Sorry to keep you waiting for an update again folks. Let's just put it this way, a chapter as long as this is not written in a matter of minutes ;) Even though I have just spent 3 hours solid writing around 10 pages. I haven't read through this completely, mostly as on my word processor it is 21 pages. So it's pretty epic. If you spot any mistakes however, please feel free to correct me. Thank you for all of your lovely reviews. Particularly to CMSP for your bloody epic review! It was like War and Peace! Thanks a lot :) They are my favourite sorts of reviews *hint hint*
Right, usual warnings apply.
WARNINGS: Violence, sexual assault, non-con, swearing, etc etc... Don't like, don't read please x
"What have we got Garcia?" Prentiss entered the Technical Analyst's office with JJ in tow.
"Well I've been tracking his card payments, all I can find as regular places he visits are the Coffee Stop on the corner-"
"Reid's favourite." JJ cut in sadly.
"Yeah," Garcia tried to ignore the sadness in JJ's voice. "He's also signed up to a gym, he pays as he goes, and he goes regularly."
"How regularly?" Prentiss asked, curious.
"Three to four times a week."
"Anywhere else?" Prentiss pressed, desperately hoping for more links.
"No sugar, zip. There are monthly payments for car insurance and various others necessities and also some online purchases, but that's it. Generally nothing suspicious. It looks like all he does is work, drink coffee and go to the gym. But obviously I can't account for cash payments for anything."
"Great." JJ sighed, angrily sarcastic.
"Well no lead is a bad lead. I suppose we should go and check out the gym, see if anyone can shed any light on his activities. If he's there up to four times a week, someone must know him." Prentiss spoke confidently, hoping beyond hope that the trip might be some help. "Thanks Garcia." She squeezed her friend's shoulder and went to leave the room. But she was stopped in her tracks.
"I can't believe this is happening." Garcia said sadly, a tear sliding down her cheek.
"None of us can." JJ replied.
"We'll get him back." Prentiss said, strongly.
"How? We have no leads."
"JJ, we can't think like that. We have one lead and we shouldn't ignore it. It could be the key to everything." Prentiss urged them both to be more optimistic.
"This is all my fault." Garcia said, wiping a tear from her eye.
"No, Garcia, no it's not!" Prentiss said forcefully.
"Emily, I worked with Jason day in, day out. I saw him everyday, and I never noticed. I never noticed anything was strange about him at all."
"But you wouldn't." Prentiss replied, "he's very clever, he knows exactly how to hide himself."
"But he used to ask me questions about Reid. Like, now that I think about it, it was a weird amount of questions. And I didn't spot that."
"What sort of questions?" JJ asked, her brows furrowing.
"I dunno, just loads of stuff, like how long has he been in the FBI, what I think about him, whether he's really as clever as he seems. All stuff like that. I can't believe I didn't make a connection." She shook her head in frustration, another tear rolling down her face.
"Garcia, it's not your job to profile people." Prentiss said reassuringly. "You trusted him, it's easy to miss."
"What if we can't find him?" Garcia asked quietly, now she really was crying. JJ's eyes started to tear up too.
"We will find him, we will." Prentiss urged, starting to feel like she was going to well up too. Taking a deep breath, she turned to JJ, speaking quietly. "You stay with Penelope. We need to find out everything he was asking her, there might be something in there that helps. I will speak to Hotch and pull one of the guys to come with me to the gym." She turned to Garcia, speaking normally now. "Can you send me the address for the gym?"
Garcia nodded, typing extremely quickly, trying to recover her emotions somewhat.
"It'll be on your PDA now."
"Thanks. I will check back with you both later." Prentiss squeezed Garcia's shoulder again and nodded to JJ who nodded back in return, her eyes still clouded with tears. Prentiss quickly removed herself from the environment and went to find Hotch, before her emotional defences finally broke down.
"Anything useful?" Hotch, Rossi, SSA Lewis and Morgan all looked up as Prentiss entered the conference room.
"We have one lead, to a gym in the local area. Seems to be 1.2 miles from here. It's one of the only places he regularly attends, according to his credit card. It's not great, but someone might know more about him there, he goes around three to four times a week." Prentiss answered.
"Well it's something, at least." Rossi replied. Looking rather forlorn.
"You should definitely check that out." Lewis added.
"You don't have to be here you know, Michael." Hotch turned to the man. "Your team are working on important cases, we can handle this."
"I'm working the cases with them, if they need to take the jet somewhere then of course, I'll go. But whilst they're in the offices, this is where I will be." Lewis spoke calmly but firmly. "I can't help but feel this is partly my fault, something like this should never have slipped the net."
"It's no one's fault." Rossi reassured the man. "Well except for Jason Turner's."
"After this, I don't want to hear that name ever again." Lewis shuddered.
"Can't help but feel that might be unavoidable." Rossi said dryly.
The group went silent for a few moments, all lost in their own thoughts.
"Have you had any luck with victimology?" Prentiss finally broke the silence.
"All we know is that he's a really sick bastard." Morgan spat out.
"The circumstances between what's happening with Reid and the Stephen Thompson case seem to be quite different." Hotch started.
"Stephen Thompson was attacked in his home in a one-off attack. Apparently he was raped and beaten but aside from the restraining order, there were no signs of the obsessive behaviour we have been seeing with Reid." Rossi added.
"Like the pictures, for example, or the complete need to keep him to himself." Hotch continued.
"If there had been that evidence, then there's no way he'd have gotten off. There was no evidence at his house of any obsession what so ever. In fact, there was no evidence of any kind to be found." Morgan continued.
"What do you mean?" Prentiss asked, curiously.
"The attack was reported two weeks later, when all physical evidence had seemingly vanished. The only evidence of any issues between the two was the restraining order. And Jason was holding an appeal against that, and it appeared it was going to be successful." Rossi explained.
"But what does that mean?" Prentiss was very confused now.
