Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Criminal Minds. All other characters are fictional.
A/N: Thanks so much for all the great reviews. You guys are very encouraging!
Emily leaned back in her chair and stretched, paperwork finally completed. She tossed her empty coffee cup in the nearby trash can. She had surprised Garcia with her coffee, much to her delight, saying, "A present from JJ. I'm just the messenger." And Reid had gulped his coffee down in about 2 minutes, and went on with his pondering, his mind working all the faster with the caffeine. Emily had just looked at him in amazement and shrugged her shoulders. Apparently no one taught that boy that coffee was to be savored and enjoyed.
She looked down at her watch, surprised to see that it was almost noon. They would be breaking for lunch soon. She suddenly realized it was strange that she had gotten all that work done. She had been expecting to be interrupted for a briefing from JJ. Hmmm, I haven't seen JJ since she got back. I wonder what she's up to. Emily knew JJ had been tired lately. They all had, actually. It wouldn't have surprised her to find JJ resting in her office, still waiting for that phone call.
She jumped out of her chair on her way to JJ's office and she literally ran right into Hotch.
"Oh, excuse me!" Emily said, as she backed away, smoothing her hands down her waist.
"Emily, have you seen JJ?" Hotch asked, as he straightened his own jacket. "I wanted to get that briefing in before lunch."
Hotch eyed the bullpen as he was speaking. Something wasn't quite right, he just couldn't put his finger on it.
"No, sir, I haven't seen her in a couple hours. We went to get coffee together, and then I assumed she was working in her office."
Emily also started looking around the bullpen. "I'll go check in her office."
She didn't hear Hotch mumble, "I already did."
Emily headed for JJ's office and scanned the room when she got there. The first thing she noticed was JJ's coat was missing. Maybe she stepped out again? It's strange that she wouldn't tell us if she was leaving, though. She looked at JJ's desk. It was very neat and orderly, but something was missing. Then Emily noticed she didn't see JJ's coffee. JJ usually sipped away on her coffee all morning. She looked in the trash next to JJ's desk. Nope, that was empty, too. Emily suddenly had a sinking feeling. Did JJ ever come back after going to her car? That was two hours ago!
Her face white, Emily ran into the bullpen. Hotch was standing in the middle of the desks talking to Morgan and Reid. Noticing the gathering, Rossi emerged from his office and made his way down the stairs to join the others.
"Hotch, I don't think JJ ever came back to work after getting her coffee!" Emily said hurriedly.
"What do you mean? I thought you said you went together," Hotch demanded.
"We did… I mean, uh, we went together, but on the way back JJ said she needed to go to her car to get something, so I came back alone. She said she would be right behind me…." Emily's voice trailed off. She had a bad feeling, and she was feeling like this bad feeling was all her fault.
Hotch had his cell phone in hand and dialed JJ's number. It rang a few times, and then went to voicemail.
The look on Hotch's face told Emily everything. This was not at all like JJ, and they all knew it. Emily sat down in her chair, and put her elbow on her desk and her head in her hand.
"Oh, no….oh, no," she murmured.
"Prentiss, we don't know anything yet. Let's go down to her car and see if it's still there," Hotch said, trying to be a comfort.
With that the team made their way to the parking garage. It didn't take long before Reid spotted her car. She always parked in the same well-lit area.
Morgan ran to the car and was the first to reach it. They found the coffee spill and the paper coffee shop cup beside the driver's side door.
Emily reached down and picked up the cup. She read the side boxes and deciphered, "Tall, non-fat, hazelnut latte….that's what JJ ordered this morning! This is her cup."
Emily groaned. What happened here? JJ, where did you go?
Reid kept his cell phone in his hand, continually dialing JJ's phone. Hoping and not hoping he would hear a ring.
They heard Rossi shout, "Over here!" And the team took off in his direction. He was several cars down from JJ's. He was holding up a wallet.
"That's JJ's," Reid and Emily said in unison. They looked at each other grimly.
"Wait…do you guys hear that?" Reid asked. Everyone got silent as they listened intently.
Morgan heard it, too. "Over there," he shouted. He jumped the concrete barrier of the garage and began searching in the bushes. The ringing grew louder as he came up with JJ's cell phone.
The entire team was silent listening to JJ's phone ringing. Reid closed his phone and the ringing stopped. Morgan approached the group with the phone.
"Okay," said Hotch. "We have a situation here. Let's get her phone and wallet to the lab and have them tested for prints. We have a lot of work to do to find out who took JJ, and why."
With that, the team walked quickly back to their office, formulating a plan, any plan, the whole way. No one knew of any threats to JJ. No one knew anyone who was out to get JJ. No one had seen JJ anxious or upset about anything, besides her usual emotion for the job, that is. No one had seen any strange people around JJ. No one knew anything. They were all perplexed. And scared for their girl.
On a plane flying over the Atlantic, JJ awoke vaguely aware of her surroundings. She couldn't see. Not because she was blindfolded or anything, but because she just couldn't physically open her eyes. She knew she was lying on a cushion of some sorts, on her side. Her arms were up against her chest, unbound. She could feel her breath coming back to her. Her face was very close to something, a seatback probably.
She heard men's voices all around her. What did they say? It was odd to her that she couldn't understand them. She chalked it up to her haziness from waking up at first. But it only took a couple minutes for her to comprehend that they were speaking in a foreign language. What was that? Hebrew? Arabic? There were at least 5 different voices, talking and laughing. JJ hoped that the laughing was not at her expense. She sure felt like she was wearing clothes, but she couldn't tell with certainty. Oh yeah, she felt the pressure of her waistband. She had her pants on, at least. She had a small comfort with that knowledge.
She felt the movement. Were they driving? No, it was different than driving. She felt the pressure in her ears. Flying! Where was she going? She began to panic inside as realization after realization hit her. She had been kidnapped. She was being taken somewhere on an airplane. The people who had her didn't speak English. She felt an involuntary shiver run through her body. The shiver caused a strand of hair to fall across her face. She tried to ignore it at first, but her nose itched so bad, she couldn't help herself from trying to move her arm up to brush the hair off.
Her movements gave her away. She felt someone approaching her, felt her arm being jerked from her body, felt an injection in her vein. Everything in her FBI training told her to fight the sleep, stay awake, don't make yourself more vulnerable….but she could not. She was gone before she even had time to struggle.