Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and all characters and recognisable themes belong to the respected creators.
Time is Running Out:
The rest of the team, including JJ and Emily who had just returned from the Johnson's house, were all huddled round a table, when the door to the room opened, causing them to look up. Garcia gasped and JJ and Emily both looked pained when they saw Reid; his nose was pink from the biting cold outside, but it wasn't that which had caught their attention; Reid's face looked tortured, the rims of his eyes red, streaks on his cheeks where his tears had fallen, dark circles forming under his eyes from the anxiety.
But a small shake of the head from Morgan meant that none of the team pressed the matter, but instead turned back to the work they were doing.
'What do we have so far?', Reid asked quietly, his voice still sounding broken, as he looked down at some of the things that JJ and Emily had brought back from Emma's room - her computer and her scrap book of photos. He picked up the scrap book and began flicking through, a mixture of emotions passing across his face - joy, but sadness and loss too, as he looked at each of the memories he had shared with his sister.
'Well, all of what we already know about this unsub's actions don't seem to add up to this case - I mean, Emma matches the description of the girls he took, but unlike the other girls, he took her in broad daylight, not in the middle of the night', Emily informed him, looking down at the previous case files as she spoke.
'He would have had to, Em doesn't usually go out at night, she's not like that', Reid said quietly, his voice full of sadness.
'And there was the blood too. That doesn't add up either. We know that the unsub did attack these girls, but that was when he kept them, not whilst he was trying to capture them', Hotch added.
'Maybe she put a fight and he had to to stop her from running?', Morgan suggested, turning sideways to look at Reid as he spoke, who was looking at the ground, his face expressionless.
'Or maybe if this is the kill he's been planning, building up to as such, he attacked her when he first abducted her so he could be certain she wouldn't get away?', Emily suggested.
'But what is it about Emma that he wants so much? Reid, can you think of anything?', Gideon asked, turning to face the team's youngest member.
Reid was staring into space, a slight frown on his face, clearly deep in thought.
'I..I can't...can't think...', he stammered, panic beginning to form on his face, as if he suddenly couldn't remember anything.
'Okay, that's okay, uh, how about we check Emma's computer?', Hotch suggested, placing a reassuring hand on Reid's shoulder, after seeing that he was in no fit state to answer this question and was slowly beginning to enter a frenzy. 'Garcia?'.
'On it!', Garcia replied, quickly opening up Emma's laptop and connecting it to her own. 'Is your sister on any social networking sites?', she asked tentatively, whilst typing away.
'Isn't every teenager?', was Reid's reply, with a sad smile, his face gaining a little more colour as his breathing slowed.
Garcia smiled back, then turned back to her computer, and said to the team: 'I'll check her Internet history and see if there's any way she could have met or talked to the unsub online.'
'We still have one other problem to solve', Morgan suddenly piped up, causing all of the team, but Garcia, to look at him. 'All the other girls were opportunistic victims, he didn't have any other contact with them before the night of their murder because it wasn't hard for him to find a victim that suited his type each night he went out. But he abducted Emma from the tube station she passes every morning, which means that he must have watched her usual routine to know exactly when to abduct her when there would be no witnesses.'
'We need to get Julie and Harry Johnson in here to interview them to see if there was anyone new in Emma's life lately', Prentiss sighed; this case seemed to be proving ever more complicated by the second.
'Okay, I'll go and ask the detective to contact them in a minute', Hotch replied. He then turned to the technical analyst, saying, 'Garcia, any luck with Emma's computer?'.
'Nada', was Garcia's frustrated reply, as she continued to type quickly, her expression that of exasperation. 'I can't get anything from it - it seems that Emma was very careful online, only talking to her friends and blocking any strangers.'
'That's my girl', was the whisper that came from Reid; he clearly didn't mean to speak out loud as he looked a little flustered when he noticed his fellow team members looking at him with expressions of sadness, as their hearts went out to him.
'Okay, so we know she didn't meet him online. JJ, we'll go and find the detective'; Hotch was the first one to speak (to which Reid looked slightly grateful for, as he didn't like being the centre of attention), getting up from his seat and heading towards the door with JJ.
'Wait!', Reid suddenly called, looking up. 'I'll come too, I might be able to help', he murmered, making his way to follow Hotch and JJ.
'Actually, I think there's another way you could help us', Emily said, drawing the attention to herself. 'There's another angle I'd like to persue.'
'What angle?', Gideon enquired, looking at Emily intrigued.
JJ and Hotch had just left the room to find the detective, leaving Emily to explain her theory to Gideon, Morgan, Garcia and Reid.
'Well, we know that the unsub knew the FBI had gotten involved when he killed in Atlanta - it was all over the news. You can't really think it was just a coincidence that he happened to abduct one of the agent's sisters, especially when he changed his geographic profile to exactly the country and town where she lived?', Emily explained.
'You think the unsub abducted Em because of me?', Reid whispered, looking at Emily, horror and guilt beginning to form on his face.
'It-It's just an angle I think we should maybe look into', Emily replied warily, seeing Reid's reaction to her statement.
