A/N: Wow! You guys are TRULY THE BEST EVER! I think I'm very close to finally decide on exactly what I plan to do with the whole Charlie thing that should make both sides happy- maybe. I am overwhelmed with everyone's tears jerking, loving comments about my writing and story. I truly cannot tell you how much it means to me. I am honored and touched and wanted to send out my heartfelt thanks to all of you! You make this worth wild!
Well, enough being sappy.
Due to a slight outburst of a small comment based food fight (you know who you are ;) ), I got my butt into gear and wrote and exceedingly awesome chapter! :D
*TOOT! TOOT! TOOT!*
Oh, don't mind that- it's just me tooting my own horn. And seeing as how though I did get this chapter out sooner than last time, it was only by a few hours, so I should really shut up. ;)
OH! And I just found out that the quote "awesome happy faces" my computer was creating in my word documents weren't showing up. Tear. :( So! I returned to the old school emoticons of mine to brighten yall's day. ;) Haha! My computer says "yall" isn't a word.
MOVING ON!
SHOUT OUTS TO: PinkHimeLacus, ladora, roses-have-torns911, LindiJo, donttouch, 68luvcarter (great minds think alike. ;) ), MissdaVinci77, lucy62, Animalker, Elaxandrius, Maria Rianki, Rainsaber, zindiq, WallofWeird, SpenceMeRied (not spelt wrong), Rasgara, 1xadzy3dgftw1xLSNx3dg1xMGG (quite a name), Sue1313, Reidy, purplerayz, morgo7kc, mythepoeia, Klapollo88, shannonisthebestest, momiji'sunusedhalo, KASEY64, TellyAddict, Ryu Waru, SugarDetective, jimmy-barnes-13, fallfromreality, littel devil 1, YGOGenerations4ever, danicalif80, morgo7kc, CherryBerryB, and Eriks angel 15. ;)
Concerning this chapter: More answers and more Reid whump, so be forewarned. This chapter and story, as stated in the last chapter, is from here on out given a rating of T+. By Fanfiction guide lines, that means the writing "contains content not suitable for children. Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor course language, and minor suggestive adult themes." Got it? So no suing. You've been warned. Actually as this goes on, the rating will increase to M for "strong violence and language" and according to the rating guidelines, should only be read by mature teens of the age of 16 or older. But how are they gonna stop ya? ;) Just don't freak out on me. And once again- ABSOLUTELY NO SLASH! EVER!
"Well, there it 'tis!" *personal SOLO shout out if you tell me what film that quote is from ;)*
"How do these bastards get my email?"
Garcia was the first to break the silence drowning them all, and she was pissed. It was an understandable question and an intriguing one. Even though Garcia had asked it, she knew it really wouldn't be that hard to get someone's email. Granted she had six different ones, but it was as easy to breathe as it was to hack into online shopping records and look up someone's personal information. I'll have to work on a program to fix that later, Garcia thought.
"What does he mean 'incentive'?" JJ spoke up from the thick silence finally, slowly and clearly horrified at the possibilities of the man's word choice.
"He means he's going to hurt Reid." Gideon said simply, looking up staring straight ahead, staring through the bloody scarf still in Garcia's hand.
"And there's nothing we can do to stop it for three days." He sighed his voice breaking, hanging his head again, hiding the tears welling at the brim of his eyes threatening to overflow.
"But why?" Emily asked quietly. She was upset undeniably by this revelation but the profiler in her still needed to understand.
"This isn't about Reid." Hotch answered slowly, precisely. This was exactly what he had feared from the beginning and there was no denying it now. They had to understand, see it the right way. Only then could they get Reid back.
"This is about Gideon. They want him. And they know that by hurting Reid, they're hurting Gideon. They're taunting him by sending him the 'incentives' knowing he is helpless to do anything to stop it. In layman's terms, torturing Reid tortures Gideon." Hotch went on, repulsed by his own in depth understanding of the situation. How different was he really from the men that took Spencer if he could understand them so well. It's your job, he reminded himself. But there was still that tug in the back of his mind always skeptic.
