(Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters)

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"You're related to that guy?"

Aaron was uncomfortable. He had been for the past twenty minutes while they spoke to the man who had received Spencer's call.

Morgan was looking at Aaron with an expression of sympathy while Aaron nodded.

"He's my father," Aaron said simple and the man, Greg, looked down at the photos of the women Ed had killed.

"And he killed them?"

"Yes! Look, man, we're not gonna keep going over this," Morgan said, his voice edging on exasperation. Aaron glanced at him and nodded a silent thank you for keeping prying questions from continuing.

Greg nodded quickly but he looked down at the dead girls again. Morgan leaned over and pulled the photos away and Greg startled, staring at them until Morgan turned them over.

"Do you understand now why this unsub is extremely dangerous?"

"Unsub?"

"The kidnapper. Killer, whatever you want to call the guy who murdered those girls," Derek said and Greg nodded seriously.

"Monster," he said and Morgan paused and sat back in his seat again.

"Yea."

Aaron placed a photo of Spencer on the table in front of Greg. "This is the man who called you," he said, thankful at Greg's change of attention to the photo. He picked it up and squinted at Spencer.

"They all looked really happy," he mumbled and he tilted his head, looking sadly at the photo.

Morgan was shaking his head but Aaron appreciated Greg's humanity.

"There's still hope for Spencer," Aaron said. "He's been gone nearly a week but his call to you proved he's still alive."

Greg looked up from the photo with wide eyes.

"The information from that call could save him."

Greg looked between the two agents with a startled expression. "I-I told the cop before everything I knew. I really want to help you find Spencer. I really really do. But I don't think I can tell you anymore than you already know."

"I wanted to hear it from you," Aaron said. "Everything you remember. Anything, even if you don't think it's important."

Greg swallowed thickly and slowly placed Spencer's photo on the table. He stared at it as he began to recount what he'd heard on the phone.

"He was scared," Greg said solemnly. "I thought it was a joke but when he went on I could hear it in his voice."

"Could you hear anything in the background?"

Greg shook his head thoughtfully but then stopped and looked up. "I think there was AC in the background," he said with a thoughtful frown.

"That's great!" Morgan said. "Anything else?"

"Uh... I heard a car before he hung up. It wasn't very loud though."

Aaron nodded as Greg scratched the back of his head, trying to dredge up any memories of the phone call to help them "I told them about the motel. You know that right?"

"Yea," Morgan muttered.

"Unfortunately there are a lot of motels in this state."

Greg nodded sadly before looking down at his hands. "His leg," he said suddenly. He glanced up at them both eagerly. "Did I say anything about that?"

Morgan looked across at Aaron before shaking his head.

"Oh, well its broken..." Greg sighed loudly, ducking his head down like a guilty child. "Thats definitely not helpful," he muttered.

"It is. Now we know what state he's in," Aaron said, trying to hide his dismay. Spencer was totally trapped, not only by Ed but by his own body.

"He also said he was going to die," Greg said and he pressed his lips together sadly. Aaron looked away, remembering what the detective had reported to them after his questioning of Greg.

"He's not going to die," Morgan said and both Greg and Aaron glanced up at him. Morgan was sat up proudly, frowning determinedly and nodding slowly to himself. "We'll find him before that."

"Morgan-"

"I hope you do," Greg said, quietly interrupting Aaron. Aaron turned to look at Greg who was staring back at Morgan with a hopeful expression on his face. "I pray to god that you do."

Mogan stood and he reached his hand across the table, taking Greg's smaller hand in his and shaking it rigorously. "Thanks for your help."

He turned and gave Aaron a nudge. Greg looked back at him and he offered his hand to Aaron. "I really hope you find your brother."

"That wasn't very helpful then."

Morgan nodded to Emily's sentiment and watched as she sighed and dropped her head into her hands.

"We're so close but just... not there yet," she said.

"He told us Spencer's leg is broken," Aaron said as he sat over in a far chair, close to Rossi. "Which is new..."

"And something else to worry about," JJ added.

"So he's still in the state?" Emily asked.

"Yea... well hopefully," Morgan said before glancing up at Garcia. "Anything yet, babygirl?"

Penelope kept her head low and Morgan was about to ask again when she looked up with a smile. "Actually I do! They found Spencer's car at the Luton motel. The closest car rental was six miles down the road and someone rented a car yesterday. There's more CCTV but it has to be him," Garcia said and she bit her lip to hold in her excitement.

"So... we've got him?" Morgan asked, looking around at the team hopefully.

Rossi tutted. "We still need to find Spencer."

"But we have all the information to do that. Garcia, send out reports for the model of car Ed rented."

"I already have, boss man. Nothing back yet."

Aaron hit his fist against the table, not loud enough to startle the team, but hard enough to make JJ and Morgan wince.

