Disclaimer: Criminal Minds belongs to CBS and I am only playing in their universe. This story has a femslash theme. If this is not your thing, please find another
story to read.
Author's note: Finally able to write again - hope to be back on schedule for the rest of the story.
"That will wrap up the second round of our event. All purchases will need to be finalized in the next fifteen minutes." Spencer Reid's voice rang through the bidding area. Mr. B was amazed at the activity in the auction. It was nothing like he had ever experienced before, the bidding was brisk and totally vicious. He found it invigorating and so much more satisfying than the phone call deals that usually framed his business dealings. Mr. B was pleased that Ramon had not steered him wrong. Vegas, Ann and Mac had controlled the bidding from the start. It didn't mean they always won. In fact one of the big wheels was having a very bad night indeed.
Mr. B had joined Mac in his room for the beginning of the event. The stoic man actively participated from the very start of the event. He was unaffected as the first two lots had been taken in grand style by two large overriding bids right at the end of rapid bidding. Even through the viewing rooms were darkened there was really no doubt who had offered the winning bids. "It is just Vegas beating his chest," Mac chuckled just loud enough for Mr. B to hear. After the first two rounds the bidding process had been just as active but there was no huge bid at the end. The group was forcing the overall prices up just enough that if Vegas wanted to sweep the merchandise he would be spending a great deal of money. Mr. B smiled as Mac took the next few lots with no problem. Nodding to the quiet man, Bossman excused himself and move to visit the next room. As the door shut Hotch tapped his earpiece and said, "Heads up Alex, he is heading your way."
Mr. B almost closed the door without entering when he realized he had opened the door to Ann's viewing room. Before he could back out she saw him so he moved forward taking the seat next to her. Alex did her best to make the man uncomfortable. She held a clipped conversation with him and then told him that since he had nothing better to do than sit around he needed to go get her drink refilled. She held the glass out to Mr. B as if he was nothing more than a servant. He bristled but took the glass with a thin smile and left her room. Alex tapped her earpiece, "Morgan he is heading down the hall. Rossi get ready."
Bossman slammed the empty glass into the chest of one if Ramon's staff and barked the order Alex had given him. He did not like most women and that Ann woman did not change anything. Still grumbling he spun and turned right into the right hand man of Vegas.
Morgan stood still as the man bounced off him and stumbled back a step. Holding Mr. B with steely eyes, Derek waited a moment then asked him to join Rossi in his viewing room. Mr. B had no choice but to accept the invitation. When he entered the viewing room the tension was palatable. Vegas was treating this auction like a sporting event and he was losing. The last of the second round was ending, and the outlandishly dressed man was beside himself that he had only won two of the lots. Turning abruptly Vegas narrowed his eyes and said, "Mr. B, I have a request." His tone was flat and all business. "These yahoos are driving up every lot and I am coming up short. I want you to offer the last group as a lump, all the merchandise in one lot to finish out the auction. What do you say?"
Mr. B considered the offer. The auction had made him a considerable amount of money and he risked offending the rest of the group by doing this. "I don't think that the other members…" Vegas cut him off.
"Okay, let me put it this way. I will make it worth your while to do this. You might even say I would owe you a favor if you did this." The way Vegas said this made it seem that this man did not owe favors very often. Ramon and the all the others had acted as if this man was some big shot. There was no time to gather information on Vegas but from what he had seen having this man in his pocket would be a good thing. Mr. B could not help but smile to himself. "Even the most dangerous of these people were eating out of his hand. They were no better than the people he normally associated with," he thought to himself. "They just have so much more money."
"Of course Mr. Vegas, I believe that this can be arranged. I do however expect that the final bid will be more than enough to convince me that I have done the right thing." He left the room with a bounce in his step. Rossi watched him go and then tapped his earpiece, "Ramon you have incoming. All is on schedule."
Emily and JJ had been picked up at the relay van's location by Ramon's men and, following Penelope's coordinates, drove to the semis holding the third group of captives. The three men that they had taken down at the van were hauled away to a holding area set up by the multiagency task force JJ had set up. As they arrived at the captives' location, much to JJ's disappointment, Mr. B's men had already been taken out. JJ's adrenaline was still pumping from her encounter with Jones and she was itching for another fight. Checking on the precious cargo, both Emily and JJ shuttered at the state of the young women in the trailers. JJ, more than anyone there, felt for the girls. They were dressed in the same type of outfit she had worn and looked to be in much the same shape she had been in before she was rescued by Emily. After ensuring that the girls would reach Linda and medical attention, Emily and JJ rode back close to the compound and then made their way back into the house. Once inside they used some of the back hallways to make it to the command center.
