A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I do love them! Another chapter for you!

Chapter 2

He was aware of sound first. It was distorted and wavering. There was a vague recognition of words but he couldn't discern them. There was an urgency to the voice. He sounded worried, and scared. There was a sharp throbbing at his temple that he couldn't quite ignore. He found himself not wanting to crawl out of the darkness but he had no choice. It was happening against his will.

"Morgan? Morgan?" It was Reid. That's right, they were hostages in the car, stolen from the scene. He begrudged opening his eyes the hot sun burning his retinas.

"Reid…I'm good. Where are we?" he pulled himself to sit up straight gulping back a bit of nausea.

"Another convenience store, he's panicking" Ever since the first convenience store he'd been going in swapping cars whenever there were two nearly identical to swap plates with and then he would rob it stealing water, food, and cash. He would knock them unconscious each time. His vision blurred for a second looking over to Reid. His temple was covered in a bruise that was blackening his eye now from the repeated blows with a few to his jaw which had actually helped to staunch the bleeding. It was nearing sundown now and they were in their sixth new car. Morgan was worried about their pace. He knew the others would be looking by now, maybe even found their phones but this man was erratic. He wasn't running in a straight line and his violence was escalating. He couldn't know about Spencer because he always woke first but it was taking him longer to regain consciousness each time and it was more of a struggle to focus each time.

"We need to slow him down, get him to stay at a hotel or something. The others need time to catch up, and for him to calm down"

"I think the stressor might have been a wife leaving, or cheating, he keeps insisting he's in charge, not anyone's bitch"

"Yeah, it fits, you think he ki.." the door burst open and the man jumped in behind Reid again tossing a bag of stuff onto the seat.

"Drive" They kept silent while he drove. The man went through his loot tossing out a small bit of cash, handful of water bottles and prepackaged food. The entire back of the car was filled with food and water and petty cash but only the unsub got any of it. His stomach had been rumbling for a while and despite the air conditioning he was hot and dehydrated and if he was in that state what state did that put Spencer in having been bleeding significantly. "Stop at the next hotel you see" Both of them sighed in relief. It was twenty minutes before they came across a motel. "No, not this one, find one that isn't full"

"If I may, picking a near empty motel will make you more noticeable" Spencer ventured nervously. They were too close to the state line and he really didn't want to cross it at all let alone tonight. His head was aching and his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth. Maybe if they stopped he'd be more willing to give out food and water. He was worried about Morgan. The unsub hadn't noticed but his driving was less steady, drifting a bit in the same lane and he was blinking too often, like he were having to clear his vision.

"What do you care boy?"

"It's a known statistic that the more nervous you are you're more 69% more likely to harm your hostages if you're at risk of getting captured"

"Huh, right, you're a cop. You wouldn't be trying to trick me would you, cop"

"N-no, I don't want to trick you" Morgan glanced at him recognizing the lie. He was right that empty was a bad thing for the unsub, but so was a hotel this full, easier to notice a man forcing two hostages into a room.

"Alright then boy, but remember, if this is a trick, the consequences will not be light" both believed him. They moved into a spot in the middle of the lot where they wouldn't be noticed. No one spoke for a moment. "Here's how it's going to happen. You" he jabbed Derek in the arm with the gun, "are going to go in, order a room with one bed. You will come back and pick up the duffel bags and go to the room. Wait for me and remember, I've got the kid here and you wouldn't want anything to happen, would you?" he stroked the gun up and down his neck and face enjoying watch him fruitlessly try to pull away from it.

"I won't trick you"

"Good, and pay with cash" he shoved one of the packs of money still in the bank wrapper.

"Any room preference?"

"First floor, go" Derek took a breath and headed to the motel. It looked cheap but not entirely seedy. They might have a chance of being noticed. There was a couple checking out ahead of him but it wasn't a long wait for which he was grateful. The thought of Spencer alone with the man made him sick.

"Good evening Sir, what can I do for you?"

"I'd like a room with one bed" he could see the man eyeing his black eye but only when he thought he wasn't looking.

