I am sooooooo mean :P Sorry guys but this is a little teaser of a chapter. I feel like a monster posting this after my epic updates, but I could help it. It seemed like the natural progression and I didn't want too much to happen in one chapter. So consider this a kind of Chapter 12a ;) I'm such a tease. Hope you like this little snippet, all the same!
EDIT: After a very valid plot flaw was pointed out to me by lolyncut I have revised this chapter! It was like 2am when I wrote this chapter and I think I went a bit daft :S Totally agree, not quite sure what I was thinking as I am all for the realism.
"How was he?" Hotch asked.
"Angry." Morgan answered. "Whatever that bastard said to him has really gotten under his skin. He doesn't trust us."
"Who can blame him?" Prentiss quickly interrupted. "If you were in his position, would you be likely to trust the people who didn't believe you?"
Morgan looked slightly irritated at this.
"What were we supposed to think Emily? The kid seemed like he was losin' it. All of us agreed."
"I'm not saying whether we were right or wrong, I'm just saying I understand where he's coming from." Prentiss answered defensively.
"She's right. Whatever we did or didn't do, the results are still the same." Hotch said, not moving his gaze from the floor.
"The truth is, we could have done something." Rossi added. Clearly frustrated.
"But he was a wreck, what were we supposed to think?" JJ asked, siding with Morgan on this one.
Rossi looked up at the pair, exasperated. He held out his hands in a gesture of frustration.
"Had it been anyone else, would we have jumped to those conclusions so quickly?" He waited for someone to answer him, but when they didn't he carried on. "Exactly... His mother is a paranoid schizophrenic, therefore he is too. I rest my case."
"Nobody said that Rossi." Morgan snapped.
"Nobody needed to." He replied simply.
"Look, man. I have had Reid's back ever since he came into this game. But the way he was behavin', that wasn't normal. Set up by someone else or not. If I was losing stuff, I wouldn't have snapped the way he did. What the hell were we supposed to think?" Morgan was obviously angry.
"You just imagine Derek, for two seconds, what it must be like having a mother who has a mental disorder. Just put yourself in that place." Rossi paused, he wasn't interrupted. "Then put yourself into Reid's shoes. His brain is his strongest, if not, his only weapon. It's damn sure the only thing that's gotten him to the FBI. And just imagine seeing that slipping away from you. Can you imagine how hard that must be, for someone with a mind as powerful as Reid's, to see that turning on you. That must be terrifying."
"And everyone around you that you trust is doing nothing." Hotch added negatively. "All we did was reinforce the illusion. I walked him straight into a trap." Hotch sat down onto a chair, head in his hands.
JJ and Morgan looked at each other, they had never seen their superior do such a thing. Aside from when he lost Haley. It was clearly a show of guilt and remorse.
"This isn't your fault Hotch." Morgan sat down next to him.
Suddenly the door to the side room opened and Garcia emerged from Reid's room. She took a deep breath, sat down and immediately started crying.
Prentiss moved straight to her side.
"Penelope, what's happened?" She put her arm around her shoulder comfortingly. The whole team now had their eyes on her.
"He was so horrible." She sobbed. "He hates me. And I don't blame him."
Prentiss squeezed her shoulder tightly, shushing her friend.
"No he doesn't hate you. He's just... got a lot to deal with right now." She rocked her colleague back and forth trying to soothe her.
"I just want to make it all go away for him." She wailed. "But I can't and I don't know what to do to help him."
"I think the best thing any of us can do right now is go home and get some rest." Hotch cut in. "We're no use to him half awake."
"I wanna stay." Morgan argued.
"No Derek. You're going to go home and get some sleep." Hotch ordered. "We will come back and check on him this afternoon. He needs a rest too."
"Then I will stay here and wait."
"No you will not and that's an order." Hotch's phone started to ring, irritated he pulled it out of his pocket, answering it more forcefully than he would normally. "Hotchner." The team watched him as his brows furrowed. "You're kidding?" He looked exasperated. "... How the hell did that happen?" Morgan kept trying to make eye contact with his boss, attempting to get to the bottom of the issue but Hotch avoided his gaze. "Right, I'll be right over." He closed his cell phone and looked to the team, his face in turmoil, clearly not wanting to share the news with them.
"Hotch, what's going on?" Morgan searched his boss' expression.
"Nothing important." He answered quickly. "JJ, will you drive Garcia home and make sure you both get some sleep?" She looked at her boss, still concerned about what had been said on the phone.
"Didn't sound like nothing important." Morgan interjected. The ladies hesitated.
