Maraya Torres

Running Again

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An agitated sigh left my lips as there was an itch I couldn't reach under the cuff on my wrist. I threw my head back against the wall in annoyance and shut my eyes in an attempt to get some sleep. In the now twenty days I've been here, sleep is the one thing I try to get but I never achieve much of it. I heard the barn door open which was weird because Josef had already visited me once today. It was dark out now; I couldn't tell you the time mind you.

Josef looked panicked, worried, scared and angry. He stormed over to me with what I thought was the key in his hand. He squatted in front of me and took said key before unlocking my wrist. He roughly grabbed my forearm and dragged me along with him outside of the barn. "What's going on?" I asked Josef as he dragged me to the car. He put me in passenger before walking around to the driver's seat.

"How did you tell them?" Josef asked, starting the engine and driving away.

"Tell them?" I repeated.

"They're looking for a barn. They think I have you in a barn." Josef muttered.

"Well... You did." I reminded him, putting my seatbelt on.

"And how did you tell them?" He screamed hitting the steering wheel angrily.

"I... I didn't tell them anything. I couldn't have. You were there the whole time, you heard what I said." I answered, calmly. "They're good agents. They probably-"

"But they didn't have anything until you made that call. I don't understand how you-" He cut himself off by letting out a loud and angry scream.

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" I asked after a few silent seconds.

"I need to get rid you and burn down the barn. But don't worry... It'll hurt. A lot. But what will hurt more is knowing that your father's dead. I shot him dead myself." He smirked.

"No." I shook my head, tears flooding my eyes. "No, no he's not! You're lying!" I screamed at him but he just punched me across the face.

"Shut up!" He yelled.

I stared at the wheel for a few seconds contemplating my decision. I was wearing a seat belt. He wasn't. I dived forward, stretching the seatbelt as far as it would go. I made the wheel turn when he wasn't expecting it into the tree line. The car drove straight into a thick oak tree. Josef went through the wind screen and hit the tree and rolling onto the floor. 

Falling backwards after getting the steering wheel made me hurt my ankle. I was breathing deeply, there was a pain in my back, my body was littered in glass cuts. I undid my seatbelt, my hands shaking. I managed to get out of the car, a strong pain coming from my right ankles as I cried out in pain. I limped around the car and I saw Josef laying on the ground, covered in blood but he was still breathing. Groans coming from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. "Karma you ugly son of a bitch." I laughed.

I heard sirens in the background which is when I started limping into the woods.

Nick's POV

We had found a barn that she was most likely at. NCIS and the BAU parked outside. We jumped out of our cars, the BAU going around the building while NCIS entered through the front. "Josef Freeman!" Gibbs called out. "NCIS and FBI, come out slowly with your hands up!" When we entered we heard Freeman's voice over a speaker. He was confessing? I noticed Gibbs going over and pulling out the tape. "He recorded his own confession?"

But there was no response. I walked in further and in the corner I noticed something that made my heart drop. There was a handcuff attached to a chain in the corner, on the wall there was scratch marks where someone was counting the days. "Twenty days." Bishop acknowledged.

There was also blood on the surrounding hay. It looked like it varied in ages, I walked over and fell to my knees. McGee was by my side in a second and hugged me as I tried not to cry.

"There are fresh tire marks outside. He was here recently." Greenaway said, entering the barn.

"We can still catch him." I said standing up and walking out. We got in the cars and followed the tracks that had driven off the dirt. The road only went one way so we knew where to go.

"I'll call this in." Hotch said as NCIS got in the cars. From the BAU: Reid, Morgan and Gideon followed us in their own car. We were driving for only a minute or so when we saw a car crash. Gibbs pulled over and we all jumped out. I was about to walk forward when Morgan pulled me back. 

"You may not want to see that." Morgan told me in a sorry tone.

"No, my little girl isn't dead." I shook my head. I ran over to the car. "Mara!" I called. I saw that Gibbs was on the phone to an ambulance while Bishop and Reid were looking at Josef Freeman. He was covered in blood and struggling to breathe. "Where is she?" I demanded walking over.

"Torres." Gideon tried.

"Where's my little girl! Where is she!" I yelled as Morgan and Gideon held me back so I didn't beat up Freeman.

"She ran." He breathed out. "The little bitch crashed the car." He groaned quietly coughing up blood. "I told her I killed her daddy. She's gonna start running." He coughed up more blood. "And she'll never stop." He laughed before it turned into a vicious, bloody cough.

"What did you do to her?" I demanded.

"She was a pretty young thing... I liked her. I wouldn't have killed her but... She may die now. A little girl all alone in the woods. Injured. Good luck to her." He chuckled.

"Mara!" I yelled into the woods.

"I'm going to die, daddy. Time's ticking." My hallucination of Mara said from in front of me. Except this time she was covered in blood. "Tick tock. Tick tock."

"She can't have gotten far. We'll set up a perimeter." Gideon assured. I pulled out of his and Morgan's grip before running into the woods.

"Mara! Maraya! It's Nick! I'm here, mi amor! We have the confession! You can come home!" I yelled into the woods. I ran in and I looked in all directions but I couldn't find her.

"We'll find her, agent Torres." Reid comforted me. "I talked to Mara. She's smart, she'll know what to do."

"She's nine!" I yelled at him.

"I saw clips of her, she's very street smart. She'll know how to survive, how to treat a wound. Maraya will be okay. I promise you that." Reid continued.

I shook my head trying to fight off the tears. Her bloody and tired looking hallucination was back. "He's wrong, daddy. I'm already dead. You couldn't save me."