A/N: Hi dear friends! Sorry for the late update, but this is a long chapter so hopefully it makes up for it! As always, you guys who have been favoriting/following this story mean the world to me and make my day so much brighter. I love reviews so let me know what you think! More to come soon!
"No," Morgan shook his head. "It's close. For him, it's all about where his brother died, so he's keeping them close." He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "Garcia, pull up a satellite map of the area where we are." They all waited for the clicking to stop. "Are there any structures in the area? Sheds, hunting hideouts, cabins, anything."
"Uh…" Garcia clacked on her keyboard for a moment. "There's…a cabin? I think. It looks like a cabin but…it's not on any records and it looks like it hasn't been touched in years."
"Oh yah…" Detective Riley jumped in. "I know that place. Kids use it as a fort in the summer and fall, and sometimes hunters stake out there, but it's falling apart. No one lives there."
Joey locked eyes with Hotch. "That's it. Garcia, where is it in relation to us?"
While Joey gave a heavy cough, Garcia whizzed at her keys. Hotch eyed Joey. "Two miles to your north." Came the reply.
"Thanks Garcia!" Joey called as Morgan hung up, and she and the team sprinted to their cars.
Hotch, JJ, Joey jumped in one, while Prentiss, and Morgan jumped in the other. They followed the detective in his local police car, lights flashing and sirens blaring. Two other police cars followed behind.
All five cars pulled up the narrow, overgrown lane to the cabin and parked. As they did, the front door to the dilapidated cabin opened. "Adam Springer, FBI!" Morgan called as he jumped out of the car.
Adam Springer took one look at Morgan's raised glock and took off running. "HEY!" Prentiss shouted after him. She and Morgan sprinted into the woods to follow him.
"JJ, Joey, check the house!" Hotch called as he followed Morgan and Prentiss.
JJ and Joey carefully ascended the steps to the cabin. The windows were poorly boarded up, but they couldn't see inside. JJ looked back at Joey and waited for the nod of confirmation before kicking the door in.
One after the other, JJ and Joey crossed the threshold, carefully sweeping opposite sides of the three-room cabin. "Clear!" came JJ's call.
"Clear." Joey repeated, lowering her weapon. She leaned on her knees and coughed violently. The cold air was stinging her lungs.
"You okay?" JJ asked, coming into what could be called a living room.
"Yah, hey look at this." Joey pointed to something she'd notice as she had bent over. Where the rug was lying on the old wooden floor, a layer of dust surrounded it, but it looked as though the rug had been lying in a different position. JJ and Joey exchanged a knowing look for a split second before shoving the broken coffee table off the rug and rolling it away.
A square had been cut in the floor and a locked hinged door now replaced it. JJ aimed her gun at the lock but Joey stopped her. "No wait." She warned, thinking what would happen if there was someone under there and they started shooting holes through the floor. "It's frozen so…" Joey took the butt of her gun and slammed it into the lock, effectively breaking it off.
JJ grabbed the handle and Joey knelt down, gun raised. She nodded. JJ swung the door open. Two pairs of terrified eyes stared back up at them. Joey did a quick visual sweep to see they were alone in a small, dark room barely big enough to hold them, but tall enough that the wouldn't be able to get out on their own.
"Hey." She said softly and holstered her gun. She jumped down into the room. The two boys cowered away from her. "Hey, it's okay." She knelt in front of them and recognized them as James Philips and Kyle Williams. "I'm not going to hurt you. JJ, throw down some blankets." Joey called up to her colleague.
Within moments, JJ had returned with a pair of shock blankets from the local police officers and handed them down to Joey.
"Hey, we're going to take you home, alright?" Joey said kindly as she carefully wrapped each of the boys in the blankets. They were in shorts and a t-shirt and their feet were bare. The boys nodded and Joey smiled back at them. "Okay, one, two, three…" she said as she lifted each boy up to JJ's waiting arms. Joey clambered up after them.
She sat heavily on the floor next to the boys and JJ, her breathing labored. She became aware of a rattling in her lungs and wondered if she was imagining it. JJ was rubbing Kyle Williams' shoulders. "Do you know where he took the other boy? Michael Smith?" She asked gently.
Joey heard one of the local police officers enter the cabin behind her. "Outside." James Philips replied simply.
