Thank you to my wonderful reviewers! You keep me writing – well, you and a slight addiction! Please feel free to review if you haven't done so already, even non-members can! Thank you to my anonymous reviewer too!
I am going to go back during the next couple of days and edit some of the earlier chapters so the November 11th parts become November 10th – you can see how well I planned this, can't you :)
I also need to start doing a little research for the mini HP case, but before that, where would you rather see Hotch and Emily go: Ireland or Trinidad/Tobago? Then I need someone to help me with the folklore of that place. As a bit of a spoiler, I'm looking at putting together a murder mystery, with the backdrop of something rather ghostly – the old things that go bump in the night – so something a little different! Let me know if you can help!
Thank you to Chiroho for the beta on this!
Where the Blue of the Night
"Perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave."
- Rainier Maria Rilke
Chapter Forty
November 9th
Most of the children didn't eat much, from what they saw. Emily could tell they were getting restless, the way they played with their spoons and the crusts of their bread. O'Hare hadn't touched a thing, her plate still full. Emily imagined her looking paler than she had before, the dark circles under her eyes having grown. She felt sorry for her, being in there, unable to do anything to help the situation. O'Hare had also become almost silent in the past hour; merely uttering the odd word to the child she was sitting near. Emily figured that it was for the best, that she was unlikely to say anything to antagonise Martha. She just hoped it stayed that way.
Hotch retained his stoicism, saying little, letting Rossi do most of the talking. He looked pale though, and had eaten little of the feast Thorne had brought back with him. She prayed for the end of the situation to come quickly, and at least one weight would be lifted from their shoulders.
"I'm going to get ready to go in," Hotch said, almost abruptly. "I need to get wired up."
Rossi nodded. "I'll let everyone know." It had already been discussed, how they were going to play this. They'd continued to profile Martha, debated her likely reactions, and suggested various ways to get the children outside. Both the girls Hotch had requested had been released without any further word from Martha. They'd been gently questioned by Emily and Morgan, then taken away by their parents.
The rest were still waiting, some more patiently than other. JJ had somehow managed to drag a food van out to them, which was now serving free coffee to the parents, and charging members of media an increased price. It had been one of the few things to amuse Emily.
Hotch began to put on the Kevlar vest, his forehead creased in concentration. Emily knew he wasn't worried for his own safety, that wasn't his concern, but he was concerned about the children and O'Hare, and of Martha herself. They wanted her to come out of the building alive. They needed her knowledge of Alfie's whereabouts. They needed this to be over, and then they could focus on their second case, and getting out of that safe house.
Everyone fell silent once Hotch was ready; their faces stilled with fearful anticipation. They knew the risks; when they took this job they were aware of the losses that could happen. Not just of their colleagues, but also of the lives they may fail to save. Emily wasn't sure what worried her the most right now. She knew Hotch was an expert in this field; one of the best, maybe the best, but she knew how he would feel if even one of those children failed to get out of there safely. He'd never say, never voice those feelings, but she would know, because they would all feel the same.
He picked up the phone and dialled the number. They watched Martha's reaction as she heard it begin to ring; she jumped, almost as if she had never expected it to ring again.
"Mrs Moore," Hotch said as soon as she answered. "I'd like to come in and see the children."
"That's not possible, Agent Hotchner. You will interrupt their learning." She was short, almost sharp.
"I don't think they're getting much learning done, Mrs Moore. Look around you, what do you really see? Rows of terrified faces. Children who are too scared to even ask to go the bathroom. Children who want their parents. They can't learn anything in that state. I'm going to come and see them," he said, not allowing her to speak, to argue back until he had finished.
"Why should I let you?" She sounded and looked defiant.
"Because I'm a much better bargaining chip than a room full of children, Mrs Moore. I have the authority to get you out of there. Those children don't," he said.
"You can't bring a gun," she said after a long pause. "It will scare the children."
"Is that why you have one?"
Quiet again.