"Why send them to Garcia, though?" Morgan interjected, hurting for Reid, determined but confused all the same.
"They knew." Gideon said slowly without looking up, loudly, angrily- like he was repeatedly trying to teach a toddler two plus two and not lose his temper. Morgan knew Gideon wasn't mad at him, but at the situation, his helplessness. He was still surprised by it. "They knew I would be here. The second I got the package, they knew I would come here to see for myself." Gideon sighed knowing there was no other way to see this- everything.
It was his fault. Inescapably.
"Maybe." Emily said as if she were thinking out loud.
"What? What is it?"Morgan prodded her, knowing that she was holding part of her thinking back.
"What if they did more than guess?" Emily said thoughtfully, truly wondering if what she was thinking was possible, let alone how furious she would be if it turned out to be true.
"What?" Hotch said shortly, seeming to understand where she was going, and was scared by it.
"What if someone told them? What if they have someone on the inside? Here?" Emily asked rhetorically, already pulsing with fury at the logic of it and how it explained so much.
Everyone was dead silent, absorbing the terrible suggestion and possible truth. Someone in this building, who worked with them, talked to them, was responsible for Reid being taken. No. No, they hadn't confirmed it yet. Undoubtedly if they had, someone in this building would already be dead judging by the state Morgan was in. His arms were tightly crossed over his chest, as his eyebrows dug into his face while he fought to control his breathing which was increasing rapidly.
"Think about it." Emily continued when no one answered her horrible realization. "It explains how they knew Gideon was here. How they knew about the tracers. How they knew to take Reid!" Emily's volume was increasing in loathing at this still unknown person and the thrill of finally getting somewhere like in any other case. This isn't just any other case, she though angrily to herself. This is Reid.
"It can't be coincidence." Gideon muttered to himself, almost asking it as though wishing it wasn't true.
Hotch finally spoke softly after long thought and acceptance.
"We can't rule it out. It's a possibility." Hotch address all the others who hadn't realized until he spoke that they had been waiting for him to say something. If he didn't believe it, then they didn't. It simply wasn't true.
"God, damn it!" Morgan shouted at Hotch words, uncrossing his arms and turning around to face the wall. Maybe it would be easier not to hit something if he wasn't looking at anyone while they were talking, at least he would be less likely to hit them.
"Okay, this video gives us something." Hotch said blasting in to full-on leader mode, thinking, trying to solve the case. Just a case. If that was what he had to say to himself to shut up his screaming mind and think, then he was going to do it.
Everyone in the room stared at Hotch, empty, lost. They clearly didn't understand, no see, what he had. They were worried, undeniably, and it was messing with their ability to think.
"Come on, guys!" He said trying to rally them out of it and rushing on speed long, he continued. "Reid was only taken," he stopped to glance at his watch, "four hours ago! They could only have taken him so far!" The room's atmosphere physically lightened. Hope.
"Okay so let's say they've been driving the whole four hours at at least 70 miles an hour. Hell, 75 to be safe." Morgan said, trying to visualize, if he could just think.
"Garcia look up all abandoned or empty warehouses and buildings within a," Emily paused to do some quick math "300 mile radius of where Reid was taken."
Garcia quickly nodded, finally setting down the bloody evidence that was once Reid's, before she spoke. "How did they get the tracer out?" She asked looking at the second bag on the table. "They scanners you need to find it have to be registered and they're tracked themselves! How could a bunch of psychos get one and no one notice?" Garcia asked appalled, though not really expecting an answer.
"Can you look into that, as well?" JJ asked from beside Hotch. She was still shaken from the video and was physically closing herself off- she had both arms wrapped around her stomach.
"Baby, I can do anything." Garcia told her lacking her chipper grin that was replaced by sheer determination. She knew JJ wasn't insinuating that Garcia couldn't do it, but merely didn't want to over load her with work, especially given the stressfulness of the situation.
"Good." Hotch told her, inside jumping up and down that they had something, something that would actually help.
