Photo Opportunity
!!I support the 2007 WGA STRIKE!!
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine.
She lay in the half dark and smoke of the fire exit doors and held her son closely to her. She needed this to all be a dream. She needed the pain in her back and sides to go away so she could get up and escape from this burning building. Jack had stopped the screaming now and was making scared little noises. This worried Haley even more. She had to get up and keep moving. She must get out of this place before it was too late. Keeping Jack held tightly she sat up and looked down the red lit stairs she needed to be going. Just keep going down – keep going down – the fire crews must be on there way is not here already. Everything was going to be fine. She looked back up the way she had come from and could see an orange glow. Carefully and slowly she began her journey down the stairs.
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He walked slowly out of the building. There was no reason to stay. He didn't want to watch them taking him away in a body bag. He couldn't have that as a final image. Flanders caught a cab and went silently back to his huge empty house and his huge empty life. He didn't go into the display room where he would normally have gone to relax. He didn't think he would be relaxing in there for a while. Maybe he did need to talk to someone about what happened, but the more he remembered and thought the stranger and more impossible it all seemed. They would mock him. They certainly wouldn't believe him, so for now he would keep his bit of information tucked carefully away in the back of his mind. He supposed it would come out and play with him in his sleep. Something he intended to try to do now. He walked slowly up the sweeping stair case in the gloom of his big old house and into the gigantic room he slept in. The maid had been in and tidied up his room, but he didn't know if anything had been touched downstairs yet. Presumably the CSU had made a mess in there.
He manoeuvred to his bed via the drinks cabinet and pulled out a bottle, a pack of something to smoke and an ashtray. He then pulled out a drawer and opened up a concealed section at the back. He still had his needles and all he would need to get that feeling back again and a couple of twists of white powder in clear cellophane. He ran his fingers over it all then slammed the drawer shut. Grabbing up the house phone he walked to the huge four poster bed and fell back on it. Alone again. Always alone.
His fingers played lightly over the buttons on the phone. He knew Spencer's cell number. He had called it so many times and then hung up, just to hear that 'Hello?' from the other end. He dialled the number and put the phone to his ear.
Straight to answer-phone. Some pre- recorded voice. Not even Spence. He threw the phone across the room and watched the bits fall to the floor in the shadows. He looked down at the smokes and ash tray and back over to the drawer he had slammed shut. Rolling off the bed he returned to his secret stash and pulled out a twist of cellophane, a mirror and a razor blade and returned to his bed.
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Hotch stood looking up at the blazing building. A hard face concealing the pain and panic. Somewhere in there was his wife and son. He stood helplessly unable to help. He flinched as a hand touched his shoulder, and turned to look. It was Morgan and Reid, but it was Morgan standing close and Reid keeping back looking up at the flames with his mouth slightly open. Hotch looked at him for a while and wondered what this all had to do with Reid, and if this actually did have something to do with him and his creepy friend. He looked at Morgan and frowned.
"Haley and Jack are in there." He said quietly. The hand on his arm got tighter.
"They will find her. The explosion was on the floor above hers. The agents are there with her. She is probably already out." Morgan turned to Reid. "Reid, stay here with Hotch, I am going to see if I can find out any information." Reid gave a small nod but carried on looking at the flames.
"Aaron" – Reid's quiet voice next to him now. "What is going on? I want you to tell me what was so bad about the body at your house. I need to try to work out what is going on."
"Not now Reid."
"Aaron – these cases are all linked, I need to know how."
"Reid, I said not now."
"I can start trying to figure this out. I feel helpless standing here." His hands were twisting as he looked up at the flames. "The six bodies we were alerted to first –"
"Not now Reid." And Hotch walked off leaving him standing there. Had he said something wrong again? He was about to wrap his arms around himself but something made him think of his cell phone in his pocket. He pulled it out and noticed it was still turned off. He pressed the on button and looked down the list of missed calls. The last one was from Floyd's home phone. Reid punched in the number.
