Chapter 28
Hotch's eyes narrowed as he saw the man stand up with a Kevlar vest. What the hell?
"My first experiment will involve this," he told him as he advanced on Hotch and put it on him forcibly. "I've always wondered how many shots one of these things could take," the man told him sadistically.
Shit! Hotch thought as the man took a pistol out of the bag. Shit! Hotch knew the vest would stop a couple of pistol slugs without a problem. His vest had saved him a couple times before, but he wasn't sure the caliber of the pistol, what kind of ammo the man had, or how close the man was going to be when he shot him. He also had no clue how many consecutive shots a vest could take. He did know, though, that it hurt like hell to get shot with a vest on. The vest may stop the bullet from penetrating, but the force of the blow had been known to break bones. Shit! What if he's a bad shot? Shit!
The man cocked the pistol and took about ten steps away from Hotch. As he took aim, Hotch wanted to turn away. He knew it wouldn't help if the man missed the vest, but he really didn't want to watch. He knew, though, that some people got off on the fear they could create, so Hotch stared him down. The man fired once, and the air left Hotch's lungs from the force of the impact to the center of his chest. As Hotch's lungs fought for air, he thought for a second that the chair was going to fall over, but it held firm and made Hotch's body absorb the full brunt of the bullet. Finally, Hotch was able to breathe again and he noticed the man was smiling again. As Hotch gasped for air another bullet slammed into the vest. Hotch could tell by the impact that he had been hit him in the lower right. He thought he felt or heard one of his ribs crack, too. Before he could even get his breathing under control another bullet hit him in the upper chest again. He tried to keep himself sitting up. He didn't want to give the man a smaller target, but the pain was almost too much to take, and his body wanted to curl into a ball to protect itself. He couldn't breathe again, and he was scared that something inside him had been damaged. He was starting to see stars as his chest ached for oxygen, and another bullet slammed into his right causing enough pain that he passed out.
XXXXX
Garcia found several white vans with a logo; most of them belonged to a lawn care company that was based in Quantico. She also found three more white vans: one had a green technical support logo, one had a blue lock smith logo, and one didn't have a logo at it at all. She was running plates and doing backgrounds on the drivers while the team was running down leads on their lists of possible unsubs. Kahlan had left them to go track down something she wouldn't discuss, and Rossi was sure he didn't want to know about it. Morgan, however, was worried about her doing something illegal. Rossi just shrugged; if he didn't know, then he didn't have to worry about it. If it led to Hotch, he didn't actually care, either.
XXX
Kahlan walked into a bar and found Chuck sitting at a table in the back. She smiled as she realized he had a beer waiting for her. "You wanted to see me?" she asked as she sat down and took a drink.
"Yeah. I did some checking, and some of my buddies in the organized crime division have heard whispers that there's a hit man in town."
"And there's a reason you think it's connected to Hotch?"
"I do. Especially since I also heard some whispers about a woman trying to hire a hit man who wasn't afraid if the target was a federal agent."
She raised brows. "And do you know who this woman is?"
He shook his head. "No name, but apparently Hotchner killed her brother, and she wants revenge."
"Hotch's team have put a lot of people away. A lot of them have to have brothers."
"I got the impression he did it not his team, and unless your man has killed a lot more people than I expect, his team should be able to track her down."
"That's awesome, Chuck." She took out her phone to text Rossi to focus their search around sisters of men Hotch had killed. "Any idea where this hit man might be?"
He smiled. "He's been seen in some of the upper end clubs around DC. I don't have a name yet, but I just sent you his picture," he told her as he used his phone.
She nodded slowly, and he could tell the wheels were turning in her head. She took a long drink of the beer and then got up. "Thanks, Chuck," she told him with a smile.
"So does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "If this pans out, I'll think about it," she joked and left.
XXXXX
Hotch moaned as he came to. He was taking small shallow breaths because it hurt too much to breathe normally. He looked around and couldn't see the man, so he looked down at the vest that was still on him. He counted five slugs, but he was sure there were more slugs he couldn't see. Every inch of his chest hurt, and he thought that he probably had a couple of broken ribs. It bothered him that the man had continued to shoot him even though he had passed out. He silently hoped that the experiment was over. The man had said he wanted to see how many shots the vest could take, so he had thought the man was going to shot him until the vest failed. Maybe the man had used an entire clip on him and was satisfied with the results. But he said 'first experiment', that means more. Shit!
