Chapter 1 The Zoo
Henry LaMontagne bounced with excitement as he, for the twentieth time, recounted to his parents everything he knew about the rhinoceroses at the Zoo. His mother won tickets to greet them behind the scenes with the head keeper. All week all he could talk about was his dream job as a zookeeper looking after the rhinos.
Kasumi, the new female rhino calf, was his favourite, and he was looking forward to helping the keepers wash her. They had promised him he could scrub her down with her favourite brush.
"Is it time yet, dad?" Henry asked excitedly for the fifth time in the last two minutes.
Neither JJ nor Will could be angry with their super excited son, "Mom, make sure you have the tickets in your purse, please." Henry asked again.
"Yes, Henry, look at the tickets in my purse. Can you see them safe in my wallet?" asked an amused mother.
Suddenly, Henry started frowning when his mothers work phone started ringing. "Jareau," JJ answered with apprehension.
" JJ, I know you're going to the zoo with Henry and Will today. The director has brought forward the budget meeting; I'm so sorry I need you back to attend the meeting as you know nobody else knows our budget as well as you do. Strauss has asked if we can send someone else. His assistant said yes as long as they are as well-versed in the BAU teams budget. Sorry JJ Strauss tried for you." Hotch told her with remorse he hated spoiling Henry's day at the zoo
" That's ok, Hotch. Thank you for trying. I will be there in about an hour." answered a disappointed mother
Henry flung himself onto the couch and started crying. The five year old distraught he was going to miss his chance to see Kasumi.
A saddened mother knelt and looked at her son in his blue eyes, tears filling her eyes. "Henry, your dad will take you to the zoo to meet Kasumi. It would help if you didn't miss it because of my job. Have a nice blast with your dad, but I want lots of pictures." smiled an upset blonde mother.
"Really?" asked a smiling blonde son
"Yes, Henry. Go and have fun with dad." replied a happier mother looking at her smiling son.
"You're the best, Mom," replied Henry flinging his arms around his mother's neck kissing her on her cheek.
Handing over the competition tickets to Will, JJ kissed both her boys as she waved them off to the zoo
EJ
Watching the excited blonde boy and father enter the zoo on the closed-circuit camera system, Amanda Black carefully watched William and Henry. They represented the start of her carefully designed revenge on one Emily Prentiss for her killing of her husband 14 years ago in a run-down riverside warehouse in London. Amanda had been hidden in a crate to protect her from Lauren Reynolds.
Reynolds had been forcefully taking over arms dealers businesses to solidify her place. Amanda had witnessed this for six hours whilst she got all the information she needed before brutally killing him.
Two years later, she found Emily Prentiss's picture in the Washington post celebrating her award for courage. She will never forget the face of the woman that tortured and killed her husband. Spending six months looking into Supervisory Special Agent Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, she found holes in her supposed whereabouts during 2007. Unfortunately for Emily, Amanda was a computer techie on par or slightly better than Penelope Garcia.
She managed to work out Prentiss had been undercover for Interpol for some reason. Since that day, revenge was all her family wanted. Today was the culmination of 9 years of planning.
EJ
"Look, dad!" Henry announced excitedly, pointing to the rhinos. " that's a black rhino. Oh, look, that one is a one-horned rhino." Will smiled at his son, thinking he sounded very much like his godfather.
Father and son enjoyed watching the fantastic animals in their enclosure until it was time for Henry's behind the scenes with the head keeper.
" Hi, you must be Henry? Welcome to the Rhino section. My name is Andrew; please follow me." he fist pumped the excited young man.
Following him into the Rhino's inside enclosure, they stopped next to a smaller pen holding a young female rhino. "Henry, this is Kasumi; slowly place your hand on her side, and she should let you stroke her." smiled the keeper.
Henry slowly placed his open hand on her flank and giggled as she snorted. He slowly moved his hand towards her ears and tickled them. The delighted five-year-old started giggling as Kasumi started snorting in pleasure.
Will smiled at his ecstatic son, filming his interaction with the rhino calf to send to JJ when he suddenly felt a gun pressed into his side.
" Now do exactly as your told, detective LaMontagne and Henry will not be harmed. Nod your head if you understand me." the female voice instructed
Will nodded in understanding. A second man dressed as a keeper pointed a noise suppressed gun into his stomach.
" walk slowly with us towards the pile of straw, make a fuss, and Henry dies." warned the male
Will complied without a choice, not willing to risk his son's life; he walked over to the pile of straw. His heart nearly stopped noticing the three bodies of the actual zookeeper's partially covered. He felt a sharp prick in his neck, and everything went black.
