Chapter Twenty-Five
When the first beam of artificial light bled into the lower-level of the crypt, Morgan was ready to cry in relief. It had been nearly three hours since he and Hotch had been trapped in the blast; almost thirty hours since they'd received that letter from the Unsub, and he was certain he was now able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, if one could pardon the pun.
"Hotch..." he called out, his throat dry and voice rough, irritated by the dust in the air, "Hotch... we're safe... we're safe..." his voice grew weaker as his pulse began to stutter and falter in its journey; his blood flow slowing and becoming jittery as the internal bleeding in his abdomen finally took its toll on his body. The last thing he heard was Hotch's soft call to him and the sound of shouting from the rescue team that were climbing down into the lower-level of the crypt; which Morgan believed was about to become his tomb.
-CoaK-CM-CoaK-CM-CoaK-
"Gideon..." Reid breathed softly, his lungs constricting painfully and his heart beating rapidly, 'Gideon... it can't be.... no...'
"Spencer," Gideon said softly as he climbed out of the black-and-white, "It's good to see you."
Rossi looked at Gideon then at Reid who looked for all intents and purposes like a lost child whose world had just turned upside, 'no, not turned upside, had just been completely destroyed!'
"You... you l-left... you..." Reid was at a complete loss for words and so continued to stare at Gideon who slowly walked over to him, wary and hesitant; as though he was afraid Reid might lash out at him with his crutches. If Reid was honest with himself, he truly felt like smacking Gideon a couple of times over the head with his crutches, but Reid didn't want to be honest with himself, he wanted to continue to stare at Gideon in shock and disbelief.
"I'm sorry Spencer, I'm so sorry," Gideon said softly as he stopped directly in front of Reid and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I never meant to hurt you, any of you."
Reid swallowed and managed to choke out, "but you did," before he shrugged off Gideon's hand and turned around. He coughed and said, in a voice that said he didn't want to talk about this, "I think they've got Hotch and Morgan out now."
Then he was off, back the way he'd came, towards his friends, towards his teammates leaving Rossi and Gideon to catch-up. Rossi watched Reid disappeared from view before looking at Gideon and saying, "I think we'd best go check on them don't you?" his tone of voice was icy and distanced. He didn't like the fact that Reid had looked so upset and had ended up shutting himself away from everyone, just like he always did when faced with problems.
Gideon, taking note of Rossi's tone and how hostile he was being, nodded and said, "Lead the way."
When they reached the crypt they saw two backboards, each one had a body on them; one with a black and dirtied suit on, the other with a short sleeved shirt and black pants. They were both loaded into a separate ambulance and Rossi and Gideon just managed to see Prentiss climb into the back of the ambulance with Hotch in and JJ in the one with Morgan; which meant that Reid was staying behind.
The sound of sirens reached their ears as they watched the ambulances take off with police escorts along the road and off towards the hospital. Reid looked over at them, or more so at Rossi and said, "We're going to need to follow them."
Rossi nodded, immediately understanding what Reid meant and said, "I'll go get the SUV. You wait here Reid."
Reid nodded and watched as Rossi made his way through the police officers and firemen over towards the SUV. He didn't look at Gideon but Gideon focused his attention entirely on Reid; observing how he held himself, how he stubbornly refused to look at Gideon, how he didn't look around himself in any confusion or interest. It was like Reid was shutting himself off; some sort of protection mechanism he'd always had but had rarely used. And now he was using it around him, Gideon.
Quince was walking past Reid talking on his cellphone when he said, "what! You think he's the one we're after? Where is he? The hospital! Alright. I'm on my way," he snapped his cellphone shut and looked at Reid.
Reid tilted his head slightly and looked right back at Quince, "what?"
"I think I know where your unsub is," Quince answered simply as Rossi pulled up next to the kerb and rolled down a window, "He's at the same hospital your people are heading to right now."
Without a moment's hesitation, Reid hobbled over to the SUV, opened the door to the back and threw his crutches in and then hauled himself in all the while he was saying, "Get in. Rossi we need to get to the hospital, now."
Quince, not needing to be told twice dived in the front and Gideon quickly climbed in the back next to Reid. Once they were all in Rossi gunned the engine and was off down the road; the sirens on the SUV blazing as Quince requested that any and all patrol cars near to the hospital be diverted there immediately.
-CoaK-CM-CoaK-CM-CoaK-
Prentiss sat out of the way as the EMT worked furiously to stem the external bleeding and stop Hotch from dying there and then. She'd heard him when he'd left the crypt, she'd heard the soft mumbling that had filtered through the oxygen mask he was wearing, "make sure Morgan's okay..." was what he'd said. Even when he was barely conscious, even when he could barely breathe, he was still worried about his team.
She watched at the EMT cursed quietly and looked at her, he said to her, "I need your help miss."
It took her all of a second to nod and help the EMT to save the life of her team leader, to save the life of SSA Aaron Hotchner.
-CoaK-CM-CoaK-CM-CoaK-
In the other ambulance that was speeding along the streets of Washington D.C JJ was also silently watching as the EMT worked furiously on Morgan to try and keep his vitals stable.
"Damn it... always internal bleeding..." the EMT cursed quietly as JJ blinked away the tears in her eyes, "Oh, I'm sorry miss. I forgot you were here."
JJ shook her head at the EMT and said, "It's alright... really."
"He just needs to hold on until he can get to the OR and then they can fix his innards'," the EMT smiled tightly before the smile dropped away as Morgan's vitals crashed and the EMT struggled vainly to try and get them stable again.