A/N: I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! I know- I'm an evil person and that bad type of writer I swore not to turn into for taking WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too long to update. Negative 10,000 brownie points to me. Note to self and others: Starting up a business is a b*%#h.
*coughs*
Now that that's out of the way and everybody's gotten their hate out on me- I actually have a new chapter! And good news: due to the multitude of wonderful reviews concerning Charlotte's fate and my own personal leanings- I shall be keeping her as a character to make continued contributions to this story.
*and there was much rejoicing*
She is in this chapter for the inevitable questioning of course but she shall also pop up in it from time to time with a POV maybe and definitely towards the end. *wink wink* Concerning this chapter- I drop a "bombshell" concerning Charlotte that some of you may hate me for but I've been planning this since I made her up, so- if you don't like it, well that's just too bad.
Concerning this capture: Major answers for basic plot!
*and there was much rejoicing*
Oh! And this is rated T+ this chapter and all following. It starts to get messy- literally. This chapter, I have a paragraph that goes into slight detail about blood, so if your squeamish have a friend read this for you first and tell you what to skip.
Enough talk- its shout out time!
SHOUT OUTS TO: danicalif80 (whose username I believe I misspelled in last chapter's shout outs- my apologies), purplerayz, AhmoseInarus, harrietamildala1691, donttouch, sunshinecutiebre, PheonixTearsHP (whose name I KNOW I am not misspelling as I have check a hundred times), jimmy-barnes-13, SumNumb3rs, Torrant2, KASEY64, 68luvcarter, eyesonfire, ravenbear, TheLoneWolf, momiji'sunusedhalo, lolyncut, PinkHimeLacus, mythepoeia, Navaehs Illusion, Maria Rianki, and Demongrrl223. I LOVE you guys! You are the reason I check my email every five minutes.
P.S- Idk why computer all of the sudden started doing awesome happy faces.
Alright now enough tom foolery- to work!
*clears throat*
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Chapter Four!"
*and there was much rejoicing*
The police station was all too familiar to Emily and Morgan. The building was the same as it ever was. Same brick, same paint, same desks and same coffee maker- they knew that, but it still couldn't correct their feeling of darkness as they entered the building. They knew it was just a building, one that they had been in countless times, but today was the one place they'd give anything not to be in. Today it housed the one useful witness to their friend's, their baby brother's, kidnapping. Today it housed the one person that could possibly be the last one to see their brother alive. The building didn't scare them, the girl didn't scare them. The fact that Spencer very possibly could be dead and the fact they didn't know whether he was or not scared them. No, not scared- horrified them. They were in fact at this point unable to do shit to find Spencer- that scared them. The waiting. The unknown.
It would soon be remedied.
"Hi, Charlotte?" Emily asked as she walked towards the girl sitting at the detective's desk she had talked to when she arrived.
The girl turned around and stood up.
"Charlie." The girl corrected extending her hand to the nice woman she knew was from the FBI. Someone else to talk to.
"Hi. I'm Agent Emily Prentiss," Prentiss said slightly taken aback by the girl's forwardness. "This is Agent Derek Morgan," Emily said gesturing to the bulky black man behind her. He seemed slightly pissed off about something. No doubt the fact that his coworker had been kidnapped. They must be friends, Charlie thought.
"We're here to question you about what you saw this morning?" Emily said it as a question, hoping to prompt the girl to talk. The girl sighed obviously exasperated.
"I already told the police everything I could remember." She said rapidly, continuing on frustrated. "Shouldn't you guys be doing something to find Spencer?"
"That's why we're here." Morgan said calmly for his outward appearance. "We need to know as much as we can and make sure we didn't miss anything." He stared right at her, her staring back still angry, never breaking eye contact. It was intense.
Charlie sighed finally breaking the stare down and flopping into the chair she had just vacated. After all, this guy obviously cared about Spencer and was undoubtedly closer to him than she was so if he could be calm, she definitely should be.
"I'm sorry." She said, indeed much smoother than before. "This is all just so stressful- and upsetting." She said it as an afterthought with the bite of the anger she had before- like she was mad at herself. It didn't go unnoticed. Morgan and Emily shared a quick glance before Emily spoke again.
