Author's Note: Big thanks to everyone that took the time to review my last couple of chapters, you have no idea how much simple feedback helps motivate me to keep going. There are still gaps in time between updates but I'm trying my best not to leave you hanging for too long. Because you had to wait for two weeks for this update, I made it a long chapter. Enjoy!
Night had fallen once again on the small office at the airport, leaving it illuminated only by the dingy table top lights inside. Mason had arrived at the office nearly eight hours earlier and had seemed oddly relieved that they hadn't needed him to evacuate the team just yet. His relief was quickly replaced with bitter annoyance when Hotch refused to let him leave again, under the order that they may need to leave in a hurry at any moment as the search team closed in on the cabin. The pilot was now sprawled out across the couch, snoring under the arm he'd slung over his eyes.
Garcia blinked away from the computer screen she had been staring at for the better half of the day while helping Hotch look into the case they'd initially been sent to the frozen airport to investigate. Sensing her movement, Hotch straightened in the chair across the table from her where he'd been flipping through the pages of the folder in front of him. They hadn't found any new information in hours, but the work gave them something else to focus on.
Next to her, Milo kicked his feet down from the edge of the desk where he'd propped them up to lounge back in the chair with his laptop. He set the computer on the desk and stood, stretching his back and rubbed his hands over his face.
"I'm going to step outside for a few," he said as he moved toward the door.
"It's freezing outside," Garcia reminded him with a frown.
"I know. I won't be long. I'm just going a little stir crazy in here and need some fresh air." He turned to look at Hotch, "Is that okay with you?"
Hotch searched his question for a tone of sarcasm but found nothing but sincerity in his request. He gave him a nod and Milo pulled his jacket on before stepping out into the snow. They watched him leave before Garcia pulled Hotch's attention back to her with a soft voice.
"As far as criminals go, he's not that bad," she whispered with a shrug.
Hotch raised an eyebrow and gave her a mild smirk.
"You know," she added, "compared to his partner over there."
Hotch's smirk turned to a frown as he looked back at Mason who hadn't even flinched when Milo had pulled the door open to leave.
"I honestly don't know what to think of any of them," Hotch confessed.
"You think Cassi will really come in quietly after all this is over?"
Hotch shook his head, "I don't know. It's asking a lot."
Garcia watched him as he deflated slightly and picked up the file again. He was disappointed in himself. It was the first time she'd ever seen him doubt himself so much and it made her uncomfortable. She liked infallible, always in control, section chief Hotch.
"Are you ok?" she asked quietly.
"What do you mean?" he asked confused.
"You seem to just be in your head a lot more than usual. Like you're fighting your own conscience."
He gave her a brief smile that thanked her for her concern but brushed it off, "I'm fine."
"Ok," she accepted. It was as good as she was going to get.
They fell into a comfortable silence again for a few minutes before she stood and stretched.
"Ya know, I think Milo might be on to something," she said, "I'm going to step out for a breath or two myself. Maybe the chill will wake me up a little."
"Alright. Just don't go far, ok."
She nodded. To anyone else it may have sounded like an order. But she knew he was only trying to keep her safe. He was on edge more than he would ever let on.
She pulled her coat from where it was draped across the back of her chair and shrugged it on, taking care to button it up tightly before stepping foot outside into the frosty night air.
The icy gust that hit her upon her exit instantly awakened her senses and made her feel more alert than she had all day. She pulled her coat tighter around herself and batted her eyes at the delicate snowflakes dusting her lashes before pulling her hood over her head. She scanned the darkness for Milo, finding nothing but the lights of the airport control center windows and silhouette of the tethered chopper a few yards away. She carefully stepped around the corner of the building, watching her footing in an attempt to avoid any slippery patches and nearly bumped into Milo.
He was standing in the dark, leaning against the edge of the building and he startled at her sudden appearance. He pulled at his left sleeve and she caught a glimpse of something fall from his hands and disappear into the snow.
