A.N.: Hi everyone, I decided to surprise you with a quick update:) To be honest I quite enjoyed writing this so it went easier than usually... It became also longer than the previous chapters. It continues right from where we left off in the prev. chapter. Thank you again for the nice reviews, I just can't say how happy they make me. Beta-reading done by the kind REIDFANATIC. Here you go!

Chapter Ten

"Hello, Agent Reid," the girl said with a content smile. "I've been waiting for so long to meet you."

The young agent looked at her confusedly. "Excuse me… do I know you?"

The girl was one head shorter than him, long brown hair framed her beautiful face. She looked completely unfamiliar to Reid.

"Not yet," she winked and took a step towards Reid who instinctively pulled backwards a bit. "But you sure did know my brother."

"Um… and who is he?"

The girl smiled again, with a sweetness that almost made Reid nauseous. "Let me introduce myself then, if you're so curious… My name is Phoebe Dowd."

Reid felt his blood run cold and unconsciously backed away in fright. Dowd… she must be Phillip Dowd's sister, the unsub that he had killed about three years ago!

Phoebe kept walking after him lazily, that evil smile never disappearing from her face. "We remember now, do we?"

Reid gulped and cautiously glanced around. Where the hell was the team? They should have arrived minutes ago. His heart was racing. Every passing second he spent with this woman who obviously wanted revenge on him decreased the chance that he would get out of this situation alive, let alone unharmed.

"What are you looking for?" She asked in a teasing voice. "Your team? Even after I requested not to call them?"

The young agent didn't know what to answer. He was out of words, and this was something that happened only a few times in his life. He had no idea what explanation he could give to her.

But Phoebe just shrugged. "Doesn't matter though. I thought you would be a coward enough to call for their help anyways. Now my men are probably keeping them busy. But don't worry, I don't want to hurt you."

"Look," Reid finally found his voice and tried to talk her out of whatever she was planning to do, lifting his hands in sign of peace. "I didn't mean to kill your brother. He was a criminal, and he was threatening to kill us and a dozen other innocent people."

"So you thought you had a right to judge him?" Phoebe asked a little louder, she was obviously getting pissed. "He was supposed to be taken to court!"

"I know," Reid's voice broke. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to end his life, you have to believe me! I just… I just wanted to shoot his leg, so that he would collapse and we could disarm him!"

"But you didn't!" Phoebe spat. "How did you even dare to take a gun in your hands when you were completely incapable of aiming correctly?"

Reid tore away his gaze from hers and looked at the ground, guilt flooding him with full force. Somehow he didn't expect it to come back after so much time. After the incident, he'd spent many nights up, unable to sleep but he couldn't define what exactly he was feeling then. It had passed away then, but now it was coming back at him. Now he felt what he should have felt three years ago. Now he felt pure guilt, and he also felt that Phoebe's accusations were righteous.

"It was the first time I'd killed somebody," he whispered.

"But not the last, huh?" The girl replied, suddenly appearing to regain her calm. "You cops, you're worse than criminals. You kill people just like them, but you get away with it with the simple phrase of 'self-defense'. You don't even bother to admit you have sinned!"

"I know I have sinned." Reid confessed. Behind the huge amount of guilt he felt there was still an instinct to survive. He said what he thought the girl wanted to hear. "I… I didn't know he had a sister. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Don't act like not having a family made someone deserve death more!"

"No one deserves death," Reid admitted.

"Exactly." Phoebe stepped even closer to him. "I know Phillip was a criminal. He took lives too. He deserved punishment. You just have no idea how prison can change people! I believed that Phillip would have become a good man there. Even if he had to spend the rest of his life behind the bars. Living in a prison is still better than not living at all, don't you think Agent Reid?"

Reid tried to pull away again, but his back suddenly collided with a tree. "I do. Life is the most precious thing someone can have. I just can't say how sorry I am."

"You're right. You can't," Phoebe whispered. "Words can never fix anything that deeds have screwed up." She shook her head sadly. "But I see you're truly sorry. Maybe that could mean something."

Reid finally let the long-held tears build up in his eyes. Maybe it will help to let Phoebe see the greatness of his remorse.

