The Photographer
folder
1 through F › Criminal Minds
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
23
Views:
1,815
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Currently Reading:
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Category:
1 through F › Criminal Minds
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
23
Views:
1,815
Reviews:
1
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Criminal Minds or any of the characters, nor do I make any type of profit from this.
XV
FBI HEADQUARTERS – BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS UNIT
Quantico, VA
Penelope Garcia sat in silence except for the symphony of clicking that came from the keyboard she was typing on frantically. She was inputting the new data she had received from the team to give her search new life. New parameters were entered into her databases, searching for the bastard who had her boss.
Something binged in the corner of her screen, drawing the blond’s attention to the new e-mail entitled ‘BAU’s Finest’. The e-mail opened a live feed of Hotch sitting tied to the chair, a blank expression on his face, pain underlying each of his features. He was in shock. “Oh my God… oh my God…” She looked at the screen with horror etched in her face. “Hotch… oh Hotch!” Garcia pressed redial on her phone, typing with new vigor as she waited for Morgan to answer.
-- “What do you got for me, Baby Girl?”
“Our UnSub is sending me a live feed of Hotch… I’m trying to trace the IP address right now.”
Garcia froze as she noticed Hotch begin to wince in pain, though no one was around him. “He’s… he’s hallucinating…” She noticed a syringe and bottle discarded at the deteriorating agent’s feet. “He gave him more dilaudid…” Penelope felt the tears threaten to fall again, sniffling loudly.
-- “Baby Girl, I need you to focus… try to race that IP. Call me if anything changes with Hotch, ok? You can do this.”
“Ok.” That was the only response she could muster before disconnecting the call, shifting into overdrive as she did her best work to find the sick bastard.
---
MARRIOTT COURTYARD HOTEL
Richmond, VA
Morgan paced back and forth as he thought through everything they knew about their UnSub. In all honesty, it wasn’t much. Reid was watching the video they had been sent yet again, looking for details about where their Unit Chief was being kept. “There!” Reid pointed to a spot on the screen that had been lit up briefly by a jolt of electricity. “That brick pattern… it’s the pattern that was used to reinforce bunkers that had been built during the civil war… there are seven within a twelve mile radius surrounding Richmond… none of them are being used for anything.”
Dave interrupted Spencer’s ramblings. “Spencer, are you sure?” His tired eyes rested on the man who nodded vigorously. “Yes. There’s also an inscription on the wall. ‘I know I am free, for I have seen the face of Father Abraham and have felt him’. This was a quote from a freed black slave that was used in support of the President after Richmond had been captured by the Union. This bunker must be nearby.” He pulled out a map, pointing out each of the seven locations. “It will take time. Some of these bunkers are dilapidated and all of them are large in size. It will take days to go through them. Time we don’t –“ The young doctor was cut off by the shrill ring of Morgan’s phone.
The large agent put the phone on speaker, Garcia’s frantic voice impeding his greeting.
-- “Guys, I have a general location in a five mile radius.”
Spencer piped up immediately. “Garcia, cross reference the area with locations of Civil War bunkers and see if you can pull it in any closer.”
-- I’ll cross reference the map, but I can’t get in any closer. This guy is scary good. He’s using a disposable cell to connect through the mobile web and is refreshing his IP every forty seconds. Only problem for him is he’s still connected to the satellite, which gives me enough time to give you five miles and… three bunkers. I’m sending the coordinates to each of your phones. And guys… fuck him up.”
She ended the call, leaving the team in silence to plot their possible rescue. Emily pointed to one of the bunkers on the map that was within the five mile radius they’d been given. “This one is too close to the freeway for our UnSub to have held and tortured twenty-three people there, so that leaves us two.” Everyone looked at Morgan for direction, who merely nodded in agreement.
“Ok, Emily, JJ, and Reid, go to the East bunker. Rossi and I will go to the West. We wait for SWAT and go in with them, but no matter what, we do not let Richmond PD know about this. If we’re right and our UnSub is RPD, he’ll kill Hotch before we can get there. If you find anything, radio me. We’ll do the same. We’ve got to –“ His orders were cut off by a knock at the door. Emily sauntered up to the door and retrieved the package from the bell hop. It was cold, as if it had been stored in a freezer. When she opened the package, she realized why. She slowly placed the package on the table, sitting on the edge of one of the beds to steady herself.
Morgan packaged the finger back up and placed it in the hotel room freezer to preserve it. It was crude, but it was all they had time for. “Let’s move.” Derek’s voice was grim as the team headed out to the SUVs. They weren’t coming home without Hotch.