"Jesus, you scared me," he chuckled, "Did Hotch send you out looking for me already?"
"No," she shook her head, "fresh air sounded good. What are you doing?"
"Just taking it all in," he shrugged, "Its actually kinda pretty when it's not trying to kill you."
Garcia followed his line of sight out onto the snow covered landscape. Small specks of light from the community homes sprinkled the darkness with amber light and the snow thickened air muffled out all ambient sounds, giving one the illusion of floating. His comment surprised her. She hadn't pictured him to have such a charming outlook on something so simple.
"You're a romantic," she stated with a grin.
"What?" his eyes flashed over to her, "No I'm not."
"Yes you are," she laughed, "you're all gritty with that I don't care look, but deep down, you're all gooey aren't you."
His face flushed with embarrassment, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Uh huh."
"Shut up."
He turned away and she saw the brief tug at the side of his cheek as he fought a grin and shook his head. It wasn't a smile, but it was the closest thing she'd seen of one from him. Not that they'd had a lot to smile about since they'd been working together, but it was the start of a smile nonetheless. She watched him for a moment, really wondering who he was. He didn't fit the part of killer's accomplice.
"So what happens to you after this is over?" she asked after a few moments of observing silence.
"I don't know, we'll probably have a little bit of fallout to deal with on our end for a little while. I'll likely just have to stay low and let the boss deal with it."
"Fallout from what?"
"We were sort of in the middle of something when Cassi pulled us to come out here," he sighed, "She took a big risk abandoning it."
"Is she in some sort of trouble?"
"I don't think I'm really one to say. She doesn't really lead the most risk free lifestyle though. Never has from what I know now, thanks to all of you and that DC fiasco."
"You didn't know about the Archer thing before DC?"
"Are you kidding me, what man in their right mind would agree to run around willy nilly with a person who'd been trained to assassinate people from the time she could walk? I may not be a smart man, but I'm not crazy."
"So why are you working with her now, knowing what she is?"
"Because that's not what she is," he scolded, getting defensive, "that's only what they wanted her to be. If you don't know that by now, you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were."
"I watched her kill four people without blinking. Normal people can't do that."
"I never said she was normal, and those men would have killed her in a heartbeat if she hadn't beat 'em to the punch. Not only that, but they would have killed your friends and that little boy too."
Garcia furrowed her brow at his choice of words. Did he not know who that little boy was? He continued talking before she could dwell on it.
"If only you knew what she was up against," he continued, "I've never seen her like she was when she was with you guys in DC. She's never doubted herself before. She risked a lot to help you all out with that Lambert fellow and people died because she was distracted."
Garcia stared at him confused, "the only people that died were the ones that she killed!"
"Prove it," he said flatly, glaring at her.
At that moment Garcia realized something that she was sure Hotch and the others already knew. When they took Cassi into custody, they would only be able to charge her with the deaths of the men in the warehouse that she and Emily had witnessed on the video feed. A really good lawyer would be able to argue to a jury that those had been in self-defense. She didn't doubt that the team could present enough evidence for the charges to stick, but what of the other murders? They had no evidence that she'd committed them, despite her practically admitting to it by fleeing.
"We have the Archer files," she challenged.
"The files that I sent you," he countered, "the files that I can make disappear with a single click?"
"Then why send them to me at all? Without sending them to me, we may have never known."
"Because she wanted you to know."
"That's why she's willing to turn herself in now isn't it? She knows that we can't prove the Archer murders were her."
His face went blank for a moment, "What are you talking about?"
His tough guy act faltered and she realized she'd caught him off guard. He didn't know that Cassi had turned herself in. Now she was even more confused than she had been before. What the hell was Cassi playing at now?
"Maybe she doesn't tell you everything," Garcia continued to challenge, "How's it feel?"
Milo winced, "it's not about how I feel. It's not about me and it's not even about her."
He pushed himself away from the wall and tucked his hands deep into his pockets.
