Chapter 11
AN: Warning: some violence...Almost there, I promise.
By the time Penelope got back to the Bureau with Hotch and Emily, she had gone through the stages of guilt and moved on to anger. She was angry with herself for not being completely forthcoming about all that she knew about Tamara. She was angry with Derek for always having to be the hero. She was even angry with Hotch for not letting her tear Tamara's perfectly coiffed head off her uppity shoulders.
And then there was Tamara herself. Penelope could not categorize how she felt about that woman!
As Penelope paced around her office, the emotions she had building within her began to boil her blood. For first time in over fourteen years, she felt homicidal. The last time had been on the night her parents were killed by a drunk driver. By God's intervention, the drunk had died as well, preventing Penelope from killing him. In this instance, a plan was forming. It was time for Penelope to go and get what was hers out of the clutches of that bitch.
Before someone could come looking for her, Penelope emailed the blueprints and the topography of the property to her cell and quickly left. She made a very brief pass through their house to get Derek's back up piece, and change into clothing more suited to the route she planned to take to Derek's prison. Penelope hated guns and all they stood for, but there was no chance she was going to underestimate this woman anymore than they already had.
Tamara's estate backed onto a ravine. She drove along a parallel back road until she found a break in the ravine, parked and hiked through to come out on the farthest end of the property. Although she wasn't the outdoors type, she'd spent enough time with Derek to pick up a few activities she might not have before they got together. She liked to picnic, he liked to explore. Derek knew the locations of a number of rock outcroppings in the area. Oh yes, she had skills now, thanks to her hot stuff, she prayed would aid in saving him. If it was she Tamara wanted, Penelope was about to grant her wish.
But she wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Crouched in the thick of trees at the edge of the property line, Penelope pulled her Asus mini laptop out of the backpack and prayed like mad for a signal. "Perfect," she whispered when Tamara's own unsecured network appeared. A few taps later, she was into her security system. She scanned the cameras looking for the witch and spotted her going down some rock-lined stairs.
She consulted the blueprints and found two things she hadn't expected. One: an outdoor opening to a cellar built into a small hill that could well have been part of the underground railroad in set-up and design. The second: the house appeared to have an extra deep foundation. It could explain the design of the cellar if they were in someway linked, but the blueprints weren't conclusive. Most modern owners tended to use them as cold storage or for some of the freakier UNSUBS they'd come across; a dungeon. Despite the situation, Penelope fought a giggle. She's just crazy enough, she thought.
Penelope set the last five minutes of outside security camera coverage onto a loop and made certain it was working before she left her hiding spot. She made a direct line for the cellar. It wasn't her idea of a good time to crawl along on her stomach to get into the entrance, but she'd do anything to save Derek. Less than a foot in, a pungent odour hit her. Derek had often warned her; the smell of human decay was one anyone would instantly recognize, even if they had never smelled it before. Sure enough, when she switched on the small Mag-lite she had strapped to her wrist, there was a body. He was across the opening into the cellar proper. By the looks of him, some of the local wildlife had found him. Swallowing the bile that rose in her throat, she backed out of the entrance.
Sitting on the ground outside the cellar, she knew she had to call in before she dared to go any farther. It was one thing to assume Tamara was a murderer, quite another to find indisputable proof. The neck of the man was nearly severed through from strangulation. That took some serious strength. "She's bat shit crazy," Penelope said, as Hotch answered after the first ring.
"Where the hell are you, Garcia? God help you if you say what I think you are going to."
"Then I won't say it, bossman. You should know that I have found a body on her property. Not natural causes if you follow me."
"I follow. Stay put! Derek will kill me if anything happens to you. I can't let her get her hands on anymore of my people."
"Agent Hotchner, sir, I respect you but I can't stay put. I can't risk her killing Derek. You know where I am. I'm sending you pictures now. There's your probable cause." Penelope hung up before he could respond, and turned her ringer off.
Getting to her feet, she left her backpack by the cellar entrance, taking only her cellphone and Derek's gun. The gun was strapped to an ankle harness. It wasn't ideal, but she hoped Tamara wouldn't find it if she decided to search her. Ready to do battle now, she marched to the front door.
Bypassing the doorbell, she began banging on the door. It hurt her fist, but it also helped to build her ire. When Tamara came to the door, she was ready when the door opened.
She got in the first shot with a solid punch to her chin, knocking Tamara flat off her feet. The smile on her face was cold like her tone when she spoke, "Hello again, Tamara. Where's MY boyfriend?"
