White Rabbit - A Criminal Minds Fic

Thirty Four

"Hotch...."

Derek was in the woods with Rossi and the small team of Agents that were on duty with them that night. They'd heard the commotion over the transmission, due to the range on the devices they had to transmit via the tiny base that had been set up in the woods and it was then routed back to Garcia via a much more powerful device. This meant that there was a small time delay on the transmissions and Derek and Rossi were both waiting further instructions from their superior with baited breath.

"Hold fast. Do not go in. We need to wait" came the reply. Derek shook his head, letting out a huff.

"For how long?" Rossi asked, his tones hushed.

"However long it takes. We're coming in to meet you. Penelope will remain here. Lewis will expect our presence in the woods no doubt but we don't want to give our positions away. JJ and I will be with you shortly. Do NOT go in. Morgan.... "

Derek was clenching his teeth but nodded at Rossi.

"We'll hold back" Dave spoke for the two of them, knowing his colleagues emotions were running high, his need to protect Reid kicking in.

"Alice and Reid are still alive. The listening devices haven't been located yet, you can still hear them breathing. Garcia has managed to ramp the volume up on the transmission, they're still alive."

"Yeah but for how long?" Morgan muttered under his breath.

...

Alice couldn't see where she was. She'd been blindfolded and gagged before being forced to walk, to the main house presumed. Now she was sat in a wooden chair, her wrists and ankles bound to it with rope.

The door had closed shortly after she'd been placed there, footsteps leading away from the room and Alice had tried to figure out if she and Spencer had been separated or not. She didn't think so, she'd heard scuffling as she'd been tied to the chair and right now she could hear breathing.

"Spmmmcr?" she tried to speak through the gag, hearing a muffled "Uh huh" in reply.

At least she wasn't alone.

Alice tried to collect her thoughts, her face stinging and her stomach in pain from where she'd been punched. It had to have been Charlie who'd told on them. How stupid she'd been to believe him, how stupid she'd been to come back here in the first place. She'd escaped and now... now she was more than likely going to end up dead.

Dr Reid's mind was in overdrive. His watch was still attached to his wrist and as far as he could tell, it hadn't been damaged in the scuffle. That meant the team were aware of what was happening and would be coming up with a plan. But it would take time, and right now Spencer had no way of being able to communicate with them. He knew though, that they wouldn't storm in, they would do it methodically and carefully, because they needed to get as many people out of this alive as possible.

Reid needed to speak to Lewis. He was certain that if he could speak to the man alone he could convince him to make contact with the team. As potentially dangerous as the man was, Spencer hadn't profiled him as someone to make a rash decision such as killing them both. Because Lewis would know that if he did, he himself would stand no chance.

He could hear Alice breathing heavily. She wasn't too far away from him, he could tell that much, and aside from the slap to the face and the punch to the gut, she hadn't been injured too badly. That could have changed had Reid not truthfully answered Lewis's question when he did, he'd seen the knife in Rebecca Olson's hand and he really didn't think she'd have hesitated to use it. She'd felt threatened by Alice's return from the get go, that much was obvious from her body language.

Spencer and Alice could hear raised voices coming from the hallway outside the room, and they both strained to hear what was being said.

"We should just kill them both" came a female voice followed by a very loud "NO" from a young sounding male.

"Really Charles, why do you care so much?" the female spoke again, a bitter tone to her words. That had to be Rebecca.

"Think about this Becca. He's FBI. If you kill them, we have no way out. We will ALL go to jail for killing a Federal Agent."

"What other option do we have? Alice betrayed us, she deserves to be punished."

"Stop thinking like that" came the exasperated response. "There's another way. There has to be."

The voices trailed off as they walked away from the door and Alice couldn't help but think.

She was so sure it had to have been Charlie who had betrayed her and Spencer, surely he was the only one who could have. So why was he trying to persuade Rebecca away from harming them. What was he playing at?

Reid and Alice weren't sure how much more time passed before the door to the room opened and closed again, and they heard one sole set of footsteps moving around the room. One by one their blindfolds and gags were removed and Alice could see that they'd been situated in Lewis's office, the drapes to the room drawn and only a few lanterns lighting the space.

Lewis strode around and sat behind his desk, surveying the pair, staring intensely at Alice before briefly glancing to Reid and then back to her again.

"You have betrayed your family Alice" his words were low, an edge to them.

"You're not my family, Lewis" her voice trembled as she spoke.

"I am your family" he banged his fist onto the wooden table in front of him, startling her. "I took you in, I made you into the leader that you are. And THIS is how you repay me?"

Taking a deep breath she looked him straight in the eyes. Her words were calm and clear when she spoke again.

"Surely you must have seen this coming. What with you being from the future and all."

Spencer glanced at her sharply, his head quickly whipping back around to look at Lewis, noting the man's eyes closing as his mind ticked over.

"No. This didn't happen then."

"Because none of it happened. You're ill Lewis. You're... "

"..... Alice, stop."

Alice was surprised at the harshness of Dr Reid's words. He shook his head at her ever so slightly.

"Yes Alice. Do listen to the Agent, and please bear in mind that your lives are now in my hands. You may have been integral to that future, but things change, people adapt. This group will adapt without you there."

"There won't be any future if you kill us both, Lewis" Spencer pointed out. "My team will come in and either shoot you where you stand or take you into custody. They're waiting in the woods surrounding this compound, waiting for the first sign that anything has happened to one of us. Their weapons are more powerful than yours and they will not hesitate to kill all who reside here if they have to. But that's not what they want, that's not what we want. But it's what will happen if we're not returned to them. You will die, as will everything you've worked towards."

"There won't be any future to this planet if I'm not there to secure it."

"Then there's a way you can secure it. I can make sure of it. You can leave this place alive and start new somewhere else. But you have to listen to what I have to say."

"I'm listening."