Rossi, Emily and JJ had moved the map board to behind Garcia, figuring that if they were going to work on narrowing down a location, they might as well do it where Reid could see what was going on. They hoped it would engage his mind and keep him focused on something other than his pain. As they looked at the computer screen, they could see that Reid had become quite pale. The size of the blood pool under his chair was becoming more alarming as well, but he was still conscious for now.
Garcia had been typing away on her second screen, and stopped as a map popped up with a circle. "Reid, I know geographical mumbo jumbo is your area of expertise, but I gave it a shot and I think I've done a pretty good job if I do say so myself." She turned to address the entire group. "So there were 18 minutes between Dr. Malcolm's departure from Reid's location and his apprehension at Franklin Park. That whole area is residential, so he likely wouldn't have gone faster than 30 miles per hour to avoid being caught. Therefore, Reid should be roughly within a 10-mile radius from the park. That looks like this." Garcia drew a circle on the board that intercepted the other search radiuses previously determined, and coloured in the area where they all overlapped. "The middle of this ven diagram looking thing, is where Reid is. And, if I compare that to the list of houses I have, we've narrowed it down to… 21 possible locations."
Emily smiled at Penelope, then turned to study the map. "Good work Garcia. Looks like this area is about 20 minutes from here. Send that list of addresses to our phones. JJ and I are going to head out there and start going door to door. We'll call Hotch and let him know from the car." Emily turned to the computer. "You hear that Reid? We're on our way. And I want to see those beautiful brown eyes still open when I get there, you understand me?"
Emily waited, and smiled as Reid blinked once, slowly. "Good. See you soon, handsome."
Emily and JJ were in the hallway when Rossi caught up to them, having followed them out. "I'm coming with you. You could use all the help you can get."
JJ shook her head at him. "Rossi, you should stay here with Reid and Garcia. If Reid has any more messages for us, you're the only one who can decode them quickly. Plus, I think Garcia is having a hard time keeping it together in there. She needs one of us with her right now, and you've got the calmest demeanour of any of us," JJ reasoned.
Rossi, sighed. "Alright, fine. But call me the second you find anything." He pointed at them meaningfully.
Emily nodded. "You'll be the first to know. Because you'll see us on the webcam."
Emily and JJ rushed out the BAU doors. They didn't have an exact location, but they were going to knock on every door on that list if they had to.
Morgan and Hotch walked up to the cruiser containing Arthur Malcolm. Hotch opened the driver's door and found the button to roll down the left passenger window where Malcolm sat grinning at them. Once the window was down, he slammed the car door and both agents placed a hand on the car's roof, leaning down to make eye contact with the man inside.
"Derek, Aaron. It's nice to finally meet you. Though I feel like I already know you so well." Malcolm's tone was calm and cheerful, as though he was talking to old friends.
Morgan got straight to business. "Alright Malcolm, cut the crap. Tell us where Reid is before it's too late to help yourself."
Malcolm's smile got wider. "Oh, is he still hanging in there? Good, I didn't want his death to be too quick. He deserves to suffer."
Morgan retorted quickly. "I think he's suffered enough. Now give us his location. If you cooperate, we can make a deal."
Malcolm shook his head. "He hasn't. Not yet. And neither have you. It must be terrible frustrating, knowing that someone you care about is in trouble and being unable to help him. I wouldn't know what that feels like, would I?" His expression turned to anger in a heartbeat. "Oh wait, I know exactly what that feels like. So no, I don't want to make a deal. I want him to die, and I want all of you to watch it happen. I'll tell you where he is when you show me his corpse, how's that for a deal?" Malcolm practically spat as he spoke.
Hotch swallowed the anger building inside him and spoke as calmly as he could. "Malcolm, you know you're going away for this. If you help us find Reid, the sentence will be dramatically reduced." Hotch leaned in so his face inches from Malcolm's. He wanted Malcolm to see the determination in his eyes as he said the next bit. "But let me make this abundantly clear. If Reid dies, I will make it my personal mission to see to it that you get the death penalty." Hotch stared unblinking at the man to drive his point and hopefully weaken Malcolm's resolve.
"You know, Dr. Reid made a similar threat to me once. He said that he was going to personally see to it that I was charged for the rape of my patients. But that didn't happen. Dr. Reid couldn't even be bothered to show up for my trial. I have a damned good lawyer who got me exonerated from those charges, and he's going to make sure I don't see the death penalty for these ones too. Speaking of which, I'd like to have my attorney present for any further questioning. And I don't think I need to remind you that once I've invoked my Miranda rights to counsel, anything I say will be inadmissible in court. And if you continue to try to question me without my attorney present, I will have a great defense for my case built on police coercion. I'm done talking." Malcolm stared at the men, daring them to continue.
