Reid was in the lead as the three agents charged into the emergency room.
"Who's in charge here?" he demanded loudly.
"Who are you?" a nurse challenged him.
"FBI!" Hotch held up his credentials, as the other two agents did the same.
"We're looking for the woman who was brought in here about an hour ago," Morgan explained.
"Her name's Christine," Reid added. "And – She may be pregnant."
The nurse glanced at their credentials. "There was a woman brought in," she told them. "She wouldn't give us a name. In fact, she wouldn't say anything. The doctor assumed she was in shock because she came from that – Place – You people just raided."
"Where is she?" Reid insisted.
"We put her in Cubicle E," the nurse told him. "That's where the fetal heartbeat monitor is."
"So, she is pregnant?" Morgan asked.
"Oh, yes," the nurse assured him. "No question about that. Hey, you can't go back there!" she yelled at Reid as he rushed into the exam area.
"He's the father," Hotch explained. "She is okay?"
"Well, I guess I can tell you that much," the nurse said. "She and the babies are just fine. Anything else, you'll have to get a family member to talk with the doctor."
"Okay," Hotch and Morgan started to follow Reid. Then, Hotch stopped so fast Morgan ran into him. He turned around to face the nurse. "Babies?" he questioned.
"You'll have to talk with the doctor," the nurse told him, obviously afraid she had overstepped her authority. She turned and called out, "Doctor Mercer!"
A harried looking man in a white coat came over. "These men are from the FBI," the nurse explained. "They are asking questions about the pregnant woman who was brought in. The one who wouldn't speak."
"Are you a relative?" the doctor inquired.
"My agent is the baby's father," Hotch informed him testily. "That woman, Christine Nielson, has been held captive for over four months and we are concerned about her. Are you going to tell me what I want to know, or will I have to arrest you? And, then, you can tell me."
The two medical professionals exchanged looks. "Well, I guess it won't hurt," the doctor conceded. "What do you want to know?"
"Babies?" Hotch came right to the point.
"Yes, Babies," the doctor was definite. "When we hooked her up to the fetal heartbeat monitor, we definitely heard two heartbeats. Also, manual examination confirmed that there are two fetuses. As soon as we can get her cleaned up and moved upstairs, she is scheduled for an ultrasound."
"Twins?" Morgan was still trying to digest that information when he heard Reid screaming.
"Hotch, she's not here!"
"What do you mean, 'She's not here'?" Doctor Mercer demanded.
"She's not there!" Reid insisted, as he ran back into the waiting area. "In the cubicle, where she's supposed to be!"
Dr. Mercer and the nurse, closely followed by the three agents, rushed back into the examination area. When they reached Cubicle E, the curtain had been pulled back, revealing an empty examination table. The disconnected wires from the heartbeat monitor were dangling from the machine.
Hotch turned to the physician. "We need to lock down the building, STAT!" he declared.
"Sorry, Agent, we can't do that," the doctor informed him. "We have the women coming in from the raid you just staged, plus our normal patient load. We are the only hospital in the area. We have no where else to route emergency patients."
"In that case," Hotch was thinking fast. "We need to limit access and egress to the building."
"Only use the one set of doors in the Emergency Room area," Morgan quickly devised a plan. "Lock everything else, and put your security guards down here. They need to check everyone coming and going."
Doctor Mercer looked at the nurse. "Call the Administration Office," he instructed her. "Tell them what is going on, and have them arrange for a complete lockdown."
"Then, we need to begin a floor-by-floor search," Hotch continued his instructions. "Your staff needs to help my people verify that everyone in this building is either a patient or a staff member."
"Hurry!" Reid whimpered. "We need to find her!"