JJ and Joey locked eyes. JJ quickly looked up to the officer, who nodded, indicating she would stay with the boys. JJ and Joey sprung to their feet. "I'll take the front, you take the back." JJ called as they burst through the front door onto the collapsing porch.
Joey ran around the back of the cabin, frantically searching the thick woods. "Michael?" She cried. She heard JJ echoing her calls from somewhere behind her. "Michael Smith?" She shouted again, pressing into the trees. She headed toward the river. "Michael!"
Joey rounded a tree and her heart stopped. A small lean-to was connected to a large tree and through the cracks, she could see the outline of a boy. "Back here, JJ!" Joey screamed. "And bring a blanket!"
Joey crashed through the bushes toward where Michael lay. "We need an ambulance back here NOW." She said into her com line on her vest. Joey reached the lean-to and crawled inside, pulling Michael out with her. He was dressed in only thin pajama pants and a t-shirt. She placed two trembling fingers on his neck, her heart pounding.
Breathing a sigh of huge relief at the faint thump she felt, Joey instantly ripped off her coat and wrapped Michael in it. She felt JJ drop beside her. "Here, hold him." She instructed JJ, who wrapped Michael in the shock blanket over Joey's coat.
Michael's lips were tinged blue and his skin was sheet white. Alternating between each arm and leg, Joey started at the top and quickly rubbed down to the hands and feet, trying to get the blood flow back to each limb. JJ alternated between breathing hot air over Michael's hands and rubbing circles on his chest.
JJ and Joey continued their attempts to warm Michael for what seemed like too long. Where was the ambulance? Joey brought one arm up to cover her mouth as she coughed violently, keeping the other hand rubbing Michael's left arm.
"Joey…" JJ began, throwing Joey a concerned look.
Joey shook her head. "Keep going." She said emphatically, indicating to Michael's chest. Joey was only in jeans and a button-up now, but she didn't feel the cold. The adrenaline had kicked in and she only had eyes for Michael.
Suddenly, the sound of gunshots rang through the woods. They sounded distant, but JJ and Joey exchanged a dark look.
Finally, mercifully, the sirens of the ambulance could be heard making their way up the drive. Joey stood. "Come on, they won't be able get him back here."
JJ stood with Michael in her arms, and the two of them hurried him back to the cabin. Two EMTs with a gurney were waiting for them as they rounded the side of the old building. JJ carefully laid Michael down and she and Joey walked and talked the EMTs back to the ambulance.
"We don't know how long he's been out there." Joey began. "We found a pulse and he's breathing, but he's really dehydrated and probably already in shock." The EMTs nodded and loaded the gurney into the back of the ambulance. One of the local police officers climbed in the back and once the doors were shut, it raced off.
As soon as it had, Morgan, Prentiss, and Hotch appeared out of the woods. They appeared unhurt. "Hey," JJ greeted as they approached. "You guys okay?"
"Yah." Hotch nodded once.
"You're going to need a body bag." Morgan said to a passing officer, who nodded and turned to his colleagues.
"What happened here?" Hotch asked, looking around at the cabin.
"We found Kyle Williams and James Philips in a room under the floor." Joey replied, slightly out of breath. They all looked to see the two boys being lead out by the officer that had stayed with them, blankets draped around their shoulders. They watched as she loaded the boys into the back of her squad car, waited for her partner to join her, and drove off, sirens wailing.
"It looks like they're going to be okay." Prentiss sighed in relief. JJ nodded.
"What about Michael Smith?" Hotch pressed.
"We found him out back in a lean-to." Joey replied, putting her hands on her hips, trying to steady her breathing. "He's alive, but in pretty bad shape. They already took him to the hospital…" She leaned away from them and coughed into her arm, her shoulders shaking.
"Whoa, hey." Prentiss grabbed Joey's shoulder. "Are you okay? Where's your coat?" She asked in alarm, glancing down at Joey's shirt.
At Prentiss' touch, Joey pulled away. "With Michael." Joey replied simply.
Prentiss looked as if she wanted to say something more, but Detective Riley approached them. "Nice work, guys. A storm's coming in. If you guys leave now, you can probably beat it and fly back to Quantico tonight."
Hotch nodded. Joey gently stepped further away from Prentiss and headed back to the SUV before anyone could say anything else. She climbed in and waited for the others to follow. As Hotch and JJ climbed into the front, Joey wrapped her arms around her. The adrenaline had worn off and she had begun to shiver violently.
