Author Note: Ah... the plot thickens! Also: Thanks to all the extremely helpful reviews! I am catching on, and have begun to cut down on the over-detailing. That should correct some of the slowness. Anyway, here's the next chapter (which should answer questions like "what was that tape doing there? are you crazy?")

Chapter Name: The Valley of Hinnom was an example used to describe Hell in the Bible. In Biblical times, it was a giant landfill that people lit on fire when it grew too large. (Now the same valley is a public park. Go figure.) Anyway... here goes!


It had been remarkably easy.

For all his experience, for all his years on the force, the good officer had one basic human need: privacy. He'd slipped into the restroom to pee and that's where it had happened. A quick slit, a closure, a forced injection with an illegal substance, and Officer Keenan was toddling back to his desk with a dazed look on his face and an itching in his skin.

In less than five minutes he was dead, overdosed, without a sound in the world. Like a baby in a car, a brain in an oven; a slow, simple cessation of life.

He'd known they'd find Keenan. And as quickly as he'd come, he slipped away. He hadn't trusted this job to his men, and he was glad of it; no one could have done it as smoothly.

He smiled to himself as he climbed into his Jeep. He'd been trained well. Why shouldn't he gain a little pleasure from it? Besides... his assignment was soon to wake.

Reid woke up very, very slowly. He took inventory of his body as he gained feeling, before his eyes cracked open. There was no sound to speak of. He was surrounded by blackness. He would have thought he was dead, were it not for the feel of cold, wet concrete at his back.

He was sitting, handcuffed to something coming out of a wall. He moved, stirring, straining to see something, anything.

Suddenly, he began to hear a sound. And while it began quietly, it became loud. The volume grew, heightening and strengthening, until it was too loud, too punishing, and Reid could nearly feel his eardrums fighting the invasion.

In a matter of seconds after it began, he'd placed the song. It was called Wings for Marie, and it was his favorite song--- track four on his favorite CD--- although he rarely listened to it on such a high volume. He'd bought it after hearing it on the radio. The title had drawn him. Marie was his mother's name.

We listen to the tales and romanticize
how we follow the path of the...
hero.

Ignoring the music, Reidtwisted, amazed that he was suffering no serious pain.

Listen to the tales as we all rationalize
our way into the arms of the...
savior.

Suddenly, a door opened. A man entered the room--- roughly six feet, but with at least fifty pounds on Reid. He appeared to be dressed entirely in black, illuminated in silhouette by the light from the door. He hit a switch, and a naked bulb flickered into life as the door swung shut.

There was nothing else in the room except the two men.

"What do you want?" Reid said.

"Do you feel all right?"

The question was such a non-sequitur, Reid didn't quite know how to respond. So he didn't. "What do you want?" he repeated.

"We--- not I--- want something that you possess," he answered. "This is not a personal effort. If I derive enjoyment from it, it is for me alone, and not my superiors."

Military. The word rocketed into Reid's consciousness.

"I understand," he said, blowing a strand of hair out of his eyes. Then he took a chance. "I assume you want me for the same reason you wanted Green?"

"You would be correct in that assumption. Green, however, was purely an experiment. The first, if you will."

None of them can even hold a candle up to you.
Blinded by choices hypocrites won't see.

"You won't touch me," Reid declared softly, summoning more bravado than he thought he could stand.

"I will, actually. I apologize in advance, but some rules must be broken. It won't hurt unless you make it hurt."

His kidnapper lunged. The syringe was aiming to take some of his blood. Reid wouldn't let it.

Who could deny you were the one who illuminated
your little piece of the divine?

He struggled, shifting, pulling away, avoiding for all he was worth. The man crouched, beginning to land fists that felt like steel into his body. He fought them, clenching his body, curling into a fetal position, his muscles knowing what to do, having learned, having memorized years of school locker room abuse---

Oh, what are they gonna do when the lights go down?
Without you to guide them all to Zion?
What are they gonna do when the rivers overrun?

--- the blows continued, attempting to break him, pummeling his will. And then--- unbidden and too fast for words--- the needle entered an unprotected point, withdrawing a pull of dark red.

You're the only one who can hold your head up high
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
"I have come home now!"

Reid curled against the wall, his hands still cuffed behind him. The man stood. "That will do," he said. "Was it so hard?"

Reid ignored him. His muscles were beginning to relax, to repair.

Fetch me the Spirit, the Son, and the Father
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.

The man studied the syringe. "This will be helpful. I will return to ask you a few questions. In the meantime, get some sleep."

He left. Time passed. Reid concentrated on breathing, and for one of the first times in his life, felt like a fool. Pillar of faith... The song had been more than just a method of distraction and overstimulation; it had been a mockery.

But whileshame lit a fire inside him, he alsofelt a realization coming on, the onslaught of epiphanal knowledge. It had been unknowingly given and immediately received: Reid knew what the unsub wanted.

It was the gift Reid had been given.


I have a question: what does Mary Sue mean? I've heard that in reviews about Reid-centric stories... Anyway, more chapters up soon! Reviews are extraordinarily helpful, too :)