Escalation
Chapter 5
Humiliation

"Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes." - Buddha

A/N Warning sexual torture

Morgan and Dave took Bate and Abrams back to the precinct and drove once again along Highway Ten

'Where was this car wreck?' Morgan asked.

'It was just after a curve in the road. I figured the car had skidded off the road after the bend...... just here I think!'

Dave stopped the car and Morgan cuffed the kid to the door pillar. 'You are staying here.' he said.

Dave and Morgan went to the edge of the road and looked over the precipice.

'You can't see it from the road, but there's a furrow cut into the ground.' Morgan was already climbing down towards the car. Dave followed him.

'There's blood here.' he remarked, pointing out the blood droplets on the soil.

'There's the car, there's someone in it.'

As they got closer they could see that the car had rolled at least once, and was badly smashed up. Whoever was in the front of the car wasn't moving – he couldn't be dead. Morgan refused to believe it.

He reached the car before Dave. It was Reid in the car passenger seat. He reached through the door and checked Reid's pulse, and to his relief he was alive.

'He has got a pulse!' he shouted to Dave. 'Call the medics and rescue. He's trapped.'

Dave slid down the last ten feet of the embankment, he got out his cell and called nine one one. He ran across to the car where Morgan was talking to Reid.

'Hey wake up, Kid. You're safe now.'

Reid didn't open his eyes, but his head turned slightly towards Morgan's voice.

'Hotch .....' he whispered.

'It's ok, Reid.' Dave said. 'We know where he is. Now open your eyes for me. Let me see your eyes.'

Reid's eyelids fluttered open, and he looked at Dave.

'Water....'

'There's some in the car. I'll get it.' Morgan said. 'I'll bring it down to you.'

Morgan climbed up the embankment easily, and got a bottle from the car. Dave took Reid's hand and tried to assess the damage.

'I can't move..... my feet any..... more.' Reid said softly.

'Help is on its way, Spencer. Here comes your drink.'

Morgan pulled the lid off the bottle and pulled out the sports lid. He tipped a little on Reid's tongue, and he sucked at it gratefully. He tried to take the bottle but Morgan held on to it.

'You can't take too much, Kid. Just a little at a time.' He gently stroked Reid's hair off his face. It was bloody and matted.

He tipped a little more water into Reid's mouth.

'Thank you. Hotch...... ok?'

'We know who has him. We will get him back.' Dave said.

'I'll go up top and wait for the emergency services.' Morgan said, scrambling back up the embankment. Dave kept hold of Reid's hand.

Reid looked at Dave through glazed eyes.

'I thought .... I was going to ... die here.'

'We never stopped looking for you, Reid. I can hear the sirens. You will be out of here soon. Just hold on a little longer.'

'You must .... find Hotch..... please....'

'It's under control, now keep calm, and the medics will get you out of here.'

Reid blinked his soft eyes. 'Tried to get out...... couldn't.'

Dave squeezed his hand. 'They are here now. I am going to step back and let them get to you, ok?'

Reid nodded slightly and let go of Dave's hand. Dave stood back with Morgan.

Straight away the medics began their work. They put a mask across his face and he breathed the oxygen gratefully. Next they gave him pethidine to help with the pain, then they began to release his legs by jacking the dashboard off his thighs. He cried out as the weight was released and blood flowed again into his starved legs. They put a neck brace around his head and neck, and pulled him out onto a spinal board.

They laid him down on the grass and fixed in an IV, then they set about carrying him up the slope to the waiting ambulance.

'There is room for one of you to travel with him in the ambulance. The other will have to follow in the car.'

Dave nodded to Morgan who got into the ambulance after Reid, while Dave turned the car around ready to follow.

Dave hated the questions about Hotch. They had no idea where he was yet, the only communication being that they want Curtis back. But negotiating with them was out of the question.

The ambulance was moving off. Dave started the car and followed.

-0-0-0-

Hotch had been alone for a long time now. Had they grown tired of him? Or did they still have Bridle to play with? Hotch hoped they had just grown tired of him. He turned onto his hands and knees and crawled miserably back to his corner, leaving a smear of thick black blood behind him. He curled onto his side and thought about Reid whom he had left in the car wreck. Reid may be dead, but if he woke and found himself alone, where would he think he had gone? Deserted him? Left him to die?

The team was good. they would find Reid.

He tried to close his eyes but any movement of his facial muscles hurt where he had been repeatedly hit in the face. He raised his forearms and covered his eyes. He didn't know if he would be able to sleep unless he fainted, but he needed somehow to recover from what they had done to him, so that he had any chance of escape.

He coughed and groaned in agony as he bled more onto the floor. There was a lot of blood – too much for him to be able to lose much more and still live.

They would be back, and he was going to have to endure until the team found him.

They would find him. They were a good team.

His team.

-0-0-0-

The ambulance sped through the traffic that parted to let it through, sirens wailing and lights flashing. Reid was going to survive – there was no reason now why he shouldn't, but the question now was would he survive with both legs intact. They had been cut off from blood for several hours, it was whether necrosis had set in, whether the doctors would need to amputate or not.

