The Conspiracy
Chapter 8
Day Four

A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist. - Stewart Alsop

As the last of the dust settled, Emily sat up, coughing and gagging.

'Are you ok, Ana?' she asked. The lamp light had gone and Morgan had her flash light.

'I think so.' Ana groaned as he tried to sit up. 'My arm hurts, but it's nothing too bad.'

'Morgan!' Emily called to him, reaching out to where she thought she last saw him. 'Morgan, where are you?'

'He's here, I think.' Ana called to her. Emily crawled towards his voice. Morgan was lying on his front over Reid. Emily quickly felt for life signs, and breathed a sigh of relief when she found a strong pulse. As she ran her hands over his body checking for injuries, he groaned and tried to sit up.

'Where are you hurt?' she asked him, unhooking her flash light off his belt. He winced as she switched it on and shone it in his eyes.

'Sorry.' She moved the beam. 'You are bleeding from a head wound.'

'I'm fine. Check Reid. Where is Hotch?'

'Hotch was on the bridge when the tunnel collapsed.' Emily said, running her hands along Reid's body. He groaned as she touched his arm, which was twisted unnaturally.

'I think you've broken your arm, Reid. Lay still while we find the others.'

Morgan had crawled to the edge of the chasm. He looked down but he could no longer see his flash light.

'Hotch?'

'He's hurt!' the voice of the paramedic called up. 'I'm ok, but I think my partner might be dead.' He sounded panicky and frightened.

'I'm coming down to you.' Morgan said.

'No, I'l l try to find a way up.' he called back, 'Your friend is badly hurt. I don't think I should move him.'

'Don't come up and leave him!' Emily called down. 'Don't you dare leave him.'

'I can't do this on my own.' he said, a sob in his voice. 'I'm only training! I'm not ready for this.'

'I'm going down to him.' Morgan said to Emily. 'He sounds as if he's going to fall apart on his own.'

'I'll stay here with Reid and Ana.' Emily said. 'And pray.....'

-0-0-0-

When Chita got home, she found David lying in the bedroom doorway, at fist she thought the men from the town had come and killed him, but to her relief, he began to move as she touched him.

'Mr Rossi, what on earth are you doing?'

'I need to get out of here, Chita. I am putting you in danger by being here.' he said, gasping in pain.

Chita helped him to his feet and led him slowly and carefully back to the bed.

'Don't do that again, Mr Rossi.' she said in mock anger. 'You could kill yourself. The townsmen think they have killed you. They won't be looking for you. Don't do them any favours by finishing their job!''

Dave slumped gratefully back onto the bed. He needed to contact the team, or at least speak to Garcia, and without his phone he felt cut off and vulnerable.

'Chita,' he said as she tucked in the blankets. 'Is there any chance of getting hold of a mobile cell phone for me to use? I will happily pay for it. I am worried about my friends.'

'I don't know anyone who has one.' she said, thinking. 'Unless the store owner has. I can go and find out.'

'Thank you, Chita.' she turned to leave and Dave called her back. 'Chita, be careful whom you ask. Don't tell anyone I'm here.'

'I'll say it's to call my mother.' Chita said, understanding. And she left Dave alone again.

-0-0-0-

Morgan started to climb down to Hotch and the medic, who was having, Morgan thought, a panic attack. Emily shone her flashlight so that Morgan could see what he was doing. Hanging grimly on the face of the almost sheer drop, he had to fight panicking himself.

'Are you ok?' Emily called to him as he stopped climbing and hugged the wall.

'Fine' he breathed, and moved a foot down to another foothold that Emily held in her beam. Carefully he moved a hand, and his body descended another foot.

There was a long way to go.

Emily held her breath as Morgan inched down into the hole. Neither of them knew what they would find when he reached the bottom, but Hotch needed him to get to the bottom in one piece. A sudden sound of rocks falling froze Morgan onto the face again, but the fall was elsewhere in the tunnels, not where they were.

He was about ten feet from the bottom when he missed his footing and slid down the rough face, grazing his palms and face on the hewn rock.

He landed winded at the bottom, amongst the broken boards and bodies.

'Morgan! Are you ok?'

'Yeah!' he answered. He saw the beam of his flashlight under the debris and he reached down for it. He shone the beam across the small space where he now found himself. One of the medics was dead. Morgan checked for vitals, but he could see that his neck was broken. The other medic was cowering against the wall, whimpering softly to himself. He would be of no use.

He climbed over the debris to Hotch.

An ugly spike of metal, the remains of the stretcher on which he was being carried, stuck upwards through his lower abdomen. It glistened sickly in the torch beam.

He found a pulse.

Oh god Hotch...... How could you survive that?

Morgan knelt by his side and took his good hand.

'Hotch, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm going to get you out of here.'

It was a relief to Morgan when Hotch responded with a squeeze of his hand. He was still intubated, and he pulled his hand away from Morgan, and raised his hand to his face, and pulled the tube out of his throat. He gagged and coughed, then he spoke.

'I order..... you.... to get..... out...... leave m-me..... order... uh'

Hotch fainted, the effort of speaking being too much for him. Morgan looked at him with a mixture of admiration and anger.