"I'm telling you something that I shouldn't be here because I care about Cassi," his voice was low, "There are much bigger players in this fucked up game. The more she pushes them, the more dangerous it gets for her."
"I….what?" Garcia was at a loss, "who?"
"If I told you that, we'd all be dead by the end of the week," he sighed and took a few steps back from her, "don't let Mason know any of this. Do you understand? As far as he's concerned Cassi is going to help bring your friends down and then we're all going back to the job we were on before we came."
"What job?"
"Leave it alone Penelope, I'm begging you," he looked straight through her and what she saw in his eyes wasn't anger, it was fear. "She has to have a plan, it's who she is. Don't get involved in it. It's safer for everyone if you don't. Just know that she would never hurt any of you."
Garcia nodded silently. She understood what he was asking of her, but she wasn't exactly agreeing to it. She simply didn't know what else to say. She didn't even fully comprehend what had happened in the short time they were talking. One minute they were chatting about the beauty of the night and the next he was wound up tight with an intensity she not expected from him as he warned her to sit back and do nothing while Cassi faced some enigmatic pending doom.
He turned his back to her and began walking back toward the office.
"I have to tell Hotch about this," she called after him.
He froze and slowly turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. He stared for a moment before his shoulders dropped and he turned to face her completely.
"I know you do," he sighed, "just please be discreet."
With that he was gone. She watched him disappear into the office. She stared at the empty space he'd left for a few minutes. She wasn't sure what to do. He'd told her so much without telling her anything at all. She had more questions now than even before. She would tell Hotch. It was up to him to decide what to do about it. She didn't envy him for that.
She let out a deep breath, watching the steam leave her mouth and swirl against the dark until it dissipated as it cooled. Slowly she walked back to the office. She'd had enough of the cold. She was tired and anxious. She wanted her friends safe, and whatever was going to happen with Cassi just needed to happen so she could stop worrying about it.
Before she reached the door to the office, she suddenly remembered that she'd seen Milo drop something when she'd startled him. She turned and hurried back to the spot they'd been standing and squatted down, peering down into snow. A speck of orange caught her eye from a few inches into the powder and she carefully reached in to grab it. She clenched her jaw in frustration when she took in what had made the man flinch when she'd approached him. It wasn't because she'd surprised him as much as she'd caught him doing something he most definitely shouldn't have been doing. Now she really needed to speak to Hotch.
She quickly returned to the office and pulled the door open. Instead of entering she cleared her throat.
"Hotch," she called quietly around the door frame, "a word?"
Hotch frowned at her but immediately stood from his seat to join her. Over his shoulder she saw Milo watching him before he turned his eyes to the floor. Once Hotch was outside and the door was securely closed behind them, she led him a few feet away from the building for good measure.
"What is it Garcia?" Hotch asked, following her.
"We might have a problem with Cassi," she stopped walking and turned to face him.
"I've assumed that since she got here," he replied, "what do you know?"
"When I mentioned Cassi turning herself in to Milo, he seemed genuinely shocked. Hotch they don't know she turned herself in."
"She did wait until they were both out of the room before she told us," he recalled, "she doesn't want them to interfere."
"That's not what I'm worried about. Milo mentioned that they were on a job that they abandoned to come out here."
"What kind of job?" She had his full attention now.
"He didn't say. What he did say was that whoever it is they were working for is a really bad guy, and from his reaction to talking about it, I'm talking really bad. He said there's going to be some fallout from bailing on the job."
"Did he say who this guy is?"
She shook her head, "No. But he was very adamant about not letting Mason know that we know."
"He's afraid of Mason?"
Garcia nodded.
Hotch thought quietly for a few moments. His head was reeling with the new information. Sure he hadn't trusted any of them and hadn't expected Cassi's arrest to go smoothly, but now there was another player. From the sound of it, a player that they needed to know about and fast.
"The others should get to the cabin in a few hours. I'm going to go with Mason to pick them up. I can't let the team get on that chopper without knowing what's going on. If Cassi's going to make her escape, I don't want them stuck in the middle of it."
