Parker pushed the wooden puzzle box closer to Alex. "Hurry up and open the damn box!"
"You're wasting your time." Alex snapped. "You've become unhinged, you're crazy! This isn't going to help you find your money."
"So you do know where my money is." Parker smirked. "You can tell me and get this over with. I will even let you go free. I can drop you off in Europe somewhere and you can get a fresh start." He said sweetly.
Alex glared at him. "Is your ass jealous of the amount of shit that just came out of your mouth?"
Parker's face dropped. He picked up the fire poker and thrusted it, forcing out a harrowing scream.
Reid busted through the door. "FBI!" He announced pointing his weapon at them.
Parker stood up, with the hot poker to Alex's face and backed up holding her in front of him.
Parker's two goons moved closer to Reid as he quickly picked up a lamp and threw it at Hank, knocking him over. Reid tumbled behind the sofa, pulled a blade from his ankle holster and stabbed Ron in the foot, securing him to the floor. He did a kip-up going from his back to his feet in one swift motion. He had another knife in his hand and jabbed it in Ron's chest then twisted it as he pulled it out.
Hank got up from the floor, shaking the broken lamp pieces from his body. He lifted his arm ready to shoot his weapon. Reid threw his blade landing in Hank's arm. He fired off a shot that went into the floorboard. Hank pulled the knife out from his body and charged toward Reid. He grabbed onto Hank's arm and twisted, making him to drop the blade. Hank punched him, knocking him down.
Hank jumped toward Reid who had just grabbed the broken lamp base and shoved it into Hank's abdomen. He froze looking down at the metal sticking out of his gut. He stumbled backwards a few steps then collapsed forward, forcing the lamp to go through is back. Reid picked himself up, pulled out his glock and aimed it at Parker.
He held Alex tighter in front of him with the iron poker by her cheek. "Put down the weapon, son." Parker instructed.
"I'm not your son. Reid sneered. He glanced to the table and saw the puzzle box. "What is that doing here?"
"He said you gave it to him." Alex spoke up. "He thinks it's going to help him find a large sum of money."
"That's ridiculous." Reid chortled. "Are you that desperate? You are making connections that aren't there."
"I want my money." Parker demanded with an irrational look in his eye.
"You need to let her go." Reid ordered at he held his aim.
"Or what, you're going to shoot me?" Parker snorted.
"No, I'm going to arrest you." Reid stated matter-of-factly.
"Ha! You have no jurisdiction over me." Parker spouted.
"That's where you're wrong." Hotch stood in the doorway with his glock in his hands. "Now, let her go."
Parker glanced around the cabin in a paranoid state. He then pushed Alex toward the table where she knocked everything off of it and landed on the floor. She quickly grabbed the box and locket then moved away from him.
"Elis Parker, you are under arrest for conspiracy, larceny, kidnapping a witness, interfering in a federal investigation, making a false statement, and for pissing me off." Hotch growled.
"I misjudged you, Spencer. I had high expectations for you, but instead you had to be curious like that pain-in-the-ass Charles. I should have killed you, too!" Parker snarked.
"What?" Alex questioned. "You killed Charles?"
"You bastard!" Reid was furious and started toward Parker.
"Reid." Hotch called out. "I need you to get Alex out of here and get her medical attention." He ordered when he saw Reid continuing to move toward Parker.
Reid studied the burn marks on Alex's chest, her swollen face, and blood stained shirt. He took her arm and the two of them exited the cabin.
Reid slowly spun around, blankly looking at the snow-covered trees, not really knowing what to make of everything. His world was turned upside-down, again.
"What do we do now?" Alex asked as her hand pressed against her wounds on her chest.
Reid looked to her and realized that he needed to get her to a hospital. "Our vehicle is several miles away.
"We could hot-wire the Humvee." Alex suggested as she rushed toward it.
Suddenly they both looked up to the sky after hearing a familiar sound. Reid pulled Alex closer to him as they took cover next to the vehicles. A helicopter appeared and hovered over them. Reid was hesitant until he noticed that it was labeled FBI. He took a step out into the open and waived. Moments later a rope ladder dropped out; they both grabbed onto it and started to climb up.
Back inside the cabin, Hotch cautiously approached Parker preparing to cuff him. Parker held out his arms in front of him until Hotch got closer; he then swung his arms together and knocked Hotch across his face forcing him to stumble against the wall.
Parker started to run toward the door but Hotch tripped him. Hotch went to pick up Parker from the floor but Parker pushed back and Hotch crashed against another wall, shattering a mirror with his head. The two of them struggled until Hotch was able to have the advantage and punched him across the face; Parker stumbled backwards.
