Thank you for the continued support with the follows and favorites to my other stories! Here's the next chapter! Warning: Extreme violence and some gruesome material in this section.
Morgan's phone rings and he picks it up almost immediately. "Morgan."
"I found Riley's phone. She's heading up 15th street as we speak. You guys are the closest, a block away, go left at the next intersection. She's walking along the sidewalk," Garcia says through the phone.
"Thanks baby girl."
"Morgan, keep her safe."
"Of course we will, sugar."
Garcia hangs up and Morgan sets his phone down. "That was Garcia," he says to Reid. "She said Riley's a block away from here."
Reid nods his head and stares out the window, getting ready to look for her. Morgan makes the turn and a dark figure with a ponytail walking up the sidewalk in the opposite direction catches their attention. He pulls up along the curb and they get out of the car as quietly and stealthily as they can. Yards of distance turn into feet quickly.
Riley, sensing people behind her, turns and finds Reid and Morgan. She follows her first instinct; run. Morgan sees her motives and reaches out to grab her wrist before she can get too far.
"Let me go Morgan!" she squeals, trying to shake him off.
"Shh, calm down," Morgan says, keeping his stronghold on her.
"No! Let me do this alone! Let me go!"
"We're not going to let you do this alone," Reid returns. "You don't need to do this alone."
"Yes I do!" Riley stops resisting and Morgan lets her go. She doesn't attempt to run, she doesn't even look away from the agents as she continues. "This is my fight! Not yours! I need to do this!"
"Why won't you let us help you?" Reid asks desperately.
"Because!" she shouts as a tear breaks free from the barrier around her eyes. "Because I already have one person at risk in there; I couldn't handle two more!"
"We can look out for ourselves, Riley." Morgan counters.
"No. No. No. If either of you got hurt because of me," she slowly backs away with her hands pushing through her hair as she speaks. "I couldn't, I couldn't live with myself."
Reid steps forward, filling the gap Riley created, "Then tell us what we can do. I understand now. Tell me what you want us to do to help."
Riley stops, wipes a remaining tear, composes herself, and looks around. She stands up straight and speaks informatively, "Alright, I know he's keeping Wren on the ground floor of this building. I also scouted the building itself and know there's only one way in or out of there; the front door. I'm going to go in, get Wren, and get out. You two stay outside the door and only come in if I call you. Got it?"
Both men open their mouths but Riley speaks before them. She points to Reid, "No, don't come in until I say! No matter what!" And then to Morgan "Yes you should call the rest of the team."
They shut their mouths and nod. "Great," Riley says. "Let's move."
The group moves up the sidewalk and turns to stand in front of the building. As they walk, Morgan calls the other groups and informs them of what's going on. For a moment after Morgan hangs up no one moves. They all stand in a peaceful, blissful place in time.
Out of the blue and without taking her gaze away from the metallic, green door in front of her, Riley says, "Morgan, take the gun out of your ankle holster. You won't be needing that."
Confused but compliant, Morgan kneels down, takes the pistol out and puts it in his back pocket.
"Thank you." she lets out a sigh. "Alright, this is it." She turns to face the agents. "You know the rule, don't come unless called. Okay? Okay."
"Riley, I don't know if I'm comfortable with you going in alone…what's your plan here?" Reid spits out before she can go further.
"I promise I will call you in if I need any help at all. I just want to get Wren and get out of there. That's all. I know what I'm doing. If things go bad I'll call you in as soon as it gets out of hand." She looks into his eyes, "I promise."
"Okay. I trust you. Go get him and get out," Reid returns, silently praying she'll make it out soon. She nods and turns back to the door to enter.
Riley looks around her, shivers, and pulls her jacket in closer to her body. The foyer of the building is a dark purple, but with no lights it looks like a sinister black. No rugs or mats lay on the floor; the only marks telling Riley where to go are the hexagonal tiles. There are no windows, just a glass door ahead of her. A dim light comes though the glass, showing Riley what lies in the room ahead. She moves closer and stands directly in front of the glass pane.
A dreary gray cement room fills her peripheral vision. She concentrates on the object at the center of the cell; Wren. The young boy is sitting in a wooden chair with rope bindings around his wrists holding them to the arms of the chair. There's an addition binding across his mouth, placed there after the conversation with Riley on the phone. He looks down at his feet and doesn't acknowledge any movement from outside the room. So if Wren can't see me maybe He can't see me. Where is He anyway…?