"Do you have a gun so you can scare the children, Mrs Moore?" Hotch said.
"I don't have a gun, Agent Hotchner. Why are you coming in? You're the one in charge. Can't you send in one of your subordinates?"
Hotch waited for a second. "Because you're too important, Martha. I won't let more junior agent interview you. You've done too much." His eyes glanced at Rossi who was nodding. They'd decided to take this tack with Martha, to be flattering and to not undermine her. In many ways she had a narcissistic personality disorder, pre occupied with personal adequacy, power and prestige. To insult her would be to contradict what she believed about herself, and that could result in her taking out her frustration and anger on those around her.
She waited before responding, and they knew she was weighing her options.
"If I come in there, Mrs Moore, I will ask you to release some of the children."
"How many?"
"I'll leave that up to you. Do we have a deal?"
They saw her nod on screen, her eyes in the direction of O'Hare. "I agree to your terms. But Ms. O'Hare will stay here."
Again, they had expected as much.
"Three minutes," Hotch said, then cut the line.
Emily watched as he checked the wire and camera. A second pair of eyes would give them another perspective on what was happening in the room. The last resort was several agents, led by Morgan and Thorne, entering the room and taking Martha Moore out. This would only happen if it looked as though she was about to take the children down with her.
"I'll attempt to raise one of the blinds," Hotch said. "Then let me know via the phone if you can get a clean shot. If all goes according to plan, Reid should come in with me after about twenty minutes, and we'll aim to talk her down further and get the children out. This can end successfully."
She felt her heart catapult into her mouth, adrenaline firing round her body like lightning. "We're all set, Hotch," she said. They knew the plan, but there was still the need for reassurance, even for him.
He nodded, and opened the door of the trailer to leave, glancing round briefly and looking at her. She kept her expression neutral, knowing that she had to deal with this if they had any chance of this working, and understanding why he had said what he did a couple of nights ago.
Hotch walked toward the building almost slowly, the tension building with each step. There was the possibility that Martha Moore would fire at him as soon as he entered. They doubted it, but it couldn't be discarded.
She saw his hand on the handle as he let himself inside the building, and then a few steps, and he knocked on the classroom door. That was the only sound, the knocking. There was no other noise audible, no sound of children talking, or Martha Moore teaching, just the echo of fist knocking against wood.
"Come in!" A sole voice broke the silence, and then Emily saw on screen the room from a different angle; the rows of children sitting behind their desks, some with faces puffy from crying.
"We made a deal," Hotch said, no emotion in his voice.
"And what if I don't stick to the deal?" She sounded arrogant almost, too used to being in control.
"Then I send a team of men in hear who will take off your head with their first shot."
Emily heard muted sobs as the children heard his words. He'd said it for this effect, to show Martha Moore that he wasn't afraid of upsetting them. They were her shield; she'd chosen to hide behind them, and Hotch had to show her they didn't care.
"Emmy, Taylor Markey, Tailor Wilde, Shona and Paris leave the building and go outside to your parents, who I assume are waiting for you," Martha said, her words calm and authoritative. "How's that, Agent Hotchner?"
He nodded. "Why did you marry your father's friend?" he said.
She looked completely blown away. Emily waited for an outburst, for words to come toppling out of her mouth like money from a slot machine. But instead she remained silent.
"Were you pregnant? Did they both abuse you?" Hotch said. Emily could see that he had stepped away from most of the children and moved closer to Martha Moore. "Did your husband lose his temper and you lost the baby, over and over again until you couldn't get pregnant anymore?"
"I was never married," she said, quietly. "I didn't marry my father's friend."
"It must have been hard, living with what they did," Hotch said. "None of these children would ever understand that. They'll never be as strong as you. They're useless to you. Why become a teacher in the first place? Why bother to forge those documents?"
Garcia had discovered it; the lack of qualifications, the falsified papers. All done many years ago.
Martha said nothing.
"Agent Hotchner," Ms. O'Hare stood up. Emily's eyes went to screen which her camera was streaming to. "Harriet really needs to bathroom. May I take her."