"Ssh, is it really so bad?" She asked now in quite a tender voice. She stepped even closer and reached a hand up to Reid's face, gently stroking his cheek.

"What do you want from me?" The young agent asked softly.

Phoebe looked at him sympathetically, as if she no longer wanted to take revenge on him. "I'll tell you a secret, okay? First I thought I would avenge Phillip the old way, tit for tat. Your mother for my brother. Then you would feel just the same as I felt after his death. You have no siblings, Agent Reid, you don't know what it's like. Phillip was only a year older than me, but he started school later, so we were in the same class. We were like twins."

She waited for her words to take effect on her victim, then continued. "But then I changed my mind. Your mother did nothing wrong against me. If I killed her, I wouldn't be any better than you. So I decided to focus on you. I wanted to meet you. To see how you'd react if I told you my story. And I did the right thing… do you know why?

Reid shook his head silently.

"Because you're a lot more handsome in real than on the photos."

Grinning, she stopped stroking his cheek, stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on Reid's lips.

The young agent had been so confused by the action that he didn't resist. He didn't dare either. But what was this for anyways? What did this desperate woman want, making love to a man who had killed her brother?

After finishing, Phoebe pulled away from him, taking four or five steps backwards. Reid didn't like this movement, and after a second he even realized why, as the girl suddenly pulled a gun out of nowhere.

"What…? You said you don't want to hurt me!"

Phoebe laughed out loud. "Oh, Agent Reid, you're so sweet! You must be so smart, with these dozen PhDs and everything, but you're so naïve! A single kiss from a girl can knock you this much off your feet? So I lied, and now what? Killing you was my most basic goal, but not before I see you suffer from being separated from your team and be broken by the guilt of your sin!"

She was aiming the gun right at Reid's chest. "You know, by the way, it'll be my first time to kill a man, but I don't think it'll be hard. I'm a tough girl and I have the guts to do it. This is why we would never have made it; weak men are not my case."

"Wait!" Reid called out, hoping to win some time by talking. "First time to kill, huh? What about Douglas Jacobson?"

Phoebe giggled. "Oh come on, it wasn't me. I'm just pulling the strings; my men did it for me. I just wanted you to be suspected, or for you think that your team suspects you. And then you'd turn your back to them and become all alone. Become a fugitive."

"Believe me, if you kill somebody, there's no turning back from there!" Reid continued desperately, his eyes unable to take leave of the gun still pointed at him. "You'll be haunted for the rest of your life, just like I am by your brother. It's something that can't be repaired! It's a burden you can't get rid of!"

"Only the difference between you and me is that I'll kill for justice." Phoebe looked determined. "If you kill someone who doesn't deserve it, you'll be haunted. But I have every right to kill you, right here and now."

She lifted her gun again and slowly cocked it. "And speaking about my brother… say hi to him in my name, Agent Reid!"

A gunshot came, a bit too soon. Reid closed his eyes in fright but the next moment he opened them again, only to discover that he was still living and wasn't even injured. Phoebe couldn't have missed from a five feet distance, but then who was shot?

The girl in front of him was still standing on her feet, unharmed, so it wasn't even the team getting her down as Reid secretly hoped. But he clearly sensed that they were no longer alone in the forest. Running footsteps were heard from all around them, and Phoebe uncertainly turned her head around, looking for the source of the noise.

This brief moment of disturbance was all Reid needed. With a sudden movement he pushed himself away from the tree and launched himself into the forest, breaking into a run. He heard the girl's indignant gasp behind his back, then another set of gunshots echoing through the morning peace of the woods. He didn't look back, just ran like he never did in his life.

"Everyone on their place?" Hotch asked softly in his speaker.

"Yes." Prentiss was the first to answer.

"Me too," Rossi murmured.

"I can see Reid," Morgan answered too. "Guys, you won't believe this. He's with a girl."

"You're kidding?" Prentiss asked, smiling. "Did he order us here to witness his first date?"

Morgan shook his head too, smiling. "I don't know."