"Everyone. We have to be careful." He told them strictly looking each and every one of them in the eye as he spoke. They all returned the same look of determination and understanding. "If they do have someone on the inside, it would be too easy for them to inform Reid's captures of where we are in the case if we let our guard down. Do not tell anyone anything about this case. As far as I am aware, only the Director knows that Reid is missing besides us. We need to keep it that way. I'll inform him of the situation." Hotch received a few nods and blinks and knew they understood, even if they didn't say it.
"What are the rest of us supposed to do?" Morgan bluntly asked Hotch, knowing that it had only been Garcia given a job. Everyone was taken aback. They had just crashed into a wall going 100 miles an hour and never seen it coming. What the hell where they supposed to do? As the terrible truth set in, it was visible. Emily's mouth fell open, JJ's eyes had never been so wide, Garcia looked between a mixed of scared and abashed, knowing she had the one job, as she glanced between Morgan and Hotch like it was a tennis match. They had to be able to do something. They had to have something to do. They just had to! They couldn't just not do anything. They needed to help or at least feel like they were- even if it was hopelessly grabbing at strings while they scoured through yet more files.
Hotch was saved the displeasure of answering Morgan with the dreaded truth by JJ's phone. The room froze as the tension spread through the air like a toxic gas while they listened in on the half of the conversation they could hear.
"This is Agent Jareau . . . It does? You're certain? . . . Where? . . . We'll be there in ten." JJ ended the call by shutting the phone then without goodbye and turned to the others, eyes wide and ears perked. Good news? Well it definitely wasn't bad because JJ would have shown some sort of emotion. Negative emotion. And she looked, she looked- happy?
"That was local PD." She said, the slightest hint of a smile creeping up onto her face and into her words. "They just got report of a burning black van over in an alley off of Mulberry Road. They said that it matched the witness' description."
Everyone was unnaturally still while she spoke. As if they moved they wouldn't be able to hear or JJ would stop talking. Once it had soaked in everyone was off faster than a rocket, even before Hotch started talking to everyone.
"You'll do that." Hotch said, answering Morgan's previously hanging question. "Morgan, Emily and JJ. Go to Mulberry and check it out. Garcia, get working on those warehouses." Hotch said stiffly. Order, they all needed order, routine, normal. And it was slipping away. Garcia turned on a dime, departing down the hall with the steady rapid clicking of her baby-blue powdered high heels with pink bows. Morgan was quickly on her heels, not needing telling twice, Emily striding behind him followed by a dashing JJ. It was as if they were seeing who could get out of the doors of the building first without a scene.
Hotch sighed as they all left, holding the table with one hand while the other pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew what was coming. It had to be done. Gideon was still in the chair. He hadn't gotten up from it since he had first sat down to review files. He has to make the first move, Hotch thought. He has to see he's in the wrong. So he waited. Nearly an entire three minutes. He couldn't budge, it had to be Gideon. His speaking up would be Hotch's proof and Gideon knew it but he had to. Hotch sighed and brought up his head and lowered his hand and looked at Gideon, who finally spoke.
"Hotch . . ." Gideon began, but Hotch cut him off. If he listened to Gideon he was likely to change his mind.
"I can't, Gideon. I won't." Hotch said simply. They both knew what they meant.
"Hotch, please." Gideon pleaded quietly, eyes still brimming with his unshed tears.
"I told you, Gideon. From the very beginning. There are limitations!" Hotch was nearly shouting in his frustration, not at Gideon, but at the situation, everything else and his own helplessness.
"You're a civilian now." Hotch breathed practically begging for Gideon to understand, to change his mind. "I cannot allow you to trade yourself for someone else- even if it is Reid!" Hotch angrily added as Gideon opened his mouth to argue. Hotch closed his eyes and breathed, praying for patience, for Gideon to understand. He had to- he just couldn't do this.
"Reid told you not to come." Hotch argued strongly, trying a different approach. "Do you have any idea how it would kill him if anything ever happened to you?" Hotch continued, angry yet again, now starting to see Gideon's decision as a selfish one.
