Title: Salutarem Via
Summary: After an international mission comes into light, Reid has to face the fact that his team will now need to know one of his biggest secrets: his life way from the BAU.
A/N: I cannot believe it! You guys are the best! I have reached over 100 follows and 50 favorites and reviews. I cannot thank you guys enough. You are all the reason why I keep going despite my reservations. I hope I can keep up with all of you.
Guest80, a special thanks to you! You are the fiftieth reviewer. Another special thanks to TAH-Hall for being the fiftieth favorite.
Now, I am glad to announce a reunion. Manny and Javier will see Reid again. It is going to be an interesting chapter. Reid will stop hiding pieces of himself, and there will be no going back. His team will not be able to look at him the same way ever again. Goodbye, meek and humble nerd and hello, well-respected and competent agent. I hope you guys like this one as much as the last chapter. I am amazed all of you responded so well to it. I do not know how to thank you.
I also want to apologize for the long wait. It is a hectic time right now. I am ending the semester, so everything is piling up. On the bright side, all of this means that I am done with classes. Yay! That will open up sometime to dedicate to this story. If all goes as planned, no more long waits for an update.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Criminal Minds. I am only a part of a few that loves to play around with some fantastic characters.
Chapter Twelve: Asking Help, Finding Freedom
"I've never been good with asking for help; it seems risky, but at some point when things are really dicey, your stubbornness goes way to a certain form of humility that, after you get over yourself, feels liberating."-Dee Williams
Hasim fumed. Silently, he huffed pacing around the room. Waiting for Adil to arrive, he hoped at least that brute achieved better results than he did. He moved his head upward and prayed that he would be forgiven for failing. He prayed that it was all for something.
A ruckus grabbed Hasim's attention. Adil stomped his way over to the table on the right side of the room. Ignoring Hasim's gaze, he simply sat down on a chair and plopped his feet on the table. Pulling out a knife, he began to peel an apple he held in his left hand.
Not holding back his tongue, Hasim scolded, "You have no shame. Walking here as if you have done your duty. We have both failed. Dimitte nobis Deus."
Adil threw back his head and gave a hardy laugh, "Stop with the dramatics, Hasim. So, we have a few runaways. The boss will handle it, and everything will be fine."
Halting his stride, Hasim flung himself toward Adil. Furious at what had been said, he raged, "How on earth can you been so calm, Adil? Everything will not be fine if we cannot put a stop to them. They are the obstacle we must overcome; and if you keep ignoring your duty, they will win. How will you be able to live with yourself, if that indeed happens?" Seeing Adil shrug at his impassioned rant, Hasim continued his speech and his pacing, "Why did we involve you? You do not care for your own soul let alone anyone else's soul. Why on earth would he select you for such a precious project such as this?"
Not caring about his reputation within the group, Adil allowed the comment to lingering between them before smirking, "I don't know. Maybe, and I am just spit-balling this...I add something to the group that all of you radicals lack and it is something he needs. You can believe all that religious crap all you want, but none of that matters unless you can put words into action." He pushed back the chair beneath him and glared at Hasim, but in seconds he laughed the tension away. "You are a worm. You can kill from afar and let them die as long as you don't get up close, as long as it's not personal. The thing is sometimes it gets messy and personal and close. You can't handle any of that, and that is where I come in."
Squirming under the heated gaze, Hasim forced himself to stay put but he flinched at Adil's next words, "You may not like me, but I do the dirty work that no one wants. I make all of this possible. You need me, because you are too weak to go get your hands dirty yourself. Do you think God would like such a conditioned man as his follower?" Pausing, Adil's smirk grew even more cold and crooked, "You get to live in your hole, because I go out there and do what needs to be done."
Hasim flared with firousity, "I do not merely live in my hole. I go out and live the word. Simply because I do not enjoy others' suffering for the mere thought of them suffering does not make me a weak man. It makes me a good one. You are in serious need for God to penetrate your soul. Orem pro vobis."
Adil's sick smirk elongated enough to showcase the sinfulness of his soul, "Pray for others, Hasim. God can't cure me. I don't want him to, but you watch what you say 'bout me. Snakes like me tend to live long enough to slither over the graves of the righteous especially the ones that think too highly of themselves. I am sure your God does not appreciate arrogance. What is it that we say, 'Mundat animam et terrae pro modestia introduit la salutarem via.' Question is...are you living that promise?"
