A/N: Do you have any idea how annoying it is to go to bed feeling utterly exhausted from a horrendously busy week and then to put your head down on the pillow and have the next chapter (this one now) chasing around and around in your head? So much so that you just know that if you don't get it down at that moment, you don't stand even the slightest chance of actually getting it even the tiniest bit to that close as good the next morning? Well I do and its annoying.
The first third of this chapter was written while I lay in bed Friday night trying desperately in vain to sleep and finding that I just couldn't until I got it down on my notes function on my phone. Well I guess it's good for all of you at least; you'll get it today versus tomorrow.
Reviews are like gold and brain food all rolled into one. The gold makes me feel richer still and the brain food helps keep my creative juices flowing. Reviews from my faithful followers are even more precious still. Huge, HUGE thanks go out to the wonderful miaa29, Hazmatt and HPforever-after for this chapter and also to the amazing x-MJ-x for reviewing the first two chapters of Aftermath. I'm swear I'm really not evil; I just can't seem to help myself (cue wicked chuckle).
Rated M for violence, torture themes, drug use, coarse language and sex scenes. (yes, this is going to have a little bit of everything)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds at all, although they do own me and I do own Carrie and Toby, Chloe and India, Kelly and Brad and Ben.
Arabian Nights – Chapter 9
"How soon can we be in the air?"
"What?"
"Focus Kevin; how soon can we be in the air?"
Kevin eyes were glued to the screen and he didn't answer. Aaron was just about to spin him around when Clare interrupted.
"We can't fly."
He rounded on her with a snarl as Reid whimpered behind him and Dave shouted, "Way to go Emily; kick him again harder!"
"What the hell do you mean by that?" he demanded as the room erupted in cheers and Alex stepped into his path.
Clare had paled considerably in the face of his anger but her chin came up and she replied calmly, "All flights have just been cancelled. Not by the airport but by the FAA. That means that even if you can find an airport official to give you the go-ahead to fly from this airport, it would still be illegal, the pilots would lose their licences and you would cop a hefty find and possible suspension from work. There is a blizzard raging all around us in case you weren't already aware; we aren't going anywhere by any means."
He felt like howling with fury and despair; how he wanted to strike out at her for this injustice. But knowing Emily would kick his ass from here to California and back again, he reigned in his anger, hissed at her in frustration and turned back to the events unfolding on the screen in front of him and too far away for him to do anything but watch in fear.
Hold on Emily; I'll be there as soon as I can.
New Section
The plan had been that while Teresa was opening the van door, JJ and Penelope were to dive out of it as quickly as they could while the rest of them covered their backs. What no one had anticipated was exactly how quickly the guy who had been holding Penelope would react.
As JJ shoved Penelope out the door and went to slide out as Teresa was doing the same, someone caught a handful of her hair and yanked backwards hard, causing her to yelp in pain. She saw a flash of light on steel and prepared for the additional pain to come...instead she heard a sharp snap and an agonised scream behind her and the pressure on her hair was released. Less than a second later she felt a hard shove on her back.
"Move it, hurry," Jordan urged.
"What did you do?" she asked as she moved quickly down the side of the truck.
"I kicked his wrist and broke it. Hopefully that'll distract him long enough for everyone else to get out."
"Are they right behind us?"
"God I hope so," she said too softly for anyone to hear her as she cleared the end of the truck and all but fell into the arms of a big, burly officer as she tripped over her own feet in her exhaustion and relief at being free.
New Section
Jordan had seen the need before Emily had and had reacted accordingly and though Jordan's actions had changed the plan just slightly, it wasn't enough for her to be worried about it. She watched with relief as Carrie slithered out the door right behind the other woman, leaving her with Kelly to help her with Austin. Kelly, who still wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than a feather and whose back had been in painful spasms for the last hour due to the lack of support. Add to that they were still bound at the wrists and Austin had just lost consciousness and they had a huge problem.
But Kelly clearly had a solution and was already pushing the younger woman towards the open door.
"Go out first and let her fall over your shoulder; take her in a firemen's carry. Hurry!"
Emily spared a brief glance for their captors. The two in the front had already bailed and though the two in the back with them were distracted over the one's clearly broken wrist, she knew that distraction was bound to end at any moment.
She slid to the door and used the edge to propel her onto her feet, doing her best to ignore the pins and needles sensation causing her to whimper slightly. Her exhaustion levels were climbing up with every second she was upright and suddenly all she wanted to do was vomit but she pushed her uncomfortable situation out of her head and watched as Kelly lined Austin up. Between them, they managed to get her up and on to her shoulder without too much difficulty but without hands she knew keeping her there was going to be almost impossible.
