We Three Kings
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.
Hotch stood at the bar and ordered a drink. He looked around to see if Spencer was down here yet, or if as Haley had said he would still be sitting in his room awaiting a call. But he had tried calling and got no reply.
He pulled his cell out and tried calling again and once again was puzzled when it went to answer-phone.
"He left." The barkeep was talking to him.
"Who left?"
"Your friend. The skinny kid. He left with someone."
Aaron did another quick scan of the bar area. "What do you mean? Who did he leave with?"
"Some guy. Don't look so worried. I am sure they will be back before the hour is up."
Hotch wasn't sure he liked what the barkeep was implying. "Do you know the name of the person left with? You have a description?"
The barkeep picked up a glass and started to wipe it with a cloth. "Sorry, I can't remember."
Hotch pulled out his ID and slapped it on the bar. "Who did he leave with?"
The glass and cloth were put down and the barkeep looked over at Aaron. "Local boy. Otikami. A bit of a hired thug but he left willingly. They had a drink together and left. Otikami brings in extra cash, you know? As an escort."
Hotch leaned across the bar and put his face very close the guy the other side of the bar. "Are you telling me that he left here with a rent boy?"
A nod. "That's exactly what I am telling you. As I say, probably back within the hour."
"How long have they been gone?" The barkeep looked down at his watch.
"Seems a while now. Your boy must be good fun."
…………
Haley sat on the bed and waited for the sitter to arrive. She felt, for once happy and relaxed. At least that creep was out of the way for the holiday season and hopefully out of her life forever.
She thought back to a month or so ago when she stood in the door way of her lounge and watched Reid. She watched her Aaron standing facing the roaring fire and she watched Reid walk up behind him and put his arms around him and kiss the back of his neck, and she didn't see her husband resist or pull away or even look surprised. It made her stomach tie in a knot of anger. She really hoped they were giving Reid what he deserved for trying to take her husband from her.
………….
They had removed his shoes and socks. They had dragged the chair over into a corner, and now the three of them stood and looked at him. They all seemed to be Japanese. They spoke to each other in a language familiar to them but not to Reid.
One of them approached Reid and un-strapped the bonds holding him on the chair. He then released his feet. Spencer let out a yelp of pain as He was hauled to his feet by his hair.
"Stand, and don't move or talk."
He looked down at his feet. He needed to rub life back into them as the pain of standing on feet which had been bound for so long brought tears to his eyes.
"You are moving. Stand still."
He looked up at them. "I I" He didn't manage to finish what he was going to stay as the staff head made contact with his solar plexus and he bent double gasping in pain.
"Otsu, he is moving again. We need to show him how to keep still."
He was pulled forwards still wheezing and trying to catch his breath.
"Boil the water."
Reid was forced down onto his knees. Hands still behind his back.
"You see this?" He was shown two marks on the floor. Reid's big eyes looked up at the man and he nodded slowly. "Good. I will untie your hands and you will put them on those marks on the floor and they will stay there, and you will not move. If you move or say anything then you will experience pain you never thought possible." Spencer stared up at the man unblinking. Give in to them or be hurt beyond all imagination? What would Gideon do? He tried to think quickly what to do. Stay alive. He needed to stay alive. As the pain of the blood returning to his hands hit him he bit on his bottom lip to try to keep the moans behind his teeth. Slowly he brought his painful throbbing hands forwards and placed them on the marks on the floor.
"Good. Remember, don't move. Look at the floor scum. I don't want to see your pathetic face."
This was giving him time to think. He knew what they were trying to do. Obedience – but he could sit like this for while and think and work out what he needed to do.
The three of them were now wearing hakama and gi with padded jackets over the top. The three of them were holding weapons. A knife. A staff. A hammer and thin bamboo slithers and an assortment of metal spikes with large flat heads.
"We need to test him. I think he will move."
Reid kept his head down. He strongly suspected they were now going to start kicking or using the staff on him. Keeping his head down will at least protect his face and there was not much he could to for his exposed neck. What they did do he wasn't expecting. He wasn't prepared for it. They didn't pour it on him, they poured the boiling water on the floor by his hands. He watched the steaming liquid creep slowly towards his hands.
Don't move – don't move.
But natural reflexes took over and as the water reached his fingers he snatched them up out of the way.
Spencer was expecting pain. What he got was laughter.
"Put your hands back down Reid. Put them back where we told you to put them. I see you need to learn obedience. You need to learn to be told what to do, or you will just go straight back to your old slutty ways."
"But I!" Again his words cut off.
"Otsu, did you hear it talk?"
"Yes Otikami San, I did."
"Andanatchi, did you also hear it talk."
"I heard the sound of an animal Otikami San, was that coming from him?"
The leader who seemed to be called Otikami moved forwards and pushed down on the back of Reid's head, "Hands back on the floor now or I break this pretty neck."
Slowly Reid put his hands back down on the wooden floor. The water still felt hot, but no longer boiling. He felt Otikami's hand move down to his neck and tighten. "Andanatchi, when you are ready." He hissed into Spencer's ear. He didn't see what was going to happen until it was too late to try to defend against it. A foot stamped down on his left hand and the spike was hammered through his right hand and into the floor. As he started to scream the foot moved off his hand and a spike was placed on his pale skin.
"Shut up or I do it slowly." Andanatchi whispered but Spencer was unable to keep back the howl of pain. He watched in horror as the other spike was smashed down through the bones in the back of his hand and into to floor boards they were resting on.
"I think he will keep them on the floor now." The voice of Otikami.
Reid could see they grey fuzzy vision creeping in, and as he cried and moaned in agony he saw Andanatchi move around behind him as the hand let go of his neck.
"No – no please don't." Not much more than a painful wail as he felt hands holding onto his ankles. "Please – don't."
He heard the smack of hammer on metal, and he heard the sound of the spike going through flesh and bone and then wood, but his brain refused to accept what they had just done and as the darkness began to creep over his eyes he felt something being put under him to lay across. He wasn't awake when they slammed the spike into the sole of his other foot.
………………..
Hotch felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around smiling expecting it to be Spencer.
"Haley."
"Who were you expecting?" And she flashed him her lovely smile.
