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A/n here's the next chapter my friends.

The Black King

Reid heard the cocking of a gun and fought down the urge to panic. He took in a breath and opened the door with his gun. "Hello…" He said with as much confidence as he could muster. "I think you're all waiting for me."

The room Reid had entered was a filthy kitchen. He barely noticed the décor though… His mother and his father sat in chairs across from each other with their hands on a dusty, wooden table. His mother looked up at him and amazingly she smiled at him as though he'd just come to Bennington. He tried to smile back, but he just couldn't make his mouth turn up at the edges.

"Welcome Dr. Reid," said the tall, blonde, handsome man with piercing blue eyes. "You disappoint me. I thought you'd figure things out just a little faster." He held up his hand with the forefinger and thumb less than an inch apart.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay. Now that you're here we can get down to business."

"I had other things to deal with, like the death of Angela Beauvais." Reid said, a hard edge entering his voice as he spoke.

Mason's eyebrows went up into his forehead. "Is that rage I hear in your voice little man? I was right, she did get to you."

"You used her to make a point to me. She was just a way for you to show me your power."

Mason grinned. "You're right in one Dr. Reid. Very good... Still, I would've thought you'd make it out here just a bit faster. I've grown bored waiting for you to show up." A hard edge entered his voice with this last statement.

"Why did you come here?" William piped up to Reid. "You should have stayed away."

"Dad! You lost the right to tell me what to do a long time ago."

William's dark eyes held nothing but sorrow as he looked up at his son. Reid didn't see the disapproval in them that he was used to seeing from his childhood. There was only fear and the possibility of loss now. It churned in his heart in a way he hadn't felt in a very long time.

"Spencer… You shouldn't talk to your father like that." His mother said.

"Mom… Please, I need to get control of this before Mr. Parker starts shooting." He said as though the other man wasn't in the room with them.

"Oh don't trouble yourself... I have all the time in the world." Mason said with glee in his voice. "We're all one big happy family!" It was as though this were some kind of bizarre birthday party. "Now that we're all together we can get on with the business at hand. Dr. Reid… Why don't you stand next to your father?"

Parker turned to the silent goons standing guard over Spencer's parents. He gestured to the door. "Get out of here and leave us alone."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Said the smaller, graying, pot bellied man who carried a fifty-caliber handgun in his right hand.

"I don't care what you think Hank. You have served your purpose and you have the money I promised you. The Reids are mine to deal with, so get out of here now."

The two men left the room through another door next to the scarred and pitted cabinetry that lined the walls above a space where there must have been a stove at one time.

After they left, Mason smiled at Reid again and indicated his father. "Please…." He asked politely.

Reid let his gun drift down at the dirty and dingy white tile floor that was cracked and missing in some places. He went to his father as Mason had ordered him. His shoes squeaked on the dust and dirt as he moved. The sound reminded him of the rats in the ceiling when he'd entered the room.

William looked up at him with total trust that sent shivers up Reid's arm and across his back. He tried to make his father see through his eyes that his harsh words were just for effect. William nodded his head imperceptibly and Reid let out a tiny sigh.

"Your son doesn't seem to be all that happy to see you William." Mason said from his place at the cracked and warped counter. "Tell me Dr Reid… What did your father do to you to make you hate him so much, apart from the obvious abandonment?"

"Put down your gun and maybe I'll tell you."

"I don't think so!" Mason's hand hadn't moved or trembled in the last hour. "Why don't you bring your gun to me instead, Spencer?"

"Let's just talk about your brother." Reid changed the subject.

Mason crossed one leg in front of the other and smirked at Reid. "So you finally figured it all out."

"Yes… Gary Michael's was your brother. You hid your ownership of this place behind a corporate blind called Jenkins Inc. That wasn't very smart."

"Spencer!" His father admonished, shifting in his chair.

"Don't move William." Their captor said.

"Stay still Dad. I can handle this." Reid said never taking his eyes off Mason.

"You sound so official and FBI, Dr. Reid. I know it's just bravado. Agent Morgan's the muscle of your operation and he isn't here to save your skinny butt this time."

