A/N: Beta read and bunny enhanched by the Gublerific editor frog! Enjoy this chapter, it's my baby..!
Reid felt his eyes give up and fall shut. There was not enough energy left in his body to stay awake another minute. Slumping down on the floor, he rested his head on his arms and as he curled up into a ball. He didn't care if the lights went out, at least he could get some sleep. The darkness seemed less frightening when he was on the verge of passing out. The young man felt himself drift away into a blissful sleep as the motion detectors tripped and blacked out the room. He didn't care. He just wanted to sleep.
The moment Reid had slipped away from reality, a shrill, deafening alarm blared through the confined cell. The young agent jumped up from the floor, holding his ears. The room was still engulfed in a thick blackness, and the alarm was tearing his head into shreds. "Stop! Please! I'm awake! I'm sorry!" The desperation in Reid's voice was obvious as he tried to curl back up on the floor to muffle the ear-splitting noise of the siren. "Please, turn it off!"
--
"Get a trace on that webcam!" Hotch had finally come to his senses after the initial shock had settled. The sight of his youngest subordinate had rattled him to the bone, and he was not about to let the person responsible for this get away.
"I am seven steps ahead of you." Garcia's fingers flew over the keyboard, putting every shred of technical knowledge to use, hoping it would be enough.
Gideon stared at the screen, trying to identify the quote glaring at him. "Can you get a hit on that?" He addressed Garcia, not letting his eyes leave the words.
"Give me three seconds and I'll get you anything you want." Rattle, rattle, rattle.
Emily crossed her arms over her chest. The fury rising inside her was too great for words to describe. "Who would do this to Reid? And why?"
"That's what we have to find out. And quick." Hotch grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number. "Get someone over to Dr. Reid's apartment, he's been abducted. I want the place searched for any signs of forced entrance or a struggle, anything that can be relevant. No, the abductor is still unknown. Thank you." Hanging up, he turned to the rest of his team. "JJ, call Nebraska and cancel our assistance. We have to find Reid."
"When was the last time you saw Reid?" Gideon looked up from the computer screen.
A dime dropped in Morgan's furious mind. "He went home with that woman Friday night, we haven't heard from him since." The moment he spoke the words, he realized that he may very well have practically pushed Reid into the arms of an UnSub. "God damnit!" He slammed his fist into the door, nearly breaking it. The man had never felt more responsible in his entire life.
"Okay, that's the best lead we have. Morgan, go see Anderson and get a sketch of the woman, then get to the bar and ask if she's a regular. We need a name."
Prentiss followed her colleague out the door. "I'll go with you."
Hotch turned to Gideon. "This is personal."
The older agent nodded. "Yes."
"Do you know who it is?"
"I have no idea. But I'll find out." Gideon rushed out of the office, his sights set on his office. The best weapon he had was his mind, and that was exactly what he was going to use.
"I can't get a trace on the cam, Hotch! He changes IP every 15 seconds. He's rerouting me all over the world! This guy is playing with me." The irritation made Garcia's cheeks even redder than they already were. She was determined to bring this one down. No one toys with Penelope Garcia and gets away with it!
"What about the quote?" JJ took a few steps closer to the agents huddled in front of the computer screen.
"Ah, let's see. It's from the Bible, we already knew that. It's from the book of Jeremiah, passage 32:18."
"Well, type that in." Hotch looked at his technical advisor, determination in his eyes.
Garcia typed the answer into the box and hit enter. The screen went blank. The three agents stared intently at the silent darkness. A few moments later, one single word showed up in the middle of the screen.
Correct.
The three finally let their breaths out, thankful for being able to solve the riddle. The screen went blank once again, and a moment later the web camera image showed up again. This time, the young agent was standing up, pressed against the same wall as before. The look on his face was that of terror and disorientation.
It nearly broke Garcia's heart being forced to watch her youngest colleague in such distress. "Is this our reward? We get to see him?"
"It looks that way." Hotch lifted his hands from the table and began walking out the door. "JJ, stay here and help Garcia, let me know the instant something changes. I'm gonna go see if Gideon has something." With that he sprinted towards his older colleague's office.
"God..." JJ sat down beside her female co-worker. "Why is this happening?" She was close to tears, but repressed them the best she could.
"Why would someone do this to Reid?" Garcia wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, smudging her mascara.
"I don't think this person is doing this to Reid. He's not the main object here."
"Then who is?"