"You should be asking me," Martha said, sounding like a petulant child. "This isn't Agent Hotchner's class. It's mine!"
"But I'm the man," Hotch said. "I'm the one in charge, so you don't get a choice. That's what your father told you, isn't it? Yes, Ms. O'Hare, take Harriet to the bathroom. And why don't you see who else needs to go too."
"Not Molly," Martha said, sounding choked. "Or Stephen, or Jamie. Hannah and Elizabeth need to finish their work too. And Peter."
Ms. O'Hare nodded, and Emily saw how her face had changed. She looked brighter, relieved.
"Actually, the children can go alone," Martha said. "Let Sally stay here."
Emily noticed that Hotch was moving closer to Martha, and then she saw why. Her gun was now in her hand.
The feed from O'Hare's camera had frozen.
"Why?" Hotch said. There was no sign of tension in his voice.
"Because it's the children you're most concerned about. Not an adult."
Emily let her eyes leave the screen and looked at Rossi. "She has two motives for taking the children. The first is like we said: to get back the children she lost. The second is to take revenge: she's right; we act very quickly when there are signs of young children being abused, but not older ones, like she would have been."
Rossi nodded. "So she's only interested in protecting them to a certain extent. Then why does she need to keep O'Hare there? Another adult in the room is a hindrance to what she can do."
"Not while that gun is in her hand," Emily said, her eyes back on the screen. She could hear some of the remaining children crying.
"Why don't you put that gun down, Mrs. Moore," Hotch said gently. He was stepping closer, making Emily's heart speed up, although she knew her face showed no sign of her concern. "You're not going to need it."
"Then how else will I get out of here with what I need? Are you just going to let me go?" The gun was still in her hand, shifting between O'Hare, Hotch, and two of the closest children.
"Holding the gun right now is not going to help anybody," Hotch said. "You've let more of the children go to their parents, you have some of our good will now. If you want Ms O'Hare to stay, she will do. Why don't you sit down at the back, Sally?" O'Hare's camera told them she had taken his suggestion.
"So you will let me go? With two of them?" Martha said. "I need this." She pleaded, her voice softening as well as her expression.
Reid was standing beside Emily in the trailer, a Kevlar vest already on. He was watching the screen with deep concentration, squinting at it.
"Did you forget to put your contact lenses in today?" Emily said, surprised she could think of such a thing while the scene was being played inside the school.
"No, but I think my prescription's changed," he said. "My left eye's a little blurred. I think Hotch has this now."
Martha's body language had changed; she no longer looked guarded, or under attack.
"Which children do you want to keep here, Martha?" Hotch said. He was now sitting on her desk, something she wouldn't have allowed him to do when he had first gone into the classroom.
"Molly and Jacob," she said, looking up at him, her eyes caught clearly on camera. "You will let me go with those?"
Hotch nodded. "We need to let the rest of the children go. And then we need to tell Molly and Jacob's parents that they won't be coming back."
Emily saw Martha Moore smile, a delighted grin covering her face. "I knew people would start to understand. I'm not a bad woman, I've never killed anyone. Not like they did; not like how they killed my babies. But no one did anything to help me; nothing. Because I was old enough to take care of myself – but when are you old enough to protect yourself against your parents? When?"
She had lowered the gun.
Hotch's hand fell across the place where his camera was for half a second. This was the way of saying Reid was to make his way over, with his weapon concealed.
Emily glanced at Reid, who had less of a nervous air about him that usual, but it was still there. "You'll be fine, Spencer," she said. He gave a slight nod and left the trailer without saying anything.
"You think he'll be okay?" she said to Rossi. "He's still not over what happened in Colorado."
"But he knows he needs to do this. Besides, Hotch has pretty much got this under control. My only worry is that she can still turn. I'd say he has a fifteen minute window until she realises that she's not going anywhere."
Their eyes went back to the screen.
