Sanctuary - Chapter Twenty-three
Title: Sanctuary
Author: drabbles_by_v
Characters/Pairings: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid, team
Rating: FRAO/NC-17
Word Count: 3,567
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine and I'm making no profit by playing with their characters.
Warnings: AU, slash, angst, assumes knowledge through season 5.
Summary: A haunted and despairing Aaron Hotchner finds solace and love in an unexpected form: a young priest named Spencer Reid. Inspired by a kink!meme prompt found in chapter one.
Author's Note: I'll be finding a place to hide while you read, don't mind me.
Previous chapters here.
“What did you do?” Aaron demanded. He was gripping the desk so hard his knuckles were white. He could tell that Prentiss was flanking him and out of the corner of his eye he saw Morgan on his phone.
“Do?” Foyet asked. “So suspicious, Agent. What makes you think I did anything?”
“You have Spencer’s cell phone,” Aaron said through clenched teeth. “Where is he?”
“Oh! You mean what I did with Spencer,” Foyet said. “He isn’t hurt, don’t worry.”
“What do you want?” Aaron asked.
“No, no, it’s too late for that,” Foyet said. “I have him, and you’re going to have to play now. You’ll find out more when you get back-oh, by the way, I’m sorry for dragging you all the way out to Washington, but I needed you out of the state for a while. You understand, of course.”
“I swear to God if you hurt him-”
“I’d hurry up and get back if I were you,” Foyet said. “I’ll let you know more then. Safe flight, we’ll be waiting.”
The line went dead. Aaron stared at the phone.
Moments later, Morgan swore. “His phone turned off,” he said. “Garcia got a trace, but it looked like he was driving on the interstate.”
“Where?” Aaron asked.
“Upstate somewhere,” Morgan said. “She can’t tell if he was going north or south.”
Aaron remembered that he had the police chief still on the other line. “Hello?” he asked.
“Agent Hotchner? What happened?”
“George Foyet called me from Spencer’s cell phone, I believe he’s holding him.” As soon as Aaron said the words out loud, all feeling rushed out of his body.
“Understood,” the chief said. “We’ll start searching. Do you have any tips on where to start?”
Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking. “Ah…try…” But they had nothing. They had been looking for Foyet for months and they had nothing. “Start with the officer who was killed, see if anyone saw anything suspicious, maybe a car.”
“We’re already canvasing,” the man said. “I’ll let you know if we find anything.”
They wouldn’t. Aaron hung up. He felt completely numb. Canvasing. Profiling. He needed to get to his apartment and look for anything out of place, anything that might point him in the right direction-
But he was in fucking Washington State.
“Hotch!”
The voice finally broke through. Aaron looked up into Rossi’s eyes.
“What did he say?” Rossi asked, speaking slowly and enunciating each word.
Aaron related the conversation as best as he could. The team all looked at each other.
“We’re going home,” Morgan said. “Go get your bags.” He stayed behind to talk with the local sheriff while the others went to grab their bags. They hadn’t made it to their hotel yet, so everything was still in the station. All Morgan had to do was explain to the sheriff what was happening, this his town had been used as a distraction, and they were free.
---
They were in the air in less than an hour. Aaron sat at a window and clenched his fist around his phone, praying for it to ring with good news, and stared at the ground below. The plane felt like it was crawling and he could barely stay still. He needed to move.
Rossi sat down next to him. The only one of the team who was brave enough to approach him. Or full of himself.
“Go away,” Aaron growled.
“Hey!” Rossi said, and squeezed Aaron’s arm. “Don’t you snap at me when I’m here to help you.”
Aaron tensed and shook him off. “If you’re about to tell me that this team is the best at what they do and we’ll pull together and we’ll find him, you can just-”
“Why don’t you think before opening your mouth and burning bridges, huh?” Rossi said. “We’re going to do everything we can. And I know I can’t promise that we’ll find him, so I won’t-hey, hey.”
Aaron had shuddered at the words and physically crumpled in on himself. Rossi grabbed him. “I’m not going to sugar coat, Aaron. I have too much respect for you for that. But you need to hold it together.”
Aaron did his best to nod.
“I need to know something,” Rossi said. “Has Spencer been coached for this?”
Aaron nodded again.
“What does he know?”
“I gave him Foyet’s profile,” Aaron said. “I explained to him that he can’t show any fear, to just stay calm and quiet and do what he says.”
“Anything else?”
“Like what?” Aaron asked.
“Can he pick handcuffs, does he know to look for sharp edges to cut ties, does he know how to tap out an SOS signal…”
“I-I’m not sure,” Aaron said. Those were all amazing ideas. Why hadn’t he thought to teach Spencer any of those?
