Chapter 14: Feelings unveiled
Pete finishes his work on the shop and slowly puts away his tools, getting ready to close the shop before going to the back to the hidden workroom. However, before leaving the shop, he glances at the black SUV sitting at the door, and nods at Morgan and Reid inside of it. They wave back at him, and Pete closes the window panes and leaves.
Once he arrives in his workroom, he finds a desolated Moni staring at the replay of the recorded video surveillance showing the skinny fed talking passionately to the camera. There are tear tracks on her face and her eyes are red, but dry.
He walks up to the comfy chair she is sitting, with her legs under herself, and puts a hand on her shoulder and gives it a friendly squeeze.
"He seems to be a good man."
She bites her upper lip, and Pete can clearly see her eyes shining with unshed tears, which she refuses to let go.
"I know. He's one of the best."
Pete squeezes her shoulder again and looks at the screen of the other computer where his cryptography program was left running. He walks up to it and types a series of commands, and soon a new screen pops up.
"Hey, honey, I'm in."
She turns the chair, and looks at him with tired eyes. Pete sits down before the computer station and starts typing gain.
"What's in that junk that is so important that so many lives were destroyed for it?"
"Let's find out."
Another screen pops up, and a series of jpeg files appear on the screen.
"Pictures. Lots of them."
He turns to her, and she nods, bringing her chair to his side.
"I've known that. They're from a party in a big house with purple and red sunset on it. At least that was I've seen in the first pics."
Pete nodded, and turns to the computer. With only one click, he changes the view display of the pictures, and puts it on a slide show.
"Time to find out why people are dying for this."
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"Did you really mean what you've said in there?" Morgan asks Reid, who had been watching the door of the electronic shop for a long time without saying a word, which was very uncharacteristic for him. Usually he would be speaking a thousand words per minute, informing them of some data hidden somewhere in that huge brain of his.
"Which part?"
"The part you said you care. That you care about her."
Reid sighs and looks down at his hands, "I feel responsible for her."
Morgan studies Reid and says softly, "Somehow, I think that responsibility is the least she wants you to feel for her." Reid looks up from his hands at Morgan, and sees that the black profiler is dead serious. "I've seen the way she gazed at you, back in the precinct, and considering what you told us about your encounter and what we know has happened to her before that, I don't think it's just an infatuation on her part."
"What are you talking about? Are you implying that she … " Reid gulps, and forces himself to continue, "…that she somehow is in love with me? We've just met. We barely know each other. It doesn't make any sense. She can't love me."
Morgan watches the door again, and says softly, "That doesn't mean a thing on the matters of the heart, kid. Sometimes all it takes is a look, a glance, a word." He looks again at Reid, who is staring straight ahead with a lost expression on his face. "All I know is… once a girl is sexually assaulted, she usually abhors the idea of intimacy, even with her loved ones. In our own job, we've seen what a rape can do with vics. Some will never let a man touch them again. But Moni, she ran straight to you. Into your arms. I haven't spoken much with the kid, but … she wouldn't have done that if she didn't trust you intrinsically to protect her… and heal her. And in cases like this, only love can heal these wounds."
"I don't know how to feel about her. I don't know if I should feel anything about her." Reid finally admits, then glances at Morgan. "She confuses me and, at the same time, makes me laugh. For some reason, she thinks I'm wonderful… and perfect. She told me that. Nobody has ever looked at me like she did when we were together, like I was the most important person she has ever met."
"Do you still have any doubts about her feelings for you?" Morgan asks softly, and Reid shakes his head, looking again at the door of the shop, and he notices a patrol car slowly coming up the road and stopping in the other side of the street.
"No, but I don't know what to do when I finally see her again."
"Don't worry, kid. Trust your instincts. You've done well so far; you will do well next time you see her."
Morgan looks at the uniformed cop coming out of the patrol car, approaching the SUV. He lowers the window to talk the officer who walks up to his window.
"Hey, officer. Are you here to release us?"
"In a matter of speaking, yes."
He points his gun to Morgan's face.
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"Pete, why is he doing that with her? She doesn't want to."
Pete gulps as he watches the pictures appearing in the slide show. Each made him feel queasier on his stomach, and he felt more and more disgusted at the acts being performed in there.
"Pete, they are just kids, why is he hurting them? Why?" sobs Moni, and hides her face in her hands, trying to forget the images burnt on her brain.
"They don't want to do that. Why is he forcing them?" Pete hears Moni anguished question, and turns to her and hugs her, hiding her face on his shoulder as she sobs for the children in the pictures, having their innocence stolen just for the fun and pleasure of evil men.
He runs his hands through her dark brownish curls, and murmurs on her ear, as she sobs in his arms.
"Moni, listen to me. This is serious. These men are bad, but powerful. Only in the first pictures I could recognize the mayor's son, two or three politicians and the police commissioner's son-in- law. That's why you can't trust the cops, because they are probably trying to cover it up."
"Noooo."
"Listen, you can't fight them alone. If you go to the cops, they will bury this as fast as possible. It would be a scandal. That's why they want this so badly. We need help."
"They are hurting children, Pete. They are hurting them as they've hurt me."
"I know sweetheart. That's why we need someone we can trust. Someone who cares."
She lifts her face from his shoulder. "Spence cares. He would know what to do."
He nods, "I know. That's why I'm going out to call him inside. He needs to know what's going on. We must trust him with this. You understand what I'm saying."
She nods, "He might not love me like I do, but he cares about what's right. He hunts these people. He would care about the children."
"Good. Now stay here, don't open the door to anyone, and I'll bring him to talk to you in no time, ok?"
Moni nods, her curly hair bobbing around her tear stricken face, and Pete stands up, kisses her forehead in a paternal gesture before leaving her alone, walking in fast steps towards the shop and the FBI agents sitting outside in the car and leaving Moni alone with the horrifying pictures of innocence lost.