Hotch went to attack again as Parker grabbed onto him and the two landed on top of the table forcing it to break apart beneath them. Parker picked up the hot poker and started to swing at Hotch. He jumped back and then again. Hotch tumbled to the ground and picked up a broken table leg and used it to block the hot poker.
Hotch swung and knocked Parker's head so hard that he spun around then landed on the floor. Parker's vision was blurred as he looked around the cabin. He became disoriented. "How did it come to this?" He asked himself and then remembered.
*** One Year Ago ***
An alarm sounded as the prison gate closed. Parker entered the private visiting room to await Knight. The guard brought in the prisoner, escorted him to the chair, and removed his handcuffs.
"You can leave us." Parker instructed.
"You're call, Agent Lynch." The guard acknowledged and left them alone.
"Lynch?" Knight questioned.
Parker held up his finger, signaling him to wait a moment. He pulled a pen from his breast pocket, twisted the cap and placed it on the table. The pen then became a signal blocker, all of the audio and video recordings were now being interrupted. "I use a pseudonym so there is no record of me coming here."
"Good." Knight nodded. "I wasn't expecting you so soon. It must be pretty important for you to come here personally."
"Yes, it is. We are going to need to move up our timeline. One of my former agents is starting to get close."
"So what's the plan?" Knight asked, seeking direction.
"When the time comes, we will have you escape as planned. You will lie low, when the heat is off I will get you to Rio where we can live on the millions we've made." Parker smirked. "You are sure the money is safe?"
"It is at my cabin and hidden very well." Knight smirked. "However, we might have one problem."
"What's that?" Parker nervously questioned.
"I think Alex knew about my plans with the cabin. I saw her poking through some of my things and the plans for the cabin were apart of them."
"Alex isn't going anywhere any time soon. She hasn't talked so far and knows what will happen if she decides to open up her trap." Parker scoffed.
*** Present ***
"She had to ruin everything." Parker muttered to himself as he attempted to pick himself up.
Hotch kicked Parker square in the chest, forcing him to flip over the couch and landed on the floor. His mind drifted into his memories once again. He was navigating his way through Knight's mansion in the woods right before the team found him dead.
Parker finally discovered Knight sitting at his grand dining room table. "So, here you are." Parker announced as he steadily approached. "You are aware that the feds are crawling all over this place and are sure to find you soon."
"I am prepared for that." Knight dabbed his chin with his napkin, then took a drink from his snifter.
"You changed the plan." Parker was angry. "You just had to start killing people. You couldn't just lay low and wait, could you?"
"Care for a drink?" Knight offered as he lifted his glass. "You have always been too up-tight."
"I have always had to take care of you. I have worked really hard and you just had to go trash everything I have done. This latest mess is too much; I won't be able to clean it up this time." Parker scolded.
"Oh, come on, here go you again, being over dramatic." Knight smirked.
"We never should have gone into business together." Parker shook his head.
"The only thing you love more than power is money and I made you a lot of it!" Knight took another drink.
"We can't keep going on like this." Parker pulled out his handgun as Knight wasn't looking. He then shot his partner in his forehead. He placed his hand on Knight's lifeless shoulder then walked away.
Parker was still on the cabin floor. "I'm sorry." He whispered to himself. He opened his eyes to see Knight standing over him. "Harris?" Parker confusingly called out.
"Get up." Hotch ordered.
Parker snapped back into focus and realized that it was Hotch standing over him. He started to pull himself to his feet but kept seeing flashing images of Knight. "No." He said to himself.
"Feeling guilty?" Hotch asked. "That's usually what happens when you murder your own brother."
Parker became increasingly haunted by visions of Knight that he saw in every corner of the cabin. "I won't let you do this to me." Parker shouted to the shadows. He reached for the poker then attacked Hotch.
Hotch was able to grab ahold of the iron poker; the two of them toppled over as they wrestled. Parker reached for another broken piece of wood and struck Hotch across the face with it. He climbed off of Hotch and started toward the door.
Hotch pulled the glock 26 from his ankle holster and fired as Parker was escaping through the doorway. Three bullets entered Parker's back and he collapsed face forward into the snow. Hotch stumbled to the entrance; he stood and held his aim at Parker's motionless body.
Several SUV's pulled up with their lights flashing. "Aaron, are you okay?" Rossi asked as he stepped from the vehicle.
Hotch didn't waiver, still standing over Parker's body with his weapon in both hands.
Rossi leaned down and checked for a pulse, stood up and took a step toward his friend. "He's gone, Aaron." He helped to lower the gun.
Hotch looked around. "Where's Reid?"
Morgan came walking toward them. "Garcia said that they got a ride to the hospital."
"We should get you there, too." Rossi urged.