"We looked into Stephen's past medical records, it seems he was schizophrenic. Stephen at the time was training at the same I.T. Company that Jason was working at. Jason was helping him with his training and it seems they became good friends. But these accusations against Jason seem to correlate with Stephen's schizophrenic episodes. The doctors increased his drug dosage on both occasions when Jason was accused of stalking and then after the report of the attack." Hotch explained further.
"But surely his dosages would be increased if he had suffered a trauma like that?" Prentiss questioned.
"Yes, they might be." Hotch continued, "but it does seem odd that the courts wouldn't take into account Stephen's schizophrenia when he's accusing someone of stalking."
"You would think they would just throw a case like that out the window." Rossi chipped in.
"But they didn't, they took Stephen's word on it, and there was no discussion about his mental state. Why?" Morgan questioned, they were prompting each other to get to the bottom of this conundrum.
"To protect him? So he could keep his job?" Prentiss asked.
"Maybe. But lawfully the courts wouldn't be able to ignore it." Morgan answered.
"We need to get Garcia to look into this. We are missing something vital here, things just don't seem to add up." Hotch explained. "It doesn't make sense that a court would take the word of a paranoid schizophrenic without examining his medical records."
"What are you suggesting?" Prentiss was definitely confused now.
"Maybe Stephen wasn't Jason's victim. Maybe Stephen's the one Jason's trying to get back at." Things suddenly clicked into place in Rossi's head. "It makes sense. Stephen gets Jason sacked from his job, has a restraining order put on him and then takes him to court with rape charges. He pulls apart his life. Jason wants revenge, but then Stephen kills himself. That anger is never relieved. But then 15 years later, he meets Reid. He reminds him of Stephen. They look similar. So Jason starts researching. Finds out all about Reid and his family history of schizophrenia and it sets off something inside of him that needs to punish Reid for what was done to him. So he forces Reid into a schizophrenic state of mind and takes advantage of it, putting him through what Jason implied had been done to him."
"Woah, hold up now Rossi." Morgan interrupted. "You think this is revenge? Jason has a genuine obsession with Reid. He clearly has a need to possess him, this isn't the profile of someone looking for revenge."
"No, but what if Stephen had spotted something in Jason that he didn't like, and that fear had been heightened by his mental state? People don't magically turn into psychopaths overnight, no. But what if Stephen had stopped Jason in his tracks by being one step ahead of him?"
"What, so you think Stephen's paranoia might have led him to believe that Jason was going to attack him?" Prentiss' brows were furrowed.
"Yes, but what if he actually was?" Rossi questioned.
"Then it wouldn't be paranoia then, would it?" Lewis had so far been quiet, but this all sounded slightly ridiculous.
"It would if Stephen had never actually had any physical signs from Jason to back that up. What if he just got a 'feeling' about him. Look," Rossi held out a medical form from Stephen's psychiatrist. "'Stephen spoke this week about his fears of a colleague. He thinks this man is going to sexually assault him. When asked if this man had ever said anything to him of a sexual nature, Stephen said no. But just got this feeling from him.' This is three days after the supposed assault happened. So why was this never mentioned in court? There was also no mention of any physical injuries."
"The assault never happened." Hotch said, in confused shock.
"What the hell does this all mean?" Morgan asked, frustrated. "Stephen lied about the attack because he thought something was 'off' about Jason, right? And his schizophrenia made him make up stories about him and Jason?"
"From what I can see from his medical records, yes." Rossi said confidently.
"Right, but then, as a weird twist of fate, Jason actually was planning to attack Stephen, but the schizophrenia got in the way." Morgan continued, trying to figure things out.
"And Stephen kills himself, before Jason can actually build up to his attack." Prentiss led off Morgan's thought.
"What if Stephen's accusations actually brought out a desire in Jason? What if they were the trigger that actually made him want to attack Stephen?" Rossi asked.
"So then Jason takes his time planning his assault, as he has done with Reid, but before he can put his plans into action, Stephen kills himself and Jason's lust is never satisfied." Hotch adds.
"But then what happens? Does he just not attack anyone? A guy like that surely has to develop his M.O." Prentiss thought aloud.
"Not if he can't find the perfect victim." Rossi said thoughtfully. "Look at how he found Stephen. He met him at work, he was a particularly type, small build, not particularly strong looking, had some mental issues, not that confident, good looking and young. This is exactly the same type as Reid."
"But Dr. Reid doesn't have mental issues." Lewis added.
"No, but he did by the time Jason had finished with him." Morgan stood up suddenly. "That was the final thing he needed to slot into place to make him truly like Stephen."
"But his focus clearly isn't on Stephen any more. There is absolutely no evidence of an obsession with Stephen in his home. He is totally fixated on Reid." Prentiss sighed, exhausted by this conversation.
"His type has obviously shifted according to what he saw in Reid that he liked." Morgan furrowed his brows.
"And why wouldn't it?" Hotch asked. "He has found someone perfect in Reid. He obviously reflects Stephen in many ways, but he also has more strength than Stephen. The schizophrenia wasn't used as a way to remind him of Stephen, it was used as a weapon because he knew it was Reid's one weakness. But unlike Stephen, Jason knew that Reid was stronger than that."
"He has created a new Stephen in his mind. And Reid is him. But stronger, so he knows he will be able to see through his assault this time." Rossi looked at Hotch as though they had the key to everything. The team looked at each other for a few moments, trying to decide what they do with this information. "Well, it seems we have a profile." Rossi stated confidently.
"No Dave, we don't. What we have is speculation based on one or two entries from medical records. Continuing an investigation based on a profile like this is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous. We could be wasting valuable time."
"Well let me follow it up! D.C. is an hour's drive from here, tops. I can follow up some leads, see if I can speak to Stephen's psychiatrist. Those medical records were in a sealed file. Why? And why were they kept out of the courts? This is something we need to know." Rossi argued.