“That’s okay,” Rossi said. His voice was very calm and Aaron immediately recognized it for what it was: keep the grieving family member from panicking voice. “Now, would he have left your apartment for anything?”
“No,” Aaron said. “He knew he had to stay there.”
“But your alarm system wasn’t triggered, was it?”
Aaron shook his head.
“So somehow, Foyet gained entrance, and he was probably armed.”
“And could have just taken Spencer with him after that.”
Rossi squeezed Aaron’s shoulder. “I’ll be here if you need me,” he said, and went back to the other corner of the plane with everyone else.
---
Garcia was waiting anxiously for them in the conference room. She was bouncing up and down on her soles and wringing her hands. As soon as Aaron walked in, she rushed over. “Sir!” she said. “Spencer’s phone is still turned off but if it turns on I’ll know right away. I was able to pinpoint the call, Foyet was driving on I-95, so I’m running facial match searches on all the traffic cameras to figure out which direction he was going and what car he was driving.”
“Thank you, Garcia,” Aaron said. Speaking felt like sandpaper in his mouth.
The rest of team grouped around him in a silent show of support. Aaron swallowed and crossed his arms and stared at the floor.
“Is there anything we can do right now?” JJ asked.
Aaron heard the double meaning in the question. He shook his head. “Local units are still canvasing,” he said. “We don’t have a starting point for a location. When Foyet wants us to know, we’ll know.”
“He probably won’t use Spencer’s cell phone again,” Prentiss said. “He knows we can track that.”
“Garcia, could you trace a number that called Hotch’s phone?” Morgan asked.
“I can try,” Garcia said. “If it’s another cell phone, almost certainly. I’ll go get a trace ready to go.”
“Thank you, baby girl,” Morgan said. He looked at Aaron. “What does he want with Spencer?”
“He wants to make me suffer,” Aaron said.
“No, he wants to watch you suffer,” Rossi said. “That’s what gets him off. We’ll hear from him eventually. He needs to be able to see your pain.”
Aaron felt dizzy. He closed his eyes. “So we wait for him to contact me,” he said.
“And you stay here,” Rossi said. When Aaron turned sharply to him and started to protest, he glared back. “Don’t you even try it,” he growled. “If I have to knock you on your ass to keep you from going out and doing something stupid, I will.”
Aaron clenched his fists and took a step forward.
JJ was the one who stepped between them, and was probably the only one who could have done it without getting snarled at. “Okay,” she said. “We’re all worried, so let’s just try to calm down and wait until we have something to go off of, all right?” She looked at Aaron. “No one is going to leave until we all know what’s happening.” She turned to Rossi. “And no one is going to be knocking anyone else onto his ass, got it? You’re not children.”
Aaron and Rossi continued to glare at each other for a few more moments before they mutually broke the eye contact. Aaron immediately felt guilty. He was frightened and angry and looking to lash out at the first possible target. Rossi knew that and was trying to establish a pecking order to keep Aaron from doing something dangerous, and that had made him the target. “Sorry,” Aaron muttered.
Morgan had stayed safely away from the alpha male clash but he stepped forward now. “JJ’s right,” he said. “Let’s sit down and go over what he know about Foyet’s profile. Garcia’s working on locating the car he was driving, and once we have that, we’ll be able to start a better search.”
Aaron nodded and allowed JJ to touch his shoulder in silent support as they all sat down and began to do just that.
---
Two hours later, Aaron got a text message from an unknown sender.
I won’t tell you anything until I know you’re away from the rest of them.
Aaron stiffened. Rossi saw the reaction and held his hand out. Aaron gave the phone over.
Rossi read it and checked for a number. “Good,” he said.
“Good?”
“He’s letting us know what he wants,” Rossi said.
“But if I stay here-”
“Aaron,” Rossi said, shaking his head. “I’m taking this to Garcia to see if she can find the number. Of course you’re staying here.”
Aaron looked up at his friend and felt all the fear he had been shoving away wash over him. “What if he hurts him?”
Rossi paused. His mouth twitched sympathetically. “Think about what you would tell a family member in your situation. We have something Foyet wants, he isn’t going to harm his bargaining chip.”
“I would never call a loved one a bargaining chip,” Aaron said coldly.
“I told you I’m not going to sugar coat,” Rossi said. He clapped Aaron’s shoulder before leaving.
---
They discovered that Foyet was using a disposable, prepaid cell phone that he had tampered with to avoid being tracked. Garcia found video of him going south on I-95 in a car with obstructed plates, but sent the make and model to the local police, who began searching.