"Can you tell us how you know Reid?" She asked, getting straight to it.
"Reid? Who's Reid?" Charlie asked confused. "I thought this was about Spencer?" She asked looking back and forth between the two agents. Morgan couldn't help but chuckle. It was a simple mistake- but still a funny reaction. Obviously the girl didn't know Spencer's last name.
"It is." He assured her "'Reid' is Spencer's last name. It's what we call him."
"Oh." Charlie said, understanding but slightly surprised at herself. She never really realized that she didn't know his last name.
"Charlie?" Emily asked, still waiting for an answer.
"Oh, right. Sorry. Well," Charlie began but suddenly turned pink. This was going to be very awkward. "I don't really know Spencer." She finished.
Morgan and Prentiss were clearly confused and glanced at each other just to make sure they hadn't missed something.
"What I mean to say is-" Charlie went on, quickly correcting herself, "that I don't really know Spencer very well. We're more like acquaintances. I see him in the coffee shop every Saturday, and we've talked before. Said 'Hello' and stuff."
Charlie was clearly uncomfortable. She was wringing her hands in her lap and looking down at the floor and she was blushing. She was embarrassed. Emily got it of course but Morgan didn't quite understand.
"Is something wrong?" He prodded, figuring she was hiding something. Emily had to fight not to roll her eyes at the thickness Morgan was displaying that she firmly believed could only be capable by those with a 'Y' chromosome.
"No." Charlie said quickly, still not looking up.
"You said that you were no more than ten feet away from Spencer this morning when he was taken?" Emily asked quickly cutting across Morgan who had opened his mouth to ask another undoubtedly intrusive question. He looked over at Emily, confused as to why she seemed to be on this girl's side.
"Yes, I had just gotten off the bus coming back from work. I work the graveyard shift at the hospital as an ER nurse." She continued as an explanation for her strange travel hours.
"And you just 'bumped' into Reid?" Morgan asked with this slightest amount of accusation under laying his question.
"Well, I- I was, I-" Charlie stuttered once again with her eye glued to the floor as her hands seemed to want to start a fire in her lap. She took a deep breath and said what she knew she would end up telling them anyway.
"I-was-trying-to-catch-up-with-him-because-I-had-wanted-to-ask-him-out-for-weeks-and-only-got-up-the-courage-to-ask-him-today." Charlie spat it all out on one tremendously fast and long breath. She had said it with her eyes closed.
God, Morgan. You suck. Emily thought, annoyed with his obliviousness to the poor girls discomfort and only made it worse.
"Wha'?" Morgan asked, astonished.
"I was going to ask him out." Charlie said slowly, trying to overcome the awkwardness, then continued on when she received no response. "On a date."
Morgan couldn't believe it. It was unfathomable that this girl- this gorgeous girl- liked Spencer. Dr. Spencer Reid. And not only did she like him, she was going to ask him out. Trippy.
"Morgan, why don't you go get us some coffee?" Emily said interrupting his stunned silence as he tried to absorb the fact that the world seemed to have flipped over. She obviously thought she'd get further without him, and he didn't disagree. Minus his slight shutdown, he still had been a little rude and plus he was a guy and the whole 'I like the guy you work with thing' was just plain uncomfortable for Charlie and Morgan both.
Morgan simple walked away without a word, his shock still plastered to his face.
"Well, now that we have Lenny out of the way . . ." Emily joked, trying to ease the girl.
"Thank you." She giggled slightly at the Of Mice and Men reference, visibly relieved to have Morgan gone.
Emily smiled just as softly as she spoke to the girl. "Are you willing to allow me to do a cognitive interview with you?"
"Uh-yeah, sure. Whatever helps." Charlie said visibly less of everything than a moment ago, far calmer and it seemed, more determined now that this woman had offered her a way to actually help.
"Okay." Emily began "I want you to close your eyes for me and think back to this morning."
Charlie looked skeptically at Emily, but figured she'd dance around with a chicken on her head if it would help and closed her eyes without complaint.