"You think you can just bring your fat ass up into my house and start accusing me of things and demanding stuff?"
Tamara was scrambling to her feet, but Garcia didn't wait for her. She was looking for the opening to the basement. "Stuff and things? Interesting? Hotch was right about you."
"Get out!" Tamara's voice was shrill and indignant.
"No. I know you have Derek but I also know it's really me you wanted. Let him go and you and I will have it out." She was still searching; she wasn't going to let this bitch deter her for even a second.
"You expect me to fight you? Like some sort of common hussy? I have too much culture for such things."
Penelope found the door she believed led to the staircase to the basement and it was ajar. She turned and laughed in Tamara's face. "Was it your culture that taught you to burn down your house with your parents in it? Or how to induce a heart attack in your aunt? Or the best method to nearly cut off the head of the dead man in your cellar? If that's cultured, Tamara, then I am praising God I am a commoner!"
Penelope knew if anyone were to ask her, she would swear she saw the devil himself in Tamara's eyes. The woman pulled an ice pick out of somewhere and came at her. Thankfully, Penelope had gone to all the required self-defense workshops. Ducking and twisting at the last available moment, she was thankful the pick only glanced off her shoulder. Ignoring the pain, she rolled across the same marble floor where she and Derek had shared their first kiss, tripping Tamara and sending the ice pick flying. Now she was hoping for enough time to get to the gun attached to her ankle.
It wasn't going to happen. Tamara scrambled and jumped on top of her like a defensive lineman after Peyton Manning. Penelope was swinging immediately, but Tamara tried to grab her wrists.
"Hold still, you bitch!" she said, her voice a low growl, but Penelope bucked under her, dislodging her enough that her wrist slipped. Pen grabbed a handful of Tamara's hair and yanked with all her might, disappointed it didn't come out at the roots. She never had to do that before in her life; hair was a lot stronger than she thought! She scrambled to her feet, but so did Tamara.
She swung her head back with Pen still grabbing the hair, finally dislodging the clump of hair. The first good punch Tamara got in was directly on her left eye. It absolutely stunned Garcia. She'd never punched anyone, much less been punched.
The murderous rage on Tamara's face was palpable. It was the undoing of whatever composure Tamara might have still been grasping. For the first time since she arrived, Penelope's anger was overridden by fear. She screamed and charged, knocking Penelope towards the doorway leading to the very staircase Penelope was seeking to get down. "You want to see Derek, you cunt? Fine! I'll bring you to him!"
They fought the entire way down the staircase, trading off punches. It was exhausting, but the adrenaline kept them both going. Penelope stumbled; she grabbed Tamara's ankle and the both of them rolled down the last five steps of the stairs.
Tamara landed with a slam on top of her. The impact knocked the wind out of Garcia. She grabbed hold of Penelope's ponytail as she tried to move away from her, and was dragging her by it towards another door. She had to follow or be scalped. She was muttering, too, but Penelope couldn't make out more than Derek's name.
Then worry hit Penelope. She knew she didn't want to end up in whatever dungeon Tamara had, however, she had no choice but to follow. She counted the stairs down. Eighteen. Just as Penelope was hoping she'd let go, Tamara wound her fist into her hair, and swung with the other fist. The pain was bad as her fist connected with her left cheek. She was thankful she hadn't gone for her nose. Either way, being straightened for the punch allowed Penelope close enough to deliver a shot of her own right to Tamara's ribs, and this time she felt give. It might not have been a clean break, but she had at least cracked a rib or two of Tamara's.
She lost her grip on Penelope. Her foot caught Penelope in the left hip as she was turning to make her way back up the stairs. She fell against them instead. Tamara grabbed her ponytail yet again. "This is going to be so much fun; I'll kill him in front of you before I kill you." The venom in her tone made Penelope's blood run cold.
As they emerged into an open space, it was indeed a dungeon and there was her hot stuff, shackled, injured and in nothing but his boxers. Tamara dragged her over to a wall, opened some sort of panel, and removed a gun. Derek must've looked over. She couldn't see him, but she could hear. "Oh my God, Baby Girl!"
Pen started thinking again. If Tamara's hair was that strong, so was hers. Praying she was right, she pitched herself forward. The hair and Tamara both held, and they fell to the ground again. Pen punched again at that same spot on Tamara's ribs and the other woman grunted. With deadly intent, Tamara rolled over and lined the gun up with Pen's temple. "Derek!" she yelled out. "I brought you your cow so you could say good bye before I slaughter it!"
And then a shot rang out.
