DISCLAIMER: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor and I making any money from this story.
A/N: Thanks again everyone who reviewed and added!
WANTED – Chapter Four
"You let him gone alone!" JJ shouted at Morgan and Hotch. They were all back in the conference room with the exception of Garcia who was finding out as much as she could about John Martinez and the apartment block they'd found Reid in.
"What were we supposed to do?" Morgan asked. "Go with him?"
JJ nodded her head. "Yes!" She cried.
"You know we couldn't have done that." Hotch said, looking at her across the table. "If one of us had gone with him we would have been implicated, and it would have made it more difficult for any of us to work this case."
The team sat in silence for a few moments.
"So, what did you find out?" Rossi asked. "What did Clarridge have to say?"
"That Reid shot them both." Morgan said flatly.
"No..." JJ shook her head. "He wouldn't do that."
"What did Reid say?" Prentiss asked. "And why are people calling him Charlie?"
"Reid didn't know what had happened." Hotch answered. "He didn't even seem to know that the Officers had been shot."
"Yea," Morgan added. "He didn't seem to have any recollection of how he'd gotten there, or how he ended up with a MPDC gun."
"He had the gun?" JJ asked, sounding shocked.
"He said it was just there when he woke up." Hotch said, running his hand through his hair.
"Woke up?" Rossi asked, looking puzzled.
"What are you thinking?" Prentiss asked, eyeing the older profiler.
"'Waking up' with no memory of what's happened would suggest some kind of blackout, or..." He tailed off, not finishing the thought.
"Dave?" Hotch urged.
Rossi sighed, "DID." He said simply.
"What?" JJ and Prentiss exclaimed in unison.
"You think Reid has Multiple Personality?" Morgan asked. "No," He shook his head. "One of us would have seen something. That kind of thing doesn't just pop up overnight."
"I don't like thinking it either," Rossi said, "But look at the facts. He has no recollection of places or events. He's known to other by a different name. He has an apartment that..."
Before Rossi finished his sentence, Hotch had picked up the phone.
"Hotch?" Prentiss asked. The older man ignored her and waited for the phone to be answered.
"Y'ello." Garcia said over the speaker phone.
"Garcia," Hotch said, paying no attention to the looked he was receiving from the other team members. "Have you found anything?"
"No, sorry." The Tech answered. "Martinez was divorced seven months ago, his wife took everything but apart from that he's squeaky clean."
"I need you to run a check on Reid's bank records." Hotch said.
"Wh... What?" Garcia stuttered. "Sir, its Reid. I can't just..."
"Do you want him to go to prison?" Hotch asked bluntly.
" No, sir!" Garcia exclaimed. "But I can't..."
"You can Garcia, you have to." Hotch reassured her. "I need to see if he has any unusual expenditure. He was in an apartment. I need to know if he paid a deposit for it, and if so when. Somebody was renting it from somewhere. I need you to find out what name that apartment was rented in."
Garcia was silent for a few moments. "O... okay." She said. The team could here her fingers at work.
Hotch looked at the rest of the team. "If we find out who's renting the apartment that could answer a few questions for us."
"I hope so." Prentiss muttered, still unable to believe the surreal situation they had found themselves in.
"Ok," Garcia's voice came over the speaker. "No unusual activity on his account from what I can see. Salary goes in, rent comes out. Money for where his Mom lives goes out every month on the same day." She chuckled a little. "A lot of take-out food and not a lot of grocery shopping." She sighed. "But nothing else. No large deposits or withdrawals."
"Who's the other apartment rented too?" Rossi asked.
Garcia could be heard typing again. "That would be Charles Thomas. Paid his deposit and two months rent upfront in cash."
"That's Charlie." Prentiss said, although she knew it wasn't really much help.
"So where does that leave us?" JJ asked.
"If Reid had no large withdrawals," Hotch said. "It's unlikely he paid for the apartment."
"Which means someone else did." Morgan said, sounding more like he was asking a question than making a statement.
