A/N As a guest reviewer kindly told me, a chapter from this story was missing! So go check Chapter 14! So this chapter has already been posted. I'm sorry about all this:P
Chapter 16
Boring was a word she would use to explain the day. Her partner hadn't let her out of his sight all day; he barely let her go to the bathroom alone, so she had spent the entire day inside. She knew the rest of the team was working on tracking Will down, Morgan had spoken to Hotch several times that day, but so far the only lead they had gotten was the motel he'd been staying at. They were too late though. Again.
So now she was back to the endless waiting. Waiting to be let out of her house. Waiting for Will to get thrown in jail.
Her knees were pulled up under her chin, her arms tightly wrapped around them. She was pretending to watch the show Morgan had put on, but she couldn't focus. She didn't even want to be there. Morgan was sweet and all, but it didn't take long until he was smothering her. They'd only spent one day together and she was already going out of her mind.
"Em!" Her partner's voice broke through her thoughts, startling her.
"What?" she said, looking at Morgan.
"I asked if you want something to eat," he said, amusement playing on his lips.
"Sorry, I guess I zoned out a little," Emily sighed.
"You can say that again. So do you want anything?"
"No, I'm good," Emily answered, tightening the grip on her legs.
Morgan nodded and grabbed the empty popcorn bowl. She heard his steps retreat into the kitchen and closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Her eyes opened again at the sound of her cellphone vibrating on the table. Exhaling, she reached over to grab the device and read the incoming text. Unknown number. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, her hands shaking as she tapped her password and opened the text. It felt like her heart stopped when she looked at the picture she'd received. Henry and Julia were sleeping in the backseat of a car. Another text came in with an address. Then a third one telling her to not bring Derek. She didn't have to think hard to know who this was, but she did wonder how the hell he had gotten to them and if JJ was with them. Emily wasn't sure if Hotch had let the blonde go to work or if she'd stayed home alone with the kids and an armed officer guarding the house.
When Morgan came back to the living room, Emily clutched the phone in her hand, hiding it as well as she could so Morgan wouldn't ask any questions. 'Don't bring Derek' the text had said. She heard the silent 'or I'll hurt them' so she decided not to tell the other man. As soon as he had sat down, Emily was on her feet, earning Morgan's attention for the sudden movement.
"I'm really tired so I'm gonna go upstairs and take a nap," Emily told him, hoping that it sounded believable enough.
"Okay, hold on, I'm gonna record this," Morgan said, grabbing the remote.
"Derek, I don't need you to babysit me while I'm sleeping, okay? I can do this alone. Keep watching your shows and I'll be downstairs later," Emily said, a bit frustrated, before she walked out of the room, not sure if Morgan would follow her or not.
She walked upstairs to the master bedroom and started pacing the relatively small area as she waited to know if she would remain alone. There was no sound of anyone ascending the stairs so she knew she'd have a head start. Hurrying over to her closet, she grabbed a thicker sweater and threw it over her tank top. With shaky hands she put her hair up in a messy bun and stepped into the boots she also kept in her closet. Before escaping her room she looked over the text again to make sure she had read it correctly, and when she was positive, she pocketed her cellphone and ran over to the window. She was on the second floor, but she knew that she couldn't escape from the first floor with Morgan there.
Taking a deep breath, Emily opened the window as quietly as she could. There was a rain gutter above her which she could hopefully reach so she could get to the downpipe and then climb a little closer to the ground. It reminded her of when she was a teenager and snuck out of the house in the middle of the night. She could do it then and she would do it now.
Putting one leg through the open window, she concentrated on not falling. Once through she held one hand on the window pane while she tried to reached the rain gutter. Her fingers barely brushed it when she made the small jump, grabbing it with her hands, and carefully scooted over to the downpipe. She could hear the gutter crack and knew it was about to go off so she increased her speed a little until she finally reached her goal. Grabbing the pipe she slowly slid down until she was a few feet above the ground and figured she could let go.
"Fuck," she whispered to herself as she landed on the ground with a thud.
One of her ankles hadn't been ready for the jump and twisted beneath her. She should've just gone out the front door or maybe even told Morgan what was going on. Emily shook her head. That could result in three dead bodies and Emily would do anything to prevent that from happening. So she slowly stood up again and tried to put some weight on her left ankle. It wasn't too bad. Taking a deep breath she started to run away from the house, not really sure how she would get to the place Will had demanded, but she knew she'd figure something out. She always did.
