Chapter 46

Jason Hemminger, his business suit and tie now exchanged for an orange jumpsuit, had his arms handcuffed in front of him. There were also shackles binding his ankles. He was being led by two agents into an interrogation room. Once he was seated, the two agents went about securing his handcuffs to the underside of the table with chains.

"Hey, bet you guys ain't heard the latest about Hotchner?" Jason smirked. Both men ignored him as they finished their work and stood up to leave.

"You haven't, have you?" Hemminger chuckled seemingly in a good mood considering his current situation. "Bet you have no idea what he does when he's not here." he shouted as the agents, after securing the prisoner, were heading out the door. But as the second agent had his hand on the door handle, he looked at the now disgraced former agent.

"Y'know, considering where you are right now, I'd keep my mouth shut about Agent Hotchner if I was you."

The door shut before Hemminger could respond, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

The former agent glanced around his new surroundings and spotted the paint peeling on the walls in several places. The room was obviously in need of repair, as well as fresh paint. His eyes spotted the one-way mirror on the wall facing him and smirked. He suspected he was being watched from the opposite side from the observation room and chuckled.

"I know somebody's there!" he snorted with glee. "Is that you, Doctor Reid? I bet its Aaron Hotchner's little boy toy himself. Tell me, doc, do you let him bang you? Or do you go down on him? If I had to guess, I bet you let him bang you like he does others. Tell me something else, doctor, do you scream his name like a little girl when he screws you? I bet you do. When I met you the first time you struck me as a real loud screamer." He waited a few seconds for a response...there was none. "C'mon, doc, don't be shy…"

Morgan and Prentiss stood in the hallway staring at Hemminger through the one way mirror. Prentiss had a file folder tucked under her arm, and her arms in front of her overlapped at the wrists. Morgan's arms were crossed over his broad chest. Prentiss glanced sideways at her friend, and noticed him grinding his lower jaw, and struggling to control his emotions. Also, his eyebrows were knitted and his eyes dark with what she suspected was mounting rage.

"Don't let him get to you, Morgan," she hinted. "He's just trying to get under your skin and rattle you."

"I understand, Prentiss," the dark-skinned agent replied harshly. "But do you hear the things he's sayin' 'bout Pretty Boy?"

"I understand it angers you. Hell, it angers me as well. But we can't let him get to us. If he finds out his words affects us, we lose our advantage. He may be the only chance we have to find the UnSub who kidnapped Alana Wheaton and is after Hotch. So if you can't keep it together, it might be best if I go in there myself."

Morgan let out a deep breath through his nose. He realized Emily was right. With his eyes on Hemminger, he nodded his head.

"I can handle myself. But it doesn't mean I have to like the things he's sayin' 'bout Reid. The things this bastard said 'bout Hotch was bad enough. But to now go after the kid…"

Prentiss sighed as she focused on the former agent awaiting questioning by them. "I understand how you feel, Derek, trust me. We don't have to like it, but just ignore it." She reached for the door handle and prepared to turn it. "C'mon."

Hemminger paused when the door opened, and in walked a man and a woman, one of whom he recognized. A twisted grin appeared as the woman tossed a folder on the table, and pulled out one of the two chairs on the opposite side of the table. Though her face showed nothing, her eyes showed the total disgust she felt for this man.

"Well…well…well…it's the ravishing Agent Prentiss. Tell me, Emily, did you miss me?" he said eying her up and down appreciatively.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Don't even flatter yourself," she growled.

Hemminger glanced at the black man seated beside Prentiss. "Who are you?"

"I'm Agent Morgan. Agent Prentiss you've already met." Morgan's arms rested on the table. He rubbed his hands together before folding them in front of him.

Hemminger looked beyond Morgan and Prentiss as if expecting somebody else to walk through the door at any minute.

"Nobody else is coming, Jason," Morgan sneered at the man whom he hated. He would love nothing more than to choke the life out of this man seated in front of him.

Jason looked disappointed. "Aww, you mean Doctor Reid won't be joining us?" He looked between both agents.

"No, he won't. He's got more important things to do than waste time being here with you," Emily lied. Like Rossi, Reid would have given his life to question the man who did his best to humiliate Hotch. "Also, he doesn't like you anymore than we do, Hemminger."