"You just getting off the bus." Prentiss spoke very calmly and slowly, softly and almost monotonously. "You can hear all the sounds of the street. People talking, cars driving."
She sounds like someone off a self help tape, Charlie thought sarcastically. Stop fooling around! She yelled at herself. Focus. This maybe the only chance you have to help. You may know something that could save him.
"What do you smell?" Emily asked knowing that smell, though being the weakest sent, was the strongest memory trigger.
She had learned it from Reid.
"Coffee." Charlie replied softly, a small smile on her lips.
"Coffee?" Emily asked still softly though confused. She quickly turned around to see if Morgan had come back with the coffee she had sent him away for. He was standing with two cups of it in either hand, all the way across the room, watching Emily's progress with Charlie. As she looked over, she caught Morgan's eye who quickly nodded his head in her direction, silently asking her if she wanted to come over. Prentiss quickly shock her head and returned to Charlie when she began to speak.
"It's him. I can see him. He always has coffee." Charlie said, still smiling and nearly laughing at the end. Emily knew of course who Charlie meant but asked anyway.
"Who?"
"Spencer."
"What's he doing, Charlie?" Emily said, slightly more anxious knowing that she was about to hear firsthand what happened to Spencer.
"He's walking down the sidewalk. Going to work, I guess." Charlie said happily, innocently. Then it changed.
"No. I hear car tires screeching." Charlie said getting anxious, agitated. Emily stiffened. Charlie went on, "A van. It's stopped right beside Spencer."
"What color is it?" Emily asked completely uncontrolled now, knowing she had to get something, anything for them to go on.
"Black. It's old. I don't know what type." Charlie said sadly.
"It's alright." Emily comforted her, taking back her control. "What's the license plate?" Emily asked forcing herself to be calm, but knowing that if they got the plate, they would definitely get at least something.
"There- there isn't one." Charlie said slowly thinking back. "It's blank." Charlie said shocked she hadn't noticed that before.
"It's alright. I'm here." Emily assured Charlie who was visibly becoming more upset. There was a beat and everything took off like a rocket.
"The door's open. There are three guys coming out." Charlie said breathlessly.
"What do they look like?" Emily asked instantly.
"I don't know! They're wearing ski masks." Charlie nearly cried, on the edge of a brake down. She went on, knowing it was all she could really do.
"Spencer reached for his gun, but two of them already have Spencer's arms behind his back." Charlie stopped and paused then spoke quietly in disgust. "I'm just standing there, screaming."
"Charlie, what's happing to Spencer?" Emily said strictly, making Charlie focus. Charlie gasped.
"They hit him." She said quietly. Emily's stomach dropped.
"What did they hit him with?" Emily asked, begging it to be nothing more than a fist.
"The other man- he punched him." Charlie said still quietly, sad, ashamed.
"They're dragging him to the van." She continued louder, trying to do the only job she could to contribute. "They threw him in. The other guys jump back in and-" Charlie stopped. "And their gone." She finished truly ashamed she couldn't do more now and hadn't done more then. She opened her eyes and looked at the agent across from her. She didn't look angry- she looked worry.
They were quiet.
"I'm sorry." Charlie said finally, too ashamed to me Emily's face.
"Hey, look at me." Emily said soothingly waiting to continue until Charlie finally meet her eyes and Emily stared right back.
"There is nothing you could have done other than what you already have. You could not have stopped them." Emily said strongly keeping the gaze with Charlie. She needed her to understand- this wasn't her fault. Charlie tried to smile as Emily comforted her but it only came across as a sort of grimace.
Morgan came over then sensing the end of the interview. Well, he's got good timing, Emily thought. Emily stood up and took her coffee from Morgan and turned back to Charlie.
"Thank you, Charlie." Emily spoke sincerely. "You've been very helpful." In all the times she had said it before, never had Prentiss meant it more. Emily stuck out her hand and shook Charlie's as she stood. Morgan nodded to the girl and then the two turned to leave.