'Emily's right - it's too much of a coincidence', Gideon said, speaking up. The other members of the team watched as he picked up a pen and paper and handed it to Reid, before carefully saying, 'Reid, I need you to think of anyone you know who fits this profile - anyone you may have upset in any way at any time in your life, but who's never actually hurt you before now. They would have known about Emma and maybe even where she lived'.
'I-I don't...', Reid stuttered, looking lost as he stared at the blank page of the notebook.
'Try starting with people at school or at college - they may have been jealous of you, but not obvious about it, they would have been more intrigued about your life', Emily said to Reid, who nodded and began to write names down on the piece of paper.
'Hey Gideon, do you think we should call Hotch and JJ and tell them we may have a lead? They may not need to interview the Johnsons', Morgan asked Gideon, after leading him to the other end of the room so Reid couldn't hear their conversation.
'No. We don't have much time left', Gideon replied, looking at his watch, 'If we're wrong about this then we're gonna need JJ and Hotch's work, let them carry on'.
Just as Gideon was about to walk back over to the other agents, Morgan added,
'Do you think we'll find her in time? I mean, as an honest answer?'.
Gideon turned around and sighed. 'We haven't got much time left. He's been sloppy enough with Emma already (Morgan noted that Gideon called Emma by her name, instead of referring to her as the 'victim', showing that even for him, the 'stay calm and act like it's a normal case' rule had gone down the drain) - harming her at the abduction site and risking leaving a blood trail, especially in the snow, and taking her in broad daylight. He may wanna drag out what he's doing to her, but he's still gonna kill her soon, intentionally or unintentionally. I just hope to God we find her in time because I honestly can't say what'll happen to Reid if we don't.'
Both men looked over at their youngest team member at this point. In the slowly dimming light of the evening, the dark circles under his eyes seemed even worse, and although they weren't red any more, the horror of what was happening was now even more clear in the young genius' face.
Reid suddenly stopped scribbling names down in the notebook, as he frowned for a second, before quickly walking over to the pile of Emma's things. He picked up the scrapbook of photos, flicking through, before reaching the page he was looking for.
'What is it?', Emily asked, exchanging confused expressions with the rest of the team.
'I saw this picture earlier', he said, pointing to a photograph that looked a few years old of him, Emma and a young man who looked around the same age as Reid, at a party, with other people also around Reid's age in the background of the photo. The caption read 'Me, Spence and Spence's friend Rob at their 2009 College Reunion Party.' 'It skipped over my mind, until you mentioned people at my college who were jealous of me. This was Robert Parker, he was in most of my classes at college and was always one grade or mark behind me in tests. I remember he was really interested in me and Em at this party...'.
Reid's POV:
The music's blaring out of the speakers, deafening me, but I'm the only one who seems bothered by it, as everyone else is fooling around on the dance floor. I didn't even want to come to this stupid party, but Em had seen the invitation in my mail and practically forced me along, saying it would be "fun". I look over to my little sister, who's standing a few feet away from me, gently bobbing along to the music - that's one thing we don't have in common. Em's a keen dancer and she's pretty good, whereas I seem to have been born with two left feet. I figure she inherited it from Mom, as she did a lot of dance as a child, but I would never tell Em this - we never mention Mom or Dad.
When Em sees me looking over at her, she smiles at me and I can't help but smile back - it's weird to think that just one little smile can brighten my day or just hearing her voice on the phone, describing her day at school, or the ridiculous amount of homework she has, can make me forget all of the horrible things I've seen on whatever case I've been working on.
'You okay?', I mouth to her, to which she nods.
'You?', she mouths back. I shrug and pull an exasperated face, which only causes to my sister to laugh and shake her head.
Just as I was about to suggest getting something to eat, an old friend of mine, Robert Parker sidles up to me, staggering as he walks. I remember him being one of the very few people at college who actually spoke to me, which I was immensely grateful for, even if he sometimes did ask a few strange questions. So, I figure I should at least talk to him, even if he is so drunk he can barely stand.
'HEY MAN! How you doing? Who's your friend?', he slurrs and I can smell the alcohol on his breath as he pulls me into an awkard one armed hug.
'Uh, this is my little sister, Emma', I reply, half-shouting so I can be heard over the music.
After pulling away, he looks Em up and down, a small smirk on his face, before commenting, 'Aren't you something precious Princess?'. Em smiles at him awkardly, not looking him in the eye and I move closer towards my little sister. I get very protective of her, especially when it comes to situatuons where she feels uncomfortable. Situating myself between Em and Robert, I ask him,
'So, uh, was there anything in particular you wanted?'; I know I'm being forward with him, and I feel a bit cruel for it, but I doubt he'll remember this in the morning anyway.
'No, uh, just a catch up. Hey, you never told me you had a sister?', he asks, looking over at Em again, which causes her to move slightly closer towards me.
'I, uh, only found out recently, so...', this is true, but I doubt I would have told him, even if I had known about Em then. Not even my team mates at the BAU know about her - it's always such a complicated story to tell, and I feel a bit ashamed by the fact that my little sister spent the first 8 years of her life not knowing I existed. It's great we're close now, but sometimes I wonder-
'So, are you two close then?', continues Robert, pulling me out of my train of thought.
