The Conspiracy
Chapter 4
Chita

If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all. ~Pearl S. Buck

Reid was woken by the sounds of chains clanking, and a light that filtered through his closed eye lids. He opened his eyes a slit so that the light wouldn't burn his unadapted eyes. He saw the shadows of men carrying something.

'Please, I need something to eat!' he called out to them in desperation.

The voice that he had heard before said they had left him food. This time they threw it to him – half a loaf of bread.

'We have left you bread before, but you need to look for it.'

Reid wasn't listening – he was biting into the bread and a feeling of gratitude came over him.

'Thank you.... thank you...' he called to the men who were holding him prisoner.

It wasn't until he had eaten the bread that he thought to check on what he had been brought. Was it something for him?

He crawled over the rough hewn floor to inspect what had been left. It was dark again, and he couldn't see, but he reached out with his hands and felt for what ever it was. He touched something in the dark and drew back his hand. It was another prisoner like himself.

He felt along the body of the man and suddenly realised as he felt the man's face that it was Hotch who was lying in front of him.

'Aaron!' Reid gasped, and turned the man onto his back and cradled his head. He felt blood in his hair, and as he gently ran his hands across his face he realised that he had been beaten. 'Oh god, Hotch, are you alive?'

Gently, tenderly, he stroked the man's face. 'Wake up, Aaron, please...'

-0-0-0-

The elderly Mexican woman looked down on the injured man on her bed. She thought that he had been shot, but she was no expert on gun shot wounds. Her son had found him by the cliff, burning in the hot sun. He was now lying still and silent on her bed. She had cleaned his wounds, and made him comfortable, but he had lost blood, and she was afraid of him dying there in her bedroom. She checked that the wound was not bleeding, and spoke to him gently.

'Sir, can you wake up?'

She was pleased when the stranger's eyes flickered and opened to reveal soft brown eyes.

'Hello, my name is Chita. You are in my home.'

The man on her bed was trying to speak to her. She lowered her head so that she could hear him.

'Aaron....' he whispered, then his eyes closed and he slept again.

Chita called her son.

'Was there anyone else there where you found this man? He's asking for a friend'

'There was another but he was taken by the townsmen.' he answered. 'I was too late to help him.'

'The men in the town are ungodly child thieves.' Chita said. 'The man is asking for him, but he will probably be killed now. We have to save this man's life.'

-0-0-0-

Aaron recognised Reid's voice, and reached out a bloody hand to him. Reid took it, and Aaron cried out as broken bones ground together.

'Spencer.' he gasped, 'Is it you?'

'I'm here, Aaron.' he said, stroking his hair.

'Dave's dead.' he said, tears for his friend rolling down dirty cheeks. 'They shot him.'

'Dead?' Reid could hardly believe it.

'They shot Dave out of town. Reid, do you know where we are? Can we escape?'

'Just a minute.' Reid went to Hotch's feet. Like himself, they had taken Aaron's shoes, and there was a cuff locked to his ankle. The chain went to the same loop that held his own chain. He went back to Hotch.

'There's no chance of escaping.' Reid said. Hotch tried to stand.

'I can't believe they shot Dave. He had dropped his gun, he was no threat.'

He wiped the tears off his face. They stung the grazed broken skin of his face from the beating. He knew his ribs were broken, and his fingers of one hand wouldn't bend, so he thought that his hand was broken too. He hurt all over, but he still had the strength to try to escape. He walked unsteadily to the loop in the wall and tried pulling it.

'This is a mine shaft, Reid.' he said, feeling the walls. The loop was for carrying weight. They would not get out like that.

'Do the others know?' Reid said hopefully.

'They are on a case.' he said. 'But Morgan knows something is wrong. He'll be out here as soon as he can.' He thought about Dave again, and his stomach lurched. It was hard to believe that his friend was gone.

'How often do they come down here?' Aaron asked.

'They don't.' Reid said. 'They throw me bread, but I can't find it. I think they must come while I sleep. Although I don't sleep very much.'

Aaron was frustrated and angry at being tricked by the woman in the shop. He didn't blame her really. She was probably under threat too. He thought she liked Dave and then she sent them into an ambush. She must have known.

'There was a woman in town led us into a trap.' Aaron said. 'We were trying to find out what had happened to you and why. What did you find out, Spencer? How bad is it that they have killed an FBI agent, and imprisoned two more?'

'They killed Andy too.' Reid said. 'I don't think they realised that he had called for help. I think they dumped his body over the border in Mexico in the desert.'

'Do you know what's going on, Spencer?'

