12/3/13: I have edited this chapter for several grammar mistakes.

"Agent Hotchner."

Jeremy shoved the sheet of paper into face. Reid had to lean back to see the words clearly.

"Hotchner. It's Agent Reid. We need to talk," Reid stopped, then squinted at the paper proffered in front of him. Much of the words were misspelled, and the scrawl was illegible.

Hotch immediately heard the quaver in Reid's voice. The words stuck in his mouth from unfamiliarity; He wasn't sure if he had ever heard Reid say 'Hotchner' instead of 'Hotch,' or introduce himself as 'Agent Reid.' Sometimes he used Doctor Reid, but that was only to strangers, and never to him, who was practically family.

"Reid. What's wrong?"

Reid ignored the question and plowed on, following only the words scripted in the note. The gun pressing into his temple felt all too real.

"You have Michael Aremovic in custody. He is scheduled for execution in three weeks. You will release him at a set location. Do not attempt to follow him. Give him $5,000 in cash. If you do not do exactly as I say, I will be forced to do something drastic."

Hotch was shocked. What was going on? He had arrived at work about half an hour earlier, and had noticed that Reid wasn't in the office, but had put it down to the late night they had all had. He got up from his office, walked out to the bullpen, and motioned Morgan over. Hotch covered the speaker with one hand, then whispered to Morgan, "Get Garcia to trace this call now."

He lifted his hand and addressed Reid again.

"Reid, I know these last couple weeks have been stressful, but can you tell me if you are safe?"

On the other end, Reid was silent, his eyes shooting up to look at his captor's face. The small movement made his head pound again, and he closed his eyes briefly. Jeremy jerked the phone away, putting it close to his mouth.

"Listen, you son of a bitch. Your friend here arrested my brother. You will trade me a man for a man. Fair deal, no?" He snarled. "You have five days to free my brother. Call me back when I can talk to him."

Hotch blinked, startled. He wanted to point out that it was impossible to call back if the phone was untraceable, but he figured it wouldn't help Reid. Morgan came back from talking to Garcia.

"She can't track it. It's changing IP addresses too fast. She would need the phone call to last for at least thirty minutes in order to pinpoint a location."

Hotch gave a curt nod, his only acknowledgement. Prentiss and Rossi both came over from where they had been talking by the coffee machine. Hotch mimed writing on a piece of paper, and Prentiss grabbed a notepad and pen. He pressed the speakerphone button, and began writing. UNSUB = Michael Aremovic's brother. Prentiss nodded and hurried away to do a search on him.

"Listen. I'm sure we can work out a deal. Just led Reid go, and then we can talk."

Rossi and Morgan both looked shocked, their eyebrows shooting up in surprise. Hotch forgot that they still didn't know what had happened. It had only been minutes since he himself had gotten the call.

"Can I talk to Reid again? I need to make sure he's not hurt."

"I can assure you, Agent Hotchner, I didn't do anything to him that he didn't do to me."

"He hurt you?" Hotch was stalling for time, trying to keep the man on the line for long enough to track the call.

"The bastard hit me with a fucking bowl. For such a scrawny looking kid, he sure has an arm on him." The man was warming up to the subject, and Hotch allowed himself a breath. This was good. The man was easily manipulated, which would work in the BAU's favor.

"And you made him pay for that, right?"

"Nothing he didn't deserve. I'm nothing if not fair."

Morgan grabbed the phone away, his hands shaking with rage.

"Fair? Fair? You bastard! You kidnapped a federal agent! We will find you. And when we do, do not expect me to be as nice as Hotch here. Because I will make you pay for every last thing you do to Reid. You better live in fear, because your days are numbered."

The man let out a nervous laugh.

"That sounds like a threat to me. I don't like being threatened. Let's see if Reid likes it when I'm threatened…"

Reid spoke for the first time since he had read the note out. His voice was a whimper, and laced with pain.

"No, no! Please. I don't like it. Morgan didn't mean anything by that. He was just saying things. He would never hurt you."

"Too late."

The call went silent as everyone at the BAU waited with baited breath. There was the sound of the phone being put down, and then Reid whimpering.

"Please. Please. No, no, no."

Jeremy stood square to Reid, his fist pulled back in preparation to punch him. Reid screwed up his eyes in anticipation. He knew logically that he shouldn't tense up, but evolution was telling him to make his body as small as possible. Even though he was expecting the punch, it still hurt more than he would have thought. His breath left his lungs with a woosh, and his body doubled over from the pain. Judging by the location of the punch, Jeremy had hit him on one of his kidneys. Side effects from a bruised kidney could include inflammation, abdominal and back pain, painful urination, and a fever.

The BAU team couldn't see what had happened, but they heard the gasp Reid let out. Nobody said anything, but Hotch gave Morgan his I'm not going to say anything now, but you are in deep trouble look. Prentiss rushed over holding a sheet of paper. In big, sloppy letters, she had written the words "Jeremy Aremovic." Hotch nodded, taking in the new information.

"And that is what happens when you threaten me. Your friend gets hurt. Don't try to find me. You won't. I will call you in five hours, and you better have good news for me."

"One second. Would it be possible to see Reid? Just to ensure he's not dead?"

"You think I'm an idiot? No way!" Jeremy hung up, and then stormed out of the room, carefully locking the door on his way out.

In the bullpen, everyone stood in silence for a minute. J.J. entered the room holding a large stack of files.

"Sorry guys, it looks like it's just paperwork today."

The group looked up at her, shaken out of their reverie.

"Get Garcia. Conference room, ASAP. We just got a case."

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