"There's a video." Garcia piped up. "The little window that these kind of places always have with the grumpy looser guy who sits behind it? It's covered by a security camera. If I go back to the day the apartment was rented on I can see who paid him the deposit..." More typing way heard. "Bingo. Hang on a sec..."
A few seconds later, the screen in the corner of the room came to life with an image of the apartment block foyer.
"Ok, we got it," Morgan said. As the words left his mouth the video began.
"This," Garcia said, pausing the video. "Is the man who rented apartment forty two." She said, sounding triumphant.
"That's not Reid." JJ said. Although the man was about the same height as Reid, he was much stockier. He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap but a small amount of black hair could be seen peaking out from the back of the cap.
"No," Hotch said. "It's not."
"So what does this mean?" Prentiss asked, staring at the image on the screen.
"I think Reid's being set up." Hotch said simply.
(((((())))))
Garcia disconnected the call and turned to face her monitor. "If you're the sick son of a bitch that's trying to ruin my friend's life," She said to the still image. "Then I will hunt you down and kill you myself." She snarled, holding her pencil with such force it snapped. "Oh!" She jumped a little, shocked that she'd snapped it clean in two. She glanced back at the screen before her phone Rang. "Garcia." She said simply, not in the mood for any witty remarks.
"Garcia?" A familiar voice said at the other end of the phone.
Garcia dropped her pencil in shock.
(((((())))))
Reid ran. He ran through ally ways and cut outs. He ran as long as he could run before he felt like he was going to pass out. Morgan and Hotch had let him go. Did that mean they believed him? He came to a stop and rested against a wall, breathing heavily. He closed his eyes and leant his head back against the wall.
After a few seconds he became aware of a sharp pain in his left hand side. For a second he dismissed it as a simple stitch from running, but after a few more seconds he realised it wasn't. Opening his eyes he looked down. He was shocked to see his white T-shirt was now half covered in red. He stared for a few seconds more before he realised it was blood.
He carefully lifted his T-shirt up, wincing as he did so. Had he been shot? He'd have noticed, surly? Statistics about adrenaline and it's affects on the body began running through his mind. He was suddenly aware of how tired he was. He slumped down the wall, muffling a pained cry as he hit the floor. He looked down at his side. About two inches in from his waist he had, indeed, been shot. Three inches over and it would have missed him. "Great." He muttered to himself. He sat for a few moments before pulling on his jacket. At least that would stop him drawing any more attention to himself in anyone passed.
What was he supposed to do now? He knew he should go to a hospital. But he also knew, the second he did he'd be handcuffed to a gurney faster than lightning. But he needed help, he couldn't pretend he didn't. He swore when he realise he had no phone or money. That made it a little more difficult than it already was. He pulled the jacket closer around him, suddenly feeling cold. As he did so, he heard a small 'clanking' noise in the pocket. He carefully opened it so as not to jar his side too much. He winced again as he pulled his hand out. He opened it to find about four dollars worth of change. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make a phone call.
But who to phone? He couldn't phone any of the team. If they helped him they'd be incriminated. And if he had been the one hurting people, then they'd end up going to prison with him. So who did that leave him with? He closed his eyes and rested his head back again, grimacing as a wave of pain went through him. He just wanted to go home, back to his apartment.
His eyes shot open. His apartment. There was a security camera on the door of his apartment. If he could get hold of the video he'd know if he'd left the block or not last night. If he hadn't, then he couldn't have hurt the girl.
He tried to remember where the nearest payphone would be. After a few minutes he remembered one not too far away that he'd seen. He slowly stood and made his way there.
(((((())))))
"Garcia?" A familiar voice said at the other end of the phone.
Garcia dropped her pencil in shock. "Re...Reid?"
"Yea." He said, quietly. "I need your help."
"Are you ok?" She asked. Something wasn't right; she could hear it in his voice. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm... I'm fine." He said, breathing heavily. "I need you to check a video for me, but..." He stopped talking.
