A/N: Guys, I was reading over my past chapters when I realised I had made a few errors. I don't actually say where Gideon is when JJ walks into the BAU in chapter 3, but he is away on a personal matter. When I said Hotch had gone to meet Prentiss and Rossi, I meant Morgan instead of Rossi. Oh and I warn you, this chapter contains a bit of torture and gets kinda sad. But time to get on with it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

When JJ walked into the precinct the next morning, her eyes immediately began searching for Reid. Hotch was already there, poring over a piece of paper with handwriting on it. "Spencer in yet?" she asked him.

Hotch shook his head. "He left late last night; he found this on his SUV when he went out to it and stayed back to analyse it."

"Is it from our UnSub?"

Hotch nodded. "He was angry that we said he only targeted women."

"So he doesn't?"

"Reid doesn't think he does, according to the analysis he left for us," Hotch replied, indicating another piece of paper filled with Reid's handwriting.

As JJ and Hotch bent over the piece of paper, both Prentiss and Morgan walked into the precinct. Seeing their fellow agents bent over the table, Prentiss and Morgan immediately walked over to them.

"Something new?" Prentiss asked.

Hotch handed Morgan and Prentiss the UnSub's note, as well as Reid's analysis. "Reid found the note on his SUV."

Morgan read the UnSub's note, and then looked around the precinct. "Where is Reid?" he asked.

"He stayed late last night," said Hotch. "I'd imagine he slept in."

"That isn't like Reid though," Morgan pointed out. "He is never late, never takes time off. I don't even know that he has a life outside this job."

"I'll try calling him," said Prentiss, pulling out her cell phone. She pressed the speed dial button for Reid's phone. "It rang out."

"That's weird," said JJ. "Spence would normally turn his mobile off and use his home phone when he's asleep."

"Unless he's in the bathroom or something…" Morgan mused, but the rest of the team knew he didn't believe himself.

"JJ, call Garcia," Hotch said. "See if she can track Reid's phone."

JJ nodded, and pulled out her phone with shaking hands. "Garcia," she whispered, her voice unsteady.

"Jayje," said Garcia. "What's wrong?"

"We- we need you to track Spence's cell phone," JJ said.

"Reid's phone? But- but why?"

"He hasn't shown up this morning, and his phone is ringing out," JJ replied. "It's not like him."

Garcia began typing, setting up the trace on Reid's phone. "It's still at his apartment building," she said, slightly stunned.

"We're going over there," said Hotch, jumping out of his seat and running out of the precinct. JJ, Morgan and Prentiss followed.

The team piled into two SUVs: Hotch and Morgan in one, Prentiss and JJ in the other. With sirens and lights blazing, they drove full speed for Reid's apartment building. They jumped out of the cars and ran into the carport, guns in hand. JJ didn't want to admit it to himself, but she was afraid of what she might find.

The first thing the team saw was Reid's SUV, parked in its usual spot. It was off and it had been locked, so Reid had definitely come this far.

"Morgan, Prentiss, go up to Reid's apartment and look through it, see if you can find anything," Hotch said. The two agents nodded and ran into the elevator, guns still drawn.

"I'm gonna call him again," said JJ, pulling out her cell with her free hand.

The sound of a ringing phone filled the carport as soon as JJ pressed the call button. JJ moved towards it, Hotch not far behind her. What JJ saw made her heart stop. Reid's cell was lying on the floor next to the stairwell. So was his FBI badge.

Hotch pulled out his own cell. "Morgan, Prentiss, get back down here, and call a CSU team."

Morgan and Prentiss arrived back down in the elevator, but stopped dead when they saw what was in JJ's now gloved hand.

"Oh, god, is that-" said Prentiss, unable to finish her sentence.

"Reid's badge, and his phone," Hotch replied.

"So that means…"

"Someone's taken him," said Hotch.

"Hang on a sec, Hotch," said Prentiss. "The note saying the UnSub doesn't only attack women. The fact that it was found on Reid's SUV. And now he's been kidnapped? It's not a coincidence."

"You mean…" JJ whispered.

Prentiss nodded. "Yes. The UnSub took Reid."

The missing FBI agent in question, meanwhile, had finally woken up. The pain in his head was still overwhelming, and it took him a while to remember what had happened. When he did, however, panic filled him. The UnSub, the sadistic one who tortured and killed his victims, had kidnapped him. Reid tried to sit up, but found that both his arms and legs were chained down, and he was lying on some sort of metal surface. He heard a door close above him, and realised the UnSub was coming.

When the UnSub walked into the room, Reid turned his head to get a good look at him. He was in his thirties, well built, but wearing ragged clothes and with unkempt facial hair. He looked angry. And he had a knife in his hand.

Reid began to panic even more, but he knew he couldn't show any fear. If he gave the UnSub what he wanted, Reid had no doubt that he would die. Instead, he just looked at the man.

"You brought this upon yourself," the man hissed, as he brought the knife closer to Reid's leg.

Reid didn't know what to say. What he had said before he was kidnapped had just angered the UnSub. "At least tell me what I did," Reid whispered.

