Chapter 4

The Dark

I was distracted.

That is my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Just a quick bite…as I had previously emptied my stomach contents onto the bedroom floor…didn't take long…I didn't think…

…………………and with this problem with Spencer going on in my head…and I'm still not sure what is wrong there…well I got distracted.

Now – is not the time….to go losing my brains. Now is the time to attempt to talk my way out of this shit….but there are rather a lot of them…and they are all shouting at me and two of them are throwing up into the somewhat Sparse undergrowth and there are – let me count –

………………..six big guns….and I mean big…not hand guns these…big mothers and they are pointed in the general direction of my brain…..the one I keep in my skull.

The two officers I had dealt with previously are sort of dead. Sort of very dead…Irretrievably dead in many ways…and I have a nice taste of pig in my mouth but I don't think these blokes with the big guns and the vomit are going to listen to me.

"On your face….hands behind your head." Someone is shouting at me….but ….no….I don't think I want to do that….So I wipe the mess off my face and look over at the bloke – probably the one in charge and he is holding a side arm.

"Officer." I am going to attempt to be polite. "I think you have misunderstood the situation." I think they really might have.

"On your face now….hands behind your head?" And I can hear the Mexican wave of guns being cocked and now I am getting annoyed.

"What the fuck is your problem?" I ask…still staying polite…I can do it.

"My problem is punk, that you are not doing what you're being told to do and you have murdered two cops."

I don't like being called a punk. What I have done here I have done with a sort of peaceful decorum. They really do not understand. I start to stand and catch the waggle of gun barrels out of the corner of my eye.

"Look…I am in a hurry. My friend is in some sort of panic…and I need to go and sort it out. So if you don't mind pointing those things at someone else…." And I wipe the muck off my fingers onto my jeans legs. "I'll be off. Nice meeting you guys. A shame you didn't turn up earlier…we could have done lunch."

I take a step towards my bike and they are shouting at me again…..

"Don't move!"

but I am on my feet….still not on my face in the dirt and so I think I might be able to do this….shit…what a bloody day I'm having…thought I was going to have fun with Ardal and now this crappola.

When I take my next step I hear the crack of a gun firing…and I feel my leg give way under me and suddenly I am on my knees in the sodding dirt with a hole in the back of my knee…and the front of my knee…the bastard shot me….

"For fuck's sake…what did you shoot me for?" They are clearly insane….

And they are now next to me and the cold of the gun barrels are pressed against the side of my face and the small of my back and this shit just isn't happening!

"Hands behind your back NOW!" and I don't move so they grab my arms and they are pulling them behind my back and they use fucking flexicuffs on me and I can't get out of these bitches.

One of the sonsofbitches cracks me around the side of the head with the butt of his gun….I turn and look at him… "What the fuck is your problem?!" And the butt of the gun smashes against my teeth and if I wasn't falling back into the sodding earth I would have ripped the bastard apart, but they are just standing there now and I am on my back with my hands behind my back and I think they might have pissed me off just a tad.

"You need to let me go or you will really fucking regret what you are doing."

And I get a boot between the legs for that…They seem a bit surprised that I'm not screaming and crying, but I don't wanna give then the satisfaction that they are fucking well hurting me…the bastards. I need to get up and talk my way out of this but I don't think that they are listening to me.

…………………..I am taking deep breaths and trying to rip my hands out of these cuff things but it's not working too well. "You really need to listen to me." I try….but this just results in.

"Just shut the fuck up!" and someone else's gun makes contact with me….my ribs this time…and I just lay there and look at them…I'm sure…very sure…I know…that if I do something they consider a threat I will have more than one of those bullets ripping into my skull.

"I need to ch………………"

but I don't even get to finish what I'm saying this time as something hits me in the face again….

"Just for fucks sake! Listen to me!"

"One more word and I will take your head off."

And that makes me think…cos I don't think growing a complete new head is something I will find too easy to do.

"I need………………"

But yeah…..the guns are pressing against me…so for now I shut up…but I know ….I just know that Spencer needs me and these fucks are probably going to get him killed.

"You fuckers." I snarl….and everything sort of goes dark for a while.

-o-o-o-

The place is so dark that even the light from outside doesn't seem to make a dent in this. The fact that my glasses are in bits on the hall table doesn't help…I take a deep breath and put my hand out to touch the edge of the building. I have no idea what is in here. I can't see! It's as though I've been blind folded…and I have no idea how I am going to find a weapon of any description in this place.

