Chapter 28
Unknown village
South of Bacerac
Sonora, Mexico
Spencer
It had been one hell of a flight. Along the way he, Kat and Jo had explained everything, from his theory on how the original coup d'etat had begun to what their world was like well after the second revolution. But of course everyone fixated on the actual mechanics of the Games. And one point stopped them all cold. "So once this arena is locked they won't open it until there's only one left alive?" JJ asked.
Jo and Kat nodded. "Exactly," Jo told her.
JJ and Hotch just looked at each other as the despair overtook them. If both Jack and Henry were locked in there…
"Hey, stop it. Both of you," Morgan told them. "We're going to make this work."
"There's one thing I don't understand." Rossi said after they were done. "Reid, you said that it would take a massive amount of power to open that…that time vortex, correct?"
"Yes. About as much power as it takes to operate the city of Denver for as long as it has to remain open, at least for something the size of a human body. I doubt it took nearly as much for the thumb drive that came through."
"Right. Now, originally Kat fell through the vortex, that took the power from Denver, then when you did your paradox thing it reset the trap and then five years later Johanna here fell through. But if our Unsubs are these, what do you call them…?"
"Gamemakers," Jo stepped in. She held up the pictures from Mexico, "Probably a team of them to carry this off."
"…Gamemakers, then how did they get here?"
Good question. Spencer considered this. "Well, they would have had to have access to the technology, and probably their own power plant."
"Can't be," Jo said. "The Coalition has control of all power facilities. And we executed the Gamemakers for war criminals."
"Maybe they were sent back before the war." Hotch suggested.
"I don't think so." Jo held up one of the tablets with the files off the thumb drive on the screen. "Those are probably highlight reels from the different games. They have the seventy-fifth in there, the war started during that one."
"So how did they do it?" Rossi asked.
Spencer had to admit, he was stumped. "I don't know yet."
Eventually they landed in Hermosillo, where they found a military escort ready to take them off into the middle of nowhere. In the middle of nowhere they found a lot more people than they expected, an abandoned village, and something else. "What is that?" Morgan asked as they drove up, and gaped.
All around the village, evenly spaced about twenty feet apart, were sleek black pillars about ten feet tall. And from the sides of each pillar blue lines of something that looked far more substantial than laser light radiated to the next pillar in the row, effectively forming a fence of light around the village. "An Arena border," Jo informed them. "It's still open."
"That's open? Morgan asked.
"ARENA CLOSING IN TEN MINUTES." announced a loud, female voice.
As Jo and Kat moved to the back of the SUV and started sorting supplies the BAU team just looked at each other. Captain Victor Navarro came up to them. "We haven't found the boys yet." He said, getting right to the point. "We got out here and found this, we don't know if it's explosive or what. With the kids we didn't even dare try to cut power. That voice just started up at the half hour."
"We have to find a way to get in there and get them out!" JJ insisted, her voice threaded with the beginnings of panic.
"Yes, but we don't want to blow them up in the process." Hotch pointed out.
"Hey Morgan," Morgan turned and found Jo looking at him, a full backpack in her hands. "Was all that crap about having my back for real, or were you just trying to get in my pants?"
"It was real." Morgan reassured her. "Why are you asking now?"
She held up the backpack in offering and then headed back to the SUV. Spencer followed and found both women getting ready to go in. "Any chance at all of getting you to stay here?" Kat asked him again, a certain amount of pleading in her voice.
"Nope," he replied. "Henry needs me and I'm not letting you face this alone." He smiled at her. "I'm not Peeta, I actually have some skills." He started getting into a pack and gathering what he thought might be helpful.
"I hope so."
"ARENA CLOSING IN SEVEN MINUTES."
As they finished Jo murmured to Kat. "You know, brainless, I never thought I'd volunteer to go into one of these things."
"I have." Kat pointed out. "It's probably love, you know."
"Let's not go there." She looked at the others and raised her voice. "Shall we?" With that she turned and headed for the fence.
"ARENA CLOSING IN FIVE MINUTES."
"Sergeant Mason!" Hotch called when he saw where they were going. "What are you doing?"
"Getting your son back," Jo replied. "Stay here and try to work it from this side. I left some notes on your tablet that might help."
"Wait!"
But there was no time to wait. At the fence Kat dropped her pack, and then just as she had at the District boundary so many times she swung her leg over a blue line like it was wire and slid her way through the fence. "Be careful." She said to the others. "The lines are hot."
Morgan went through next, and then they started handing packs and weapons through. Eventually it was Spencer's term. "I don't have your balance." He reminded his wife. But with her hands carefully guiding him he made it through. Once on the other side he looked into her eyes, saw the deep fear in there, and brushed the hair from her cheek. "We're going to do this."
"ARENA CLOSING IN TWO MINUTES."
"I hope you're right, pretty boy." Jo said as she slithered through. "Get your gear and step back; this is not going to go off easy."
"Vasquez! Meija!" One of the military officers called out to two of the closest men. "Ve con ellos! ¡Rápido!"
"ARENA CLOSING IN ONE MINUTE."
As the team stepped back until Jo was happy the military officers carefully threaded their way through the fence as the women had shown them.
"ARENA CLOSING IN THIRTY SECONDS…29…28..27…"
"Do you two speak English?" Morgan asked.
"I do." Meija said, "Vasquez here not so much."
"Okay, these two have experience." Morgan indicated the women. "Sgt. Mason here is in charge. Do what she tells you and we might make it out alive with the kids."
Meija translated and both men nodded. "Si, we understand."
"ARENA CLOSING."
Suddenly a hum they had barely noticed rose in volume to nearly ear splitting levels, and then in pitch until it was almost painful. It felt like a valve was opened somewhere and at some level everything was being sucked toward that fence. They covered their ears and winced as the blue lines glowed too bright and began to widen, making a wall and then…
With a loud boom it began. Lines began to shoot up and across, connecting and reconnecting, forming a grid that arched over the village in a giant dome. And as each box formed in the grid it set up its own glow, filling in and slowly becoming somehow a web that sealed completely.
When the final bang was heard well above their heads the entire village was encased in a dome of pure energy. Through it Spencer could just make out the rest of the team, staring up in awe as they were.
Well, not Jo and not Kat. They were looking at it with a mixture of anger and disgust. "Welcome to the 77th annual Hunger Games." Jo pronounced. "And may the odds be ever in our favor."