"Do you know how guilty he would feel that you had given up your life for his?" Hotch fumed. Gideon was just sitting there with a blank face, absorbing Hotch's fury.
"You're practically his father!" Hotch shouted at the old man before him, trying everything he could to make the man reconsider. He was still fighting with the silent man, and he knew he was fighting a losing battle. The man would not change his ever stubborn mind. But God damn it, he had to try!
"He's going to need you! We need you!" Hotch finally finished his furious rant, chest heaving from his shouting at the silent man.
It was silent for what felt like forever but couldn't have been more than thirty seconds. As the silence hung heavy on the two men, weighing Hotch down his angry quickly fading and Gideon just seeming to absorb it. They simply stared at each other.
"I won't let him die."
Gideon's words were cold and horse from the built up of unspent emotion. Determined was an understatement, it was more like it was simple acceptance in fact, destiny, unchangeable. It was going to happen. Inescapably.
Hotch breathed out deeply and closed his eyes in defeat knowing he had failed in his futile attempts. He didn't want to do this and it was likely that it wouldn't even work but he was desperate. He turned his side to Jason as he gripped the table with both hands again and bowed his head. Everything was just so fucked up. He lifted his head and opened his eyes looking dead ahead of him. He spoke in a strong and demanding tone of business, one he used every day, on every case.
"I'm placing you under 24 hour surveillance for your own safety. You are not to leave this building."
Gideon sat still in the chair staring at Hotch. After no more than three of the longest second Hotch had ever felt, he jumped out of the chair at last and stormed around the other side of the table across from Hotch, not even sparing him a glance and left the room at a brisk pace.
Hotch had closed his eyes as Gideon walked straight into his line of vision, not being able to even look at him after what he had just done to the man, and sighed yet again letting his head fall to the table underneath him again. It was a lot to handle. Too much? No. He had to handle it, even if he didn't think he could he had to, for everyone. He was the leader. By what right could he tell the others to keep it together if he couldn't?
Hotch breathed heavily, deep and slow forcing himself into a trance like calm. We'll get him back, he thought. One way or another, thinking back to Gideon's unwavering decision to give himself over to the unSubs in exchange for Reid.
"I'm sorry."
Hotch whispered to the silent empty room. He wasn't sure who or what his statement was directed at. Reid? Gideon? He was just sorry- so sorry.
For everything.
They didn't know he was awake. Good, he thought. It was a chance to listen in and maybe figure out something about what the hell was going on.
He felt the van turn sharply than lurch to a halt. He heard doors open then slam close and felt the van shake. He heard the door next to him slide open and felt the sun hit his face. It had been a very sunny and nice day early, ironic for the given situation, but now all he saw was the blackness flooding his eyes.
"Bring him." He heard the voice man that had taken out his tracer earlier say. He's got to be the leader, Spencer thought.
He felt two pairs of hands on him as he feigned unconsciousness. One pair grabbed his ankles and the other grabbed him under the arms. He felt the pressure of the van under him leave as he was carried through the air. He heard shuffling feet and slight grumble of small rocks or gravel. Pavement, Reid thought.
"Where's Arthur going?" Spencer heard one of the men carrying him ask.
"I gave him a job to do. He gonna meet back up with us. Now, shut up and put him in the car." The leader yelled at the man. Reid heard the man scoff at the leader's demanding like he didn't respect him but continued to carry Spencer to wherever he was taking him.
They're switching vehicles, Reid thought, great.
Reid felt himself being placed somewhat gently into what he guessed was the trunk of an SUV, judging by the how far he was brought up, the narrowness and height of the space.
"Light it up boys!" The leader could be heard yelling cheerfully.
He heard the sloshing of liquid. The burning stench of gasoline reached his nostrils and he had to fight hard not to sneeze as the smell irritated his nose. He heard a faint clink of metal and then the roaring sound of rushing air and cackling flames. He felt the wave of heat hit him in the small explosion along with the choking stench of burning metal.
"Beautiful."
The leader was clearly a sick man, seeing pleasure in destruction and pain. A sadist, Reid thought. He was saved the horror of the group discovering he was awake from a coughing fit from the horrendous reek when the leader called out again.