"'Their father's sins?' That doesn't refer to Reid; that refers to the fact that he's suffering for someone else's sins."
"Who's?"
"I think I have a pretty good idea."
--
Suddenly, the cell went silent. Moments later, the light was turned back on. Reid panted as he lay on the floor, arms tightly wrapped around his head. Slowly, he released his head to look up. Nothing had changed in his cell, just the fact that he now knew that there was a sound system installed in it. With blurry eyes, he tried to focus his eyes on the ceiling. Where did it come from?
His gaze fell upon several small objects sticking out from the ceiling above him. Placed evenly around flat surface, they looked very unfamiliar. Why hadn't he noticed them before? Perhaps he hadn't been thorough enough searching the room. No... Those weren't there before. What are those? Cameras? Speakers of some sort?
Upon a closer look as he stood up, he came to a startling realization. Sprinklers.
Before he had the chance to continue his analysis of the objects on the ceiling, the familiar noise of the hatch being opened was heard. Reid backed away, his legs weak and shaking from the lack of sleep.
Through the hole came the line with the claw and grasped the basket. As the person holding the line pulled it back up, the young doctor found courage enough to approach the entrance. "Hello?" He peered up into the darkness. "Who are you?" There was no answer. "Why are you doing this to me?"
In total silence, the basket returned to the young agent, landing in front of his feet. As the claw loosened, he leaned over to see up the hatch. "Thank you." He felt it was best to show gratitude for the little he got instead of shouting curses, which in actuality was what he wanted to do.
The hatch slammed shut and the silence returned. Reid crouched beside the basket. This time it contained only two things: a banana and a blanket just slightly thicker than a sheet and half the size. As he lifted the objects from their place, he noticed another note. Reading it, he was relieved by its clear and simple message.
Go to sleep.
This was the first time since he woke up in the cell he had actually felt some form of joy. He was going to get to sleep.
Before going to sleep, he felt the need to drink. As Reid lifted the water bottle to pour the liquid into the ever so precious glass, his arms were too weak from the sleep deprivation, and the bottle slipped from his hands. Panic came over the young doctor as he scrambled to regain his grip on the big plastic bottle, but it hit the floor, spilling a large amount of its contents, both onto the floor and onto the man trying to gain control of it. When he finally got the bottle up in its original position, nearly a third of the water had been spilled and now lingered on the floor.
The young agent was on the verge of crying. Grabbing the towel, he tried to dry up as much of the water as he could and wrung the water out in the almost empty glass. He managed to fill the glass and thirstily gulped the water down. The rest of the water couldn't be saved.
After finishing his drink, he very carefully placed the glass back in the corner of the room. Keep it safe. Keep it safe. He picked the blanket up from the floor and slowly went over to the other corner, as far away from the filthy toilet as possible. Lying down, the young agent pulled the blanket up to his chin and curled back up into his original position. He was so tired he could fall asleep standing up.
Noticing the lights dimming slightly, he closed his eyes and nuzzled his nose down into his upper arm. "Thank you..." he whispered before slipping into a calm, blissful sleep.
--
JJ and Garcia watched as their young colleague struggled with the water bottle.
"Oh, God... Reid..." Garcia was close to tears as she saw the exhausted agent drop the big plastic container and frantically tried to pick up the water with a small towel.
They watched in silence as the young doctor made his way to the corner to lie down, pulling the blanket over him. JJ shook her head as the screen once again went to black. "Jesus." She wiped a tear from her cheek and stood up. "I'm gonna go tell Hotch what happened. I'll be back in a few."
"Yeah. I'll keep trying to trace the source of the webcam." Garcia's fingers once again began working the keyboard as JJ left the room, heading for the one place she knew she's find her superior - Gideon's office.
--
"Come on Reid, let's go!"
"Go where?"
"Just come on!"
"Okay..."
The trees around him were massive and the ground was soft with summer damp grass. A scent of flowers hung in the air. The sky was light blue and the warming rays of the sun softly hit his face. As he walked over the grass, he heard the sound of splashing water ahead. It sounded like someone was swimming. He reached the beach, burying his naked feet in the hot sand. Looking out over the lake, he saw the shape of a woman swimming around.
"Come on in, the water is great!"
Not even hesitating for a bit, he pulled off his shirt and shorts, running straight into the lukewarm lake, diving beneath its surface. As he re-surfaced with a sharp inhale, he shook the water out of his tousled hair like a wet dog. His bangs still hung over his eyes as he felt a pair of warm arms wrapping around him from the back.
