Author's note: I know it's a lot of Hotch and Emily, but I'll try to keep the others in mind in the following chapters... Don't own Criminal minds

Chapter 12: Running against time

Everything was genuinely quiet in this isolated place of the Kansas countryside, except for the angry voices of two men. She could see their silhouettes gesticulating behind the half closed curtains. But as hard as Emily tried to hear the content of their argument, she could only make out one word out of ten. At least, she was now sure that Joseph Schrader was in that house. Her fingers automatically hardened around the barrel of her gun, to make sure that it was still there and ready to be used. Arching her back so as not to be seen from the window, the brunette made her way along the house, hoping to find a backdoor to make a discreet entry and surprise the two men. The farm was huge, she thought to herself as the voices' volume lowered but she did not see the end of the wall she was walking along. Finally, she reached the corner and peered around before continuing her way, to be sure no bad surprise was expecting her on the other side. Another window gave her a peek into the kitchen, drowned in obscurity. Her hand reached out for the doorknob. A good thing about living on the countryside was that you could let your door open at all times.

As convincingly as Derek had been, Aaron Hotchner had not even considered letting him take the driver's seat. The younger agent had had to quicken the pace as Hotch almost jogged towards the rental car in the airport parking lot. Now that they had a lead, both couldn't wait to reach Emily Prentiss before she did something irreparable. The cell phone rang for the second time in the last thirty minutes, just as Hotch was pulling onto the fast lane to leave Kansas City.

"Baby girl, we are on our way, you can send the route."

"It's already on the way. The house is under the name of Eddy Schrader, 33. He lives on his own on the exploitation, and had been visiting his brother every week for the past two years until the man broke out." The analyst's voice echoed through the car since Derek had put on the speaker.

"Are you sure it's our guy, PG?" Derek continued, his eyes set on the road which was passing by extremely fast. The agent wondered if Hotch had forgotten about his foot on the accelerator.

"Em' turned her phone back on and I was able to trace it. The GPS from her rental car confirms she's approximately forty miles northwest from where you are right now."

Hotch cursed under his breath as he realized how long it would take them to reach the location. Derek peered sideways without saying a word, thanked the blonde analyst and hung up.

"You know, you might want to drive straight into the ravine, it would at least be quick and painless." The younger agent groaned, using his free hand to hold the dashboard in a protective way.

"What?"

When Derek looked over after two whole minutes, he realized that Hotch was not even aware of his extremely nervous state. He was beginning to wish they had taken Rossi with them. At least, the man could have calmed his superior officer down and jumped in if necessary.

"Hotch…" Derek glanced over once again. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Morgan, spill it out if you have something to say." Okay, so much for not registering his earlier comment, Derek thought to himself, raising an eyebrow.

"Hotch, with all due respect… You're scaring me."

For the first time since they had stepped in the car, the dark-haired man locked with his colleague's gaze. He seemed to soften somehow, but did not slow down.

"I need to know if you can keep a cold head, or you might put us both in danger." Derek's voice had turned into something cold, which was unusual for him. Hotch remembered all too well this tone from the days following Foyet's attack.

"I will, Morgan." Hotch hissed in return. "I'm just scared that we might be too late."

"Do you think she would kill the guy, honestly?" The last word was said with a smirk.

"This is family, Derek. He killed her daughter." Although it would be inappropriate to put forward his personal experience, Hotch knew that his colleague had gotten the message. Family was everything.

"I realize that, Hotch. But we are talking about Emily. Compartmentalizing, remember? She's never displaying any emotion."

"She's secretive." Derek thought of saying something about the 'no intra-team profiling' rule. But then again, there was a very slim difference between simple analysis and profiling. "She is going to break."

"She is not Elle."

Hotch's eyes narrowed as he took in his colleague's statement. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. Because deep inside, he knew that he wasn't worried for her career or ability to do the job. Whatever happened tonight, Emily Prentiss would get back on track soon enough. What concerned him most was her sanity and well-being. Joseph Schrader had already proven to be ingenious and well-prepared.

"Call her, Morgan. Keep calling her until she answers. She has to know about Richards' family."