"Agents Morgan! Prentiss!" Charlie called after them, jogging the few steps the two had already taken separating them. "Will you call me? When you find out something? Or find him? Please." She asked, almost pleading.
"Of course." Emily said surprised at how much this whole mess truly was upsetting the girl. She watched as the girl dug through her purse and found a pen and scrap of paper. Morgan hung back while the girl scribbled her name and number and Prentiss took it from her. Charlie uttered her thanks and the two their goodbyes and Morgan and Emily left the station.
No sooner had the two gotten in the car then Morgan spoke on the stunning insight they had received back there.
"Well, we better get Reid back soon cause it looks like he's in for some fun." He said smirking, the still surprised as he put the keys in the ignition.
"You are such an idiot." Prentiss scoffed at him, still truly amazed by his stupidity.
"What?"
Emily continued to ignore him and his continued confusion until his phone rang.
"Hey, baby girl. What ch'a got?" Was his answer, though admittedly less cheerful than that that was typical. He pressed a button and suddenly the SUV was filled with Garcia's voice.
"Nothing!" She said livid. "His phone's either off or d- out of battery." She had stopped herself from saying the word that would have been typical for her in this situation, but this was Reid, not just some situation. And now the thought that she had ever used it in a situation remotely similar to this disgusted her.
"And that's not all!" She said purely loathing what was happening, if possible, increasing her anger. "I went to the director to get the authorization to activate Reid's tracer but he said Hotch had already spoken to him about it and I need to speak to him."
"And?" Morgan asked knowing that Garcia had undoubtedly already talked to Hotch as she was Garcia.
"He told me to call everyone and have them meet back at the BAU once you were done and he would tell all of us there." She scoffed.
"Well, did you-" Morgan began, clearly worried, needing to know immediately why Reid's tracer was not activated. Garcia interrupted him.
"Yes, of course I already grilled him! He said it just had to wait for everyone to hear and hung up!" Morgan could practically hear the flames coming off of Garcia crackling in the background.
"He's already back with Rossi. Hurry up and get here or he might not be here when finally do!" She fumed and hung up. Prentiss turned and looked over at Morgan with her mouth slightly agape. They didn't say anything as Morgan silently pressed down on the accelerator.
They need to get back.
Now.
Emily and Morgan practically burst out of the elevator and nearly ran across the bullpen with Garcia on their heels, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. To someone unaware of the situation, it might have appeared as though the three were racing each other to see who could get to the conference room fastest, where through the window could easily be seen Hotch, Rossi, JJ and Gideon.
"Okay? There! They're here!" Garcia nearly shouted at Hotch as Morgan quickly shut the door so the rest of the building wouldn't hear. Hotch had both hands on the edge of the table as he bent over it, his head bowed. Garcia didn't care about this uncharacteristic pose though- she needed answers. Now!
"Now, why am I not allowed to activate Reid's tracer?" Never had Morgan actually witnessed "the furry of a woman" until right now. And he- was scared.
"Because it's right here." Hotch said calmly, not faltering under Penelope's murderous gaze and not the least bit upset by her outburst. Rather he seemed understanding and his voice in comparison to Garcia's of a moment ago, was near a whisperer.
It was silent.
Garcia's mouth fell open, Emily's eyes shot up into her hair, Rossi looked at the side of Hotch's face as if he were lying to him. JJ, and Gideon didn't show any emotion. Both refusing to look at the team. JJ bit her thumb and looked at the ground while Gideon hung his head and looked in his lap. But Morgan spoke.
"What?" He said it slow, precise, strong- daring Hotch to lie to him.
Hotch took out of his pocket two evidence bags at the same time that Gideon brought one up from under the table that had been sitting in his lap.
Hotch set the two down on the table with a small tap as the metal of a small blood covered tracer hit the wood. Beside it, another bag with a familiar bloodied purple scarf hit the table with a soft thud.
Garcia gasped aloud. "No." she choked, tears already on the brim of her lashes.
Rossi eyes widened beyond proportion and glued to the objects on the table.
"Oh, man." Morgan breathed out, appalled that Hotch wasn't lying to him. He would had preferred it- anything to this.