Riley takes another look at her foster brother and a ting of sorrow touches her heart. He's wearing a T-Shirt, jeans, and sneakers; his usual apparel. Long gashes down his arms indicate what happened to him while Riley was on the phone. Her sorrow turns into raw anger. She's ready to end this once and for all; end Him.
She turns the knob and the door swings inward. Wren's head snaps up and his eyes widen as he sees his savior. Riley puts her finger to her lips, telling him to keep quiet but he shakes his head vigorously. Before she can process what he means a sharp pain in her right knee sends her sprawling to the floor. She clutches her kneecap as a wicked chuckle she knows so well steps out from behind the door and shuts it. He's going for my weaknesses. He knew my knee would still be hurting after he smashed it. Calm down. Play it cool. You know what to do.
"Nice shot. A simple 'Hello' will suffice next time though," Riley says as she attempts to stand. After much difficulty, she gets back on two feet and stands before the man. He has grown in muscular size since the last time she saw Him. This doesn't intimidate her though, her plan works for any shape or size He could have come up with.
"Aw what fun are simple greetings between such great friends?" he replies with arrogance.
"More fun for someone at my end of the greeting…" she mumbles. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take my coat off and get comfortable. I have a feeling this won't take long but I don't like to underestimate things."
He simply nods, slightly humored by her attitude, and steps aside, allowing Riley to take off her jacket and hang it on the door knob. She looks down and tries to conceal a mischievous smile.
"Now, where were we," Riley says as she turns and takes a quick swing at Him. She hits His chin causing His face to turn sideways; the rest of His body doesn't move.
He rubs his chin, smiles, and says, "That's cute." Riley forces a shy smile of her own before He returns the favor. Her head hits the cement floor, concussing her brain while her chin throbs from His hit.
Ok, next tactic? Staying on the ground, Riley swings her legs around and takes out His knees. Surprised, He opens His mouth as His back smashes into the concrete floor; knocking the breath out of His wretched body.
Riley seizes the moment to get up and run over to Wren. She kneels down beside him, wincing from the pain in her knee, and pulls out a pocketknife, and cuts the bindings around his arms and removes the binding out of his mouth.
"Riley!" he screeches as he jumps out of the chair and throws his arms around her neck.
She closes the blade and wraps her arms around him as well. "Shhh, it'll be okay." Riley holds him at arm's length and speaks to him quickly. "I need you to go to that corner and stay there alright? Can you do that for me, bud?"
Wren nods, but his expression changes quickly as he looks behind Riley. He was getting up, slowly but with determination and revenge in His eyes.
Riley looks back to Wren, "Go! Get to the corner!" He listens and runs to sit in the far corner of the room. Riley turns to get up but is seized around the throat by a large, muscular hand. Her feet are left dangling in the air as He pushes her toward the wall.
The cement wall sends electric sparks down Riley's back; reminding her of the long scars from her previous encounter with this man. She splutters from the pain, and starts to squirm in his grasp; fighting for breath.
"Give me one good reason not to kill you right now," He whispers to her, inches away from her face.
"You still want that information?" She whispers.
He lets out a deep, throaty laugh. "Oh that ship has long sailed away. I don't want to kill them anymore," He loosens his grip and throws her across the room toward the door, leaving her gasping on the ground. "your life seems so much more," He walks over to her and places His foot over her abdomen, over her bullet hole, "fun to play with."
Riley screams out in agony and tries to push his foot away. It won't budge. She keeps pushing, no progress. The pain is searing through her body, she can't take it anymore. She looks over at Wren, his frightened blue eyes give her the inner strength to slide out from under the pressure and push herself away from Him. He chuckles again but doesn't chase after her. Riley moves to the wall; hoping it supports her enough to get her back on her feet.
She manages the trip up but needs it to keep her standing. Catch your breath, kill some time. Riley leans against the wall and faces Him.
"I wanna know," she says between pants.
His laughter dies down, but a gleam of pleasure still sparkles in his eyes. "You wanna know what?"
"Why did you have my parents killed?"
"Oh Riley, I know you know why I did."
"But I want to hear it from your own sleazy lips. Tell me. Please?"
He sighs dramatically, as if he isn't dying to tell someone his master plans, "I had your parents killed because it was the only way to get that pitiful team of FBI agents to come to you. You would play the role of the innocent, little girl that needed protecting and they would just melt when they saw you and heard your petty story."
"Why did you have my biological father do it?"
"Must I explain all of this?" He sighs but continues, "You know how I don't like to do things myself. Ha! Your real dad was just too easy to manipulate, he would fall for anything you told him! So when I told him your parents had to go he hesitated but followed through for me. He was loyal, I liked that." He looks Riley up and down. "I guess it wasn't hereditary."
