A/N: Exciting news...we are just one chapter away from seeing some truly bad guys get their comeuppance and I know there is one in particular we ALL want to see get what he deserves, and he totally will...but that's in the next chapter. This one will be mostly setting the scene for the raid, so bear with me just a little bit longer. The end is now in sight!

I have lots of reviews to be thankful for, particularly when they make me smile on my bad days (of which I do have a few every now and then). But today isn't one of them, despite sweltering heat, because I am indoors enjoying some lovely air-conditioning at work. Many, many thanks to HPforever-after (for ch's 25, 26 & 27), Hazmatt, melodic2686 (I appreciate greatly the encouragement particularly on the medical front since I did the x-ray research without my medical guru), HGRHfan35 (if I find a couple of Aaron's, I'll send one your way), greengirl82 and x-MJ-x (for the entirety of Going to the Chapel; you're slowly catching up girlfriend!). I love you all more than I can say.

Medical guru is back! Sweet sister Wtiger5, welcome back! You have been missed, but you are here now and we are getting closer to the entire reason for the existence of the amazing Lydia Scott. Love you heaps my darling and totally looking forward to kicking some bad-boy butt with you (but not in this chapter).

Rated M for violence, torture themes, drug use, coarse language and sex scenes. (yes, this is going to have a little bit of everything)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds at all, although they do own me and I do own Carrie and Toby, Chloe and India, Kelly and Brad and Ben.

Arabian Nights – Chapter 28

Derek closed the door with a small, thoughtful smile. Dave had informed him of the attack on Emily and he'd kept an outwardly calm facade, but the second Dave had left, he'd found himself weeping almost uncontrollably; both for his wife and what she'd been through, and for his partner, who hadn't done anything to deserve that kind of treatment. And though he'd felt a touch better afterwards, he was still dealing with a deep-seated fury over all that had happened to them recently.

His intention had been to tell Emily how grateful he was for what she'd done for Jordan and though that plan had been pushed back some, he was quite happy to have it pushed back for the reason it had been.

"Hey, is she available?"

He turned from the closed door, his hand hovering over the gun at his hip as he took in the tall, solidly built and very muscled man in front of him. In fact, this stranger with the black hair and blue-green eyes was actually making him feel threatened. Even the act of lifting his hands slowly into view didn't make him feel any better.

"Easy there. My wife rescued yours from that place and I just wanted to see how she was doing because Lydia was asking after her. That's all."

"If you're talking about Emily, she's my close friend, not my wife. She actually saved my wife and I was intending to thank her but they're currently busy at the moment."

The other man nodded. "Alright then. I'll come back later, or I'll let Lydia come. Hell, maybe I'll just come with her," he added in a mutter.

Derek found amusement winding through him and let his hand ease away from his gun. "I'll bet you get that reaction a lot, huh man?"

"More than you know. Lydia says it's because I exude danger and tells me not to worry about it. But she finds my very dangerousness sexy so she really isn't the best judge of character. Everyone else just finds me scary, at least until they get to know me anyway. I'm Captain Cameron Scott, Army Green Beret."

"SSA Derek Morgan. I heard about Lydia and what she did for Emily. How is your wife?"

Cameron shrugged. "She says she's fine, and that she's simply happy to be back somewhere safe. Her doctor says she's fine physically despite being out overnight in freezing cold temperatures and barely dressed while pregnant. Her psych doctor is even happy with her mental health after her trauma. On my part, I think I'm just going to doubt everyone and their word and rely only on my senses like I always do."

"And what do your senses tell you?"

He sighed quietly. "That while she's relieved to be back with me, there is a lot she hasn't said."