"Let's go!"
The trunk door slammed down and Reid heard no more than the deafening silence of the sound canceling empty SUV. The doors were opened and the car shifted under the weight of multiple bodies situating themselves in the seats. The engine started up and the SUV started to rumble and vibrate.
"Don't talk until we get there, I don't want to chance him hearing anything." The leader demanded of the others. Crap, Reid thought. This guy was smarter than he originally gave him credit for.
And Reid heard nothing more.
The three agents arrived on the scene of the torched van only eight minutes after Detective Adams had called them.
"Agent Prentiss. Agent Morgan." He nodded at the two he had met earlier at the station when they came to question that girl. He smiled politely at the third blonde agent he had yet to know the name of.
"Detective." Prentiss greeted the man stiffly, tense from the scene that she itch to search behind the man in front of her. "You know Agent Morgan. " The two men shook hands. "And this is Agent Jareau." Agent Prentiss indicating the pretty agent to her right.
"Nice to meet you." Adams said, shaking her hand as well.
"Well," Adams said breaking the awkward silence as he tried to make nice only to see they wanted to get straight to it. Adams turned his back on them and started walking towards the charred ruins of what was once a vehicle, a sign for them to follow as he continued to speak to them.
"The blaze got called in at about 7:21 this morning, and the fire department has been working on it ever since." Adams said stopping in front of the pile of blacked metal as the small group gathered around. "They finally got it under control and have just cleared it for CSI. So far nobody 'round here saw or heard anything."
Indeed the scene was crawling with personnel. The men in the gigantic yellow suits and helmets were rolling up hose and packing in to the flaming red engine right up to the curb. CSI were just beginning to gather together their kits and heading over to the once upon a time, van.
"Why weren't we called sooner?" JJ asked, slightly annoyed.
"We couldn't even tell what was burning for the first hour. Then I figured I'd wait to call you until you would at least be allowed to view the van. They were taking their time with the fire and gave it a huge birth because they were worried about the gas tank exploding. Once they deemed it no longer a threat I called you." Adams said defensively.
Prentiss simply nodded her understanding. Morgan handed her and JJ a pair of gloves he had just gotten from the CSI that had approached behind them and silently handed them over. They immediately put them on and began scouring through the frame of the van for any evidence.
"I really don't think you guys will find much of anything in there." Adams told the agents as two of them began to lean into the back of the decimated van and one in the front. "This thing is totaled. You won't get anything in here to hold up in court." Adams said innocently looking in after the agents, interested.
Emily knew Adams was just trying to help them and save them sometime but it didn't stop her from answering him with a bit of bite in her words.
"We don't need it to. We need answers."
"Right." Adams said dropping it and physically backing off.
"Damn." Morgan muttered as he took in the site of a baked in stain, so dark brown it was nearly black. "Be sure you get a sample of that and put it on rush." Morgan told the CSI woman behind him, who quickly nodded and took a picture of the stain, seeming to be worried that Morgan was going to move something before she could document it.
Morgan was 98 percent positive that the dark was a blood stain but refused to believe it was Reid's until he had definitive proof from the lab. It was after all a somewhat large stain.
JJ heard Emily whistle at the CSI guy on her side of the van from the back, and leaned back to find her pointing at something inside the van for the man to take a picture of. He quickly focused on whatever it was and clicked a frame. Emily reached back into the van, her whole upper half disappearing from JJ's view.
"What is it?" She asked the hidden woman.
Prentiss replied simply by standing up straight again out of the van in JJ's sight, dangling a piece of- something between her thumb and index finger. It was long and was already but definitely was now black and seemed to have a handle, but was now clearly distorted. JJ looked on at the foreign object confused by Emily's expression.
"What is-?" JJ began, but Emily cut across her.
"First thing that comes to mind. Go." Emily said quickly and harshly at her.
"Uh- a metal detector?" JJ asked not sure where Emily was going, and surprised by how quick her own response was.
