Chapter 6
Jack Hotchner played with his action figure, not a care in the world once in a while; he looked across at his mother to make sure she was still there. His six months of captivity hadn't caused him any physical problems, but he was troubled every night by nightmares; he always ended up in his dad's bed between his mum and dad, safe. The five-year-old hadn't talked about his time away with his mother, and Hotch had been advised to give him the time to speak when he feels truly safe.
" Daddy, how is aunty Emily?" Jack asked as he played with his supergirl action figure.
Hotch looked at his son, surprised; he hadn't seen Emily for six months since her sudden departure from the team.
" Why do you ask? Jack," he asked his son
" I heard the Irish lady tell aunty Emily she had to pick who got hurt. Emily told them to hurt her. The crazy lady was there, but she wore a hood all the time." Jack innocently told his dad, concerned about his aunt Emily
Hotch looked at his son, now in full FBI mode.
" How often did you hear your aunt Emily?" he asked
" all the time, daddy, she played a game with them. I could sometimes hear through the wall. I remembered I am a junior G man, as uncle Derek tells me. Is it important?" Jack asked, pleased he did well.
" what are you two guys doing?" asked Haley as she had just woken up.
" just talking, mommy." he smiled as he ran into her arms for a cuddle
Hotch smiled and joined the family cuddle putting Jack's comments in a box for later; it was family time; the last six months had shown him how important Jack and Hailey were to him. FBI stuff could wait.
EJ
JJ walked into the round table room after being cleared to return to work. She had been warned that she would be watched closely by her superior. Prentiss and her actions had put an invisible stain on her; everyone would wonder if she knew anything about her activities. If she didn't, what type of agent did that make her.
" Grab a seat, JJ. It's good to have you back." smiled Morgan
Morgan Explains that Emily's actions had caused a firestorm. Defence attorneys were lining up to challenge their client's verdict asserting the possibility of evidence tampering. We found all the tampered evidence listed on the iPad. We haven't seen anything more, but we have a lot to check. It takes time; it would go quicker if we convinced Emily to tell us everything.
The blonde profiler just exploded at Morgan. " are you fucking kidding me. I know her best? Really. Emily Prentiss, I don't think I ever knew that woman. Just look what she has done for money; what's the body count up to?" asked the furious blonde
"21." Answered Reid
JJ stood and started pacing around the room, trying to calm down before hitting her friend.
" Jennifer, sit down, please," asked Rossi with pleading eyes
Dropping into her chair like a petulant child, JJ glared at her temporary boss with her icy blue eyes.
Realising his error in judgment, Morgan apologised to her, knowing she had been through a lot lately with Emily, Penelope and her mother.
" I will do it, Derek." Rossi told the assembled team members, " she was your, Partner. You never got over her just leaving. I would handle it better. I will do it alone." he told two very relieved profilers.
EJ
"Damn, another logic bomb; it's reset itself once again." sighed Penelope Garcia chugging her can of monster.
Maddy spun herself around in her chair as she mulled the problem over drinking her strawberry milk. Her computer beeped.
"Who is Aaron Hotchner, Penny?" she asked a shocked Garcia. " He has been digging around Emily's phone logs with the help of a Kevin Lynch."
Smiling like the Cheshire cat, " He is/was my boss at the BAU before I got arrested again." replied the happy hacker
"Penny, what if we are attacking this the wrong way? The back door we are trying to breach could be a red Herring left for people to try and break-in. Let's search again. Remember, you know this woman. Chocolate milk for you now, no more caffeine." smiled Maddy throwing over a bottle of chocolate milk.
Plunging a straw through the foil lid, she took a satisfying gulp and started her search. Three hours later.
" Got it, sneaky but not sneaky enough; you're slipping, my evil queen," smirked Garcia
The security for this uber secret back door was high end, requiring them to attack it to break in simultaneously.
EJ
Emily hobbled into the interview room, her hands secured to the leather belt around her waist. To her surprise, David Rossi sat waiting for her. The two guards fastened her handcuffs to the table and left the room.