"Man, of course there is. If she's anything like the other women, she spent most of yesterday sleeping and today is simply basking in the warmth of her newfound safety. I heard your children are here as well and of course she isn't going to talk in front of them. What she has to say is going to take time; she was in their hands for months. You'll just have to be satisfied with having her back for now; she's not being deliberately deceitful, but is instead being protective. It's a maternal instinct I see all the time in my line of work. Take the time offered now to simply enjoy her presence and prepare yourself for the storm cause when it comes, it's gonna hit hard and she's really going to need your strength."

Cameron nodded slowly and offered a hand. "You're right. Thank you for putting that into perspective; I think my fear had simply become so big that even now that she's back, I'm still struggling to beat it back down into submission. It would help if I could go beat something or someone up, but I dare not leave her for very long. I'm afraid she'll disappear on me again."

"If we were back in DC, I'd offer you the privilege of beating up on our training equipment, but we aren't so I don't know what to suggest. I guess all I can really say is just cling to the reminder that she's here and she's safe."

"Mmm, that definitely helps. Listen, I'm going to head back. It was nice meeting you."

"You too man."

New Section

Emily stayed close to Aaron's side as they stepped into Lydia's hospital room. Despite feeling well rested after sleeping for most of the day, her nerves were shockingly fragile. Spending some time with Martha that afternoon as the older woman checked her over had helped some, but not as much as she would have liked. She knew that the realistic outcome was that it would take time to heal all of her emotional wounds, but that didn't stop her from wishing that her healing would be faster than that.

Cameron looked her over, but did nothing more than nod to them both from his slouched stance in the chair on the far side of his wife's bed.

The other two chairs in the room were on the closer side of the room. Aaron helped Emily into one of the chairs, kissed the top of her head and then shifted his chair to sit on the other side of the bed. And while Emily would have preferred him staying plastered to her side, she understood that, just as Cameron has chosen to sit as far from her as he could comfortably sit without moving away from his wife so that she wouldn't feel threatened by his size, so too did Aaron give Lydia a clear escape to the door so that she wouldn't feel so completely surrounded by males.

For long seconds there was silence, then Lydia broke it.

"I want in."

Emily frowned slightly and looked at her husband as he leaned forward slightly in his chair.

"What do you mean Lydia?"

Lydia shifted against her pillows, lifting a leg under her blankets and wrapping her arms around it. "When you go in to take the compound. I want, no I need to go in with you. I know Cameron doesn't want me to go because he's only just gotten me back and I'm almost five months pregnant with our third child. But I want in on this."

Emily sighed and lifted both her feet up to rest on the edge of her seat. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her chin on her raised knees and shot Aaron a telling look.

He sighed and threw up his hands. He sat in silence for a moment before going to the door and shutting it firmly. Returning to his seat, he said quietly, "Agent Jackson is in charge of this raid because it is his case. He has indicated to me that he's concerned about my potential for violence should I go in on this raid and that he would prefer to have me stay behind. I stated that if Emily led the raid to the compound, I was going along. I then pointed out that if she stayed here then I would do the same for her peace of mind.

"He then asked my opinion on what I thought would happen if Lydia went in to lead the raid to the compound and I said the same thing would happen; it would just be different people going in."

Cameron nodded slowly. "I'm not generally a vindictive person, but for what has been done to Lydia, the woman I've loved since I first met her when she was 15, I would happily break every bone in Malik's body; slowly."

Lydia's look was loving, and somewhat approving as she held a hand out to him.

Aaron nodded understandingly. "Jackson has also indicated that he won't stop me from going in, despite knowing intuitively what I'll do if I can get my hands on the little shit. Sorry Lydia."

She smiled dryly. "Don't worry about it; I've thought worse."

"I think we all have," Cameron muttered as he cracked his knuckles. Aaron shifted in his chair to be as far away from the man as he could without actually looking like he'd moved and Emily smothered a giggle by burying her face in her raised knees. When she peered over them to see how Aaron reacted to her reaction, she found him smiling tenderly at her. She shot him a shy smile of her own and turned her attention back to Lydia.