"Fine." Hotch relented. "I'll come with you. We also have the address of Stephen's parents, we should speak to him. See if he can shed some light on the situation." Hotch addressed the whole team now. "Until we have any further information, we do not work from this angle. Understand me?" The nodded. "Until we find out otherwise, we assume that Stephen Thompson's word is true. Derek, Emily, you go to that gym. We shouldn't miss any leads. And Lewis, if you still want to be involved, you can work with our technical analyst Garcia and Agent Jennifer Jareau, maybe you can help them with any information you have about Jason."
"Oh, Jason used to ask Garcia questions about Reid." Prentiss quickly remembered. "They are going over those questions now."
"Perfect," Lewis responded. "Between us both, we should be able to find something useful from something he might have said or done."
"Great. Remember everyone, stay focused, and let's keep each other updated. We don't want to waste any time." Hotch ordered.
They nodded and quickly left the conference room.
Reid lay flat on the bed, feeling completely exhausted. He stared at the ceiling, no expression on his face. He felt totally numb. He knew he had been in the room for a long time, but he had no idea how long. And he always prided himself on his impeccable timing of various things. But in the panic, this had deserted him. He stared forlornly at the ceiling, feeling positively sick. He couldn't even think about what had been done to him over, what he supposed, was the last 24 hours.
All he could think about was the betrayal from the various people in his life. He kicked himself for knowing someone like Jason, never mind trusting him. The fact that he had even gotten to know him was bad enough. Then he thought about his team. The team who had so faithlessly assumed that he was mentally ill just because he was having some memory issues. Or had they orchestrated it all? Reid thought not, but then, who did? Or was he really going mad? The thought of that made him sick too. It was either a lack of hunger or a painful presence of it that caused him to feel so queasy. But either way, this additional distress was just too much for his body to cope with all in one go. He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep. He just couldn't function.
He had been on his own for what felt like hours now. He knew Jason would be due back soon. If he had indeed, gone into work. Reid couldn't get his head round that. The thought of Jason standing and talking to his colleagues whilst he was locked in a basement like some sort of animal made him frustrated. He just desperately wanted the team to realise he was missing and come and find him, like they did with Tobias. The fact that he knew the team were searching for him was his only comfort through his ordeal with Tobias, now he didn't even have that. And what made it worse, was he knew what was to come would be much worse than anything so far.
Reid closed his eyes as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He hoped beyond hope that they might be the footsteps of one of his team coming to save him from this hell. But no such luck. He heard Jason sigh and lower himself to the chair in the corner.
"I know you're awake, Spence."
"I wasn't pretending otherwise." Reid answered quickly, fed up with being afraid. He sat up and pulled his back up against the bed's headrest so he was facing Jason.
"You don't look too great if I'm honest, Spence." He looked concerned. "You look tired."
"I'm fine." Reid again answered quickly. Keen to show Jason he was still fully functional, even if he didn't feel it.
"Ooh, a bit defensive aren't we?" Jason mocked. "I've only come down here for a bit of company. Hard day at the office." He moved to pick up the bottle of whisky in the middle of the room. He motioned to Reid as if to ask whether he wanted some. Reid didn't respond. Jason just shrugged and replaced himself back onto the chair.
"Did you speak to anyone today?" Reid asked, not entirely sure whether Jason was telling the truth about work. But regardless of his reckoning, Reid thought it best to play it dumb.
"Nope. Just my team, as always. Morgan asked whether I'd heard from you. I said no, naturally." Reid stared hard at Jason, he couldn't get a read on him at all. Jason unscrewed the cap from the whisky bottle and took a large swig. He sighed contentedly. "That's much better. Been a busy one today."
"Didn't Morgan find it strange that you hadn't been in contact with me?" Reid probed.
"Nope, not when I said you'd told me to fuck off." He took another swig. "Well, in your own little way, of course."
Reid's brows furrowed, he didn't appreciate being seen as some sort of child.
"I'm perfectly capable of telling people to fuck off, you know."
"Really?" Jason smiled, a slight dare in his eyes, he took another swig.
Meeting his gaze, Reid smiled.
"Come near me again and you'll find out."
Jason almost spat out his whisky through laughing. This time Reid didn't feel embarrassed, only incredibly annoyed.
"Well bravo to you, Spence! Bravo!" He laughed, mock clapping. "You've obviously recharged your batteries after your earlier lesson. You've a lot more oil in your can than I gave you credit for." He smiled, drinking more whisky. "Shame for you though, it only makes it more fun for me. Real shame."
Reid narrowed his eyes, angrily.
"If you think that you will break me, you're mistaken. I'm not a child, no matter how much you treat me like one." Reid knew he was only going to wind Jason up, but he couldn't help himself. He knew what Jason wanted from him. And if Jason thought he was going to find it easy, then Reid was going to prove him very wrong. He let himself get beaten earlier, by Jason's stupid mind games. This time he was prepared.
Jason just stared at Reid, analysing him.
"You can fight me if it makes you feel better, Spencer." He drank again. "But the fact of the matter is, there is no way out for you. Both your legs are chained to this bed, unless you're going to drag a double bed up some stairs whilst also incapacitating me, I don't think there is much you can do. In the end, Spence. I'll win."
Reid suddenly felt very deflated. Jason was right. No, stay strong.
"Then I'll make it as difficult as possible for you. You'll wish you'd never bothered." Reid smiled an angry, cocky smile.
"Oh Spence. You just don't get it, do you? It really doesn't matter how much you fight. I'll be the one with the knife." He said coolly, taking another sip of whisky. Reid laughed madly.
"You think a knife scares me now? One thing I've realised about you Jason, is that you aren't going to kill me. Not yet. Not till you've got what you want at least!" Reid suddenly felt dizzy, what was he doing?