Emily's hand shot to her mouth as she mutter "God." Behind it then pinched her lips. They all gazed horrified, transfixed on what was in front of them, the pieces of their friend.
Hotch started to speak then. Finally an explanation. Answers.
"The box Gideon came in with this morning had Reid's scarf and tracer in it." Everyone listened in silence, hanging on Hotch's every word. Everyone except Gideon.
"The lab has already confirmed the blood as Reid's." Garcia let out a small sob as Hotch continued on, forcing himself to tell them what they needed to know. They had a right to know, all of them.
"There were no finger prints and no DNA other than Reid's." Hotch said it all as if it was rehearsed, trying not to forget a line, no feeling behind it. He was trying to compartmentalize. He paused, failing to hide his emotion this time as the horror could be seen on his face when he continued.
"There- were small strips of- internal tissue on Reid's scarf. Like they had been- scraped off." He could barely get the words out of his mouth. "Which leads us to believe," Hotch continued on, forcing himself to finish, "that, whoever took Reid, pulled out his tracer by hand."
Rossi's head snapped back to Hotch's, disbelief clearly readable on his face.
JJ had silent tears falling down her face.
Morgan stared at the bags on the table, mouth open in silent horror.
Emily still had her hand pinching her mouth closed and was blinking a lot, trying to push the tears back with sheer force.
Gideon was staring down at his own hands resting in his lap.
Garcia's mouth hung open in a silent screaming sob as tears raced down her face. She walked forward until she reached the table. Only then did Hotch finally look up. She reached about her hand and grabbed the bag holding Spencer's scarf and took it in both hands and caressed the plastic with her thumbs.
Hotch watched her as she looked down at the scarf in her hands. Blood was clinging to in from the inside and as she caressed it, the small droplets were moved around and forced together in time with her thumbs' movements. It was starting to congeal and turn dark. Reid had been taken nearly three hours ago.
They were still nowhere.
"Enough." Hotch said sharply, straightening up.
"What?" JJ asked quietly.
"We are not doing anything by simply standing around and worrying about Reid." Hotch said a stern look on his face.
"Hotch-" Morgan began shocked, but was cut across.
"We need to focus. We need to be more than one hundred percent here and now if we are going to help Reid." Hotch wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.
There was a beat.
"Your right." Emily said sharply, her compartmentalizing finally kicking in. Her arm was suddenly at her side and the tears in her eyes, though still present, were no longer in threat of falling. "What do we have?" She said. To business.
That seemed to do it. Suddenly, it was like a wave had washed over all of them. They were here and they were determined. Garcia sniffed and that was the end of the tears- for now.
"Nothing from the apartment. Reid's place was as freakishly organized as always." Rossi said off the back, begging for some sense of normality. It seemed to work, a few smirked.
"No neighbors noticed anything odd. One elderly man was able to confirm what Prentiss said about Reid walking to work." Hotch said, adding anything he could. Everything was precious.
"We're looking at potentially four unSubs." Emily sighed, repulsed at the words coming out of her own mouth.
"What?" It was Hotch's turn to be totally shocked as his head snapped towards Emily.
"The witness told me three men wearing ski masks jumped out of an 'old' black van, grabbed Reid, punched him in the face, and sped off." Emily said not too happy about the information and lack of it that she was giving the others.
"The three that jumped out and one to drive." Gideon muttered aloud still not looking up. The others, though taking notice of this being the first words he spoke, did not spare Gideon a glance.
"Plates?" Garcia perked up hopeful, knowing that if she had a starting point she would find the sons of bitches that did this.
"None." Emily replied flatly.
"Damn!" Morgan shouted and turned away in frustration.
"What about the box?" JJ asked, speaking up finally and stepping out from the corner.
"The box wasn't labeled and delivered to Gideon." Hotch began glancing at the said box in front of Gideon, when something that had been bugging him from the beginning finally came forward.
"When do you get the box, Gideon?" Hotch asked, looking straight at his ex-colleague. He suddenly realized it was far more than one thing that had been bugging him. When did Gideon get the box? When did Gideon get here? How'd he get here so fast. Why didn't he call instead? Where had Gideon been this whole time?