"The other reason Alex is now hesitant to send me in is because we've informed him of my own pregnancy. But none of the other girls are in any better position; Marnie's refused, Penelope's pregnant and Jordan and Carrie are both too injured."

"Which leaves the two of us and our he-men husbands."

Emily nodded agreement as she fought with another giggle...and lost. The comment about he-men had been cute, but the guys reactions; their straightening in their chairs and puffing out their chests; had settled her enough to outright laugh. Of course, then Lydia turned to see what was so funny and when she lost it laughing, Emily joined her.

And both missed the solid handshake Cameron and Aaron exchanged as they nodded approval at each other.

Once everyone had calmed down again, Emily said softly, "I'm not on the clock and I want in on this. But if you can't handle protecting me while I do what I feel I need to do, then now is a good time to speak up."

"And not to doubt Emily's memory recall, because I'm sure it's perfect, but she was carrying Jordan for a good long while there, so I'll volunteer for backup to her recollection."

The girls exchanged a long look that conveyed complete understanding of what they both needed; a chance to reclaim what had been taken from them so brutally.

The guys also exchanged a look packed full of several long conversations into just a few short seconds.

"Well then, if you ladies are leading us to the compound, we'd best go in fully armed and ready for anything."

New Section

Emily had to keep reminding herself to breathe. Not the easiest thing in the world to do when she'd only just escaped the place she was currently approaching. And despite the fact that she was armed this time, it really wasn't any easier to handle. Having Aaron right behind her, and in fact close enough to be breathing down her neck, helped as well, particularly when she took into account the incredibly high powered rifle he was carrying in a sling across his back in addition to the Glock he held in his hands as they walked quietly along.

Adrenalin was a funny thing though, for what had seemed like several hours of running in terror for their lives was in actuality turning into about 45 minutes of steady walking and they could already see some distant lights winking through the heavy bush around them.

The plan was already in place. As soon as they reached the end of the path, Emily and Lydia were to make for the little hidey-hole they'd waited in shortly before leaving this place. Aaron and Cameron were tasked to stay with them. The entire force behind them would rapidly move into the compounds and out around the perimeter. Then, once they'd passed, the four of them were to head back out to the road and wait with the command centre that had been set up at a truck stop half a mile down the road where they'd found nine vans hidden in the bush; presumably belonging to their unsubs.

Behind them, the main force had been told to take everyone alive unless their lives were at stake; the men could then be put down if they couldn't be secured and the women locked in rooms unless the infiltrator felt threatened, in which case he could use reasonable force to knock her out and tie her up. Children weren't to be harmed at all, they were simply to be locked up in rooms until someone could come to deal with them.

Then, as soon as the compound was fully secured, the army of counsellors and other medical personnel called in to assist with this ambush would be led in to do what was needed to smooth everything out some and begin the mammoth task of getting the healing process started for the hundreds who had been affected by their ordeals.

And with luck, within a few days, they would have an idea of the why of this whole sorry mess.

Or at least, that was the plan.

The four of them had reworked their part of the plan to suit their needs. They would of course lead everyone into the compound before moving out of the way. But once the leaders had gone forward, Lydia was going to lead them to Malik's rooms, particularly the hiding places he favoured, until they found him. Then the plan was to goad him into attacking them, which Lydia didn't think would be all that hard since he'd probably take one look at them and then try to kill them for bringing this all down on top of him, and then it would be a matter of them defending themselves.

Whether or not he was alive when they were done was going to depend on whether the strongest voice of reason was strong enough to reign them all in when they started to go too far. But they figured they'd earned at least a little leeway.

Emily rounded a bend and came to a halt as her body started to shake. Aaron's free arm immediately wrapped around her shoulders as she turned into him to gain a little comfort from the security of his arms. She felt movement to her right and jerked in panic.

"Easy Emily."

She turned her head and saw Alex standing there, watching the opening. Beyond him, Lydia stood in the circle of Cameron's arms, looking just as unhappy to be there as she felt.