For the next two hours they sat, printing out new information only to ball it up and shake their heads.

Aaron stood up to look over the map, trying to pinpoint where his father was taking Spencer.

Aaron sat back down, shaking his head at the map and the different pin-pointed sightings. Ed was devolving which meant Spencer was in more danger than any of them could comprehend.

"Dave have you-"

Aaron stopped when his phone started buzzing inside his pocket. He sighed and pulled his phone out.

"Its probably Sean," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He hadn't called his brother in a few days, he'd only sent brief updates through texts. It also reminded Aaron of Jack and he felt his stomach clench with guilt. He'd have to take the kid somewhere special when everything was over.

Aaron looked down at the number, expecting to see Sean or Jessica's name. There was no name on the screen.

'Unknown caller.'

Aaron sucked a breath in as he read the jumble of numbers he wasn't familiar with.

He looked up at his team.

"It's him," Aaron said. He hadn't intended for his voice to shake, nor his hand, which trembled as he accepted the call.

Morgan shot Garcia a look that said track it! And she started to type away hurriedly.

The call connected and Aaron held the phone close to his ear, cradling it with both his hands. "Spencer?" he asked, dropping one hand but continuing to cling to the phone with his other.

Rossi stood up and motioned for Aaron to put the phone down. Speaker, he mouthed and Aaron licked his lips nervously, pulling the phone from his ear and pressing the speaker button.

The static noise Aaron had been listening to became audible for the rest of the team.

"Reid, is that you?" Aaron called again. They all watched the phone, waiting for someone to answer.

It was another moment before someone did, effectively cutting Aaron off who had started to open his mouth to speak again.

"You're taking your time," the voice on the other end of the phone said. Aaron could hear the humour in the man's voice and he recognised it instantly as his fathers. He recalled the same voice whispering cruel accusations in his ear when he was a child.

Unloved. That's what you are. You're lucky I love you, kid, because nobody else does.

Aaron pushed himself back into his chair, his Adam's apple trembling.

"Where are you?" Aaron asked, his voice as steady as he could muster.

His fathers voice was steely and confident and didn't hesitate like Aaron's.

"Do you need me to tell you? How close are you to finding me? I would have loved for you to see this, Aaron."

Aaron didn't see the way JJ turned her head away, covering her mouth. He heard her sniff but he was too busy starting down at the phone.

"You want me there?" Aaron asked and Ed chuckled, the sound distorted by the poor phone signal, making it seem more demonic.

"Of course I do. I left the phone out for Myles." Ed paused, there was a sound on the other end, a heavy sound, then a strange tapping. "The boy called the wrong person though. I was hoping he called 911 or you," Ed said and he snorted. "Not too smart this one. Can't blame you for that one though, it's not like we raised him."

"This is a little awkward now, son. You see I expected you to be here by now. Obviously that's your brothers fault, he called the wrong person. And you know what they say, if you want a job done right..."

There was another pause and Aaron used it to look up at Rossi who was still standing up from his seat. He was glaring down at the phone, his fists clenched at his side and his jaw locked tightly, like a wound-up dog, waiting to get let off its leash.

"You do it yourself," Ed said and he let out a sigh, the huff of breath loud in the conference room.

"Tell us where you are and I can see you. It's me you want," Aaron said.

"Ah, well, I don't want to just hand it to you... let's see, clues clues..."

Ed stopped talking and there was a sloshing sound breaking through the speaker instead.

"They're in a boat," Morgan said and Ed laughed loudly.

"Bingo! Come on, Aaron, they're making you look like a fool."

"Garcia?"

"Hmm," Garcia had her head low, despite Ed not being able to see her. She looked back at Aaron with wide eyes.

"All the lakes in Tennessee-"

"That's a bit broad, son... let me help you narrow it down. Try... Nashville."

Aaron looked up at the laptop just as Garcia dropped her head again and started to type.

"Big on boating around here," Ed said, musing as he teased the team.

"Anything, Garcia?" Morgan asked, looking over Emily's shoulder to see the computer as Garcia sat up in her seat and nodded.

"Percy Priest Lake, sir."

Aaron looked back at the phone and saw that the call had ended.

Ed hung up the phone and looked down at it with a slow growing grin. He sighed and slowly turned in his seat before pulling his arm back and flinging the phone away from him.

The action caused the small boat to rock and he laughed, looking back and grinning at Spencer who was shivering on the other side of the boat.

"That felt good," he said. He reached down into his pocket, Spencer watching him as he slowly withdrew a gun from within the fabric.

His grin fell into a closed mouth smile, just as dark and deliberate as his laugh. Spencer shook, his body still pulsing with pain.

Ed pointed the gun at Spencer. "Now we wait, Boy."

Thanks for reading! I have something really cool planned with this story. Can't wait to share!

See you soon. Stay safe.