Killer Queen

Chapter 20

     There was absolutely nothing that could even possibly shed light on Logan's whereabouts. Hotch was frustrated, both with himself and whoever it was that took his daughter. He knew he should have enrolled her in school. Everything that happened was his fault, he knew it. Letting Logan be a part of the BAU was a mistake from the beginning.

"I'll kill 'em," Hotch muttered to himself. "I swear, I will-"

The door to his office opened and an agent walked in. She handed him a package. "This was downstairs for you." Hotch thanked her and she left.

Eyeing the package, Hotch slowly opened it, making sure to be careful. It could have been anything, especially in this time. Instead, the only thing inside was a bag with one small microchip, one that went inside of a camera. Hotch looked on the box, and there was no return address.

Deciding that the microchip probably had something important on it, Hotch grabbed a camera and put the chip in to watch it. He almost regretted it as soon as he did.

The first thing he noticed was a girl tied up in a chair, until he realized that she was Logan. A figure passed in front of the camera, but they had their hood up, obscuring their face. They reached up and put a gag in Logan's mouth, then reached over to somewhere the camera didn't show. When they turned back to Logan, a scalpel was in their large hands. Hotch deduced that the figure was a man by the way he walked and by how big his hands were.

Hotch heard him mutter something to her, before starting to cut into her skin. Despite the gag in her mouth, Logan screamed. She tried to get away from her kidnapper, but he grabbed her to keep her in place. Every stroke he took looked like he was trying to mimic something, and cursed loudly every time Logan messed it up for him.

Finally, he stopped cutting, patting Logan's head before walking back over to the camera to end the video. Hotch saw how much just that had taken a toll on the girl, her skin shimmering with sweat under the dim lighting. She was breathing heavily and, just before the video ended, she looked up at the camera. As if somehow knowing that Hotch would see it, Logan pleaded with her eyes, a silent tear flowing down her face.

Then, the feed went blank. Hotch let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Even though Logan wasn't his real daughter, he had felt like she had become family. And now, some lunatic was torturing her and recording it, as if it was some sort of game. Hotch was furious, and he knew someone was going to pay.

~~~

"Agent Hotchner got my message," Aaron drawled as he walked down the stairs. Logan groaned, lifting her head briefly to glare at him. "I think he understood what I was trying to say."

Logan let out a shaky breath, letting her head drop again. She wished that she was just a little closer to him so that she could show him exactly what she thought about her father. But, Aaron was a cautious man and knew exactly what Logan would do to him if given the chance.

"What do you say, up for a little more carving?" It seemed to Logan that her father was becoming more and more confident the longer he had her tied up. He twirled a knife between his fingers as he stared down at Logan. "No, I'm moving too fast. But I will be back tomorrow. So be ready."

Aaron left and Logan whimpered softly to herself. There was no way out, no place to hide, nowhere to run. She desperately hoped that the team would find her before Aaron had his way with her. Or else she would end up just like her mother, at the hands of her father.

~~~

A few hours after the video was sent to Hotch, the rest of the team got back, rushing straight to the round table room. As soon as Hotch told them about the situation, they decided that there were other BAU agents that could solve the case they were working on.

Hotch reluctantly showed them the video as soon as they arrived, which was disturbing for everyone just as it was for him the first time he watched it. However, Spencer did see that the man showed his face closer to the end, so at least they had a face. Now it was up to Garcia to find an identity to match the face.

"Was it just me or did it look like he was trying to make the cuts very specifically, no matter how messy they were?" Spencer asked once the video ended. "And then he was frustrated once they were messed up, like he was following a pattern."

Hotch nodded. "I saw that, too."

"Do you think that this was intentional?" Derek wondered. "I mean, it couldn't have been a coincidence that your adopted daughter was taken at the same time you were called off to a case all the way across the country, to be tortured and sent to us. He wants you to suffer."

"But why?" Spencer's question was a very good one, but was nearly impossible to answer. "Something might have happened to someone he loved and blames you, or maybe he has personal beef with you."

Morgan glanced at Hotch. "I feel like we're missing something important here."

"We're always missing something important," sighed JJ.

The door opened, and Garcia walked in. "I found your guy." She set a file down on the table. "His name is Aaron Gardener. Not much on him, other than the fact that he was originally engaged to Molly Star, Logan's mom."

"Does that mean that he's Logan's real father?" asked Emily.

"It's likely, but there's more," Garcia continued. "Logan's mom, Molly, didn't actually die from childbirth. She was a victim of one of our serial killers a while back. And guess how far back that was." No one spoke up and she answered them. "Seventeen years," she said, confirming everyone's suspicions.

"He must blame Hotch for what happened to Molly," Spencer said. "And he's recreating exactly what happened to Molly on his own daughter."

Hotch sighed, stepping back. "Do we have an address?"

"I found his old house, but he moved out of it a few years ago. No one's been there since."

Quickly, Morgan got up. "Let's go check it out, then."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm in science class right now but I have Starbucks, so double update! Don't forget to let me know your thoughts on the story or this chapter and stay positive! Thanks for reading!