A.N. Hi everyone! I know I was absent for an awfully long time... again... but finally I've managed to come up with a new chapter:) I don't promise anything, see for yourself!:D Thank you guys for the fantastic reviews you gave, they really made me happy! Sorry for not answering to everyone but I was quite busy with preparing to a dozens of test... Credits for beta-reading go out to REIDFANATIC.
Chapter Thirteen
Reid sat there between the two men patiently and, for the most part, silently. After one of the guys moved again and tied the young agent's wrists with some kind of string, he risked questioning where they were going, but he didn't get any answers so he decided not to push it. From the moment they had blindfolded him and the car had started, he tried to keep track of the directions and curves in his mind, but soon he had to realize that he didn't have any idea where they were. His heart was still beating twice as fast as normally and the car must have reached a part of the town he wasn't familiar with; probably these were the reasons why his otherwise unbeatable memory had let him down now when he would have needed it the most.
However, it registered to him that the driver was very likely trying to distract him on purpose as well; the car was taking seemingly unnecessary by-passes from time to time, turning into streets only to swerve back to the original road at the next corner; Reid could notice these little tricks even without his vision.
After half an hour or so, the car suddenly stopped. The doors opened and Reid was forcefully pulled out of the car. He moaned involuntarily as pain flamed up in his side from the rough movement. The men grabbed his arms from each side and guided him into some kind of building. It was cold inside, almost the same temperature as out in the street, and Reid could smell dust and rotting wood. It didn't appear promising.
Finally his captors stopped and let go of his arms. The young agent heard their steps going away from him, then a door closed somewhere behind his back. But his hammering heartbeat still didn't calm down, and a couple of seconds later he also knew why; he wasn't alone in the room. There was another person with him, and Reid suddenly remembered Phoebe's face as she pointed the gun at his heart, ready to kill him on the spot. What if she was standing here the same way, aiming at him silently, while the young agent didn't even know where the bullet would come from?
Panicking, Reid reached to tear off the blindfold, but it was too tight and he couldn't manage with the knot. As he was fighting to get his vision back, he suddenly felt a light touch on his shoulder and he almost jumped out of his skin since he hadn't heard that someone was approaching him. The hand brushed along his arm all the way to his fingers until it found the knot he wasn't able to untie. Reid froze, heart beating ridiculously loudly in his chest. The hand was accompanied by another, and they smoothly unbound first the string on his wrists, then the knot of the blindfold. One moment later the young agent could suddenly see again as the cloth covering his eyes fell to the floor.
He spun around in his heels, only to face Phoebe Dowd's wide, mischievous smile.
Garcia's fingers were dancing on the keyboard about twice as fast as usual.
"Come on, come on!" The technical analyst kept muttering to herself nervously. "You can't hide from me, you know that eventually I'll find you… and then I'll be pissed!"
She felt frustration increase in her as she tried and tried again. She couldn't stand the fact that she had failed to find someone in her almighty computer, especially when it was more necessary than usual. With every passing moment she couldn't help but think about Reid, and that what horrible things he was probably suffering at that moment.
But finding somebody when only have a name was not as simple as it seemed. Garcia couldn't find any Phoebe Dowds in Quantico; when she extended the search region to Virginia, she had found four women with this name, but as she checked them it turned out that none of them would match Reid's kidnapper.
Then she tried from the other end. Tracking back from Phillip Dowd, she looked up his parents, and there she found their other child, Phoebe Dowd. According to the data, Phoebe was still living with her parents in Cleveland. A quick phone call to them, and the team learned that Phoebe had moved from there about a year ago, to some friend's house in New York. The parents also had her address, but another phone call made it clear that it was fake. Another dead end.
"Come on, I know you're around somewhere…"
Garcia returned to searching in Quantico. Hotch and the team in the other room had already started trying to create a profile about Phoebe; they hadn't found much though. Garcia heard their words through the open door.
"She's not a serial killer, she only wants to take revenge; she thinks she has the right to do…"
"She focuses only on her target, won't kill anybody else unless she has some purpose with that; but now that she has Reid she probably won't hurt other innocent people…"
"She's smart and she calculates everything in advance. She must have been working on a plan to separate Reid from us for a long time. Weeks, months, maybe even years…"
"Since she's been waiting for so long to get him, she'll probably want to spend a little more time with him before she carries out her goal, make him face what he did, try to make him feel guilty. It will give her satisfaction…"
Like a cat toying with a mouse, Garcia thought. If Phoebe really had been planning her move for years, she must have been spending a lot of time in the town. That means she must have some place around here to stay at… And since she couldn't be found in any of the hotels, she must own a property or…
Garcia's brain worked with double speed. If no properties are in her name, then she must be living with a friend. There would be no way to find her like that, but there was a slight chance of… She typed some things in and a list of properties in Quantico having been sold in the past three years appeared.
There it was!
A house owned by Anne P. Dowd about two and a half years ago was written to the name of Gina Wentworth. Garcia realized two things at the same time. Firstly that Anne P. Dowd was definitely the person they were looking for. The P. in the middle name had to be short for Phoebe, which she appeared to be trying to hide. Secondly, it occurred to her that she had already heard the name Wentworth somewhere; and another search in the database proved her right. The maiden name of Phillip Dowd's mother was also Wentworth, which meant that this Gina Wentworth was probably Phoebe's relative, a cousin or an aunt.