Aaron received the next text one hour later. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and didn’t look at it until he could make an excuse to get away from the group to his office.
If I didn’t know better I’d think you didn’t care.
Aaron’s fist clenched at his side.
“So what’s he say this time?”
Aaron whirled around. Rossi was standing there, eyebrow raised.
“Nothing,” Aaron said.
“Don’t you bullshit me.”
Aaron growled but handed the phone over. “What if I called him, faked it?” he asked. “He might reveal something on accident.”
“Would you ever recommend that line of action?”
“No, but-”
“Then no.”
But it’s Spencer! Aaron wanted to scream. It’s different! “I have to try,” he begged.
“Aaron…”
Aaron lifted a hand to his mouth and paced around the edge of the room. Rossi watched him silently, waiting with his hands slung casually into his pockets for Aaron to stop. Aaron finally rounded on him. “Dave-”
“He’s trying to get you alone. You never give into what an unsub wants, you know that.”
“But he has Spencer,” Aaron said. “He has my Spencer.”
“And this is not the way to save him,” Rossi said. “He’ll contact us, and we’ll wait until he isn’t demanding you alone.”
“What if he never does?” Aaron asked.
“He will,” Rossi promised. “And if we get lucky, we’ll figure out where he is before then.”
“The police can’t find that car,” Aaron said. “It’s probably under a tarp by now.”
“Don’t give up, okay?” Rossi said. “Come on, we could use your help.”
Aaron raked his fingers through his hair, nodded, and returned with Rossi.
---
When the next message came, Aaron made sure to be completely alone when he read it.
We’re having fun here without you. Spencer doesn’t like my games.
It was a low, cheap trick, and Aaron knew it. But he locked the door and called.
“Aaron!” Foyet answered. “I was starting to think you didn’t care.”
“What do you want from me?” Aaron asked, keeping his voice low.
“I think you know that.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
Instead of answering, Foyet made a contemplative noise. “I think you should hurry and get yourself away from everyone else so I can tell you more.”
“I’m alone,” Aaron said.
“I want you out of your office,” Foyet said.
“That isn’t an option.”
“Poor kid,” Foyet said. “You should see how frightened he looks. Oh, he’s trying not to, but I can see it in his eyes. I bet he’ll think twice before crawling into another FBI agent’s bed. If he lives, anyway. Did you warn him about dangers like this? Probably not, wouldn’t want to scare this pretty thing away, would you. And is he ever pretty. I don’t blame you, even I can see the appeal of slipping it in this one…maybe I’ll give it a try.”
“You and I both know that you’re not a rapist, and you never will be,” Aaron said. Foyet was trying to rattle him. He wasn’t going to give the bastard an inch.
“No,” Foyet sighed dramatically. “I guess you’re right. Think of how different life would have been if I could just rape someone and get it done, huh?”
“What do you want?”
“I want you,” Foyet said. “Turn off your phone and go buy a disposable cell. Don’t tell anyone you’re leaving or where you’re going. Keep your phone off. I’ll be calling it periodically to make sure of that and if I ever find it on…”
“All right, fine,” Aaron said. “Only if you promise not to hurt him.”
“Now you know I can’t promise that,” Foyet said. “Especially since I’ve already done it.”
Horror rushed through Aaron and left him nauseous. He had to swallow more than once before he felt in control of his voice again. “If he’s dead-”
“He isn’t dead,” Foyet said cheerfully. “I wouldn’t waste such an expressive face. I wonder if you’ve ever realized how much he can say with his eyes? He’s a rare one, the pain translates so beautifully to his features. He makes me feel like an artist.”
“You’re a psychotic sadist,” Aaron growled.
“A rose by any other name.”
“Swear to me right now that you won’t hurt him any more, or I won’t leave.”
“Fine, fine,” Foyet sighed. “I swear I won’t harm him until I next hear from you. However, if you take too long, say, an hour, that promise will run out.”
Aaron grit his teeth and hung up. He knew better than this, he did, but right now procedure was the farthest thing from his mind. Never mind that he would string up any family member who subverted him like this on a hostage case, he had to get to Spencer.
---
Aaron went to Morgan, because Rossi would have seen right through him. “I need to get to my apartment,” he said.
Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“I want to see if Foyet left anything there. He likes clues and games, and I can see if he took something. It might point us in the right direction.”
Morgan considered for a moment. “Fine, but take Rossi with you,” he said.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Aaron said.
“With all due respect, man, I think you do,” Morgan said. He held up his hands disarmingly when Aaron took a step forward. “You’re too close to this as is, I shouldn’t even be letting you work this case. And your judgment goes wonky around this kid.”