Reid and Morgan didn't know this yet. It was for the surgeons to decide, but the paramedics had seen this kind of injury enough times to know that speed was of the essence.

Morgan kept hold of Reid's hand as the ambulance sped along. It wasn't far to the hospital, and it backed into the ambulance bay and delivered Reid up to a team of surgeons who had had notice of his arrival.

Morgan followed the gurney into the ER and waited outside the triage room. Dave came into the waiting room at a run.

'Well?' he asked.

'We don't know anything yet.' Morgan answered. 'I think they are worried about his legs. He was trapped for a long time.'

A doctor came out to speak to them. 'We are taking him up to surgery now, to try to save his legs.' he said. 'We will let you know as soon as there is news.'

'We'll be here.' Morgan said.

After the doctor had gone, Dave said, 'I am going to get back to the precinct, Derek. I need to answer this correspondence from the UnSubs. We need Aaron back now.'

'I'll wait here and call you with news.' Morgan said, and Dave went out of the waiting room to get back to his car.

They had Reid, now they needed Hotch.

-0-0-0-

At that moment, Hotch was drinking the water that he had been left. He was concerned that it could be poisoned, but he needed to risk it. He had lost blood and vomited, and he needed to replace the lost fluids. He put the now empty bottle aside and waited for the poison, if there was any, to take effect. Nothing happened, and he thought they wanted him awake for whatever torture they had ready for him.

He was soon to find out. The door at the top of the stairs opened and the four men entered the room again. They wore no masks which was not a good sign. They were going to kill him eventually.

But not yet. Aaron noticed that one of the men were carrying a whip of some kind. So far he had been beaten with fists. Now they had something else in mind. He cringed as he saw they were also carrying a base ball bat and other objects, and he guessed what they were going to do with them.

They pulled him to the centre of the room again. This time they set up a video camera, and before they hit him, they switched it on.

Careful to keep their backs to the camera, the man with the whip started to beat him. Hotch tried to stand and face his attacker, but when he moved he bled, so he curled up in a vain effort to protect himself. He tried too, not to cry out in pain for the camera, but it was impossible not to, as the evil thing tore at his back and cut deep slices in his flesh.

He held his arms around his head and stopped the whip from touching his face, but they saw what he was doing, and one man pulled his arms above his head while another pulled his legs straight. He had no protection at all now, and the ends of the whip curled around his body, hungry for uncut flesh. It sliced into his cheek and chest, and moved down his body to his groin. He shrieked in agony as the whip did its work.

He heard crying, and wondered who it was until he realised it was him. There was laughing too as the psychopath threw the bloody whip to one side , and turned him into a position where they could rape him.

But this time the abuse was different. He screamed for the cameras, unable to prevent it. Blood flowed and spattered in deep red arcs as they did their worst to him.

Aaron couldn't take it any more. He collapsed on the floor as his body gave up the fight and he fainted. One of the men switched off the camera, and they left him lying there, taking their equipment with them.

-0-0-0-

It was hours later that Hotch opened his eyes again. His whole body was racked with pain, and trembled in shock. He tried to move back to his corner, but any movement was not possible. He realised that his eyes were watering, and strange choking sounds were coming from his throat. He refused to let go and cry. He would not let go of that last thread of dignity that he was clinging to.

But he knew eventually that it would be snatched away from him.

He blinked back the tears of anger and pain, and tried again to move. The floor was slick with blood, and it didn't take much to slide back to the wall. He concentrated, and using the worn bricks, he pulled himself onto his knees, and from there, onto his feet. He clung to the wall to help him, but he was determined to meet his abusers face to face next time they came for him.

He thought that next time would be to feed him. He stood leaning against the wall, thick blood running down his legs to the floor. He hoped that after the food would come some water. It did last time, but they didn't seem to be sticking to a time table. They just did to him what they wanted when they felt like it.

The door opened. Aaron turned, still leaning against the wall, ready to face his attackers.

They formed a semi circle around him. One expressed his surprise that the man they had beaten and abused was standing. Noting their surprise, Aaron spoke.

'I will not be broken.' he said, bravely facing off his abusers.

One stepped forward. It was the same man who had beaten him with the whip. He formed a fist and punched Aaron in the solar plexus. He crumpled to his knees, and fell to his side, desperately trying to catch his breath while his nervous system reset.

'Dinner time.'

Hotch turned his head, looked up at the man with a dish of muck that he was going to be force fed with.

Hotch knew he needed the food, but his body rejected it. Holding his head up by the hair, they shovelled the food into his mouth. Once again it set him gagging and choking as they forced the porridge into his mouth and held it shut until he swallowed. He squirmed and fought against it, but they kept on spooning it into his mouth and forcing him to swallow it. Not until the bowl was empty did they stop. Then they let go of his hair and dropped him to the floor.

'Stay down this time.' a voice said, and they left him heaving and vomiting on the floor.