NO SURRENDER
Chapter
7
The Key
And I want you so it's an obsession – Song by Eurythmics (Love is a Stranger)
'There are no markings on the key.' Reid said. 'We will have to contact the banks until we find the right one.'
'Penelope should be able to help us there.' Rossi said. 'Get us a list of banks in the city that have the facility, and we will need a warrant to open it when we find it.
Morgan was on the phone to Garcia before he had finished his sentence. All the team were thinking the same thing – the body in the basement, a practice run of what she was now doing to Hotch.
'Hey Derek, You have something for me to do?'
'Yes Doll. I need a list of all the banks in the city that have safety deposit boxes. We've found a key and we're hoping that the contents of the box will lead us to Hotch.'
'I hope so. Is that our only lead.'
'Yes but it's a good one.' Morgan said with more optimism than he felt.
'List on its way. Sending it to your phones now.' Garcia said.
'Thank you Baby Girl.' Morgan cut the connection and turned to the others. 'The list should be on your phones now.'
'I'll get us a warrant.' Dave said, calling up the judge. 'You stay here and search again, I'll visit the judge.'
Dave left the house still on the phone. The others continued their search of the house. Reid picked up a framed photograph.
'Look at this.' he said. 'This is Chaucer with an elderly man. There are no other pictures of her with anyone else. Who do you suppose this is?'
'Father? Grandfather?' Emily said. 'There's no record of who her father is.'
'There is no death certificate for the grandfather. He could still be alive.'
'We need to trace him. According to the records, she has no family.' Reid said 'The mother died when she was a teenager. The father isn't named on the birth certificate. This', he said, indicating the photograph, 'Must be the maternal grandfather.'
'Ok', Morgan said. 'We need to search the place for evidence of the maternal grandfather – photographs, documents, anything.'
He began his search in the desk.
-0-0-0-
The woman sat next to Hotch The blood had clotted on the mattress and smelt awful.
'I need to change the sheet and turn over the mattress.' she said to him. 'I will need you to get off the bed.'
She untied his hands and feet, and released the belts around his chest and hips. When ever she touched his skin, he moaned with the pain. She felt his body was warmer now, but she wondered if that was a systemic infection rather than a reaction to the operation. He didn't move his arms.
She rolled him onto his side, and bunched the sheet under his back. Then she rolled him towards her and pulled the sheet out. She threw it to one side.
'Now I need to get you off the bed.'
She brought his arms down to his side. The sudden pain of his arms being in a new position woke him and he cried out in agony and distress. She pulled him off the bed and laid him on the floor. He closed his eyes and moaned with the pain and sickness he felt. She quickly turned the mattress over, and, leaving him on the floor, ran upstairs for a towel and sheet. When she came back down, Hotch was trying to move away, but even had he managed to move far, the blood trail he left was easy to follow.
She put the sheet on the bed, then the towel. Then she tried to lift him back onto the bed. She clasped her arms around him from behind, but she held him too tight, and he vomited onto the floor.
'Listen to me, Hotchner.' she hissed at him. 'I don't want to punish you again. I don't want to kill you, but if you keep doing this, I will have to hurt you again.'
She went round the other side of the bed and tried dragging him onto the bed, and although it was excruciatingly painful for him, he made no sound, and allowed her to place him where she wanted him on the clean bed.
'I need to wash you.' she said. There was a sink in the corner of the room, and she collected some water and a cloth. She put the bowl on the edge of the bed and climbed on to sit astride him again.
The smell of the blood was making her feel sick, and using the cloth, starting with his face and hair, she carefully cleaned him up, all the time talking to him. His body was burning up now, as the infection raged within him. She combed her fingers through his hair and tenderly touched his face. As the wet cloth wiped the dried vomit from his lips, he opened his mouth for water.
'Please....' he begged 'I need water.'
She rinsed the cloth out in the bowl and rung it out. She watched in satisfaction as she dripped water into his mouth and he accepted it eagerly.
'You are totally mine now, Hotchner.' she said smiling 'Only I can provide what you need. Your life depends on me. Whether you live or die depends only on me.'
She leaned down and kissed his lips. He didn't respond.
'I will make you some food.' she whispered to him.
'Please, just water.' he said. He tried to roll onto his side, and he was sick again, blood, stomach acids and bile. She wiped it away angrily, using the towel he was lying on.
'I have just cleaned you!' she shouted 'And now look!' and she smacked his face with the back of her hand. Blood sprayed from his fragile cracked lips as his head jerked to the left. She kissed him again.
