Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not owned by me, but if it were, know I would have Morgan and Garcia together...where they belong.

Thank you lovely people for the lovely reviews! I am grateful for each and every one of them and hope this one meets your expectations :) The flashback scenes are in italics. This is another Tala heavy chapter.

Day 1 Of The Search

"We need to have a technical analyst helping us on this," Hotch said as soon as the profile had been giving. "Call Lynch. We'll need him along on this one."

Blake nodded. "I'm on it," she said.

Hotch turned to the Chief. "Chief Hernandez, we need everything you have on the cases from the other states," he said. "We're going to have to look through them for any ideas where to start."

"I'll get the case files up here immediately," Hernandez said.

As soon as the cases were brought up, they began pouring over them. Reid looked up and said, "Guys, there is something here that we should take a look at. Apparently, a tip was called in saying that there was a van with a partial South Carolina plate. They only got four digits: U - D - 8 - O. But the local PD on this particular case never found anything in the area. It looks like the unsub got away before they caught him."

"Do we have Lynch up and running back at Quantico?" Hotch asked Blake when she returned to the conference room.

She nodded. "I can get him on speaker phone," she said. Dialing Kevin Lynch on the phone, she stuck it on speaker phone. "Lynch, it's Blake again. You're on speaker."

"Alright agents," he said. "How can I help get the Morgan girls back?"

"Lynch, we need you to look up a partial license plate for us," Reid said. "The local PD in Raleigh, North Carolina had a tip called in about a van. The description given was a windowless, dark blue van with a partial plate U - D - 8 - O from South Carolina. We need you to look into it."

"Is that all?" Lynch said.

Reid opened his mouth to reply that they were all done, when JJ came back over and interrupted him before he could talk. "Yeah, Lynch" she said. "We need you to check out one more thing."

"Fire away, Agent Jareau."

She pulled down the photo of Tala from the board where they had put it and looked at the back of it. "I noticed there was something on the back of this," she said. "It's a stamp for where the photo came from. Lynch, I need you to get us the address for a Goldstein Pharmacy. Apparently they have a twenty four hour photo. It's here in DC."

"Give me just a moment," he said. "I'll have it for you...okay, here it is!" He paused and added, "Alright, the address is 8787 Houseman Dr. Anything else?"

Hotch rose from his seat and pointed to Blake and Rossi. "Blake and Rossi, go to the pharmacy and ask about who picked up the pictures. Reid, go along with them to get the video surveillance. They might have caught something about who took the girls. From there we can send it back to Quantico. Lynch, call us when you get anything on the van."

"Will do, Agent Hotchner," he replied before the phone cut out. "I'll call you as soon as I have something to help."

XXXXX

Tala was leaning against the stone wall of the basement with Lindy and Soraya's heads resting on her lap. The two of them were breathing steadily after having fallen asleep. But there was no way Tala could sleep. She was too terrified. The room they were in was completely dark and there was no sign of light. Rubbing her face, she wiped away a few of her tears that she'd refused to let fall while her sisters were still awake. This was way beyond her. She never thought she would have to deal with the crap her parents dealt with on a weekly basis. She never thought she'd find herself in a place where she had no sense of time and where she had no idea what to do to get herself out.

She wondered what her parents were doing. Whether they were arguing about it being the other's fault or if they had set aside their differences to try and find them. She hoped to God they were getting along. Her family was one of the only things she truly valued and when her parents had split she was crushed. She'd begun hating life after the separation and at times she wanted nothing more than to smack her parents into loving each other again.

But right at that moment she wanted Derek and Penelope to wrap her in their arms and hold her until every ounce of pain was gone. Her head began to drift off to memories from months ago.

A knock sounded from Tala's door and she looked up from her computer to yell, "Come in!" The door opened to reveal her father and she got up from her bed and threw her arms around him. "Dad! You're home!" Derek had been gone for the past week and a half and though he'd missed her choir concert, she wasn't very upset. She left that to her mother. She'd just missed her father.