Whoever this person is…he knows us. He knows me anyway and that isn't a good feeling. He has one over on me already. I try to think who it could be. Who knows the team and why they would be picking me out of the lot – or was that just because I wasn't as injured as the rest of them. Another step and my hand is still against the wall…but my shoulder where the bullet entered in the left side is seizing up and I can hardly move that arm now. I clench my fist and blink in the darkness and look back behind me at the blessed light…and at my fallen friends…and colleagues laying in the blazing sun…and as I do the door moves and slams with a shuddering crack…

Quickly I move back to it but I can hear someone is outside and I can hear locks being moved across. Oh god no…please no….the UnSub is out there and I am stuck in here and now there is no light at all.

"Hey!" and I bang on the door.

But I get no answer….nothing….just a weird black silence.

I put my forehead against the door and stand for a while in my wet clothes and try to think. Think Spencer...think…you need to find the gun…the guy said there was a pistol in here and so slowly I turn and look out into the nothing in front of me. Somewhere out there is the thing which is going to save the team's life. I can do this…I have to do this. There are no options. Again I put my hand against the wall and I take a step around the edge of the room. The floor below my feet is hard…and the building is of some hard prefabricated material. Another step.

They are bleeding to death out there and I am creeping around the edge of the room squishing in my trainers and my hair dripping and only one arm I can use and I feel useless. They will all die and it will be because of me. Because I am scared of the dark.

…………..this darkness though….this is different. I take another step……..why is just walking so difficult? Why am I shaking like this. I am a trained FBI agent. I stop and take breaths again. Pull yourself together Reid…the team needs you. Hotch needs you. Prentiss….Emily she needs you too.

And the thought of all that blood and the way it was smelling in the hot sun makes my stomach heave and I am leaning forwards throwing up in the darkness on to my trainers which will now stink of river and sweat and vomit.

Once the horrible twisting and cramping has finished in my insides…there wasn't much to bring up…I had missed breakfast….and my thoughts are dragged back to look at the bedroom again…once I have stopped being sick…I step onwards and then kick my footware off…I can walk easier without that smell and sound reaching me a and reminding me with every step. Another step now and still I am moving with my one good hand along the wall of the room…and my other at my side. I stop….and I grab my left hand in my right and clenching my teeth through the pain I pull my hand up and slide it in the gap on my shirt between the buttons. It feels a big better for that. The weight of my arm isn't pulling on the wound and yes…that feels a bit better…I should bind it in some way. It has started to bleed again, but I am thinking I am lucky…and I think of the mess I have left behind out side.

Another step forward and my hand is reaching a corner. I stand and think about this. There shouldn't be a corner yet….the room is bigger than this from the outside…therefore it must be divided up inside and it's a good thought….maybe there is light in one of the other rooms….maybe that is where I will find the pistol.

I feel a bit more confident now and though my hand is still against the wall my step is a bit longer. I need to find the pistol…and I need to do it before…before it is too late. I turn and look at the crack of light where the door is and sigh. At least….at least it's not hot in here. Some kind of air conditioning is keeping the room cool.

A door. I can feel a door in the wall…and my blind fingers reach out for a handle. It's the kind you push down. I do what Hotch does and I place the finger tips of my right hand on the door. I think It's to make sure it's not hot…or there are no vibrations behind it. There doesn't seem to be anything strange about it and so I move my hand to the handle and gently push it down…

I am holding my breath and I don't really know why. I suck in my bottom lip and bite down on it as I push the door open.

It squeaks slightly.

But that is all I remember about the room and the door.

The blast takes me in the chest and I can feel my feet being lifted off the floor and I am flying backwards and a strange noise is being ripped from my throat…sort of like a scream and a howl of pain and shock.

As my back smacks to the floor and my eyes are squeezed closed defensively I feel something digging into my back…and I feel a dreadful pain in my arm and in my chest and I think maybe that the explosion has made my arm start to bleed again and I lay there moving my good hand up to where my arm hurts and I can feel a bit of metal stuck in there. Carefully still with my eyes shut but with tears of pain now I feel around my arm and realise that it's been pinned to my chest now.

I take a deep breath. I need to get up and get moving…I need to get out of here. I was stupid…how can someone be that stupid? They are all going to die because I didn't figure out that would happen…how damned stupid….

