I just finished watching this thing on ABC about how the makeup of our brains can determine how we behave… They interviewed this guy who I just saw last night while watching a Criminal Minds rerun (5x08, and it was the guy from the conference we saw Reid attending at the beginning of the episode). It was pretty cool, very informative.

Again, I own nothing!

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You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. ~ James Anthony Froude

Hotch glanced around at the pileup of traffic for the seemingly hundredth time. The SUV that he and Prentiss were in had hardly moved an inch since the power had gone out due to the congestion on the freeway, and it annoyed the two agents to no end.

He glanced at Prentiss, who was trying to get a reach on Rossi, JJ, Morgan, Reid… anyone who could help them in this moment.

And then the dispatch radio crackled to life.

"Two, possibly three-car pileup in lower service division, just outside Santa Monica. Two police vehicles, one unidentified civilian vehicle. A police sedan, a Federal vehicle and an unidentified civilian vehicle. Calling all units, repeat, calling all units."

_CM _S6_

Reid groaned as he surfaced back to consciousness, his head throbbing, his body aching and… a small hand on his cheek.

"Are you alright?" a child's voice asked.

Reid blinked as the little girl came into focus, wincing as the pain in his head seemed to double. He tried to move his arms, only to realize that they were tied tightly in front of him with a strip of duct tape. His ankles were also bound in a similar fashion.

"Where," he rasped, coughing slightly as he tried to sit up. "Where are we? W-who are you?"

"I'm Ellie," she whispered. "Ellie Spicer."

"Ellie, that's a pretty name. I'm Spencer," he whispered. "I was working with your dad today. Do you know where he is?"

Ellie shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. "I don't know," she whispered. "My dad… the guy shot him. And the other man…"

"Wait," Reid whispered. "What other man?"

"He was tall," she described. "Muscular, dark-skinned. He was bald. Dad called him 'Morgan.'"

"SHUT UP!" a voice roared. Reid and Ellie jumped. Reid shift his body as best he could, and saw a man sitting in the front seat of the vehicle, a cigarette in his mouth, clamped between a set of very nasty teeth.

Reid's stomach dropped down to his toes Morgan! He thought desperately. This sick, twisted son of a bitch knew where Morgan was. And Spicer. Reid cringed; he desperately hoped nothing bad had happened to his friend and fellow profiler, or the young cop whom Reid had met only a day ago.

I need to get Ellie and I out of here, he mused to himself, watching as the little girl curled up into a corner of the van. But how do I do that, especially when I can barely move.

"Ellie," he whispered, and the girl turned to him, surprised. "Does that man in the front seat have something sharp? Like a knife, or a pair of scissors?"

"He had a knife when he took my Aunt Kristin and me," she whispered. "He keeps it in his pocket, I think."

Reid raised his head, and winced at the sudden spell of dizziness that overcame him. He definitely had a concussion, but it was most likely a mild one; he hadn't vomited, but then again, there were no bright lights that he could see at the moment.

"WHAT did I TELL YOU?" The man hollered, and Reid felt the van skid to a stop. A second later, he heard footfalls as the UnSub came charging back to the profiler and little girl in the back. He grabbed Ellie and forced her off the ground, making her stand up. She whimpered, sobbing and shaking her head as she pleaded with him.

"Let us go, please let us go."

Instead, the UnSub traced his finger down her cheek, muttering something that Reid couldn't quite catch. Ellie's eyes spilled over with more tears.

Suddenly, Reid realized how close he was to the UnSub's leg, and he acted. He kicked out at the man, his bound feet hitting him squarely in the knee.

"ELLIE, MOVE!" Reid shouted, rolling over from his back onto his stomach and sinking his bound fists into the man's side. The UnSub roared, flailing out as he tried to get the upper hand.

"RUN, ELLIE!" Reid screamed. "RUN!"

Ellie didn't need to be told twice. She flung the door of the van open and ran down the street, screaming for help. Reid, meanwhile, began fumbling in the man's pocket, cutting his hand on the blade of a knife, which he pulled from the man's pocket. A second later, however, a fist hit him in the face, and Reid fell back, dazed. Using the knife, which had still managed to stay in his grasp, he began sawing through the duct tape around his wrists, finally pulling them apart with as much strength as he could muster.

As he sat up to begin his legs, Reid's eyes fell of the UnSub, who was just getting to his feet. "You little bugger!" The UnSub screamed, lunging for Reid. The profiler rolled out of the way, tucking into his body and minimizing the amount of potential target as much as possible. Then, he sliced through the tape on his legs and rose to his feet, the knife held outward like a sword in the profiler's hand.

The UnSub chuckled. "What are you gonna do with that?" he leered. "Are you gonna slice me like a pig, boy?"

Reid ignored the taunts. "Don't come any closer," he shouted. "My name is Spencer Reid, and I am with the FBI. Do you know what that means?"

The UnSub regarded him for a second. "The people on television talked about you," he pointed out. "You seem easier to beat than that other agent. The one who came in with the Spicer kid."

"He's one of my colleagues, yes," Reid replied. "And I'm telling you right now that if you've hurt him in any way, you will go to jail for a very long time."

The UnSub laughed. "Well, maybe we can come to an arrangement," he pointed out. "I didn't hurt your friend."

"How can I believe that?" Reid asked. "You kidnapped a little girl, the daughter of a police officer. And you may have killed her father. You tie up a Federal Agent, and kidnap a second one. How do I know you aren't lying, or planning to kill me?"

The other man shrugged. While they had been talking, he had been walking closer to the younger man, a single step with every question the boy had asked, and the UnSub had answered. Now, he lunged toward the young agent.

Reid had not expected this, but still managed to leap out of the way, toward the open door of the van. He saw Ellie Spicer standing halfway down the street, looking back toward him.

"GO!" Reid shouted, leaping from the van and stumbling as he landed. "RUN, ELLIE!"

Neither of them stopped as the UnSub cam tearing out of the van after them. They just ran.

….

A/N: I based the events of the whole second half of this chapter on a preview I saw Sunday night on A&E of what APPEARED to be Season 6 (the preview was shown halfway through the episode being aired that night, which was 'Public Enemy' (5x15) I believe). If anyone also saw this preview, please tell me, and send a link if you can find it online.

Thanks for all the awesome reviews! I'm thankful for all the support here. You all rock! Please leave more!

*~N_CBAU~*