Hotch put his hand on Morgan's arm and gestured for him to follow. As they stepped away from Malcolm, Hotch's phone rang.
JJ was sitting shotgun while Prentiss drove as quickly as she dared. The blonde dialed Hotch's number and set the phone to speaker.
"Hotcher," was all the man on the other side of the phone said.
JJ got right to the point. "Did you get anything out of Malcolm yet?" She hoped that the man might provide a location, but wasn't counting on it.
Hotch shook his head. "Malcolm's not talking. He lawyered up. He's determined for us to watch Reid die, so I really don't think there's anything we can say to get him to give up the location anyway. Maybe if we had more time to break him, but we just don't."
JJ sighed. It was not the answer she was hoping for, but she could hardly consider herself surprised. She quickly passed on to Hotch the new information they had discovered. "Reid was able to give us some information using Morse Code. He's in a basement. With everything we have, Garcia narrowed it down to 21 possible houses Reid could be at. Prentiss and I are headed to the area to check them out now."
Hotch replied, "that's a good idea. But if no one answers, we don't have probable cause to enter without a warrant. Without a specific location determined, we can't justify breaking into random houses."
Emily spoke up. "Reid communicated that he could see windows from where he is sitting. So if no one answers the front door, we can circle the building and look for him. If he can see out, we'll be able to see in," Emily reasoned.
Hotch sounded relieved. "Good thinking. Can you send me the list of locations? Morgan and I will join you and we'll divide and conquer."
JJ nodded. "Consider it sent. Let us know if you find anything," JJ said as she forwarded the list to Hotch and Morgan.
"You too," Hotch said, before both sides disconnected the call.
Emily sighed. "Even with help, 21 houses are still going to take us some time to search." She was glad that they were getting assistance, but was feeling the strain of time working against them.
JJ nodded. "I know. Just get us there as quickly as possible. Hopefully we'll get lucky and he'll be at the first place on the list."
Emily pushed her foot on the gas pedal further down, hoping JJ was right.
Garcia and Rossi had very little work left to do, so they focused on talking to Reid and keeping him awake. So far they had been successful in keeping the one-sided conversation light hearted, talking about funny memories they'd had together and generally trying to distract their friend while the rest of the team worked to find him.
"Hey Reid, remember that time that you lied to Hotch about having clearance to fly, and you had to stay back in Quantico with me? We had a lot of fun on that case."
Reid blinked twice for no, but she could see recognition and a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Well I know you remember it, Mr. Eidetic Memory, so I assume you're saying 'no' to the fact that we had fun? I mean, yes, you drove me absolutely crazy hovering all over my space and giving information to the team that was mine to give. But in the end, we worked together to solve the case. I never told you this, but I really missed you after you went back out in the field. It had been nice to have some company for once." Garcia went quiet for a moment and looked down, before looking back up to make eye contact with Reid again. "Sometimes it gets lonely, with all of you together somewhere else, and me all alone in my office. I only get to talk to you guys through a computer screen or a cell phone most of the time; which just isn't the same, as I'm sure you know," she said sadly. "But then you all come home safely, and our little dysfunctional family gets to spend some real time together." Garcia couldn't help a single tear rolling down her cheek. Rossi grabbed her a tissue and handed it to her. "Thank you," she said as she smiled at him and wiped the tear away. "So Reid, I know that you're getting lonely, but the rest of the team is on their way to you. They are going to find you and you're going to come home. And then we'll all have some family bonding time. It'll be great. I'm going to spoil you rotten when I get my hands on you." Garcia blew her nose, then sent the most reassuring smile she could muster through the webcam to her friend. "And until then, I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. Promise."
Physical contact generally made Reid feel awkward, but the young man would give anything right now to be able to give Garcia a comforting hug, and to receive one. He had no idea that she felt that way when the team was gone, but it made sense. He made a mental note to spend more time with the tech analyst if he ever made it out of this.
As much as Rossi and Garcia were trying to keep him distracted, it was only partially working. The rest of his brain was trying and failing to calculate how much time he might have left, and how much time it might take the team to get to him. He didn't have all of the data he needed to figure it out though, so he was just left frustrated and scared.
As Reid worked desperately to keep his eyes open and his attention trained on his colleagues, he noticed that a notification had popped up on the screen. '6% battery remaining. Please connect to a power source.'
A sense of dread came over Reid. When the computer died, he would truly be alone. And as much as he didn't want to put his friends through watching him die, he really didn't want to die alone. The thought of it terrified him.