"We can let the other children go?" Hotch said. He seemed relaxed, but Emily could see how his hand was inching closer to his ankle, the whereabouts of the second gun he kept concealed.
Martha nodded. "They haven't had a lunch break, so I suppose finishing school a little early won't do them any harm. You can see where they're up to in their learning, Sally, can't you? So you'll know where to start from tomorrow?"
"Yes, ma'am," O'Hare said. Emily felt relieved she hadn't said anything more.
"Okay, children. Apart from Molly and Jacob, you may go. Don't forget your homework folders. Ms. O'Hare will want that in by the end of the week."
Emily looked outside the trailer and saw the children spilling out onto the yard, officers meeting them immediately and guiding them toward the barrier where their parents were waiting, along with paramedics.
As happy a sight as it was, Emily knew that the most dangerous time was approaching for the people that remained in the classroom. As soon as Martha realised that she wasn't going anywhere, she would take the future into her own hands.
"Thank you, Martha," Hotch said. "You've done the right thing."
A knock sounded at the classroom door. Hotch turned so the camera could pick up Reid entering the room.
"Agent Hotchner," Reid said. "I..."
"I didn't say you could enter!" Martha Moore interrupted. Reid's entrance had been successful; they had predicted that she would respond like this.
Reid moved in front of O'Hare, blocking any shot that could be aimed at her. "I'm sorry, Mrs Moore. I know you're in the middle of a conversation. Is there anything I can help with?"
The picture they were getting from Hotch's camera was losing focus, becoming blurred. O'Hare's camera could only see Reid's back. Emily looked to Thorne, who was still concentrating on the screen. "What's happening?" she said.
"The wiring may have loosened. There's nothing we can do unless we get Hotch out of there to adjust it," Thorne said. They both knew that wasn't an option.
"You're just a child. How could you help me?" Emily knew that Martha Moore's focus would now be solely on Reid. The Reid effect; the way he baffled everyone that first time he met them.
"I have three doctorates and an IQ of 187, so I might be more help that you think," he said. Emily knew by now that Hotch would have his Glock 26 in his hand, his Glock 17 left behind with her.
Hotch's camera was now completely defunct, so they were without any line of vision.
"It's rather dark in here," Reid said. "Do you think we could open a blind?"
They saw him move away from O'Hare towards the window that looked out over the field. Martha turned to watch him, and Emily wondered whether she realised why Reid was doing this. She then saw Reid speak briefly to Molly who was sitting near the window. She stood up, moving with Reid so she was closer to the door.
"What did you say to her?" Martha said, the gun now pointing at Reid. "What did you tell her?"
"That it was draughty there and she needed to move, otherwise she'd get cold," Reid said, his calm voice suggesting that he wasn't bother by the gun.
O'Hare then moved, so Emily could now see Hotch. He was almost behind Martha, and Emily knew he had decided to end this using force, bringing it finally to a close.
"Martha," Emily heard Reid say. "We have to take you with us. To the police station."
"But Agent Hotchner said..."
"He lied. Like your father and his friend lied, telling you it wouldn't happen again, when it did, over and over. We know what happened to you, but that's no reason for us to let you take any more children," Reid said. Martha began to sob, her resolve breaking.
Then Emily saw Hotch's arms encircle her, removing the gun from her hands and throwing it down on the floor out of her grasp. "Sally, take the children out of here," Hotch said, and the camera moved swiftly to where the children were both quietly sitting, then out of the room to the yard, and the rain that had started to pound down once again.
"They've done it," Rossi said. "All the kids are out."
They heard the click of handcuffs, then violent sobbing. Feet shuffling across the floor and a wail of pain that sounded like a banshee from the stories Emily had heard as a girl when she had been in Ireland. Then the door opened and Martha Moore was led outside, Hotch and Reid behind her, with Hotch grasping her tightly.
Emily fought the urge to run to him, but it was not just professionalism that stopped her. Her legs had begun to shake with relief and she knew she wouldn't be able to move. She noticed that Rossi was watching her, a half smirk on his face.