Jason feigned sadness. "So where is he? On his hands and knees for the great Aaron Hotchner?" He snorted. "Didn't think ole Hotch would be able to being in the hospital like he is and…"

He never got to finish as Morgan's fist slammed so hard onto the table, it caused it to shake and everybody except Emily to jump.

"You watch your mouth, you bastard!" Morgan hissed.

Hemminger arched his eyebrows. "Jealous, Agent Morgan?" He smirked. "Y'know, letting Hotchner bang 'im is probably the only way somebody like Reid even got into the BAU 'cause he sure ain't FBI material. I bet that pretty little mouth of his serves Hotchner well too."

A subtle warning glance from Emily caused Morgan to collect himself, fold his hands again, and lean close to Hemminger. His eyes were cold and almost black with rage and his eyebrows knitted. "I said shut your mouth, you bastard!"

Hemminger only chuckled at Morgan's obvious discomfort. "I'm sure if you ask nicely, ole Hotch will share Doctor Reid with you." He glanced at Prentiss. "Maybe he'll even share Emily here. But since he likes men, and she is definitely all woman, I don't see that happening."

Now it was time for Morgan to snort as he leaned closer. "Y'know, I don't like you, Hemminger. You're a sick, twisted son-of-a-bitch who doesn't care about anybody except himself. Your mom and dad would be so disappointed seeing how their baby boy turned out. Then again, maybe it's lucky they're both dead so they won't be embarrassed by you."

Hemminger ground his lower jaw. "Don't talk about my mom and dad!"

"Why not?" Prentiss arched her dark eyebrows. "You're the one who made them the center of all this. So don't sit here now and tell us we can't talk about them. You brought them into this."

Jason stared angrily at the brunette who simply ignored him. Instead, she opened the folder in front of her and thumbed through it. She pulled out eight photos, and lay them in front of Hemminger side-by-side in two rows. She first pointed to the one of Darryl Wheaton. "Is this man familiar to you?"

Hemminger glanced at the photo. "Nope, not at all."

"How about this one?" Emily then pointed to a photo of Doctor Caswell.

Hemminger shook his head. "Nope."

"And her?" she pointed to the photo of Diedre Stimson.

Jason tilted his head slightly to the side. "Looks dead. Didn't picture Hotchner liking 'em so young." He looked up at Emily. Did he kill 'er because she wouldn't do 'im?"

"No."

"She was sixteen-years-old," Morgan admitted. "She was found beaten, strangled, and tossed away like trash."

Hemminger grimaced, felling badly about the death of the young girl.

Emily then pointed to photos of Todd Westlake, the bartender from the Serendipity, Benjamin Yardley, Tim Janacek, Sebastian Merker, and lastly, Carson Scanlon. It didn't surprise either agent that Hemminger didn't acknowledge knowing any of them. Then, Emily removed a photo of Alana Wheaton and lay it in front of Jason.

"Hotchner sure likes them young, don't he?" Jason smirked. He was enjoying himself at Hotch's expense.

"This little girl is only ten-years-old," Emily explained. "Ten! She was kidnapped by the man you're working with, Jason. He's promised to beat her as he did Agent Hotchner. Did you realize that?" She noticed Jason swallow as his eyes studied the photo. It definitely was having an effect on the man. "Her father was forced to help kidnap Agent Hotchner to save his daughter. Problem is, he still has her and killed her babysitter whose photo you saw earlier. This is who you're helping, Jason. A sadistic kidnapper and child murderer."

Jason turned his head away from Alana's photo to avoid looking at it.

Finally, Emily removed one last photo and slid it toward Jason. "Does this man look familiar to you?"

Hemminger eyed the photo and froze, but not before Morgan and Prentiss noticed. They glanced at each other. It had been the photo of Carson Scanlon.

"He look familiar to you?" asked Prentiss.

"No," Jason lied.

"Y'know, Hemminger…" Morgan began. "If you're gonna lie to us, you should at least be good at it."

"I'm not lying!"

"Then you should keep better control of your emotions. We saw your reaction to his photo."

Emily gathered all the photos except for those of Merker and Scanlon and returned them to the folder. She tapped a finger on Scanlon's photo.