Adil took the silence that met his question and went on lounging. They waited for word on the other two and further instructions. Both of them acknowledged the possibility of failure when they agreed to be a part of this, but neither of them yearned for the years of torment if they did come to fail. They hoped that the other two would waltz in with their captives and information of them to end all of this once and for all. They hoped for a phone call giving them the all clear. They hoped for a miracle that one was sure to come and the other laughed at the thought of such a thing.
The quiet multiplied the tension. Hasim paced with nerves seeping into the air. Adil sat on his chair chewing on his apple. One did not contact the other, both too furious to break the stillness in the room with faked pleasantries for the sake of speaking.
Minutes ticked on. Hours tocked their way gone. Time carried itself as if everything had not changed for all the parties involved. One hour, then two. It was close to the end of the third hour when the doors opened to reveal Jonas.
Hauling a body over his shoulder, Jonas groaned, "Can one of you help me? I don't know for how much longer she is going to be out, and I rather not be carrying her like this when she comes to."
Hasim murmured his gratitude for his answered prayers, while Adil licked his lips in anticipation. Both of them scurried their way toward Jonas and the unconscious body slumping. Once they reached him, Adil flipped the body to expose the pretty face of one Adelaide Lancaster. Hasim helped by turning over the bottom half of her body. She was small, but the fact that she was completely out of this world made her heavier than she should have been.
Among the three of them, they placed her on a chair, restrained her, and had time left over to admire not only their work but her physical appeal. Adil licked his lips once more knowing that the fun part was finally beginning, and boy, was he going to have fun with a thing like her.
She came around eventually, moaning and groaning the throbbing of her body away. Blinking rapidly to try to orientate herself, she slowly pulled her head up. She took in her surrounds making note of everything that may be relevant later.
It was a warehouse or similar to one. They had surveillance photographs of everyone on the team. There were voices, three of them all male. None belonged to the man she now knew was behind all of this nightmare.
One of the voices finally spoke directly to her, "Well, looks like the pretty thing is up. How you doin'? Jonas, over there, wants to apologize for being a little rough with ya. Thing is I told it wasn't necessary 'cause girls like you like rough. Don't ya?" With each word, he had gotten closer. By the end of his short speech, he leaned over caressing her cheek.
She jolted away from his hand only to hear him laugh a deep belly laugh. He taunted her further declaring how wonderful she was and how amazing their time together would be.
It took the thin one scowling for him to stop, "Adil, that is enough. We have not yet received instructions from him yet."
Jonas hated his job because of just this, "Hasim, that is not exactly true. You had your orders and we have ours. You don't have to be here for this if you don't want to." He turned to face Hasim to whisper the next part, "I will watch Adil to make sure he does not take it to far. He won't touch her unless I can't get through to her. Besides, he wants her in one piece and without any visible flaw that can't be covered up with clothing. He thinks he can turn her on our side and use her for publicity. Don't worry."
Hasim nodded his approval before walking out of that part of the building.
Jonas continued his monologue openly, "Okay, Adil, I will start. If I can't break her, you'll get your shot. But only if I can't, do you understand?"
Adil smirked holding his gaze on her, "Sure thing." Leaning forward, he hissed right into her ear, "Don't ya worry sweet thing. I'll come back for you. I'll come back." He chuckled when she flinched to the side to move away from him. Straightening himself up, he cracked one last smile and twisted his body to give room to Jonas. He flicked his eyes to her one more time, and she knew that she was not leaving this place without some scars.
Jonas stepped in front of her, "Okay, Ms. Lancaster. If you just answer our questions honestly and quickly, we won't have any problems. If you don't, well, let us just say that you wished I left you dead."
She replied with an unexpected response, "Doctor."
Jonas, confused by the one word reaction, scrunched his brows and said, "Doctor?"
Looking him right in the eyes, she continued, "You said Ms. Lancaster. That is not accurate. It's Dr. Lancaster. I hold my degree at very high value. I would appreciate it if you acknowledged the hard work I put in to receive it."
In the back, Adil jumped with glee, "Oh, god! She has spunk! I am definitely going to like her."
Jonas shushed him before a smack echoed in the room. "I want you to only answer the questions I ask. You do that and both of us may just get out of here without much of a problem. Do you think you can do that? Do you?"