Garica nodded, "What do you want me to do?"
"I'm going to arrange for local PD to detain Milo to the office once we're in the air. I don't want you alone with him and I don't want him communicating with Mason or Cassi until we're all back on the ground."
"Okay," she slowly pulled her hand from her pocket, "Hotch, one more thing."
Hotch looked down at her hand as she opened it and frowned at the orange and white syringe she held.
"I picked it up outside the office," she said quietly, "Milo dropped it when I walked up on him."
Hotch sighed and ran his hands over his face as though he could rub away his frustration. The last thing they needed was an unpredictable drug user in the middle of everything.
"Ok, change of plan," he sighed, "I'm staying here with you. I'll call Morgan and Prentiss and give them a heads up on what they might be dealing with with Mason. They're armed, Cassi's not and I'll make sure Mason isn't before he leaves either. Once they have the others its five against two."
Garcia listened as Hotch spoke, knowing it was for his own sake more than for hers. She also knew that he'd personally witnessed Cassi take out nearly that many armed men single handed back in DC. She'd watched it herself on the surveillance cameras from her office. But deep down she believed Milo.
"Cassi wouldn't hurt them," she said to Hotch, "She came all this way and is risking everything to save them. Why would she do that if she was just going to hurt them in the end?"
Hotch stayed quiet. It didn't make sense to him either. Every instinct he had in him told him that Garcia was right, but his instincts had done nothing for him last time. Cassi had fooled them before.
"I need to talk to Morgan and Prentiss, but I can't do it in front of Milo and Mason. Can you connect one of our portables to Milo's frequency and switch the one on the desk?"
"Use the headset in the chopper," Garcia replied. "It's already on their frequency. I'll just shut off the one in the office until you're done."
"Penelope, I don't want you alone in there with them."
"You're ten yards away Hotch. I'll be fine for five minutes. If we don't shut off that radio, they'll hear everything you say. Hopefully Mason is still sleeping and Milo already knows what's going one. I'll be fine."
"Okay," Hotch conceded after a few moments, "five minutes."
Back at the cabin Rossi was staring out the window in the dark. JJ was leaning into his right side, her even breathing telling him that she was sleeping soundly. Reid has slouched as much as possible into the opposite corner of the couch were he slept as well. The cabin was silent except for Dan's snoring coming from the bed across the room, but Rossi couldn't sleep. His mind was buzzing with possibilities. As he watched the light snow falling past the glass window he knew the sun would be coming up in a few hours and with it the team would arrive. He prayed the saw their warnings.
Dan had already pulled the rifles from the footlocker and had loaded each, setting aside more ammunition on the table beside the bed. He was as ready as he could be for a battle. A battle that Morgan and Prentiss didn't know was coming.
Suddenly the dog's head lifted from his place on the floor and he spun to lift an ear toward the cabin door. He bellowed out a deep sound as he shot up to his feet, nails slipping across the hardwood as he went. JJ and Reid jerked awake to the sound, sitting up, as Dan shot a hand out to his rifle.
Half asleep he swung the rifle around toward the couch before realizing all of his captives were still tied in place and the hound was barking and running in circles near the door. There was something outside. He clamored off the bed and pulled open the window, peering around the edge into the night. In the distance he could make out a faint light, moving slightly as it got slowly closer. Two more appeared from the trees at its side and he gripped the gun tighter.
"Come on closer," he said to himself.
Rossi strained to see out the window passed him. Was it the team? It had to be them. Why the hell were the hiking in the dark? They'd miss their warnings in the dark. He glanced to JJ whose wide eyes told him she was thinking the same thing.
"There you are." Dan lifted the gun, pulling it tight into his shoulder.
Their time was up, he had to do something. So with as deep of a breath as he could muster, Rossi yelled toward the window.
"Morgan! Get down!"
