Avenger of Blood
Chapter
2
Fallout
Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts. - Benito Mussolini
Reid Morgan and Emily were just leaving the building when the blast struck. People were thrown across the road like rag dolls. Emily lay still on the ground, afraid to move. She called to Morgan – she could see his arm without moving her head, but she couldn't see Reid.
She called to Reid, and moved her head slightly so that she could see more of the pavement. She was on the opposite side of the road to the police station, and she turned to see the building was a pile of rubble.
'Oh my god! Hotch! Rossi!'
She tried to get up, but her hip hurt and she couldn't move.
'Reid!'
It was Morgan calling for him.
Emily pushed herself onto her hands and knees. The pain in her pelvis increased and she lay back down again, panting for breath. Morgan crawled over to her.
'I'm ok, Morgan. Find the others. Where's Reid? And JJ. Hotch and Rossi are still in there.'
There was the distant sirens as the emergency services began to arrive. Emily caught hold of Morgan's arm.
'Find the others....' Emily's hand slipped away from Morgan as she fainted.
-0-0-0-
In the basement, the dust was settling. The lighting was flickering on and off, and there was the sound of electrical shorts. There was something heavy pressing down on Hotch's back. He tried to pull himself from under it, but he screamed as something cut through his clothes into his skin. He tried to roll over but there wasn't enough room.
'Dave!' he called.
There was no answer. Hotch tried to piece together what had happened. A man had come down to the basement and set off the bomb with his cell phone. Where was he now?
'Hello...... Is there anyone else here?'
By way of an answer, someone took hold of his ankle.
'Dave, is that you?'
'No.' the voice replied. Hotch tried to turn to see what was happening..... who was touching him, but he couldn't turn. Any movement was excruciating. he tried to reach for his gun, but his hips were trapped under what felt like a concrete beam. The gun in his ankle holster was removed, and he heard the man walking closer.
'So you are in charge?' he said. Hotch tried to look at him, but couldn't turn his head far enough.
'Where's Dave?'
'Can't see anyone else. It's just you and me.'
The man leaned on the beam that was holding Hotch down. Hotch squirmed beneath it, determined not to cry out as something dug deep into his back. The beam suddenly moved, and there was the sound of concrete falling.
'Dave!' he called to his friend. 'Dave, answer me!'
'I told you he's not here.' the man said, and stood on Hotch's hand, pressing down into the dust. Hotch pulled his hand away but not before the skin was torn.
Hotch was finding breathing difficult. He needed to get out from under the beam.
'I'll die if you don't get me out.' Hotch said. 'I won't be a very good hostage if I'm dead.'
'Who said anything about a hostage.' the man said. 'I expected to die in the blast, not end up stuck down here with you.'
Hotch tried to use the strength in his back to move the beam. If whatever was holding one end up should give way, he would be crushed to death. He had the option of trying to get out, and risk the whole thing falling on him, or lying still and waiting for help to arrive.
In the end there was no option. The beam wouldn't move, and so nor could he.
'Please, look for my colleague.' Aaron said. 'Help him.'
The man said nothing and sat down on a concrete block.
Aaron called Dave again, and there was only silence. The man was sitting still on the block.
'Why have you done this?' Aaron asked.
'My son was murdered by someone in this station.' he said. 'As the one in charge, you are responsible. I am going to kill you. I am my son's blood avenger, and I will die avenging him.'
'I wasn't even here when your son was shot.' Hotch said. 'You have the wrong man.'
'I have the right man.' he said back. 'You said yourself that you were in charge.'
Aaron coughed. He was breathing in dust and grit, and he was bleeding from his nose and ear.
'Let me up so that I can find my colleague, please.' Aaron said. 'I can't go anywhere and you have my gun.'
'You are staying right there. Now shut up and let me think.'
Aaron lay still with his head on one side. He hoped that the others had got out in time. The bomb had been in the ground floor, and the building was three stories high as far as he could remember, so it was going to be a while before they got to them. In the meantime, he was slowly being crushed to death as the beam pressed down harder onto his back. There was a sudden movement, and this time he couldn't help crying out as the beam dropped an inch.
'Please, help me.' he said. I can't..... breathe.'
-0-0-0-
Reid slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, and expected to see the sky, but there was only black. He tried to remember what had happened. He could remember leaving the basement – they were on their way somewhere with a photograph, but that was all he could remember.
He tried to get up, and that was when he realised that he was in an air pocket under a pile of concrete.
A bomb? An earthquake?
His foot was trapped, and he couldn't get up. He reached up with his hands. There was about a foot of space above him and then concrete. He had to get out and quick, before the whole lot came down on him.
'Hello! Is there anyone else here? Emily? Morgan?'
There was no reply to his cries. He wriggled his foot in an effort to loosen it from the rubble but it wouldn't budge.
'JJ! Morgan!'
He felt his heart rate increase, and realised that he was about to have a panic attack. With a huge effort he tried to regulate his breathing but he was hyperventilating. He closed his eyes again, against the thick darkness that surrounded him, and tried to think through this logically, but his fear of the dark was taking hold and all he could think about was the inky blackness crushing in on him.
'Somebody help me.....' he cried, but all it sounded like to his own ears was a pitiable sob of fear.
-0-0-0-
Emily was being strapped to a gurney.