Reid let a smile drift over his face as he maintained the casual stance of someone talking to his or her best friend. "I'm surprised you'd sink to taunts Parker. I lived through the Las Vegas Public School System. Nothing you can say to me is going to hurt my feelings."

Mason grinned right back at him as he stared at Reid over his mother's head. He moved away from the counter and put the barrel of his gun at the back of Dianna's head. She sat up straight, looking up at Reid with the kind of trust that burned because he couldn't let her down.

"I don't believe you! I think they hurt more than you want to admit. Still… I'm not here to discuss your likely emotional damage because of your childhood. It's time to say goodbye to your precious mother."

"NO!" William rose out of his chair nearly knocking Reid into the table.

"Sit down William!" Mason shouted.

All of the playful attitude in his bearing disappeared as Reid took his father's arm and pushed him back into his chair. He shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"Let's all just calm down and talk about this." Reid said. He lifted his gun back up to point at Parker.

"I don't think so… I'm done waiting to kill those responsible for my brother's death."

"I know… I have a deal for you." Reid said. "You want me to watch you kill my family. I want all of us to walk out of here."

"I'm the only one leaving here." Mason said, calm returning to his voice as his gun returned to the back of Dianna's head.

"Your brother wouldn't have wanted you to kill just to revenge his death. He stayed away from you because of his urges. He didn't want to hurt you. You can just walk away." He lowered his gun back to the ugly tile floor.

Mason threw back his head and laughed as though he'd just heard the best joke in his life. "You're attempts to talk me down, as it were, won't work. I'm on a course that I can't change."

"Why don't we play a game?" Reid said, "A simple game of draw poker. You win… you get to kill all of us. You lose and you get to kill me. I'm the one you really want Mason. If not for me and the temptation I posed to your brother, he might still be alive."

"Then what's to stop me from splattering your brains all over the wall?" Mason asked.

"You love to gamble. The last thing Angie said to me before she died was that you hate to lose. I didn't put it together right away, but you hate to lose. You gambled on your business making millions of dollars. The young man you hired to kidnap my mother owed you money on gambling debts. That's why you launder money through your tournament. You enjoy the challenge."

"You're right…" Mason agreed. He gestured to the chair at the head of the table. "You sit here and I'll sit at the foot of the table."

Reid sat down, put his gun on the table within reach and pulled a deck of card out of his pocket. "I anticipated needing these." He began to shuffle them expertly.

"Very good Dr. Reid. If I didn't have to kill you, I'd try to hire you for my blackjack table. I need a good man on the night shift."

Reid smiled back. "Thanks for the offer. I'm almost sorry I can't take you up on it. Did you know?" Reid changed the subject as he deftly cut the cards with one hand, "that in the 15th century, people played the earliest form of poker, a German game called Pochspiel? It involved cards, betting and bluffing."

"Very interesting Dr. Reid, but I think I'd rather you dealt the cards." He gestured away Reid who'd held out the deck to him. "I prefer to have both my hands on my gun."

"Suit yourself!"

Reid dealt out the hand so fast the cards became a blur. He picked up his hand and looked up at Mason, who smiled broadly. "I think I'll take two cards."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't pretend this is a friendly card game." Mason pointed his gun at William, rather than Reid.

"You shouldn't play this game with him." Dianna said. "He's a bad man. A mother knows." She reminded him.

"Shut up you crazy bitch…" Mason said calmly.

Reid gave him two cards, ignoring the exchange despite the hot rage drifting up from his chest. He took in a deep breath to dispel it and coughed on the smell of dust and rat droppings that permeated the room.

"Problem," Mason asked.

"No! Allergies! I just need one."

Mason raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Yes…"

Mason looked down at the cards in his free hands and back up at Reid who stared back at him while William and Dianna watched them from their seats.

"Show me what you have." Reid said.

Mason smirked as he put down his cards, "Full boat, queens over sixes."

"Well… It looks like you better open the door for my parents." Reid said laying down his cards. "I've got a full boat too, aces over eights, the dead man's hand."

Mason lost his self-satisfied smirk. "We're done playing Dr Reid."

"Yes we are." Reid stood at the same time the kitchen door opened on Morgan and Hotch. "It's over Parker."