Adelaide gave them a bloody and crooked grin, "You are going to have to try harder than that to make this girl talk. The truth sets you free, so how about we stop playing games. You want to me to be honest, and I want to see his face." Her eyes blazed with something from beyond the earthly plane.
Swallowing his nerves, Jonas hated this part especially when the people on the other side refused to release their pride and stubbornness to the humility of their circumstances. He feared for her, because one glaze over her burning wrath and he knew Adil would get his chance.
Screaming, Vivienne startled her husband awake. She wept in her hands shaking from her nightmare. Kenneth tried to comfort his wife in every way he knew how, but nothing seemed to relieve her from her troubles.
"Sh, dear. It is all alright. It is merely a nightmare, sweetheart, just a nightmare."
Vivienne held unto her husband and cried, "Something is wrong. I can feel it. Something is wrong with our children, and they won't let us know. Oh, Kenny, I am afraid we failed them."
Rocking her back and forth, Kenneth Lancaster made the note of calling his contact at the CIA just to check up on his children to make sure they were all in perfect condition. There was a heaviness in his chest that settled in the last time he had seen all of his children, but he hoped with questioning his contact he would be able to liberate it long enough for his wife and him to rest easy for one more night before all hell broke loose.
He knew he should not have threatened the BAU team, but that little bastard just got under his skin. He was the Director of the Bureau and that good for nothing doctor had more pull than him. He was going to get an earful once the higher-ups got wind of this. He put everything he worked for in jeopardy over a skinny little smart-ass.
He should have held in his hatred for him and that girl a little longer. Dr. Spencer Reid was protected by Dr. Lancaster, and she had an army at her beck and call. He ruined his reputation if this did not go as he planned it. He needed him to go willingly to the other department where Reid would much more malleable to what he wanted. The BAU would much more vulnerable without Reid sticking out his neck for all of them.
He just wanted to have some control again. With what happened to the Strauss and then the whole debacle with the State Department over not just one agent but two, that team was getting to influential for people of their rank. He needed to remind them of whom they were and of their place in this world.
He just wished that by doing so he ended his run as Director. Everyone important knew that one call from her and it was all over.
Dr. Adelaide Lancaster ran this town much like her father before her. No one under their care would ever go wanting in this part of town. People thought that the White House contained all of the power, but that was just a fanciful lie told to keep the naive citizens of this great and secretive country at bay. It was a wonderful dream concocted by the masterminds that wanted the truth disguised as a fairy-tale. No one wanted, no one desired, for honesty to ring.
The lies bound them in chains and in dirty swamps. They sunk in deeper until the moss covered everything, and nothing was clean enough to be free from the disgusting deception of this nefarious nation and the people that ran it. No one was free of the burdens, so they all kept pretending that it did not matter that they were all crawling with corruption.
He loathed that he was one of them, yet he was separated from all that power. He sealed his lips and allowed them to play him like an idiot. He knew he was simply a puppet in the grand scheme of things, but dammit he wanted to be the puppeteer in his own offices.
He was not exactly sure what Cruz was going to do. He wore his white hat with pride so buying him off was not going to be an option. Cruz also was not ambitious like so many others so offering him a better position after everything was done was not going to work on him.
Moments like this made Blackwell miss Erin Strauss. She was needy and determined and resourceful. She was unafraid of getting in the nitty-gritty part of this job. She would have been easy to convince that Dr. Reid would be in a much better place elsewhere and that the team needed a new pair of eyes.
Senator Cramer was going to be of no use to him. Mateo Cruz was going to fight tooth and nail for this team. Director Blackwell knew that he was on his own for this. He yearned to cradle himself away from this problem he created for himself. He wondered what would have happened if the world just cooperated with him for once.
Deciding that was enough torment for one day, he packed up his stuff from his office. He needed a bath and a nice glass of tequila to make this go away for some time. Tonight, he would have a dreamless sleep. He would make sure of it.
A burly man peered into the room through glass. There was a nurse running off her mouth, "Well, we have no idea who he was when they brought him in, but I am so happy that he has someone to take care of him. Anywho, as I was saying, he has minor cuts and bruises all over. They one in his side was the one we were worried about. It was deep. It caused some internal damage, but we expect him to make a full recovery. He seems rather healthy, so there should be no problems down the line because of this injury..."
