The small frame of Nathan's body slowly shifted into a sitting position, his eyes fixing coldly onto the man's figure. "What do you want" He growled.
"Oh, Nathan. I thought you'd be a little friendlier than that… After all I've done for you" The man sighed as he picked up the plastic chair, placed it the right side up and sat down.
"All you've done?" Nathan spat angrily. "I'm locked in a prison cell with a stupid sandwich pushed through my door three times a day!"
"I've given you a place in my home and feed you a nutritious meal everyday" The man corrected in a calm tone and crossed his legs. "I value our relationship, Nathan. I believe we can help each other"
"If you expect me to bond with you then you can drop that idea" Nathan mumbled while squaring his shoulders in an attempt to intimidate the man.
"I can explain why you and the other children are here, if that would make you feel better" The man said plainly.
"And what would you want in return?" Nathan asked while trying to hide his interest in the offer.
"Information on Dr. Reid" The man replied. Nathan's face dropped and he backed into the wall. "I won't hurt Spencer. We're playing a game, you see. I can get a little… competitive at times, that's all. That's why I need to know about him, so I can win"
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Morgan swiftly kicked the door in then backed away as it hit the floor. Hotch moved past him, his gun aimed and his eyes searching for traps. After the team leader a few SWAT agents piled in and began securing the small apartment. "Clear" Hotch yelled to the profilers who were eagerly waiting by the broken door.
The four agents, Rossi, Reid, Emily and Morgan, entered the apartment and split into pairs. Rossi found himself searching through the neat living room with Reid, flipping through the books on the shelves to find anything useful.
After a few minutes or so Emily and Morgan traipsed into the living room with Hotch close behind. "There's nothing in the bedroom, just a bed and a wardrobe" Emily stated and joined the still searching agents.
"This is probably just a spare address for him then. The leader offers to let him stay at his house and in return gets a live in assistant" Rossi mused while placing a book back on the shelf.
"We should still search the apartment" Hotch instructed. "The leader might have left a clue here for us" He added before the team parted ways again and resumed the fingertip search.
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A toothy smirk spread across a man's face. Moonlight was pooling through a slice in the curtains that glinted against his pearly whites but the rest of his face was cast in shadow. The only other light in the room came from his phone that was resting in his right hand. Moments before he'd received a call informing him his next target was close to becoming his. His eyes glided over the small prison- like cell in front of him and admired his handy work. In a matter of days, or possibly hours, this room would have a new occupant.
It was a pity the other three couldn't be as helpful to the man as Nathan had been. Despite his unstable mental health, the teenager had proven his worth. The other three were becoming more and more dispensable by the minute.
He knew he'd have to raise the stakes soon. Another kidnapping might help but the children were starting to bore him. Declan spent every waking moment bashing his hands against the door and walls, shouting to be let out, Ellie sat silently and refused to eat and Henry cried for his mom. All were completely useless to him. No, they'd have to prove their worth to him or they would be discarded.
The man stepped away from the moonlight, closed the metal door and strolled down the corridor. His eyes flicked to and from each door before he made his choice. He smoothly opened the door and smiled smugly at the occupant. "Good evening" He began in a sickly sweet voice. "Care for a chat?"
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Reid took a sip of a caffeine and sugar filled coffee. The hot liquid left a burning sting on his tongue but he knew he wouldn't be awake long enough to leave it to cool. In front of him the six other members of the team sat yawning and shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Pictures, files and maps lay scattered across the table and a large map of Virginia and the surrounding states was pinned onto the wall.
Reid swallowed a yawn and pointed to the large red circle on the map. "Because the kidnappings are spread out so far the leader most likely picked a place as central as possible as well as it being close to the team. That means he'll be staying with the children somewhere in this circle. The blue zones are the least built up areas so he'll most likely be in one of them" He added before taking another gulp of coffee and sitting down.
Morgan ran a hand over the back of his head and looked down at the information in front of him with a tired expression. "Prentiss and I looked through everything that was brought back from the apartment, there was nothing either of us could see as being useful" He explained between yawns with Emily giving an agreeing nod at the end.
"Garcia and I narrowed our general list of suspects to 256 people but it's unlikely we'll get any further on it with the information we have" Rossi stated then took a couple gulps of coffee.
"I'm trying everything to find out about Chad but he's done a pretty good job of covering up where he's been over the last six months" Garcia said in a soft voice.
Hotch looked at each of the six tired faces in front of him then sighed. A quick check of his wristwatch told him it was close to dawn. "I want you all to go home and get a few hours sleep"
The room was suddenly filled with objections from all members of the team, even JJ, who had been silent for the previous conversation, had jumped in to protest. Hotch held a hand up for silence and slowly the noise died down. "You aren't going to be any help to the children if you're falling asleep at your desk" He said sternly.
"We've worked longer than this on other cases" Morgan stated with a pleading look.
"This is an emotional draining case, you all know that" Hotch stated, his eyes combing over their reactions. None of the agents looked ready to leave. Hotch thought for a few moments then sighed again. "You can stay" He finally said, quickly followed by a relieved exhale from the team members. "On the condition that when you get tired you go home" He added. The agents quickly agreed, stood, took their coffee cups and left for their work stations.
Sorry for the huge break in updates! My laptop cracked open and I had to take it back to the repair store, I didn't even have a chance to save anything to a memory stick. Thankfully, I had an awesome guy work really hard on my laptop so it was back with ten days of me giving it to him. The updates will be back to normal from now on so expect something for Saturday. Please review if you've got time!