"JJ, please." Hotch was ordering her to leave. She knew better than to press Hotch when he was in that kind of mood. She would ultimately regret it. Instead, she nodded. Taking Garcia by the arm, she helped her up to her feet. Her colleague was clearly exhausted.
"Come on Pen." She encouraged. "I'll stay at yours and we'll come back and see Spence later." She nodded to Hotch. Understanding that whatever was going on didn't need to involve Garcia.
"Get some rest." Hotch said to Garcia as she passed.
"Yes boss." She mumbled tiredly. The team watched as Garcia and JJ walked down the corridor towards the exit. When they turned the corner, the team brought their gazes back to each other.
"What's happened?" Prentiss asked, matter of factly.
Hotch sighed, he didn't know how much more the team could take.
"Lewis is dead." He said simply.
"What?" Morgan asked, glancing around at his other colleagues.
"As is Agent Howard." He added.
Rossi just stared in shock, understanding automatically what this meant.
"What the hell?" Morgan said in frustration, allowing his emotions to control his behaviour without realising the implications of Hotch's statement. Suddenly it sank in, and he stared at his boss. "But Lewis and Howard were with Jason." He said slowly. Hotch merely nodded, unable to look his subordinate in the eye. "He's killed them."
Hotch swallowed, dropping his gaze to the floor. He nodded again.
Prentiss was staring at Hotch with wide eyes, she was completely aghast.
"He's escaped?" As usual, she was quick to push her emotions aside.
"He had a knife." Hotch stated. "I don't know exactly what happened, but Lewis and Howard obviously thought that Reid had disarmed him. We didn't check for a weapon, neither did they." Morgan shifted uncomfortably, looking to Rossi. That was their fault. "On the way to the hospital, he slit their throats then stabbed the driver in the neck."
"Well that answers the question as to whether he is capable of killing." Rossi summarised.
"But slitting throats? That's messy. How did he manage that with two armed agents?" Prentiss shared her confusion.
"Takes out the one closest to him and then goes for the second one." Morgan suggested. Not entirely confident in his guess work.
"But surely in the time he has killed one agent, the other could have shot him." Prentiss asked again.
"Howard was found in the front of the ambulance. Only Lewis was in the back. It was clearly a blitz attack. He takes out the agent closest to him, before the agent in the front can react, he takes him out from behind. Then the driver is easy." Hotch informed them.
"Did the driver survive?" Rossi asked.
"So far. He's in surgery right now." Hotch nodded. He looked to Morgan who had just dropped himself into a chair outside Reid's door.
"You okay?" Prentiss asked.
"No." Morgan answered honestly. "We cannot tell the kid this." He said sternly.
Rossi nodded in agreement.
"There's no need. He's safe here. We have no reason to make him think otherwise." Rossi added.
"Won't he need protective guards or something?" Prentiss frowned. That was usually standard protocol.
"What? And have people watching him 24/7? Yeah, that just screams a return to normality." Rossi said sarcastically.
"Dave's right, the less Reid knows, the better. But two officers are on their way over now. They will just have to stay out of his sight." Hotch spoke.
"So what happens now?" Morgan demanded to know.
"I'm going back to the BAU for a couple of hours once they get here, just to keep a check on things."
"Then I'm coming with you." Morgan ordered.
"No Morgan, you are not." Hotch turned to him, his gaze unflinching. "You are going home and getting some rest. Now. All three of you, go."
"Come on, man!" Morgan tried to argue but was cut off by Rossi.
"Morgan." He turned to his older colleague. "You should know by now, make the most of any rest you get. I have a feeling we are going to be very busy over the next couple of days."
Morgan initially looked as though he was going to argue, but the senior profiler had a point. He was tired and if a man hunt was to be launched, then he would need all of the energy he could get.
Finally he conceded.
"Fine. But only a couple of hours." Rossi rolled his eyes.
Rossi grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the exit.
"Quickly, before he changes his mind!" The older man said jokingly.
Hotch merely smiled. His mind was clearly somewhere else.
Prentiss approached her boss, mindful of how tired he was also likely to be.
"You want some company?" She put herself forward to help him. Hotch's first instinct was to decline. "I make a mean cup of coffee." She smiled.
Hotch looked at her, perhaps Emily's company was just what he needed right now. She somehow seemed able to shake off the trials and tribulations of the job. He found himself idly wondering how long that would last for. But was thankful for it, all the same.
He turned to her, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly with the beginnings of what felt like an inappropriate smile.
"Okay." He answered. "Make it a strong one."