22 August.
4 hours remain.
Emily passed in and out of consciousness, all semblance of time lost. The world around her was quiet, her wrists bound tightly behind her back, face pressed against cold grimy concrete. Dried blood spread down her back and sides, caked onto the damp floor beneath her. The Unsub had visited her three more times, each worse than the next. With each sexual assault the wound to her back had resumed bleeding, but she was too tired to fight anymore.
"Well, well. Looks like this one put up one hell of a fight." The voice pulled her back into reality just as she was yanked up by her hair. Her hands grasped desperately at the hand in her hair, desperate to minimize the screaming pain from her scalp.
"Hang her up for me." This voice, now heard for the second time, was different from the Unsub she'd dealt with before. Her arms were pulled painfully over her head and she couldn't stop the whimper that escaped her lips as the familiar weight of her body was placed onto her wrists, the rope pulling her further and further onto the tips of her toes.
"How's she doing? Is she ready?" as the new man spoke, Emily cringed as she felt his icy hands against her waist.
"I dunno, sir. Still kinda feisty, but she quit fightin a while ago. I been keepin her tied up and keepin her eyes covered." the familiar southern drawl of her familiar Unsub brought her a twisted sense of comfort, which only sickened her further.
"Well, let's see what she's good for, shall we?" As the second Unsub spoke the blindfold was harshly ripped from her eyes. Cringing at the sudden light, Emily looked between the two men before her.
The first Unsub, the familiar tall blonde man with his unique southern drawl, stood back against the wall. Before her was a short balding man. He was older, dressed in a nice suit, with his green eyes raking over her broken and naked form.
"Now's your chance to prove yourself, darling. None of the others have been worthy of me, but you? I think you might be something special. Maybe my search ends with you." he flashed her a slimy grin as he removed his suitcoat and tie, throwing both at the first Unsub in the corner. Her once intimidating captor now seemed small in the presence of the older man.
"Tell me about yourself, darling." as he spoke, he wandered over to the dreaded table, his hands skimming the various tools at his disposal. Though they'd given up on gagging her a while ago, Emily remained silent, watching the man with venomous hatred. He shook his head in disappointment and lifted something from the table she couldn't see.
"Silence, huh?" his tone was dangerous, threatening as he approached her.
"Sir she, maybe she's tired?" the original unsub's voice was small from the corner, "She ain't had nothin' to eat or drink since I got 'er."
"Well if she doesn't have anything to say, she's not gonna be hungry much longer. SPEAK!" as his voice exploded, he struck out at her side, electricity spreading painfully from the point of contact. A weakened scream escaped Emily's lips as she used the last bit of energy she had to try to twist away from the man:
"Okay! Okay! What do you want me to say?" silent tears slid down her cheeks and she closed her eyes, unable to look at the two men before her.
"Name." the older man's voice was dangerously close to her ear and she heard the click of a switchblade.
"Emily." as her name left her lips, she felt the blade press into her lower bicep, bringing a line down towards her shoulder. Hot blood began to slip down her, quickly running all the way to her ankles. His wound was far deeper than those inflicted by her original captor.
"What is your purpose, Emily?" his blade found her other arm, repeating the excruciating process.
"What - Whatever you say it is." the words were vile coming from her mouth, but she clung to their profile. She didn't know how long she'd been with them, but knew she was almost out of time. If she didn't die from blood-loss, she had to give her team as long as possible to find her.
"Good girl. I like that answer." the words hit her neck with hot breath, the man's mouth pressing against her jugular causing her eyes to open. Her original captor cowered in the corner, watching her intently. She plead with him silently: Help me.
Emily didn't know what came next, but she knew she could only buy herself so much time.
"Boy! I'm going to go get ready. Prepare her for the test." Without another word, the older man left, slamming the heavy metal door behind him. As soon as the door latched, her tears came fluidly, gasps painfully wracking through her.
"Hey now, shh. You cain't be doin' that doll. He'll hear ya." For the first time, the boy's voice was kind, "It'll be over soon, I promise ya."
"We have to do something!" Spencer Reid was unravelling. He paced violently around the room, his arms fidgeting wildly, "We're almost out of time!"
"Spence... we have to stay calm. We'll find her..." JJ's voice was soft as she rose from her seat around the conference table, reaching for her distraught friend.
"Stay calm?! How are we supposed to stay calm?! Prentiss has four hours before we find her dead body and we're getting nowhere! We have no profile! No leads! We don't even know where she is!" Reid jerked away from her, tears threatening his face.
"What are we missing? There's something here that we haven't thought of." Rossi's voice settled over the room, demanding calm.
Reid blinked blankly at his team members for a moment, before rushing to the whiteboard at the head of the room. His frazzled hand darted over the board, marking squeaking at his rash movements:
"Okay, so we know that he chose Emily as an escalation of his personal agenda. She doesn't connect with any of the other victims in appearance, personality, or line of work. They've had no overlap. Which is why we can't pin down an Unsub: he's selecting his victims at random. Based on his former dump site, we know he's unsophisticated. He dumped the bodies overnight and the way he weighed down the bodies was sloppy; however, nothing about this seems sloppy..." Reid trailed off, his hand continuing to dart across the board.
"So we're dealing with two Unsubs. In order to abduct a trained Federal agent without anyone hearing or seeing anything, and without leaving a trace of anything on any security footage. The Unsub dumping the bodies isn't sophisticated enough for that, so he has to have a partner." Aaron Hotchner pressed the speed-dial on his cell, lifting the phone to his ear: "Garcia, go back to the list of license plates that left the Hotel on the night Prentiss was abducted. Search for dependents on the single males. Not children, but maybe siblings, roommates. See if either of the men are in a caretaker or power position over another individual."
A/N: This is definitely different from my typical writing, so please drop me a review if you think I should continue? Any advice or input is greatly appreciated!