"Now that must have made a lot of things easier for you, my dear," Garcia muttered satisfied, even smiling at the monitor. "I told you I'd find you eventually…"
With a hopeful smile she jumped from her chair and hurried to inform the team about the news.
Reid backed two steps instinctively from the smiling girl. Phoebe giggled and moved after him, clearly enjoying herself.
The room they were in was rather empty. In fact, it looked like a kitchen or a bathroom, only without any furniture, not even a sink. Tiles were covering the floor but the walls were also empty; the plaster had even come down at some places. It was clear to Reid that nobody had lived here for a long time now. Phoebe had her reasons for bringing him here instead of putting a bullet into his head in some forest God knows where.
"Hi again," the girl greeted him in a tone that made the hair on the back of Reid's neck stand up. "You tried to run away from me. A pretty good try. But I was better."
The young agent glanced around nervously, subconsciously looking for an escape route. There weren't too many possibilities; a window at the far end of the room, and a closed, probably locked door that was currently blocked by Phoebe.
"Never mind, it's not your fault," the girl went on. "I'm sure you'd do anything to beat the one that had killed one of your loved ones."
"Look, Phoebe," the young agent lifted his hands, realizing he had no other choice but to try to talk himself out of the situation. "You don't have to do this. If you kill me, it won't make anything better. It won't bring Phillip back. It will only put a burden on your soul. You don't know what it feels like."
The girl just laughed at him in a soft, almost happy voice. She even made a small movement with her hand which scared Reid half to death as he thought for a moment that she'd pull out a gun again, but nothing happened. Phoebe just stepped closer to him and he couldn't step away anymore; his back had bumped into the wall.
"You're a little late with this, Agent Reid," she told him. "I've been planning my revenge for too long now. Ever since you killed my brother. You don't think you can just convince me to leave it?"
Approaching him even closer, she reached up to his shoulder, then moved her hand downwards on his shirt, reaching the spot where the bullet wound was. Reid hissed involuntarily, regretting it right away as Phoebe's expression changed from mischievous to surprised, and then, satisfied. Like a child that greedily unwraps a present, only to find out that it is exactly the toy he had expected.
"What happened to you?" She asked in a caring tone, then pressed hard into Reid's side. The young agent gasped in pain, unable to hold it back, and in response to that, a wide grin appeared on Phoebe's face. "You're injured…"
With a new weapon in her hand, Reid could clearly see the recognition in her eyes. He tried again to move sideways and get away from her but she was faster; she caught both of his arms and before he had time to react, pushed them into his own side. Reid groaned in pain and pushed her back with all his strength.
"Stop it," he said firmly. "Phillip didn't suffer, he died right away!" It was so hard to talk about it, but he wanted to use Phoebe's sense of justice to defend himself. "There's no point in torturing me!"
The smile suddenly disappeared from Phoebe's face. "I'm sorry," she spat, "I forgot what a beautiful headshot it was that you delivered to Phil! I think I should be grateful then that you didn't shoot him in the stomach? Or in the leg, so that he could have been saved?"
She lunged forward and managed to hit Reid's side again. The young agent doubled over, gasping for air, but breathing didn't help much to ease the pain.
"He was about to kill my colleague!" He shouted back as he finally caught his breath. "And who knows how many other innocent people! You don't get the chance to take your time to aim when you fear for your very life!"
"You know what, Agent Reid?" Phoebe asked, suddenly looking very calm. "You actually made me change my mind about something."
"What?" He asked, not daring to hope for anything good.
"I won't kill you. Not with my own hands."
The young agent looked at her with tired, desperate eyes. "I get it. Your men…"
"No, not them either. It's gonna be an accident. An accident that I have nothing to do with. The police, the FBI will never be able to prove it was me.
"Well, you're wrong about that," Reid informed her. "My team knows about you. They know all about your intentions."
For a brief moment it looked like Phoebe was confused upon hearing this news, but then Reid could hear too what made the girl freeze. Sounds of wailing sirens were heard faintly, obviously from a great distance but it was loud enough to make Phoebe nervous.
Reid chose this moment to try to convince her. "Look, I can help you. We can both help each other. If you let me go, I won't testify against you. Not even in Jacobson's case."
"Shut up," the girl simply barked at him, then turned around and headed for the door. Reid started after her with a bad feeling.
On the other side of the door, a black-suited man was waiting. Phoebe stopped on the threshold and turned to face Reid, with an evil grin on her face.
"You're not going to die from my hands, Agent Reid. You're going to die in a tragic explosion." She said, then turned to her man. "Activate the counter."
Reid's eyes grew wide in horror. He made one desperate attempt to get past Phoebe, but he only managed to catch a glimpse of that menacing grin again before the door was shut right in front of his face and the lock jumped into place with a merciless pop.
Okay, I really tried to avoid another cruel cliffhanger, but it seems I have failed. Please don't hate me... wait, you can hate me but please review!:)