Disclaimer: see my profile

A/n Hey all, here's the next chapter. Thanks for all your kind reviews and the suggestions some of you have made about this story. Let's see what will happen to Reid next, shall we?

"Hey Baby-Girl… Did you find anything yet?"

"NO!"

"Whoa, I'm just asking Garcia."

She pulled off her glasses and rubbed at her burning eyes. "I'm sorry Derek… I'm just so frustrated. This guy's bouncing the signal I'm tracking all around the entire planet. It's like tracking Randall Gardner and Tobias Henkel together. It's like something I would do."

"Then approach the problem like you're chasing you."

"That doesn't make any sense."

He leaned back against her desk with his arms folded over his chest. "Yes it does… What would you do if you were trying to send something by email to someone and you didn't want it tracked back to you?"

"Well I could use this little honey of program I've been working on. You see you have to mask the signal and then -"

He reached over and put a hand over her mouth. "I don't need the details. Just think about it. You're big into the hacking world. I'm sure you know someone out there that could help you, or someone that might be involved. He's paying someone to help. We know he's not alone in this."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Reid's apartment was wiped clean. It was practically emptied out without anyone noticing. That takes some serious skills and more than one person."

"Oh…"

"Yeah, the fact that the CSIs didn't find anything for us to work with is very disturbing."

"It's also very smart."

"That's true mama."

He watched her tap her pen on the desk. Her other hand was continuously running through her hair, pulling at the pink streaked curls that fell down her back.

"Penelope!"

"Yeah."

"Talk to me!"

"I'm scared!"

"Why?"

"Because something isn't right."

"What's wrong?" He crouched down beside her and put a hand on her arm. "You can tell me anything mama."

"Did you know that when someone hacks into a system, they have their own unique way of working their way in? You can tell by the way they write code, who they are. It's almost like a fingerprint. When I dropped out of Caltech and went underground, I met some of the most amazing hackers in the world."

She was looking at him, but her eyes were far away as though memories that hurt, and that held happiness, were overwhelming her at the same time.

"I eventually got my act together and rejoined the world. It was about that time that the FBI came knocking, literally."

He felt a grin spreading over his face. What I wouldn't give to have been a fly on that wall!

"The upshot was that they offered me a job. I guess they wanted to keep an eye on me."

"I'm glad they did."

"It was hard at first. They expected me to track other hackers."

"I'll bet that didn't go over well with your friends."

"No, but I realized that some of my friends were doing damage, rather than just hacking in out of curiosity, or seeing how far they could go before they got the same visit that I did. I didn't like what they were doing and so I helped the FBI."

"So you're telling me you recognize who's putting roadblocks in your way."

"Yeah, I think I do."

He squeezed her hand tightly. "Can you tell me?"

"No… I have to be sure. Please just let me do more checking. When I'm sure, you'll be the first to know."

"Are you sure?"

"I have to be careful Morgan. I'm not deliberately shutting you out. I want to be sure before we proceed."

"Okay baby-girl." He got up and turned for the door.

Garcia grabbed his hand to stop him. He turned around, "Thank you for being my friend."

"Penelope, what's wrong?"

"I'm okay… Can you ask everyone to stay away for a couple of hours?"

"Sure."

He left and she began to cry.

---

Morgan was shutting Garcia's door behind him and wondering why she looked like someone was ripping her heart out, when a voice said, "Hello Agent Morgan."

It was Lynch, standing there holding two cups of coffee and smiling at Morgan like he knew a joke the older man hadn't heard, but wouldn't get if he did.

"Lynch… She's busy right now."

"I know, I just thought I'd bring her a cup of coffee."

"I said she's busy. I know Hotch told you not to bother her when she's busy so back off."

Kevin's eyes narrowed at Morgan. "I'm just going to give her the coffee and then I'll be on my way."

"I'll give it to her." He held out his hand. "That way, you can get back to looking for Reid. You are supposed to be helping Calloway to find him, aren't you?"

