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A/n thanks to all my loyal readers and everyone that has made suggestions or chatted with me about this story. All of your input has made this a better story. Thanks also to my awesome beta who is first and foremost a most excellent sounding board.
"Sit down and enter the code Dr. Reid or the girl is dead."
"You won't kill her!"
"You don't know anything about me!"
"I know you don't like to get your hands dirty. You leave that it to the people you surround yourself with."
Calloway shoved Reid into the chair next to Lynch. "I told you to help Lynch get into that file."
"Alright…"
"Hello Dr. Reid," Kevin said pleasantly.
"Don't pretend we're friends Lynch."
"Don't be that way. If you cooperate with Calloway, you'll discover that working with us is more rewarding than being stuck with Hotchner."
"I'm curious Lynch, what did Hotch do to you?"
"Enough chit-chat Dr. Reid, we need a name." Calloway prodded him in the back with his gun.
Reid guided the man that he'd once trusted into his encrypted files. After the last password had been entered files popped up on screen with pictures and statistics of the staff at Caltech in 1998. He helped Lynch get through the layers to one person that he'd finally remembered just before Calloway had come knocking on his door again.
"Come on Lynch… What did Hotchner ever do to you? Or is it what he did to Calloway here," Reid said as the information glided by on the screen.
Calloway slammed his fist into Reid's face. The younger man fell forward, knocking Lynch's chair askew. "Hey, I'm trying to hack into encrypted files here." He shouted up at Calloway.
"Shut up and get back to work."
Reid was sitting up with one hand cradling his cheek. Tears of pain were rolling out from the corners of his eyes. He looked at the floor and Calloway's shoes.
"I told you not to push me Dr. Reid. Give me a name to work with."
"It's that one." He pointed to a photograph that was ten years out of date.
"Well… this is a surprise. I must say that I understand why you didn't tell anyone. Did you tell the FBI when they hired you?'
Reid kept his eyes on Calloway's shoes and one hand to his face "No, I didn't tell the FBI. I told you I didn't remember. They told me I might not remember. The doctors said that it was the result of shock. Now I know that I didn't remember because of something else that happened to me when I was a small boy.
"Well, now we have a name to work with. Lynch, get to work and find out everything you can on Michael Reid. All we have now is the word of Dr. Reid. We need to dig up more evidence to bring him in."
---
Garcia sat in dumbstruck wonder for three seconds before her fingers began to fly over the keyboard. How was this file opened and who was responsible? She picked up her phone and dialed the first name on speed dial.
Three minutes later everyone was in the conference room staring at her lap top.
"What are we seeing Garcia."
"Sir, it's a file I encrypted for Reid."
"Garcia… We talked about this."
"I know sir, but this is just his medical records and school records. It was supposed to keep prying eyes out of his personal information."
"It's alright," Hotch relented as they all leaned forward towards her lap top. All of them stared at it as though they could will it into speaking and reassuring them that everything would be okay.
"When I encrypted this file I made sure that only Reid and I have the password. It changes every sixty days. We just changed it again before he went - I mean before he disappeared. Also, there is a code that has to be given, or whoever tries to get into the records will wipe the hard drive of the computer they're using.
As a safety precaution, the code also opened the files for me to see on my computer. It alerts me that something is wrong. We set it up in case anyone tried to kidnap Reid again. If he got access to a computer he could put in the code and I'd be alerted. The code also locks on to the user's IP address."
"What's that? It looks like it's moving on its own." Rossi asked.
"That's the person looking into his file. It's like when you call for IT support and the tech takes over your computer."
"Is someone taking over your computer?"
"Don't panic boss. I'm in complete control."
Her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Now, the reason I called you all in here is because of this."
She brought up the old personal file from Caltech. "Does he look familiar to any of you?"
"Yeah… he looks like William Reid, but it's not him."
"You get the gold star sugar. That's Michael Reid. He's William's brother and Reid's uncle."
"Why is Reid pulling up his file for someone?"
"I don't know boss man. That's the three million dollar question."
"Get on it Garcia. I want to know everything there is to know about Michael Reid. Can you follow the IP back to the person looking into this file?"
