ACT 4 - Scene Set 5
INT. THE CHARLESTON CHARM BAR AND GRILL - 5.1
START SCENE - RECAP
Amy: Don't play dumb- you're a cop!
Before Hotch could even react, She yanked a gun from her purse, grabbed a random passing woman and held the gun to her neck.
This was not how this was supposed to go. At all.
END RECAP - END SCENE
EXT. OUTSIDE THE CHARLESTON CHARM BAR AND GRILL - 5.2
START SCENE
At least this gave them cause. Prentiss, Morgan, Reid, and Rossi leapt out of the surveillance van and ran towards the bar, each entering by a different door in order to surround Ridgeway
END SCENE
INT. THE CHARLESTON CHARM BAR AND GRILL - 5.3
START SCENE
The team surrounded her, guns pointing at her but it was futile, the woman Ridgeway had grabbed was quite similar in build to her, so there was no clear shot, even a headshot.
Hotch: Drop the weapon.
Amy: Or what?
Amy brushes a hair away from her victim's face.
Amy: You'll shoot me?
She repeats her earlier motion
Amy， in a sing-song voice: I don't think so. Not with-
She pauses
Amy, whispering， sickly sweet: What's your name, dear?
Woman whimpers.
Amy: What's. Your. Name.
Woman, reluctantly, crying, voice breaking: Denise. My name is Denise Copeland
Amy: If you shoot me, you'll take little miss Denise Copeland down with me. Aaron, you wouldn't do that would you?
Hotch was furious. She was right- he would never authorize putting a victim in danger. This move by Ridgeway spoke to her criminal intelligence.
Copeland didn't fit her victimology, this wasn't a need based compulsion to kill Copeland, this was a calculated decision. Ridgeway purposefully chose Copeland because she was the perfect human shield- just the same size as her and too weak and scared to try and get away
Hotch: Drop the weapon and let her go.
Amy: I don't think so.
Ridgeway pressed her gun into the side of Copeland's head.
Amy: I'm getting bored. Let's play a game
Prentiss, calling from behind (causing Ridgeway to spin around): This isn't a game and we won't play.
Amy: Sure you will. You've got to save Denise don't you?
Prentiss looked at Hotch, who eyed the rest of the team. She backed them into a metaphorical corner.
Hotch: What game?
Amy: More of a deal really. I don't think I quite qualify as a terrorist- so we can make a deal right?
Hotch internally sighed- they hadn;'t profiled this level of sophistication from Ridgeway due to her being institutionalized.
Hotch, coldly: Yes.
Amy: Here's the deal. You let me walk out of here and I don't blow this bitch's head off.
Hotch: You know we can't do that
Amy: I think you better. You've got 60 seconds before I cap her ass. Starting…
Amy looks at the clock in the corner, waiting for the minute to start.
Amy: Now. Tick. Tock.
Reid's mind ran a mile a minute. How were they going to work this out in 60 seconds?
Reid, speaking alarmingly fast: Amy, Denise is innocent. She's not like your father. Or any of those men you killed. They were bad, right? She's not- let her go
Amy interrupted Reid
Amy, singsongy: 30 seconds
Reid: Amy, I think your father did more than just cheat on your mom
Amy, getting angrier indiciating Reid was on the right path: 20 SECONDS
Reid began to approach her
Hotch: Reid-
Reid: He hurt you too. That's why you tried to hurt yourself- that's why you were at the White Blossom Center.
He reached out to touch her arm. The team's eyes widened. What the hell was he doing?
Amy: 10.
Reid took another step closer.
Amy: 9!
Reid touched her arm. Amy reacted badly to Reid's touch and suddenly, Emily understood Reid's plan. Almost immediately after he touched her arm, Amy changed her aim to Reid， opening a line of shot for Emily and allowing Copeland to fall to the ground.
Amy: 8!
She never got to say 7, because a bullet went right through her chest. Blood splattered across Reid's face. She was dead.
The team lowered their weapons.
Rossi: Nice shot.
Prentiss, absentmindedly: Yeah
Denise shakily stood from her spot on the floor, also coated in Ridgeway's blood. Reid bent down to help her up and walk her over to get checked out by the paramedics arriving now, although she was likely unharmed, just in shock.
Hotch: Reid, get checked out too.
Reid, calling from outside: I'm fine Hotch
Hotch: Just humor me
Reid turned just his head and nodded
Hotch, addressing the rest of the team: Well, that settles that.
The coroner came and lifted Ridgeway's body onto a stretcher and covered it with a sheet. The team walked out as a group. Morgan walked up next to Prentiss.
Even though they were on rocky terms, he knew taking the kill shot always rattled her, as it would anybody with a heart no matter how evil and criminal the target was. At least, it usually did. This time however, He noticed she seemed unfazed by it, not unlike the cold demeanor she'd taken on and kept on since whatever the hell happened in Boston.
He knew something was up with her. He wanted to know, not just to satisfy the curiosity in him, but because he wanted his partner back.
Morgan: Emily
She just kept walking.
END SCENE
END ACT 4