"Of course, I have my system working on it right now. There's not a lot to go on so maybe you should tell your boss that -"

"Don't say it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't say that finding Reid may be impossible with what you have to go on."

Something flickered down in Lynch's eyes that Morgan saw before they went blank again. Kevin smiled, but it didn't touch the rest of his face or his eyes. "I'm not saying that… I'm just saying that it's going to take some time to unravel."

"Please just leave Garcia alone for awhile."

"I'll go away if I hear it from her."

"She told me to keep everyone away from her office." Morgan was in Lynch's face now, invading the man's personal space. "That means me, and you, and anyone else I see hanging around out here. Is that clear!"

"Yeah… no problem."

He watched Lynch head off down the hallway. There was something not right about Lynch and this little confrontation had confirmed it.

--

Reid woke up to pain in his head, both knees, and his shoulder. There was pressure on his ribs, but not from the injuries. Someone was lying on his chest. He tried to move and stretch, but the person clung to him like a life raft.

He'd slept without nightmares since Austin had been forced into his room. He'd intended to slip out of bed and sleep on the couch after she fell asleep, but he'd fallen asleep waiting for her to relax. So the discomfort he'd hoped to avoid by sleeping on the couch gripped him like handcuffs around his wrists.

She was soft, and warm, and she smelled so good. His body was beginning to respond to her closeness now that his conscious mind was awake. The same intimacy of contact that had driven away his dreams was now forcing needs to the surface he'd thought buried beneath his desire to get out of this predicament alive.

Austin twisted and whimpered in her sleep. One of her hands moved and came to rest on the elastic band of the boxers he wore. The other hand cupped his neck, her fingernails scraping over the flesh till she relaxed and went still.

Calloway couldn't have come up with a worse torture if he'd thought about it for years. The Dilaudid was nothing compared to what his body was going to make him do if he didn't get away from her now.

Sliding out from under her was hard in many ways, but he made it without waking her up. He left the light out as he was familiar with the set up of the rooms. A very cold shower was the first order of business and then it was time to formulate another escape plan.

---

Austin woke up to pitch black darkness, her heart pounding hard at the unfamiliar feel of the place. Where was she? What had happened? She turned over on her back and closed her eyes.

Take a deep breath.

It was just so dark! Okay, let's find the light. She sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. She reached out, waving her hands around till they encountered something in her path. Exploring the smooth metal netted her a lamp. She switched it on and blinked in the light. She was alone! Why was she alone? Where was Spencer?

The door to the bathroom suddenly opened and he walk out in a cloud of steam with jeans, bare feet, and a tee shirt. He looked so much different from the last time she saw him, but also very sexy too.

"Oh, hello… I didn't wake you did I."

"No, I just woke up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"You're limping."

"A little, but I feel much better then I did last night."

She got up off the bed and went over to him. She was kissing him hard on the mouth before he could say anything. He responded eagerly, so she opened the buttons on his jeans when he pushed her down on the bed.

"Wait," he pulled back from her, took off his tee shirt and laid over her. "Can't do this," He whispered.

"What…" She stopped trying to take off his jeans.

"Kiss my neck!"

"But…"

"Just do it."

She kissed him and he struggled to keep his brain from turning to mush while he began whispering in her ear. She nodded and he clambered off her. She got up grabbed him and kissed him hungrily. They stumbled to the bathroom. His jeans were on the ground when he opened the door and pushed her inside. The door slammed behind them, cutting them off from prying eyes.

---

Garcia left her office and almost ran down the hall to Hotch's door. Then she stopped and stared at it till Morgan came up from the bullpen and put his hands on her shoulders. She jumped and gave out a little squeaking scream that had him more freaked out than anything else he'd been able to learn since they'd returned from Vermont.

"Whoa baby-girl… What's wrong?"

"Can you get Hotch? I need to talk to you all in the conference room."

Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. "Penelope…"

"Please just get everyone in there." She turned on her zebra stripped heels and fled from him.

Five minutes later everyone was in the room. "Garcia... Have you found something?"

"I know who's been road blocking me."