"You say you don't know this man, but this man told us he knows you very well."

Jason hrumped. "He wouldn't tell you anything! He knows better than that!" he said without thinking.

Morgan arched his eyebrows. "You sure talk like you know 'im."

"I don't. And you can't prove otherwise, fed."

Hemminger shrugged realizing he'd been tricked and got angry at his own stupidity.

Morgan picked up Scanlon's photo and held it in Jason's face. "Somehow I find that hard to believe, Jason. See, we know you arrested him years ago. And when you discovered he pretended to be a CPS agent, you thought you could use that to torture Agent Hotchner. But there was one small problem with that."

Hemminger arched his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? And what would that be?"

"You seemed to have ignored the fact that Carson would sell out his own mother if he was cornered," Emily continued. "And he sold you out, Jason. Lock. Stock. And barrel."

"You're lying!"

"It's the truth," she said.

"Also…" Morgan added, "We spoke with a Sebastian Merker who owns Merker's Cop Shop."

"And he told us somebody named Aaron Hotchner bought a 2010 silver ice metallic SUV," Emily explained.

"But here's the strange thing, Jason…" Derek added with a shrewd grin. "The description of Aaron Hotchner he gave us fit you to a tee."

"Really…" Hemminger replied struggling and failing to keep a lid on his rising anger. "I never heard of the guy or his business."

"Well…" Emily removed a folded sheet of paper and unfolded it, keeping its contents toward her. "…he sells retired government vehicles. And he came in and sat with a sketch artist." She showed Hemminger the sketch. "Sort of looks just like you, wouldn't you say?" Hemminger didn't respond, but glared at Prentiss.

"What d'ya think, Jason?" asked Morgan with a smirk. "Sorta does look like you as Agent Prentiss said." Again no response.

"Also, Detective Moeller called before we came to question you," Emily explained with an amused grin. "Fresh scratches were found on a child's swing set, and a slide for a swimming pool. Those scratches were matched with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver found in your tool box."

"And something else…" continued Morgan with a smirk. "…a set of partial fingerprints were found on those same tools."

"And those partial fingerprints were matched with the fingerprints we have on file from when you joined the Bureau," Emily added with a smirk.

"And what does that prove?" Hemminger hissed already knowing the answer while staring at Prentiss.

"It proves that you were tampering with items Jack Hotchner used in his aunt's backyard hoping he would get hurt while using one of them."

Hemminger chuckled. "And why would I do that? Especially if CPS planned on taking Hotchner's kid from him anyway."

Morgan leaned closer to the table and rested his forearms on it. "Our best guess is that you not only wanted to prove Agent Hotchner abused his son, but that the boy's aunt was careless as well. Especially seeing as CPS was at the aunt's house that night." He noticed Hemminger grinning and ground his jaw. "You find that funny, Jason? Hurting an innocent child is amusing to you?"

"No. What I find funny is that you said CPS was at the aunt's house. I guess ole Hotch abusing his son is true after all."

Emily gathered the two photos and put them back in the folder along with the sketch. Afterward, she moved a strand of dark hair over her shoulder, then folded her hands and rested them on top of the folder.

"Funny thing about that, Jason," she explained. "Is that you went through all this for nothing." Emily saw the puzzled expression on Hemminger's face. "See, we and a lawyer friend of Rossi's whom you saw at the aunt's house that night, contacted the higher ups at CPS. We were able to convince them the accusations against Hotch were false. A sting operation was set up using two of their agents, a Camille Marco and James Carlton. They both know Hotch and were only too glad to help, and came out to the residence. We profiled you wouldn't be able to pass up the opportunity to see Hotch lose his son. And you fell for the entire thing hook, line, and sinker."

Hemminger jerked at his restraints and ground his jaw so hard the others thought he would break his jaw. They quickly realized they had Hemminger exactly where they wanted him which was losing his composure.

"You're lying!" he hissed. "You couldn't have figured that out! There's no way! It was Scanlon who opened his big mouth! I know it was him!"

Morgan grinned. "We're gonna do you a favor, Hemminger. We're gonna turn you loose and let it be made public that you cooperated with us. And we're also gonna make certain the man who hired you hears you made a deal with us."

