never grow up, criminal minds

054. final death

"I can't get Spence on the phone or the radio. He's not answering." JJ says.

"He's ignoring the radio. He broke his phone in my office." Emily tells them. "I never said he couldn't come with us. He can't defy a direct order if I can't give him one."

"Any of this feel vaguely familiar?" Rossi remarks, JJ and Emily's minds immediately flashing to the similar experience when Hotch was rushing to save Haley and Jack from George Foyet.

"If we get there too late..." JJ trails off, remembering how that day played out.

"We won't." Emily denies, harshly swallowing down the lump in her throat. "We're not getting there late. We are not losing that girl. We will get there, we will get Clara back alive, we'll get Luke, and we'll put these bastards behind bars... or six feet under."

"You guys might wanna hold on to something." Emily says before pressing her foot further down on the gas pedal, speeding even more than she already was.

+++

Clara limps through the area, looking out for anybody. Her sobs are few and far between, the girl out of breath. She coughs, struggling to breathe due to her panic and aching chest from crying so much.

She hobbles out onto the road, tripping over the curb and falling onto the road. She looks over when she sees a light, trying to get up as a car drives up. She looks up, finally noticing the police lights. Her body is shaking from terror and blood loss.

"You okay?" A man asks as he gets out of the car. "Whoa." He rushes over once he gets a good look at her state. "Okay, come here. Come on. It's okay." He assures, kneeling next to her. Clara stares at him in shock, not actually thinking any of the calls to the cops were successful. "It's okay. Come here. Okay. Calm down. Hey."

Clara lets out relieved breaths as the cop helps her stand up.

"Calm down, it's okay. It's okay." The cop tells her.

"I-I-I nee-ne-need you to call my-my dad." Clara says, stumbling over most of her syllables.

"Okay. Okay." The cop nods.

"He-- he's an FBI agent. He wo-works in Virgi-Virginia." She says as the cop leads her to the car.

"Okay. We'll call him."

"We need to now. There are these crazy people and they are trying to kill me!" Clara gasps as a knife slides across the cop's throat, his body dropping to the floor. Clara stumbles back, looking up at the blonde woman.

"Holy, shit." Clara mouths, not able to find her voice. She stares down at the cop in horror, stumbling back and bumping into the open car door.

She quickly backs up and gets in, slamming the door shut and locking it. Clara reaches for the keys, but doesn't find them in the ignition.

She starts to quickly search for any place the keys could be, quietly panicking.

Clara freezes when she hears clanking against the window, the girl's breath stuttering as she realizes her predicament. She slowly turns, violently shaking as she looks out at the blonde who holds the keys up for her to see.

The blonde starts to unlock the door as Clara moves over to the passenger seat. She spots the rifle that's in some sort of holder and tries to get it out.

"Come on, come on." She begs.

The blonde climbs in, kneeling in the driver's seat. She slashes at Clara, the girl screaming out in pain as the knife slices her skin. 

"Ow! Ow!" She cries out as she gets cut. She holds her hand out, the knife slicing her palm making her yelp. 

Clara kicks the blonde in the stomach, kicking her out of the car. Clara grabs the shotgun and aims it at the blonde when she starts to get back in.