He would never leave a man behind, orders or not.

The wound wasn't bleeding too much, but the medic was right. He couldn't be moved. He checked him over, and called up for Emily.

'Hotch is hurt badly, Emily. I daren't move him. I'm staying down here with him.'

'Ok.' she answered. She lifted Reid's head onto her lap so that he could be comfortable.

'Garcia knows where we are.' Morgan continued. 'Sooner or later she will get help for us.'

I just hope it is sooner – I don't know how Hotch will survive, or how long the tunnels will hold up.....

Emily turned to Ana. 'You know these mines?'

'Used to play down here as a kid.'

'What set off the cave in?'

'Probably the vibrations of the helicopter.' Ana said. 'That and the car and my truck.'

'Is there another way down to the where Hotch is?'

'The only way is straight down. I'm sorry.'

Emily nodded, and concentrated on Reid. He had passed out again, and there was blood on the dressing on his chest. That was not a good sign.

'Ana, press down on his chest wound.' she said, and Ana knelt beside Reid and did as she asked. She shone the flash light across Reid's face but he didn't react to the light. He was deeply unconscious. She felt along his broken arm, and gently felt for exposed bone. His upper arm was twisted in the middle, and there was a bone pressing onto the inside of his bloody shirt sleeve. She worried about infection in the dirty environment, and she hoped that rescue would come quickly.

-0-0-0-

Chita came back to Dave very excited. In her hand she had a large cell phone. Dave was asleep, recovering from his fall at the door. Chita sat on the side of the bed and shook him gently. He opened his soft brown eyes and looked up at her. She held up the phone with a triumphant look on her face. Dave smiled at her.

'You are amazing, Chita.' he said, and she beamed at him.

She put the phone in his hand and he dialled Garcia's number.

Garcia was getting frantic. Morgan had promised to call her back but she had heard nothing. Neither his cell, nor Emily's was in service, and she couldn't contact Rossi. When her phone rang and caller id said David Rossi, she grabbed the phone with relief.

'Penelope, has Morgan or Prentiss been in touch with you?'

'Yes! Yes!' she almost shouted down the phone. 'I was supposed to have heard back from them by now. I don't know what I should do. I am glad you called, Sir.'

'Do you know where they have gone?'

'Yes. They were looking for Hotch and Reid hidden in a mine shaft. I know which one.'

Garcia told Dave the name of the mine where Morgan had found Hotch and Reid. 'That was hours ago. They should have come back to me by now!'

'Don't worry, Penelope.' he said. 'Stay calm, and I will find out what has happened.'

He switched off the old cell phone and passed it back to Chita, and he took some money from his wallet and gave her that too.

'Chita,' he said. 'We need the police. Quickly.'

-0-0-0-

Hotch's breathing was becoming laboured, and Morgan was very worried.

'Get over here.' he said to the paramedic. 'I need your help.'

The man was sitting with his arms clasped around his knees, rocking and whimpering. Morgan resisted the urge to hit him.

'I need you here, NOW!' he said. 'This man could be dying. I need your help.'

There was still no reaction from the medic. Morgan took off his jacket and rolled it up. He placed it as a pillow for Hotch, and then, barely containing his anger, crawled across to the man. He pulled his arms away from his knees, and took his face in one hand, forcing the man to look at him.

'I said', he repeated, 'I need your help.'

'I'm s-sorry, I can't do it. I c-can't!'

'If my friend dies while you sit here hugging your knees and crying like a baby, I will kill you.' Morgan said. 'And that is a promise.'

The man looked up at Morgan with fear filled eyes. 'O k-kay. I'll try.' He wiped tears from his face with the back of his hand, and crawled with Morgan back to Hotch.

Hotch was struggling for breath. His head was back and his eyes rolled in their sockets.

'He needs to be intubated.' the medic said.

'So intubate him!' Morgan said.

'I've never done it before.' he said, but all the same, he pulled his box close, and opened it, retrieving a sterile tube. Hotch was starting to thrash in a panic. The medic knelt at his head, tilted his head back and with shaking hands, attempted to intubate Hotch.

'It won't go in!' he shouted. 'I told you i couldn't do it! I told you.'

'Do it!' growled Morgan. 'His life is dependant on you.'

The medic closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he smoothly and accurately slid the tube into place, and taped it in position. He took the bulb and attached it onto the tube and began to ventilate Hotch's lungs. Almost immediately, Hotch stopped thrashing, and closed his eyes.

'He's going to be ok now.' the medic said. Morgan took the bulb and carried on squeezing it.

'Thank you.' he said. He looked up to where Emily and Ana were. 'How are you doing up there?' he called. Emily leaned over the edge.

'We're ok, Morgan. Reid is bleeding from the gunshot wound, but Ana is pressing on it to slow the bleeding. Is Hotch ok?'

Morgan looked up at the medic. 'Yes, I think so. Thanks to our medic down here.'

He looked down at Hotch.

Ok, boss man. Stay with us now.........

He prayed that rescue would come quickly.

Come on Doll Face. You know where we are................

'