Sorry for the wait. Hopefully my laptop will be fixed soon & I'll be able to write another chapter soon. Enjoy!
XXIV
After leaving the technical analyst to her work, the BAU sat in silence for several minutes. Everyone was contemplating the reasoning behind this attack and not one of them was able to offer a viable solution. What could they be looking for? Whatever it was, they all knew that it would be damaging to the Bureau and perhaps life-threatening. Their thoughts were interrupted by a croaky voice calling out from the corner of the room.
"Well, don't leave me hanging." They all turned to see JJ sitting upright and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What happened?"
"There's a…situation at Quantico." Rossi explained slowly, earning himself a confused look from the blonde. Emily seated herself next to her friend and resumed her role of den mother by placing the thermometer back into JJ's mouth, ignoring the surprised groan from the blonde.
"101.6." She declared to the room. "Take these." Emily handed the woman two Tylenol and JJ swung them back quickly.
"Now can someone please explain what I missed?" JJ stood and swayed slightly before righting herself. "You could cut this tension with a-"
"Mackenzie's hacking us." Hotch blurted out and JJ narrowed her gaze.
"Us?" she passed back the jackets everyone had lent her.
"The FBI. She's hacking in as we speak." Rossi clarified.
"Well we have to call Gar-"
"She called us." Emily sighed. "Apparently Mackenzie's a lot better than we initially thought."
"What do you mean?" the blonde asked nervously.
"Garcia gave her four hours before she has complete access." Morgan told her and JJ's eyes widened.
"Complete? As in…everything?"
"More than all of us combined." Morgan crossed his arms in annoyance.
"Maybe not all of us." Rossi mumbled and shot a look in Emily's direction. Ignoring the comment, the brunette turned back to JJ.
"Apparently the only way we can stop her is if we find where Hail took her."
"And I'm guessing that's a lengthy list." JJ rolled her wrist.
"36 locations nationwide." Reid reiterated.
"Fantastic." JJ grumbled and took a seat at the table. "What have we told them?" She motioned to the handful of NYPD uniforms and detectives massing right outside the door.
"This doesn't concern them anymore." Hotch announced. "We solve their murders, now we have to handle our own problems."
"Did ya tell them that?" she tilted her head in question.
"Rossi, Reid." Hotch turned to the two. "Mind explaining the situation to our esteemed colleagues?"
"No problem." Dave and Reid left the room and were immediately cornered with questions by the department. They quelled the storm easily enough, allowing the remaining four to brainstorm in silence.
"We could just have agents all around the country check his properties." Morgan suggested meagerly.
"That could take days." Emily sighed.
"How many of those locations are local?" Hotch asked and JJ scanned the list.
"22." She huffed. Still too many to check within four hours.
"We cannot let Hail see any of those files." Hotch stated. "The amount of damage he could do-"
"Will do." Emily corrected. "He could locate anyone in the world, contact domestic and foreign terrorists, sell federal secrets on the black market; hell, he could probably find the President's cell phone number and the coordinates to Area 51 if he wanted to."
"Area 51?" Morgan lifted an eyebrow at the brunette. "Really?"
"You never know." Emily shrugged nonchalantly. "The point is, the second she's in we're screwed."
"Has anyone told Strauss yet?" JJ asked softly.
"This goes way beyond Strauss." Hotch explained. "The Director and the directors of the CIA and DOD have been notified."
"They're going to help?" Morgan asked in surprise.
"Right after the finish putting us through the saw mill." Emily grumbled. "And I mean us as in us us. Not the FBI, not Strauss, us." She motioned around the table.
"She's right." Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose. "If this gets out I suggest we all start looking for new jobs…preferably not in law enforcement."
"There has to be a way to find her." JJ said, desperation seeping into her voice. "We can't just sit back and-"
"Crime fighters!" Garcia's voice shouted before her face even appeared on the screen. Rossi and Reid reentered the room at the sound.
"Don't tell me she-"
"Oh honey bunches; even Jesus couldn't get in that fast." Garcia waved her hand at Morgan. "How you doing sugar plum?" she directed to JJ. Just as the blonde opened her mouth to reply, Hotch's voice practically shook the room.
"Garcia, we don't have time. What is it?" he asked.
"Right, good point." The blonde's face contorted into what could resemble a grimace. "We have a slight…development."
"Good or bad kind of development Garcia?" Emily asked, inching forward slightly.
"I'm…not sure." She pulled up the image of her screen for the rest to see. "I just received a pretty strange email directing me to a hidden line of code in the virus being used to hack us."
"A hidden line?" JJ asked, a frown growing on her features.
"What's it say?" Morgan questioned.
"Well code doesn't say anything, my dear. It just points me to-"
"Just click on it Garcia." Hotch rushed the woman and watched as she moved the cursor to do so. As the image snowed in and out, the team could barely make out the outline of a person's torso. It looked like they were leaning over the computer, covering the camera with their body. The room materialized and they all took in its surroundings; white walls, bed, nightstand, wooden door and-
"What the hell?" Morgan voiced their combined thought aloud as Mackenzie's face came into view.
As her senses slowly started to return to her, Mackenzie struggled to draw her knees to her chest in an effort to ease the ache all over her body.