"You are meant to be a genius Spencer." I mutter to myself…

And then I hear shouting and gun fire. I have to get up and I have to save them.

"Stop it!" I shout…and it hurts so much…and I have a taste of blood in my mouth now. "I'm here still. Just stop it."

As I move carefully trying not to dislodge the thing in my arm and chest I realise I am laying in shards of glass which has been set into the concrete floor.

-o-o-o-

I told him to get out.

I told him to go and get help…but he came back again.

At first I was cross. He was our only chance, but I would have done the same thing.

I can just about see him as he walks past. His clothes are drenched and stuck to him and the blood is dripping down his arm again but he's not looking defeated by it. He is holding his head up. A few times he pauses and the sniper fires rounds into the dirt at his feet….and the first few times he jumps…but then he carries on. He has been given instructions on what to do…I need to take his place and tell him to just get the hell out of here but I can hardly move…and now I feel I need to stay with the rest of the team. I need to keep everyone alive and if the guy is watching Reid then is my chance to move here. The round to my leg wasn't too bad. It just caught the side of my calf. Again it is almost purposeful. Whoever this was picked Reid out and has kept me conscious. I suspect Reid is trying to figure out who is doing this and I hope that the drinks he had last night are not going to effect his thinking. He really didn't look right today. Something happened and I need to get to the bottom of it….but right now…I have the chance to help my men. I watch as he moves through the darkened doorway and I know how difficult that has to be for him. Quickly I am moving….I put my hand out and grab Derek.

"Morgan. Wake up…Stay with us."

I can see the slight ragged rise and fall of his chest but he doesn't move. That's ok….At least he is unlikely to burn in the sun and he wont be in pain. I have to get to the others….

"Dave…." I say as I drag myself slowly forwards…. Dave!" but if he answers I don't now…the noise from where Reid just entered has made me quickly turn. Someone has closed the door and is standing there looking at me.

He doesn't say anything…he turns back and pushes bolts across the door.

He's locked Reid in the dark…and my heart pounds for him. I know how much he is effected by the dark.

………………………oh god no…..I can hear his panicked hammers on the door and faintly his voice…but it is ignored by the guy with baseball bat as he puts his back to the door and starts to walk towards us.

"Having fun Hotchner?" He asks me. His eyes don't even wander to the others…he is fixed on me. "It's going to get so much better as the good Doctor fumbles around in the dark. Get up."

……then walks away from me and stands next to Prentiss with the bat swinging behind his head.

"I said get up before I smash her head in."

…………………..I am still trying to keep my hand on the wound in my side but I think it has stopped bleeding now. My head he thumping from the sun and the smack I got from the paintball pellet and from blood loss and the general situation. I am on my feet but everything is swaying…or I am and forcing my eyes to focus is almost impossible.

"Grab Morgan and drag him over here." The guy has a strange accent which I can't quite finger. I don't know if he is disguising his voice or if my head is just too confused to work it out. I take too small steps towards Derek and look down at him. I don't even know if he is still alive. He hasn't moved. Dragging him will cause more harm to his though and I am loath to do that.

"What do you want with us?" I ask him as I bend carefully and take Derek's still warm hands in mine.

"Nothing. I want nothing from you except for you to do as you are told. It's your little friend I am playing with. Hurry – we are running out of time here."

………………….I don't know what Spencer could have done to make this man do this to us, but carefully and trying not to make my side bleed again I pull Morgan out of the sun and into the shadows at the side of the building Emily had been running for.

………………….Then it happens………An explosion from the building Spencer is in…..I hear his scream….and then I hear cries of pain and I look at the guy with the bat who is holding a pistol in his hand and he is grinning.

I start to move towards where Spencer is but as he was manoeuvred by the bullets in the ground I am kept in place by the round which just entered Emily's other leg….She cries out and tries to crawl away…

"Don't move Hotchner. Don't spoil my game now."

…… "What do you want!?" And my fury and pain and worry are so great that I can see dark spots of panic appearing before my eyes….my team…my brilliant team…taken down…and why? I just need to know why?

And I lean forwards and bring up my cornflakes into the dust as I hear Spencer's voice crying out and I can do nothing to help him.

He should have followed orders.

He should have got away when he could.

-o-o-o-

When I wake up I'm held down by more bleeding plastic crap.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?"

And something hard hits me in the solar plex and I tell the owner of the baton to go have fun with it somewhere….and for that….everything goes dark again.