A note to the reader: Thank you for all the lovely motivation you guys have given me and thanks for sticking with this faithless little writer. Seriously, you guys are awesome and I know I am terrible at updating this but thanks so much still reading this.
Warning: Swear words, a fair amount of them. Oh and blood.
"Reid!" Hotch yelled desperately into the phone but the connection was already dead. A gun shot sounded, loud and harsh in the peaceful looking meadow. JJ turned pale and looked like she was about to be sick, Prentiss closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, and Morgan clenched the wheel tighter in his fists.
"Oh my god," Prentiss murmured as the black SUV skidded to halt and the agents spilled out. Behind them, the police were also exiting their vehicles and forming a perimeter around the rickety old cabin. Sheriff Jones stalked over to them. She was dressed in full sheriff uniform and, besides the bandage around her head, looked the perfect picture of health.
"Sheriff Jones," Hotch said noticing the women. "Shouldn't you be resting?"
"I can rest when I'm dead Agent Hotchner," she replied briskly.
"She told me to call her with any updates." Deputy Jonathan Riley looked sheepishly at his feet.
"What's happened?" Jones asked. She could tell just by looking at these agents that something really bad had happened. A grim weariness had settled into the lines of their faces, ageing them by ten years.
"We spoke to the female UNSUB, Zoe," Hotch began.
"That's a good thing isn't it?"
"Then there was a gun shot." Jones understood, they thought their agent was dead. Hotch's phone started ringing.
~
The gun shot was loud, nearly deafening Reid who looked down at his own body, half expecting to see blood leaking out of his abdomen. Reid had shouted when the gun had been fired and he glanced around for Tyler. Tyler lay on the floor next to the chair Reid was tied in. He was clenching his stomach and breathing hard, occasionally a small whimper slipped past the young man's lips. Zoe stood there, holding the smoking gun. The expression on her face was one of supreme indifference, she didn't care that she had just shot one of her friends.
"He's going to die unless he gets medical attention," Reid said, trying to appeal to whatever small sense of decency she might have.
"Then let him," Zoe said contemptuously. "He was weak, he couldn't even help you escape properly." The sound of sirens reached Reid's ears and to him they sounded like the grandest symphony on Earth. A moment later the red and blue police lights flashed through the window. Reid felt his heart lift, the team had found him. For a moment he forgot about Zoe and her gun and Tyler bleeding to death on the cabin floor, one though ran through his head, lifting his heart. They had found him.
"Dammit!" Zoe cursed loudly. Reid was brought back rather abruptly to the current situation. He was still tied to the chair, Zoe still had the gun, and, for the moment, Tyler wasn't going to be much help. Zoe turned to Tyler who was still clutching his abdomen, trying to slow the bleeding.
"This is all your fault!" She screamed at him.
"Fuck you!" Tyler coughed back. He groaned as he shifted himself so he was leaning the agent's chair. Tyler turned his head to look at Zoe. She looked positively demented, her face was contorted in such a twisted mask of hatred and rage that she looked like she was ready to rip both his and the agents throats out with her own teeth.
"What did you say to me?" She growled. Tyler rolled his eyes.
"You heard me." Zoe crossed the room to where he was sitting, propped up against Reid's chair like a marionette whose strings had been cut unexpectedly. Kneeling down she slammed her knee into Tyler's stomach, he couldn't hold back the scream of pain, white spots erupted in front of his eyes.
"Leave him alone!" Reid said loudly. Zoe looked up sharply.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" She twisted her knee, resulting in another scream of pain from Tyler.
"Leave him alone," Reid spoke more firmly this time, trying to any trace of fear out of his voice. She stood up, the pant leg on her left leg was coated in blood. Reid could hear Tyler panting as he shifted slightly. Zoe was examining Reid like he was a rather fascinating insect. He knew he had her full attention, but he wasn't sure that was a good thing. She double checked the door was locked. Then she moved around the small cabin, checking the view from all the windows before dragging the curtains close.
"I was only having fun with him." Zoe pouted slightly as she closed the last curtain with a soft snick. "Shall I have some fun with you agent?" Reid didn't answer, he felt slightly sick. He knew that Zoe would kill him before anybody could get through the door, before anybody could rescue him. Zoe set the gun on the table and rummaged in a drawer.
"Got it!" She smiled like a kid on Christmas morning, in one hand she held her phone and in the other was a small steak knife. "What do you say Reid, hmmm? Shall we make a little phone call? I'm sure that your little agent friends will want to know that I haven't killed you, yet."
~
Hotch fumbled for his phone. "This is Aaron Hotchner," he said as the other agents looked on, hope and fear mixed in their eyes.
"Hello Aaron," Zoe's twisted voice drifted out of the receiver. "Would you like to know the state of your agent?"
"Yes," Hotch replied.
"He's fine, Tyler on the other hand..." Zoe''s voice trailed off. Hotch understood what she meant. She hadn't shoot Reid, but Tyler.
"Tyler needs medical attention," Hotch said. All they needed was for her to open the door.
