A/N: Today I had the pleasure of meeting Josh Stewart, who was SUCH a sweetheart (go team JJ!), and C. Thomas Howell who was also very nice (Nameless, Faceless was on TV tonight too….so much CM stuff!) at a convention this afternoon. Great experience! On another note, thanks for the follows and favorites from all the new readers. Huge thanks to Gerardfan for always reviewing! As always, reviews are appreciated! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
Emily's heart pounded in her chest as they sprinted towards the medical facility. Hotch was leading the group and she ignored the burning in her legs as they surged forward.
"Over here!" Jones hissed. The trees that they were heading towards earlier were coming up and many of them had long branches that were useful for climbing. They were still a good five hundred feet away from the door of the medical facility and the WingMan was buzzing uncontrollably.
Whatever was coming was practically there.
Hotch helped Emily up as she grabbed the branches of the tallest tree, pushing her so she could reach up. She clutched a sturdy branch and pulled herself up, then leaned down to take Hotch's hand and pull him up with her.
"Keep going." His voice was low and she nodded quietly, her eyes focusing on her task. She could hear Hotch turn around and help Tintin up, while Cleveland climbed up a neighboring tree with Jones. She climbed up until she was about twenty feet off the ground before turning to check on her companions.
"Are you okay?"
Hotch and Tintin nodded as they settled in next to her. Hotch signaled at the two soldiers and they gave the thumbs up. They had made it. Barely.
Emily's eyes scanned the valley. Whatever had been coming close to them was already there. But she couldn't see anything. She frowned as she watched the brachiosaurs feed in the trees, one of them not more than thirty feet away from them. Nothing was happening.
"Over there." She heard Hotch and followed his finger. She could see a handful of brown dots in the grass alongside the trees. They were small dinosaurs from her viewpoint, but they moved quickly as a herd towards one of the smaller brachiosaurs that was feeding on a shrub. It was at least six or seven feet tall, but Emily realized that it was only a baby in comparison to the others.
Emily couldn't help but turn her head away as she saw one of the predators leap forward and bite onto the back of the baby. It bleated loudly and the other brachiosaurs immediately sturred, but it was too late. Two more bit into its legs and it went down with a loud thump. The carnivores tore into it viciously and dragged it into the trees before a few of the brachiosaurs could save it.
The herd was now on high alert. It started to move away to escape further into the valley, but there were a few more casualties along the way. Groups of the carnivores would jump out of the trees and drag down anything they could with a fearlessness that shocked Emily. These things were out to kill.
"What are they?" She heard Hotch whisper into the microphone of his walkie talkie. There was a silence before Cleveland responded.
"Velociraptors." Emily shivered at the response. "We need to wait them out. We'll be taken down immediately if we try to continue on foot while they're around."
"They seem to be following the herd away, so it shouldn't be long. Just hold tight and keep quiet," Jones said.
Hotch looked up. The trees were thick with leaves, and they were well connected to neighboring branches. An idea popped into his head. "Can we climb over?"
Cleveland hesitated before responding. "We could try, but we still need to wait. According to InGen, these guys have incredible senses of smell and hearing. If they know we're here, they'll pursue us."
"Thirty minutes. If they're still around, we stay put. If they move on, we make our move."
Everyone settled in at Hotch's command. Emily could feel the tension in the group. They were so close and it was starting to get late. They wouldn't make it back before dark, which meant that they were going to be vulnerable. She turned to look at Tintin who had his legs dangling off both sides of a branch next to her. He gave her a weak smile as she crawled over next to him. Hotch was keeping watch with a set of binoculars next to her.
"Are you alright?" She kept her voice low.
"Yes, I was just a little shaken up by all of that carnage. My stomach isn't as strong as it used to be." The young man sighed and shifted his pack. "That poor guy didn't even stand a chance."
"It's all part of nature, I suppose. Even though nothing about this situation seems real, life finds a way to continue whether or not we like it."