"So a knife no longer bothers you then?" Jason smiled a disbelieving smile. "Okay, Spence. Well let's have it this way then. How about I strap you down to that bed so fucking tight that you can't even move? How does that sound?" Reid tried to remain calm, but his eyes betrayed the sudden panic he felt. Jason smiled. "Aah, so that does bother you then." He stated, thoughtfully. "My own personal puppet, under my complete control. That sounds pretty appealing to me. What do you think?" He drank some more whisky and looked to Reid. He knew he was winding him up.
Reid was trying his best to stay strong, but the thought of being completely incapacitated around Jason terrified him. More than any knife ever would. But he wasn't going to back down. He needed to show Jason he was strong, the man wanted to see his fear and he was damned if he was going to give it to him.
"It doesn't bother me, no." He stated simply, his eyes still betraying his calm façade.
"Hmm..." Jason looked thoughtful and then stood up. "You think you're so smart, don't you, Spencer?" Reid furrowed his brows at the older man. "Thinking that hiding your fear from me will somehow change things. Make me less likely to want you?" Jason started moving towards Reid.
"No. I don't think-" Reid was cut off by Jason.
"You're very much mistaken, Spence. If only you'd realise, I'm all for the fight. In fact, it makes it all the more worthwhile for me. The more you fight, the more I want to have you. And the more I want to have you, the less chance you have." Jason started circling the bed. "So we can do this one of two ways. You can fight me, and I will have you anyway. Or you can co-operate, which will make it a bit easier for you, but the results will still be the same... It's up to you."
Jason stopped his circling and stood in front of Reid. Reid felt his heart beat quicken to an unhealthy rate, he felt like it would jump out of his chest at any second. He tried to swallow back the panic, but it wasn't working. He could feel himself going dizzy at the thought of what was about to happen. Jason put his hand on Reid's shoulder and in return, he tensed. He spoke through gritted teeth.
"Get off me." His voice was low and dangerous.
"Or else... what?" Jason teased. Suddenly he was hit hard in the jaw by a clenched fist, knocking him backwards. He held his jaw and looked shocked towards his attacker. "I didn't think you had it in you, Spence." He almost looked impressed. Reid's eyes narrowed as his tormentor stood up straight again, not wanting to show fear, Reid stood up also. "So we're playing this game again then?" Jason snarled. He lunged at Reid, grabbing his throat.
Reid let out a cry as he landed on the bed, Jason on top of him, hands around his throat squeezing. Reid tried desperately to claw Jason's hands off him and tried his best to keep breathing, but to no avail. Spots danced in front of his eyes as he felt himself starting to pass out. Suddenly, Jason's head met his temple and he was knocked out cold. His body fell back limply to the mattress. Arms out either side of him. Jason snaked his hands around, behind Reid's head and lifted it up, pulling his unresponsive face into a deep kiss. His whole body tingled at the lack of control Reid had at that very moment. He could do whatever he wanted, and there wasn't a thing his victim could do about it. It would be even better when he was awake.
He felt himself getting completely aroused. His hands groped Reid's body, touching everywhere. He moved to pull Reid's jumper off, exposing the smart grey shirt and blue tie underneath. He loved the way Reid dressed. His unfashionable neatness was a complete turn on to him. He left the shirt and tie alone. He rolled Reid over onto his front, pulling him up the bed so the chains on his legs were at full tension. He then pulled out some straps from underneath the mattress. The straps were made out of strong leather and buckled where they fastened. Firstly he strapped Reid's hands down inserting the leather straps through carefully concealed holes in the mattress. He pulled the straps to full tightness, buckling them to secure them. He then pulled up Reid's shirt and buckled a strap across his midsection, strapping his body tightly to the bed.
Reid moaned slightly as he started to come out of his unconscious state. Jason smiled, knowing the panic it would cause his victim. Reid tried to move his arms but found his hands were held down. He tried to lift his body up from his hips but found that his body couldn't move either. His eyes shot open and he struggled desperately against his bindings. Panicked tears clouding his eyes.
"Shhh... Spence." Jason stroked his back. "I thought this didn't bother you. I mean, I did promise you this if you were to fight me."
Reid was very close to hyperventilating, knowing full well what was to come, not knowing how he was going to cope with it if he couldn't even move. He managed to kick out with his legs somewhat which gave him hope, but then Jason moved his attention to his trousers, unbuttoning them and pulling them down.
"Please, Jason. Don't do this." All he could do was beg. And try to kick out.
Jason lay down flat, on top of Reid, sloppily kissing the side of his face.
"Shhh... You have no idea what you're doing to me, Spencer." He then licked, moving his hands down Reid's body.
Reid shuddered involuntarily. He couldn't pretend not to be afraid now. The hands groped his body, then Jason lifted his weight off him again. Moving his hands to his boxers, running his fingers under the waistline.
"Please... please don't do this." Reid whispered desperately.
Jason started pulling the boxers down and Reid started kicking his legs around, trying his best to put Jason off. His knee caught Jason's hand. In a sudden flare of temper, Jason pulled out his knife and stabbed Reid in the back of the thigh. Reid screamed out in agony.
"You fucking bastard!" Jason screamed. He picked up two more straps from the floor and started arranging them around Reid's thighs. Reid was crying in pain now and when the straps tightened around his legs he then cried out of desperation and started begging again. "This serves you fucking right!" Jason shouted. "Just shut up! Shut the fuck up!"
Reid was now completely stuck. He couldn't move any part of his body to effectively protect himself. He was, as Jason said. Jason's personal puppet. A play thing.
He tried one more time to reason with Jason. Breathing heavily due to the pain in his leg.
"Please... please... don't do this Jason... We were good friends... We helped each other..." Jason climbed on top of him and started removing his own clothing. Reid's begging speeded up as he panicked again. "I can help you! I can help you with whatever you want! Please, just untie me! I will comply, I promise! I promise!"