-0-0-0-
When I look at him lying in beneath me, I am overwhelmed by his vulnerability, but at the same time, his strength of character and his will to live. I cannot help but love this man. When I washed him, and the cool water ran over his hot skin, I felt a surge of excitement such as I have never felt; watching it run in little streams across his body and dripping onto the towel. Then he was sick and ruined it all.
I am glad I brought the doctor to him. I knew I would have to kill him, but his death was fast and painless. Hotchner's death will be drawn out and painful.
I don't know why he is being sick all the time. Tony said he needed antibiotics. Maybe I was a bit quick in killing him. I felt threatened by him though. He had to die. If Hotchner is taken away from me, I don't know how I would carry on. I want him to get better, although he will always have to look to me for everything he needs. Now I have stripped him of his strength, he is mine to do as I please with.
I need to get antibiotics for him, but I don't know how. I will have to steal some, steal a doctor's bag from a car. That means going back to the hospital again.
I explain all this to Hotchner. I hope he understands why I have to leave him alone again.
I am now lying beside him, kissing his neck.
'Please understand, I am not deserting you. I need to find some antibiotics for you.' I tell him. 'I will need to tie you up again first though.'
He's crying now as I pull his arms above his head and tie his hands to the bed frame again. I think he's in a lot of pain, but once I get the antibiotics, he will be fine.
His legs I pull apart and tie them by the ankles to the bed posts. As I tighten the knots, the man has a convulsion, arching his back and crying out in sheer agony as his body twists under the bonds. His eyes water, and they are open, staring and frightened.
I kiss his lovely lips and leave him alone in the dark.
-0-0-0-
The fourth bank that Dave and Derek go, and the manager recognises the key.
'Yes it is one of ours.' he said, 'But of course I cannot allow you access to it. Our discretion is why our customers come here.'
'We have a warrant for the contents on the box.' Dave said, 'And a man's life might well depend on what we find there.'
'You will have to return when the bank is about to close.' he said back with a sigh. 'I would not want our regular customers to witness such a desecration.'
'I think we will have a look now.' Morgan said, taking a threatening step forward. Rossi worked with diplomacy, and had never quite got used to Morgan's intimidating ways. However, a lot of the time, like now, the intimidation won over the diplomacy. The Bank Manager stood.
Very well. Follow me.' he said. The two men followed him through a door at the back of the office.
-0-0-0-
Cyndie was back at the hospital again. She knew that not many doctors would be foolish enough to leave their bag in full view, but she had to hope that one would, and that the bag would hold some drugs that she needed.
Bent forward, hoping that she would not be seen, she crept along the lines of cars in the car park. After checking the first row, and half way down the second, she found what she was searching for. She picked up a large stone, and broke a window. Carefully sliding her hand through the hole in the glass she unlocked the door and took the bag.
She sat on the ground next to the car and started to go through the bag. There were some drugs there, but she suddenly realised that she didn't really know what to look for.
'What the hell do you think you're doing!' someone behind her shouted. She tried to get up, to run, but the man held her by the back collar of her sweat shirt, and pulled her to her feet. 'You had better come with me.' he said, placing the bag over his shoulder, and leading her through the car park to the main building. 'The police will want to talk to you.'
She pulled against the man holding her. She tried to twist out of his grasp, anything to get away. But this guy was strong, and she was pulled along to his office inside the main building.
-0-0-0-
Dave listened to what the cop said and broke the connection. 'Derek, we have a break.' he said. 'Cynthia Chaucer has been arrested breaking into a car at the hospital. We need to get there now.'
'I'll call the others.' Morgan said. Dave removed the items from the safety deposit box, and put them in a bag provided by the manager. It was all papers and legal documents. He wondered if there was a title deed there for another property – somewhere where she could be holding their Unit Chief.
Dave thanked the manager, and they ran outside to the car. If this was the Cynthia Chaucer that had abducted Hotch, they needed to get to her right away. Hotch's life could well depend on it.
-0-0-0-
Hotchner was conscious and very sick. He retched and vomited as the infection raged through his body. The pain in his chest and lower abdomen was radiating outwards, and his stomach hurt through twisting and tightening as he threw up again and again. He was burning up with fever, and he was seriously dehydrated.
He heard someone in the room with him, but he called to them for help, and there was no-one there. He closed his eyes tightly and when the people came to touch him, he wanted them to be real, so he kept his eyes closed. He spoke to them, asking for water, but no one brought him any. Without warning his back arched and the convulsion gripped him again. The voices became silent as he lost all control.
'Please.....' he whispered. 'Don't leave me alone.....'