Chapter 13: Let Me Go
There was another video, but it was different from the others. In all the other ones JJ looked strong, and hopeful, but not in this one. In this video she looked small. The fire in her eyes was no longer there. It was replaced with something much darker.
Instead of using drugs this time, Michael used his fists. He kept asking JJ over and over again questions that she didn't have the answers to. Each blow she received was like a blow to each team member's heart. All they could do was watch and hope that there would be a hidden clue somewhere.
Garcia was looking up any places that Michael Hastings family may have owned. He has been a ghost for three years though, so it was hard to track him down.
JJ was hit one more time, and that punch made the chair she was tied to tip over with her still in it. Michael smiled with glee at the situation. Reid was startled by the noise of the chair cracking, he accidentally knocked over a picture of JJ, Henry and Will, that was on her desk. The frame broke as it hit the floor.
Cruz bent down to help Reid pick up the broken glass, but was shocked when his eyes looked at another object laying on the floor among the broken shards of glass. One that must have been lodged into the back of the frame for who knew how long. It was a hard-drive.
2010, May 19th, Unidentified location:
JJ was having a hard time getting air into her lungs. Between the choking and her broken ribs she knew she didn't have much time left. Her captors were getting angry and losing patience fast. JJ wasn't cooperating with them, and they knew that her team was hot on their heels.
She was on her knees with her arms still hanging above her head. JJ's eyes were closed as her head was down facing the dirt covered floor. She was bruised, bloody and scared. OJ walked in a grabbed her face roughly with his two large hands. The sudden movement made her gasp in pain and he smiled.
"We don't need you anymore," he said and JJ's heart dropped.
The next thing she knew, she was being dragged up to the roof of the factory she was being held in. Tears were freely running down her cheeks. This was the end.
All the pain she was in didn't seem to matter. The only thing she could think about was never seeing Will or Henry again. Never talking to her old team again. Never telling everyone in her life how much she loved them. Her tears were mixing with her blood as they reached the roof.
It was dark out, and the cold air chilled JJ to the bone. She looked up and saw the millions of stars in the sky. She hoped that after death she would have a good fate awaiting her. Maybe she would see her sister again, or her dad, or Michael. OJ said something about them two being the only ones left in the building. That once he did what he had to do, he would leave and no one would ever find her body. JJ was too busy contemplating her life to really care.
She was on the ledge of the side of the building, her hands were no longer tied, and the only sound was of the chirping of the crickets. They say that when you're about to die your life flashes before you, but not for JJ. All she saw were the faces of everyone she would leave behind, everyone who she would miss the most. JJ closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate.
I hope they move on without me. They deserve that.
All of a sudden she heard two gunshots go off, and pain erupted in her left shoulder. JJ felt herself being dragged off the ledge. She panicked and tried to grab onto the side, but she was too weak. She felt her hands began to slip and just before she was about to let go, someone grabbed her hand.
"I've got you JJ," said Cruz.
He had a cut on the side of his face, and bags under his eyes, but that was all. AS relieved as JJ was, half of his body was also hanging off the ledge and he couldn't bring them both up. Michael was already dead, she wasn't going to lose another team mate.
"Let me go," she said.
The swat team was still clearing the building, and JJ was in so much pain. It was too late for her but not for him.
"Just hold on a little longer, JJ," said Cruz with tears in his eyes.
He didn't want to lose another agent, but it was getting harder for him to hold onto JJ. She knew that and begun to loosen her hold on his hand.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Just then SWAT rushed in and pulled both Cruz and JJ up from the ledge. Before JJ could process what had happened, she was being rushed into an ambulance. She could here Cruz tell her that she was gonna be okay, but he was wrong. She was broken. Before she lost consciousness she remembered one important detail. She remembered the hard-drive that was in her front shirt pocket.
There was a mole in the team, so she couldn't tell anyone about it. Not even Cruz. She had to keep it safe until she was positive nothing bad would happen. If only she knew that bad things had just begun.
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