Reid was grinning as they entered. "Things are on schedule here, how'd it go?" he asked.
"We have the semis and JJ threatened to shoot me in the leg." said Emily as she reached to exchange earpieces.
"Good and really Emily who hasn't wanted to shoot you in the leg at some point?" said Reid with a smile to JJ who laughed at young man's remark and the look on Emily's face.
They all smiled as they watched Bossman move to find Ramon to make the new arrangements. Emily hit her earpiece, "Hey Garica, how's the loop running?"
"It's a movie worthy of an academy award." Came the fast reply, Penelope was in catch the bad guy mode and her tone reflected it.
Next Emily contacted Linda in the medical area, "Linda how are things going?"
"Crazy, my darling girl, crazy, we are swamped. These people are in terrible shape and they just brought in the group from the trucks. Young girls drugged up similar to what JJ experienced. This whole operation is run by sick bastards that deserve to burn in hell." The doctor said without any of the calm distance you might expect from a medical professional.
Emily heard the tension in her friend's voice and knew she was thinking of the past and her niece's experience. "Linda," Emily said not making any effort to mask her concern, "You going to be okay with this, if it hits too close…"
"Emily Prentiss if you are insinuating that I can't handle myself then you can…" Linda was interrupted before she said something stupid. "I have to go. Out" she snapped and Emily's earpiece went dead.
"It's just stress Em, she didn't mean anything by that," said JJ trying to say something comforting. Emily's face was void of emotion, but JJ knew that Linda's remark had stung. "What's next?"
Before Emily could answer Ramon's deep voice filled the bidding area, "Please resume for places for the last auction lot." The last part of the sting was in action. The command area watched as Mr. B followed Rossi and Morgan back into the viewing room.
Reid's voice was the next sound to fill the area. "All purchases have been cleared. Today's final lot will be a group of twenty women ages estimated nineteen to twenty-three. Due to the high numbers involved in this group viewing will be through video feed. Look to your screens now." Garcia's looped video of the trailers ran and no one would be the wiser that the trucks were now empty. Spencer spoke again, "The group will be auctioned as one lot only. Bidding may begin now."
Emily hit her earpiece, "Remove the extras and take out the exterior guards" With the exception of Rossi's viewing room, the rest of the viewing room doors opened and very cautiously all the rest of the participants left the barn and moved quickly to the house. The extra medical staff joined Linda, Alex and Hotch joined the team in the command room and Ramon's people joined him as he secured his household. On the outside of the compound Mr. B's guards were quietly overwhelmed and taken to the holding area.
"Two million dollars," said Rossi through gritted teeth as he spoke through the intercom. Mr. B was pleased with the final bid amount. He held his congratulation just in case someone else tried to sneak in a last bid but he really had not expected it. The bid was forced much higher that anticipated and Vegas was fuming. After waiting the mandatory five minutes the lot was awarded to Vegas. The man slammed his hand down on the counter. He spun and looked at Mr. B, "This lot better be worth it."
"Of course it will be," snapped Mr. B. He was getting sick and tired of dealing with these people. "Maybe Crystal had been on to something only meeting with them once a year." he thought to himself. On the other hand he had just made close to three million dollars in one night with little to no hassle. The door to the viewing room opened and Reid came in with his laptop in tow.
"Final payment is required in fifteen minutes," the moneyman said and Rossi pulled a card from his pocket and gave it to Reid. Spencer sat so Bossman could indirectly see the screen and he pulled up the program Garcia had set up and began busily entering the numbers.
Mr. B watched the moneyman enter all the numbers and then caught a flash of Vegas' account. He growled to himself as he saw the balance that flashed, Vegas had been holding out. Mr. B thought of the favor that Vegas had promised him. He would definitely make him pay. The moneyman switched screens and opened the screen that must be for the nights exchanges. Mr. B saw the balance jump with the newly transferred amount. Swinging the laptop so it faced Bossman, Reid said in his best crooked business man voice, "Verify the amount in the account please." Everyone turned and looked to Mr. B. He stepped up and agreed that the total was correct. "I will now transfer that amount to your account, minus my agreed upon fee." Said moneyman Reid as he moved to type but a hand was placed on the screen.
"I have a different account for you to use," said Bossman, "but I run this event now so I will type the numbers in." he pushed Reid's hands away and typed in a new set of numbers and then a different URL. Reid thought somewhere he heard Penelope Garcia singing 'We are the champions'. "Finish it," said Mr. B who watched as the transfer cleared. Reid snapped the lid of the laptop down and excused himself from the room. Looking at Vegas, Mr. B said, "Ramon or I will be in touch with you soon. Thank you for attending today. I do look forward to working with you in the future." He held his hand out to Rossi.