" I- got the box at 7:18. I remember because it woke me up. Someone had rung my doorbell and left it on the porch. By the time I got out of bed and got down there, whoever brought it was gone." Gideon said slowly, confused and trying to see where this was going.
"Reid was taken off the street at 7:06. That's only twelve minuets. Either the group broke apart after they raced off- or they were heading your direction when the left." Hotch said looking straight at Gideon.
Morgan asked the question on everybody's tongue.
"Gideon, where have you been?" He asked glazed over with the smallest amount of disgust at the old man.
The room vibrated in waves of silence as they all waited watching Gideon, waiting for the truth knowing it would be the only thing he said.
"I never left." He finally said quietly looking at all of them together. "I've been living on East Boulevard. Don't worry Garcia," He added taking in the small opening and closing of her mouth, knowing she was about to talk. "You didn't miss anything. I knew you'd look for me so in every sense of the phrase I went 'off-the-grid'." He smiled lightly at her and she seemed to relax, however little.
"All this time?" Morgan asked, clearly angry though quiet. As Gideon nodded his head, Hotch stepped in to stop it from going any further.
"Later, Morgan. Right now, our focus is on Reid." He said looking sternly at Morgan who reluctantly let it go only after Reid was mentioned.
"That's how you got here so fast." Emily stated, thinking out loud, somewhat soothed she finally got answers to questions of her own.
"Yes." Gideon said simply looking at her.
"Why didn't you call?" JJ asked.
"Because it was Reid." Gideon said staring straight at her, as if he hadn't really understood the question. The all understood Gideon's response. It was Reid. They would all do anything for Reid. Especially Gideon, above anyone. He would die for Reid. Which was something Hotch was worried he would get the chance to do and would take.
"The box being delivered to Gideon tells us what?" Hotch asked them all, try to see every angle hoping for one other than the one he saw.
"He's the target." Morgan said.
"Of what?" JJ asked
"Revenge." Emily answer quickly, a little worry visibly in her eyes.
"From a group?" Rossi interjected, doubting the possibility.
"Maybe. Recruitment?" Hotch asked still scrapping at the bottom of the barrel.
"It said on the box, 'Marco'. What does it mean?" JJ asked, hoping it would help.
"Polo?" Morgan asked back wondering if the others thought the same.
"The game?" Emily asked skeptically. Morgan shrugged.
"They're the players, and Reid's the prize." Gideon said, hands clasped in front of him on the table, thinking out loud just as always.
"No." Hotch said suddenly, deep in thought. Everyone turned confused.
"They're seeking you, Gideon." Hotch said finally with the aura of a dawning realization. "You're Polo, they're Marco."
"I don't understand." Gideon said, clearly confused and looking it.
"Who is the one person you would come out of hiding for all these years?" Hotch asked finally making Gideon see.
"Reid." Gideon said quietly looking at the scarf still in Penelope's hand.
"But wait!" Emily interjected. "If they knew where to find you to give you a package, why would they take Reid to draw you out into the open?" She asked understanding Hotch but still not having all the ends meet.
They were all quiet for a long time. Lost. Thinking.
"I don't know." Hotch finally sighed. They were quiet again for a moment longer.
"Alright," Hotch began, "We are going to go through every case Gideon ever worked and try to find anyone that would want revenge. UnSubs, relative, the works."
"That's-" Garcia began, horrified yet again.
"Hundreds of files.' Morgan finished for her, sighing. It was all they could do, and be damned he was going t do it.
"Garcia, I need you to do everything you can with the van." Hotch said in a slightly softer tone knowing how emotional she was. Garcia nodded her head curtly and turned on her heal and headed for her lair.
It was silent yet again. Finally Emily broke it.
"Hotch-" she said, trailing off. They all knew. They had nothing.