"Go; I can't get out until you do and I promise I'll be right behind you steadying her."
She nodded and turned, beginning to move off when another yelp similar to JJ's previously filled the air. She turned back towards the sound to see the guy who appeared to be behind the whole kidnapping attempt trying to pull a struggling Kelly back into the vehicle with him.
Praying like mad that she wouldn't either dump Austin on the ground or hit Kelly with the move, she pulled her right leg up and snapped it out hard and fast.
She hadn't really been that sure that it would work, so it was with complete shock that she watched her foot connect with his nose...and it exploded like a ripe fruit left far too long in the sun. She was frozen into immobility as she watched his hands come up to cover his nose as he fell back and howled in agony and Kelly lunged forward and away from his grasp. But as adrenalin filled her system she shifted back into action and followed in the steps of the her friends.
They somehow managed to keep Austin off the ground as they stumbled clear of the truck to see that police and FBI agents were beginning to swarm around the other women. She exchanged a relieved look with Kelly but then started in surprise as a familiar face appeared around the unconscious woman in her arms.
"Cooper?"
"Whoa, sorry; didn't mean to startle you. You didn't think you could come to New York and not rate a visit though right? Listen, can I take her off your shoulders and hand her over to the waiting paramedics for you?"
Emily nodded relieved agreement as Cooper eased the woman off her shoulder and onto a nearby stretcher. And as a wave of utter exhaustion swept over her and sent her vision to brightly coloured streamers, lying down suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea.
New Section
Marnie watched the children laughing and playing in the square and the women sitting off to the side watching over them while they embroidered a large blanket she had already been informed was going to be their wedding present to her; a tradition from when they first arrived.
But what really had her attention as the sun warmed her face despite the chill in the air was the conversation occurring in the room behind her.
She had been very, very careful to guard the information she was giving out as she pretended to integrate into the society she had been thrown into against her will. She didn't know what would and wouldn't limit her as she gathered information that might help her to escape so she pretended to have a quiet disposition and she employed the 'sponge method' her dad had always accused her of having. Feeling a sharp pain in her heart, she carefully squashed the thought of what her father must be going through with his only child being missing. If she wallowed in despair, she would end up missing something vital here. She'd already ascertained that she was completely surrounded on all sides by mountainous, rocky terrain and dangerous wild animals but she also knew that the men in the camp had ways of leaving that kept them safe so she watched quietly and she waited for the moment she would see something that would help her.
The biggest secret she'd kept to herself had to do with the languages she could speak and understand. To most people, the conversation behind her would be gibberish and to this end she was doing her best to stay calm and not show outwardly her growing excitement.
The man that had kidnapped her had radioed in that he was picking up another eight women for his personal harem and that he and the three men with him would be back by sun-up. That had been over six hours ago and all four men were missing. They'd had no contact with any of them and they had no idea as to what might possibly have delayed them.
The hope she garnered from this allowed her to laugh at the children's antics. For if those men had been picked up by authorities, there was a chance that she would be rescued and even if that wasn't the case, she now knew that there was a way to communicate with the outside world.
She settled more comfortably against the wall as the conversation escalated to shouting and hugged her hope to her as she continued to listen.
Soon. Soon I'll be home; I promise daddy.
New Section
His ringing phone caused him to jump slightly in surprise. The majority of the room was working in some way or another, but that work was quiet, muted and the energy pulsed as if pushed down by a lid that was just waiting for someone or something to lift it off before the explosion could occur.
He turned away from the main room and into the meeting room their two teams had been given to continue working the profiles as he pulled out his phone. Or at least, Alex's team continued to work the profiles. The rest of them were glued to the news out of New York in the hopes of gleaning any information on what the hell was going on.
When the traffic helicopter had left the van to attempt to follow the two men who had been in the back of the van, the hopes had been that they would quickly return to the main road where all the action was happening. Instead, when the view had returned to the one they all desperately wanted to see, attention had been caught on the explosion of one of the cars involved in the original pileup. And since then, no further information had been forthcoming. It was as if the news of eight women freeing themselves after being kidnapped from several states away wasn't of as much significance to the audience at large as the large fireball currently spreading to engulf three vehicles and endanger others. It was incredibly frustrating for all of them because local weather reports were indicating that they might be snowed in for the next two days.
And no one wanted that less than him.
"Hotchner," he said distractedly as he watched Kevin scroll through the news channels in the hopes of finding something that would tell them anything.
"Hey babe. You still breathin' there?"
"Emily?"
End-
A/N: I know it's taking a while to get to what everyone really wants to know but I really felt the need to be detailed here. Hopefully you'll have all the answers you want in the next chapter, so stay tuned to this author for more...
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