SSA Aaron Hotchner is stepping down from his Unit Chief position for a 6-month period due to an assignment in overseas. To his temporary replacement comes SSA Alexandra Barnes, Chief of the Child Abductions Unit. Both Hotchner and Barnes have their...
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His POV "You look awful for someone who's been sleeping for the last 10 hours" Dave says as he sees me walk in the bullpen
"It's been 4 days with no leads. Of course I wasn't sleeping" I reply, rushing past him.
"About that..." he says and I stop "We have a message. It was addressed to you but we agreed we should review it before you"
"What?!" I yell taking everyone's attention.
"It was a USB with a single video on" he explains as he walks to his office and I follow him. "It is clearly a way to scare us off and get us to stop investigating. Garcia is already checking every frame of it. The content is disturbing, are you sure you want to watch it?" he asks
"Yes" I answer without hesitation.
He nods and gives me a laptop and the USB. He closes the blinds on the window and leaves me alone. I sit down and I play the video.
It's Welker and Lexie. She is on her knees in front of a filled sink, with the water still running and it's overflowing. Her hands are cuffed behind her back that seems blooded. He is standing behind her, holding a grip of her hair.
He asks her something in the beginning but it's muted. "Go to hell" she answers to whatever he said
"Then I'll see you there" he replies and pushes her head in the water. She is fighting him but he isn't moving. Her head is still in. I can hear her drowning.
He pulls her back and I finally breathe with her. But he whispers something in her ear and pushes her head back inside.
She tries to fight with her whole body as he holds her breath. But then I hear the bubbles and I see her moves as she panics.
He isn't pulling her out now. She is really drowning. She slows down but he's still holding her. She stops moving.
A few seconds later, he throws her back. I look at her chest and it's not moving. She's not breathing as he walks out of frame. That's where the video ends.
I grab the laptop and I throw it against the wall. I rub my face as I hear the door. "She's not dead, right? He must have resuscitated her. He needs her, right?" I ask keeping my back to the door
"That's what we think" Morgan answers.
I start nodding. I take a deep breath and I turn around. "Tell me everything you got until now. Sender, drop off point, everything" I order as we head to the conference room.
Her POV I am laying on the cold hard floor crying, with my hands cuffed behind my back. I gave up on holding back my tears a long time ago. I am dripping wet and I'm freezing. My whole body is shaking uncontrollably.
"For Aaron. For Evelyn. For Aaron. For Evelyn..." I keep whispering to myself. I try to think about her returning home in order to take my mind off my situation.
I don't know how many days have passed but I'm so exhausted. I've been hit, cut, burned, choked and now drowned. All that because he doesn't believe that my codes to the system have been deactivated. He wants me to erase him from every database there is, but I can't do that even if I wanted to.
The one thing I know for sure is that they are looking for me and they will come. They just need a clue and I need an opening. I have to give them something if I want to get out of here soon.
I give my body some time to calm down and regain my strength. I need leverage before he comes back inside. If I dislocate my thumb, I think I can free my hand. I've never done this before to be honest, but I saw it on TV.
I'm right handed, that's my strong hand so I need to keep it strong. I turn my face away from the camera and I push my left thumb out. I swallow my scream and I bite the inside of my cheek.
I slide my hand out of the cuff slowly, so he won't notice my movement in case he's watching, and I pop my thumb back in place. The right cuff remains around my wrist, and I wear the left one on my right hand's knuckles to use the as an iron fist.
"Let me call them and I'll make them reactivate my codes" I say.
It doesn't take him more that 10 seconds to come down. He grabs my by the throat and slams me against the wall. I keep my hands behind my back.
"You think I'm going to fall for that?" he yells in my face. I look at his pants and I notice a phone outline against his jeans, probably because he rushed here this time.
"It's not a trick. You'll kill me either way. And I'm exhausted. I don't care what happens after I die, I really don't. It's their mess they have to clean after that" I manage to say as he chokes me.
He lets go of me and I fall on the ground. Thankfully, I was able to keep my hands back from using them to stop the fall.
He kneels down to look me in the face. "I don't believe that major turn of yours" he admits.
This is my opening. He is right in front of me. It's now or never.
I punch him as hard as I can in the face and he falls back. I keep punching him in the face, in the neck, in the chest, everywhere I could.
I look in his pockets and I find the phone. I grab it and I punch him again. As soon as I look at the phone, he uses the opening to hurt me.
I fall back but I hold the phone tightly. "No, no, no" he says as he grabs my head and smashes it on the wall.
Then he twists my arm back, causing me to drop the phone. He hits my head again and I collapse. I can't move my left arm at all and everything is spinning.
He walks to the sink and checks himself in the mirror. His face is bleeding pretty badly but I can tell that mine is too.
It's an Iphone. I notice. "Siri, call 702-555-0102" I say as fast as I can and it doesn't take more than a second for the screen to light up.
"Siri, cancel!" he yells but it's too late anyway.
He grabs mw by the throat and slams my against the wall. "Let me make one thing clear to you. Even if you somehow survive... You'll look at yourself and you'll remember me. Those marks, those scars, will never heal completely. I'll always be in there. You'll remember me forever! You will be disgusted with yourself. And so will everyone else. So I win again!" he says
"No. You'll never have that. You'll lose" I insist.