Rossi smiled a mean grin and grabbed the offered hand in an overly firm grip, "Oh, I think you will be joining me to check out my purchase. Let's go look at my merchandise now." then grabbed the door and walked out of the room. Morgan held the door but Mr. B pulled out his phone out and placed a call.
This wasn't in the plan. This had been a debate for the team, should they kill Mr. B's phone? It was decided that it was too big of a risk. If he had made a call early on the whole operation might have been outed. The idea was for the last part of the sting to take place at the truck site but they had to work on the fly now. Whatever happened they would roll with it. They were so close to taking this man and his whole setup down.
Emily looked for any ideas as a phone they confiscated at the truck site began to ring on their counter. With no other choice Hotch picked it up. "Get the truck to the compound." growled the Bossman and Hotch replied with a grunting sound and hung up. Everyone stared at their boss but he just shrugged his shoulders. What else were they going to do?
The nondescript reply did not faze Bossman in the least. He was totally focused on the antics of Vegas. The man was going on and on about how badly the auction had gone. Mr. B finally pulled himself away from the man and look around for someone to save him from having to deal with this crazy man's whining. He sighed in relief as he saw Ramon standing at the exit.
Ramon met the small group at the barn door. They were joined by the six men that Mr. B had brought with him. They were now a concern. There was a plan in place to neutralize them on the trip to the trucks but now they were six armed men that needed to be handled if things went wrong.
JJ was on the move without waiting. She stopped by the armory and picked up a gun that would work as a sniper rifle and headed to the roof. Alex and Hotch moved out as well, switching position to the front room to be closer to the action if need be. Reid was on communications with the various police and law enforcement in the area. Emily was stuck in the command center watching. She hated it. She hit her earpiece. "Linda, are you talking to me."
"Of course I am talking to you my darling I am just not always saying nice things." said the doctor with a tone that let Emily know that all was forgiven for now at least.
"We have an issue," said Emily, "Instead of traveling to the trucks, Mr. B called them to drive here. The final phase is going down in the front courtyard."
"Damn it," hissed Linda. "Keep the nasty business as far from the main house as you can. We can't handle many more injured in here."
"Will do what I can." said Emily as she focused on the trucks pulling through the gate. Scanning the scene she saw the men milling around. Emily was watching Mr. B closely and she saw him take a quick look at his phone. Did he just tap his screen? "Penelope did Mr. B do anything with his phone?"
"A moment please," said Penelope. "He did something, but I don't know what it was. It was a really short signal. He might have activated an app of some sort. I am trying to follow it. I will get back to you."
Emily didn't like it. Hitting her earpiece again, "JJ, are you on the roof?"
"Yep, I am looking over the courtyard." replied JJ in hushed tones. "What's up?"
"Bossman just hit his phone and activated some type of app." Emily replied not hiding the worry in her voice. "I think he just called in back up. Keep an eye out and let me know if you see anything?"
"Will do." said JJ. "You watch the yard. I have the rest covered."
Emily refocused on the yard and crossed her fingers that things were going to work out. The trucks had come to a stop and Morgan didn't wait for Mr. B to call on one of his men to get the keys. He moved to the cab and called for the keys. The agent driving the truck tossed him the keys. Morgan held everyone's attention as he held the keys up to Rossi. Dave nodded and Morgan walked to the back of the truck.
"Come here," called Rossi and he motioned to Mr. B to join him. "Let's take a look at the type of product you offer for two million dollars." He motioned for Derrick to open the back.
"Emily," called JJ, "there are dirt trails along two roads heading this way. Looks like you were right we are going to have company."
"Not if I can help it," growled Emily. "JJ I need you to handle the courtyard. Keep Rossi, Morgan and Ramon covered. You're the best shot here and I need to handle this." There was a silence that Emily knew was JJ counting to ten as not to say unkind things. "I didn't just take off this time." Emily said softly.
JJ was not happy, "Okay but you stay safe and keep your earpiece on. Your earpiece goes dead and I am off this roof and after you. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you." said Emily. Turning her attention to Reid she had him redirect the people they had in place at the truck site to address the new arrivals from the East. She would have handle the threat that was arriving from the west. Emily double timed it out of the room and headed for the garage. She found a lock up that Ramon kept some of his larger and nastier toys in and then quickly loaded some into one of the modified pickups.
Just as Emily pulled out the back gate, Morgan threw open the doors to an empty trailer.