AN: Back. For a bit. Maybe. This was orginally a one shot but its evolved. Please enjoy. This is the "old" team. Morgan, Hotch, Reid, Garcia, JJ, Rossi, Emily.
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You count your breaths, watch as they nearly freeze as the warm air leaves your lungs and enters the freezing air around you. It is well below zero outside, the snow is coming down in sheets and the wind is roaring. It is just as the meteorologists had forecasted, one hell of a nasty blizzard.
And you and your team are stuck outside in it, guns aimed at your latest UNSUB.
The biting cold does not seem to phase him at all, he is standing in front of you all, mocking you, with hardly a coat on. He is laughing as the wind picks up again, sending tiny bits of snow into every corner it can find.
He is in the throws of his control, his power. And as much as you hate to admit it right now, he has a lot of it. A lot of power and a lot of control.
Because all of you, the team, "him" and the local police are standing outside in a damn blizzard in far northern Michigan. On a bridge that is just ten feet above an icy river.
And he has a hostage. He has positioned himself and his hostage so that if anyone shoots at him, his hands, being the only thing supporting her, will be pulled away and she will fall backwards into that icy trap.
There is no safe angle right now, no safe shot.
The dive teams are already out, ready.
And the storm, if possible, is growing in intensity. The choppers are no longer in the air and the road is getting more dangerous by the moment.
But your concern is not for any of that. Your concern is for the hostage. Not just a hostage.
It's JJ.
It's your agent, your team, your missing agent that has just now been located. But you cannot add "safe" onto that. Not yet. Not while she is still in the hands of this… monster.
And she has been for the last two months.
You can see, even from feet away, the trauma that has been done to her body. She is battered and bruised and you can see the odd angle her shoulder is at. But she cannot see you, or hear you.
He has her completely immobilized. A blindfold, a gag, her hands bound tightly together by what looks like an entire roll of duct tape. He has her on her knees but you have confirmation that even her ankles are bound by the same tape.
He is all that is holding her up, the only thing that stands between her and that lake. You are not even sure if she is conscious right now. Her head hangs down when he changes his grip on her hair.
And she is completely nude. She has nothing on. Not a shred of clothing to cover an inch of skin. She isn't shivering anymore and that scares you even more. Her body is giving in to the cold. The cold and the trauma and God knows what else he put her through.
Except you do know. You know exactly what he did to her, because he has been ranting and raving and bragging about it since this began two months ago.
It just took two damn months to find her and he is going into graphic details about what occurred.
"Hotch" you hear Morgan say in your earpiece, "we have a trauma surgeon here that's with SWAT. She is ready to get to JJ as soon as we can get a shot."
"Has she seen JJ?" You respond back, not taking your eyes off your agent.
"Yes." There is a brief pause. "She doesn't think JJ has much longer."
You nod, that was obvious. "Where are the dive teams?"
"We are under the bridge, six of us. Ready in case something happens."
And you all know what that something is. Because that something is going to have to come quickly.
"Luis," you speak loudly, interrupting the man's tirade. "You have to let Agent Jareau go. This is over." You steady your breathing, ready to take the shot if needed.
"This?" You watch as he kicks JJ hard in the back, she doubles over and as he reaches to pull her back up again by the hair, the blindfold slips. Her blue eyes are distant, not focused. Her face is bruised and one of her eyes is swollen shut. "This is nowhere near over. I'm willing to consider a deal though, agent."
You chuckle inwardly but encourage him to keep talking. "And what is that?"
"I am not done having fun with her, not just yet. So here is my offer. You let me go, with her of course, I will get her for a few more days. When I am done, I will call you and you can come get her."
"Her body, you mean." You respond coldly.
"Not necessarily, she has been a good girl, I do like her fight." Your stomach knots as he kisses JJ on the top of her head. "I am only offering this out of a need for self preservation, you'll understand, right Agent Hotchner?" His grin sickens you, this man is not suffering from any type of mental illness, he is doing it simply for pleasure. "So, you let me… us… go and I give my word that she will come back to you, alive."
You inwardly grimace, "and what if we do not?" You hear yourself asking dreading his response.
"Well…" he suddenly pulls JJ up to her feet and you see how truly battered her body is, how weak she truly is. You can see her ribs jutting from her skin, you can see more bruises and burns. Her knees start to give out but Luis grabs her and holds her up as he presses the gun closer to her head. "I have two options here, and what is more fun is that I know she will not survive either one. What do you think Agent Hotchner? Should I toss her in the icy river while your dive team tries to get to her?" And then he does something that makes you want to vomit, he kicks down at JJ's ankles and you see a twenty pound weight tied to them. If she goes into the river, she sinks. Fast. "Or, make it easy on her and shoot her?" He bends down and whispers something in JJ's ear. You have no idea what he has told her and are not sure you want to know.
"Agent Hotchner," your earpiece crackles to life again. "Dr. Langston is worried we have reached the critical point of Agent Jareau's hypothermia. She has stated that Agent Jareau can enter cardiac arrest at any time."
You nod. You have to make a decision. "Where are the paramedics?" You speak into the earpiece.
"About half a mile away, they are ready to move when needed." The voice responds.
You take in a deep breath "does anyone have a shot?" You ask, hoping someone will speak up.
"SWAT has a possibility. However, it's risky but it is all we have."
"Take it." You say without hesitation, knowing you do not have time to think on the consequences.
And in a second, you hear the loud crack. You watch as Luis releases his grip on JJ and as he stumbles forward, he looks up at you and grins. As he falls down, you watch in horror as he kicks backwards and without any support, without anyone to block her, JJ falls back into the icy river.