Endurance

Chapter 14 - The Bryant's

Back at the BAU, the rest of the team was completely fooled.

They all were looking at Garcia's computer that said they were still at the alley.

"What have they been doing there for two hours?" Emily asked.

"I don't know but something is not right." Garcia said.

"Let's drive over there and see for ourselves." Hotch ordered. "But in case they actually are still there, we'll stay out of sight."

Everyone nodded and they filled out the door.

~~~~~~

The unsub raised the steel pipe all the way up and got ready to hit me with it. I closed my eyes so I didn't have to watch it strike me.

I waited with my eyes closed but nothing happened. I took a peak with one eye.

"Oh my bad, I haven't even introduced myself!" The unsub said and put the steel pipe back down to his side.

A feeling of relief swam through my body.

"I'm Douglas Bryant! You can call me Bryant." Bryant said.

"I've got a question for you Bryant." Morgan said with no respect at all. "You have us tied up and are clearly enjoying the pain of others, meaning you're a sadist. So how come you only killed your victims with one stab?"

Bryant took a moment to soak the question in. "You wouldn't understand, you're just an FBI agent." He said it like we were inferior to him.

"But I'll explain it anyway." Bryant started. "There is nothing like seeing the life drain out of someone's eyes. Why make myself wait for that when I can do it right away?"

"Then why are we waiting with us? Why not just kill us?" I asked.

"Well because you two are different." Bryant said.

"How?" I asked. "Bryant, why are you doing this?"

Bryant finally looked like he was going to answer the question. "Owen." He paused. "Owen Bryant."

"Who's that?" Morgan asked.

"My brother who you killed." Bryant's face switched back to pure evil.

Morgan's face looked confused at first and then it changed to realization. So did mine.

"Wait, Owen Bryant..." I took a moment to think. "Wasn't he that one cannibal unsub on the case in Detroit we dealt with one year, two months, and fifteen days ago?"

Morgan was thinking as well. "Yeah I think he was the one guy who was kidnapping his victims and holding them captive for two days and feeding on them." Morgan made a disgusted face before saying the next part. "He would eat their flesh and drink their blood."

I nodded, the whole case had come back to me.

"Good you remember." Bryant said. "You killed him!!" Bryant pointed back at Morgan.

"Yeah because if I hadn't he would've killed another innocent girl in front of me!" Morgan explained himself.

"But he was my brother!! You could've given him a chance to put down the weapon!" He turned to me. "And you were there too! You could've stopped him!"

"No- no Bryant, I couldn't have!"

"Enough with you're excuses. All I know is you killed my brother painfully so I wanted to see the same thing happen to you." He was talking to Morgan again. "That's why I framed you for the murder of your little girlfriend."

"You..." The tone of Morgan's voice dropped below zero.

"Yes, me." Bryant smirked mischievously. "I thought, what better way to punish him then send him to jail for something that I did! Which is why I got a job there as a prison guard."

That got my immediate attention. I looked up at him as he took off his jacket to reveal the shirt that the guards wear.

"Wait a minute are you-" I started.

"Am I the guard that launched the laundry basket into your gut so hard you nearly fell over? Am I the guard that sent you to the laundry room to get beat up by those guys double your size? Yes, yes I am." He looked so proud.

Fury showed in my eyes and I clenched my teeth to stop me from yelling something at him I would regret.

"Of course you had to ruin my plans of getting Morgan in jail by sacrificing yourself and taking his place." Bryant said. "I got so mad at what you did that I actually wanted to get revenge on you instead of Morgan. Which is why I watched you day after day in your cell suffer."

As he went on and on, Morgan and I both looked up at him like we wanted nothing more than to kill him grouse fully.

"It took everything I had not to beat you up myself but I just told myself that watching you get beat up even harder by other people was fun enough. And seeing you starving and restless...well  let's just say that was the highlight of my days." His mischievous smile remained as he glared at me. "So that...that is why I am doing this."

"You kinky sonuvab*tch." Morgan said in a controlled tone.

I just sat their holding in my rage. It was definitely boiling through though, because I had to bite down super hard and anger was clearly showing through my eyes.

"Well boys, it sure has been fun seeing all of that sh*t happen to you, but I think it's my turn to make you suffer. And what better way than to make Morgan watch as I rip Reid apart? Literally." He said and the evil shimmered through his eyes as he looked at me. He examined me looking up at him in rage.

He lifted back up the steel pipe like a baseball bat.

"Don't do it! I'm the one who killed your brother not him! Punish me!" Morgan called out.

"God you're slow! The best way to punish you is by making you watch me punish your bestie over here." Bryant mocked him and then looked back over at me.

"Please." I started begging. My anger turned to fear. "Please don't do this."

His smile widened after I said that. Our eyes were locked; mine with complete terror and his with power and evil.

He then drew back the steel pipe even further. I leaned my head back as far as it could go as he striked it forward right into my face.