Poor kid, Foyet had said.
“He isn’t a kid,” Aaron growled.
“Fine,” Morgan said. “Guy, man, whatever. You make rash decisions when it comes to him, so if you want to go look for something, you take Rossi with you.”
“Fine,” Aaron bit, and went to go find the older man, already trying to figure out how he would slip him.
---
It didn’t take Aaron long to double back into the elevator in his apartment building and lose Rossi. He’d left his badge on his desk; he knew there was no way for him to get out of this with his position in the FBI intact, and he also knew that by now he was being labeled as a possible armed rogue and others would be looking for him. Spencer’s car was gone so he had to take the SUV, leaving Rossi stranded, and he was sitting in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot. He had two prepaid cell phones, because he wasn’t an idiot. He could contact his team with the other, now that his phone was off.
But first…
He punched Foyet’s number into the first phone and lifted it too his ear. There was an answering click.
“All right, I’m alone,” Aaron said. “Tell me what to do.”
“Ah, finally,” Foyet said, clearly relishing the moment. “You should have made a deal.”
“You keep telling me that.”
“And because you didn’t make a deal,” Foyet said, “Now you get to make a choice.”
“What choice?” Aaron asked. He already knew what the choice was going to be. Him or Spencer. Foyet wanted to see Aaron give himself up willingly, and Aaron already knew exactly what his answer was going to be-
“There are two people here with me,” Foyet said. “You get to choose which one of them dies quickly and painlessly, and which one of them dies very slowly and in a great deal of pain.”
Aaron’s mind skipped a step, completely unprepared for Foyet’s answer. Before he recovered enough to speak, Foyet continued.
“The catch is,” he said, “The one that dies quickly will die before you get here and you will never see him alive again. The one that dies slowly might last long enough to say goodbye to.”
“Who else do you have?” Aaron asked, trying to keep his composure.
“Spencer knows him,” Foyet said. “He didn’t like it when I tried to cut him, did you, Spencer?”
“Who?” Aaron demanded.
“Your boy has a thing for older men,” Foyet said. “Father figures. Is that who this is? His father figure? Or is that you, Aaron?”
Father figure.
Father James.
Aaron put the car in gear slammed down on the acceleration. He knew where Foyet was. “You’re a coward,” he said. “Why go after a pair of unarmed priests when you could be hunting down an FBI agent?”
“Because I prefer the bait and trap method,” Foyet said.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Aaron said. “You never were one for a challenge. Ambushing couples in their cars, shooting down unsuspecting people in a bus.”
“You seem to be evading,” Foyet said.
“So do you.”
“You think you know everything,” Foyet said. “But what happens when you meet the man who’s smarter than you, who sees right through your tricks and your profiling?”
“And you think that’s you?” Aaron asked.
“I don’t know if it’s me,” Foyet said. “I guess we’ll find out at the end of the day.”
“I guess we will.”
“Time’s up,” Foyet said. “I get to choose.”
“You said I got to make that choice,” Aaron said. Stalling, desperate stalling.
“You took too long,” Foyet said.
“I’m the one you want,” Aaron said. Redirect his focus.
“You are the one I want,” Foyet agreed. “And I have you right where I want you.”
Aaron heard the crack of a gunshot and he gripped the phone. He couldn’t breathe.
“There we go,” Foyet said. “I’ve chosen which one dies. Now as for the other…”
Aaron’s composure cracked. “Don’t hurt him,” he begged before he could stop himself.
“You don’t even know which one is still alive,” Foyet said.
“I think I can guess,” Aaron said.
“Actually it was a coin toss, so can you?”
Aaron didn’t have a response to that. It was hard to speak when his heart felt like it had stopped.
“I’m good with knives, as you know,” Foyet said, taking advantage of the silence. “But I’ve been thinking it’s time to broaden my horizons. I wonder if you could achieve the same thing with a gun…nice and slow, bleeding out. Only one way to find out, right?”
Aaron couldn’t speak.
There was a second shot followed by a muffled scream.
“There,” Foyet said. “That looks good. Let’s try another.”
Aaron felt the next shot like it was ripping through him. It was followed by another shriek of pain.
“Oh by the way,” Foyet said. “If anyone other than you pulls up outside this house, I’ll kill this one as soon as I see them. And believe me, I keep my promises. Oh, uh oh.” He paused and made a contemplative noise. “I might have aimed just a little too high with that second bullet. They’re so much less precise than knives, guns. You lose the subtlety, the craft. But it might still be all right. I’d hurry, anyway, if I were you. I might get bored waiting and switch to knives if you take too long.” There was a third shot. “He won’t need that, anyway,” he said, and the connection died.