The crack of the shot made their ears ring, and Dan turned to swear at Rossi. If his shot hadn't already alerted the intruders outside of his presence, he would have taken the time to put a round in the older agent. But now he was committed. The others outside would have guns. So he braced himself for return fire and popped off a few more rounds toward the lights that were no longer approaching.
"God its cold," Morgan grumbled as they walked. The temperature had fallen with the sun and his body was still chilled from his earlier trip under the frozen river.
"We're almost there," Cassi responded, shining her headlamp down onto the GPS screen.
The snow had slowed to a lazy fall that finally allowed them some distance in visibility. Without the leering danger of stepping into some unseen crevasse, they fell into step side by side, lightly chatting as the hiked.
An odd sound cut through the air and they all spun towards it.
"Is that a dog?" Emily asked, already moving towards it.
They hurried through the snow toward the sound until they could make out the light silhouette of a small building. Relief flooded Emily's system. They'd finally found it. They sped up their pace, using up as much energy as they had left to push through the snow and into the small opening in the trees that housed the cabin.
"Rossi!" Morgan shouted loudly, announcing their arrival, but his voice was cut off by a yell of his own name.
Before he could decipher what Rossi had said, the crack of a gunshot pierced his ears, followed by another and another. Emily jumped, startled by the sound and caught sight of Cassi spinning slightly to her right and dropping into the snow on her hands and knees. She was up quickly, shrugging out of her pack and scrambling to push herself up and back to the cover of the trees and Emily followed her movement. She sprinted in a crouch to the nearest tree and slid in behind it. She could hear Morgan yelling as she threw off her pack and fought with her bulky jacket to retrieve her gun.
"FBI!"Morgan shouted, "Hold your fire!"
The shooter seemed uninterested in who they were and continued firing wildly into the trees. The bark of the tree at her back burst with the impact of a bullet, hitting Emily in the face with splinters. Instinctively she turned her face away from it and caught sight of Cassi pressing her back in tight against a tree a few feet away. The younger woman's head spun around searching for them and a look of relief flooded her face when she spotted Emily. Emily could hear Morgan shouting from a short distance and knew by his voice that he was okay. The gunfire continued at them from the house but they didn't dare fire back. If their friends were inside that cabin there was no telling if their return fire would hit any of them.
"Emily, do you have eyes on the shooter?" Morgan's yelled over the gunfire.
Emily slowly peeked around the edge of the tree and recoiled as it burst apart just above her head.
"No," she cursed, "but he's definitely got eyes on me."
"Your light," Cassi yelled at her, "Turn your light off!"
Of course, she swore at herself, he could see their lights. She quickly switched the light on her head off, and saw Morgan's fly off into the trees and he ripped it from his head and threw it. Her eyes adjusted to the new darkness as the shots continued, hitting random trees and kicked up the snow around them.
"Why the hell is he shooting at us?" Morgan yelled.
Emily sneaked a peek around the tree and watched the flash of fire from a window in the cabin as the shooter fired toward Morgan. She spun back around, and made eye contact with Cassi. She motioned with her hands that she'd seen the shooter. Cassi pushed herself to her knees and peered around her own tree, then nodded when she spotted it. She timed the shots and then pushed herself away from the tree and bolted toward Morgan.
She slid clumsily into the snow next to him, nearly knocking him over before pushing herself up against the bark as tree next to them broke apart. Morgan looked down at her with surprise.
"What the hell?" he scolded, "are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Another zip and crack of a bullet sliced through the air and hit the tree at Emily's back and Morgan swore.
"Shit. He switched guns," he observed the change in sound aloud, "no tellin how many he's got in there."
"He's in the window on the east side of the house," Cassi said breathlessly, pulling his attention back to her, "Emily's got eyes on him but needs to get closer to take a shot."
"I'll draw his fire. You two get in there and take the shot."
Cassi paused for a second, "I don't have a gun."