"I know." Hotch said softly. It was overwhelmingly hard not to just burst out screaming at the moment. "If it is revenge, they'll contact us, and then we'll know for sure." He said slowly knowing what his carefully chosen words meant. If it was revenge, the unSubs would contact them, undoubtedly with proof that they had Reid. If it was revenge, they would also make sure Gideon saw it. They all knew that meant nothing good for Reid.
"And if it's not?" Morgan asked, dreading his own question. Hotch sighed.
"The least we can do is try to find them." He said before turning and walking away. He was going to get files. The sooner he had something in his hands, the sooner he would feel like he was doing something, and the less likely that he would punch something. He came back to the room ten minutes later with three boxes, and two other agents behind him with three apiece too. Then they left.
"We'll start with these."
It was an hour later and they were all drowning in files, buried in the towering, teetering piles on the table, the floor- everywhere. But they were nowhere. They had nothing. Not from lack of trying though. Everyone had a good ten files in their lap or in their hands and then another stack of twenty in front of them. But still they could find nothing concrete. Every last file could have been a potential unSub. So far, they had only excluded ten due to the fact that the unSub was either dead or incarcerated and had no living family.
The stack of possibles was only growing as time ticked by, stretching up to the ceiling and multiplying in width. The room was completely silent but for the turning of pages, the flapping of files and the occasional grunt as someone moved positions. The growing frustration was pliable, literally sticking to their skin only increasing it tenfold until everyone was afraid to speak least someone snap.
If truth be told everyone was surprised they had lasted so long, but they knew it was only a matter of time. They all knew that they were gaining nothing from their search. They were fighting a losing battle- but it was the only battle they could fight. They couldn't just wait, they had to be doing something, anything. So they drove on bulldozing through the mountains of paper, reading until their eyes burned and went bloodshot. At which point they stopped, got a coffee and sat back down for another round in silence.
At least it was silent- until the slowly growing muffled sounds of fast clicking heels could be heard from behind the door.
Garcia came bursting in and without a word, slammed the door just as quickly shut, drew the blinds and grabbed the clicker for the screen off the side table, while everyone's eyes followed her around the room, no one moving. Silence. She looked up and pointed the clicker at the screen- it was only then that the all saw the fresh tears. She clicked the remote and immediately everyone turned to face the screen finally tearing their eyes away from the disgruntled Garcia.
It was static at first, for nearly three seconds, then as immediately as it came it was gone and in its place was the view of what looked like the inside of a warehouse. The floor was concrete and there were support pillars of metal with giant bolts along the side and dirty, grime covered windows against the wall the camera was facing. There was nobody in the frame.
The camera stayed trained on the wall while they all listened to the silence.
Slowly their straining ears began to hear the sounds of a struggle. Grunting and shuffling, a few odd slapping sounds. It was growing and getting louder. It was getting closer. Closer to the camera. Suddenly a man wearing a ski mask came into the frame from the left. He had his arms around the chest of a tall gangly man that he was dragging along with him into the frame. The man was blindfolded and had duct tape over his mouth.
The team seemed to take a collective gasp as one. They all were on the edge, literally. Prentiss looked like she was about to fall out of her chair. They had absolutely no clue as to what was about to happen. They could only guess.
They watched as, who the team knew to be Reid, struggled against the man, pulling and yanking away from him as the man tug harder on him. Reid grunts from his effort were muffled through the tape as he made no progress against the man, it being rather difficult with his hands tied behind his back that the team could now visibly see between Reid's back and the man's chest. His feet, too, were tied as they could see them dragging behind in his wake as the man pulled him to the center of the frame. They were bloody- as were his wrists. Undoubtedly he had try to escape them already.
That wasn't the only blood they saw, either. As the man gave a particularly hard tug against Reid, his body stretched upward and they were able to clearly see the heavy, wet stain on Reid's shirt right above his hipbone.
The man, once satisfied of his position in the frame, turned Reid to face the camera and forced him to his knees, to which Reid grunted again. The man reached behind his back, took out a gun and jammed it against the crook of Reid's neck. The force that the man pressed the gun into Reid's neck made him hiss through the tape and lean forward slightly.