Jason lay down on top of him and wrapped his right arm around Reid's head and covered his mouth with his hand. Reid closed his eyes tightly and began to sob.
"It's too late for all that, Spence. I've waited too fucking long for this. And I'm gonna enjoy it."
Reaching down, he pressed himself against Reid, preparing them both for what was coming next.
Suddenly, all Reid could feel was pain. He couldn't move, he couldn't escape it, and the hand tightly covering his mouth kept him from crying out. At that moment, he wanted to die.
Rossi and Hotch had arrived at Stephen's family home. The journey had taken 50 minutes. It had been a quiet run, neither man willing to express their fears for their colleague. Both understanding that it wouldn't help anyone to discuss what might be happening at that very moment.
They got out of the car, closing the doors behind them.
"Big house." Rossi commented.
"Yeah... Garcia said they were wealthy." Hotch replied.
"No kidding." Rossi looked around. The house was more like a mansion.
They approached the front door and Hotch knocked. They had their badges ready to display. A man, clearly in his sixties opened the door.
"What do you want?" He asked slightly aggressively. "Can't you read the sign? It says 'No Sales Men!'"
"Sir, we're not Sales Men." Hotch replied calmly, showing his badge, Rossi followed suit. "We are with the FBI. May we come in?"
"The FBI?" The man looked over his shoulder and into his house. Glancing back at the two agents, weighing them up and down, he finally stood aside. "I suppose you'd better."
Hotch and Rossi were led through the enormous house in a living room. The man gestured the agents to sit down.
"Thanks." Rossi smiled.
"What's this about?" The slightly unfriendly man asked.
"Sir, is your name Peter Thompson?" Hotch knew this was the right man, they had his photo on file. But it was protocol to ask.
"Yes... yes I am." The man's confidence seemed to take a slightly knock after realising the FBI were at the right house.
"Did you have a son, named Stephen Thompson?" Rossi asked softly, leaning forwards.
The man's brows furrowed. He clearly didn't like where this was going.
"Yes... Yes I did. Now what business is my son to you?"
"If we had more time then we would deal with this a little more delicately, but unfortunately we don't, so I'm just going to have to ask you outright. Your son made accusations against a man called Jason Turner 15 years ago, correct?" Rossi said directly.
The man looked rather taken a back. He clearly hadn't heard mention of this for a long time.
"Erm.. Yes he did."
"There was a restraining order granted and your son also accused Mr. Turner of rape. Is this correct?" Hotch continued.
"Yes he did." The man replied. Still clearly nervous.
"Did you attend the court cases?" Rossi asked.
"Of course I did. He was my son!"
"Then you might be able to help us with this, Mr. Thompson. Why, at no point, was your son's mental state mentioned during any of these court cases?" Hotch pressed.
"They didn't see it as relevant." He countered.
"No, sir. It's not a case of it being irrelevant. There is actually no documented record of this ever being mentioned to either the defence or the prosecution." Rossi caught the man out.
"If you were to ask me, as an ex prosecutor," Peter looked concerned. "I would say that Stephen's mental state was highly relevant. For both sides." Hotch argued, calmly.
"It wasn't relevant!" Peter shouted. "My son was attacked! He killed himself, a year later."
"May I ask then, why didn't he mention the attack to his Psychiatrist?" Rossi asked.
"My son didn't see a Psychiatrist." Peter simply stated.
Hotch and Rossi looked to each other.
"Sir, we have your son's medical records, which clearly state he was under treatment by a Psychiatrist. There are also numerous letters addressed to you and your wife discussing his mental state." Hotch said firmly.
"That's not possible." The Peter looked away from the two men. "Now if you would kindly leave."
"What do you do for a living, sir?" Rossi asked curiously.
"I run a very successful I.T. Company." He spoke proudly.
"And would it be fair to say you wanted your son to take over the company when he got older?" Rossi asked again.
"Well, yes. Of course. But what this has to do with anything, I don't know."
"We also found invoices for your son's treatment. It was paid for by you." Rossi stated.
Peter was getting frustrated now.
"Again, that's not possible." He spoke through gritted teeth.
"How did you feel about your son's mental illness, Mr Thompson?" Rossi pushed.
"Were you angry? Frustrated? Upset?" Hotch pressed.
"No!" Peter shouted.
"Were you embarrassed?"
"Ye-" Peter cut himself off. He dropped himself to the couch. Suddenly a female head poked itself around the corner, she then moved into the room and sat herself beside her husband, putting her arm around him.
"How dare you come in here upsetting him like this." He spoke softly.
"Are you Mrs. Irene Thompson? Stephen's mother?" Hotch asked gently.
"Yes, I am." She said curtly. "And I don't appreciate you coming into our house and getting my husband stressed out about things."
"If there was any other way, madam, trust me, we would do it. But we are involved in an urgent case that requires full disclosure from all parties." Rossi reassured.
"One of our agents has been taken. A young man, Dr. Spencer Reid." Hotch pulled out a photograph and handed it to the lady, she took it, staring at it. "We believe that he has been taken by Jason Turner -" They both looked up in shock. "The man your son accused of raping him. We work as part of the Behavioural Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia and part of how we work is we profile the suspect and figure out what his motives are and we try to predict their behaviour. Now what we need to know is, was your son really Jason's first victim?"
Peter started to look annoyed again.
"Yes of course he was!"
"Peter!" Irene called out, stopping him. "Peter, no. No this has to stop. Right here." She spoke softly. "We can't keep pretending. Look at him."
Peter eye balled his wife for a few moments then took a look at the picture. He took it out of his wife's hand, his eyes welling up with tears, then he lowered his gaze to the floor, submissively.
Hotch and Rossi waited patiently for one of them to start speaking again.
"I never meant to hurt anyone." Peter muttered.
"What do you mean?" Hotch asked.