Morgan paused, tuning out their surroundings for a millisecond. He's gut told him to trust her. She hadn't asked for a gun, merely stated she didn't have one. The simple difference screamed volumes to his trained mind and made his decision for him. He handed her the gun in his hand and clawed at his snow pants for the backup above his boot.
"I'll cover you," he directed, "I'll draw his fire while you move."
"Actually," she interrupted, "you go. I think I twisted something. You'll be able to move better."
He nodded, not thinking twice about it. He'd seen her fall during the initial attack. They'd all been startled by it.
"Aim low," he pleaded, "The others might still be in there."
She nodded her understanding. "I'll go right. Wait until I fire a few rounds and then go."
Without waiting for him to respond she rolled away from the tree and pushed herself off towards another a few feet away. Once she was covered as much as possible she lifted the gun and fired three shots into the snowbank in front of the cabin. Morgan was moving instantly, running as fast as he could through the deep snow while the shooters attention moved to Cassi.
From her place ahead of him, Emily could see the end of the rifle in the window as the shooter spun to face where the shots had come from. Emily lifted her gun and peered down the sites and swore. She wasn't close enough to see anything beyond the end of the rifle. If she missed, she would give up her position. She heard Morgan moving behind her and he stopped a few yards away before firing his own gun to draw fire away from Cassi so she could move. Emily used his action to her own advantage and slowly moved closer. She was close enough to see inside the window now but she needed him to turn towards Cassi again.
Suddenly a crash from inside the cabin echoed through the clearing and Emily watched the end of the rifle disappear back in through the window. She saw a flash of movement from shadows inside and knew instantly that at least one of their friends inside was still in fighting form.
"Morgan!" she hollered as she rushed toward the house, breaking cover.
Morgan spun to face her shout, and instinctively followed her toward the cabin without knowing what she'd seen. They rushed up the few steps to the front door and Morgan gave her a quick nod signaling her she was ready. Emily pulled open the door, and Morgan flinched in surprise as the large hound rushed out passed the door and leapt up at Emily. She stepped back in surprise and her foot missed the step they'd come up. She was falling backwards and the teeth of the dog were following her. She lifted her arms in defense and its teeth suck deep into the flesh of her forearm as they hit the snow. Morgan quickly recovered from his surprise, but before he could move to help her a shot echoed from the trees and the dog let out a yelp, letting go of Emily. Emily scrambled away from the dog while lifting her own gun and firing another shot at it, killing it instantly.
Another loud crash from inside, pulled Morgan from the momentary distraction and he pushed back into the house, raising his gun at the struggling men in the center of the room.
"FBI!" he yelled.
The man jerked his head up in surprise, giving Rossi the distraction he needed to pull himself from the headlock he'd been in and throw an elbow up into his nose. Dan stumbled, colliding with the wall and knocking a set of antlers from a shelf. Rossi used his advantage to drop to his knees and grab the gun that Dan had dropped when he'd initially charged him. Dan recovered quickly and roared as he charged at Rossi. Two shots released simultaneously from the rifle and from Morgan's glock. Dan jerked as they impacted his chest and fell.
Emily flew through the door an seconds behind Morgan, just in time to see Dan's limp body hit the floor. She scanned the cabin for any other threats and spotted JJ and Reid sitting on the couch where'd they been fighting with their bindings to help Rossi. She let out a deep breath of relief and rushed over to them.
"God I'm glad to see you?" JJ smiled as Emily went to work on the rope at her wrists.
"Sorry it took us so long," Emily answered, "Are you guys alright?"
"We've been better, but we're fine. I could use a hot shower."
Emily laughed, "You and me both."
On the other side of the room Rossi crouched over Dan and checked his neck for a pulse. One of the rounds must have hit him in or near his heart or surrounding arteries. He'd died almost instantly.
"Who the hell is that guy?" Morgan asked, helping Dave stand back up.
"A drug smuggler."
"A drug smuggler?" Morgan repeated, "How the hell did you find a drug smuggler all the way out here?"
