"You've called Jason Gideon. Leave your name and number."
Beep.
There was silence. A long silence. And then...
"Your message has been recorded. To preview your message, press one. To delete it, press two. To send it, hang up."
The automated message came to an end and Hotch jumped into action.
"Garcia, end the call," he looked at the rest of his team, JJ having reappeared. "Get your things, we're leaving."
Xxx
A hot searing pain in his leg forced Reid awake. Eyes still shut, he made to reach for it. To his horror, he felt something wet and sticky. Retracting his hand quickly, he opened his eyes and, ignoring all else, tried to double in on himself to inspect it. He was prevented from doing so, however, by a stabbing pain on his side. It was only then that he fully appreciated the situation he was in.
Xxx
Seven Hours Earlier
Reid pressed his foot on the accelerator, his anxiety mounting in his haste to reach his destination. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, counting down the miles in his head.
Reid was nervous. When he had received Gideon's last message in Garcia's office, asking for a meeting, he felt an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Once he had left Quantico, the ramifications of actually meeting with Gideon, finally, after seven months of texting, worried him and the elation he had felt was replaced by anxiety.
A part of Reid wanted to feel anger and rage, to yell at Gideon the moment he saw his old mentor, but the anger never surfaced. Another part wanted to forget the pain – let bygones be bygones – but the hurt he felt now felt as fresh as the day he walked out of that cabin, clutching onto a letter that was meant to serve as some sort of closure for him. He wanted to feel that happiness again, that sense of excitement he had felt when he had opened Gideon's text, but the endless worries running through his mind prevented even a spark of giddiness to surface.
He sped down a familiar road, his destination mere minutes away now. He took a deep breath and turned into a long drive way, trees on both sides meeting above to make an archway, his headlights the only source of light guiding him forward. As he drove further, the trees were left behind and an open grassy plain met him all around, a small cabin waiting for him at the end of a dirt road. Suddenly, he remembered the last time he had come here and he felt what he had felt that night: dread. Dread that he was about to walk into the scene of a suicide.
Reid swallowed, a lump in his throat making it nearly impossible to keep the Thai he had eaten down. He parked his car at the side of the cabin, beside a dark blue Hyundai. Reid barely noticed it, too nervous to pay much attention to its beat-down appearance. He put both hands on the steering wheel, put his head down and took a deep breath. Finally, he opened the door and exited his car.
His mind was blank as he neared the front door, filled instead with feelings of anxiety and nervousness that seemed to paralyse his senses. As he reached the front step, he noticed that the lights in the cabin were on. Gideon was really here. This was real. He knocked on the door and waited.
It seemed to Reid that time was moving at an agonisingly slow pace, but suddenly he could hear footsteps approaching from inside the cabin and a lock turning. The door opened.
"Hello Spencer."
Reid stared down the barrel of a gun.
Xxx
JJ had the foresight to make preparations for an early departure from Preston County. Upon making the connection between Reid and the UnSub, she had left the conference room and phoned flight control, requesting immediate takeoff. So when Hotch had announced that they were heading back to Quantico, everyone was grateful to have learnt their media liaison could be just as apt at profiling as the rest of them at times.
Now JJ sat in the jet, trying so hard to concentrate on what her teammates were saying but caught up in her own thoughts.
"JJ," Emily whispered from her position beside JJ. "He'll be okay."
JJ shook herself out of her thoughts but did not reply. Swallowing, she forced herself back into professional mode and looked at the rest of the team.
"Are we sure it's not Gideon?" she asked, hoping her question had distracted the team from her lapse in concentration.
Hotch shook his head. "Look at the dates of the abductions," he pointed at the computer which was placed on the fold out table between the seats. "Lisa Attardo from Massachusetts was kidnapped and killed while we were in New Jersey on the poison case. Justin Carser from Illinois was taken while we were in Los Angeles. Gideon would have been in two places at once."
"Maybe he has a partner," Morgan said.
"Are we seriously considering Jason Gideon, BAU co-founder, to have committed murders dating back twenty years?" Rossi objected.
"It was his voicemail," Morgan nearly snapped.
"Which proves what?" Rossi asked. "According to Garcia, Reid never actually spoke to Gideon. Gideon never answered his calls – Reid only left voicemail messages. That voicemail of Gideon could be a recording of a recording."