Author: drabbles_by_v
Characters/Pairings: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid, team
Rating: FRAO/NC-17
Word Count: 3,567
Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is not mine and I'm making no profit by playing with their characters.
Warnings: AU, slash, angst, assumes knowledge through season 5.
Summary: A haunted and despairing Aaron Hotchner finds solace and love in an unexpected form: a young priest named Spencer Reid. Inspired by a kink!meme prompt found in chapter one.
Author's Note: I'll be finding a place to hide while you read, don't mind me.
Previous chapters here.
“What did you do?” Aaron demanded. He was gripping the desk so hard his knuckles were white. He could tell that Prentiss was flanking him and out of the corner of his eye he saw Morgan on his phone.
“Do?” Foyet asked. “So suspicious, Agent. What makes you think I did anything?”
“You have Spencer’s cell phone,” Aaron said through clenched teeth. “Where is he?”
“Oh! You mean what I did with Spencer,” Foyet said. “He isn’t hurt, don’t worry.”
“What do you want?” Aaron asked.
“No, no, it’s too late for that,” Foyet said. “I have him, and you’re going to have to play now. You’ll find out more when you get back-oh, by the way, I’m sorry for dragging you all the way out to Washington, but I needed you out of the state for a while. You understand, of course.”
“I swear to God if you hurt him-”
“I’d hurry up and get back if I were you,” Foyet said. “I’ll let you know more then. Safe flight, we’ll be waiting.”
The line went dead. Aaron stared at the phone.
Moments later, Morgan swore. “His phone turned off,” he said. “Garcia got a trace, but it looked like he was driving on the interstate.”
“Where?” Aaron asked.
“Upstate somewhere,” Morgan said. “She can’t tell if he was going north or south.”
Aaron remembered that he had the police chief still on the other line. “Hello?” he asked.
“Agent Hotchner? What happened?”
“George Foyet called me from Spencer’s cell phone, I believe he’s holding him.” As soon as Aaron said the words out loud, all feeling rushed out of his body.
“Understood,” the chief said. “We’ll start searching. Do you have any tips on where to start?”
Aaron pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking. “Ah…try…” But they had nothing. They had been looking for Foyet for months and they had nothing. “Start with the officer who was killed, see if anyone saw anything suspicious, maybe a car.”
“We’re already canvasing,” the man said. “I’ll let you know if we find anything.”
They wouldn’t. Aaron hung up. He felt completely numb. Canvasing. Profiling. He needed to get to his apartment and look for anything out of place, anything that might point him in the right direction-
But he was in fucking Washington State.
“Hotch!”
The voice finally broke through. Aaron looked up into Rossi’s eyes.
“What did he say?” Rossi asked, speaking slowly and enunciating each word.
Aaron related the conversation as best as he could. The team all looked at each other.
“We’re going home,” Morgan said. “Go get your bags.” He stayed behind to talk with the local sheriff while the others went to grab their bags. They hadn’t made it to their hotel yet, so everything was still in the station. All Morgan had to do was explain to the sheriff what was happening, this his town had been used as a distraction, and they were free.
---
They were in the air in less than an hour. Aaron sat at a window and clenched his fist around his phone, praying for it to ring with good news, and stared at the ground below. The plane felt like it was crawling and he could barely stay still. He needed to move.
Rossi sat down next to him. The only one of the team who was brave enough to approach him. Or full of himself.
“Go away,” Aaron growled.
“Hey!” Rossi said, and squeezed Aaron’s arm. “Don’t you snap at me when I’m here to help you.”
Aaron tensed and shook him off. “If you’re about to tell me that this team is the best at what they do and we’ll pull together and we’ll find him, you can just-”
“Why don’t you think before opening your mouth and burning bridges, huh?” Rossi said. “We’re going to do everything we can. And I know I can’t promise that we’ll find him, so I won’t-hey, hey.”
Aaron had shuddered at the words and physically crumpled in on himself. Rossi grabbed him. “I’m not going to sugar coat, Aaron. I have too much respect for you for that. But you need to hold it together.”
Aaron did his best to nod.
“I need to know something,” Rossi said. “Has Spencer been coached for this?”
Aaron nodded again.
“What does he know?”
“I gave him Foyet’s profile,” Aaron said. “I explained to him that he can’t show any fear, to just stay calm and quiet and do what he says.”
“Anything else?”
“Like what?” Aaron asked.
“Can he pick handcuffs, does he know to look for sharp edges to cut ties, does he know how to tap out an SOS signal…”
“I-I’m not sure,” Aaron said. Those were all amazing ideas. Why hadn’t he thought to teach Spencer any of those?