The man drowned out her voice when a certain someone popped in his thoughts. She was not going to be happy that this occurred under their watch. He was under obligation to call her about this. It was going to be one unpleasant phone call.
Turning to face the talkative nurse. he raise one finger to silence her. "I am sorry, but I have to make a phone call. Thank you though for everything."
The nurse smiled, "Oh, sure thing. I was just doing my job."
He punched in a number and waited for someone to answer the ringing.
"Hello, Dr. Lancaster's office. May I know who is calling?"
His rough voice sounded disagreeable even to himself, "Um, I am only to talk to Lancaster directly. It is Ames from the US Marshals." The fumble in his sentences softened him just enough for their to be a more relaxed and open dialogue between him and the young voice of the other side.
"Well, I am sorry to say that she is out at the moment. May I take a message?"
There was a slight hesitation on his part but he replied, "Well, um...just tell her that there was a small problem with the Samuel case, but that we have a handle on it now."
"Okay, no problem. I will let her know you called."
He grunted, "Thank you." Then the click sounded ending their phone call.
His feet carried him to his post outside of the room in a hospital fill with people unaware of the danger that lingered. His feet carried him to defend a man with secrets that was fighting death. His feet carried him to the place where he was most needed. Attaching himself to the idea that there was no getting away, he settled himself to a sleepless night to ensure that the man inside lived long enough to put the bastards away.
Inside that room laid Jacoby Samuel waiting for death to come on the third floor, not knowing that in that same hospital down in the basement where the morgue was located was the body of his twin brother waiting to be claimed. And as long as he remained unconscious, Coby would continue to be oblivious to the heartbreaking fact.
The fact that they made it to Quantico was miraculous. Both Javier and Manny recognized how lucky they had been as the walked into the Federal building. Taking two steps at a time, they reached the big doors. Javier signed that he was to do the talking.
Marching up to the reception desk, he coughed, "Excuse me. I am Javier Ortiz and," he pointed to Manny, "this is Manuela Ferro. I was told that the Behavioral Analysis Unit was expecting us."
As he was talking, the security guard eyed them and the woman behind the desk searched for proof of their story. "Ah, yes. Here it is. Ferro, Manuela and Ortiz, Javier are to be directed to the sixth floor where an Agent Anderson will give you further information about room numbers and such." She handed them ID cards and guided them in the right direction.
Passing the guard, he nodded in appreciation of his good work. The pushed the button and waited for the ding. Once it arrived, they entered the elevator hoping that this meant the termination of all of the running and dodging and worrying about whether or not they would be alive in the next five minutes.
Stopping on the sixth floor, they existed the elevator to be greeted by a tall, friendly man. "Hello, I am Agent Grant Anderson. As I was informed that you are listed for the BAU, I wanted to ask which team will you be seeing."
Although Javier searched for his phone to check exactly the identification of the team, Manny grew to impatient and answered before he could find it. "I'm not exactly sure, but I know that Emily Prentiss used to be a part of it and Dr. Reid is with them now. I," she waved to sign both her and Javier, "we, have to talk to them."
Anderson sized them up, but he nodded, "Okay, that would be Team A. They are currently in Conference Room 1. That would be all the way at the right end once you climbed the stairs."
They both thanked him and flew to find that conference room. On their way, Manny saw something created the oddest sensation of warmth and chills. "Reid, what on earth happened to you?"
Javier followed Manny's viewpoint. There stood a young man, tall and thin. He did not seem like much, but in further inspection, Javier knew he was tougher than he appeared. He was standing tall and did not seem to be in pain despite the various injuries, one which was still bleeding.
Reid smiled and greeted her with a hug, "Hey, Manny. It's good to see you. It all looks worse than it really is." He let go of her to acknowledge Javier. "You must be Javier Ortiz. Adelaide spoke very highly of you. Thanks for all you have done."
They shook hands.
"No problem. I owed Addie one."
Manny took charge of the conversation once more, "I am assuming Emily's here." Reid nodded. "Okay, let's go get these sons of bitches."
Spencer halted her, "No. I haven't explained any of this yet. I'm going to go in first. I'll let you know when you can come in."
Javier was going to protest, but when Manny simply nodded her head and stood firm, he stopped. Not once since he met her did she simply take an order. He knew then that Dr. Spencer Reid was to be the one in charged. Good thing, Javier was a soldier. He knew how to take orders.
