Hi y'all! I can't believe I'm posting my ELEVENTH chapter of this story! I really didn't think that I could keep the ideas flowing. However, judging by the amount of views this has gotten and the lack of negative reviews, I think it's safe to assume that I'm doing a decent job! Thanks to everyone that has reviewed with positive messages and anyone that has followed or favorited this story! It means the world to me that people are enjoying what I'm writing. :) :) Okay enough of that, but seriously, thanks.
(I do not own criminal minds or any of its characters)
And... begin!
"Blake, Morgan, go to the business address." Hotch said, rushing out the door with the rest of his team as he did so. "JJ, Dave, you're with me. It's unlikely he'll be holding them in his house considering that he lives in a highly populated, residential area. But we need to make sure." Everyone nodded and split off into groups.
Hotch climbed behind the wheel as soon as he had his Kevlar on. The SUV was accompanied by three squad cars, two uniformed officers in each. The drive to Smith's house was silent and fast, thirteen minutes. Everyone practically leapt out of their cars before they were completely stopped and followed Hotch to the front door. Rossi lead three uniforms around back and Hotch counted twenty before banging on the door. "Charles Blaine!" he called. "FBI!" he waited a four count before taking a step back, kicking the door in and following directly behind JJ. He heard Rossi and the other uniforms entering through the backdoor and they all began searching the house.
Hotch headed down hallway, JJ right behind him. Shouts of 'Clear!' rang through the house as he checked the doors on the left side of the hallway. Hotch came upon an empty bathroom and an empty bedroom. JJ found an empty office and a storage room. "Clear!" she called.
"Clear!" Hotch agreed. "He's not here." Hotch and JJ holstered their guns and Rossi Came around the corner.
"Is it just me, or does it look like somebody has been living here for a lot longer than a month?" Rossi asked, referring to the lack of boxes and neatness of everything.
"No you're right." JJ said as she wandered into the storage room. "He obviously knew the previous owner, transferred his name onto the lease and kept all of their stuff." JJ looked behind a stack of bins and drew her gun again. "There's another door." She announced.
"Go." Hotch said as he drew his own weapon and followed JJ through the door; Rossi was right behind him.
The door led down a flight of wooden stairs into a concrete basement. Once at the bottom, JJ found a light switch and flipped it. The overhead lights flickered for a moment before turning on. The sight before them was terrifying.
"Well, we know why he escalated so much." Rossi said, tone slightly angry as he strode up to the board.
"He wanted us here." JJ said, sliding on a pair of gloves before beginning to examine the collage.
"Not us." Hotch corrected. "Reid." He stared at the board that covered the entire back wall of the basement. Every paper he'd ever written, article he'd been mentioned in, pictures of him that could be found online and even transcripts from interviews, lectures and conferences were covering the board. On the wall perpendicular to the Reid collage, there was a smaller collage of Makaia's life. Pictures, papers and articles about her abusive foster homes had been pinned up in a corner. It was fitting that Makaia's collage was much smaller, she was nearly twenty years younger that Reid. "Is there anything here that suggests he stalked his other victims this strenuously?"
"No." JJ said, she had already searched for evidence of the other victims.
"Well," Rossi said, "I think it's safe to say that Reid and Makaia are his endgame. He wants them for a reason."
"That's good and bad." Hotch sighed. "Now we know that we most likely have longer than just a few days to find them, but we also know that he has a specific plan for them."
"We need to see what Morgan and Blake found out." JJ started back up the steps with Rossi and Hotch on her heels.
Rossi voiced the obvious thought on everyone's minds. "We need to find them."
CMCMCMCMCM
"I'm not choosing." Makaia said defiantly when the unsub was standing above her.
"Oh but you are." He cooed, pressing his revolver lightly under her chin, tilting her head up to face him. "Choose one."
"No." Reid saw himself so clearly in Makaia at that moment that he felt as though he was watching a replay of himself and Raphael that cold, lonely night in Georgia.
"Okay." The unsub took the gun away from Makaia's chin and released the cylinder, sliding the bullets into his hand. He slipped five of them into his pocket and held one between his index finger and thumb. "We'll just have to leave it to fate then." He slid the round into a random chamber before spinning the cylinder and popping it back in place without looking. "What did Tobias call this, Spencer?" the unsub asked as he walked behind the line of Makaia's restrained foster family. "God's will?"
"You don't have to do this." Reid tried talking him down as he was so often able to do with deranged unsubs, but this man was not deranged. He knew exactly what he was doing. This man reminded Reid of Frank form all those years ago. He had known exactly what he was doing when he abducted and killed his victims. He was patient and calculating, knowing and doing exactly what he wanted.
"Oh, but I want to." He smirked at Reid, clearly telling him who the boss was in this situation.
"They haven't done anything to you." Reid continued to try and reason with the unsub. He wasn't going to just stand by as Makaia watched the people who took her in after twelve horrible homes get killed. "What do you gain by killing them?"
"They're expendable." The man's smile never wavered. He never broke eye contact with the elder genius. That scared Reid more than anything. "I have a mission to carry out, I intend to finish it and these people will help me with that. Now, ladies first? Or oldest to youngest?" it was clear that the unsub was done talking to Reid as he finally broke eye contact and stared at the family, running a hand through Addison's hair.
Makaia finally allowed the fresh wave of tears she had been holding back to spill over her lashes as she watched the unsub press the revolver to Liam's head. He pulled the trigger.
Hope you enjoyed! I apologize again for this chapter being kind of short, but I wasn't sure what else I could put in it and I wanted it to be a cliff-hanger :). Please review! Farvel!