"No," said the UnSub. "I don't have time for that!" The UnSub brought his knife down, cutting through Reid's pants and making a deep incision in his leg. Reid winced in pain, but managed not to cry out. The UnSub smirked and brought down the knife again, cutting further up Reid's leg. "We've gotta save the other leg for the burning," he laughed, as Reid gave in and gave a little whimper. "Aw, is the poor FBI agent in pain?" The UnSub put the knife down, and picked up a needle loaded with something. Having read the case file, Reid knew instantly what it was.

"No, please don't…" he murmured, trying in vain to pull away from the man.

All he did was laugh. "But it will help with the pain." Before Reid could speak again, the UnSub plunged the needle into his arm and pushed down on it, injecting the Dilaudid into his system.

Reid felt his eyes roll back into his head as the drugs began to take affect. Sure enough, the drugs did begin to lessen the pain in both his leg and his head, but Reid also felt it weaken his mental system and his resistance to the UnSub, something he did not want. The last thing Reid saw was the UnSub laughing manically before he once again fell into unconsciousness.

The rest of the BAU was now back at the FBI headquarters, in their own meeting room. With one of their own kidnapped, it had become a federal case. Hotch had called Garcia as soon as they had confirmed the kidnapping, and she was now sitting at the table with them. The photos of the victims and their bodies were still on the board. Reid's picture had now joined them. None of the team was talking. They were all still in shock.

Hotch was the first one to break the silence. "Okay," he said, and the rest of the team looked up at him. "I know we are all extremely worried about Reid. But we have to get back on this case. We have to figure out how Reid is connected to the other victims. He didn't just take Reid for no reason. There is a connection."

"But what?" said JJ, pulling herself out of her thoughts. "Shaila Cain was beaten by her mother. Spencer's mother may be schizophrenic, but she never hit him. She loves him, and I know Spence loves her too."

"So it can't be the abuse," said Hotch. "But it definitely has something to do with the mothers. I would send one of you to Vegas, but there isn't enough time, especially if Reid's mother isn't lucid."

"I could call her hospital," Morgan suggested. "Talk to his mother's doctor, see if he knows anything or if Mrs Reid would be willing or able to talk to us. She knows me; she's heard my voice before. That might be enough to get her talking."

Hotch nodded, before turning to Garcia. "Good. Garcia, I need you to look into Reid's past for me. I need you to find something, anything that would make the UnSub target him."

"With all due respect sir, I don't feel comfortable digging into victim's lives at the best of times. And now it's Reid, I- I don't know if I can," Garcia protested.

"You don't have to dig too far," Hotch promised. "You just need to find something to do with Reid's mother, something that would make the UnSub target him." Garcia nodded. "JJ, you go with her. Morgan, Prentiss, I want you to go back to Reid's apartment, see if you can find anything else there."

The agents all nodded and headed off, fear for their fellow agent fresh in their minds.

JJ followed Garcia to her 'lair' and dropped into a chair, holding her head in her hands. She could barely hold herself together, but she couldn't afford to fall apart. She had to stay strong for Spencer, so she could help find him and save his life. She couldn't consider the possibility that, with the UnSub's accelerating timeline, Spencer may already be dead. It just wasn't possible.

"Okay," said Garcia, as she sat with her hands hovering over the keyboards. "What am I looking for?"

"See if you can find any connection at all between the victims' mothers," JJ suggested. "Any sort of crossover at all."

Garcia typed. "Besides the fact that all of the victims live here in Virginia, nothing," she replied. "Unless it's a more obscure connection, but even then I'm gonna need a little more than that."

"We know it's not the mother's beating their children, and we know it's not the fact that the mother's have been to prison…" JJ thought it over for a second. As far as she knew, Shaila Cain's mother was still in prison, and she knew that Spencer's mother was in the Bennington Sanitarium. "Can you look up the first three victims' mothers, see where they are now?"

Garcia nodded and began furiously typing again. "Monica Rymer's mother is in rehab for extreme alcohol abuse. Caroline Myers mother is in a nursing home, and Denise Richard's mother is living with Denise's sister… after living with Denise for several years."

After hearing this information, something began nagging at JJ. There was something there, she was sure of it. The connection, however, was right on the edge of her mind and she just couldn't put two and two together.

As JJ sat in thought, Hotch burst into the room. The two women looked up, but were rendered speechless at the look on his face. It was a look of shock, like he couldn't process what he had just heard.

"What's going on?" Garcia asked, half getting out of her chair.

"They've found another body," Hotch replied. "They haven't been able to make a positive ID yet. The police want us to go down to the dumpsite and look."

"There's something you aren't saying," said JJ.

"The description they gave… Caucasian male, mid-to-late 20's, tall and thin, long brown hair… it matches Reid's description."

JJ clutched at her chest, the tears rolling from her eyes thick and fast now. The feeling that filled her body, the utter grief and torment, brought a memory back to JJ. Her night at the bar with Spencer… she remembered what she said. She remembered her exact words: "I love you, Spencer Reid. And not as a friend; not like a brother. I love you." And as soon as she remembered, the emotions filling her told her that these words hadn't been drunken ramblings: they had been true. And now it could be too late.