Commencement

Chapter 10

Considering the state of Reid's mobility, and the condition of the ground they would need to traverse, their options for moving either swiftly or quietly were virtually nil. Logic demanded that they move swiftly regardless, because their new arrival was unlikely to spend much time in the office. He would either see them or hear them. Unless…

Using his crutch as a pointer, Reid drew JJ's attention to a particularly tall mound of debris about fifteen feet away.

"If we can get past that, we'll be hidden. He won't see us, and it will give us some time to move more quietly toward the exit." When she seemed to agree, he added, "But we'll need to be quick now."

Which would be problematic. There was simply too much rubble in front of them, and JJ would have difficulty clearing a path for him to hobble through it, especially with her newly rebandaged, infected hands.

Reid watched the worry crease her brow, and imagined his own face looked much the same. But they hadn't come this far…..not in the remnants of this building, not in their careers, and not in their lives….to have it all come apart on them now. He made a decision.

"I can climb. I tested my leg yesterday, remember? I can bear weight on it."

"But…."

"I know. I'll try not to jar it too much, and I'll keep my weight on my right leg as much as I can. But we have to chance it. If we don't…."

If they didn't, it wouldn't matter much at all, because it wouldn't be blood loss from his leg that did him in.

When JJ still didn't look convinced, he added, "You can tighten the tourniquet, and it's only about fifteen feet. It will be okay, JJ."

She didn't verbalize her assent, but he knew she'd conceded when she leaned across him and start tugging at the belt around his thigh. He felt it get tighter, and tighter, and…

"Uh….if you make it any tighter, I won't be able to move my leg at all, because all of the circulation will be cut off."

He felt her pull It back a notch. "Better?"

"Great. Thanks."

She stood back up and demanded his eyes.

"What?"

"For the life of me, Spencer Reid, if you start bleeding…."

He let go of his crutch and used both hands to cup her cheeks, accomplishing two goals at once. He'd successfully tested his leg for weight-bearing, and he'd gotten her full attention.

"For the lives of both of us, I need to do this, and you need to let me. I promise I'm not trying to be a martyr. I'm just being practical."

JJ's eyes filled, even as she parried him.

"Did you forget you're talking to the queen of 'practical'?"

Who was well aware that 'practical' and 'martyr' were not mutually exclusive states of being.

"Okay, then." Letting go of her, and reaching for his crutch once again. He would carry it with him, if he could, even if he would have to eschew leaning on it for the moment. He made a sweep of his free arm.

"Shall we?"

It had been far more strenuous than he'd expected, but they'd made it behind the largest pile of debris, where they were hidden from their new arrival.

JJ took advantage of the fact that the sound of their voices might be obstructed as well.

"Are you okay? Because you don't look it."

He realized that his physiology was giving him away to her, so there was no point in not being truthful. He was panting, and red in the face, which was grimaced with pain.

"It turns out that it was one thing to stand on it, and another thing to climb with it. I had to put all of my weight on it at once, and it didn't like that."

JJ frowned. "'Didn't like that', as in it's more painful than you thought, or 'didn't like that' as in it started bleeding again?" Fear imbuing even her whispered words.

"I'm not bleeding, and it wasn't unstable. It just …it hurts."

Feeling foolish complaining about it, in light of her own injuries. But he wasn't technically complaining, was he? He was simply answering a question truthfully. Which was what he now demanded of her.

"How are your hands?"

Her response was uninformative, but her tone indicated her stress.

"What does it matter? We still have to get out of here."

He waited a beat before responding. "Granted. I'm just asking."

She conceded. "Sorry. My hands hurt, but I can't see beneath the bandages, and I don't think I should try."

"No, you're right, of course. Leave the bandages in place. We need to get out regardless, so I guess it doesn't really matter if we know."

Making a point. Which she parried.

"Except one of us is at risk of collapsing, and I think we should both be aware if that's a real possibility."

Reid put up both hands in surrender. It wasn't the first time his best friend had been annoyed with him, and now he didn't know whether he should pray that it would be the last. Because 'last' could mean they'd gotten out of this, and gone their separate ways….or it could mean something else entirely.

"I promise to tell you if I feel lightheaded, all right?"

But I think you'll pretty much figure it out, right after I pass out.

Reid knew better than JJ that he was unlikely to get much physiologic warning, but there was no point in worrying her further. She was right, they needed to get out, whatever it took.