"See, I told you it was great!"
"It is."
Turning around, he leaned down and softly adjoined his lips with those of the woman holding him. She tasted like strawberries.
--
"Hotch!" said JJ, arriving at Gideon's office door. "We got another glimpse of Reid. Whoever is holding him there is using an opening in the ceiling to lower things to him in a basket. He got a blanket and he went to sleep."
Hotch nodded and turned back to Gideon. "What were you saying?"
"The quote is from the bible, it symbolizes the sins of the father and how his children suffer for the wrongs he did. Reid's father has been absent since his childhood, it wouldn't be probable that the UnSub is referring to him."
"It's possible he's referring to you. Addressing you. He feels that you are the one who is the sinner; therefore the one person you hold as close as son is suffering for it."
Gideon nodded. "He wants to punish me through the pain of 'my son'."
"But why abduct Reid? Why not abduct your real son?"
Gideon crossed his arms over his chest, drawing a deep breath. "Whoever is doing this is very aware of the relationship between me and Reid, and also knows that I am not nearly as connected with my own son."
"Do you have any idea who is doing this, Gideon?"
"No. Not yet." He held a book in his hand, a book containing the people he could not rescue. He needed to sit down and recollect every single case he had worked on that had gone sour, every victim he had lost, and every UnSub that had crossed his path. This perpetrator was not going to get away with kidnapping Reid. The older agent was determined to find whoever had done this to his friend. "But I will."
The short moment of silence was broken by Hotch's phone which was ringing at an insane volume. He answered by pressing speaker phone. "Hotch."
"Get down here and bring Gideon. We have another riddle."
The three scrambled out the door, returning to Garcia's office.
--
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Smiling, he kissed the woman once again, running his fingers through her wet hair.
--
As they arrived at Garcia's office, the female agent was staring intently at the screen in front of her, still rattling on the keyboard.
"What have we got, Garcia", Hotch said as he reached the desk, followed by the others.
"See for yourselves. It's a link to a video on – can you believe it – YouTube."
"YouTube?" Gideon frowned.
"It's a website where anyone anywhere can upload videos for the world to see. There are thousands of videos on that site." JJ leaned over Garcia to get a better look.
"Can we trace the account?" Hotch looked at his technical advisor.
"I already did. It's located in Sweden owned by a girl with a serious obsession of some actor. It's a hijacked account; someone cracked her password and uploaded the video in her name."
"Are you sure?"
"I looked her up before you arrived. She's a student on the other side of the world, there are no records of her ever being in the US, and on top of that – she failed every single computer science class she's taken. There is no way she knows how to set up a live stream website. Trust me on this - I'm sure."
"Play the video." Gideon nudged JJ to move out of his way as he wanted a better look at the screen.
Garcia pressed the link, and the video began playing.
"What is this?" Hotch looked confused as he watched the simple montage move before his eyes.
"This is your riddle, Gideon. Or at least that's what it says here." Garcia pointed to the caption in the description area of the video.
Gideon watched as the montage came to an end. "We are dealing with someone who is very determined. He has a cause, and these are his means to an end."
"JJ, stay here with Garcia – solve it! Gideon." Hotch looked at his older colleague who was staring blankly in front of him. "Gideon!"
He jerked and looked at his superior.
"Search yourself. Try to find out who could be doing this." Hotch turned to Garcia. "Do you still have a trace on Reid's phone?"
"I have it here. It's moving, getting close to Boise." Garcia frowned. "The route doesn't make sense; it's passing straight over a mountain."
"The GPS has been removed and placed somewhere, probably on an airplane. Keep a lookout for when it comes to a stop, and find out where. We need to search that plane." Sighing, he turned to leave. "We need every bit of concentration on this. Don't lose your focus." With that he left, on his way to meet Morgan and Prentiss as they should have finished with the sketch by now.
Gideon sat down in an empty chair, flipping his book open. He had a lot of work ahead of him.
--
Garcia watched the screen together with JJ. The textbox on the website had returned and so had the timer. This time the limit had been extended to 4 hours. Apparently, this was a riddle harder than the last.
"Why?" JJ shook her head. "Why what?!"
A/N: Do you want to help the team solve the riddle? Look up Riddle Number 2 on YouTube, and see the clue recieved by the BAU. Can you solve it?