"And how do you think he's going to react when he finds out you talked to us?"

Prentiss noticed Jason's body start to shake and he licked his lips nervously.

"You…you can't do that to me. I'm…I'm an agent like you. My boss will protect me from harm and from you," he replied with more confidence than he felt.

Emily chuckled. "Pat Comines? I wouldn't be counting on his help or from any of your friends. Your boss has turned his back on his former agent," she added emphasizing the word 'former.' She reached into her pocket, pulled out her cell, and held it up for Jason to see. "If you don't believe me, you can call him. You can use my phone. I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing I just did. No? Oh well…" she put her phone away. "And as far as you having been an agent like Morgan and I, we have nothing in common. We still are agents. You are a former agent." She smiled. "I can't wait to see how many friends you make in the cellblock once they find out you're a former fed. Bet you'll be a big hit. I bet you'll even be a bigger hit when they find out you tried to hurt a child." She suddenly looked thoughtful and leaned close. "Cons don't like people who harm children. Makes them angry."

"But I didn't harm Jack Hotchner."

Morgan leaned closer to the former agent. "Doesn't matter, man. Fact is you tried to hurt a small child. Cons don't like people who go after children. So if you're lucky enough to make it to prison, I'd be looking over my shoulder during the day, and sleeping with one eye open at night. Also, we'll be sure to let them find out you murdered a sixteen-year-old teen and falsified documents. In fact, I'm willing to bet a few of them might think you falsified documents on them, especially if you meet any cons you personally put in the slammer."

"Then again it might not get that far once your boss out there finds out you talked." Emily and Morgan eyed each other, then, Morgan glanced at Hemminger.

"But if you're willing to talk to us, we might be able to cut deal. We can tell the district attorney you cooperated with us. If not, you're on your own. And who knows? You might survive your boss outside finding out you talked. And you might even survive being in jail with those cons once they find out you're ex-FBI." He looked at Prentiss as he started to his feet. "Let's go, Prentiss. We've gotta story to put out to the public."

"Sure thing, Morgan." Prentiss got to her feet, grabbed the folder, and followed Morgan toward the door preparing to leave.

"Wait…" Hemminger, looking lost and defeated, called out staring at the table. He recalled what he had been told by the man if he killed Hotchner or betrayed him in any way. He would suffer Hotchner's fate in his place.

Morgan and Prentiss both paused and looked back at the prisoner. "You say something?" asked Morgan after a glance back at Emily.

"What kind of deal?"

"What did you say?" asked Morgan.

"I asked what kind of deal I can get."

Morgan glanced at Emily before he approached the table and stood beside it. "I'll tell you what kind of deal you can get, Hemminger. You tell us everything you did, and everything you know about the man you're working with. You tell us what his plan is to get to Hotch again. And you also tell us where we can find him and what he looks like, and maybe we'll talk deal."

Hemminger looked at Morgan and Prentiss before coming back to Derek. "There's something else, isn't there?"

Morgan looked back at the brunette for a minute, before he faced the disgraced agent again.

"In addition, you will make a public apology to Agent Hotchner and admit you made up the rumors about him to embarrass him publicly."

Hemminger's jaw dropped in amazement. "Apologize to Hotchner? Forget it! That bastard deserves everything he got!"

Morgan shrugged. "Enjoy your life what's left of it." He turned and started to walk away.

"Wait!"

Morgan turned around again but remained silent.

"I…I'll do it. Just don't leave me for Nathan…" Jason muttered. "He…he'll kill me if he thinks I talked."

"Nathan?" Prentiss asked as she and Morgan approached the table. "Who's Nathan and what does he want with Hotch?"

"He…he wants revenge for Hotchner killing his cousin. He wants him dead."

Emily and Derek exchanged looks. "Does Nathan have a last name?" asked Prentiss.

"You might have heard of his last name…its Foyet…his cousin was George Foyet…the Reaper."

Emily and Derek froze hearing the last name of the man who made their boss's life hell. He had murdered Aaron's ex-wife, Haley, and was preparing to kill his son, Jack. Nathan Foyet was the Rohypnol Rapist and Alana Wheaton's kidnapper. The fear the name brought them not only permeated their bodies, but paralyzed them.