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PANOPLY OF FEAR
Chapter 7
Another Down

The harder you love, the further you fall - ANON

Morgan finished his conversation with the member of the group; a genuine person and wannabe philanthropist. He promised to do everything he could for Morgan's 'brothers'.

He looked around for Reid, but he wasn't talking to Chloe now.

"Excuse me," Morgan said to her. "I am looking for my friend, Dr Reid who I came with. Did you see where he went?"

"Sorry, I didn't notice. He asked where the toilets were." She answered. "Maybe he's there."

"And they would be...?"

"Oh sorry, straight through the doors and on the left."

"Thank you." Morgan smiled, and went to find him. Opening the door to the men's room, he called out to him.

"Hey Kiddo. I've had a..."

He noticed that all the stalls were empty. Reid wasn't there.

"Spencer?" he called. "Where are you?"

He ran out to the car, pulling his phone from his pocket, and removing his gun from his waist band. He dialled Reid's number, but it went straight to voice mail. Spencer wasn't at the car.

What the hell...

He ran back into the hall, waving his ID, and holding his gun in front of him.

"FBI! Nobody move!"

The people in the hall stood still, a couple of them put their hands up.

"I am looking for Dr Reid, the young man I came here with. Did anyone see where he went?"

There were murmurs of "Who?" and "I didn't see."

Morgan stood in the doorway and called for back up. Something was going down and he had no idea what. With his back to the wall, and his gun ready, he cleared each of the rooms in the church hall. Spencer wasn't there. As he came out of the last room, he heard a car revving outside. He ran out, and the car – an old Chevy, was just driving around from the back of the building towards the car park. He stood in front of the car and took up a firing stance.

"Stop! FBI!"

There was one person in the car. When it looked like it wasn't going to stop, he fired at the window between the two front seats. The car swerved, but didn't slow, and he rolled out of the way.

He got up and ran to his car, and took up pursuit. Once again he was glad that he had parked for a quick get away. He didn't know at the time it would be for a pursuit.

He called Garcia for satellite surveillance. It was going to take a while to find him, but he knew Garcia would do her best, especially when he told her that he thought Reid was in the car.

As he drove after the Chevy, he really did hope that Reid was in it. Otherwise, he had just driven away from the unsecured crime scene.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was poked through the mesh to waken him. He slowly turned his head to the side – the only part of him that he could move. He opened his eyes and looked at his attacker.

"They will find me..." he said. "They..."

"...won't find you! Sorry, but they have got their hands full with an Ebola outbreak at a school. They won't be thinking about you." He leered at his broken and injured captive. "A friend of yours is on his way to see you. You had better tidy yourself up."

"You... evil... bastards!" Hotch blinked his sore swollen eyes. He was completely immobilised – he had muscle damage caused by the seizures. He had blood on his face and on his lips where he had bitten his tongue. His arms were bent behind him at an unnatural angle. He tried to keep his back arched to relieve the pressure on his shoulders but he couldn't keep it up. He was dirty, blood smeared and in pain. He lowered his head again.

"If you don't let me out I will... die very soon... can't ... breathe..." he gasped, desperately fighting for breath. He had a choice – breathe or feel the pain in his arms and shoulders. His legs were rigid and cramped. He didn't think he would be able to stand even if they released him. Escape was not an option. Staying alive was the only thing he had left. The IV had made him feel very sick. Suddenly, without warning, he threw up.

He had no room to move and the twisting of his stomach sent shockwaves through his body. He coughed and gagged and his eyes flowed with tears of pain.

"Please..." he gasped between violent agonised retching. "Don't leave me... like this..."

He laughed and walked away.

-0-0-0-

Morgan was good at following cars, but the UnSub in the car was obviously a pro. After managing to keep up over several miles, the car vanished. Morgan called Garcia.

"Baby, please tell me you have him!"

"Oh Derek! I am so sorry. There wasn't enough time. The satellite had to be realigned. There just wasn't time."

Morgan thought she was going to cry. "It's ok, Baby Girl. I have the licence." He gave her the number, and he turned the car and drove back. Hopefully this would find their two missing agents.

-0-0-0-

"Get out!"

Reid was curled up in the boot of the car. He could hear the voice from far away; it semed to filter through several layers before it hit his subconscious.

"If you want to see your boss, GET OUT NOW!"

Reid slowly sat up. He raised his hand to his head and felt sticky warm blood in his hair. A hand reached into the boot of the car and pulled him out by his shirt. He saw that his own gun was trained on his forehead. He staggered slightly as he tried to stand. His head was spinning and he held the sides of his head to try and prevent his brain from bouncing around in his skull.

"Move." Fair said. "If you want to see your friend alive."

Reid didn't need to be told twice. Still clutching at his aching head, he walked in front of Fair towards a single storey clinic. It was overgrown, the car park cracked and broken. He was led through the main doors into a dusty empty corridor. He waked in front of Fair to the end. On the way past, Fair knocked on a door, and two women and a kid came out and walked behind Fair and Reid.

