Chapter 11 - Grace Alone

Katherine, Hayley, and Agent Jareau sat in the back of the FBI van for what felt like an eternity. Jason had left them for a spell, mainly to check in on Kim since he heard they were conducting interviews.

"Any word on when we can get moved to a location with a bit more space?" Hayley asked, her tone bit with a slight annoyance.

"We're working with local law enforcement on that," Jareau replied. "Look," she started turning towards the pair. "I know this hasn't been easy. And I know the back of a van on a hot, stuffy day isn't exactly high-class accomodations. But our job is to keep you off the grid and move you in the safest way possible.

"We know," Kat replied. "We trust you, and we're grateful."

"It'll be nice when we catch Schmidt and this is all over with," Hayley added. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and saw an unlisted number come up.

"Don't..." Jareau tried to stop her, but she picked up the phone just as she tried to stop her.

"Hello?" Hayley asked.

"Am I happy to hear your voice."

"Tommy!?" Hayley screamed.

"The guy that was captured?" Jareau asked, to which Kat gave a thumbs up.

"Where are you?" Hayley asked.

"I'm not sure," Tommy replied. "They took me to some compound out near Fremont. I'm in a gift shop attached to a truck stop right now, they're letting me use their private line."

"Where's Fremont?" Hayley asked Agent Jareau.

"It's about twenty minutes from here," she replied.

"You think we could get to him in time?" Kat asked.

"That could be dangerous," Jareau warned. "What if they beat us to him?"

"It's a chance I'm willing to take," Hayley replied, and then turned her attention back to the phone.

"Look Tommy, we're coming to get you, what's the name..."

"Hayley, wait!" Jareau stopped her. Hayley's eyes pierced a proverbial hole through Jareau.

"Hold on one second, Tommy." She set the phone down, and then looked into Jareau's eyes. "Look, I get that it's your job to protect us. But Tommy's on the phone right now, ready to give us his location to save him. And I'll be damned if you keep us from getting to him. So, you can either drive us there in this van, or I'm getting out and getting into one of the cars we came in, unprotected. Your choice."

"You don't get to make that decision," Jareau challenged. "I get that you care for your friend, but let me get local law enfo..."

"The same policemen that are taking hours to find us two-star accomodations?" Hayley shot back.

"Look, Agent Jareau, would it be possible to swing by where Jason went to and pick him up?" Kat asked, reasonable in her tone. "This way we'd have more adequate protection, and we can hopefully get to Tommy before Sebastian can find him." Jareau smirked for a moment, and then held her radio up to her mouth.

"Hotch, we have a location for Dr. Oliver, we need Lt. Scott to come with us to retrieve him."

"What about the other witnesses?" Hotch asked over the radio.

"They're coming with me," she replied.

"Are you sure about this?" Hotch asked, his voice filled with uncertainty.

"I think it's the best way to get to him on time," she replied, looking at Hayley and Kat intently as she said it.

"Ok, I'll have Jason meet you out by the front door," he replied. "We have to assume that soon word will break out that we've been meeting here at the University, and that in turn will make its way out to Schmidt."

"What do we do then?" Jareau asked.

"Hopefully, we see them coming and we arrest them," Hotch replied. "Be here in five."

Jareau drove the van over to the athletics facility, picking Jason up. He got into the front seat and strapped himself in. "Word is you found Tommy?"

"He called Hayley," Kat replied from the back.

"Let's get moving then," Jason replied. "Where we going?

"Fremont," Jareau replied.

*Fremont, CA – Jerry's Gift Shop and Boutique*

Tommy hung up the phone and wondered over to the front desk, where he met the owner of the store behind the front counter. The walls were lined with toys, postcards, and other touristy type things. The gift shop was attached to a truck stop with some gas pumps, and while the gas station portion was large, the actual parking lot didn't have much to it. Tommy gazed out the window for a moment, looking to see if his captors were far behind, and then after a moment he turned to the man behind the counter.

"Thanks for letting me use the phone... and for letting me have the clothing," Tommy mentioned as he placed a 'Stanford' baseball cap on his head. He also wore a beige shirt that said 'I love California,' and had a pair of low quality flip-flops on his feet.

"No problem," The man, undoubtedly Jerry, replied. He was middle-aged, balding, but was in decent shape and had a bit of a ponytail in the back, along with some facial hair. "Sounds like you've been through hell."

"You don't know the half of it," Tommy replied. He looked up to see out the picture window a couple of black SUV's that rolled up into the small parking lot. "That's them. Is there a back exit?" He asked as he noticed Sebastian's goons get out of the car, not exactly hiding the fact that they were armed.

"Go through to the truck stop, head to the restrooms. There's a door that leads to the back of the building."

"Thanks," he replied, and turned to run. Just as he cleared the gift shop part of the establishment, three of the Sebastian's men entered through the door.

"Can I help yo..." Before Jerry could say a word, the gunman shot him dead. The shot was fired with a silencer, so no one had been alerted to their presence.

"No witnesses," the gunman whispered to his wingmen. "Take out the security cameras, remove the body, find the target, take him out."

Tommy sneakily moved past the few people in the truck stop, and found himself in the hallway that led to the restrooms, where he found the door that Jerry had been talking about. He cracked it open slowly, making sure no one was waiting for him behind it. It was seemingly unguarded, so he opened it further and slithered outside, but not before one of the gunmen saw him from inside.

"He's here!" He yelled, unloading ammunition at his target. Tommy looked both ways, considering what would be his best course of action. He could run and hope he could slip his assailants, or he could wait for his attacker to come through the door and subdue him, and then go on the offensive. But how many were there? He counted three, but there were two SUVs. They wouldn't have brought two vehicles...