“That’s okay,” Rossi said. His voice was very calm and Aaron immediately recognized it for what it was: keep the grieving family member from panicking voice. “Now, would he have left your apartment for anything?”
“No,” Aaron said. “He knew he had to stay there.”
“But your alarm system wasn’t triggered, was it?”
Aaron shook his head.
“So somehow, Foyet gained entrance, and he was probably armed.”
“And could have just taken Spencer with him after that.”
Rossi squeezed Aaron’s shoulder. “I’ll be here if you need me,” he said, and went back to the other corner of the plane with everyone else.
---
Garcia was waiting anxiously for them in the conference room. She was bouncing up and down on her soles and wringing her hands. As soon as Aaron walked in, she rushed over. “Sir!” she said. “Spencer’s phone is still turned off but if it turns on I’ll know right away. I was able to pinpoint the call, Foyet was driving on I-95, so I’m running facial match searches on all the traffic cameras to figure out which direction he was going and what car he was driving.”
“Thank you, Garcia,” Aaron said. Speaking felt like sandpaper in his mouth.
The rest of team grouped around him in a silent show of support. Aaron swallowed and crossed his arms and stared at the floor.
“Is there anything we can do right now?” JJ asked.
Aaron heard the double meaning in the question. He shook his head. “Local units are still canvasing,” he said. “We don’t have a starting point for a location. When Foyet wants us to know, we’ll know.”
“He probably won’t use Spencer’s cell phone again,” Prentiss said. “He knows we can track that.”
“Garcia, could you trace a number that called Hotch’s phone?” Morgan asked.
“I can try,” Garcia said. “If it’s another cell phone, almost certainly. I’ll go get a trace ready to go.”
“Thank you, baby girl,” Morgan said. He looked at Aaron. “What does he want with Spencer?”
“He wants to make me suffer,” Aaron said.
“No, he wants to watch you suffer,” Rossi said. “That’s what gets him off. We’ll hear from him eventually. He needs to be able to see your pain.”
Aaron felt dizzy. He closed his eyes. “So we wait for him to contact me,” he said.
“And you stay here,” Rossi said. When Aaron turned sharply to him and started to protest, he glared back. “Don’t you even try it,” he growled. “If I have to knock you on your ass to keep you from going out and doing something stupid, I will.”
Aaron clenched his fists and took a step forward.
JJ was the one who stepped between them, and was probably the only one who could have done it without getting snarled at. “Okay,” she said. “We’re all worried, so let’s just try to calm down and wait until we have something to go off of, all right?” She looked at Aaron. “No one is going to leave until we all know what’s happening.” She turned to Rossi. “And no one is going to be knocking anyone else onto his ass, got it? You’re not children.”
Aaron and Rossi continued to glare at each other for a few more moments before they mutually broke the eye contact. Aaron immediately felt guilty. He was frightened and angry and looking to lash out at the first possible target. Rossi knew that and was trying to establish a pecking order to keep Aaron from doing something dangerous, and that had made him the target. “Sorry,” Aaron muttered.
Morgan had stayed safely away from the alpha male clash but he stepped forward now. “JJ’s right,” he said. “Let’s sit down and go over what he know about Foyet’s profile. Garcia’s working on locating the car he was driving, and once we have that, we’ll be able to start a better search.”
Aaron nodded and allowed JJ to touch his shoulder in silent support as they all sat down and began to do just that.
---
Two hours later, Aaron got a text message from an unknown sender.
I won’t tell you anything until I know you’re away from the rest of them.
Aaron stiffened. Rossi saw the reaction and held his hand out. Aaron gave the phone over.
Rossi read it and checked for a number. “Good,” he said.
“Good?”
“He’s letting us know what he wants,” Rossi said.
“But if I stay here-”
“Aaron,” Rossi said, shaking his head. “I’m taking this to Garcia to see if she can find the number. Of course you’re staying here.”
Aaron looked up at his friend and felt all the fear he had been shoving away wash over him. “What if he hurts him?”
Rossi paused. His mouth twitched sympathetically. “Think about what you would tell a family member in your situation. We have something Foyet wants, he isn’t going to harm his bargaining chip.”
“I would never call a loved one a bargaining chip,” Aaron said coldly.
“I told you I’m not going to sugar coat,” Rossi said. He clapped Aaron’s shoulder before leaving.
---
They discovered that Foyet was using a disposable, prepaid cell phone that he had tampered with to avoid being tracked. Garcia found video of him going south on I-95 in a car with obstructed plates, but sent the make and model to the local police, who began searching.