"Actually he found us," Reid answered as Emily pulled the ropes from his wrists, "The plane we were on was full of cocaine. He killed our pilot."
Morgan blinked at them in disbelief. Just as Emily was reaching to key her radio to call Hotch, her earpiece crackled in her ear.
"Morgan? Prentiss? You copy?" Hotch's voice called through the device
"I read you Hotch. You have great timing," Emily answered, "We're at the cabin. Everyone is fine. We could use a ride home."
"Where is Cassi?"
"She's outside. We got into a bit of a fire fight getting here. This cabin belongs to a drug smuggler Hotch. Can you believe that?" Emily chuckled at the irony.
"Emily listen to me. You can't trust Cassi. We're coming to get you but you cannot trust her."
The tone in Hotch's voice chilled her more than the snow outside ever could and Emily's eyes shot up to Morgan's.
"What?" he asked, his gut sinking from the look on her face. He couldn't hear what Hotch was saying in her earpiece, but she knew it wasn't good.
"Cassi."
It was all he needed to hear before he was rushing out the door, gun raised in defense from an attack that may or may not come.
"What happened?" Emily asked Hotch, watching Morgan run from the room.
"There's a lot more going on than we know about. Cassi abandoned some sort of job in order to come out here and I don't know if she's going to come in quietly. There's a bigger player out there that we don't know enough about yet. I'm keeping an eye on her friends here, but Emily if she tries to run, don't get in her way. Do you understand? Just let her go."
"Morgan!" Emily shouted, bolting from the room after him. If Hotch didn't want them to pursue Cassi, there had to be a damn good reason.
Morgan was just outside the cabin moving towards the trees when Emily's voice caught him. He turned to see her and Rossi running out towards him.
"What? What is it?"
"Hotch says to let her go."
"What? Why the hell would we do that?"
"There's something bigger going on. I don't know what it is but it's got Hotch rattled."
"I'm not running."
Her voice startled them and they spun to face her, guns raising on instinct as they did. Cassi slowly raised lifted her hands at her sides, letting Morgan's gun drop to the ground.
Rossi scooped up the gun and lifted it to aim at the woman. The last time he'd seen Cassi she'd just killed a half a dozen men and assassinated an arms dealer inside a federal prison. He didn't know how she'd gotten here or why. As far as he was concerned she was as dangerous as they came.
It was then that Morgan noticed the dark smears on Cassi's raised hands in the dark. His tired mind turned over the detail as it started to take in more. Her whole stance was off. Even in the dark he could tell she was hunching slightly to her left like she was struggling to even stand.
"Cassi," he lowered his gun slightly, "why is there blood on your hands?"
Cassi turned her hand to look at is as if she hadn't noticed it was there then back to Morgan.
"May have done more than just twisted something," she confessed.
Emily quickly grabbed the light still attached to her hat and flicked it on. Cassi blinked against the light in her face and turned her head away from it, but kept her hands up where they could see them.
"Damn it Cassi," Morgan growled as the light illuminated the red stain that covered the better half of torso on the her left side.
She hadn't just tripped in surprise when the drug smuggler had attacked. That first shot had hit its mark directly and their adrenaline was pumping so hard that neither he nor Emily had clearly seen what had happened. No wonder she hadn't been right there with them when they breached the cabin door. Instead she'd chosen to stay where she was and covered them from a distance, taking out the dog that it attacked Emily and waiting until the fight was over before joining them.
"Hotch?" Emily turned away from Cassi and called back to base camp.
"Go ahead Prentiss, I'm still on a secure line" he answered.
"We have Cassi. She's not running. We need that evac."
Hotch was silent for a few minute and when he replied she could hear a catch in his voice as if he were running.
"Alright Prentiss, Mason is prepping the chopper now. Garcia found a clearing big enough for us to land about a mile south of your location. Mason can be there in less than an hour."
"JJ and Reid have leg injuries that will slow us down, and Hotch…Cassi was shot. I don't know if she'll be able to walk that far. We may need a full medical evac from here."
