GOLDEN || S. REID

𝟷𝟽: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝙼𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕

It was dark, that much Spencer knew. From the poor excuse for a light source in the ceiling, he could barely make out who he hoped to be Eliza slumped over in the chair opposite of him. In between them was a camera, the blinking red light giving it away. It was a live feed, most likely, but instead of at him, the camera was pointed at her.

Spencer was afraid that Eliza was dead. She looked too still to be alive. If it wasn't for the shallow up-and-down movements of her shoulders, he would have had more reason to panic. He pulled at his restraints, wincing as the rope bit into his wrists. He looked up, squinting through the darkness. His eyes had adjusted some, at least enough so that he could differentiate the light color of his shirt from the dark of the blood that stained it.

Hopefully she wouldn't die from blood loss but by the way her torso sat stiffly, someone had most likely wrapped her side up. That was a good sign. It meant that they were more useful alive rather than dead to whoever captured them.

The door opened behind him, flooding the room with light for a mere second before it closed again, taking Spencer's vision with it. Once again, he was plunged into darkness. From the slits in the poorly covered walls, he could tell that it was nighttime or at least nearing it. He'd been here long enough to see the occasional passing of a car, which meant that they weren't too far from the rest of civilization.

Still, it was only two cars and that was hardly enough for him to create an entire thesis on. He could only really hope that those were two civilian vehicles rather than their captor's. Though, it seemed unlikely.

The person that had entered the room shuffled around, the clinking of metal alerting Spencer of their more sinister intentions. The BAU had barely gotten to profile Helena's murderer and James's assailant, though Spencer was one-hundred percent sure that this was a team effort. After all, the guy that went after James seemed more like a student while the person that killed Helena and most likely also kidnapped Spencer and Eliza was the teacher.

There also could have been a third individual involved, most likely the person that rigged the explosion in the hotel's lobby. There was the possibility that the "Teacher" figure also set off the explosion but it wasn't likely. If the "Teacher" was the one who killed Helena, they would have come up with a different diversion, something less messy and a lot more subtle.

"Your friend hasn't woken up yet," the person, now identifiable as a man, said. There was a subtle accent hidden in his words that Spencer couldn't hear over the fear and panic. It was true, Eliza still hadn't woken up yet and as his eyes adjusted further to the dim lighting he could see more of why she wasn't okay.

"Can I--" he paused to clear his throat-- "Can I just check to make sure she's okay? I promise I won't try to do anything, it's just--she should be awake by now, assuming we've been here for longer than four hours."

"I'm sure she's fine," the man said, stepping into Spencer's peripherals. In his hand was a black handgun. His finger was on the trigger and as he raised it, Spencer's heart clenched in his chest as he fought to release himself from his restraints.

"No!" he yelled, trying to push up off the floor. His efforts were futile, however, as the chair had been bolted into the floor. "No, please don't. You'll get nothing if she's dead, I swear on that--"

The gun went off, shooting a hole into the wall next to Eliza's head and allowing a sliver of moonlight in. Spencer's scream got caught in his throat, tears pooling in his eyes as the blood rushed into his ears. He slumped over, attempting to steady his breath as he ran what had just happened through his mind.

"Maybe the bitch really is dead." Spencer looked up to see the man put the barrel under Eliza's chin, lifting her head and examining her face before removing the weapon and allowing her head to loll back into place. The man turned the barrel in his direction. "You're a doctor, right?"