Two other men were just in front of them, using several high-powered technical scanners to check for nearby heat sources before they sent everyone out into the open. Once they'd withdrawn with two thumbs up for clearance, Alex turned to face her.

"Nice and fast, off the path and into that alcove I can see. We'll all be right behind you. Then you can get as far away from here as you like. Just grab a car and head back to the city. I'll radio it through as approved."

She swallowed hard, not wanting to show how tempted she was to take him up on his offer. "No, its alright. We'll stay nearby to find out that everyone's been taken in this raid and we know without a doubt that no one will be chasing us down."

Alex looked steadily at her and she could see in his eyes that he knew they had plans that differed greatly to his. But she knew that he agreed with their unspoken 'what you don't know won't do you any harm', because in the next instant he sighed quietly and nodded once.

Aaron gave her one last squeeze. "Last chance to change your mind."

She shook her head, exchanged a quick look and nod with Lydia, then they both took off running. They made it to the alcove intact and slipped inside to watch and wait. They weren't waiting long for everyone to pass them and disappear out of sight; they all knew what they were doing and despite coming from multiple agencies, cities and states, they all worked well together because the majority of the afternoon of the day before and then overnight and into this day had been spent in the planning and hashing out down to the finest detail of one of the biggest raids in US history.

As soon as Cameron, who had been placed in charge because he had the greater knowledge of working in remote, foreign terrains at night, deemed that it was safe to move, Lydia gestured him forward and followed close behind him, one hand on his waist to guide him. It was the only way he'd agreed to allow her out to do this. Emily followed close behind Lydia and Aaron brought up the rear.

Emily had figured Lydia would be the only one of them unarmed, but she had pulled out a couple of wicked looking, foot long blades with deadly sharp edges and strapped the sheathes to her forearms before pulling on her jacket. When she'd looked at Cameron, he'd smiled grimly and nodded; his wife was more than proficient in their use.

More than once, they froze and waited while the good guys gave them the all-clear after spotting them. They could be patient in this, because they had just one objective, whereas everyone around them had multiple tasks to perform.

They tried three of the places Lydia indicated without any success. They were trying the fourth one when something made Emily turn out from the room they were looking into. Her breath hissed in her throat, loud enough to bring the other three quickly to her side. Lydia whimpered as she pointed to a man moving carefully away from them as he tried to stay blended with the trees.

Aaron pulled both women back as Cameron pulled one of the many lethal little knives he had strapped in multiple places on his person. The other reason he was in charge had to do with the fact that in addition to the little knives, Cameron had a knife in a sheaf that ran the length of his spine and was securely strapped in place, three guns and a high-powered rifle similar to Aaron's; and he knew how to use every single piece with deadly accuracy and precision.

"I'm going to get him and bring him back here. Can we get out of this room once we close the door?"

Emily tried the handle and shook her head when it didn't budge. She moved to the side as Aaron pulled out his rifle and Lydia moved to her side but kept her eyes on her husband as he pulled his arm back and let the little knife fly. The knife impaled Malik's hand as it moved against a tree trunk and stuck it fast. Cameron darted out to get his target as Aaron brought the butt of the rifle down on the handle and broke it at the mechanism. When Emily tried it seconds later, the door swung open easily. They moved out of the way as Cameron hauled Malik through the door, then Emily pulled the door closed behind them as he dumped the other man into the centre of the room and backed away from him.

As a group, they stood in silence and watched the man cradle his hand against his body as he got his feet under him. Once he stood, he looked up to see them between him and the door and when Aaron and Cameron shifted out of the way, Lydia and Emily looked back at him steadily, trying not to show their fear.

But as Aaron and Cameron shifted their rifles into view, suddenly it was him showing them fear.

And the triumph of that was delicious as the girls eased forward and the men shifted in to guard their backs.

End-

A/N: And we're there where we want to be. Stay tuned for more coming your way shortly.

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