She chuckles herself and replies, "No, it wasn't. I like to think for myself."
"See that's the problem with your type. You never listen! You always think you know better than everybody else."
"Oh and you don't?! You make everyone refer to you as 'God.' Talk about an ego problem."
He moves forward swiftly and grasps her around the neck once more. "I'd watch the way you talk to me girl. Show a little respect. I'm not done with you yet, I can make this slow and easy, or long and hard. Your choice." He punches her, sending her toppling to the ground once more. Her head hits the concrete, making another mark on her forehead but she spends less time down there. Shaking the dizziness from her head, Riley stands, with the support of the wall and stands in front of her challenger.
Straightening up, she responds, acting as if that incident hadn't happened, "And that family in Baltimore, the Franklins, you had them killed to distract me?"
"Why of course! Create the perfect situation that you just couldn't resist going to! It was so much like the death of your own family the similarities killed you! There was no denying you would go."
"So you waste innocent families just to get my attention? Why?"
He laughs deeply, an almost roaring sound. "For the entertainment! See, I had all of this planned out from the beginning."
"Even my defiance? You figured I wouldn't want to give you the information once I got it?"
"Well no, I truthfully thought you would give it to me without hesitation. I figured you were as easy as your father. I guess I was wrong there. I guess you could say I've been….improvising since you defied me...Now, are there any more questions?"
Riley looks up, wipes some blood that trickles down from her lip and thinks. What do I do?! Is there anything else? No, I can't think of anything else. What can I do then? Call Reid and Morgan in? No. My fight isn't over yet. She turns her gaze back to the man before her.
"No, I think that's all. But then there's that," she points quickly to the side of the room. He follows her finger and sees nothing. Riley smiles and runs forward, bowling him over before he can glance back to her.
Sending countless punches at his face seems to work for a few moments but Riley is soon overpowered. He shoves her off and she rolls across the floor. Getting up faster than He got down, the man stands, pulls a long knife out of his back pocket and kneels over Riley.
Holding her left arm down with His free hand and putting His knee on her right arm, He gives her no room to escape. She squirms and wiggles as much as possible but He doesn't budge.
"I'm gonna make this nice and slow because this is the only thing I do myself, and I like to enjoy myself," He says with a smile that would send even the bravest, most fearless person running for the hills.
With as much care as possible, He touches the blade to Riley's left forearm right below the wrist. Sliding it leisurely down the soft, supple skin causes her to cry out but for only a moment. A river of blood starts to cascade down both sides of her arm.
A sudden snap of bone surprises her and she looks to her broken right wrist that he keeps pressure on. She tilts her head back and squeezes her eyes shut to stop the tears from flowing out. Call Reid and Morgan. No. I want to defeat himself. I can do this. Come on, think of something!
The blade stops at her elbow. He pauses for a second before she feels the blade digging into her muscles, past her skin. The hot, salty tears find a way out of her eyes and they stream down the sides of her cheeks. Her "funny bone" snaps and she loses feeling of her left hand. Looking at her elbow doesn't make her feel any better. A flash of white appears around the puddle of crimson.
A whimper from behind catches her attention. "Come on, Riley. Get up. Please." Wren. The thought of him hasn't crossed her mind. If I die here, he will go after Wren. I can't let that happen.
A fire that burns with the passion of a thousand men lights within Riley. She finds the hidden energy to break her right arm free and use her legs to push Him away.
Astonished and shocked, He finds himself lying on the cold, cement floor with her kneeling over Him. The knife was now in her broken but still capable hands and he was the one unable to move. Riley holds the tip of the blade against the skin of his throat.
He looks up at her with a mischievous glare. "Go ahead! Do it!"
She applies a little pressure and blood starts to trickle from the wound.
"Come on! Kill me! You know you want to!"
"No," she says. Her expression hardens. "No, you're not worth the energy. Killing you would be too easy. I'd rather watch you rot in prison!" She spits in his face.
He gapes at her. No one's ever had the audacity to say anything like this to Him. He's both impressed and scared. With the knife at His throat He doesn't dare make a move. He doesn't truly want to die. He wouldn't risk his life in a deal He can weasel His way out of later. They have nothing on me. I'll be out in a few days, he thinks to himself.
Putting his hands up in defeat he looks Riley in the eye and says, "Fine, you win. What are you going to do about it, now?"
She smiles smugly and looks to the door as she calls out, "Guys! Come in!"
And as always, feel free to comment what you think! :)