Reid walked into the conference room.
Most of the team were sitting in their usual seats though Hotch was on his feet, erect and arms crossed. He demanded an answer, "You want to tell us what on earth is happening, Reid?"
Slowly, Reid approached them. With a pitiful attempt to ease their worry, he chuckled, "Hotch, I messed up. I mean I really messed up. I was stupid. I..." He cleared his throat as he choked up a little, "I need your help." He moved to look at his family, "I need all of your help."
They all waited for him to continue.
Reid said, "I am so sorry for all of this. I don't know what to do, and to be perfectly honest part of me hates that it has come to this. The other part of me hates that I didn't do this sooner." He inhaled and exhaled deeply, "I am in big trouble, Hotch. Someone's trying to kill me, and I don't know if I can stop him. I don't know if anyone of us can stop him. I wouldn't have brought this up at all except that it's not just me. Other people are dying and I need to make sure no one else dies too. Can you help me?"
Penelope was in tears at the thought of burying one of her friends, but she was the only one with an emotional reaction. The rest were stones.
It was Rossi that rose from his seat, "We will in any way that we can."
Spencer look at him and nodded. He turned to Emily, "Please, don't hate me."
Confused by his statement, she asked, "Why would I hate you?"
Manny and Javier eavesdropped on the whole conversation guessed this was their que to enter the room, so the marched up to the doorway. She announced the presence, "I'm assuming I would be the reason you would hate him."
Everyone saw an averaged-sized female with a crooked nose and a man about Morgan's height but built like Hotch next to her. Everyone wondered about their identities.
Emily stuttered, "Manny? What...what are you doing here?" She lifted her head to stare at Spencer, "Do you want to explain yourself, Reid? What in the hell is going on?"
Shutting his eyes, he sighed. There was no more avoiding this, "I wasn't on sabbatical those few weeks I was gone. I didn't visit my mom. I wasn't trying to give myself space from cases so I could grieve Emily's death."
Morgan's eyes glowed with anger, "Then, where in the hell where you, Reid? What is going on?"
Making himself taller, he spoke in a clear, crisp voice imitating the voice Hotch used to mark him as the superior over all of his subordinates, "I was on assignment. I have been assignment, even now. I wasn't on leave. I was working a case. Emily, you came here because you saw that the profile was made by someone who knew what they were doing, and when you noticed that the FBI was involved you assumed that one of us was there. Well, you were right. I was there. I was the profiler assigned on Operation Casurus. I was in Northeastern Africa and the Middle East for the weeks I was gone. You were not told the truth, because none of you have the clearance to know. You still don't, technically."
JJ fumbled through her response, "What...what are you saying, Spence? That you were a part of some secret mission for the government to track down a terrorist network while the rest of us where here working normal cases."
Giving her a curt nod, he simply replied, "Yes."
Glover was the one that asked the question they were thinking, "Why on earth would they pick you? They have Hotch and Morgan. Even Rossi would have been better choice over you. I mean come on you're you and they're not you."
Not offend by the remark, Reid smiled, "Exactly."
Baffled by the three syllabus, Manny pitied them, "Exactly. Reid is Reid and everyone else is not Reid. We needed Reid. I mean most of you have worked with him for about decade. I mean you know what he can do."
They still wore masks of perplexity. She scanned the room for some sort of comprehension from them, "You know what he can do, right?" Manny faced Spencer now, "They know what you can do, right?"
Reid walked up to the board in the room and grabbed a marker to start writing what they knew, "Now is not the time to be discussing my abilities in the field." Stopping his hand, he turned to his family. "Are you going to help or are you going to walk out? I would understand and respect either decision. I just needed to know, because like I said, none of you have the clearance for this. I rather not commit treason under a false assumption that you are going to help."
Rossi ambled his way toward him. Placing his hand on his shoulder, he said, "I stand by what I said before...any way that I can."
Looking around, Reid saw a group of people to which he no longer had to lie. He was free from the burden of the secret. He asked and they all stayed. Not one of them moved from their place. The tightness of his chest gave way. He could finally breathe.
He could finally breathe, and it felt liberating.
Translations: God forgive us.
I will pray for you.
Cleanse your soul and earth for modesty brings the saving way.