---
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Undisclosed City, VA
Hotch woke as his whole body began to shake violently. The amount of blood loss had caused his body temperature to decrease rapidly, signs that he was slowly bleeding out, albeit slowly. He was sure that the blood loss was making him see things… or was that the drugs? He had only been injected twice, or was it three times, but he knew the UnSub had brought him close to overdosing each time. He didn’t feel too much of a need for the drugs, but figured that was largely due to pride and that he had witnessed what the addiction did to Reid first hand. He had enough experience to be able to psychologically discipline himself from desiring the narcotic… at least for now.
He felt the self loathing set in again at his realization of just how weak he had been. Hotch had screamed in pain at the torture for his teammates to hear. How could they have faith and push on to find this UnSub when he had been so weak? No, he had to stop going down this path. Anyone who went through what he had gone through at the hands of this man would have reacted the same way… right?
His mind went back to what Foyet did to him in his own apartment and then to Haley because of his inability to stop the man. Tears stung his eyes as he thought of his son. What if he was too weak to live through this UnSub’s torture? Then Jack’s only memory would be of how his dad had failed to protect his mother and eventually himself. “I’m so sorry, Jack.” Despite the fact his words were barely louder than a whisper, they held more weight than anything else he had said while in captivity. I won’t fail him. He composed himself with those thoughts as his body went numb with pain. His self doubt and loathing was pushing at the back of his mind to be set free, threatening to completely control him. Aaron had to regain his self control. It was the only chance he had at surviving. All he had left to hold onto was Jack, his whole world.
---
PROTECTIVE CUSTODY HOME
Farifax, VA
Jessica looked at the orange numbers of her clock as her phone began to ring. It was 12:53 in the morning. Whoever it was had better have had a damn good reason to wake her up. “What!?”
-- “Jess? I know it’s late, but I needed to let you know.”
She sat straight up in bed as she recognized the voice.
“Penelope? What is it? Did you find Aaron? Is he…”
-- “We may have found his location. The UnSub changed his MO and screwed up in the process. I was able to track his location and the team is on their way there. I wasn’t supposed to call you, but you needed to know.”
Jessica couldn’t help but smile despite her nerves at Garcia’s kind gesture.
“Will you call me as soon as you know something?”
-- “Of course. Try to get some sleep. Jack is going to need you tomorrow.”
“Hey, Penelope… thanks.” There was a great amount of warmth for the first time in a long time in Jessica’s voice. It had to be true. They would find Aaron and he would be ok. Everything would be ok.
Quantico, VA
Penelope Garcia sat in silence except for the symphony of clicking that came from the keyboard she was typing on frantically. She was inputting the new data she had received from the team to give her search new life. New parameters were entered into her databases, searching for the bastard who had her boss.
Something binged in the corner of her screen, drawing the blond’s attention to the new e-mail entitled ‘BAU’s Finest’. The e-mail opened a live feed of Hotch sitting tied to the chair, a blank expression on his face, pain underlying each of his features. He was in shock. “Oh my God… oh my God…” She looked at the screen with horror etched in her face. “Hotch… oh Hotch!” Garcia pressed redial on her phone, typing with new vigor as she waited for Morgan to answer.
-- “What do you got for me, Baby Girl?”
“Our UnSub is sending me a live feed of Hotch… I’m trying to trace the IP address right now.”
Garcia froze as she noticed Hotch begin to wince in pain, though no one was around him. “He’s… he’s hallucinating…” She noticed a syringe and bottle discarded at the deteriorating agent’s feet. “He gave him more dilaudid…” Penelope felt the tears threaten to fall again, sniffling loudly.
-- “Baby Girl, I need you to focus… try to race that IP. Call me if anything changes with Hotch, ok? You can do this.”
“Ok.” That was the only response she could muster before disconnecting the call, shifting into overdrive as she did her best work to find the sick bastard.
---
MARRIOTT COURTYARD HOTEL
Richmond, VA
Morgan paced back and forth as he thought through everything they knew about their UnSub. In all honesty, it wasn’t much. Reid was watching the video they had been sent yet again, looking for details about where their Unit Chief was being kept. “There!” Reid pointed to a spot on the screen that had been lit up briefly by a jolt of electricity. “That brick pattern… it’s the pattern that was used to reinforce bunkers that had been built during the civil war… there are seven within a twelve mile radius surrounding Richmond… none of them are being used for anything.”