"Hey sweetie," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Sorry I missed your concert last week."

"It's not a big deal," she said with a wave of her hand. "I don't really care about choir anyway." She noticed he was being extremely quiet and she frowned. "Er, Dad? What's wrong?"

He sighed and moved her backpack off her desk chair and sat down. "Honey, I need to talk to you," he said. "I mean, I'll have to talk to Lindy and Raya too, but they're both asleep now. But..." His voice trailed off and she cocked an eyebrow in the exact same way he would.

"Dad, what's the problem?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

He rubbed his face again and said, "Tala, I really don't know how to tell you this. Your Mom and I are going to talk with you and the girls, but since you're -"

"Dad," she said bluntly. "What?"

"I'm - I'm moving out," he said grimly.

At first she thought he was joking, but when his face didn't change or break into a grin, she felt her stomach drop. "Wh - what?" she stammered. "Are you kidding?"

He shook his head and reached out to take her hand. "No, I'm not kidding. Your Mom asked -"

She jumped to her feet and shook her hand out of his. "Wait, wait!" she said. "You're telling me that Mom kicked you out? She asked you to leave?" She knew that her father wasn't home all the time and she knew her mother had in recent years started to be more testy about it, but she never thought she would kick him out. It made no sense. Her parents were the two most lovey dovey people she'd ever seen in her entire life. They couldn't get divorced; it wasn't in their DNA. It just didn't happen to people like them. Tears filled her eyes and she started for the door.

"Tala, where are you going?" he asked.

"To bitch Mom out," she snapped.

After months of being at odds with her mother, she missed her. And at that moment, she wondered seriously if she was ever going to see her again.

It had been months since Derek had moved out and into a tiny apartment and Tala had essentially stopped speaking to Penelope unless it was to yell at her. She never wanted to forgive her.

"Tala honey, can I come in?" Penelope asked hesitantly after opening Tala's bedroom door slightly.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Tala responded sarcastically, not looking up from her homework.

Ignoring her daughter's sarcasm, Penelope came in anyway and sat down on the edge of her bed. She smiled softly, hoping her daughter would respond or at least look at her. "Tala, will you look at me please? I just need a couple of minutes with you."

Tossing her pen down into her book, Tala looked up at Penelope and glared. "Mom, I'm really busy and I have a game tomorrow afternoon so I have to get this stuff done okay? Make it quick." She noticed the hurt look on her mother's face, but she didn't care. It was some consolation for the constant hurt she saw in her father's eyes.

"Honey, I wanted to let you know that I..." Her voice trailed off and she started again. "I wanted to tell you that..."

Rolling her eyes, Tala snapped, "Mom! What?"

Penelope looked at Tala with sad eyes and murmured, "I wanted to let you know that I started seeing someone." Tala stared at her blankly and she added, "And you know him." Penelope waited again for her to respond, but when she didn't, she sighed. "It's Kyle Roberts. The trainer at your school. We met at one of your soccer games."

"You're dating the school's trainer?" she blurted incredulously. "Seriously?"

"I know this is hard for you, but your dad and I -" Tala rose from her seat on her bed and grabbed her things to shove in her backpack. She didn't care that her mother was still trying to talk to her. "Honey, where are you going?"

Huffing, Tala grumbled, "I'm going to see Dad."

"Honey, you're not supposed to see him until tomorrow," Penelope protested.

"Yeah, well I'd rather see him than you," she hissed, stomping down the hall.

The sliding of something on the floor above her made her snap out of her day dreaming. A shot of fear raced up her spine. Her breathing started to grow more rapid and she squeezed her eyes shut, unable to stop her tears of fear. Suddenly the darkness was lit up when the trapdoor opened to reveal the upstairs. She kept her eyes closed even as she heard the heavy steps of her captor coming down the rickety steps and across the floor of the basement. She was grateful her sisters didn't stir. When the footsteps stopped and all she heard was the breathing of the man who'd taken them, she finally felt brave enough to open her eyes. He was standing over her and her sisters with a sinister grin covering his face. Her lower lip quivered and she couldn't stop herself from shaking.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart," he snickered quietly. "Come with me."