"Shit." She groaned as she straightened herself against the nearest wall. Avoiding the splinters of wood that covered the floor around her, Mackenzie leaned her head against the wall and willed the throbbing to go away. She placed a shaky hand to her head and winced as she felt a slight burning radiate through her skull. Removing her hand, she saw that her fingers were specked with blood and immediately started wiping it against the carpeted floor. She remembered hitting and yelling at Hail. She remembered him slapping and kicking her after he tossed her against the shelf. What she didn't remember was how she had allowed her life to get this royally fucked up. Hugging her knees closer to herself, Mackenzie rested her head in between them and desperately tried to stifle the sobs that racked her body. She hurt everywhere and knew that there would only be more in the coming hours. Hours. Eight hours. Mackenzie shot up, grabbing the desk in front of her for support, and glanced at the clock. Damnit! She had been out for over 2 hours leaving her with less than six to go. Stumbling into the chair, she tried to moderate the shaking in her fingers so she could type. She knew what she had to do; she just hoped she was smart enough to pull it off. Taking a deep breath, which she immediately regretted, Mackenzie resumed her own version of Mission Impossible as an idea brewed in her head. Smiling to herself, she knew that she had at least another hour before someone came to check on her and if she was quiet, possibly more. That would be more than enough time to get what she needed to do done. Minimizing the hacking system, she brought up a second hand program used for more menial jobs. Sending an FBI analyst an email shouldn't be too difficult, after all. Copy and pasting what she wanted the BAU's analyst to see, she sent the email anonymously and turned on the computer's built in camera. The light flickered on, alerting anyone who walked in to her plan and Mackenzie cursed to herself. How could she have forgotten that? Damn modern technology sometimes. Removing a bobby pin from the side of her hair, Mackenzie leaned over and tilted the screen forward, granting her access to the back of the desktop. She unscrewed the panel and worked her way around the wires to the one she wanted.
"Gotcha, ya sneaky little-" Mackenzie froze as footsteps were heard coming down the hallway and Mackenzie panicked. Severing the desired wire and watching as the light flickered off, she rushed to screw the panel back in before whoever was coming made it through the door. Hurriedly plopping herself back into the chair and sticking the pin back into her head, Mackenzie turned just in time to see Hail stroll back into the room. He glanced placidly at the mess their altercation had caused before returning his piercing gaze to her. She shrunk back unknowingly, not wanting to be anywhere near the man after what he had done to her. Avoiding his eyes completely, Mackenzie picked at her cuticles as he knelt in front of her. He reached out and stroked her cheek, brushing his fingers against the cut on her forehead. She flinched, which only caused him to tighten his hold on the side of her head.
"I-I still have six hours." She trembled against him and he flicked his wrist to straighten her head. Their eyes now locked, Mackenzie found herself breathing unevenly as the look in his golden gaze seemed awfully familiar.
"You have as long as I tell you." He growled, yanking on her hair for emphasis. Mackenzie suppressed a yelp at the sudden tug; her already aching head pounding against the intrusion. Her jade eyes, slightly dilated from a likely concussion, stared blankly into his as his lips connected with hers in a violent kiss. She struggled; wildly trying to move her head to the side and push him away while his tongue probed at her mouth. Mackenzie did the first thing that came to her mind: she bit him…hard. Hail cried out and shoved her backwards, nearly toppling her over the armchair, as he cupped his jaw. A slight sense of pride surged in the girl as she saw a small trickle of blood make its way down his chin. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve to rid herself of the metallic taste, Mackenzie frantically searched the room for an object she could use to defend herself. The lamp. She rushed towards it and reached out her hand, the small sense of pride vanished as she felt Hail's hand wrap itself around her waist. He squeezed hard, eliciting a cry from her lips, as her already bruised abdomen suffered more abuse. He landed on top of her, completely obscuring her view of the nightstand and the weapon she had chosen, and wrapped his large hands around her neck.
"Get off of me!" Mackenzie screamed as loud as she could. He seemed unaffected by her cries, clearly not worried about anyone hearing them, as he forced her hands above her head, one hand still set on her thin neck.
"You fucking bitch!" Hail yelled as he immobilized her hands above her. Kneeling on her thighs, he tightened his grip on her throat, a surge of joy hitting him as he heard her struggle to take in precious oxygen. Mackenzie's mind was working at full speedl fully aware of the situation she had gotten herself into. Hail on top of her, completely crippled, with a bed merely inches from the two. She tossed her head back and forth, ignoring the hot tears that streamed down her face, as she silently prayed to anyone that would listen. This can't happen now! Not when they can see me! Slowly, Mackenzie dawned upon the fact that Hail had no intention of raping her; the ecstasy he felt at having her completely subdued was clearly more than enough. Black spots danced in the corners of her vision as his hold threatened to crush her windpipe. Oh God, no please! I can't breathe! Mackenzie's body twitched against her will, her hands desperately clawing against his own as she tried everything to lessen his grip on her. Opening her eyes as much as she could, Mackenzie took in the sight of a deranged Adrian Hail, his eyes wide, a smile tugging at his lips as he felt her weakening pulse beneath his fingertips. Not like this, please not like this! As her body lost its battle against fatigue, her fight dissolved into nothing more than hacked sobs and squirming legs. Just as she thought that darkness would consume her again, she felt the weight lifted and cold air rush into her lungs at an alarming rate. She coughed and cried and clawed at her throat as her body greedily took in the much needed oxygen. Rocking herself to and fro, Mackenzie's gasps for air turned into outright weeping as the desperation of her situation finally hit her. She vaguely heard Hail tell her something but the blood rushing past her ears made it impossible to decipher. The only thing Mackenzie was aware of was the soft caress of the carpet and the burning sensation in her entire body as her vision dulled and her senses dissipated for the third time that day.
Sorry about the violence...okay not really. Let me know what you think!