"Forget about Tyler," Zoe said airily. "Do you wish to speak to your agent?"
"Yes," Hotch replied with a slight growl. There was a slight rustling and he could hear Zoe's voice, soft and dangerous, but it was impossible to make out what she was saying to the young agent.
"Hotch?" Reid's voice said. He sounded tired and scared but still hopeful.
"Yeah Reid," Hotch quickly switched his phone onto speaker phone so that everyone could hear. "Everyone is here."
"Hey buddy you hang in there, you hear," Morgan said. "Garcia will kill me if we don't bring you back in one piece."
"Morgan I -" Reid started to say but he stopped. They could hear faint murmuring in the background, Zoe said something to Reid that they couldn't hear.
"Pretty boy, you there?" Morgan said.
"She wants Jack released or," Reid paused his voice was shaking slightly, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He swallowed and softly continued. "Or she's going to kill me."
"Reid just hang in there," Hotch said but it was Zoe who answered the phone.
"Awww, how sweet," she said snidely. "You heard what I want?"
"Jack's release."
"Yes, you have two hours."
"It's going to take longer than two hours," Hotch said. There was no way they were ever going to just let Jack go and he needed to stall for more time so they could come up with a feasible plan to get Reid out alive.
"Tut, tut." Zoe said. "That is not the correct answer." There was a cry of pain and Hotch recognized it as Reid. Hotch clenched the phone so tightly he thought it would shatter into a million little pieces. Before Hotch or anyone else could say anything else Zoe's voice once more echoed out of the phone.
"You'd better make it quick, poor little Reid isn't too much fun and who knows how long he'll last." And with that the phone went dead.
~
"Do you wish to speak to your agent?" Zoe asked. She smirked at Reid and spoke very softly to him. "If you say anything I don't like, I won't hesitate to use this knife on you, understand." Reid swallowed and nodded as she dangled the knife in front of him, the sunlight glinting of its sharp edge. Zoe put the phone next to his ear.
"Hotch?" Reid asked, hesitantly. Relief flooded him when heard the others. He had known they were just outside the cabin but he was happy to hear them. Reid started to reply to Morgan when Zoe placed the edge of the knife under his chin.
"Tell them I want Jack released," she slid the knife slightly, a thin line of blood trickled down Reid's neck. "Or I'm going to kill you." Reid relayed the message, trying to control the shaking in his voice.
Zoe pulled the phone away from Reid's ear and went to stand in front of him. He heard her give Hotch a two hour deadline. Reid felt his stomach drop, he knew Hotch would probably try to negotiate for more time but it would end the same way each time. There was no way that the FBI would release a criminal, even if an agent's life was on the line.
"Tut tut," Zoe said. Reid looked up, he knew what that mocking tone in her voice by now. It meant that someone was going to get hurt and that someone was looking like him. "That is not the correct answer." Zoe slammed the knife into Reid's right thigh. Reid screamed in pain, his leg felt like it was on fire, when she yanked the blade out blood oozed into the fabric of his pants.
Reid heard Zoe say something else into the phone but he couldn't hear her through the fog in his brain.
"Look at me," Zoe said. Reid brought his head up, glaring at her. His leg was throbbing and he was tired of her sick games. Zoe was still holding the knife, now coated in his blood.
"Now I know that your little agent friends won't actually release Jack but I figure your screams will probably change their minds." The breath caught in Reid's throat, his brain was scrambling for something, anything at this point.
"Wait, wait," he stuttered. Zoe raised an eyebrow, her expression one of boredom. "You're surrounded -"
"Stating the obvious, and I thought you were smart."
Reid ignored her and pressed on. "The police and FBI are out there right now -"
"Again obvious," Zoe yawned and brought the knife to Reid's lower left arm.
"If you kill me they will storm the cabin, killing you in the process," Reid said quickly, the knife pressing into his the sleeve of his shirt, not yet breaking skin. "Live hostages are much more useful than dead ones."
"Who said anything about killing you Agent Reid?" Zoe pulled the knife across his arm and Reid couldn't stop the small gasp of pain that slipped past his lips. The cut was shallow and blood spread across the sleeve of Reid's white shirt, dyeing it red.
"What about Tyler?" Zoe paused a moment, glancing down at the younger man.
"What about him? He's not worth anything." Zoe pulled a chair around to face Reid. She grabbed Tyler by the arm and shoved him into it, ignoring the small cry of pain. Tyler looked terrible, the front of his shirt and both of his hands were stained red and he was terribly pale.
"You need to get him medical attention," Reid insisted. Tyler's eyes were closed and he was breathing heavily.
"That's not important." Zoe peaked through the curtains.
"But he'll die if he doesn't-" Reid started desperately. It was his fault Tyler had been shot, if Tyler hadn't tried helping him then he wouldn't have been shot.
"And what makes you think that you or Tyler is going to survive this?"
Good I'm terrible, I promise that I will start working on the next chapter (only a few more left!)
What book should I update after I finish this one?
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<3 InkHeartCM