Everyone in the room stiffened. They had no way of knowing anything that this unSub was about to do. They had no profile whatsoever. It was possible that this man had sent them a video of Reid's coldblooded murder and they were about to watch it right before their eyes. This might not be revenge at all. A message? It certainly had they're attention.
"Marco, 'ex'-Agent Gideon." The man said calmly, smugly- like he had just announced checkmate. They could practically see the man's smile through the mask he wore.
"You're going to play whether you want to or not, because I know you." The man continued, almost jubilantly. "Oh, I know." The man taunted. "You cannot resist my prize." The man said the last word with sarcastic wonder as he jabbed the gun harder into Reid's neck, who was once again pushed forward by the force and let out of muffled gasp of pain.
The man chuckled.
"Why don't you smile for the camera, Spence?" The man said as if he was talking about something as innocent as the weather as he looked down at the bound man. He reached around Reid's face and ripped the tape off roughly. Spencer was unable to hold back the gasp of pain.
"Come on. Smile!" The man said again, thoroughly enjoying this as he grabbed a handful of the kid's hair and pointed his face in the direction of the camera forcefully.
"Gideon! Don't come-!" Spencer began, nearly yelling but was cut off by a punch to the side of his face so forceful, it nearly knocked him out of the side of the shot completely.
"Ah, Spencer!" The man playfully scolded him as he grabbed Reid's hair again forcing him up and slapped the tape back over his mouth. "You spoiled my surprise." The man said, mocking disappointment.
"Well, Gideon. The rules are simple." Gideon had eyes only for the masked stranger.
"I will give you a time and place to meet three days from now. You will be alone. You will be unwired. You will be unarmed. You will be on time." The man said the list strongly, strictly, demanding. No room for error. No more play. It was all business.
"Should all of my demands be met, you will receive your prize." The man said, going back to mocking and taunting. The man straightened. He paused. And slowly tilted his head to one side. It was horrifying.
The man then spoke again slowly with growling happiness in his voice.
"In exchange for you."
Everyone was dead silent. Their eyes still glued to the screen, physically unable to look away. Reid was still on the ground, kneeling. He was breathing heavy and slightly uneven from his latest strike. There was blood slowly dripping down his face from his nose and on to the floor with the softest of splats. His head was bowed- like he was ashamed, like he had failed.
"Well, there you have it." The man said conversationally like it was the end of a sad story and he was try to change the subject, breaking the trance.
"Three days. You show up or I kill him." The man listed it off like it was a kind of wrap-up, a summary.
The man turned to the side looking like he was about to walk away, then stopped and jerked back like he had thought better of it or forgotten something and turned back to the camera, taking a step forward.
"Oh, and you'll be receiving how shall I say- 'incentive,' every day until I contact you with the meeting arrangements. Just to make sure you show up." The smile on the man's face audible in his taunt. The man actually laughed then, turned around and brought his fist backwards completely behind his back, then thrust it forward slicing through the air until it made contact with Reid's face. The force this time did have him leaving the shot completely. The last they saw of him before the screen went black.
A/N: Ta Da! Extra long! Hope it was worth the wait. Once again, I'm REALLY sorry, and I promise that I'll start writing the next chapter tomorrow- well today technically. So far, hands down my favorite chapter. But for the love of God, it took me nearly an hour trying to figure out how I wanted to start it. Please let me know what you think! Especially about the whole Charlotte=Charlie thing. I actually really like it and thought it was super cute, but if you don't you can hate me. Free country- supposedly.
ANYWAY. . . !
I know right now it's still a little bit confusing and you can guess and stuff to me if you want (but I won't tell you if your right), but I promise it well make at least a bit more sense next chapter. That being said- I have two options here. Now don't be bias but- I can either have the team guess correctly about what's going down OR I can have them get halfway there. You other writers know what I mean I'm sure, but I don't want to give the ending away with this. That being said don't just vote "Have 'em guess right" cause you want to know NOW but because you think they're that awesome and could figure it out of visa versa. Let me know!
If the above paragraph really didn't make any sense- just ignore it.
More to come! SOONER than this last time! Scouts honor. . . though I never really was a scout sooooo- . . .