Thank you to my new and old reviewers alike! This is a short chapter – deliberately so as the length worked best with the content. I hope you enjoy anyway!
Sarah x
Where the Blue of the Night
"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."
- Eskimo proverb
Chapter Forty-Eight
November 10th
Her hand shook. She was trying not to cry, knowing that the tears would blur her vision and impair any shot she might take, and she knew she only had one of those. If she missed, he would likely just press that button and blow him, JJ and God knew who else into the next life.
Right now, she wasn't close enough to be accurate. She couldn't get any closer because of the noise she made as she walked, a distance of about forty metres seemed the closest she could get before she could hear his feet and JJ's walking on the leaves, so she could assume he'd be able to hear hers too.
They were heading back to the house, and Sophie knew he would want to take JJ back inside, make her try on the gifts she had suggested. It was too dangerous with that bomb there. They would need to get JJ away from him somehow, unless she could shoot him first.
Her hand shook, and a tear spilt down her cheek.
...
"Shit."
Emily looked at Reid in the mirror. She didn't think she'd ever heard him swear before. He was looking at his phone in disbelief.
"What is it?" Hotch said.
"Clark has JJ. Sophie just sent a text. He doesn't know she's nearby though. She's following and she has Llewellyn's gun," Reid said. "How far are we?"
"Ten minutes," Emily said. "But I might be able to cut that down." She tapped the accelerator.
...
Llewellyn crouched down low in a shed filled with rotting leaves and garbage. The house was empty, he was sure of that. Clark's car was parked neatly next to it, a couple of boutique bags near the door where they looked like they'd been dropped. He was certain that Clark was around.
Then he saw them in the distance; Clark with JJ. He was using her as a shield, making a shot out of the question.
The strange sense of calm enveloped him again, and Llewellyn breathed deeply.
...
Emily pretty much abandoned the car, Rossi braking just before he hit them, such was his speed. She could see the house, still and pretty against the autumn back drop.
"Prentiss go with Rossi," Hotch said, gesturing to one side of the building. That meant he and Reid would take the other side.
"Sophie can see Llewellyn," Reid said, his phone in his hand. "She's too far away to shoot."
"For fuck's sake, she's sixteen," Rossi said. "I'm going to boil that bastard alive."
"Unless he does it first," Hotch said. "We just need to make sure JJ's out of the way, and we're not near the house when it goes. So keep a distance, stay in the trees rather than near the building."
"You think he will detonate?" Reid said, still watching his phone.
"Without question."
Hotch began to move, Reid behind him. Emily gave Rossi a nod and they left the cars, heading towards the sides of the house, and hopefully JJ and Sophie.
...
They had stopped walking. He was saying something that she had stopped listening to thirty seconds ago, recognising it as the musings of a madman. If she could get away from him she was pretty sure that someone would be able to get a shot as she was certain that the team were there now. Llewellyn was in the distance – she had glimpsed him already, and Sophie was behind them; she'd kept a safe distance and hadn't tried to be a hero. JJ hoped she could keep her cool enough to remain safe.
"You're not listening are you?" he said, sounding as if he was about to have a tantrum. JJ was tired, she was in no fit state to think clearly.
"I don't feel well," she said. "I have a water infection because I haven't had anything to drink for so long, and couldn't use a bathroom." She looked him in the eye and hoped he realised how much he had unintentionally hurt her. "Did you not read on my file that I was prone to them? If you had, you would have realised how much pain you were inflicting."
He didn't say anything and a look of sadness flickered across his face, but his grip released slightly and she pulled away, stumbling back.
...
Llewellyn saw her move away and stood up, his movement dragging Clark's attention over to him. JJ moved further away.
He saw Clark pull out the remote control for the explosives.
"Don't," Llewellyn said. "You do that, you end everything."
Clark shrugged. "It's over anyway isn't it? You've tainted her. You've stopped her from loving me."
Llewellyn saw his finger hover over a button and Clark glanced down.
He fired, at the same time as someone else, and as Clark toppled to the ground, he saw stars.