"That's very true." Tintin's eyes moved towards the medical facility. "Do you think she'll be alright? Maggie Coolidge?"
"I'm have no doubt that she's a very strong woman. She's trained to survive and she knows that we're coming for her." Emily looked away from him. "Hope can be a very powerful thing."
"Do you think it's enough? When we're all so completely out of our element?"
"It was enough for me." She saw Hotch's eyes shift towards her, but he kept the binoculars up. "As long as you have something to hold onto, you'll make it."
Tintin nodded and dropped the subject, sensing that the topic was starting to become personal for Emily. He checked his watch. "It's been over an hour now. Any sign of 'em?"
"Not for at least twenty minutes. I think we're in the clear." Hotch repacked his binoculars and radioed Cleveland. "Are we clear over there?"
"Roger that. No signs of life in the immediate area confirmed by the radar. We should be okay to move."
"Alright, strap everything in tight." Hotch pointed to the branches above them. "We'll go as far as we can up here. Move slowly and carefully and keep an eye on your footing. There's no need to rush. I'll go first, then you two can follow."
Emily and Tintin nodded. They watched Hotch tighten the traps on his pack and stand up. Emily almost stopped breathing as he made his way out onto the thick branch, but he managed to grab onto a neighboring branch of the tree that Cleveland and Jones were in and made it over easily. He turned around and motioned for the two to follow them.
It was a slow process, but it made them feel safe. They moved foot by foot through the trees with only a few moments that got their blood pounding. Emily almost fell backward off of a branch and had to be yanked forward by a wide-eyed Hotch. Cleveland almost dropped all of their weapons when he slipped on some leaves. But they made it to the perimeter of the medical facility.
"Are we clear?" Hotch unbuckled his pack and held it in front of him.
Cleveland held up the WingMan and nodded. "Nothing for a mile or so. We're good."
"Stay quiet. Move to the front doors and keep low." Hotch dropped his pack onto the ground below and climbed through the branches of the tree to the base.
Emily followed suit, and soon the five of them were on the ground safely. They strapped their packs back on and quietly moved through the trees into the grass surrounding the medical facility. Cleveland didn't take his eyes off the WingMan once.
They reached the front doors of the medical facility and Hotch tried to pry the doors open using his bare hands without success. Jones took a crowbar out and handed it to him. As he wrenched it open, he could see that it was barred from the inside. He held up a finger and motioned Emily forward.
"Maggie Coolidge, are you in here? Maggie? My name is Emily Prentiss and I'm with Interpol."
Silence greeted her. She raised an eyebrow to Hotch and he tried. "Maggie, we're here to take you home. I'm Agent Hotchner with the FBI." He stuck his head into the opening to get a better look.
He was met with the nozzle of a rifle. He looked up and saw a woman with scraggily blonde hair cascading across her face. She smirked at him and lowered the rifle.
"Well it's my lucky day, isn't it?" Maggie Coolidge set the rifle next to her and unbarred the door so the group could enter. "Interpol and the FBI? All for little old me?" Her eyes settled on Cleveland and Jones and their InGen tags suspiciously.
Cleveland noticed her hesitancy. "We're here for you, Maggie. You can trust us."
"The last time I trusted InGen I ended up running for my life, so excuse me if I'm not a little more welcoming."
"Trust us then." Hotch held out his hand to shake hers, which she slowly accepted. "Agent Prentiss and I have nothing to do with InGen. And this is our colleague, Mr. Tintin."
"As in the famous investigative reporter Tintin?"
"One and the same, ma'am." The young man shook her hand.
"I've followed your work and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed." Maggie Coolidge turned to Hotch. "So let's say I trust you. How the hell are we going to get out of this place? The raptors use this area as a feeding zone regularly."
"We saw," Hotch admitted. "There's a team waiting back at a water treatment plant six miles back. We'll need to head back and collect more supplies and manpower before we think about going in to extract Pincher and Dr. Downey."
