple, and the layers of duct tape across his eyes were ripped away. Some of his eye lashes were ripped away with it. He blinked painfully in the sudden light, and he saw Nixon in front of him, holding the scissors, smiling. Aaron's eyes were huge and terrified, as he gradually suffocated. He pressed his toes on the floor and clenched and unclenched his left hand.
Then Nixon spoke. "I will cut away the tape across your mouth now. If you speak, or scream, or make any other sound, I will replace it. Do you understand?"
Aaron tried to nod his head. His oxygen starved muscles refused to co-operate, and he just stared at Nixon, his life giver.
A hand grasped his fringe and lifted him up from the floor. He pushed his face close to Aaron's.
"Do you understand?"
Aaron's eyes rolled upwards and he fainted. Nixon pushed him back down again angrily. He slid the scissors between the tape and his cheek, and cut through the layers. He pulled the tape away, removing delicate skin from Aaron's lips, blood welling up and running down his chin. His head slumped forwards.
Nixon slapped Aaron's face as hard as he could, hoping to waken him. His head jerked to the side, but he remained unconscious. For a moment, Nixon thought he might have gone too far and killed him. He felt his neck for a pulse, and was pleased when he found one.
Nixon called to Markus. "Get some water, will you, to wake him up." he shouted. "He's at least got to start the trial conscious!"
As Markus handed Nixon the water, he looked warily at the blood trail across the floor where the test subject had been dragged. Nixon noticed.
"Don't look so nervous. I know you came back for more last night."
Markus flinched as Nixon moved his arm, and Nixon laughed.
"It's ok, I know what you are. When he's dead, you can have him back!"
Markus smirked. Things were getting better and better.
Nixon threw the ice cold water at Aaron's face. He groaned weakly, and attempted to lift his head. He saw Markus staring at him greedily; Markus, the one who owned him, the one to whom he belonged, the one for whom his death would mean something. He lowered his head in humiliation, filled with self loathing and abhorrence at his own helplessness. Tears of shame flooded his face and fell silently. Markus pulled his head back by the hair, so that he was looking into the pale eyes of Nixon, the man who was to become his executioner. He smiled at Aaron, holing up a small vial of clear liquid.
"This," he said, "Is a dilute form of the newly developed Ricin. You will feel the effects within a minute of ingestion. All we need to know is, will it kill you." He snapped the top off the glass vial. "All you need to do, is die."
Markus yanked Aaron's head back as far as he could. Aaron's eyes watered; he thought Markus was going to break his neck, Aaron felt something give and pain echoed through his brain. Nixon tipped the tiny drop of liquid into Aaron's throat. Desperate not to swallow it, he coughed and choked on it. But Markus held his jaw closed, and, fighting again for breath, he swallowed the poison.
Markus let go of Aaron's face, and his head fell forward again.
Markus and Nixon sat on the table and watched the first test.