"We tried our best with Stephen. We really did." Irene spoke gently. "But he was very difficult. He really struggled working with people. We thought we'd got his life on track, got him a good job. He was even making friends. He met this Jason through work. We met him once or twice, he was nice enough. Seemed a little bit strange."
"He was gay." Peter cut in. Irene looked embarrassed.
"Yes, yes he was gay. That never sat well with Peter. He means no harm, but it's-"
"Just not natural! That's what it is!"
"Okay, sir. Can we please leave the debating to a more appropriate time." Hotch cut in.
Irene patted her husband on the back.
"But then, Jason started coming home saying all this stuff about the guy. That he was going to attack him," she swallowed. "Sexually."
"And what did you do?" Rossi questioned.
"Well we sent him back to his Psychiatrist."
"So you did pay for him to see a Psychiatrist?" Rossi noted.
"Yes. Yes, we did." She looked away from her husband's gaze. "But it never worked. Tablets were increased but things kept getting worse. Then we found out Stephen had taken out a restraining order against this Jason."
"We simply couldn't have everybody at his workplace knowing he was Schizophrenic. I'm in the business! I just couldn't have it!" Peter ranted.
"So instead, you allowed your son to go on with the lie, allowed Jason to lose his job and your son to carry on living as normal." Hotch pointed out.
"But what I don't understand is the courts must have looked into your son's background at some point. It's common practice." Rossi kept on with the pressure.
"Yeah, well you pay anyone enough, you can make almost anything go away." Irene looked ashamed.
"And don't think about speaking to Dr. Friar. He died five years ago."
Hotch and Rossi looked to each other, Rossi rolled his eyes.
"What about the rape charges?" Hotch pressed.
The married couple looked to each other. Clearly trying to find a way to make this not sound as bad as it did in their heads.
"We didn't know what else to do." Peter burst out. "He'd already accused him. What was I supposed to do? Make him withdraw the charges? I had a business to look out for. If that got out, the business would be in ruins."
"So to save your own embarrassment you allowed an innocent person to face trial." Rossi commented.
"Clearly he's not that innocent though. We would have done you a favour getting him locked up." Peter argued.
Ignoring this comment, Hotch and Rossi continued on.
"How did you know that your son was lying?" Rossi asked.
"He had spent the previous week with me, on holiday. There wasn't a chance in hell that that Jason had gone near him. Plus, Stephen told me."
Irene turned to her husband, shocked.
"What? Stephen told you? I thought he never understood the whole pitiful affair." Peter waved his hand dismissively.
"Well he did. I'm not proud of it. But in the end, it's what I had to do."
"Mr. Thompson, one last question. May I ask you, why did your son commit suicide?" Hotch meant this as more of a rhetorical question. One for the parents to consider, they all knew, it was because of guilt.
Peter dropped his head. Irene took the picture of Reid that had now dropped to the floor.
"Is this our fault?" She asked quietly, staring at the picture.
"We think that Jason Turner started out by acting out his revenge on Stephen, by finding a similar replacement in Dr. Reid. But in the process, he has become obsessed with him. We have reason to believe that Stephen was right about Jason. Only he just didn't know it. If your son hadn't killed himself, he may very well have been Jason's first victim." Hotch explained, calmly. Although his heart was beating at an unhealthy rate. He could feel sweat running down his back. He just wanted to get back to Quantico now they had a profile.
"You certainly didn't create the monster ma'am, but you certainly didn't help." Rossi said coolly, taking the photograph out of Irene's hands and walking towards the door. "We'll let ourselves out."
"Thank you." Hotch added, polite as always. Then followed Rossi out of the room and then the house.
Once outside Hotch and Rossi raced towards the SUV, they got in and fastened their seat belts. Hotch quickly turned on the engine and started driving.
"We need to get back to Quantico. Our profile is all wrong, Dave."
"Even with this new profile though, I'm not sure that it'll help us all that much. At least not to find out where Reid is anyway." Rossi explained. "I still think he'll take Reid somewhere he feels comfortable. I don't think it would be to a place where Reid would pick."
"Why do you say that? He's obsessed with Reid, but also obsessed with Stephen. Are you sure he wouldn't pick somewhere that either of them would choose?" Hotch needed reassurance that this new information wouldn't help them.
"I'm certain. Jason had no control over the situation with Stephen. With Reid, he will want complete control. Which means his house, his rules."
Hotch looked to Rossi, then back to the road. He quietly nodded.
The two drove in silence for quite a while. Suddenly, Hotch brought the SUV to a stop and rested his head back onto the head rest.
"What if we don't find him, Dave?" Rossi looked to Hotch, surprised he would ask such a question.
"Aaron, we are working with some of the countries best minds. We will find him." He replied confidently.
"You don't really think that." Hotch said, shaking his head. Rossi glanced back at Hotch, again surprised. When the younger man met his gaze, he found he had to break eye contact. Suddenly he felt incredibly vulnerable.
"I'm at least trying." Rossi said, without the same conviction.
Hotch nodded in understanding. Neither of them were men for showing their feelings and insecurities. Even the slightest confession of doubt in the work they do was a difficult thing for them to deal with.
Sighing, Hotch continued.
"I don't know how he's going to deal with this. He barely come through Tobias Hankel."
"Reid is strong, Aaron. Stronger than we give him credit for." Rossi answered calmly.
"We are all strong, Dave. All of us. But put any of us in the situation Reid is facing now, and I think we'd all take a knife or a gun any day."
Rossi merely nodded. He knew what Hotch was talking about, but was too hopeful to mention. However this ended up, they knew that Reid would have to deal with some issues, no matter how bad the situation had gotten. There was no way a man like Jason would leave Reid completely untouched. Rossi turned to Hotch.
"Why don't you let me drive the rest of the way?" He said in a diplomatic tone.
"No Dave, I'm fine." Hotch answered firmly. It was a tone that suggested no more questions. Rossi nodded again.
"Well let's get going then."
Prentiss and Morgan were approaching the gym.