"That's what I thought." Prentiss muttered to herself, bringing the object closer to her eyes and bending down over it for a better look. "Morgan?" She called to the man on the other side of the van, who was now looking in the front passenger seat.
"Hmm?"
He leaned back from the front so that he could see through the side door to Emily. His face turned from questioned interest to concerned confusion at the sight of the object in Emily's hand.
"Is that a metal detector?" He asked her surprised, walking the two steps back so that he was now wholly visible.
"That's what we were thinking." Emily told him as she handed over the wrecked object to his outstretched hand for his own examination.
Morgan started at the object a moment longer, turning it in his hands, looking at it from every angle, then turned around to the same CSI woman behind him and placed it in an 'evidence' bag for her just as his phone rang.
"Talk to me, baby." Morgan answered, walking away from the ruble the others quickly coming around the van to follow him to devour any news. "Tell me something to make me happy." Morgan pleaded.
"Oh, my favorite chocolate guardian, negatory. I'm afraid I have naught." They heard Garcia's typically cheery voice through the speaker on Morgan's phone as one of sadness and apology. "On the contrary, I think I figured out how they found Reid's tracer." She said tragically.
"Tell me, sugar." Morgan sighed, not really caring to know but needing to.
"Well," Garcia began talking rapidly as she always when dishing out discoveries. "I looked into the scanner records and all are currently in the states they are registered to. There aren't even any registered to Virginia other than the ones that the FBI has, and they're all accounted for."
"And?" Emily added knowing there was more.
"And-" Garcia hesitated, not really wanting to tell them what she found out. "I've been doing some research and I found out that the amount of metal in the tracers is strong enough to trigger a sensitive enough metal detector." Garcia finished worried knowing it was far easier to get hands on a simple metal detector.
At the words of Garcia, Emily's mouth fell up and she stared meaningfully at a fear frozen JJ who had closed her eyes and a cursing Morgan.
"Damn."
"What? What is it?" Garcia's worried voice could be heard coming from the phone. Emily was the first to regain composure and answer the fearful technical analyst.
"We found it." She said annoyed, furious at the people that had done this.
"Oh my God." Garcia gasped. "I can't believe they would actually do something like this. It's so primitive and not sterile. It would have really hurt." She finish, her voice catching as she thought of the pain Reid must have been in when the tracer was pulled from him.
"He's strong, baby. And don't worry. We are going to find him." Morgan reassured her, noting the emotion in her voice. "What about the warehouses?" Morgan pushed.
"Nearly done. Still getting background. I'll brief everyone when you get back." Garcia said calming down, settling back into her element. Information. Facts. Safe.
"Yeah, alright." Morgan sighed realizing there was nothing more to do here and they might as well head back. Emily nodded her head understandingly as Morgan spared her a look. "We're on our way back now. Be there soon."
"See ya, sugar." Garcia said small-ly after the dismal conversation.
The three Agents trooped back to the SUV they arrived in, shoulders drooped in defeat at the new depressing revelations, knowing only more was to come.
"Come on, Richard! You don't need to that!" He yelled at the man who had single handedly name himself as head jackass of this whole . . . shit! The man was scrunched down on the cement next to kid's head on the floor where he had thrown him when Richard had them take the kid out of the Escalade, before they made the first video. Richard was forcing large headphones onto the kid's protesting head. He was fighting Richard, turning his head left and right.
"Stop struggling!" Richard yelled at him then struck the kid, dazing him enough to fit the headphones over his head easily.
"Jesus." He muttered turning away from the disgusting scene before him as Richard stood up from the kid and started to talk to him- well yell.
"Come on, Ian!" He protested. "You agreed to this! We all agreed to this."
"I agreed to getting Gideon!" Ian fired back, pointing to the door of the warehouse and outside where the said man was. Not here.
"This was the only way!" Richard argued.
Ian rushed forward into Richard's face and swore he saw him back down infinitesimally as the man started straight back at him. The others stared on at the scene playing out before them with concern.
"You know damn well it wasn't!" Ian whispered fuming.