Hotch pulled up on the driveway after a long day of work. They had tried to find Will all day and the only lead the got was the motel he'd stayed at, but apparently he was already checked in and the boy at the front desk couldn't tell them anything useful. He was home later than he'd told JJ, but armed officers had sat in front of his house all day to watch the blonde and her two kids.
Before he went inside, he walked over to the police car that stood on the other side of the road. The first thing that worried him was the fact that he couldn't see the officer through the window, and when he approached, the younger man's head was resting on the steering wheel. Hotch could see the red color, staining the seat and the officer's hair.
Within a second, Hotch had his gun drawn, opening the door to check for a pulse. There was none.
Hotch didn't have to think twice before running towards the front door. It was Will. He knew it was. And the southern man had resolved to murder. This meant that he was more dangerous than they had imagined.
Opening the door, Hotch was filled with a bad feeling. He walked through the house, his gun in front of him, and called JJ's name as he did. No one answered. He knew she wasn't there, but still he searched every inch of the house. The kids were nowhere to be seen either. What was he planning? He kidnapped his family and then what? Was he going to disappear with them and pretend to live happily ever after? Or was he going to go after Emily too like they originally thought? He already had something Emily would do anything to protect.
After clearing the house with no signs of anyone, he lowered his gun and took out his cellphone to call Morgan. The other man answered after two signals.
"Morgan, its Hotch. Is Prentiss with you?"
"Yeah, she is, or she went to bed," Morgan told him.
"I need you to check on her for me, okay?"
"Is everything okay?" Morgan asked, concerned.
"No. The officer in front of my house is dead and JJ and the kids are gone."
"What?" Morgan was off the couch as soon as Hotch spoke those words.
The older man could hear his subordinate hurrying up a flight of stairs and opening a door with a bang.
"She's not here," Morgan said through gritted teeth. "How did the son of a bitch get to her? I was just downstairs. I should've heard her."
"I think she went by herself," Hotch told him. "Think about it. All Will had to do was to use JJ as leverage and Emily would come running."
"She could've told me."
"Not if she thought Will was serious with his threat. If he suffers from a psychotic break there's no say in what he could do."
Morgan went quiet on the other side, knowing that the older man was right.
"So how do we find her?" he finally asked.
"I don't know," Hotch replied. "We need to profile him to see where he's going. Let's gather the rest of the team."
"I'll be there." Morgan said and hung up the phone.
Hotch inhaled deeply and took a look around the room. He regretted letting her stay home alone, even if he thought the assigned officer would be enough to keep her safe. Emily was right when she said he might come after JJ too. But what was his endgame? Was he really going to kill them all? Their original profile said no, but he had snapped since then.
Hotch shook his head as he closed the door to the bedroom, starting his way down the stairs to wait for people who could take the dead officer away and examine the crime scene. Not that Will would leave anything that would tell them where he had taken them. They already knew who their Unsub was, but they needed a location.
The door flew open and Hotch's first instinct was to reach for his gun, but when he saw Morgan's face, Hotch pulled back. The sound of sirens got louder as the door was open, but got more vague when Morgan closed the door.
"I came as fast as I could" Morgan said, his face contorted in anger. "The others are on their way, except for Garcia. She'll be of most help in front of her computers."
"Yes, she will," Hotch agreed. "We need to know if Will has any other properties or if his parents have any."
"I told her to check both in Virginia and in New Orleans. She'll also track Emily's phone."
"Good! He might stop on the way so I want JJ and Emily's pictures all over the news and also the kids so if..."
Hotch was interrupted by the phone ringing and he quickly picked up, seeing Garcia's name.
"Okay, so I hacked into Emily's phone to track her gps and I got an address. It's actually pretty close to Derek's house..."
"Send it to us," Hotch said.
"Already ahead of you, Bossman. You'll have it now."
As if on cue, their cellphones beeped, letting them know that they got the address where Emily hopefully was.
"Thank you, Garcia."
They hung up the phone quickly and headed outside. Two men were loading the dead officer out of the car and someone was snapping photos. They knew that the officers on the scene would like to ask questions, but their friends needed them more so questions would have to wait. The agents got into Morgan's vehicle and he stepped on the gas, hoping that they'd find their missing friends where Emily's phone was.