"I'm already on it. Its slow going though, whoever is behind all this has some serious hacking skills. And sir I have something else to tell you all."
"What is it Garcia?"
She was twisting her hands in her lap and she looked like Hotch might yell at her. "I'm sorry didn't come to you when I first realized that there was a problem. I thought I was imagining things. "
"Garcia…"
"I'm sorry sir. I've been having trouble with some of my equipment."
"What kind of trouble?"
"Well, it's like someone is trying to keep me from digging into what could've happened to Reid. Every time I make progress, it's like someone is blocking my path."
"Baby-girl… I know you're the best hacker in the world, but do you think you're working too hard on this? When we the last time you slept?"
"You sound like Kevin…" She shouted, leaping up from her chair. "I'll figure out what's going on if it's the last thing I do."
"Baby-Girl!"
"Don't you talk sweet to me Derek Morgan? I'm not a child."
She swept out of the room with her lap top and her dignity under her arm. She looked like a queen on the way to her throne. Morgan smiled widely after her.
"Seriously though, is she working too hard?"
"What do you suggest I do Dave, knock her over the head and drag her off to sleep?"
"No, I think you should get Morgan to do it."
"No problem!"
"Morgan!"
"I'm serious. I know we need her, but she's looking like a ghost instead of my Goddess."
"You'll never get her out of here."
"I can try Hotch."
---
"Calm down Spencer. We're just going to play a game."
Thunder growled over his head. It was getting closer. He could feel the electricity on the air. A jagged yellow slash of lightning crossed the sky as though thrown by the Gods. He flinched and backed away when the person that had hit him over the head, tied him up and brought him to this place, came closer.
"Why are you doing this?"
The man picked up the flashlight and aimed it at the forest floor. All the leaves under their feet were brown and black. Thunder crashed again and lightning tried it's best to split open the sky. The light from the flash lit up the face of the man that stood in front of him.
"You always were curious Spencer. Even as a kid you asked question after question. And they weren't like the questions of any average five year old. You wanted to know things that you had no business asking. You used to drive us all crazy with your questions."
"I'm not going to apologize for my childhood. Are you going to answer my question?"
He should be running far away, but now that he knew who'd done this to him, he couldn't make his feet move.
"I don't know the answer to your question. When I was a little boy I didn't know why I killed small animals or wet the bed, or started fires. Then I went to college and I read books. I know what I am Spencer. I'm a sociopath. I like what I do to others. I've always wanted to kill and torture humans. I suppose I'm starting with you because I know you. They said in the books that the most famous serial killers in history always start out with someone they know. It's more intimate and satisfying."
The blood in his veins felt like liquid ice. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do. His feet were cemented to the ground and they wouldn't move.
His favorite uncle moved closer. Why hadn't he seen what his uncle was? He should have seen something in eyes that were so like his father's and his own eyes.
Don't think about Dad!
"Don't worry Spencer. You'll become a part of history. You're about to become the first of many that will follow. I'll be like Jack the Ripper. They'll never catch me."
"How can you do this to Dad and Mom?"
"Don't pretend that you care about Bill."
A raindrop fell on his face. It was cold, but not as cold as the eyes of the man who now stood directly in front of him. Another fell on his uncle's face as the lightning lit up the clearing they stood in. For a moment, it looked like a tear, but then his uncle smiled and the spell was broken.
"Come on Spencer… It's time to take your place in history"
His uncle grabbed his arms and pulled him close. Reid lifted a knee and jammed it into his uncle's groin. The man fell with a scream to the floor of the forest and Reid began to run through the trees as the rain fell and the thunder boomed.
---
Reid watched the monitor that Calloway had set up in his room. Austin was walking up and down in her room and crying. Calloway had turned up the sound and he could hear her.
He waited and waited, but no one came to her room to take her away from this place. Did you really think they'd let her go.
No, he didn't think they'd let her go. He smiled through the rage that was building up in his chest. By now, Garcia was tracing the IP address to Lynch. No matter what precautions the computer tech had taken, Garcia would find a way around it now that she had a place to start.
But will they believe it when their trace brings them right back to Quantico?