"I'll tell Garcia to look into it," Prentiss fiddled with the computer, setting up a connection for Garcia.
"I'm willing to bet that the UnSub in Western Virginia and Maryland is the same UnSub that's been taking these people for the past twenty years," Rossi continued as if Prentiss had not spoken.
"Based on what Rossi?" Morgan asked and JJ could see his calm quickly dissolving.
"Based on the M.O," Rossi explained, his voice betraying no emotions but his eyes desperate. JJ could tell that the senior profiler was trying very hard to keep his emotions in check but much like herself, he was struggling with worries and concerns about their youngest member. "The target in both sets of kills was the brain and there was overkill in every victim."
"But the overkill for Garrett, Sanders and Usher was aimed at the brain," Morgan said. "These victims'," he waved his hand at the computer which now was dialling up a connection between itself and Garcia's computer, "brains weren't the target of the overkill, the bodies were."
"But that's the point," Rossi said. "His rage for Garrett, Sanders and Usher was at their brains – average levels of IQ, nothing special. He doesn't care who they are. He has no hatred for them as people, only contempt for their average intelligence." He took in a breath and continued. "But the victims who had their brains removed – the UnSub hates the person, but takes the brain. Their brains are special to him."
"So he's jealous?" JJ asked. "He's jealous of people with a high IQ? He respects their intelligence but thinks they're undeserving?"
"Right."
"And he thinks he's superior to people of average intelligence," Prentiss put in. "He's too good to be average, but not good enough to be genius."
"But he's been taking the brains of high IQ individuals for years," Morgan objected. "Why now, all of a sudden, is he targeting average IQ individuals?"
"Rossi was right," Hotch said. "It's a distraction. He wanted us to leave Reid. It wouldn't be the first time an UnSub has targeted us." Hotch pulled out a paper from his folder and putting it on the table for all to see. It was a copy of Reid's call history. "They've been communicating for months now. The UnSub would have known about Reid's leg: this was the perfect opportunity to strike," JJ could sense a fear in Hotch's tone, one she rarely ever heard.
"But this distraction has only alerted us to him," Prentiss pointed out, a note which they had all been aware of.
"It's a compulsion," Rossi said. "He has to target the brain."
"Please tell me you have something," Garcia's face popped up on screen and JJ could see tear stains on her cheeks and the remnants of mascara that looked like it had been hastily scrubbed at.
"We need you to analyse Gideon's voicemail," Prentiss said.
"I also want you to try and track down Gideon," Hotch said to the surprise of his team.
"Sir?" Garcia asked cautiously.
"Whether he was on a case while these murders happened or not, we still need to find him," Hotch explained. "He could be in danger too."
"On it," Garcia said.
"One more thing," Hotch said quickly. "See if there are any surviving family members of the first twenty victims living in Virginia," he instructed. "I want to get an idea of what the victims were doing in the weeks before their murder."
"Yes sir," Garcia promptly disconnected.
Hotch turned to his team, determination in his voice. "When we land, Prentiss and Rossi go to the hospital and speak to a brain surgeon. I want to know how the UnSub is taking the brains and the knowledge he'd need to do it. Morgan, keep calling Reid. We're working on the assumption that Reid is missing and has been targeted. We need more proof: get a warrant, search his apartment, and try to locate his car." Hotch breathed in, ignoring the looks of horror on his team's faces at that last instruction. "JJ and I will interview the nearest surviving families of the victims when Garcia gets back to us."
There was a brief silence as each team member silently contemplated their set tasks whilst fighting the urge to let worry consume them.
"If the timeline is right, we have until tonight to find Reid," Hotch said, his voice stern, his eyes stony. "Let's rework the profile."
Xxx
A/N: Wow, you guys nearly doubled my reviews in just one chapter! Go you! So thanks to (in order from who reviewed first to last) tannerose5, Guest, Lenika08, Annber03, DebbieOz, Guest, Guest, Sniper, MCatry, Elohim Aelf and Elohim Aelf (like I promised twice because I missed you last chapter!). If you have any suggestions, comments on my grammar, wording or otherwise feel free to make them. If the characters are not in character, let me know. I wanted to also point out very quickly that this isn't going to be a kidnapped fic (I mean, Reid's obviously in trouble but the whole story doesn't centre on what the kidnapper does to him and the torture he goes through).
Thanks again for the reviews and very kind words!