Richard's face of stone abruptly turned soft as he knew exactly what Ian was talking about and why he was whispering. He didn't trust the others. He didn't trust anyone anymore. Richard didn't back away from Ian but lowered his as he continued the argument in hushed hated tones.
"You know why I did this."He told the man before him radiating hateful heat.
"I-" Ian began at a lost. He did know why but didn't like it.
"You agreed!" Richard yelled again.
Ian was silent as he thought trying to find something that could change the situation.
"We don't have to do this." He whispered against Richard's shouting.
"We are going to do this!" Richard shouted, backing up and turning in a circle with his arms out addressing Ian along with all the others watching the exchange, looking at each of them as he spoke. He wasn't asking but telling. He walked slowly back into Ian's face, angrily looking down on the man.
"You know what will happen if you don't." He hissed pronouncing every word heavily. He raised his eye brows with a sickeningly twisted smile on his teeth to demonstrate what he meant. Richard knowing he was beat sighed and turned away, if to just get away from the revolting man.
The heated exchange had occurred all while the poor kid was on the floor struggling against the headphones that were blaring white noise into his ears. They were too tight. He wouldn't be able to get them off at all, but it didn't seem to stop him from trying. He looked so helpless tied up, gagged, blindfolded. And now he had those God awful headphones on. Everyone had their mask off. They didn't need them with the kid completely unable to ID anything, let alone anyone.
"Now!" Richard shouted to the others spread out in a wide birth around the kid. "What are we going to do for our next little film?" He asked tauntingly as he looked down at the struggling man, knowing full well he couldn't hear him.
"Another?" Ian asked horrified. "You already sent them one."
"That was just to notify them of the situation. This will be the first incentive I promised them." Richard said, not spare a glance to Ian while he smiled down at the 'Doctor'.
"God." Ian muttered once again turning away from the man.
It was silent as Richard's question remained unanswered. All of them were standing apart minus two that were close to each other near a pillar. They were all taking defensive poses. Legs apart, arms crossed. They didn't like each other. They didn't know each other. They didn't trust each other. Though granted nearly all of them thought Richard a dick, Ian included, they needed a leader and none of them were willing to take the position. That being said, Richard's question remained unanswered because no one wanted to chance pissing him off.
Richard stood staring down at the man on the floor, head tilted contemplating his options. That twisted evil grin slowly spread across his face.
"Vi." He called to the only woman in the troop. He turned his head to his right where she was leaning against a pillar lazily as if this bored her. She was just as bad as him, Richard knew. They had killed him just as they did her. They had killed all of them. That's why they were here.
"Vivian." She corrected him stingingly as she sauntered forward. She was a gorgeous red head, the fact of which was only enhanced by her swinging hips. Once she was in front of Richard, he spoke again.
"Want to have some fun?" He asked through his smile. She in turn had her own smile slowly spreading across her mouth. She turned her head around behind her to the man on the floor sizing him up. She turned back to Richard, smile still on.
"Get your camera." She smirked.
Richard did just that as Vivian walked over to the Doc. She pushed him with her foot off his side and onto his back, his hands pressing in painfully. She picked up one leg and stepped over and less than gently lowered herself down, so that she was straddling his hips.
The kid grunted under Vivian's weight forcing himself harder into his bound hands. He immediately stopped struggling once her weight was one him. He couldn't see so she figured he must have been horrified as to who was on top of him.
She placed both hands on his chest moving them with pressure against his shirt and skin while they slid slowly up to and over his shoulders and then down his biceps, caressing his ribs, and then his own hips
He was unnaturally still. Tense. Shaking.
He was horrified.
She reached her hands up to his face and gently took off the ugly headphones. She heard the horrible sound emitting from them before she threw them to the side. The nearly hit one of the group who were all watching this intimate moment along with Richard holding the camcorder in his hand documenting the poor kid's extreme discomfort and torment for his extended family to see. Again, Vivian reached up and quickly ripped the tape harshly from his mouth. The kid barely hissed from the pain.