Aaron received the next text one hour later. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and didn’t look at it until he could make an excuse to get away from the group to his office.
If I didn’t know better I’d think you didn’t care.
Aaron’s fist clenched at his side.
“So what’s he say this time?”
Aaron whirled around. Rossi was standing there, eyebrow raised.
“Nothing,” Aaron said.
“Don’t you bullshit me.”
Aaron growled but handed the phone over. “What if I called him, faked it?” he asked. “He might reveal something on accident.”
“Would you ever recommend that line of action?”
“No, but-”
“Then no.”
But it’s Spencer! Aaron wanted to scream. It’s different! “I have to try,” he begged.
“Aaron…”
Aaron lifted a hand to his mouth and paced around the edge of the room. Rossi watched him silently, waiting with his hands slung casually into his pockets for Aaron to stop. Aaron finally rounded on him. “Dave-”
“He’s trying to get you alone. You never give into what an unsub wants, you know that.”
“But he has Spencer,” Aaron said. “He has my Spencer.”
“And this is not the way to save him,” Rossi said. “He’ll contact us, and we’ll wait until he isn’t demanding you alone.”
“What if he never does?” Aaron asked.
“He will,” Rossi promised. “And if we get lucky, we’ll figure out where he is before then.”
“The police can’t find that car,” Aaron said. “It’s probably under a tarp by now.”
“Don’t give up, okay?” Rossi said. “Come on, we could use your help.”
Aaron raked his fingers through his hair, nodded, and returned with Rossi.
---
When the next message came, Aaron made sure to be completely alone when he read it.
We’re having fun here without you. Spencer doesn’t like my games.
It was a low, cheap trick, and Aaron knew it. But he locked the door and called.
“Aaron!” Foyet answered. “I was starting to think you didn’t care.”
“What do you want from me?” Aaron asked, keeping his voice low.
“I think you know that.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
Instead of answering, Foyet made a contemplative noise. “I think you should hurry and get yourself away from everyone else so I can tell you more.”
“I’m alone,” Aaron said.
“I want you out of your office,” Foyet said.
“That isn’t an option.”
“Poor kid,” Foyet said. “You should see how frightened he looks. Oh, he’s trying not to, but I can see it in his eyes. I bet he’ll think twice before crawling into another FBI agent’s bed. If he lives, anyway. Did you warn him about dangers like this? Probably not, wouldn’t want to scare this pretty thing away, would you. And is he ever pretty. I don’t blame you, even I can see the appeal of slipping it in this one…maybe I’ll give it a try.”
“You and I both know that you’re not a rapist, and you never will be,” Aaron said. Foyet was trying to rattle him. He wasn’t going to give the bastard an inch.
“No,” Foyet sighed dramatically. “I guess you’re right. Think of how different life would have been if I could just rape someone and get it done, huh?”
“What do you want?”
“I want you,” Foyet said. “Turn off your phone and go buy a disposable cell. Don’t tell anyone you’re leaving or where you’re going. Keep your phone off. I’ll be calling it periodically to make sure of that and if I ever find it on…”
“All right, fine,” Aaron said. “Only if you promise not to hurt him.”
“Now you know I can’t promise that,” Foyet said. “Especially since I’ve already done it.”
Horror rushed through Aaron and left him nauseous. He had to swallow more than once before he felt in control of his voice again. “If he’s dead-”
“He isn’t dead,” Foyet said cheerfully. “I wouldn’t waste such an expressive face. I wonder if you’ve ever realized how much he can say with his eyes? He’s a rare one, the pain translates so beautifully to his features. He makes me feel like an artist.”
“You’re a psychotic sadist,” Aaron growled.
“A rose by any other name.”
“Swear to me right now that you won’t hurt him any more, or I won’t leave.”
“Fine, fine,” Foyet sighed. “I swear I won’t harm him until I next hear from you. However, if you take too long, say, an hour, that promise will run out.”
Aaron grit his teeth and hung up. He knew better than this, he did, but right now procedure was the farthest thing from his mind. Never mind that he would string up any family member who subverted him like this on a hostage case, he had to get to Spencer.
---
Aaron went to Morgan, because Rossi would have seen right through him. “I need to get to my apartment,” he said.
Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“I want to see if Foyet left anything there. He likes clues and games, and I can see if he took something. It might point us in the right direction.”
Morgan considered for a moment. “Fine, but take Rossi with you,” he said.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Aaron said.
“With all due respect, man, I think you do,” Morgan said. He held up his hands disarmingly when Aaron took a step forward. “You’re too close to this as is, I shouldn’t even be letting you work this case. And your judgment goes wonky around this kid.”
Poor kid, Foyet had said.