"Everything down here is still tied down and grounded. I don't know how long it will take to find a chopper and a crew. Mason said they don't have a rescue basket but maybe I can find one that we can take. Is she stable for now?"
"Seems to be. She's upright, walking and talking."
"Alright, I'll see what I can find and get back to you shortly. Do what you can for their injuries. And Emily, I can't leave Garcia alone with Milo."
"Understood."
Emily turned back to the trio where Morgan and put away his gun and crouched down in front of Cassi, while Rossi seemed to be debating whether to cover Morgan or help him.
"Garcia found a clearing about a mile from here but Hotch is going to try and get a stokes basket to pull you out from here," Emily told Cassi as she rejoined the group.
"They won't be able to get a stokes in here," Cassi winced as Morgan prodded the wound at her side, "the trees are too thick. If it tangles it could bring the whole chopper down. I can make the hike."
She finally let her hands fall as Morgan pulled at the zipper of her coat and pulled it off inspecting the wound more closely.
"This isn't just a simple graze Cass," he winced.
"Then we should get going," she hissed, "there's some supplies in my pack."
Emily hurried back out into the trees and located the packs they'd dropped while under fire. She scooped up Cassi's pack from where she'd fallen, ignoring the dark splotch in the snow and up and carried it over to the porch where Morgan was helping Cassi to sit on the step. Reid and JJ were leaning on the edges of the doorframe watching them, still shocked to see Cassi there in front of them. Emily tossed the pack down at Morgan's side and took the steps quickly to join Reid and JJ.
"Air evac is on its way, but we've got a little bit of a hike to get to it. Can you both walk if we help you?"
"Yeah," they both said without hesitating.
Emily rolled her eyes, "What can I do to help?"
"JJ's foot probably needs cleaned up," Reid offered, earning him a glare from the blonde.
"It's fine," JJ argued, "changing bandages on it now isn't going to make much of a difference.
JJ's voice dropped and she motioned towards the woman on the steps, "What is she doing here?"
"It's a long story," Emily answered, "One I can't even begin to explain right now."
Further conversation broke with a loud hiss from Cassi and she stomped her foot down on the step as Morgan pulled a roll of gauze tightly around the bandage he'd placed on her side, putting as much pressure on the wound as the gauze would hold before wrapping it around her waist. He quickly added a second roll and tied them off.
"That's the best I can do," he said to her, "Are you sure you're good to walk?"
Cassi forced a nod at him, "yeah, I'm good. Sooner the better."
"Ok, lets go," Morgan helped Cassi to her feet, and steadied her before turning back to Emily. "Prentiss, call Hotch, let him know he can't get the basket in here and we're moving."
Emily nodded and relayed the message to Hotch before moving to offer a shoulder to Reid as Rossi helped JJ off the porch.
"Bring my pack," Cassi instructed, "we might need it."
Morgan nodded and lifted it onto his shoulders without hesitation. When he moved back to offer her a hand, she shrugged him off.
"I'm fine," she assured him, "you need to lead the way. Make sure there's no surprises under that snow."
He hesitated and she flashed him a half smile, "You're worried about me?" she teased.
He rolled his eyes, "It's my job to get you back down this mountain. Preferably alive."
"Ah, don't worry Derek. This isn't my first rodeo. I've worked with you twice now and both times I've been shot. I think I need to stop hanging out with you."
He could tell she was trying to ease his nerves, but the longer he stood around thinking about it, the longer it took to get them to the evac. Every minute was more blood lost, more infection setting into JJ's foot. He finally nodded, giving Rossi a silent request to keep an eye on her, and lifted the GPS to follow as he set off into the trees. Cassi followed a few feet behind him, purposely positioning herself between him and the other agents, more to ease their minds than for her own safety. A mile was a long way to go, and for the first time in her life, she didn't have a plan for what happened when they got there.
Author's Note: Yay! They're finally all together and getting off the mountain! Click that review button and let me know what you think!