"How many nights?" Derek froze for a moment. The man hadn't said how many nights.

"Two, and do you have anything on the first floor?"

"Yes sir we do that'll be two hundred and twelve dollars" Derek pulled out the entire money pack making an effort to toss it in everyone's line of sight with the bank sticker up. He couldn't say about the people around him but the clerk certainly noticed. He concluded his business then went back out to the car feeling eyes at his back.

"It's done, we have room 125 on the first floor"

"No tricks I hope? Take these and get in there. Remember, plant yourself against a wall where I can see you and wait" Spencer gave him a nod that he was okay then went back to the hotel. It was nothing special, but not bad either. He hoped it would keep the unsub calmer. He left the key just outside the door then dug through the bags grabbing some water bottles and a bag of jerky then scanned the room for the place most likely for him to restrain them and stashed it out of sight. He didn't see anything he could use for a weapon so he settled against the wall directly across from the door. He kept glancing back and forth from the door and the clock. Too much time was passing, nearly half an hour. He was about to get up afraid he was getting rid of Spencer when the door clicked open. He couldn't hide the sigh of relief as he Reid came through first. He locked door behind him relaxing a bit and scanned the room. "Cuff yourself to those pipes, good boy" he tossed the cuffs to Derek who complied. This wasn't his opportunity. Once he was secure the man pushed Spencer down and pulled out actual ropes to secure him.

"You okay?" Derek leaned over and whispered looking the kid up and down. He didn't see any knew injuries.

"I'm fine"

"Quiet." He pulled a cup of noodles from the bag and proceeded to eat until he'd had four. The smell was making their stomachs rumbling. "I'm hitting the shower, you make any noise and he gets a bullet in the hand" he pointed the gun at Reid"

"No trouble" Morgan promised careful to keep his voice quiet.

"Good" they waited for the shower to run for a few minutes.

"You okay? You were out there a long time what happened?" Morgan leaned closer grateful the best tie down spots had been on the same wall.

"Nothing happened, we just sat there, didn't say anything." Derek eyed him but he didn't see any tells for a lie.

"Under the night stand, there's some jerky and water" He pulled it out clumsily barely having the mobility to push the goods to the wall and reach them.

"Spencer, where did he get the bank packs?" Reid stared at him worried.

"Before the last convenience store he hit two banks. You didn't wake up from the convenience store before it" It made sense now the worried looks Spencer had had when he finally did wake up.

"I made sure to flash the bank stickers at least, maybe someone noticed" they nodded watching the bathroom door. The pilfered food and water had helped. The shower clicked off and they scrambled to stuff the empty bottle and left over jerky back under the nightstand. The man came back out and leered at them sitting quietly again.

"Good boys"

"Garcia what've you got?"

"Okay, I got this from some of the media coverage, it didn't make the news portion but they had it in the uncut film" she started the film which showed Spencer and Derek getting into the car. It sits for a minute then drives off normally.

"You must have more than this, it doesn't show anything unusual" JJ complained. It was mid-morning the day after they'd driven off and disappeared.

"Trust your goddess divine I'm not finished, they had a neighbor who's a bit paranoid and installed around the clock video surveillance of their driveway that caught a better angle. They watched silently. It all seemed normal as they watched the agents rushing to the second house and begin processing the scene. Penelope fast forwarded a few hours to a few minutes before the pair left. A figure from the house immediately to the right the front door opened and a man clearly in a panic ran. He was making clear efforts to get past unnoticed until darted into the car and waited.

"We need to check out that house, he's panicked for a reason."

"Do you think he planned to take them? An exit strategy?" Hotchner postulated.

"Whatever happened in that house may tell us. Did we get his face?" Gideon asked.

"Unfortunately no he never turned to face the camera"

"Guys, they just found Derek's car abandon at a convenience mart that was robbed shortly after the guys drove off"

"So he does something in that house that triggers him to panic, kidnaps two FBI and then goes and robs a convenience mart?"

"He's devolving fast, we just have to find out why, and where he's going"