Lost in DC

Chapter 7

Alex was sitting in Rossi's office. There were lots of books and Alex was thinking of reading one. He was growing bored.
One book caught his eye. It was by Rossi.
As Alex reached for it, the door opened.
"Alex, it's time to go," Reid said.
Alex looked at the man in the door. Something was off, he could feel it. It was in Reid's voice and in his eyes.
"No. I'm not going with you," Alex stated.
"You don't have a choice," Reid replied. "You keep getting in the way. That's going to get you killed one day. If you come with me right now, I can make sure you're safe."
Reid was morphing into someone else.
Alex tensed as Reid's light brown hair turned bright red. It grew longer and became unruly.
It was Jack. Jack was now standing in front of him.

Alex woke up. It had all been a dream. Alex couldn't believe it. He had dreamt Jack was there.
He looked around. He was still in Rossi's office, but Rossi was now sitting at his desk doing paperwork.
"Oh good. You're awake now," Rossi said. He looked at Alex. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Alex didn't say anything. He got up and walked to the door.
"I need to go outside for a few minutes," he said as he opened the door.
Rossi nodded and went back to his paperwork.
He managed to make it to the elevators before someone stopped him. It was Reid.
"Where are you going?" Reid asked.
"Outside for a few minutes. I need some air and time to think," Alex replied.
"You could use the conference room," Reid suggested.
"Why? Am I not allowed outside?" Alex asked sarcastically.
"Alex, are you okay?" Reid asked.
Alex didn't answer. He simply walked onto the elevator before the doors slid shut and pressed the button for the main floor.

Once outside, Alex took a deep breath and let it go. He felt a little free. Maybe that's what he needed every now and then, a chance to feel free. But then his mind wandered back to Jack and where she might be. He needed to find her and soon. At least get back on track.
He thought about everything. Last place he saw her? Egypt. He'd already searched there. The memories were rising like zombies in his mind. What else could he remember?
That's when he remembered France. That yacht he had been on. The Grimaldi brothers had to be behind this in some way. But how was he going to find out when he was on the other side of the world?
He couldn't handle this on his own. He needed someone he could trust. So far that was Reid and Rossi. But they were inside. Inside wasn't safe.
Alex looked around. He could feel eyes on him. Maybe they were here, lurking in the shadows. He took a deep breath and started to run. He needed to clear his mind. A run would help. He'd come after anyway. At least, that was the plan.

Rossi had finished the paperwork. Alex still hadn't come back. He poked his head out of his office, then the rest of his body followed. He made his way to Reid's desk.
"Have you seen Alex?" he asked.
Reid looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not in about an hour. He said he was going outside. He seemed ticked off about something, so I let him go. It was better than arguing with him," Reid replied.
"Wait he's been gone an hour?" Rossi asked. He didn't want to jump to anything yet. He knew there had to be a good explanation.
"Yeah," Reid responded. He was starting to pick up on Rossi's panic.
"Where do you think he could've gone?"
"I don't know. He never really said anything about what he likes to do."
"What's going on?" JJ asked.
"We can't find Alex," Reid replied.
"That's not good. I'll call the local police department. They'll be able to search the streets," JJ said as she pulled her phone to dial the number.
"Good call. I'll start looking. It won't hurt to have someone already out there looking," Rossi stated. The three of them broke off to do their tasks.

Alex was lost. He couldn't find his way back to the FBI building and it was starting to bother him. He had been taught better. He tried to remember which direction he'd come from. Everything was all too much, and he couldn't outrun it.
A car pulled up next to him. It had no police markings or anything to say it was a police car. That made Alex even more on edge.
"Are you Alex?" the driver asked. It was a man. He was middle aged and gave Alex a feeling that he wasn't friendly.
Alex chose not to answer and ignore the man.
"I said 'are you Alex?'" the man repeated himself. His grip on the wheel tightened.
"No. I don't know who Alex is," Alex replied. He hoped he could get away with this.
"The FBI is looking for you. They just put out a warning that you must be taken into custody," the man explained.
Alex couldn't believe it. But he tried to hold it together.
The man could tell Alex had been lying. He knew saying that could cause a reaction. And that was what he had been looking for.
"Tell you what, you hop in, and I'll give you a ride to the FBI offices. I won't mind," the man said.
"No thank you. I can manage," Alex replied, wanting the conversation to end.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," the man stated.
Alex didn't say anything. He instead chose to keep walking. The car inched along beside him.

Rossi had driven down every road in the city. So far there was no sign of Alex. He was about to give up his search when he noticed a car creeping alongside a boy. The boy was Alex! He didn't look like he was having a good time.
Rossi reacted quickly. He pulled his car in front of the other car and opened his door.
"Alex, get in my car now!" he commanded, stepping half out.
Alex looked relieved to see him.
Just as he was about to start making his way over to him, a previously unseen figure from the back grabbed Alex by the arm.
Once again Rossi reacted quickly. He ran over and kicked the arm of the figure. Alex pulled himself free and ran towards Rossi's car. Rossi stayed behind in case they got out. He was going to make sure they didn't take Alex.
In the car, Alex found Rossi's phone. He quickly picked it up and crawled to the back to find a place to hide. From his hiding spot in the truck, Alex called one of the team members.