When the Levee Breaks
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
Galileo Galilei
Warning: This chapter contains events unsuitable for the weak-minded. In fact, a few of the coming chapters probably will as well. You have been warned.
THIRTEEN
Morgan found himself waking in a hospital bed, a tired, pregnant blonde at his side.
'Hey,' she said, noticing the flickering of his eyes. 'You just got out of surgery.'
'Where's Emily?' was the first thing he said, tongue fighting the effects of the general anaesthetic he had been administered. He sat up dizzily, and fell back almost instantaneously.
'You need to rest.' JJ put a hand on his shoulder, but even her reassurance could not hide the fear in her eyes.
'JJ, tell me what's going on.' His dark eyes mirrored her blue ones.
'We think the unsub's got her,' she said, eventually. When Reid had been kidnapped, Morgan had responded with frustration, anger almost. Now, JJ could only see pain, and she had no idea why. When he didn't say anything, she continued.
'Hotch called Reid. He and Garcia are on their way up.'
'I thought he was off until next week,' Morgan said.
'Practically speaking, we're four agents down.' She patted her belly unconsciously. 'We need everyone we can get.
'I-I need to get out of this bed.' He attempted to get up again, and his attempt was less successful than the previous.
'I called your mother,' JJ said, in an attempt to calm him down. 'I told her you would call as soon as you got out of surgery.'
He nodded. 'Did you...' His voice strangled, unable to get the words out. JJ put an arm on his uninjured shoulder.
'I tried to get through, but it takes a few hours, and that's if you are on official business.' She saw the downcast look on his face, and added, 'don't worry, we'll find her.' She put on a brave face, and grasped his unbandaged hand.
'Yeah,' he said, 'but at what cost?'
The video of Steven Carmichael's torture was significantly shorter than the others had been. They had assumed that the shorter period of death was due to escalation, but they were soon proved wrong.
On screen, the unsub choked Carmichael into unconsciousness, and revived him, several times over. The fourth time, he didn't wake up. The unsub made no sound, but was evident that he was agitated at the unexpected occurrence. The footage ended there, not showing further reactions from him.
'He doesn't want us to see him out of control,' concluded Rossi.
'But he did want us to see Carmichael's death. To show us that even if the death was accidental, he holds all the cards.'
Both men went to great lengths to keep their voices level.
'We need to get a list of everyone she's talked to in the past two days. Victims, witnesses. Everyone.'
Until Reid got here, Hotch and Rossi effectively were the team. They were taking on the duties of six people, and if they couldn't take it, one of their agents would pay the price.
Rossi nodded. 'You check out her hotel room. Anything in there that might help explain why.'
Neither man got up to move.
'She spoke to you this morning, didn't she?' Hotch said, but it wasn't a question so much as a statement of fact.
'How much do you know?'
'I've pieced together a bit, but I'd rather hear the whole story.'
Rossi hesitated. She had spoken to him in confidence, but telling Hotch was important.
As Rossi told him, Hotch tried to keep his face expressionless, but it was not an easy task.
Sleep deprivation was an experience she was fairly familiar with. Usually it was self-inflicted; staying up late to finish paperwork, or to solve a case. That kind you only noticed when you stopped working and realised that you hadn't slept in over twenty-four hours. Sleep deprivation as torture was different. Every waking second, there was nothing to focus on but your surroundings, and the thoughts in your head.
She tried to focus beyond the pain. The pain, the suffering – that belonged to someone else. Someone that was strapped to a dentist's chair in another place, another time. The music blasted into her ears, light bright in her eyes. She felt the cold against her skin. Muscles, bones and pain receptors screamed in agony.
She closed her eyes, and fought desperately to be somewhere else.
A/N: Nothing much to report here. I got my Season 3 DVDs, so I've been watching them all afternoon. Reid and Garcia next chapter, most likely. Cheers, tfm.