𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓭 ➵ 𝓼. 𝓻𝓮𝓲𝓭

Chapter 5: You Are My Next Victim

YOU'VE BEEN SAT at the table for the past hour, rereading your fathers file and trying to find something you've missed. It doesn't help when you don't know what you're looking for.

"Getting anywhere?"

Reid's voice draws your attention away from the folder in your hands as you place it down gently, turning in your chair to face him as he sits down.

"Not really," you begin with a sigh, "Trying to find my father is like trying to find a psychopath in a pile of psychopaths."

Reid chuckles softly and takes the folder from you, reading it a lot faster. He stops reading and looks up with furrowed brows.

"What?" You question, fiddling with a pen in your fingers.

"Nothing. That's the problem - I see nothing unusual."

"Minus the gore and murder, but continue." You add.

"He left no paper trail, Garcia can't find anything virtual wise...It's like once he escaped that prison he just...disappeared."

"He does that." You answer as you bob your head before releasing a sigh.

You aren't getting anywhere, even with the help of a genius - and that worries you more than anything.

As the pair of you sit in a content silence, Morgan and Rossi enter the room and sit down, both with frustrated looks on their faces.

"Find anything?" You ask as you lean forward and place your head on your palms, knowing they didn't.

They both shake their heads and Morgan has an angry look on his face, you know the fact that there are no leads on your fathers whereabouts is taking a toll on the team.

"Where are JJ and Prentiss?" You ask, tapping the pen on the table.

The three men exchange glances you cant decipher, but not knowing what they are silently talking about is starting to bug you.

"Going over some of the murders from before he was caught." Rossi answers after a few seconds of silence.

You know they're trying to not sound or look suspicious, but all three of them are failing. You go to open your mouth when Hotch enters the room, surprised by the amount of the team who look disgruntled and angered. He greets you all with a nod of his head and only receives small, fake smiles in return.

"So, to recap, we're getting nowhere?" Morgan asks when everyone else refuses to speak.

"Right on the money." You answer with a hard sigh.

Rossi begins to talk about the cell that your father had been kept in, but you zone out when you hear the soft patter of rain on the glass window that looks out onto a park. You sigh softly as your mind is finally taken off of the horrors around you, even if it is just for a short amount of time, it means the world to you.

You only return back to the room when an officer comes bursting in through the door, hardly giving himself time to breathe before continuing to talk, "Agent Hotchner, there's someone here to see you and...and it's urgent."

The officer is struggling to get his breath back as he talks and that sets off an alarm in your head. You glance at Reid whose eyes are already trained on you, watching your movements.

"Send them in here." Hotch announces, watching as the officer leaves and then returns with a tall blonde woman who holds a plastic bag in her hands. The officer closes the door behind her as she look around at each one of you.

"I'm Ruby Ryland, I write for..." she coughs to finish her sentence before throwing the plastic bag onto the table, causing you to analyse its contents which seems to be a flash drive. "This was sent to me and I think you need to take a look at it."

*

As the screen flashes on after Hotch had plugged in the flash drive, a video begins to play.

A man wearing a mask sits himself down in front of the camera, sighing and tilting his head.

"I have no interest in dawdling, so lets get this over with."

You know that voice. You know him.

Your heart catches in your throat as you stand up from your chair to look closer at the video, eyes wide and heart beating too fast.

"Y/n. You put me in hell. You put me through hell. And I plan to do the same for you."

You can feel everyone's eyes on you, but you don't take your gaze away from the screen. The man you already recognise removes his mask, showing the old face of your father as his lips begin to move once again.

"You will be my next victim. You are my next victim."

And with just a few words, your father manages to break your already broken life once more.

Word Count
810