'I can't leave!' she yelled at the medics strapping her down. 'I have colleagues trapped in there.'
'Lay still, Prentiss, and that's an order.' Morgan said, touching her arm. 'I'll let you know as soon as we find the others.'
Still protesting, she was loaded into an ambulance, and sirens blaring, she was taken off to hospital. Morgan stood unsteadily watching it go. His leg was hurting, but he wasn't going to say anything until he had found the rest of the team.
Reid shouldn't be far away. He was only just behind him. He crossed the road to the ruins of the building and began the search.
'Reid! JJ!' he called. JJ had been on the floor above, organising a press release. Hotch and Rossi had been in the basement.
He began pulling at the blocks of concrete with his bare hands.
-0-0-0-
'Help me....' croaked Aaron. The pressure on his back was increasing, and each breath was shallower than the one before. He reached out to the man who was still sitting on the block, saying nothing, and not moving. He tried to touch him but he was too far away. The man kicked Aaron's hand out of the way.
'Don't touch me. I'm trying to think.'
The man got up and began to check the area where they were trapped. There was no way out.
'If you help me,' Aaron said softly, 'It will look better for you in court. You don't have to die today.'
The man went close to Aaron. 'Shut up!' he shrieked, and kicked Aaron in the side of the head. He clamped his hands to his ear and tears sprang to his eyes.
Suddenly the man came to a decision.
'I'm going to try to lift the beam. You will need to crawl out from under it.'
'I don't think I can.' Aaron said. 'You will need to rest the beam on something, and pull me out by the arms.'
Oh god........
The man put his weight behind trying to lift the beam It shifted about a inch, and Aaron cried out loud as the weight on his back increased. But it wouldn't move any more. There was too much weight on top of it.
'You will have to stay there.' he said. 'I will find your colleague. He will get me out of here.'
Aaron couldn't speak now, the pressure was too great. He closed his eyes and waited for the beam to crush him. It wouldn't take much. Another couple of inches and he'd be dead.
-0-0-0-
Dave was just waking up. Like Reid, he didn't know how he had got in this position. He was on his side, lying in the thick dust that was still settling. He realised straight away that he was not being held down, but he was trapped in an air pocket. There was some flickering light coming from somewhere and he guessed that the emergency lighting was still working in the basement. He rolled onto his front and climbed onto his hands and knees. There was room for him to crawl, but not to stand.
Aaron. He had been with him.
'Aaron! Hotch!' he called, but there was no reply. He crawled to the edge of his tiny prison, and carefully started to move lumps of concrete out of the way.
What the hell had happened? He guessed a bomb. He remembered a man use a cell phone seconds before the blast that had caused the ceiling of the basement to cave in. The bomber had been in the basement too. was he still there?
'Can anyone hear me?' he called as he dug his way carefully through the rubble.
Suddenly he was through. Carefully, so as not to cause a roof fall, he reached through the hole he had dug. he inched his way through the hole towards the light.
A hand grabbed his wrist.
'Move slowly, and don't try anything. I have a gun.'
Dave moved very slowly. As soon as he was half way through, the man took his gun from his belt. Holding one gun in each hand, he allowed Dave to get through the hole.
'Now I want you to free your colleague.' he said, and ushered Dave over to where Aaron lay trapped. 'I will pull him out when you lift the beam.' he said. Dave bent down and took hold of the beam and lifted it about an inch. The man took Aaron's arms and pulled him clear, taking his gun as he did so and putting it into his pocket. Aaron was unconscious now. As soon as he was clear, Dave dropped the beam. It crashed down into the space where Aaron had been lying. Dave moved quickly to Aaron's side. Immediately, the man raised his gun to Dave.
'Get away from him now.'
Dave stepped back and the man shot him. Dave fell to the ground, bleeding from a wound in his hip. He rolled onto his back, clutching at the wound. The man ignored him and went to Aaron. he kicked him roughly.
'Wake up. You are no good to me asleep.' He kicked him again and Aaron groaned, and opened his eyes. His first thought was that he was free, and then he saw Dave, and tried to crawl over to him.
'Leave him alone. I had to shoot him. I can't control you both. But I didn't kill him because I might need him if you die.'
Aaron coughed and vomited the dirt and dust he had been breathing in. he was still lying on his front, unable to get up. He could feel blood running down his sides from the puncture wound on his back. The man waved his gun at him.
'I need to stop the bleeding or he will bleed out and die anyway.' Aaron said, and began to drag himself to Dave's side.
'Get up and go and sit by him.' he said, indicating Dave who was semiconscious on the floor. He was losing a lot of blood, and Aaron crawled painfully to his side, and tried to press down on the wound. Dave groaned.
'I'm sorry, Dave. I have to stop the bleeding.' Aaron whispered to him. Dave lifted his hand and pressed Aaron's hand.
'I'll do it.' he said weakly. 'Don't upset the guy.'
'You can't .' Aaron said, and removed his jacket and started to undo his shirt.'
'I'm going to make a bandage.' he said, and took off his shirt. It was already soaked with his own blood, but there was nothing else he could use. He wrapped the shirt around his hip and thigh, and used his tie to hold it on. He looked up at the man.
'That's the best I can do.' he said. 'He needs a hospital.'
'No chance of that.' he said, and raised his gun and shot Aaron.