Old Enemies
Chapter 25
Before jumping in the SUV, Morgan and Emily ran back into the hospital and headed straight for the security office. With badges shown, they demanded to see the security footage for the whole time Hotch was in the hospital. Emily was sure see would see their unsub kidnapping Hotch. Morgan knew Hotch would go quietly if the unsub threatened the people around him. They followed Hotch out of his room and down the hall to the lab. He spent about twenty five minutes in there then came out with his phone in his hand. Emily thought that maybe it was the text she had sent him, but instantly changed her mind as they saw Hotch almost crumple to the ground, but he steadied himself on the wall, rubbed a hand down his face, and straighten. He then went back to his room. After about ten minutes he emerged and headed to the exit, only stopping to pass off Emily's purse to the doctor. They then caught him on an outside camera as he hobbled to his car, got in, and drove away. Morgan slammed a fist onto the desk holding the monitors. They gave them their thanks and headed to their SUV.
On their back to the BAU, Emily called Garcia to get her to trace Hotch's phone. Garcia had sucked in her breath sharply but didn't ask any questions as she typed on her keyboard. Garcia could tell by Emily's tone that time was of the essence. "Sorry. It must be turned off," Garcia almost cried.
"Access the last call or text to it," Morgan said while weaving through traffic.
"Sure, just give me a sec." Garcia hands flew over the keyboard.
Morgan used his phone to call JJ. He knew she would be in the bullpen. He had to get them updated. "Hey Morgan," JJ said nicely. "The boxes just got here and we. . ."
"No, JJ, Hotch is gone," Morgan told her. "Garcia, patch us all in together."
Garcia did and then let out a little scream.
"What is it?" Emily asked her, not sure if she wanted to actually know.
"Hotch received a picture of Rossi, and Rossi doesn't look that good. He has blood all over his face and shirt and . ."
"Baby Girl, stop," Morgan told her as he knew she was crying. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. . ." They could hear her take a deep breath. "Then he got a message that says: 'Come alone'. That's it. Is he seriously going to that f. . ."
"Apparently," Emily interrupted.
"I'm gonna kill him! If he makes it through this, I'm gonna kill him!" Morgan spit out between clenched teeth.
Reid, who had joined JJ, winced at the anger in Morgan's voice and thought that Morgan might actually be telling the truth. They had headed to Garcia lair as soon as the conversation started and they were also looking at the photo the unsub had sent Hotch.
"Can you trace the messages, Garcia?" Emily asked as they were pulling into the parking garage,
"Already doing it," Garcia answered.
"Why would Hotch do this? He's not in the shape to face this unsub, and he's got Jack. Why would he do that to Jack?" Reid asked, clearly knowing there was no logical explanation to what Hotch was doing. They all heard Emily's phone hang-up and they assumed that she and Morgan had arrived outside.
Emily and Morgan almost ran through the building on their way to Garcia's lair. Blake noticed them and balked at the frantic looks on their faces. "Hotch is gone," is all Emily said.
They all filed into Garcia's lair, and they all stared at the picture of a wounded Rossi. "The messages came from a disposable phone, nontraceable," Garcia conceded.
"The message said to come alone, but it doesn't say where," Reid injected.
"That means the unsub contacted Hotch is some other way," Blake stated.
How could we ever manage without her? Emily thought with a look at Blake.
"Hotch isn't thinking straight. He would never give himself up like that," JJ suggested.
"He is sick, but this is Rossi we're talking about," Emily told her.
"What do you mean sick?" Garcia asked with concern as her eyes teared up again.
Emily explained Hotch's arm to them and JJ looked about as mad as Morgan. "He shouldn't have been here yesterday," JJ pointed out.
"Please. Morgan would have had to physically remove him to keep him away," Emily said with a smile.
"I know we're talking about Hotch, and he is one of the most resourceful men I know, but how are we going to possibly find him?" Reid asked.
Morgan grabbed Emily shoulder's and looked her in the eyes. "Do you think Hotch is up for this?" He asked her seriously.
She picked at her nails and bit her bottom lip. "I don't honestly know, Morgan."
XXXXX
Hotch stared at the phone in his hand. The message had said to come alone, and he did. He couldn't have his team involved; not with what he was going to do. He knew they would argue against it. He smiled at the image of Morgan bodily stopping him from trying to do something they would consider a suicide mission popped into his mind. They wouldn't let him go, but he couldn't not go. He owed Dave. Rossi was his best friend and more of a father than his own had ever been. If things went badly he couldn't allow his team to shoulder the blame. Besides, if things went badly he needed them intact to do the job he knew they would. If he didn't return, then they would take it upon themselves to find the unsub and Rossi would be there with the information they would need to find him. He thought of Jack and while Hotch would give anything for his son, the thought of looking him in the eyes if Rossi died because of his inability to act would haunt him for the rest of his life. If something happened to him, he knew Rossi would take of everything including Jack. Jack loved his 'Uncle Dave', and Jack would understand why his father had to be the one to save him. The rest of the team would endure, too. They would find comfort in each other and they would make it through. He sighed when his thoughts turned to Emily. She would be pissed at him, and she would have every right to be pissed. She had left her home to come and help find him and then take care of him while she protected him and Jack. Just when he was starting to come to terms with the fact that he had feelings for her, he found himself putting his loyalty to Rossi above everything else. Is it loyalty to Dave or just your own ego of wanting to finish this yourself? Either way, it had to be done. If the unsub was torturing Rossi like Cypress did him, Rossi would never last as long as he did.