His thoughts were interrupted by the door swinging open, and on instinct, Tommy kicked the door back, crunching the attacker in the doorway. Tommy saw the gun slightly outside the doorframe, and he kicked it away from the man. The gunman quickly gathered himself and dove for his weapon, but Tommy beat him to it. He was wrestled to the ground, struggling to have the weapon, when Tommy, who was pinned down, was able to point the gun into the man's chest and pulled the trigger. Blood began to spill from the man's mouth, his body went rigid, and Tommy thrust the assailant to the ground.

He picked himself up and ran as best as he could, stained by blood on his flesh and shirt. A few seconds later, the others burst through the door to find their comrade down on the concrete, dead. Tommy peered around the corner to see the two others kneeling beside him, and then saw him pull out his radio.

"Come to the back of the building at once," Tommy heard him say. "Mueller is dead. Target is still alive."

Tommy slid the flip flops off his feet, knowing full well that they would make enough noise to alert them to his location, and he snuck around the building, trying to think of where he could go to evade his pursuers. He looked over to see a large semi fueling up, and he briefly considered running towards it. But as he listened he could hear the pair of gunmen coming his way, and that would be a fruitless endeavor. However, as he glanced over, he saw that was another door that led back inside. He gently pulled the handle of the door, only to find it was locked. He pulled the gun that he took off the assailant and shot at the lock, again with a silencer, and he then pulled the door and gently shut it, just before the other gunmen could see him.

He found himself in a large freezer that stored the made to order food of the truck stop, and he used the deadbolt that hadn't been used, to keep the assailants at bay for the time being. He wandered through the cold space, his feet very quickly feeling the affects of the extreme temperatures.

"I won't be able to stay in here for long," he expressed aloud. "I've got to warn Hayley and Katherine about what they are walking into." He sat down and picked his feet up, trying to avoid touching his bare feet to the freezing cold floor. He closed his eyes and sat in peace for a few minutes, only being jostled back to reality when the outside door was being shot at.

"Open up!" The gunman screamed. "We know you're in there!" Tommy moved towards away from the door, hoping to find his way back into the main part of the truck stop. He found his way into the convenience store part, where he saw two more armed men searching, weapons drawn. He crouched down behind a couple of the aisles that contained various bags of chips, beef jerky, and candy bars, and used the aisle as a divider between him and his captors. He drew his gun and pulled out the clip, revealing he had four bullets.

"Great," Tommy muttered under his breath. "One for each of the bad guys. What I wouldn't give for a blade blaster right about now." He moved slowly to get better position, when he heard the front door open. The other men entered, four of them all searching for him. Tommy looked over behind the counter of the convenience portion of the building, only to find that the woman working the counter had been killed, along with the two customers who were there beforehand. Tommy took a deep, but silent, breath, and considered his options. He knew if he didn't act, they would find him and kill him. But if he did act, he only had four shots. Even if he could get one or two of them, there was no guarantee he could get another one of their weapons before they got to him.

Tommy looked up at the glass that sheltered the refrigerated items, and saw a very faint reflection of the four men. He grabbed a couple of the individual bags of chips and a candy bar, and while the four were looking over towards the freezer, he threw them behind the counter of the dead man.

The four pointed their weapons to where they heard the sound. Two of them started to make their way over, the others trailing them. Tommy took the opportunity to fire at the men trailing, using three shots to hit the pair. The others pointed and fired, missing as Tommy stayed low. One of the men was dead, while the other reached for his weapon, gasping for air. Tommy used his last bullet to kill him, and then quickly grabbed his weapon and hid himself as best as he could.

The remaining gunmen began to make their way back to Tommy, aiming their guns. Tommy knew he would have to make his shots count, and they'd have to be quick.

The gunmen however fell to the ground as loud, unsilenced shots rang through the air. Tommy looked to find Jason and agent Jareau, who had shot through the windows, entering inside.

"We're clear," Jareau replied.

"Tommy!" Jason shouted, running to his long-time friend. They embraced, Tommy had a tear in his eye.

"Thanks, bro."

"Don't mention it," Jason added. "Just, next time, listen to us when we tell you that something is a bad idea," he chided him.

"Where's Kim? Is she safe?"

"She's with Morgan and the FBI. We can get you up to speed. Do you know where Sebastian is?"

"There's a compound, probably about three to five miles from here, due west. Dude, it's sad. Women that had probably been trafficked and coerced for years are huddled in a room there."

"We'll rescue them," Jason replied. "First, we need to get you back to Stanford."

"Stanford?"

"Long story short, we found out that Sebastian was using the football team as a way to operate his business. We can fill you in more as we get you back there." They made their way back to the van, Tommy and Agent Jareau exchanging pleasantries. He opened the door to find Kat and Hayley, the latter of whom jumped up and gave Tommy a hug.

"You gave us all a big scare, Tommy," Hayley whispered. "I was afraid you might have..."

"Hey... I'm back, like always," he reassured her. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."

"That's what I'm here for," she grinned.

*Stanford University – Athletic Center*

A tall, slender, dark-skinned young man walked out of the facility in a rush. He pulled out his phone out of his jeans and dialed a number.

"Yes?" A voice on the other line said.

"This is Carlos Thompson, I'm one of the players you supplied..."

"We had an arrangement," the voice replied. "No communication except through boosters."

"I know, but I'm spooked. You said we wouldn't get caught, right?"

"You won't get caught if you follow directions, which you're clearly not..."

"The FBI is here, along with some girl helping them ID folks. Are they here for us?" The voice on the other line didn't speak for a while. "Sir?"

"What's her name?"

"Hell if I know..."

"Don't worry Carlos... everything will be all right." He hung up, Carlos confused as the line cut off. Back at the compound, Sebastian Schmidt closed his phone, and looked at his remaining men. "We're going to Stanford to tie up a loose end."

To be continued...

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- Googz333