"We shouldn't have stayed with JJ and Garcia, you know." Morgan looked concerned.
"I know it wasn't that helpful, but I kind of felt like they needed the extra support." Prentiss sighed.
"But what if whilst we were with them, we missed something important?" Morgan asked, frustrated.
"Like what?" Prentiss looked to a sign in the gym window. "2 for 1 on gym memberships?" She looked up to the big sign on the front of the building. "The Gymnasium... original." She said dryly.
Morgan didn't say anything, normally he would make some sort of clever comment, but today he clearly wasn't in the mood. Emily was actually slightly thankful for that. Even thought she was making persistent attempts to lighten the mood, they were just as much for herself as anyone else. She wasn't in the mood for banter.
Morgan opened the door, allowing Prentiss to enter first. They were greeted at the door by the a man wearing a name tag reading 'STEVE' beneath his name, it read 'manager'.
"Agents Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss from the FBI." Both showed their badges, Morgan shook hands with the gentleman and Prentiss followed suit.
"I spoke with a Jennifer Jareau on the phone. She told me to expect you, please, come into my office... Can I get you guys a drink?" Steve offered politely.
"No thank you." Prentiss smiled.
They followed Steve into his office and sat down in front of his desk. He moved around the other side and also sat down.
"What is it I can help you with? Your liaison said you were investigating a kidnapping."
"Yes. We are." Morgan answered seriously. "Can you tell me, do you recognise either of these two people?" First he produced a photo of Reid, the same one Hotch had provided to Stephen's family.
Steve looked at it carefully, slightly confused.
"No... But I mean obviously I don't know everyone who comes through these doors. I can check whether he's had an induction of course, as a lot of people do and come as pay as you go customers. He does look a little familiar."
"As far as our records show, he has never been here. But we can't track cash payments. So if you could check your records that would be greatly appreciated." Emily smiled.
"Of course, not a problem."
"Secondly, do you recognise this guy?" Morgan pushed a picture of Jason across the table. Steve's eyes lit up instantly.
"Yes! Yes I do, that's Jay!" Suddenly he glanced up at the agents. "Oh no – what's happened? Is he okay?"
"He is fine." Prentiss reassured the man. "We just need to speak to him regarding our investigation."
"Speak to him? Is he in trouble?" Steve looked deeply concerned.
"We really cannot comment on the nature of our investigations, sir." Prentiss spoke calmly but firmly.
"How do you know Jason Turner?" Morgan asked.
"Well, he's a gym regular. Or at least, has been for the last two years. He's been heavily involved in a lot of projects at the gym. You know, fitness challenges, charity events, you name it, he's helped at it."
"Have you ever noticed him behaving strangely around other men at the gym? Or noticed him saying any strange things to anyone?" Prentiss asked.
Steve furrowed his brows.
"No, never... Seriously, what is this about?"
"Do you ever socialise with Jason?" Morgan asked, cutting off the man.
"Not really, no. It's a strictly professional relationship. I mean, I've seen him out and about here and there but nothing you could call socialising."
"Do you know anything about what he does in his spare time?" Morgan asked.
"No. As far as I can gather, when he's not working, he's here. That's how he always says life is for him. He's been a great help if I'm honest. I never would have managed the move without him."
"The move?" Morgan raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, two months ago we moved from our old building, just down town."
"Did Jason used to help out at the old building too?" Morgan asked, suddenly his voice sounded alive.
"Well yes, of course. Like I said, he's been coming for two years." Steve was starting to look confused.
"What's happened to the old building now?" Prentiss asked. Morgan was pulling out his phone to dial Garcia.
"Well it's empty. As far as I know it has been bought out to make way for a car park. The rent was too high for me anyway. I don't know when it's due for demolition though, to be honest, now I've moved premises, I don't tend to go down town that much any more."
"Garcia," Morgan turned, on the phone to his colleague. "I need you to look up an address for me." he turned to look to the manager, prompting him to give the old address.
"1245 4th Ave." Steve replied quickly.
"You get that Garcia?" Morgan asked. Morgan listened to her speak for a few moments. "Okay, has it been demolished?... Til when?... Right, thanks." He put the phone down and turned to Steve. "Would Jason know the layout of this building?"
"Like the back of his hand." Steve had stopped asking silly questions now. He had realised that Jason was most likely in some kind of trouble, and standing in the way of the FBI was not a good idea.
"How big is this place?" Prentiss asked, quickly.
"2 floors, there is also a basement. We used to keep stock down there."
"Thanks, man." Morgan left the office quickly, with Prentiss in tow. "We need to call Hotch."
"Agents!" Steve quickly ran after them, a memory flashing through his mind. "That picture of the young man. I remember where I saw it! Jason had it in his wallet. He told me it was his boyfriend."
Prentiss and Morgan looked to each other then back to Steve.
"Thank you for all your help." Prentiss said politely and they shot out of the building.
Reid was still imprisoned by Jason after what felt like hours. When Jason had finished thrusting into Reid the first time, Reid was thankful it was all over. He was shaking like a leaf, was exhausted and sweating profusely.
When he felt Jason move his body from on top of him and finally release the grip from around his mouth, he cried in relief and desperation. What he didn't expect was for Jason to undo half of his straps and establish a different position. Reid was now on his side being attacked for the third time. Jason was still pounding away, but Reid's eyes were empty. He had cried all he could cry, he no longer had the energy to fight at all, so most of his restraints were now gone. Jason had complete control of him. As he wanted. If Jason wanted to shift position to gain better access to a part of Reid's body, he simply moved him. A sob would occasionally escape Reid's lips and he would sometimes try to pull himself away, but to no avail. His movements had no fight left in them. If Jason fought against Reid's manoeuvre, he would let him win.
Jason had been whispering in his ear during each assault. Reid had stopped listening to the words a while ago. Jason noticing this suddenly licked his ear and then bit. Reid winced and pulled away. Jason's hand snaked back around Reid's head and covered his mouth, pulling his head back towards him.
