As From Discretion Comes Isolation
Chapter 14
A/N - Sorry for the wait, I was waiting for perfection from my beta reader! Last three chapters will be uploaded over the next few days and that's a promise. Time for the final showdown, hope you're still enjoying it!
Slowly Leo put the phone down in his office and walked back through to the conference room. He had just received a phone call from Aaron Hotchner and although Emily was well and improving, the situation was grave indeed.
Nikki looked up in anticipation as her friend entered the room, "what is it? Is it Emily?" she asked hurriedly, getting to her feet.
He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, "Emily's fine and they've worked out who has been committing these terrible crimes but he's kidnapped James and possibly Bella"
Nikki's eyes widened in shock and she clasped hold of Jack's hand who sat beside her.
"How?" Jack asked, his brow furrowing in worry, "they did everything to hide themselves!" anger began to course through his body as he remembered the several occasions over the past year when he and Nikki had accompanied Emily and James on nights out. They were one of the few people that had known about them and, being in the medical profession, Nikki had deduced she was pregnant, despite desperately trying to cover it up.
Leo shook his head solemnly, "I don't know, I've rung Harrison and informed him. They had reason to believe that he was in a warehouse outside of town because Penelope tracked his phone at the hospital."
"Who's Bella?" Morgan asked from the other end of the room where he stood with his arms folded across his chest. Reid and Rossi also looked at the Lyell Centre team as the same question had crossed their minds, who was this unknown person that their kidnapping caused so much worry?
Nikki looked at Jack and then to Leo, none of them wanted to be the ones to tell her friends about her secret daughter but they had to know in order to help save them. Leo coughed slightly and looked between each of the profilers, "Bella is her three month old daughter" Morgan frowned at him while Reid's mouth fell open with shock and Rossi remained neutral, "you have to understand the danger that Emily felt she was in, she feared her emails and phone calls were being intercepted so that's why she couldn't tell anyone. We only knew because being in the medical profession we could tell immediately. If you're angry, be angry later but right now we need to save her family"
Rossi nodded and stood up, "It is time to end this."
As fast as was legally possibly Hotch sped towards the location, the sky had darkened since leaving the hospital and rain was beating down on the windscreen. Neither agent said a word during the journey, they were still processing all that Emily had revealed to them. J.J. tapped her finger anxiously against the car door while she looked out of the window into the blackness, it wasn't just another victim they were saving, it was Emily's family. Hotch gave her a sideways glance before fixating his eyes back on the road. They were still five minutes away according to the Sat Nav so he hoped the others were already there. He was constantly having to remind himself that the team were only there to consult on behalf of Emily and really they had no true authority in this foreign country, but this was their friend and if they hurt their friend then it was personal.
He quickly swung right into an almost empty car park, with only several cars occupying it, most with the familiar blue and red glare of police lights illuminating the darkness. Once they had parked the agents met up with the rest of their team as they heard the plan of action.
"He has contacted us" DCI Harrison explained, "he texted me on James' phone, he only wants the BAU members, the pathologists and Jack in there"
Hotch nodded, he had been running Peter Sutton's most likely plan through his head, it was obvious what he wanted to achieve and they were about to play right into it, "he's planned something, this was always his end game, to have everyone that means anything to Emily in there with him"
Morgan took a step towards the warehouse, "what are we waiting for? This son of a bitch has caused enough fear and heartache for too many people, especially Emily. This ends now."
Hotch shook his head, "no Morgan, it is most likely a trap, you know that"
Jack stood beside Morgan, "and every second we're out here doing nothing he could be killing James or Bella. Morgan's right, we're finishing this"
Nikki stared bewildered at the pair, "no Jack! This is madness!"
"I am really sorry Hotch but you have no authority over me. I am going to save my friend's family just as we hunted down Foyet after he took Haley or Diane when she took Maeve. It's time to help Emily, we were almost too late last time, we are not going to be today" Morgan said turning to walk towards the warehouse.
Reid looked at his friend, his words ringing in his ears, "I'm coming too Morgan" he said quietly going to meet him. Derek clapped him on the back and nodded at him, thanking him for the support.
Rossi sighed and looked at them, "Aaron, he's right. If we're going to do this, we'll do it together as a family"
The group looked at Hotch waiting for his call, slowly he nodded "ok, we'll go in"
Nikki looked up at Jack and then Leo, "we're coming too"
D.I. Harrison stared at them, "it's your decision Leo, take this earpiece so we can stay in contact, we are calling in backup so the first sign of danger we'll move in"
Apprehensively, the five American federal agents, the two English pathologists and the Irish forensic scientist walked towards the door of the entrance to the warehouse. Hotch held his hand up to stop them before opening the door slowly. The warehouse was large with a staircase to the left leading up to a second floor. The centre of the empty space showed the setting from the photo on Emily's phone, included an unconscious James still tied to the chair. In the back corner of the room, Hotch eyed a backdoor, he turned back and tilted his head to Morgan to give him the signal to go around back, Derek gave Jack a small shove to encourage him to go with him.
Slowly, they crept into the room heading straight for James.
"Well well well, it took you long enough!" a voice boomed as a man dressed in black strode down the stairs tapping a gun against his leg.