'Yeah, I guess so', I reply, looking down at Em, who gives me a warm smile as an agreement.
'That's nice', slurs Robert, a strange smile on his face.
'Anyway, we better be going, I gotta get up early in the morning to take Em to the airport', I quickly say, whilst Em looks relieved.
'Oh really, she doesn't live with you then?', Robert asks.
'Uh, no, she lives with her adoptive parents in Surrey, in the UK', I answer, praying for him to stop asking questions and go away.
'Ah well, I'd best leave you to it', Robert announces, patting me on the shoulder, looking quite pleased with himself. 'Have a safe trip home tomorrow Princess', he says to Em.
'Um, thank-you', Em replies, smiling slightly.
Just as we're walking out the door, I hear Robert call,
'Uh, you dropped this I think', he says, holding up a small piece of paper.
'It's trash, just throw it away', I say, not even bothering to look at what it was, as I want to get me and Em out of there as quickly as possible; my encounter with Robert had left a strange feeling in my stomach and I couldn't wait to just be free from the loud music and awfully stuffy room.
'I've never realised what it was he must have picked up until now. When Em was packing, she realised one of her luggage tags was missing. We thought nothing of it, but I guess that's what he picked up, it must have fallen from Em's bag', Reid told them quietly.
'So that explains how he knew her address', Morgan stated.
'He watched her routine and decided the best time to abduct was at that point on her journey to school', Gideon added.
'Wait, something still doesn't add up. He was at school with Reid years ago, why did he only start killing in the past two years?', Prentiss asked.
'It must have been the party', Reid murmered. 'It was a few weeks after that party that the killings started.'
'So he saw you, and all those jealous memories resurfaced, so he decided to get back at you by hurting your sister', Morgan said, giving Reid a sympathetic look as he said it.
'Hang on, if he wanted to hurt Emma, why did he kill all of those other girls?', Garcia asked, looking round at the team.
'He killed in Atlanta to get the American police and the FBI involved, then in England to get the English police involved', Gideon replied simply.
'Garcia, can you see if this Robert Parker owns any property here in Surrey, it might be where he keeps his victims?', Prentiss asked, just as there was a swirl of pink and glitter as Garcia turned to her computer and began to type.
At that moment, JJ, Hotch and the detective walked back in the door, and seeing Garcia looking determined at her computer, JJ asked,
'You guys find something?'.
'Yeah, we think we may have a lead on a guy named Robert Parker, he was at college with Reid and was jealous of him. The killings started just after the two of them saw each other again at a college reunion party', Prentiss informed them.
'Did you get anything from the Johnsons?', Morgan asked.
'No, nothing', JJ sighed, 'Emma wasn't one to talk to strangers and they couldn't think of anyone new in their lives who could have done this.'
At this moment, Garcia yelled 'BINGO!', causing her team members and the detectives to jump and then look over at her hopefully.
'Babygirl you got something?', Morgan asked, leaning over Garcia's shoulder.
'Yes, it seems that Robert Parker had a residence, car, job, the lot in Atlanta until six months after the killings there stopped, when he changed his entire lifestyle to move to Surrey in the UK. He's spent the past two years creating a whole other life for himself here and now he has an appartment Guildford and also owns a warehouse in Bookham', Garcia told them all.
'What's the address of the warehouse?', the detective asked.
'357 Bridge Street', Garcia replied.
'That's only half a mile away from where Emma was abducted. It's where he must be keeping her', the detective said, standing up, as were the rest of the team.
'Detective, we're going to need a team of officers to man the parameter of the building, we'll go inside and do the talking. Also have an ambulance on standby', Hotch told the detective, who nodded and left the room quickly.
It was at this point all of the team turned to look at Reid. He was breathing heavily and when he looked up, the team could see fresh tears forming in his eyes.
'Do you think we'll have found her in time?', he whispered.
JJ squeezed his hand as Gideon said, 'I hope so Reid, but I reckon there's a good chance she could still be alive'.
'Okay, JJ and Garcia, you stay here on the line in case we need you. Morgan, Prentiss and Jason, we'll go to the warehouse, Reid-', Hotch began.
'I'm coming with you', was Reid's fierce reply.
'Reid, are you sure? We don't know what we might find?', Morgan told him, sounding concerned as he looked at Reid with uncertainty.
'I'm coming!', Reid repeated, 'She's my sister, I have to be there for her', he said, his voice breaking at the end of the sentence.
'Okay, put this on', said Hotch, throwing Reid a bulletproof vest. 'Let's go get this son of a bitch'.
Author's Note: CLIFFHANGER! :D Firstly, I must apologise for the extremely slow update! I had writer's block, as this was the hardest bit to write, and I only just found my flow for the story a few days ago! But I hope I can make up for that with the nice long chapter! I've been waiting to write the next chapter since I started this fanfic, so my update should be a lot quicker! Thank-you so much again for the favourites/alerts/reviews - they make my day! I'd love to hear you thoughts on this chapter, especially the bit with Reid's POV - I hope I did him justice? So, please review! Thanks again for sticking with the story! :D