Maggie teared up immediately. "As long as that bastard Pincher gets what's coming to him, I don't care what the plan is. He murdered innocent men and women!"
Emily put a hand on her shoulder. "We know that, which is why we have to be careful. We need to think with a clear head. We'll get him, but we'll need your help."
"Anything."
Hotch set his pack down and motioned to a rickety table near them. "Let's sit down. Tell us what happened. We need to build a profile. It'll help us better understand his actions."
Maggie nodded and followed Hotch to the table. Emily saw Cleveland and Jones follow but she held up a hand. "I think it would be best if you two gave us some room."
"What for?" Cleveland frowned at Emily's statement.
"She's vulnerable right now. She doesn't trust anyone associated with InGen. If Hotch and I are going to gain her trust, we need to do it alone." Emily pointed to a few tables against the wall. "It's nothing personal. Why don't you get some rest? If we need you we'll call you over."
Cleveland hesitated, but Jones pulled him away. "Come on, let's leave them to do their jobs. You need to rest."
The man nodded, putting his ego away. "Let us know if you need anything."
Emily gave him a weak smile. She was exhausted, but there was work to do. "You both did a great job today. We wouldn't be here without you."
Cleveland returned the smile and picked up his pack. "Likewise." He turned to Jones. "Come on, I'm starving."
Emily watched the two walk away. She realized that Tintin was still standing next to her, alone. "Would you like to join us in the interview?"
"Do you think they would be offended?" Tintin nodded to the two soldiers that had settled down against the wall.
"If they are, they'll get over it. You're not InGen, so in Maggie's eyes you're to be trusted."
"Alright, if you think it'll help." The younger man dropped his pack and followed Emily over.
"Just observe. Hotch and I will lead. Listen to everything she says and the way she says it. For all we know, she managed to escape because Pincher wanted it that way." Emily kept her voice low as they neared Hotch and Maggie.
"What do you mean?" Tintin's eyebrows nearly shot off of his forehead. "You think she's involved."
Emily shrugged. "You can never trust anyone. As a profiler you learn that very quickly. Just because her story is so dramatic, it doesn't automatically exclude her from innocence."
"For the record, I hope she's not involved. She's been through so much!"
"Just be objective. Keep your ears and eyes open. Alright?" He nodded and Emily plastered a smile onto her face as they neared the table.
"Are you sure you're alright? I have a few energy bars in here." Hotch held one out to the blonde woman across from him.
Maggie shrugged. "I suppose I could eat. Not much of an appetite lately when I've been so high strung." She took the food from Hotch. "Hiding out really does a number on the nerves."
Emily nodded and sat down. "Let's start slowly. What's the first thing you remember from that night?"
Maggie swallowed a bite of the energy bar and set it on the table. She took a sip of water from the bottle Hotch had given her and took a breath. "The silence, mostly."
"It was quiet?"
"Well, it was loud outside. This place is always absurdly loud with the chirping and the growling, but you get used to it." Maggie looked up at Emily. "Inside too with this many people on a mission, especially men, someone will be snoring or grunting or farting. I knew something was off because the silence…it was unnatural. You couldn't hear anything but the outside world."
"And you woke up?" Emily looked at the woman across from her, trying to read her mannerisms as she spoke.
"I was sleeping in one of the computer rooms one night after two other men and I had finished clearing it out. I had the place to myself. There were thirteen of us and we tried to spread out the best we could." A tear slid down Maggie's cheek. "Two other scientists were sharing the office next to me. I found them first with their throats slit. That's when I knew I needed to get out of there."
"And at what point did you see Pincher talking to Dr. Downey?" Hotch questioned, his demeanor staying the same. Emily knew that a few tears wouldn't break him.
"I snuck into the main hall through the back door. I checked every room on my way there and everyone…they were gone. I heard commotion and I managed to hide behind a desk. Pincher was shouting at Wayne and going ballistic with a knife in his hand. Wayne was just sitting on the floor watching him, and I think he was just in shock."