The BAU team had arrived a couple of minutes late. Had a small van not crashed into one of the SUVs on purpose, they would have probably gotten to the meeting place in time. The van was apparently waiting for them at the spot where the concrete road turned into a narrow footpath; and had no intention of stopping as it sped towards the FBI cars. Fortunately no one had been hurt in the crash, not even the driver of the van, what is more, he jumped out right after the accident and ran away, disappearing in the forest within seconds, while the agents were busy gathering themselves. A few minutes later, they were already sneaking in the forest towards their observation posts.

"Oh my God," Morgan whispered, grinning.

"What is it?" Hotch asked nervously.

"They're kissing!"

"Who is this girl anyways?" Rossi asked. "Is she the unsub who sent those messages to Reid?"

"I'd be happy to go up to them and find out," Morgan grinned, "but I don't want to spoil the moment."

"Guys, I need backup," Prentiss suddenly whispered into her speaker. "Two or three are approaching."

"Morgan, go help her," Hotch ordered, "you're nearest. We'll take care of Reid."

Swearing mentally, Morgan turned his head just in time not to see Phoebe pull out her gun. He carefully started hurrying in Prentiss' direction.

Several moments later, a gunshot rang out, disturbing the peaceful silence of the forest.

"Shit!" Morgan quickened his steps, hoping that Prentiss was all right. He turned his head around, trying to locate the shooter, and that was when he saw someone running away among the trees. Someone who mostly resembled Reid…

He turned his head back and continued his way towards Prentiss.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he squatted next to her behind a particularly large bush.

"Yes," Prentiss nodded. "They didn't fire at me. They fired in the exact opposite direction. I don't understand…"

"Where are they?"

Prentiss pointed somewhere straight through the leaves of the bush. "They're there. Two of them at least."

Morgan could see the dark figures; they were at quite a distance. He didn't know if they could approach them without becoming exposed.

Suddenly, Hotch and Rossi showed up next to them.

"Hey what about Reid?" Morgan demanded them. "I thought you'd keep an eye…"

"He ran away." Hotch stated simply. "The girl had a gun. We chased them for a while but then she changed direction and we lost both of their tracks."

"We can't lose 'em," Morgan murmured, nodding towards the dark figures with his head.

With weapons held at the ready, the four FBI agents advanced forward in the morning forest.

Reid felt like his lungs were about to be ripped out. He panted heavily but he didn't dare to stop, although he felt that Phoebe was no longer at his heels. But her men were probably searching the woods after him, and hiding from a dozen people was definitely more difficult than hiding from one.

This part of the forest was completely unknown to him. Where should he go to find the way back to his car? He realized that in his hurry he must have started running in the wrong direction. He was lost.

No, calm down, you can find the way.

Decreasing his pace, he tried to take deeper breaths. He'll have to find the path back to the tourist house, and then he'd know where to go.

If there wasn't someone waiting for him there.

But who would be? The gunshots indicated that his team had probably arrived and found Phoebe's black-suited men. No one will wait for me. With that he turned to the left and started running again, in search of the tourist house.

Suddenly, for a brief glimpse he saw Morgan among the trees, about a good twenty yards behind him. He was dangerously close and approaching.

So the main target of the team was still him!

Was it really more important to catch him first while a dozen other armed guys were running loose in the forest?

It could be a coincidence… Then why could he clearly see the determination in Morgan's eyes as he came closer, definitely in his direction? Did they not believe him, even after they had probably seen Phoebe? Realizing his colleagues' betrayal felt a lot more painful than any wounds he'd gotten in his life.

Just then, he suddenly felt real pain. Something hit his side, so sharply that he fell to the ground and his mouth got full of dirt. His hand instinctively flew to his side and he could feel warm blood flowing down to his stomach.

Has Morgan just shot me?

He heard water babbling somewhere close. A few yards away from him. Maybe he could escape in the river… then they wouldn't be able to follow his footprints.

The water was freezing cold but the current was strong; it picked him up immediately. Reid concentrated hard on not losing consciousness; he didn't want to end up being drowned. He didn't know how much time had passed. The next thing he realized was that he was struggling to climb out to the riverbank. Finally he managed to pull every part of his body out of the water, and that was the last thing he remembered before passing out from exhaustion and blood loss.

Full circle! Do you like it? Female unsubs RULE:D