Dave interrupted Spencer’s ramblings. “Spencer, are you sure?” His tired eyes rested on the man who nodded vigorously. “Yes. There’s also an inscription on the wall. ‘I know I am free, for I have seen the face of Father Abraham and have felt him’. This was a quote from a freed black slave that was used in support of the President after Richmond had been captured by the Union. This bunker must be nearby.” He pulled out a map, pointing out each of the seven locations. “It will take time. Some of these bunkers are dilapidated and all of them are large in size. It will take days to go through them. Time we don’t –“ The young doctor was cut off by the shrill ring of Morgan’s phone.
The large agent put the phone on speaker, Garcia’s frantic voice impeding his greeting.
-- “Guys, I have a general location in a five mile radius.”
Spencer piped up immediately. “Garcia, cross reference the area with locations of Civil War bunkers and see if you can pull it in any closer.”
-- I’ll cross reference the map, but I can’t get in any closer. This guy is scary good. He’s using a disposable cell to connect through the mobile web and is refreshing his IP every forty seconds. Only problem for him is he’s still connected to the satellite, which gives me enough time to give you five miles and… three bunkers. I’m sending the coordinates to each of your phones. And guys… fuck him up.”
She ended the call, leaving the team in silence to plot their possible rescue. Emily pointed to one of the bunkers on the map that was within the five mile radius they’d been given. “This one is too close to the freeway for our UnSub to have held and tortured twenty-three people there, so that leaves us two.” Everyone looked at Morgan for direction, who merely nodded in agreement.
“Ok, Emily, JJ, and Reid, go to the East bunker. Rossi and I will go to the West. We wait for SWAT and go in with them, but no matter what, we do not let Richmond PD know about this. If we’re right and our UnSub is RPD, he’ll kill Hotch before we can get there. If you find anything, radio me. We’ll do the same. We’ve got to –“ His orders were cut off by a knock at the door. Emily sauntered up to the door and retrieved the package from the bell hop. It was cold, as if it had been stored in a freezer. When she opened the package, she realized why. She slowly placed the package on the table, sitting on the edge of one of the beds to steady herself.
Morgan packaged the finger back up and placed it in the hotel room freezer to preserve it. It was crude, but it was all they had time for. “Let’s move.” Derek’s voice was grim as the team headed out to the SUVs. They weren’t coming home without Hotch.
---
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
Undisclosed City, VA
Hotch woke as his whole body began to shake violently. The amount of blood loss had caused his body temperature to decrease rapidly, signs that he was slowly bleeding out, albeit slowly. He was sure that the blood loss was making him see things… or was that the drugs? He had only been injected twice, or was it three times, but he knew the UnSub had brought him close to overdosing each time. He didn’t feel too much of a need for the drugs, but figured that was largely due to pride and that he had witnessed what the addiction did to Reid first hand. He had enough experience to be able to psychologically discipline himself from desiring the narcotic… at least for now.
He felt the self loathing set in again at his realization of just how weak he had been. Hotch had screamed in pain at the torture for his teammates to hear. How could they have faith and push on to find this UnSub when he had been so weak? No, he had to stop going down this path. Anyone who went through what he had gone through at the hands of this man would have reacted the same way… right?
His mind went back to what Foyet did to him in his own apartment and then to Haley because of his inability to stop the man. Tears stung his eyes as he thought of his son. What if he was too weak to live through this UnSub’s torture? Then Jack’s only memory would be of how his dad had failed to protect his mother and eventually himself. “I’m so sorry, Jack.” Despite the fact his words were barely louder than a whisper, they held more weight than anything else he had said while in captivity. I won’t fail him. He composed himself with those thoughts as his body went numb with pain. His self doubt and loathing was pushing at the back of his mind to be set free, threatening to completely control him. Aaron had to regain his self control. It was the only chance he had at surviving. All he had left to hold onto was Jack, his whole world.
---
PROTECTIVE CUSTODY HOME
Farifax, VA
Jessica looked at the orange numbers of her clock as her phone began to ring. It was 12:53 in the morning. Whoever it was had better have had a damn good reason to wake her up. “What!?”
-- “Jess? I know it’s late, but I needed to let you know.”
She sat straight up in bed as she recognized the voice.
“Penelope? What is it? Did you find Aaron? Is he…”
-- “We may have found his location. The UnSub changed his MO and screwed up in the process. I was able to track his location and the team is on their way there. I wasn’t supposed to call you, but you needed to know.”
Jessica couldn’t help but smile despite her nerves at Garcia’s kind gesture.
“Will you call me as soon as you know something?”
-- “Of course. Try to get some sleep. Jack is going to need you tomorrow.”
“Hey, Penelope… thanks.” There was a great amount of warmth for the first time in a long time in Jessica’s voice. It had to be true. They would find Aaron and he would be ok. Everything would be ok.