"Spence." He whispered lustfully, and he slowed his thrusts down, cruelly pulling Reid back into awareness. "How does it feel to have no control?" He felt a tear drip down onto his hand. "Oh Spence, don't cry again. We're almost done." He suddenly speeded up his thrusts, putting enough power behind them that Reid's head was almost hitting the head rest. He tightened his grip on Reid's face, not necessarily caring whether he was actually covering his mouth any more. Reid cried out as Jason finished off. His face was buried deep into Reid's neck as he came, his free hand roaming all over his victim's body. His breathing was heavy and laboured as he kissed deep into Reid's neck. He then went slightly limp and drew Reid into a tight embrace. Reid was shivering involuntarily, he desperately wanted the man to get off him. He wanted to clean himself up. Get out of that basement. But all hope was fading. It was already too late for him. Now he was on to damage limitation.
Jason whispered in his ear again.
"Spence, that wasn't so bad was it? It was everything I'd hoped it would be. You're mine now." He stroked his victims hair gently. Reid just lay limp in his arms. He massaged Reid's arm then sat up, pulling it out to the side. "In fact, I don't ever want you to forget it." He pulled out the knife. Reid exhaustedly looked up too late to see Jason pulling out the knife to carve into his arm.
"No." His hoarse throat whispered. He hissed as the knife cut deep into his forearm. His left arm and leg were still chained and he tried his best to push Jason off with them, but to no avail. The cutting seemed to go on for an eternity. He could feel hot blood dripping down his arm and the cuts were stinging severely.
"Keep fucking still!" Jason shouted. Holding Reid's arm by the wrist and back handing him with the hand holding the knife. The edge of the blade caught just above Reid's eye and it started to bleed. Reid winced, but didn't stop fighting. "Do you want another stab in your fucking leg?" Reid suddenly stilled. "Didn't think so. Now shhh... stop fighting. I'm almost done." Reid felt two more stinging cuts making their way across his arm, but true to Jason's word, they were the last. Reid's breathing was now heavy and raggedy. He was doing all he could to keep conscious with the feeling of the blood leaking out of the cuts. Jason stroked his head again, then his face, then his lips. Finally having enough of the man's touch, Reid bit at his hand. Jason pulled away suddenly. "You bastard! And I was gonna be fucking nice to you after this too. I can't believe you just did that!" Jason sounded genuinely offended.
"You wanna see what I've done?" He threw Reid's arm towards his face so he could see his handiwork. Reid's eyes took a few seconds to focus and then he paled. All he could see was a mass of cuts on his forearm. Spelling out the word 'MINE'. Reid thought he was going to be sick, but before he could think too much, Jason was releasing his chained arm and leg from the bed. "You don't deserve a fucking rest after that." He then redressed Reid, commmenting on how smart he looked. All the while, Reid lay on the bed. Too weak to do much else.
Jason then climbed on top of him, resting on his stomach.
"I know what your biggest fear is, Spencer." Reid furrowed his brows, trying to focus on Jason's words, rather than the pain in his stabbed leg and cut forearm. "Dark and small spaces." He smiled, as Reid's eyes opened wide at the implications. Jason climbed off the bed and started pushing it into the centre of the room. Reid eventually managed to sit himself up.
"You see what this is, Spencer?" He pointed to a door in the floor. It was around 7ft by 4ft and had a little window at one end. Reid's head started to shake, and tears he didn't realise he was still able to shed came rolling down his face.
"No." He whispered, too exhausted to say anything else. Hoping that Jason would take pity on him.
"It's 3ft deep, Spencer. Just enough for you to move around. A little."
Reid was coming very close to a panic attack. He tried to make a move off the bed as Jason approached him, but his exhausted limbs took a while to respond. By the time he had found his way to a crawl, Jason had already grabbed him around the waist. He was pulling him towards the hole.
Jason shouted through gritted teeth as Reid desperately tried to pull away from him.
"If you keep insisting on fighting me, Spencer, I have no choice! You will be able to breathe you know!" Reid fought with all his might to get Jason off him, he was almost succeeding when a blow to the ribcage winded him completely. He fell to the floor, unable to breathe. In this time, Jason opened the door to the underground coffin and pulled Reid towards it. By the time Reid had regained his breath, he had just been pushed back first into the hole.
He begged in a panicked frenzy and desperately fought to stop Jason from closing the door.
"No, Jason! God no, please! I can't do this, please!"
Jason slammed the door, trapping Reid in the underground coffin. Reid started to hyperventilate, he thought he was going to die. Jason simply watched through the window in the door.
"Oh, Spence. Calm down. There is only so much oxygen to go around. The quicker you calm down, the sooner I'll let you out. I promise."
Reid still couldn't control his breathing. He tried to move himself around, feeling only walls everywhere he went. He couldn't sit up, he couldn't stretch out. The more scared he felt in the space, the more he tried to move around. Now he couldn't stop crying.
"Please, Jason." He spoke around distressed breaths. "Please... Let me... out."
"Sorry Spence. Not 'til you understand, it's not worth fighting."
He moved out of Reid's line of sight, which caused him to panic even further.
"Jason! Jason, please!" He banged on the door frantically, knowing he was using up valuable energy and oxygen, but he couldn't help it. This was his worst nightmare.
Jason took himself to the corner of the room and picked up the bottle of whisky. He took a self-satisfied gulp and then switched off the lights, moving to the chair.
Reid's breathing sped up again.
"Jason? Oh god..." He kept hyperventilating. "JASON!" He finally stopped banging on the door after around 10 minutes. His hands raw from knocking on wood. He was still breathing heavily, but his voice had broken down into heavy, hitching sobs.
Jason still sat, unbeknownst to Reid, in the corner of the room. Whisky bottle in hand and smile on face.