Emily nodded. "Did it look like they were working together?"
"Not from what I could see. Wayne looked as white as a ghost. I don't think he has the balls to pull something off like that." Maggie shook her head. "I mean I could be wrong, but I don't think they were collaborating. Pincher was just shouting that he needed Wayne and the files."
"Why didn't you step in? You were armed weren't you?" Hotch pointed to the rifle.
"I kick myself for that every day." Maggie's face fell. "But before I left, I checked into headquarters. They said to get away as soon as I could and that they would send in reinforcements to help me take him down. Plus, if I would have shot the bastard he would have gotten off too easy for what he did. I didn't want to give him that. I didn't want to risk a fight."
Hotch leaned back in his chair. Maggie Coolidge was either extremely hard to read, or an open book. He wanted to believe that she was telling the truth, and right now there was no evidence to support otherwise. He doubted there would be any security footage available of what happened. "You followed protocol. Don't beat yourself up about it."
"One last question," Emily said, staring at the woman opposite her. "When we go in to secure the area and take Pincher in, will you be able to handle it? We need to be able to trust that you won't do anything irrational."
Maggie Coolidge set the protein bar down and her eyes connected with Emily's. "Like I said, I didn't want to shoot him. Those people deserve justice. All I want to do is help make that possible, even if that means I have to stay out of the way."
Emily seemed satisfied with the answer and nodded. She turned to Hotch. "It's getting late. We won't be able to make it back to base by nightfall."
"We'll stay here tonight. At first light we'll head back." Hotch leaned back in his chair. "For now, everyone get as much rest as you can."
Maggie gave the three of them a tight smile. "If you'll excuse me then, I'll go pack my things. If you need me I'll be down the hall. There's a few cots in the second room on the right if you don't feel like sleeping on the floor. Goodnight." She left them sitting there, giving a brief nod to Cleveland and Jones as she passed them.
"Well?" Cleveland came to join them after Maggie disappeared. "What do you think?"
"We have to go with what we have, which is her word." Emily nodded at Hotch's statement. "You don't have a satellite phone with you, do you?"
"I thought that I had taken one, but I can't seem to find it in my pack."
"Alright, well base camp will have to do without us checking in tonight. Try a few more times and see if you can reach them on the walkie talkies before you go to sleep. There are a few beds down the hall we can use."
"If it's all the same to you, I'll sleep out here and keep an eye on things." Jones joined them at the table. "This place has me on edge."
"I can keep her company," Cleveland said. "It'll be easier."
"That's fine, but try to get some rest." Hotch stood up and collected his pack, waiting for Emily and Tintin to do the same.
The three of them walked down the hall as Maggie had instructed and found a small room with four beds. The sheets were gray with dust and dirt, but it was better than sleeping on a concrete floor.
Emily set her pack on a bed closest to the wall and smiled weakly at Hotch. "I just need a few minutes to get ready. I'll be back."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
Emily shook her head. "No I'll be fine. Five minutes tops." She could see Hotch hesitating but she put a hand on his shoulder. "In and out, I'll be okay."
"Alright. Hurry." Hotch watched her leave and slipped his t-shirt off, digging for a new one in his bag. He saw Tintin doing the same. "So what do you think about this situation?"
"I believe Maggie. I don't know what it is, but I trust her." Tintin yawned and stretched out on his cot. "What do you think, Agent?"
"Based on her story, I think she's telling the truth. I'll talk to Emily later and see if she noticed anything."
"I agree. Agent Prentiss seems like she's good at what she does."
"She's one of the best I've worked with."
"I could say the same for you." Emily breezed back into the room, giving Hotch a small smile. "Well, should we get to bed? I'm bagged."
Hotch nodded and returned Emily's smile. "Goodnight. Good work today, both of you." He laid down on his cot and closed his eyes.
The three of them settled in the best they could, and sleep came eventually to each of them. In the dark of night, two velociraptors chirped at each other, while a third lifted its nose to the wind and took a sniff.