A/N : It's been brought to my attention that a balance of past and present will be necessary for this story to keep a good audience who expects a writers talents at their best, satisfied, and so the next chapter will be a BAU POV. I hope this will help with the telling of the story, and I'll most likely be doing a few more chapters from the BAU's POV. Don't forget to review and tell me how I'm doing, and remember, even criticism helps. Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions, and enjoy!

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February 6th, 2007.

Brushing his hair out of the way of his eyes, Reid licked his lips, staring at the computer screen in front of him and Garcia with a frightened expression on his face. DT, standing for Devil's Tyrants, or more specifically, Dire Trouble. How ironic, Reid brain thought, as he listened to Garcia ramble off facts about how the second gang of DT came to be. How ironic that the people after him described his situation perfectly, because if this gang was truly after him, he was indeed in dire trouble.

But it would make sense; the killings. A single gunshot wound to the head, the degradation; they were ex-members of Devil's Tyrants, and those who had refused to join up with the new DT. It was as simple as that. So why then were they following him, of all agents, Reid thought, sweat forming on his brow. They could have just as easily followed Morgan, Hotch…

But the answer was at the front of his brain before he even had time to finish his pondering thought.

Reid was the weakest link. After all, he wasn't muscular, he looked like a damned college student…!

"Hey, Reid, check this out…!" Garcia said excitedly, catching Reid's attention and bringing him out of his thoughts. "Says here that Mallory Hedrickson, owner of a bar a few cities over, was a member of the Devil's Tyrants, but when people started leaving, he mysteriously disappeared. He took with him half the bar's stock of alcohol, almost all the cigarettes and cigars, and twelve-hundred dollars in cash from the register. Basically left the bar and it's business in ruin, and he never resurfaced. This was about… three years ago. What's spooky…?" Garcia then lowered her voice and said with a smile. "This is around the same time Dire Trouble was formed."

"So he contributed to the cause…?" Reid asked, but Garcia replied with a shake of her head and a chuckle as she said,

"Doesn't sound like that's all it was. Several late, ex-members had given reports of Mallory being the second in command, but supposedly aspiring to be the leader of the gang. And when the leader of Devil's Tyrants abandoned the group, Mallory evidently seized his opportunity to create a run-off of the gang, with himself as the leader."

Reid couldn't respond; he was shaking a bit to badly for his voice to come out steady enough that Garcia wouldn't notice. His eyes were glued to her computer screen, for she had just brought up a picture of Mallory; he looked exactly like the person he'd seen before in the bullpen. The one who had acted like he was a janitor, even though no one had hired anyone new in the past six months. Reid could even remember the feel of Mallory's eyes on his back, the paralyzing feeling that had gripped him so powerfully…

Reid didn't notice the strange look Garcia was giving him; his only thought was that he had to get out of here. He had to get back home, where it was safe. With a muttered,

"I'm gonna go get some sleep… I'll… be back tomorrow and we'll discuss this with the rest of the team…" Reid quickly left the tech room before Garcia could stop him.

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Reid fidgeted with his hands on the steering wheel; he was sitting at a red light, on a deserted road, at night… Shivering, Reid tried to block out the darkness as he focused on the red light above him. Why wasn't it turning? Shaking his head, Reid forced himself to think logically. It wasn't taking any longer than normal to change to green, it was just his growing anxiety that caused him to think it was taking longer than it really was.

Still, that thought didn't stop him from glancing nervously at his watch, and what he saw gave him a small start. The light was taking that long to change; he'd been sitting here for five minutes.

Okay, calm down, he told himself. Glancing in the rearview mirror, Reid looked for anyone at all, and when he didn't see anyone, he slowly let up on the gas, then turning back to face frontward. And he slammed on the breaks. Someone had driven out into the road, right in front of Reid's car. But the truck wasn't moving. It was just… sitting there, blocking his way. And his eyes…

Reid started shivering convulsively when he realized he had the undeniable feeling of being watched again, and suddenly found himself surrounded by six or seven men. Still shaking, Reid threw a glance to the rearview mirror again, but his path backward was being blocked by a pick up truck as well. Suddenly fumbling around like a madman, Reid quickly locked his car doors and placed the car in park, moving into the middle of the seat and curling up, hoping they wouldn't be able to get in.

But of course, that didn't stop them. Reid flinched terribly as loud crashes sounded out as hard object hit the windows of Reid's locked car and glass went flying everywhere. Hands reached into the car and unlocked the doors.