The last door on the right was reinforced with a heavy padlock. The kid unlocked it and Reid was pushed through into a lab.

"What's going on here?" he asked. He saw the monkey in the end cage and said, "Is that Maureen?"

"I really thought you'd be more interested in Hotchner." Fair said, and pushed Reid around the bench so that the could see the captive in the adjoining cage.

"Oh god..." Spencer breathed, not sure if what his brain was telling him could be true. "Aaron!"

Spencer ran forward to the cage."Open this! Now!"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that!" A new voice. Reid turned. It was the man who had joined them in the corridor. He was older than the other three. \He was wearing a dirty lab coat and he was about fifty. He turned to Fair and said, "Tie him up. He may as well watch the experiment."

Reid was on his knees trying to reach into the cage. Hotch had his head forward and was breathing raggedly. He had blood around his mouth and on his cheek. He was kneeling in dirt and vomit and blood, which was dripping steadily from his back. He slowly and jerkily turned his head towards Reid. Hotch's hair was dirty and stuck across his face. Hr opened his red swollen eyes a fraction.

"Spence?"

"Yes Hotch. Hold on..." He was pulled away, and made to sit leaning on a pillar. His arms were pulled back and tied behind it. Reid could see straight into Aaron's prison.

"Keep awake, Hotch, keep sp..." A vicious back hander across his face stopped his words, and he spat blood on the floor.

"You can't expect me to sit here and not speak to him!" Reid said angrily. Why can't you just free him? Whatever you are doing to him, do to me. I'm younger and fitter. You will get better results."

"Don't worry." The older man said. "We might use you anyway. Depends how this one dies."

While Reid watched helplessly, the IV bags were removed from the stand. And two new ones attached to the tubes entering Aaron's arms.

"What is that?" Spencer asked. "What are you giving him?"

The single word answer made Reid stare in horror.

"Ebola."

The four kidnappers left the lab, but this time, the light was left on. As soon as the door closed, Hotch started to groan and cry. Reid could see his body shake, but Aaron didn't have the strength to arch his back to relieve his shoulders, neither could he turn his head. He was suspended by his arms, and held immobilised.

"Hotch. Hotch, please, speak. Say something." Reid begged him. "You are strong. You can get through this." Reid pulled at the ties holding him, but all he managed to do was cut his wrist.

"Giving me... Ebola... don't come near..." The effort was exhausting. He lowered his head and closed his dark painful eyes.

"Aaron! No, wake up."

"C-cant...stay... awake, Sp-pencer." Aaron gasped, took a shuddering breath. "Feel so ill..."

"Please, oh please, Aaron! Stay awake. How can I face Emily after this if I let you die right in front of me? Now stay awake!"

Hotch turned his face to Reid. "Emily?" he whispered.

"Some profiler you are, Hotch!" Reid said. "She loves you. She was on her way to tell you when you were abducted."

"Emily?...Loves me?... No Spencer. It's you... she loves" Again, Aaron relaxed and dropped down his head. Reid could see sweat glistening on his skin. The poor man was in agony. Reid's heart was breaking. He had just destroyed any chance for himself with Hotch.

...Reid loses by default...

And seeing the man he loved in so much pain, and yet refusing to give in to it, was tearing him apart.

-0-0-0-

"The school is locked down." Emily said. "Medics are allowed in, no one is allowed out."

"Fortunately that only becomes our problem when the source is located. Have there been any more victims?" Dave said. "I have asked Penelope to see if there was any connection between the dead child and her family with Edward Fair. If the Hot Zone isn't the school, we need to go through all the child's movements in the day before she was taken ill."

The phone on the desk rang, and Emily answered it. It was Garcia with some news.

"Three things only." She said. "But I think two are good things! The licence plate on the car is registered to a Kay Fair, the sister in law to Edward Fair. Edward's sister Chloe helps out in an underprivileged kids club, and Tisha Breno the dead child used to go there. Am I brilliant, or am I brilliant?"

"You're brilliant, Pen!" Emily said, "What's the other thing?"

"Oh yes. There's no GPS on Reid's cell. It's been turned off I believe."

Emily put down the phone. She told Dave what they had found out.

"Quite a family do!" Dave said. "You and Morgan get round to the Fair house and see what you can find. Remember, we have no warrant, although I don't think we'll have too much trouble getting one. I'll go and check out the kids' club."

The team, now badly depleted, worked through the night again, taking turns to have a nap in the car. Emily went through the motions of work in a daze. She began on that day to get a feel of how Haley must have felt every time the phone rang in the middle of the night and called the man she loved off into danger. She understood how she felt, but she would never ever understand what she did.

Emily would fight until her last breath to get Aaron Hotchner home again. Haley gave up too easily, and threw away something very special.

Emily would hang on until the bitter end.