Hotch shook himself mentally. He couldn't go into this with his thoughts on the worst possible outcome he if truly wanted to succeed. If Hotch had to give himself up to the unsub to save Rossi, so be it. Once Rossi was safe, though, all bets would be off, and if he could physically do it, then he would put a stop to this whole Reaper business. If he couldn't do it, then the infection in his arm would probably kill him a few days anyway. He laughed a little at the thought. His shoulder hurt, and not just the hurt in the joint, but a burning sensation that told him that the infection was working its way up his arm. He knew it would be in his blood soon.
Hotch drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He had driven out of the city to the appointed place and now he had to wait. Wait for more instructions or for the unsub himself, Hotch wasn't sure which. He found himself glad at the notion of it all being over soon. The feeling of not knowing had been eating him alive. Not knowing when and where the unsub would strike was by far the most fearful thing he had ever faced. Finding out that the son of a bitch had Rossi, though, hurt him more than he wanted to admit.
He wiped his brow. Damn fever! He chuckled as he was sure it was JJ's voice in his head telling him that he was sick and the fever wasn't allowing him to think straight. That the fever was making him do something he would never do in his right mind. Shut up, JJ. He shook his head. He had to concentrate and come up with a plan, well, many plans, one for each of the scenarios that the unsub might use as a way to make the 'trade'. He looked around his car, noticing the sling he had been wearing in the hospital. He wasn't even sure if he was supposed to be wearing it or not. I guess it doesn't matter now.
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"Wait a sec," Garcia said as her fingers moved at a dizzying speed across her keyboard.
"What?" Morgan asked.
"We can use Hotch's idea against him," she explained as she brought up several little screens on her monitor.
Emily instantly realized they were looking at traffic cams around the hospital. "That's brilliant, Pen."
They all leaned in and searched the screens as she focused on the cameras around the parking lots. "There," Reid told them pointing to the top right screen. They all watched Hotch's car pull out of the lot and head East on the joining road. "Can you zoom in to see if there is anyone in there with him?"
Garcia made the other screens disappear and made the one containing Hotch's car freeze and zoom. They all let out a collective breath as they realized Hotch was alone. Without prompting, Garcia switched cameras to keep following Hotch's car as he made several turns through the town. Finally, Hotch's car took a right and then he was gone. "That's it. There are no more cameras where he was headed," Garcia told them very frustrated.
"When this is over, I suggest tracking devices on all of our personal vehicles," Blake said with a small smile.
Emily laughed. Yeah right! Hotch would never allow that!
"More like I inject locators in all of you while you sleep," Garcia said jokingly.
Morgan looked at her, he wasn't sure if she was joking or not. "Send that last address to my phone. Come on, Princess," he said as he headed out of the office with Emily following.
"You don't actually think you'll find him by taking the same road?" Reid quickly asked.
Morgan turned to him. "No, but it's better than sitting around and doing nothing," he told him and left.
"Come on, Reid," JJ said as she grabbed Reid's shirt sleeve.
"And where are we going?"
"I want to go back to the hospital. Somebody there knows something."
Blake turned to Garcia. "But out an APB on Hotch's car. Maybe someone will see it."
Garcia nodded and went to work, and Blake left in her office alone.
XXXXX
Rossi woke up and looked at the screen, knowing it would be blank. He had actually thanked God when the DVD hadn't started to play again once it was done. His eyes were puffy and he wasn't sure if it was from the woman's knee or all of the crying he had done over watching and hearing the video. Seeing Hotch take out that bastard Cypress had boosted his image of Hotch, and he didn't even think he could think any higher of the man. Rossi had also seen Jack hit the pillar, and Rossi understood why Hotch had thought his son had died. Seeing him trying to get to his son, trying to crawl and drag his wounded body across the floor, only to be brought up short by the chain broke Rossi's heart into enough pieces that he didn't think it would ever be whole again.
Rossi also knew why the woman had chosen him to be the bait. She had watched the video, and she had seen the way Rossi had acted when he found his dying friend. Anyone who saw it would understand exactly how Rossi felt about Hotch. She had just assumed that Hotch felt the same about him. Rossi wasn't sure if Hotch did, but he knew Hotch cared. He was silently hoping that Hotch didn't feel it necessary to prove his feelings by giving himself up, but Rossi also knew that Hotch was a very loyal man. That loyalty might just get him killed.
He hadn't seen the woman since their little altercation, and he wondered where she had gone and what she was doing. He prayed that she didn't already have Hotch. Sure, she had said she wanted to trade Rossi for him, but maybe she just wanted to use that as a ruse to lure Hotch in. Maybe she planned on killing them both. He didn't think she wanted to torture Hotch like her fiancée, but he knew she had it in her to kill him. They had found out that Cypress had been a marine, maybe this woman was too. She definitely had the skills for it. Rossi hadn't realized it, maybe if he had, he would have thought twice about attacking her. Nah, but you still had to try, Rossi boy. Maybe you would have been more prepared to get your ass kicked, though.
He looked around the room again. He was sure he was in a room within a home, an old Victorian if he knew his architecture. The woman was either going to lure Hotch here, or she would have to take him to where she would make the trade. Rossi had resigned himself that if she removed him from this room, he would try anything and everything to try to get away. She would probably stop him, but he was going to make it as difficult as possible. And maybe she will have to kill me, he thought with a smile. Rossi would never contemplate suicide, it was completely against his Catholic upbringing, but he didn't think God would hold it against him for sacrificing himself for a loved one – for family.