None of them moved. They kept their eyes focused on Peter Sutton as he waltzed past them smirking until he stopped behind James.
"I had developed the opinion that you were smart, how wrong I was?" he eyed the group, "we appear to be missing three of our friends, where is dearest Jack, Derek and Penelope? No matter. A slight blip in the overall plan, I've got the majority of you"
"How do you see this ending Peter?" Rossi finally asked in his usual confident persona just as he had talked down many serial killers and psychopaths in the past though this time he was without the protection of his gun, they all were, they were at a disadvantage, defenceless and vulnerable.
He placed the gun closer to James' head, "David Rossi! You're not keeping to script, just because you're an award winning author doesn't mean you are entitled to a rewrite. Aren't you curious at why I've done all this? Of course Penelope would have done a background check but they don't give us the whole story, do they?"
Rossi shrugged and folded his arms acting as if he didn't have a care in the world, "enlighten us then Peter"
He placed his large hands on the back of the chair in which James was slumped, "Emily will have told you about how she was the reason my brother was imprisoned and ultimately the reason he killed himself. When he was arrested I did whatever I could to help him but this led to me neglecting my job and I was fired, I tried to get other jobs but no one would employ me, no matter how much I tried to get my life back together I couldn't. So then my brother died and my Mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and having nothing left I thought I'd take up an old hobby. Oh did I not mention that I helped young George with Alison Martin; that was his first murder by the way. Then after killing a few, what do you call them? Oh yes, high risk victims, but who should I see on the news but the woman I had loathed for eight years and she was back in London. From then on my plan fell into place perfectly, making her paranoid, cutting herself off from everyone and putting her in a helpless position in that hospital bed. Oh she tried to hide but she didn't expect me to have the IT experience that I do, particularly in hacking lines of communication. It was all a matter of time until I would step up my plan and when I saw her precious BAU family was coming to the city well I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Now this is the final piece of the puzzle, it is a shame that dear Emily isn't here to bear witness to all her family dying."
During his speech Peter had been completely oblivious to the two men creeping through the backdoor. His lips were twisted in a smirk as he revelled in the retelling of his story, enjoying how much pain he had caused Emily. As he poised the gun at the back of James' head the strong arms of Jack locked around his neck. Peter reached his left arm up to try and release his grip but finally Jack's recreational fighting was working to his advantage. In an act of desperation he pointed his right arm downwards and pulled the trigger, firing a bullet into Jack's leg.
"Jack!" cried Nikki as she started to run towards him but Leo lunged forward and grabbed her arm. With the help of J.J. he held her back, both holding an arm as she struggled against them, trying to reach her wounded colleague. Jack released his grip around Peter's neck and clutched his leg as a plethora of inappropriate words spewed from his mouth.
Peter could not regain his strength before Morgan had tackled him to the ground sending the gun skidding across the floor. Now the danger had been lifted, Leo called in the police who quickly burst through the door accompanied by the doctors from the ambulance ready to help James and Jack. Nikki shrugged her arm free and sprinted forward, dropping to her knees beside him. She helped him sit up as he had been knocked off his feet during Morgan's tackle and pressed her hand to his wound.
Peter fought as the handcuffs were placed on his wrists and he was read his rights by DCI Harrison who was glad to have finally caught the serial killer they had been hunting for so long. Peter gave a grunt of pain as Harrison twisted the cuffs tightly.
As Sutton's words played over in Morgan's mind the realisation hit him and he ran over to Hotch, "Sutton said 'watch all her family die', Hotch I think he's got a bomb here, he's got nothing to live for, he doesn't care if he goes up, he wants us dead so Emily will suffer"
Knowing Morgan's previous expertise with such matters Hotch put his faith in him, "we need to get everyone out now"
"You'll never find the baby!" Peter screamed as he was dragged out of the door.
Morgan ran a hand over his head as with all the drama he had forgotten about Emily's missing daughter. Frantically he headed for the stairs and looked over at his Unit Chief, "no Morgan, it's too dangerous, we don't even know if she's here"
"I've got to be sure! Get everyone out!" he shouted already at the staircase.
On the second floor there were two rooms, one which was an office space with some filing cabinets and a desk, the second was bare and empty. Fiercely he threw out the drawers of the desk and cabinets until he found the bomb, it had two minutes until countdown. He looked around desperately, there was no sign of the baby, what was he going to do?
Suddenly, his phone began ringing in his pocket breaking the eerie silence.
One minute thirty seconds.
He answered it quickly, "really not the time Garcia"
"I've got her, I've got Bella she's safe, whatever you're doing get out of there now!" Penelope cried down the phone.
Derek's heart began beating faster, one last look at the bomb, forty seconds. Still grasping hold of the phone he sprinted down the stairs in the now empty warehouse below and towards the exit. In the upstairs room the small red numbers moved to 00:00 and began blinking rapidly as the high pitched beeping rang out clear as a last second warning.
The sound of the explosion was all too familiar to Garcia as she held the phone desperately to her ear while cradling little Bella. She swallowed as tears formed in her eyes, "Derek?" she whispered choking on her words, desperate to hear the voice of her best friend.
"Derek!?"