" What do you want, Dave, come to help me?" she asked sarcastically
He ignored her hostility toward him. " Emily, With what you have done, every defence lawyer thinking they have a chance, has filed for their client's conviction to be overturned due to possible evidence tampering by you. you have created a firestorm; confidence in our unit is rock bottom." Rossi told his former friend
" You onetime believed in upholding the law, Emily. Please do the right thing and tell us exactly what evidence you have contaminated. Could you help us?" Rossi asked
Emily looked her old friend in the face and studied him carefully, and profiled the senior agent. She detected no sign of dishonesty; he truly believed she had tampered with the evidence.
Disgusted, hoping someone from her old team believed she was innocent. She was about to call the guard to return her to her cell when she had a sudden idea.
" No, David, I will only tell Jennifer in precisely three hours. You want my help make it happen. Guard!" Emily told the surprised older agent
" Ma'am, can I go back to my cell, please?" she asked the guard " Anyone else arrives, my attorney better be sat at the table next to me." Warned Emily
Rossi watched her escorted out of the room by the guards shaking his head, wondering when she had lost her way. He decided he had to tell Morgan of Emily's request, knowing JJ would need a lot of effort to persuade her to see Emily ever again.
EJ
Returning to her cell, Emily was suddenly pushed into the empty cell as they passed by her guards. The cell door closed after three inmates walked past the guards.
" Time for your official warm welcome fed." smirked the apparent leader of the group
With her hands still handcuffed and secured to her waist belt, Emily couldn't protect herself when one woman swung the towel at her head—containing nothing more sinister than two bars of prison-issue soap. After only three hits to her head, Emily is floored by a kick to her casted leg.
"Arghh, bitch." screamed Emily, earning herself a punch to her head, causing a cut above her right eye.
Stradling the fallen brunette's hips, the leader grabbed Emily's right index finger and proceeded to break it with a laugh. " I hope you're an ambidextrous agent or no fun for you." the black-haired ring leader knocked on the closed cell door and walked out with her two fellow conspirators.
"Get up, Prentiss; what happened to you?" the male guard asked, smirking
Emily knew she had to play the game as a prisoner if she had any chance of surviving the next three months.
"I slipped on the damp floor, sir. Would it be possible to go to the hospital? I seem to have a cut above my eye?" Emily asked her guards.
EJ
She returned to her cell after receiving three stitches to her busted bottom lip and five stitches to her right eye. Feeling her beating, she strolled into her cell. Isobel rushed to her cellmate and guided her to her bed, helping her lay down.
"Oh, Emily, it has started already. I'm so sorry." Isobel told her as she kneeled at the side of her bed.
" Did the guards stop your beating? Usually, cops and feds end up in the hospital for a few weeks, even in the segregation unit. They have ways to get to you everywhere. Here take these for the pain. They are only Oxy tablets. They are much better than what you're given in the hospital. I get regular beatings, trust me, Emily. I would turn onto your back so you can keep your broken finger elevated." Isobel fussed over Emily, trying to make her comfortable.
" Thank You, Izzy. You're so kind. Aren't you going to get yourself into trouble helping me?" asked Emily
With a slight shake of her head, " No, they hate me anyway, you Emily Prentiss, disgraced FBI agent, is my first friend. With you here, at least I have someone to talk to. We can help each other after beat downs and..." she stopped suddenly and started to cry
" They rape you as well, don't they." asked a groggy Emily
Emily didn't hear Izzy's reply. She was asleep. Her painkillers had kicked in. Izzy looked at her battered, bruised friend's face, now colouring nicely. Hoping her new cellmate would help protect her against the group that regularly used her as a plaything.
EJ
Jack Hotchner snuggled with his mother, watched by his dad.
"Aaron, you're a workaholic missing parties and family vacations because of your job, but I still can't remember where you work and what you do.." Haley sighed, annoyed her memory was still mostly missing
"Sweetheart, the doctor said take your time. It will come back. Stop pushing yourself," Hotch told her as he cupped her cheek
" Who is Emily Prentiss? I keep getting her name flash into my memory. Always helping Jack and Me, but that's all I get." asked a sleepy Haley
" She used to be a team member; she walked away from us six months ago," he answered his wife.
His doorbell rang, breaking him out of his thoughts. He opened the door to see three men standing on his stoop.
"Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner?" asked one man
Hotch just nodded at his new guests. " Yes, who are you?" he asked
"Special Agent Daniel Ewing, I'm a member of a homeland security task force. I need you to accompany me, please, sir." He asked politely
Acknowledging the request, he excused himself to tell Haley and Jack. Collecting his weapon and credentials, he followed the agents to their SUV.
While he was driven to wherever he kept thinking about Emily Prentiss, not knowing where she fitted into the puzzle yet determined to find out.
EJ
Sitting opposite each other at the round table, Derek and JJ drink their coffee. Both agents were furious they still hadn't been able to locate Penelope Garcia's missing body. JJ had just ripped a coroner's assistant's head off. She wanted to bury her best friend and say goodbye to her. The blonde still had a lot of anger swirling inside her, waiting for a way out.
JJ remembered Strauss had handed her a velvet bag earlier she had discovered in Emily's desk when she had searched it. Pulling the string, she opened the bag, revealing a diamond engagement ring.
"What you got there, Jayje?" asked a curious Morgan
She flicked the ring across the table to Derek for him to look at.
"Wow, that's some size rock. Why break it off if she had already gotten you an engagement ring?" he inquired
" I don't think I ever knew that woman; this proves a point; we were both happy, ready to move our relationship to the next stage, then bang. It's not working. Let's be friends crap. The woman I loved Derek and shared a bed with is a total stranger." she told him as she, for some reason, slipped the ring onto her sister's necklace.
Rossi walked into the room, followed by Strauss. Unusual for him, Rossi looked anxious as his gaze settled on JJ.
"Prentiss wasn't helpful. She demanded your presence in three hours. We have two hours remaining. She told me, JJ, that she would tell you everything you wanted. I know your views on seeing Prentiss; you're going to have to suck it up and visit her for the greater good." Rossi told her
"No! Putting me in the same room as her in handcuffs would not be a good idea. I will kill her for what happened to Penelope. You can't make me Rossi," the determined blonde told the senior agent
"I can agent Jareau; we need the extent of her tampering to help put out this firestorm. I am ordering you to attend the prison to interview Prentiss; agents Morgan and Rossi will attend with you to keep you out of trouble. Do you understand me, agent Jareau?" Strauss told the shocked Blonde profiler.
Knowing she had no choice now but to face Emily Prentiss, JJ nodded at Strauss and walked out of the room before saying something she would regret later. Derek stood to follow his friend
"Leave me alone, Derek. I will be down in five minutes unless you want to leave without me." she laughed weakly as she walked into the ladies' bathroom.
Not bothering to check if any of the cubicles were occupied, she screamed at the top of her lungs. Screaming all completed, she quickly washed her face and headed down to Derek and Dave.
"Feel any better, Jennifer?" smirked Derek
His answer was a quick slap on his shoulder as she climbed onto the back seat of the SUV
EJ
" This is a code word task group chasing a hacker who sells her services to the highest bidder; she has no morals or allegiance to the US. Money talks to her; she stole sensitive data, which doesn't matter to you. Our in house hacker is excellent but needed help." he paused for a moment
"That's where I came in, boss man." smiled Garcia as she hugged Hotch
"Penelope?" asked a shocked man
"Yeah, they offered me a quick and painful out of prison. And a full pardon and a spotless record. Sorry about the deception, but I had no choice. We need to talk about Emster and what we have found so far; she is being set up big time, Hotch. Watch this. We found this segment and managed to recover it from the smartphone we hacked." Garcia told her very surprised Boss
Watching the video file,
'Without warning, pushed her down the first flight. Quickly the male flicked his wrist, opening his metal baton, striking Emily's left shin twice before hearing a satisfying crack.'
" She was submissive to the couple, letting them break her leg. The fall was staged." Hotch pondered, " Her drinking problems, I bet, are false. What is going on, Penelope?" He asked his resurrected analyst.
Garcia introduced Maddy to Hotch and briefed him on what they collected.
" Everything tells my none agent brain; Emily is being set up big time. We need to help her, Hotch." Pleaded Penelope
Hotch nodded and pulled his union jack analyst into a hug
" I missed you, Penelope." The unusually emotional Hotch told her