"Reid?" Garcia asked, worried. "Reid, what's wrong?"
"If you help me, and they... they find me guilty, then you..."
"I know, I know," Garcia interrupted. "Accomplice and all that..." She said. "Whatever. What do you need?" she didn't care if she ended up being arrest for helping him. He was her friend and something, more than the obvious, was wrong with him.
"Can you access the security footage from the camera on my apartment entrance? Last night." He though about what time he got home. "About twelve-thirty?"
"Sure." She said, typing away. She cringed as she heard him cough on the other end of the line. "Reid what's wrong?" She tried again.
"I'm fine." He said simply, after a few moments of silence. He wasn't, he knew that. But that last thing he wanted was to worry the rest of the team. Even more than they were, of course.
"Ok, go it." Garcia said after a few seconds. "Oh..."
"Oh?" Reid asked, coughing a little more.
"Sweetheart, you go in." She said. "And then a guy walks up behind you and the screen goes black."
"Black?" Reid asked, confused.
"Yea, black." She said again. "Like it's been covered by something. A cloth or paint," She leant closer to the screen to look. "It's hard to tell."
"Someone followed me in?" He asked, his voice thick with confusion.
"Looks that way, honey." Garcia said. "It looks like the same guy from before." She said, zooming in on him a little.
"Before?" Reid asked.
Garcia was quiet for a few moments. "Where are you?"
"What?" Reid asked, even more confused by the sudden change of topic.
"Can you be at my apartment in the next twenty minutes?" She asked. "I have some things to show you."
"Erm... if I got a cab, but I don't have any money." Reid answered. He rested his head against the glass of the payphone. He just wanted to sit down. It hurt less to sit down.
"That's fine." Garcia said, shaking her head even though Reid couldn't see her. "There's a key taped to the bottom of the plant pot outside my door. In the dresser in the hallway, right hand draw, there's some money. You can use it to pay the cab."
"Garcia, I can't..." He started, but was cut off.
"I'm not arguing with you." She said sharply. "You will do what I've told you too and I will see you in twenty minutes." She hung up the phone before he could argue more. Now she just had to work out how to slip out of work for a while.
(((((())))))
Reid hung up the phone and made his way to the nearest taxi rank. What the hell was going on? What man had Garcia seen in the video? And what was the other video she was on about? He bit his lip as walking sent a fresh wave of pain through his side. He was glad for the dark jeans and black jacket so that people couldn't see the blood that was slowly seeping through them. He found a taxi rank and slowly climbed in the back of a waiting cab, giving the driver Garcia's address. He closed his eyes and hoped Garcia had found him some answers.
(((((())))))
"Hey, guys." Garcia said, entering the conference room.
"Garcia," Hotch greeted her. The four were still sat around the conference room, folders and pictures scattered on the table. They so far had been unable to identify the man in the video and were still no closer to finding the original UnSub.
"I, erm..." Garcia began nervously. "I have to go home for an hour or so."
"What?" Prentiss asked, looking up from the file she was reading.
"Yea, sorry." Garcia said apologetically. "My apartment flooded and I have to go sort a few things out."
"Garcia," JJ said. "At a time like this?"
"It's fine," Hotch said, not looking up. "Go."
"Thank you." Garcia said, leaving the room. She hated lying to them. But she couldn't tell them she was going to meet Reid. They'd all want to come. And if they got involved then they'd run the risk of being implemented too. No, she couldn't let them do that. She knew how much they wanted to figure out what was happening, but they wouldn't be able to help Reid if they were behind bars.
She nodded, trying to convince herself she was doing the right thing, and headed towards the elevator.
(((((())))))
Ooh... So let me know what you think. Hope you enjoyed and you're still sticking with me! I know the time line if a little off with this, I mean, Morgan and Hotch getting back before Reid phones Garcia and what not but that's how it came out and changing it would muck up stuff and what not :)
Until next time!