Savior
Chapter 22
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"Answer the damn phone," Derek repeated as he paced the conference room. With every second that passed, and the more ringing he heard in his ear, Derek became increasingly furious.
JJ stood across from him, her phone almost glued to her ear. "Yes, Pen, I need you to track whoever just texted Derek's phone." The blonde frowned when she got an answer from the other end. "Please, just dig deeper, okay?"
Derek threw himself into the chair at the head of the table. "Answer the phone, baby," he begged.
As the call went to voicemail one more time, he placed the electronic device to the table and sighed.
JJ pursed her lips as she hung up her call with Penelope. "Anything from Garcia?" It came out as a bark, and Derek opened his mouth to apologize.
The blonde held up her hand and shook her head, telling him that his lash-out was okay. "Nothing yet, but she's going to look further."
Derek rested his head in his hands. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Emily and Rossi entered the conference room, their hands full of files from the two latest victims. JJ turned to the two and shook her head.
"What's going on?" Rossi asked cautiously as he placed the files to the table.
Instead of responding, Derek slid his phone across the table to the Italian man with Cate's photo on the screen. "Who sent this?" Emily asked as she looked over Rossi's shoulder.
"We don't know," JJ answered for him. "Garcia is already on it."
"Have you called Quantico? Or the local PD? They need to send someone over to check it out." Emily placed her files on the table and took out her cell phone.
JJ replied, "Anderson has been notified. He informed the PD as well, so they're on their way over."
Derek stood from his seat and grabbed the phone from the table. He sighed as he looked at the photo; Cate was laid across the bed, an arm reaching to where he normally lay next to her. He always woke up to her touching him in some way, making sure that he was still there. Even if it was just her fingertips against his arm, it was enough to keep her asleep.
"Derek," Dave began, "was this taken from inside or outside?"
The black man stared at the screen. "Outside, I think." He closed his eyes to mentally landscape the room.
He was about to open his mouth when JJ's phone rang. She accepted the call and placed it on speaker. "What do you have Pen?"
"My fearless warriors, I don't have much good news," she began.
Emily cut her off, "but there is some good news?"
"Yes," Garcia replied. "The Montclair PD just checked in after checking out Cate's community. They don't see anything out of the ordinary."
As if on cue, Derek's phone started to ring. "Cate," he sighed in relief as he answered the phone.
The black man stepped out of the conference room into the hallway. He leant back against the wall. "Derek, what's going on?"
He could tell she had just woken up. Words escaped him as he heard her on the other end. "I had a photo sent to me," he mumbled, "Jesus, I didn't know if something happened to you."
He heard his girlfriend release a yawn on the other end of the phone. "What picture? Derek, what are you talking about? Why were the police at my house?"
"A photo of you in bed, Catie," he replied. He closed his eyes, letting the relief wash over him. "It was from an unknown number, but it was you, baby." The gasp he heard on the other end broke his heart. He couldn't be there to console her and protect her.
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Cate stepped into her bedroom and looked around. Nothing was out of place, and she knew the alarm was set the night before. "I don't think anyone was in the house, Derek," she said into the phone.
"Cate, can you do me a favor?" She mumbled an okay into the phone. "Stand by your side of the bed and look towards the window." The brunette did as he said. "Do you see anything different?"
She stood where he asked, and then walked towards the window. "I don't think so," she replied with disappointment in her voice. The brunette sighed. "Wait," she said as she pushed the curtain back just a bit.
In the early morning light, she could see a planter in the back yard had been knocked over.
"Don't go out there, baby," Derek said from the other line. "Tell the officers in your house. They'll check it out."
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"Excuse me, ma'am," he heard from the other end. "Do you smoke?" the officer asked.
"No, I don't," she replied. Derek could feel his fist forming.
He rushed back in to the conference room and grabbed a piece of paper from the table. He flicked the cover off of a marker and wrote two words before handing the paper to JJ.
Cole Hanson
"Derek," her voice brought him back. "Why was he here?"
The black man sighed. "I don't know, baby, but we'll figure it out."
He could hear the fear in her voice and it made him hate his job for a minute. If he had been there, Cole never would have had the balls to step onto her property.
"Has your dad gotten there yet?"
"No," she replied, "but he's on his way."
Derek gripped the chair he leaned on as he heard her release a soft sob. He looked up to see JJ watching him closely as she hung up her phone call with Garcia. The blonde pursed her lips and shook her head.
He knew the phone number would be a dead end; he may have hated the guy, but Cole could be smart when he wanted to be. Of course he would use a burner phone to send that photo to Derek.
"D?" he closed his eyes at the pained sound in her voice.
He licked his lips before answering, "I'm here, baby."
"Please just talk to me," she begged.
"I'm right here, Catie. We're working on this from my end too," he assured her.
Derek chuckled to himself when he heard a commanding voice in the background of the call. "Where the hell is my daughter?"
The phone call muffled, and Derek knew it was Teddy pulling his youngest daughter in to a hug. "Dad's here," Cate sighed into the phone. There was relief at last for the brunette.
Derek ached to be the one comforting his girlfriend, and knew it was going to be almost impossible to leave her side with Cole loose. As far as Derek Morgan was concerned, Cole Hanson was a dead man walking.
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