She leaned back rocking on his pelvis then placed her hands again on the young man's body, at his navel. He twitched under her unwanted touch especially it being so low. Vivian slowly fanned out her fingers and started to push her hands with straight arms up his body, rocking forward as they passed his shoulders until she was flat against his body. Her body's full weight pressed into his, her breasts resting against his chest. She listen to his shaking shallow breaths as he continued to shake, tremble. Vivian glided her hands over his shoulders again bringing them to a rest on his chest. She leaned into his face, so close until she could smell his breath. Coffee.
Vivian knew the kid knew how close she was. She knew he could feel her cool exhale against his skin. She brought one hand up to his face and pushed back a strand of stray hair away from his face with the back of a single finger. He shuddered. The same hand she brought down to grip the back of his neck. Gripping his neck with the edges of her fingers, Vivian stretched her thumb up to the front of his face having it caress the curves of his lower lip of is slightly parted mouth. His breathing was disjointed, coming and stopping, getting caught in his throat from fear. The trembling was uncontrollable, violent like. He was absolutely mortified; which might have been what finally made him speak.
"Please."
She had barely heard him and Vivian was inches away. She gripped his neck hard and leaned even closer to the side of his face, down to his ear.
"I could do it." She whispered. She could. She wouldn't. The kid needing to understand that. She didn't want him. None of them did. He was a means to an end. She grabbed the tape next to his head that she had ripped off earlier and pushed it back down over his quivering lips. She sat back up, got to one foot and then the other, walked to a bemused Richard.
"Not your type?"
"I won't. Stick to your plan." She said vehemently walking past him, and with great restraint lacked adding "pig" at the end of her sentence.
"Fine." Richard shrugged. "Someone get me a chair!"
"Okay, girly. Spill." Morgan told Garcia now that they were all gathered behind the locked door of the conference room again.
"Well, other than the fact that we now are pretty positive that those bastards used a metal detector to find where Reid's tracer was, I have info on the warehouses and empty or abandoned buildings you had me check out, Hotch."
"What do you have?"
"Well within the three hundred mile radius of where Reid was taken, there are 23 abandoned or empty building and 342 abandoned or empty warehouses." Garcia sighed depressed by the overwhelming results of her search.
"Can you narrow it down at all?" Emily asked desperate.
"'Fraid not, sweet cheeks. Most of the buildings are set for demolition so have absolutely no security whatsoever. Same goes for a fourth of the warehouses. There are a handful of private owners that I am currently background checking but so far, nada. And the rest are owned by corporations and are just not in use, and because of said lack of use, have very little to no security." Garcia finished shortly, typing away on the laptop in front of her on the table.
"They could have taken Reid to anyone of them." She sighed in the typical way of a dead end.
Garcia herd a small key tone from her computer and heard nothing more of the conversation that the others plowed into headlong. Undoubtedly they were talking about their options and where to go from here and what they knew for sure so far. But she didn't hear. The key tone had notified her of a received email from a still as of yet unknown sender.
As hard as Garcia may have tried to speak, the small video strip icon showing as an attachment to the email seemed to have a firm grasp on her, constricting her throat in fear at what it possibly held on it. Breaking free of her clutching terror, Garcia forced out o few labored breaths before she finally spoke.
"Guys."
A/N: Ta Da! There you go! Again, hope it was worth it. Sorry if there are a bunch of opps in here but I hardly re-read through it at all cause I wanted to get it out ASAP because I had already taken so damn long.
Okay, so I suck. I know. ;)
And I'm working on it. I hereby state that I will do no later than WEEKLY updates. Meaning no more than seven days. I feel that if I make this known to everyone publically that I'll have incentive to stop being a jacka** and taking so long to update. Agreed? Friday's sound good?
I might update sooner than that- but that being said the chapters may be shorter. So, give me your input. Would you rather me update once a week with longer chapters, or every few days with shorter chapters? And don't forget about my SOLO shout out promise! ;)
So OFFICIALLY: I am sorry for my crapulence at posting in a timely manner.
Hopefully this won't turn into something like my New Year's Resolution.
"This year, I pledge to be more punctual. . . " ;)