Perfection Chapter 11: The Chase is On, a criminal minds fanfic

Perfection

Chapter Eleven: The Chase is On

By Ann Parker (None)

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Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing, which you think you cannot do."

"So do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" asked Morgan. Gideon, the warden, and himself were interrogating Frank Johnson.

"I don't know what you're talking about Agent Morgan," Johnson replied innocently.

"You let your buddy Levine escape from this prison so he could kill one of our agents. You know exactly what I'm talking about," snapped Morgan. Gideon placed a hand on his shoulder before taking seat directly in front of Johnson.

"You're an accessory to two counts of murder, don't make this worse for yourself. Tell us where he's hiding and maybe, just maybe, the DA will take the death penalty off the table," offered Gideon.

"You've got nothing on me," spat Johnson, fear starting to settle into his voice.

"We've got your fingerprints on the maps you gave Levine. And when we catch him, and we will with or without your help, don't think that he won't give you up in a heartbeat. His loyalties are to only himself and he'll have no problem getting you locked up next to him," countered Gideon, lying slightly. They didn't have fingerprints, at least not yet, but he could tell Johnson was stupid enough to believe him.

"You really think I'll get the death penalty?" he asked, now clearly afraid. Morgan tossed photos of the victims in front of him.

"What do you think?" he glared back. Johnson sighed and they knew they had him.

Back at the sheriff's office…

"Good work, guys. We'll meet you there," Hotch closed his phone. "Morgan and Gideon got a location. Johnson's family owns an old cabin in mountains in this area," he pointed to a spot on the map and everyone took note. "Let's move."

It took them about a forty-five minute drive before they reached a small road a few hundred years from the cabin. The sun was just starting to rise. Morgan and Gideon pulled up right as the rest were putting on their vests as a precaution.

"I don't know if you should go out there," Gideon commented to Sarah.

"Why?" she demanded. If he was going to try and pull her off the case at this particular moment, she was going to make him actually give her a reason.

"Because it's not safe," he stated. She could see the rest of the men of the team had the same look on their faces.

"It's not any safer for me to stay here alone in the SUV," she countered. Reid opened his mouth to protest, but she raised her hand and stopped him. "Listen to me. I know what you guys are thinking; none of you are hard to read. But you need to realize that I'm not Elle. Although what she went though was horrific, it is not the same as my attack and neither is the situation we are in right now." She let that sink in before continuing. "Now, are you going to help me capture an escaped convict or not? I'd like to get this over with, I've got better things to do." She waved her left hand in front of them. Reid smiled slightly at that gesture.

"Okay, you're right. But you are under no circumstances to be alone, you hear me?" replied Gideon. She nodded. "Let's go catch him." The group split up with Morgan, Reid and Sarah going together. The team, along with the sheriff and his deputies, made their way to surround cabin.

Hotch and Gideon reached the front door. "FBI. It's over Levine, time to go back home," yelled Gideon. No response. "Kick it in." Hotch nodded, kicking down the door. They swarmed the two-room cabin, but found nothing.

"He's not in the cabin," Hotch radioed Morgan.

"Copy that." The three continued navigating the wooden landscape when Sarah saw a shadow move off in the distance.

"There," she whispered and began to run after him.

"Sarah, wait!" Reid tried to yell after her. Even with her muscle damage on her side, she was incredibly fast and could handle the terrain better than the two men since she grew up around it. "Damn it!" They lost sight of her for a few moments.

Sarah was hot on her stepfather's trail and wasn't about to stop. She realized she had probably lost the others, but right now she didn't care. All she cared about was catching the man that ruined her life. And now that she had started to put one back together, he was trying to do it again, and he was going to pay.

"Freeze!" she yelled, her gun pointed at his back. He was only about 10 feet from her. She knew had slowed down on purpose and she falling into the trap he thought he had set. He truly underestimated her.

"Ah, nice to see you again, Sarah," his deep, dark voice chuckled as he turned around. He had his knife in his hand.

"I said freeze, Samuel. Don't think I won't shoot you," she snapped. He started to step towards her, twirling the knife in his hand, closing the distance between them. The same grin that was on his face when he stood over her those years ago was plastered on his face. She knew he was trying to psych her out – to make her think back to that time when she was powerless. But she wasn't this time.

"Take one more step and I'll shoot." He snorted and lunged at her, managing to cut across her vest by her stomach. He found the spot of the vest that didn't have the metal plating and as a result she could feel that he had managed to just break the skin underneath. She stumbled back for a moment and he lunged again, this time cutting across her right forearm.

"I think she went up here," stated Reid. Morgan nodded and they made their way around a few trees, almost to Sarah's location.

A gunshot rang out.

Reid's heart sank.