Agent With a Shotgun

Four

"What do you mean my initials?" Amelia asked, taking a step back as if he had just hit her.

"The pentagram was carved into one of the victims hips," Colton told her, "but on the other hip, an A.M. was carved. Deeper than the pentagram."

A.M.

Amelia Mason

"I'm not stupid like most of the people still working in the bureau so I put two and two together."

Amelia was speechless, she didn't know what to say. She always had this gut feeling that Wilkins had never died that night. She drove herself mad trying to prove it. But hearing it from Colton that she had been right all along was hard to digest. Everyone around her convinced her that she was crazy with guilt because of the agents who died following her lead. No one believed her, but she fought until the very end. Until the director had enough of her saying that James Wilkins was still alive and fired her. No one stood by her or tried to help her when she was told that. No one defended her even with the evidence she had to support her claims, not even Colton. That's what bothered and hurt her the most. He was the one she knew she could always count on, who would always have her back, but even he turned his back to her.

"Why would he carve Amelias' initials onto the victims?" Celia asked when Amelia didn't speak up.

"Amelia was the one who was able to track him. She was the one who got the closest any one had ever gotten to arresting him. He hated that, he hated the idea a woman was outsmarting him," Colton explained, keeping eye contact with Celia while still keeping an eye on Amelia in his peripheral view. She had turned her back to them and was leaning her hands on the kitchen counter, her head bowed.

"Amelia was the best agent in the bureau so he knew exactly who she was and what she was capable of," Colton continued, "Wilkins is the type of man who believes women don't belong in work areas where men reign dominant, he believes women are better suited to be in the kitchen and waiting on men on their hands and knees. He didn't like the idea of a woman outshining the men in our workforce."

"Is Amelia in danger?" Celia asked next, concern washing over her face at his words.

Colton was quiet for a moment, "I don't know," he spoke truthfully, "as far as we know, he knows Amelia doesn't work for the bureau anymore and that she's gone. But he never let go of the fact that she outsmarted him. I'm the only one working this case from his original case."

"So why do you need me," Amelia finally spoke up, whipping around to face him, "you said it yourself, he doesn't know where I am, and knows that I'm long gone. So why are you showing up at my house at 2:30 in the morning begging me to help you?" She asked angrily.

Coltons' face softened, "You were the best agent and the only one who was able to come even remotely close to catching him." Amelia didn't respond, she just stared at him with a hard gaze.

"You knew from the start that he was alive and I should've believed you, I know that," Colton took a deep breath before continuing, "you are the only person I knew who would believe me and could help. No one in the bureau has your skill set, I need your help to catch him. To make sure this doesn't happen to any other family."

Amelia was quiet, thinking everything over that he just told her. She had been right from the start and he knows it. But he didn't believe her in the beginning. He turned his back to her when she needed someone and now that he needs help, he expects her to help him with no questions asked. He never even reached out to her when she left, never once checked up on her.

"Your 20 minutes is up," Amelia finally said, "and I'm not helping you."

Coltons' eyes widened along with Celias', both of them turning to look at Amelia with shocked expressions.

"Wait," Celia said, shaking her head, "did you not just hear a word he said?"

"I did," Amelia said in a hard tone, never taking her eyes off of Colton, "but it is none of my business anymore."

Colton took a step towards Amelia, a frantic look on his face, "Amelia please. You're the only one who can do this, and you know that."

Celia joined in, "Yea Amelia," she grabbed Amelia by both of her shoulders and forced her to look at her, "I may not know much about you when you were in the FBI but I know you now. I know that if you sit around and do nothing and more families get killed, you won't be able to live with yourself. That's not you. I know that family is the most important thing to you and knowing that this man is out there hurting families and murdering them in their homes will drive you mad. Think about that. Don't let more families die by this guys hands." Amelia flattened her lips and attempted to hold back the tears that kind again gathered in her eyes.

"If you won't do this for me," Colton spoke up, taking another step towards the girls, "do it for Anderson."

Amelia started shaking her head, tears falling from her eyes, "No."

"Do it for Ramirez."

"Stop it."

"Do it for Morgan, Neil, or Conway."

"That's not fair." Amelia spoke through her tears.

Colton then walked up to Amelia and placed his hands on her shoulders, making her face him instead of Celia, "Do it for Langley." Amelia shut her eyes and allowed the tears to fall freely now.

"Lia look at me," Colton said softly making Amelia open her eyes to look at him. That was the name he called her when they worked together. "I know you have no reason to do this for me, but do it for them. They followed you into this because they believed in you, don't let their deaths mean nothing if we can't catch this guy. Do it for the families he's already killed, they were innocent. You can catch this guy, you can track him down. You've done it before, and I know you can do it again."

"I can't," Amelia said, still looking into his eyes, "I can't be the reason more people die. I can't kill more people."

"You didn't kill them Lia, Wilkins did, stop thinking like that." Colton tried.

"No!" Amelia exclaimed, pushing his hands off of her, "I made the decision to go ahead into the warehouse before we could clear it. Me. I'm the reason they're dead. I might as well have blew the building up myself." 

"Mel stop," Celia stepped forward and pulled Amelia into her arms, "you didn't know that was going to happen. You didn't know that he had planned that. You can't blame yourself for something you had no idea about." Celia tried to soothe Amelia, holding her tightly.

Amelia took a few deep breaths and tried to stop the tears that were falling, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry for not believing you before Amelia, I am," Colton said, "and I know that I have no right asking you for help when I didn't defend you before, but I can't do this without you. Please help me catch him. Before anyone else gets hurt." Amelia looked at him from over Celias' shoulder, taking another deep breath before pulling away from Celias' embrace.

She wiped her face dry before speaking, "If I agree to help you, and when we get Wilkins, I don't want to see you again. I want to move on from all of this. You won't show up at my house again." Celia looked at Amelia with her brows furrowed, unsure of why she would set those as her terms to help Colton.

Colton closed his eyes and sighed, "Fine, I promise that once this is all over, you'll never have to see me or any of this again." He fought to keep his voice steady. He didn't expect those to be Amelias' terms for helping him either, and if he was being completely honest, it hurt him to hear her say she never wanted to see him again. He should've expected it though, he did turn his back on her along with everyone else all those years ago. But he had reason behind it, he just couldn't tell her. Not now at least.

Amelia looked down to the floor once again before bringing her head back up to face Colton, "Then I'm in."