His unconscious body was lifted and deposited in the empty wheelbarrow and covered with straw.
" Time for the little man," smirked Jodie Black to her twin brother.
Removing the prefilled syringe with the correct dose for Henry, Jodie walked over to him as he continued to stroke the rhino. Collapsing into her arms after the drugs took effect, Aiden Black, her twin brother, shot the head keeper twice in his heart.
Dragging the keeper's body over to the others, they covered the bodies with straw. Henry was placed in the second wheelbarrow and covered with straw, ready for transport.
EJ
Jodie and Aiden stopped their wheelbarrows next to the van and opened the back doors pulling out the ramp, and wheeled their precious cargo into the cargo area. The twins drove out the back of the zoo, showing the correct security passes and employee identification.
"Mother, we have them both. We are on route to you to change vehicles. Everything went as planned, except Jennifer was missing." Jodie told her mother. "We should be with you in twenty minutes."
"Everything okay?" Aiden asked his sister
Smiling, she nodded at her brother " as planned, apart from Jennifer but Prentiss loves the blonde kid. Her electronic picture frame is full of pictures of her with him. His godmother will do anything to protect him. Prentiss might be this brilliant profiler, but I have been invisible to her for months; I'm just the mailroom girl delivering the post to the sixth floor." smirked Jodie
EJ
JJ walked into the BAU after completing the three-hour meeting that made her miss her planned day out at the zoo with Henry and Will. Emily walked over to her best friend, pulling her into a gentle hug
" I know how much you were looking forward to the day out with Henry and Will at the zoo. I'm so sorry, Jennifer." Emily told her friend. "Now get yourself off home and listen to your son recount his time at the zoo. I want pictures for my digital picture frame."
JJ beamed and walked out of the BAU so she could get home ready to hear about Henry's rhino experience.
EJ
Will started to open his eyes slowly. His head felt awful. Whatever they gave him had severe after-effects.
"Henry!" shouted Will, trying to find Henry.
Finding himself shackled to a stout wooden chair in the dark, he couldn't see a thing. He heard nothing apart from the annoying sound of water dripping somewhere. Will just wanted to know where his son was. He didn't give a damn about himself; He wanted his son.
Henry opened his eyes, finding himself in a hospital bed, his lower right arm and lower left leg in a cast. Henry still felt strange. He couldn't remember anything after Kasumi.
"Hello Henry, I am your nurse. My name is Jodie. You had a car wreck on the way back home from the zoo. You broke your arm and leg, sweetie, in the crash; you also cut your head. You have been in hospital for one week asleep after banging your head." Jodie told the drugged five-year-old.
"I want my mummy and daddy." demanded the groggy boy
Sitting on the edge of Henry's bed, Jodie took his uninjured hand and gently squeezed it. "Henry, I am so sorry your daddy died in the crash." she waited for Henry to start crying. " Mummy and her whole team died during a raid at work; you're all alone."
"My arm and leg hurt. Can I have medicine? Would you please nurse Jodie?" asked a weeping and confused Henry
"Of course, Henry." smiled Jodie leaving the room.
The room was a replica built in the farm's barn. Speakers played hospital noise on a loop; the room even smelt like a good hospital room with the authentic antiseptic aroma. To ensure Henry believes everything, they keep him lightly sedated until he has served his purpose. He has two sharp pins inserted under his casts to make sure he is in pain, simulating broken limb pain. Nothing was being chanced.
The bright overhead lights suddenly blinded, will looking around, he could tell he was in a cellar. The door opened, and Aiden Black walked down the stairs.
" Hello, Detective. Good to see you finally awake." walking to the detective, he punched him in the face. " Henry is fine as long as you follow our instructions. You can thank Supervisory. Special. Agent. Emily. Elizabeth. Prentiss. For your little holiday with us." he slowly pronounced each word, utter hatred in his voice.
Aiden Black commenced a vicious assault on the restrained detective; the Black family had made two replica chairs that their father had been tortured in. The second chair waited for Emily Prentiss in the barn for her prolonged torture session. After punching the detective into unconsciousness, he lifted his head so his mother could take pictures.
EJ
Sitting on the couch in the living room, Amanda Black felt satisfied with everything. Except for Jennifer missing from the family trip, everything had gone as planned. Arranging for Henry to win the competition was so straightforward the radio stations computer system was so vulnerable to someone like her. The only person winning that zoo visit was Henry LaMontagne.
With a smile, she raised her glass and toasted her husband, Ryan Black.