Biting her lip to keep herself from whimpering, she shook her head and glared at him, even though she was pretty sure her glare was the lamest one in history. As expected, he laughed at her face. To try and make herself more intimidating, she growled, "No."

"Come with me," he repeated more dangerously. When she shook her head again and refused to move, he knelt down and pulled his gun out of the back of his jeans and used it to move a lock of Soraya's hair from her face. A small cry escaped her lips this time and he grinned wickedly. "Come with me, or I'll blow your little sissy's brains out. And you don't want that, do you?"

"If I go with you, will you let my sisters go?" she asked quietly.

"Get up!" he snapped.

"Tell me you'll leave my sisters go!"

Losing his patience, he leaned forward and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her forward until she was on her knees and her sisters were startled awake. "Tala?" Lindy said in a surprised voice. "What's going on?"

"Lindy, stay with Raya!" Tala gasped as the man pulled her away. He was dragging her along and she kicked out. "Let me go!"

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he pulled her to her feet and pushed the head of his gun into her her back. "Move!" Tala stood there defiantly and he backhanded her across the face. "NOW!" he roared.

Tala looked back at her petrified sisters and turned back to the man holding them captive. Glaring at him, she started up the stairs and when they reached the top she hissed, "What do you want with us?"

Not responding, he grabbed her by the upper arm and held it in a bruising grip. "Keep walking!" he yelled, moving her towards the nearest door. She saw the van that had brought her and her sisters to the hell hole they were in. "Open the door!" Reaching for the iron knob with a shaking hand, she wiggled the rickety door until it opened into a dark corridor that was very dimly lit. Hesitantly she made her way into the building and stopped when he hollered, "Stop here and go in the door on the right!"

"What is this place?" she asked as he pushed her in. The room they'd entered into looked like...a beauty salon? "Is this some kind of joke?" she demanded as he shoved her into a chair in front of the mirror. Pasted to the wall around it and the bulb lights were dozens of girls in makeup. A gasp escaped her throat. On a different wall were pictures of the same girls, only it was difficult to tell it was them. Their bodies were marred, mauled, and mutilated. Was this what was going to happen to her and her sisters?

She tried to lash out at him, but he latched her one of her wrists to the chair so that she was trapped. "Let me out of here, you freak!" she screamed.

"Hold still, Tala," he said in a soft voice, forcing her down and locking her other wrist into the restraints. "Sit still or I'll make this worse for you."

Glaring at him, she hissed, "Do it! See if I care!"

Backhanding her again as if it was completely normal, he laughed, "Maybe you don't care about you, but it looks like you care about those little sisters that I have downstairs. Want me to do something to them?"

"No!" she screamed, tears filling her eyes again. "Please! Just leave them alone!"

"Do you promise to be nice then?" he asked in a cooing voice.

She bit her lip and nodded, unable to stop the tears. "Yes, I'll do anything!" she cried. "Just leave my sisters alone!"

He laughed again and started moving around the room, gathering different makeup tools. "Oh, don't worry sweetie," he said softly. "Those little girls don't hold anything to you. They're not going to get the same...treatment." He came up behind her and leaned down so his chin was in the crook of her neck. Pouting, he looked at her tear streaked face in the mirror and added, "Oh, don't cry! We're going to have fun together these next four days. It' going to be a blast!"

Tala squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip. She couldn't contain her fear anymore. She was down right terrified.

"You have such pretty hair," he murmured, taking a brush to it and going from her scalp to the tips of her hair. "It's got the same looking texture as your mother's."

Her eyes snapped open and she caught sight of her captor brushing her hair. "How do you know what my mother's hair looks like?" she asked.

He paused in his brushing to lean down again. This time he placed a tender kiss on her cheek and she shivered with fright. "There are a lot of things I know about you, Tala," he said in a soft voice, their eyes meeting in the mirror again. "And the texture of your pretty mother's hair is just one of them."