Back at the station, Reid greeted them in the conference room. "What happened?"
"We found Kyle Williams and James Philips, and it looks like they're going to be fine." JJ rattled off. "Michael was outside but alive when we found him. He was taken to the hospital. Adam Springer is dead." She finished bluntly.
"Oh." Reid nodded as the team began to pack everything up. "I'm glad we got the boys, at least."
"We're leaving now. We want to beat the storm." Hotch entered the conference room, joining the others in packing.
"Are you okay?" Reid asked, peering over at Joey.
Joey was standing over her files on the conference table, but she wasn't sure her fingers would work properly. She was still shivering and she couldn't really feel her face. The cold permeated down to her bones.
She felt something cover her shoulders and she looked up to see Morgan draping his coat over her. "Thanks." She smiled appreciatively up at him. Grabbing her bag, she clumsily stuffed her files in and zipped it up with fumbling fingers.
The team was filing out to the elevator when the hallway suddenly starting to swim before Joey. She swayed and dropped her bag. Leaning on the wall, Joey hacked into her arm. She realized she was sweating, but shivers still plagued her body.
"Hey, whoa, Joey." JJ grabbed her arm as the rest of the team turned to see what was wrong. "You're not okay."
Joey stood up straight and pulled out of JJ's grip, waving her off. "I'm fine." Her head was spinning and her legs felt like lead, but Joey knew they had to get back to the jet if they wanted to get home tonight. "Let's go."
"You're not fine." Morgan insisted.
"I am." Joey shot back. "It's just a cough." She leaned over to grab her bag and concentrated very hard on making the hallway stay still. She was sure that the team, like she, could hear her wheeze, but she pushed toward the elevator. "We have to get to the jet if we want to miss the storm." The team all eyed each other, but said nothing as they followed her.
The jet was fueled and ready by the time the team arrived to the tarmac. They quickly parked their cars and grabbed their bags before climbing up the stairs. Joey took the steps one at a time, feeling like she was climbing Everest.
She followed Prentiss into the cabin of the jet. Her breathing was ragged and she hadn't stopped shivering. She felt like the floor beneath her was unstable. Was the jet already taxiing? Joey looked out the window to see, but her head protested and her knees buckled.
"Joey." Reid quickly grabbed her from behind and lowered her into one of the seats. Five faces of concern stared down at her.
"No, no, no." Joey tried to stand, but two pairs of hands pushed her back into the seat.
"Joey, please sit. We're about to take off anyway." Hotch said quietly.
Joey nodded and leaned back into the seat, fastening her seatbelt. She could feel her hair stick to her neck and forehead. She still had Morgan's coat on and she pulled it closer around herself, though she felt no warmer from it.
As the plane gained altitude, Joey pressed her head back into the rest. Dark edges began to creep into her vision. When they finally leveled out, Reid unbuckled and made his way back to the minibar area. JJ unfolded a blanket and tucked it around Joey, then told Morgan to go search for another.
"No, guys…" Joey tried to urge them away, but it came out as barely more than a whisper. She saw Prentiss and Hotch standing, both with crossed arms, staring down at her in concern.
"Hotch, I really think we need to take her to a hospital." Prentiss muttered. Hotch looked like he was contemplating it.
"No, guys, really, I'm fine." Joey tried to say, though she was surprised to find that it came out sounding like a mumbled mess.
Reid reappeared and sat down across from Joey, placing a steaming cup of tea in front of her. Joey attempted a smile at him. "Thanks." She picked the mug up with trembling hands and took a sip, feeling her shoulders physically sag in relief as warmth finally spread in her belly. After a few seconds, though, the mug became too heavy, and she set it back down with a rattle.
"I don't want to go to the hospital." She pleaded.
"Shh." JJ soothed as Morgan returned with another blanket and she spread it across Joey's lap. "Just sleep for now, and we'll see how you feel when we land." Joey nodded and took another sip of tea before leaning back into the seat. She closed her eyes and felt JJ brush Joey's hair out of her face. "There you go." She said and patted her shoulder.
"JJ, thank you." Joey breathed, though she couldn't be sure if she actually muttered those words or if it was only in her head as she let go and sleep overtook her.