Tucker parked Reid's beaten up car on the gravel driveway. She shut it off and sat there looking down the little trail. Thick brush and trees lined both sides of the gravel trail to the small cozy English cottage that her great grandfather had built for hunting. It wasn't even under her father's name instead listed in her grandmother's maiden name to ensure that the cops wouldn't find her father's favourite killing ground. She remembered driving down this road with him while his latest victim screamed in the trunk. She remembered how the screams would echo in the night but there wasn't anyone around to hear them anyway.
She rested her head on the back of her seat and took slow breathes. She knew she needed to go up that road and face her father. She couldn't let Reid down. She slowly pushed open the door and climbed out. She grabbed Reid's gun and tucked it into the back of her jeans. His pocket watch was in her pocket providing her with a sense of peace she didn't feel. She dug in her other pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She knew that the team wouldn't find this road or the cottage without her help. She didn't want to call them but if something went wrong she needed to be sure that someone would come to help Reid. She dialled Morgan's number and waited.
"Hello," Morgan said.
"I'm at his killing ground, Morgan. He has Spence," Tucker said suddenly feeling her hand begin to shake.
"Tucker, where are you?"
"You won't get here in time."
"Just tell me where you are, honey and I can try."
Tucker let a couple of tears fall and knew that Morgan wouldn't get there until it was over but it didn't matter. Worst case scenario he got there in time to help Reid but not her. "Marlinton, West Virginia. Tell Garcia to look for a piece of land near there in the name of Prudence McKinney."
"I'll do that just stay on the line with me."
"I can't. I need to stop him from hurting Spence."
"Tucker, don't go in there. Reid would want you to stay out there and wait for us."
"I can't let him hurt Spencer. Spencer is... He's the best thing in my life and I won't let my father piss all over that."
"I know but going in there by yourself could get you killed."
"As long as it only gets me killed, it's fine."
"Tucker-."
Tucker flipped the phone shut and tossed it back in the driver's seat. She turned and started walking down the driveway. She walked fast looking ahead of her watching as the cottage slowly came into view and the trees and brush slowly moved further and further away from the driveway. She slowly moved into the brush along the side of the gravel driveway and skirted around the side of the cottage. She knew there was a trap door for the cellar there and she knew form vivid memory that was where her father had kept his victims.
She moved slowly knowing that her father had a complete and beautiful view of the forest around him provided by the large windows all around the cottage. She stopped when she saw the trap door at the back of the cottage come into view. She stepped back into the brush as she heard the door to the cottage open and slam shut. She waited a moment later her father walked around the back carrying an axe. She watched as he walked over to the pile of firewood. She watched as he started to split the wood. She felt the cold steel of Reid's gun against her bare skin. She couldn't just get up and go running at him gun drawn. She needed a plan or else Clayton would win; and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.
She sat there and waited for what seemed forever but she knew it was really only an hour or so. She didn't see her father come outside again. She slowly moved and saw the doors to the cellar. Memories flashed in her head of all the times that her father had carried the parts of bodies up those stairs and just tossed them on the ground like they were garbage. She closed her eyes and took slow deep breaths to push those memories away. She opened her eyes again and decided that she could sneak in there and save Reid. She knew that her father was keeping him there. It was where her father had kept all his victims.
She slowly took off her shoes and put them aside. She sat there and waited another hour and when she was sure there was no movement, she slowly got up. She slowly made her way over to the cellar doors and crouched down beside them waiting. She would wait another half hour and then make her move. She closed her eyes and said a little prayer that Reid would be alright when she got into the cellar. She needed him to be alright; she knew he was the only person who would ever love her completely.