Hotch moaned as he tried to get his body in a more comfortable position. He realized, though, that it was almost impossible while sitting in the chair. He scooted his butt out to the edge of the seat and let his head fall back and tried to swallow, but his mouth and throat were so dry that couldn't. He chuckled as he considered that he would even take getting shot again in trade for a drink. He wondered where the man had gone. He also wondered how much longer it would be before the man killed him. He noticed it was getting dark out, and the little sliver of hope that his team would find him was diminishing rapidly. He knew if there wasn't a break in the first twenty-four hours after abduction, that it became harder for the victim to be found. The victim. That's great, I'm a victim again. He started to laugh at his situation, but his chest hurt too bad, so resigned himself to just try to relax. He was tired, so he let his chin rest on his chest and tried to think of good things: Jack scoring his first goal, his team sitting around a table sharing a dinner at Rossi's, holding Kahlan's hand as they walked down the street. He shook his head. He couldn't believe how, just when things were starting to get good in his life, everything turned to shit so quickly. He drifted off to a fitful sleep filled with imagined horrors that he could suffer at the hands of the hit man.
XXXXX
Kahlan called Rossi as she sat in her car.
"I don't know how fast your friends are, Kahlan, but you haven't given us enough time yet," Rossi joked as he answered.
Kahlan laughed. "You mean Reid doesn't have every unsub's extended family in a list somewhere in that brain of his?" It was Rossi's turn to laugh. "Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go clubbing with me tonight."
"Clubbing? Don't you think I'm a little old to go clubbing?"
"Not for the clubs I'm thinking about."
"I assume there's a reason you want to do this tonight?"
"You know me so well."
"Do we want to make it a group thing? I can have Blake and Reid finish up here."
"That's not a bad idea. We can actually split up and cover more clubs that way."
"Or we can watch each other's backs if we stay together."
"Why don't we play that by ear? How's 9:00 sound?"
"Ok. Where?"
"I'll meet you in your parking garage, we need to use your personal vehicles; the bureau SUV's will be too noticeable."
"Alright, we'll be here."
XXX
Kahlan passed out a picture to each member of the team who had joined her in the parking garage. "This is a hit man that is believed to have been hired to kill a federal agent."
"Yeah, and where did that information come from?" Morgan asked her as he looked at the photo.
"The Organized Crime Division of the DC police," Kahlan told him flatly. "Rumor has it that he was here a couple of weeks ago, and then he was spotted in New York." She let that sink in. "And he showed back up here three days ago."
"And he likes going to these clubs?" JJ asked her.
"Yep. He's been spotted in two of them. I say we split up and check them both out and see if we can find him."
"And if we find him?" Morgan asked.
Kahlan raised her brows and pursed her lips. "That would be your call. I sent his picture to Garcia, but I get the feeling he's a pro."
"And if we arrest him without being sure, he would never give up Hotch," Morgan finished her thought.
Kahlan shrugged. "I would think some stealthy surveillance could give us more of a clue as to what the next step should be."
"I agree. If we follow him, he might lead us to Hotch," JJ told them.
"There's a reason you think this professional hit man hasn't killed Hotch yet?" Rossi asked her and he saw a flicker of a wince on her face.
"If he's actually responsible for the deaths they think he is, then, yes."
"Ut-uh. What aren't you telling us?" Morgan demanded.
Kahlan closed her eyes for a moment and bit her lip. Finally she fixed them all with a blank face. "Because he likes to spend time with his marks before he actually kills them. It's sort of his specialty."
"Son of a bitch!" Morgan yelled and balled the picture up in his fist and swung his arm like he wanted to throw it, but decided against it.
Kahlan notice that JJ's eyes watered and Rossi took a deep breath, not actively letting his feelings show. "They have never been able to connect him to any of the murders, of course, but that is what they think he does." She gave them a few moments to let their emotions settle. "Rossi and I will take the Lux. You two can take the Josephine. I've texted the address to you. You need to go in in complete cover. These clubs are known for their clientele, and they would never let in FBI agents without a search warrant, and that would just defeat the purpose."
"Yeah, we got, ya. Two people looking to have some fun," Morgan flashed her his smile.
She couldn't help but feel sorry for the women in the club tonight. "Here, this will get you in the door easier," she held her hand out to Morgan. He gave her a questioningly look but held out his hand. She gave him a five hundred dollar bill. He raised his brows in shock, but put the bill in his pocket.
"Keep me updated," Rossi told JJ. She nodded and headed for Morgan SUV. "You driving or me?" he asked Kahlan.
"Your car's fancier than mine, besides it will look better with you driving when we pull up for the valet," she told him as she walked to the passenger side of his car.
Once they were in and seated. Rossi glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "My car may be fancier, but you could afford one, too."
Kahlan smiled. She noticed it was a statement. "Hazardous pay that is saved over the years tends to generate a lot of interest," is all she divulged. Rossi laughed and started his car.