And then the hands were on his body. Pulling him, dragging him out of the car and onto the rough pavement. Several kicks found his stomach and his arms and legs, and once or twice he felt himself being hit in the head with what felt like a baseball bat. He was coughing and gagging, desperately trying and failing to catch his breath, his ears ringing and his skull throbbing. And then he heard a low voice, one that sounded eerily similar to the man's who had spoken to him a few mornings ago, speak up.

"That's enough."

And with that, the beating stopped, and Reid was left to cough and sputter, trying to lift himself off the ground but failing miserably. His vision was blurred with tears of pain, but he could see red on the ground where he lay and made the grave assumption that it was his blood he was seeing. But he didn't have that long to look at it, as something hit the back of his head again, this time causing bright white stars to explode in his line of sight, and then everything was black.

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Reid awoke to the horrible sensation of being dragged by his hair along a rough, craggy ground that tore and ripped at his shirt and the skin on his back, causing him to yelp out in pain. His arms flew up to trying and loosen the grip on his hair, but he soon found that his wrists were bound together with some kind of rope, and that the grip was too tight. Slowly, Reid became aware of laughter around him, but he couldn't see anyone. Blinking quickly, Reid's breathing hitched to a dangerous level as he realized he couldn't see anything. Had he suddenly gone blind…!?

But then his hands slipped from the grip on his hair, something wet and sticky covering his hands and he felt a piece of cloth that was tied around the upper portion of his face. So he was blindfolded… Even though the information didn't really help with his fears, it gave him a little solace that he hadn't gone blind. What would he have done if his entire world was the exact blackness he feared so terribly…?

Swallowing convulsively, Reid suddenly felt the grip on his hair loosen, and then he hit the ground, pain exploding through his already throbbing skull, making him cry out in pain once more. But his cry was only met with more laughter, and the eerie sound of a heavy door being opened. Then the hand that had been dragging him found his hair once more, and he was dragged into what he had to assume was another room. Then he was picked up and plopped down into what felt like a wooden chair, sitting on several bruises and making him yelp and squirm. But several pairs of hands were on his body, holding him down and still, and then another length of rope was tied around his middle.

They were binding him to the chair and he couldn't do a damn thing about it…! Reid opened his mouth to try and scream, but before he could he felt a fist find it's way to Reid's jaw, pain exploding through his head again and threatening to take him under again. But Reid found himself hanging on, and therefore felt the pain when his tied hands were suddenly grabbed and yanked over his head and behind his back, his shoulders popping with the unusual movement. This time, Reid got a full blown scream in before he was hit again, this time by a bigger hand that just about knocked his jaw out of place as well.

Pain was throbbing through every single portion of his body when they finally finished tying him to the chair. Laughter was still sounding out around him, and Reid was trying, however feebly, to brace himself for more pain to come. But the only thing that happened was his shoes and socks were taken from his feet, and then the blindfold was removed.

And in the blurry light from the hallway they had just come from, Reid saw eight men standing before him, all looking equally fierce and sadistic, grinning from ear to ear at his pain. And then they were filing out of the small room, the only person remaining being the man who had talked to him before. But because of Reid's blurry vision, he couldn't really make out the man's features when he leaned down, saying lowly,

"This is what you get, agent. You'll be our message to the rest of the FBI."

"M-message…?" Reid croaked out through a dry and cracked throat.

"Not to mess with DT."

But before Reid could even think of replying, the man stood up again and moved out the door, closing it heavily behind him. And then darkness surrounded him… complete… utter darkness… Reid's breathing hitched as he started struggling at his binds, but cried out in pain as his struggling only made his body hurt worse. Tears finally falling from his eyes and down his cheeks, Reid continued to struggle against the ropes despite the pain, trying desperately to get free. He had to get free… he just had to….

Taking a deep breath, he tried to scream,

"Help me!"

But no one answered his cracked exclamation. In fact… thinking about it, he doubted his team even knew he was here… They didn't even think he'd been serious when he'd said someone was following him… And now he was all alone…

Tears were falling heavily down Reid's cheeks with no end at the prospect of dying in this dark pit.

Someone had to save him… they had to…

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Extra A/N : Alrighty, my fans, I must say I am sorry, but I'm going to take a short break from writing. Probably no more than a few days, I promise, so don't be over worried when I don't post anything new for a while. I found this chapter a bit hard to write because I couldn't focus, and I want to try and be at my best for you loyal fans. Thanks for being such great sports.

- Lyon