'It's children. they are stealing Mexican children and selling them to the highest bidder.' he said. 'At first they were buying them from poor families, and then they found it was more economical to just take them.'

'Child trafficking.' Hotch said shivering. They sat closer together to keep warm. 'With Dave dead and us here, I hope Morgan gets here soon.'

-0-0-0-

The injured man in Chita's bed slept all night and most of the next day. This time when he woke up, he felt a little better. He tried to move, and thought better of it as a pain shot through his chest. He sank back into his bed with a groan. Chita was there in a shot.

'Hello.' she said, smiling at the stranger in her bed. 'How are you feeling?'

'I've felt better.' He groaned, squeezing his eyes closed. 'Where am I?'

'You are over the border in Mexico. Ana my son brought you home. He found you by the cliff.' She fluffed his pillows. 'We thought you might die.'

'Me too.' the man said. 'Who are you?'

'My name is Chita. Ana is outside working. Do you remember your name?'

'David. David Rossi.' He answered. 'I'm with the FBI. Do you have a phone?'

'I am sorry, Mr. Rossi. We don't have a phone.' she said, looking a little scared. 'The FBI? What is the FBI doing out here?'

'There is something going on in the town. I came with my colleague to find out what.'

'Is it the children?'

'Children?'

Dave struggled to a sitting position. Chita tried to make him lie still, but he refused.

'Was there another man with me when your son found me?' he asked.

'I will get Ana to tell you.'

She ran out of the room and Dave heard her call her son. A minute later, the young man was in the room.

'There was another man with you, a big man with black hair, but the townsmen took him away. I don't know where to.'

'Please, you have to show me.' Dave said. He pushed the woven blanket off himself and painfully swung his legs off the bed. Chita put her hand out.

'Tell me about the children.' Dave said.

'You must stay in bed. You are not strong enough Mr Rossi.'

Dave accepted her help and took a step towards the door, when the world spun round and he fell forwards in a faint.

Chita and Ana lifted him back onto the bed again, and covered him up.

'He's too ill to go anywhere yet.' Chita said to Ana. 'Go up there and see what you can find. He might be able to help us with the children.'

Ana nodded and left the house. He wouldn't go to the town, but he drove in his beaten up old pick up back to the bluff where he had found David dying in the sun. The car was still there, at the bottom of the bluff, and a bloody patch on the rocks where he had found Dave, but there was no sign of the other man. He climbed the bluff, and having checked that the townsmen were not there, he started to look around.

There were signs of a struggle on the dusty ground, and what looked like blood. He stooped down and touched the stain. It was surely blood, and a lot of it too. He saw that two of the cars had headed back to town, but the other one had driven east along the border. There was more blood where the car had been, as if the other man had been put in the car.

Ana decided to follow the track and see if he could find the other man. He made his way back down the bluff again and got in his pick up and drove the long way round to the top. He drove slowly across the rough terrain, following the plain tracks of the car that carried the other man.

He drove for a mile or two when the wind came up, blowing strong, the sand and dust lifting from the ground like a rough blanket. Ana knew better than to try to drive in it, so he stopped his truck and closed the windows and waited. It didn't last long, but it was enough to cover the tracks of the car he was following.

He sighed heavily. He really wanted to help the Fed, especially if he could find out what happened to the children, his own little sister included. But it looked as if he wasn't going to be a whole lot of help after all. He turned the pick up around and drove back home.

-0-0-0-

Aaron and Spencer sat close together at the end of the short tunnel. Reid was feeling a little better now he had had something to eat, but Hotch was shaking uncontrollably. He was wet through now and in a lot of pain. Reid tentatively put his arm around Aaron's shoulder and Aaron accepted the gesture. He leaned into Reid and tried to absorb warmth from him. Reid put his other arm around him and drew him close. There was nothing else he could do for him. It was dirty, wet, cold and pitch black in the hell hole, and they were both at a loss. All they could do was hope that Morgan would finish up his case soon and come down and find them.

Reid was finding it hard to come to terms with the death of Rossi. He couldn't quite believe it, but Aaron had cried for his friend, and Reid had cried in sympathy. Hotch had lost colleagues before, but in the heat of a case there was no time to mourn or cry. Here there was nothing else to do other than think of what might have happened if he had done things differently. He kept the thoughts to himself. Even in his beaten injured state, he was still the team leader, and he was there to find and rescue his colleague. The thought that he was there, chained up and helpless, just made him angry. He tugged uselessly at the chain.

Reid tightened his arms around him, Aaron rested his head on Reid's shoulder and cried again for Dave.