They both looked around to examine their surroundings. Now that they were behind the large pile of debris, they were out of sight from the owner of the voice they'd heard, but he was also out of sight of them. They would have to rely on their ears to tell them if he'd headed in their direction once again.

They sat on a small pile of rubble, comprised mostly of building materials and insulation. Reid noticed a few ceiling tiles as well, and looked up to see exposed wiring and piping above them, some disrupted, and hanging down. There were some smaller piles ahead of them, in what they both hoped was the direction of the door, and from their seated positions, they couldn't see past the debris.

"Help me up," Reid whispered to JJ, "I want to see if there's daylight out there."

"Let me," insisted JJ. So he waited while she raised herself, as slowly as possible, so as to remain hidden from the interloper. As she searched, he saw the look of frustration on her face, and correctly assumed she'd been stymied.

He whispered up to her. "I'm taller. Help me….umph." Impatiently pushing himself up with his crutch, without waiting for her assistance.

"Spence…."

He hushed her with a wave of his hand, and pushed off on the toe of his good leg, trying to gain a good vantage point. He couldn't quite see to the door, but there was a definite brightness ahead of them.

He did his best to lower himself back down as silently as possible, as JJ grabbed his crutch to avoid it crashing to the ground.

"Well?"

"Daylight. I think. It's bright, anyway, and since there's no electricity, it must be natural light. I think it's only about sixty feet away."

"Only? Look how long it's taken us to go, what, twenty-five feet?"

"But we stopped to make my crutch, and get water, and wrap your hands, and…."

"I know. It's just…. you know what, just ignore me. I'm tired, I'm hungry and I just want to get the hell out of here."

He knew exactly how she felt. Exactly.

"Then let's do it, shall we?" Extending a gentlemanly hand in her direction.

She gave him a grim smile. "We shall." Taking his hand, and pulling him up by it.

Between their attempts to minimize the noise, numerous pauses to listen for their new arrival, and the simple difficulty of climbing over unstable ground, it took them nearly two hours to move to the space where Reid had seen the light. By the time they landed there, both could see the remainder of the distance.

"It's the door! I can see the door!"

Reid smiled at his friend's enthusiasm. "Did you ever think you'd be so excited about something like that?"

"If I call if 'freedom', does it sound better?"

"Infinitely." He landed heavily on his bottom, needing a break from the strenuous travel, and the pain in his leg.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I just need to catch my breath. I'll be ready in a minute."

JJ took the opportunity to rest as well, and both of them extended their listening antennae into the quiet. Which wasn't as quiet as it had been the last time they'd listened.

"He's coming this way!" JJ whispered the exclamation.

Reid agreed with her. "But he's not talking any more. Either he's too intent on getting through the mess, or he's realized we're here."

"So, what does it mean that he's not yelling at us? Not threatening us? He can't believe we can't hear him, can he?"

"Well, if we can hear him, he must have heard us. He's got to know we're here. Unless…."

"Unless what?"

"You remember how we wondered if they'd turned on one another? He may realize someone is here, but he may not realize it's us."

JJ wasn't so sure that was a good thing. "Are you saying that he's chasing after someone he tried to kill, by planting the explosives? Someone he still wants to kill?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he does realize it's us. He would have seen the SUV in the parking lot."

JJ wasn't sure what to make of it. "So…we're still thinking 'foe', right? Whether he realizes who we are or not, he's still not a 'friendly', right? I mean, if he tried to kill someone else, he's not exactly going to be thrilled to see the FBI."

Reid quickly ran the permutations, and reached a conclusion. "Right."

"Then let's go!"

Suppressing a groan, Reid pushed off with his crutch, leaning heavily on JJ as well. Then, as he'd done before, he pushed the crutch ahead of him and climbed over the rubble, doing his best to make sure that his right leg bore the brunt of his weight. JJ made it more of a scramble, her thin form able to stay above the bulk of the debris, wincing each time she had to pull a load of brick, or sheet rock, or ceiling tile, out of her way. With the added incentive of being actively followed, they made it to the door in fifteen minutes. There, they found the glass completely blown out, giving them egress, despite the fact of the door frame having been distorted beyond utility.

"Ah…." breathed JJ, "…freedom."

Reid shared her sense of relief about being out of the structure that had threatened to kill each of them. But then his eyes scanned the horizon, and then he turned, and scanned the remaining 180 degrees.

"JJ….the SUV is gone!"