"Now you can understand how he feels," he said.
"Are you telling me off?" she said, annoyance helping her legs regain steadiness.
He shrugged. "If you had been the right person to go in there, Hotch would have still sent you in. But his fear would have been worse than yours because he gave the order and you are his responsibility. And it's his instinct to protect you. That's what you do when you care about someone. I know he's upset you, Emily, but it wasn't for lack of thought." Rossi paused. "I'm going to go get in on the action. See if I can find out where Martha Moore is hiding that boy."
He left her with her thoughts, now standing out in the rain, watching Hotch pass Martha Moore over to the officers waiting to take her into custody.
Dan had had a perfect afternoon so far. He hadn't seen her for what seemed like so long, and yet here he was, the very person they were looking for, having the luxury of watching her work for almost three hours.
She was good at her job; instilling calm and confidence into the waiting parents; feeding the media just enough information to keep them happy, but not enough so that the investigation could be spoiled. They would be a perfect team, when he was installed in the BAU alongside her.
Everything was almost in place. He couldn't plan it absolutely, as he couldn't predict who would stay back to speak to Martha Moore and search for Alfie, and who would go back to the safe house. If Rossi returned there, he'd have the coordinates of the place. If Hotch and that bitch Emily did, then he'd have to hope that JJ stayed with Rossi.
He'd just have to watch and wait. But then he was good at that. And that butterfly was a worthwhile prize indeed.
Hotch had handed over Martha as soon as he possibly could, giving Rossi his thoughts and instructing him to take Reid with him to interview her. There was no point him doing it; she'd lost all trust in him, but Reid had been nothing but honest with her, and Hotch knew that the academic qualifications would intrigue her. He imagined Reid would have been her perfect child, and that was what he was hoping would work during the interview.
His skin still felt damp, with the rain as well as with the sweat from wearing a Kevlar vest inside a warm classroom. He would have preferred the luxury of a shower before seeing Emily, but knew that she wouldn't care. He thought he might understand the way she had been feeling during the hostage situation when he had been inside there, but then again, she might not feel the way he did, especially after the last couple of days.
He pushed the door open to the trailer, when he'd figured she'd still be. She was sitting on one of the half broken chairs, his gun in her lap, looking pale and tired. He rarely saw this side to Emily Prentiss. She was always full of fire; determined; feisty; in control. But everyone had their breaking point and the past few weeks were enough to be anyone's, as had been shown with Morgan in Utah.
"Hey," he said, waiting at the doorway. "You okay?"
"Shouldn't it be me asking you that?" she said, handing him his gun. He took it, checked the safety automatically, and placed it in his holster on his waist. Then he pulled her into him, hugging her into his chest, and exhaled the breath he had been holding since he'd told her he was changing bedrooms.
Her arms wrapped around his waist, her hands on his back, under his suit jacket, and he was aware of how damp he would feel, but then he realised she didn't care.
"I figure we've got about three minutes before someone comes looking for one of us," he said, inhaling the scent of her hair that smelled of nothing but her.
She looked up at him. "Then we're back on the trail of our stalker," she said. "Reid and JJ have taken an enormous number of pictures. Llewellyn's already had them downloaded and sent to Garcia and Kevin to go through recognition software. It's likely he's been here watching us."
"Which means he'll have had the opportunity to tamper with any vehicle he likes," Hotch said, pulling away from her slowly. "I'm going to talk with the officers in charge and have each vehicle checked. Then we'll have a car from elsewhere brought over and go back to the safe house. JJ will need to stay here with Rossi and Reid to help control the media. We'll take Will back with us."
Emily nodded. "I'll go and tell JJ."
Hotch looked at her, feeling as if something had blocked his throat for a moment. He let a hand go to her waist and pulled his mouth down to hers, kissing her softly and briefly.
She smiled as they broke away, then followed him outside into the cold rain to carry on with their jobs.