“He isn’t a kid,” Aaron growled.
“Fine,” Morgan said. “Guy, man, whatever. You make rash decisions when it comes to him, so if you want to go look for something, you take Rossi with you.”
“Fine,” Aaron bit, and went to go find the older man, already trying to figure out how he would slip him.
---
It didn’t take Aaron long to double back into the elevator in his apartment building and lose Rossi. He’d left his badge on his desk; he knew there was no way for him to get out of this with his position in the FBI intact, and he also knew that by now he was being labeled as a possible armed rogue and others would be looking for him. Spencer’s car was gone so he had to take the SUV, leaving Rossi stranded, and he was sitting in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot. He had two prepaid cell phones, because he wasn’t an idiot. He could contact his team with the other, now that his phone was off.
But first…
He punched Foyet’s number into the first phone and lifted it too his ear. There was an answering click.
“All right, I’m alone,” Aaron said. “Tell me what to do.”
“Ah, finally,” Foyet said, clearly relishing the moment. “You should have made a deal.”
“You keep telling me that.”
“And because you didn’t make a deal,” Foyet said, “Now you get to make a choice.”
“What choice?” Aaron asked. He already knew what the choice was going to be. Him or Spencer. Foyet wanted to see Aaron give himself up willingly, and Aaron already knew exactly what his answer was going to be-
“There are two people here with me,” Foyet said. “You get to choose which one of them dies quickly and painlessly, and which one of them dies very slowly and in a great deal of pain.”
Aaron’s mind skipped a step, completely unprepared for Foyet’s answer. Before he recovered enough to speak, Foyet continued.
“The catch is,” he said, “The one that dies quickly will die before you get here and you will never see him alive again. The one that dies slowly might last long enough to say goodbye to.”
“Who else do you have?” Aaron asked, trying to keep his composure.
“Spencer knows him,” Foyet said. “He didn’t like it when I tried to cut him, did you, Spencer?”
“Who?” Aaron demanded.
“Your boy has a thing for older men,” Foyet said. “Father figures. Is that who this is? His father figure? Or is that you, Aaron?”
Father figure.
Father James.
Aaron put the car in gear slammed down on the acceleration. He knew where Foyet was. “You’re a coward,” he said. “Why go after a pair of unarmed priests when you could be hunting down an FBI agent?”
“Because I prefer the bait and trap method,” Foyet said.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Aaron said. “You never were one for a challenge. Ambushing couples in their cars, shooting down unsuspecting people in a bus.”
“You seem to be evading,” Foyet said.
“So do you.”
“You think you know everything,” Foyet said. “But what happens when you meet the man who’s smarter than you, who sees right through your tricks and your profiling?”
“And you think that’s you?” Aaron asked.
“I don’t know if it’s me,” Foyet said. “I guess we’ll find out at the end of the day.”
“I guess we will.”
“Time’s up,” Foyet said. “I get to choose.”
“You said I got to make that choice,” Aaron said. Stalling, desperate stalling.
“You took too long,” Foyet said.
“I’m the one you want,” Aaron said. Redirect his focus.
“You are the one I want,” Foyet agreed. “And I have you right where I want you.”
Aaron heard the crack of a gunshot and he gripped the phone. He couldn’t breathe.
“There we go,” Foyet said. “I’ve chosen which one dies. Now as for the other…”
Aaron’s composure cracked. “Don’t hurt him,” he begged before he could stop himself.
“You don’t even know which one is still alive,” Foyet said.
“I think I can guess,” Aaron said.
“Actually it was a coin toss, so can you?”
Aaron didn’t have a response to that. It was hard to speak when his heart felt like it had stopped.
“I’m good with knives, as you know,” Foyet said, taking advantage of the silence. “But I’ve been thinking it’s time to broaden my horizons. I wonder if you could achieve the same thing with a gun…nice and slow, bleeding out. Only one way to find out, right?”
Aaron couldn’t speak.
There was a second shot followed by a muffled scream.
“There,” Foyet said. “That looks good. Let’s try another.”
Aaron felt the next shot like it was ripping through him. It was followed by another shriek of pain.
“Oh by the way,” Foyet said. “If anyone other than you pulls up outside this house, I’ll kill this one as soon as I see them. And believe me, I keep my promises. Oh, uh oh.” He paused and made a contemplative noise. “I might have aimed just a little too high with that second bullet. They’re so much less precise than knives, guns. You lose the subtlety, the craft. But it might still be all right. I’d hurry, anyway, if I were you. I might get bored waiting and switch to knives if you take too long.” There was a third shot. “He won’t need that, anyway,” he said, and the connection died.