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The phone down in the main hallway rang, as did the phone in the display room and the office. The phone on the breakfast room wall also rang. However the phone laying smashed in the shadows of Flanders bedroom remained silent. Not that he would have heard it in the condition he now found himself, head tipped back and dribbling slightly his eyes stared up at a million visions from hell.
………….
Haley could see someone running towards her. At last help. The rescue worker grabbed the child from her arms and lifted her over his shoulders and quickly went the way he had come. She could hear Jack's screams as they finally broke out of the fire escape exit into the light of emergency vehicles.
………….
Reid waited for the line to cut him off before he gave up on Flanders answering. He must be out of the house and he didn't have his cell phone so there was no way to get hold of him now. He looked up at Aaron's back slowly walking away and jogged to keep up with him. "Hotch – one minute." But he wasn't listening he was looking at Morgan running back towards them.
"It's OK Hotch, they have Haley and Jack, checking them over at the ambulances." He grabbed Hotch by the arm and guided him back over to where the EMT's were working. Reid remained where he was. Haley really wouldn't be in the mood to see him now. Slowly he walked back to the SUV's and JJ contacted Morgan.
"Hey JJ what's going on?"
"The hospital they were treating Reid's friend in. There has been an accident. Please tell me Reid is there with you."
Morgan glanced around but couldn't see Reid.
"He was five minutes ago, JJ what's happened?"
"Another staged murder. The elevator. Another Reid look-alike. The message is for you. Written in blood on the wall of the car." She read off the message, and Morgan felt sick.
"JJ Reid told me that, when he freaked out in the elevator. I need to go and find him." He flipped his phone shut and looked around for Reid again.
……………
Hotch took his son into his arms and had never felt such relief in his life. How could he have risked this for Reid? He looked over at Haley who was pulling a letter out of her pocket.
"Aaron, Reid was there. I saw him. He had this letter. It has my name on it, but I don't want to open it." Her face was sooty and she had tear tracks down her face. With shaking hands she handed the letter over.
Hotch shook his head. "Reid has been with me – the team all the time Haley, it couldn't have been him." He opened up the envelope and read the message.
'The false lapwynge full of trecherye.' Was all it said. Hotch looked confused and glanced over this shoulder for Reid. He might know what it meant – or what it referred to.
Hotch turned to Morgan. "Where is Reid?" A sudden flash of panic.
…………….
Flanders stood at his big bay window in his stupidly too big house full of old and valuable junk. He could see people moving around in his back yard. The effects of the narcotics still running through his brain as the people seemed to morph into something demonic dragged from his dreams. He placed his palms on the glass and leaned his forehead against it. He could see something going on in his pool, but couldn't get his brain to work out what it was. Then it was over and the things moved back and left something floating in his pool. He started to hammer on the glass and shout.
"Hey you get out of my pool you sons of bitches!" But they just floated in small circles spreading a red glow from the under-lighting. "Hey." He said a bit softer now. "That's my pool you are messing up."
And the hammering started on his door as the glass cracked under his hands and something howled its way through the house. Flanders turned to see what it was. Something coming up the stair, thumping and crashing. He could hear his precious art work smashing to the floor and watched the door to his overly large bedroom smash open. He wondered for a second what the hell had been in the stuff he had sniffed up his nose as his back was forced against the glass of the big bay and he and the window exploded outwards and down to the patio below.
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Reid pulled up outside Flanders home. The lights were out but his silver SUV was sitting in spot he always parked it. He had a huge garage but still parked his car outside. The man had odd habits. Reid stepped out of the car he had borrowed and walked up to Floyds front door. Laying on the doorstep was an envelope
'Dr Spencer Reid'
It said in big bold writing.
He pulled the flap open on the back and tipped out the contents. A small pile of photographs. Polaroids of himself in a pool – fully dressed. There was only one place they could have come from, and that photographer had the film taken from him, and was definitely not using a Polaroid camera. There was a message written on a bit of pink paper.
'That camera should have been a gun.'
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!!I support the 2007 WGA STRIKE!!