" Gone but never forgotten, I love you, Ryan. Prentiss will get what's coming very soon, sweetheart. She will know pain like no other before she departs this mortal plane." she smiled
Flashback 2007 disused warehouse
Amanda Black peeked through a small gap in the wooden crate her husband had hidden her. The intention had been to purchase some cheap military-grade noise suppressed M4's. Too late, Ryan realised Lauren Reynolds had no intention of selling him anything; she was here for a very hostile takeover of his business. Rumour is she had been involved with three other very hostile takeovers. Her body count was increasing. She left no one alive.
Reynolds played with her husband for hours; he continued to scream only quiet when he passed out from the pain—injecting him with something to bring him back to consciousness so she could start again.
" Ryan, Ryan, Ryan account numbers and passwords if you please." Lauren Reynolds wanted, " don't make me ask you again." Ryan was warned
Ryan spat blood into her face and laughed, " Fuck you, bitch."
A now very pissed off Lauren straddled him on the chair and pulled a plastic bag over his head, sealing it tight around his neck, cutting his oxygen off. Placing her forehead against his, Lauren waited until he started to struggle to breathe and plunged an ice pick into each shoulder.
"Speak up, Ryan. I can't hear you." taunts Lauren
Cutting open the bag, Ryan starts sucking in the life-giving air. He glances across at the crate his wife is safely hidden away in, saying his silent goodbye to his beloved wife. Tears silently fell down her cheeks as she turned away and listened to Ryan tell that bitch everything she wanted.
" Well, thank you, Ryan, that all checks out a pleasure doing business with you." Lauren laughed
EJ
Slowly Amanda climbed out from her wooden sanctuary. Some hours after, it went all quiet to ensure she was alone. Her husband, Ryan, dead in the chair. She had tortured him for six long hours. Secretly watching everything, she wanted her retribution on that Bitch.
Amanda pulled the two ice picks out of his shoulders; kissing her husband goodbye, she walked away.
End flashback
Wiping her tears away, Amanda opened the box on the table, removing two ice picks she had removed from her husband shoulders 14 years ago.
" They will be ready for you, Emily Prentiss, don't you worry." she smiled. "Lovely and sharp."
EJ
"Jareau," she answered her cell phone
"Jennifer, it's Paul Williams. I don't know if you remember me; I am Will's captain. Do you know where he is?" he asked
Worriedly she answered him, " He should be at the zoo with Henry after winning a radio competition to see the Rhinos. Why?"
"You need to come down here and bring your team. We've found all the zookeepers from the rhino section dead. The head keepers body had Will's cell phone in his pocket. There is no sign of Will or Henry; we think they were targeted as the entirety of the zoo's CCTV from today was looped from yesterday. We are canvassing staff and visitors at the moment, but that takes time, as you know. We will find them, Jennifer." an optimistic police captain told her.
Unfortunately, working for the BAU, Jennifer knew better. Worriedly she dialled her best friend, Emily, and her emotions got the better of her as she started explaining everything to her. Emily told JJ she would explain everything to Hotch, and she would swing by and pick her up on the way to the zoo.
As assured, Emily pulled into Jennifers drive 30 minutes later after breaking all speed limits using her lights and sirens.
JJ ran into her friend open arms, bursting into tears. " I can't lose them, Em,"
"We will find them; Jennifer, the team, will be there by now. Someone has grabbed members of our family. Garcia has gone with Derek to do her tech wizardry on the recordings. Let's go. Are you ready?" Emily asked her friend
Wiping her eyes JJ just nodded, climbing into the FBI SUV.
EJ
Hotch walked over to JJ as she alighted from the SUV with Emily.
" Jennifer, we have just started talking with Metro detectives, and Garcia is checking the servers from the security cameras. We have a few tentative sightings of Henry and Will from zoo tourists, but we have missed people that have already departed. Hopefully, Garcia can work her magic and Recover today's footage." with an unusual show of emotion, he squeezed JJ's shoulder. " you already know this, but I'm going to tell you anyway way you cannot investigate this. It's far too personal. That said, stay with Emily." Hotch gold his agent.
"Thank you, Hotch." JJ smiled sadly at her boss
The team spend the next few hours trying to find anything helpful. Whoever had taken Henry and Will only left the zookeepers bodies and Will's cell phone.
" Hotch, whoever did this is good; I mean as good as I am, even better. Today's recording has been deleted repeatedly on the server. There is absolutely nothing for me to recover on the server here or the backup server off-site. I can't help JJ. I feel so, so bad." an unusually constrained Technical analyst told her boss
Agreeing, the whole team decided to return to Quantico. Emily helped her stressed friend back into the SUV with Garcia for the journey back so she could cry without the male members of the team present.
tbc
