UNDER REVISION Silence in the Scars (A Criminal Minds Story)

Chapter 11: Wishful Thinking

UPDATED: 12.19.16

Reid couldn't tell how long he had been sitting in the chair. After Zoe had left, he had heard a car engine turn on and then drive off. He kept trying to loosen the ropes on his ankle. The rope binding his left ankle had loosened enough for Reid to almost get his foot free. A car engine grew louder and stopped outside the shack. Reid froze, trying to figure out who was outside the building.

The door to the shack opened and Zoe walked in, holding a take out bag from one of the local fast food joints. Reid couldn't stop the small flinch as she slammed the door shut behind her.

"You know," Zoe said. "You're awful jumpy."

The delicious aroma of food filled the room. Reid's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. Zoe dropped into the chair opposite Reid and propped her foot on Reid's chair again. She opened the bag and pulled out a large greasy cheeseburger. Reid studied the dirt patterns in the floor as Zoe ate. The concussion was making it difficult for Reid to organize his thoughts.

"You don't talk much," Zoe said. She pushed the edge of Reid's chair, causing it to tilt back slightly on the back two legs. Reid's head snapped up, Zoe smirked and let Reid's chair fall back on all four legs.

"Why did you kill those girls?" Reid asked. Zoe's mood was calm, for once, but Reid wasn't sure how long that would last.

"Cause I could," Zoe said. "Cause it was fun. They were idiots who deserved to die. Take your pick."

"What did you with Jennifer Ford?" Reid asked. He had been wondering about the fate of the latest missing girl.

"She's dead," Zoe replied. "Had to make room for you."

"How did you pick which girls to kill?" Reid asked.

Zoe crumbled up the takeout bag and lobbed it into the corner of the room. "What? The big bad FBI agent can't figure it out?"

"We first thought the girls were surrogates," Reid said. "But if you picked the victims, my guess is that it had something to do with Jack."

"Knew you were smart," Zoe said. "Okay, my turn for a question. Why did you join the FBI?"

"Why do you want to know that?" Reid asked.

"You fascinate me," Zoe replied. "Someone as smart as you could do anything that they wanted. You choose to work with the BAU. I wanted to know why. Your job seems very depressing, what with all those nasty serial killers."

Reid refrained from pointing out that Zoe was a serial killer. "I guess I wanted to help people.

"How selfless of you," Zoe said. The sarcasm was practically dripping from her tone.

Reid glared at her, but didn't say anything. There was the sound of a car pulling up outside.

~

Outside the Hill Lake Liquor Store, Tyler sat behind the wheel of the beat-up black car that Zoe had lent him, fuming to himself. The whole situation had gotten further out of hand faster than Tyler could have ever predicted.

It had started out as a laugh. Zoe had suggested they stalk someone, she even provided the perfect target. Tyler thought they were just gonna scare the poor girl. There was hardly anything to do in this town and Tyler thought it would be a fun way to pass the time. It wasn't long before Zoe decided they needed a bigger thrill, a bigger challenge. Before Tyler knew what was happening, he had gotten caught up in Zoe's twisted mind games and now six girls were dead.

Tyler wanted out, but he knew that the only way that was happening now was if Zoe killed him or if the cops caught them.

The image of the FBI agent that they had kidnapped kept drifting to the front of his mind. Tyler wanted to help, he really did. The agent hardly looked old enough to even be working for the FBI. Tyler wasn't an idiot. He knew that Zoe was planning on killing the agent. Tyler briefly entertained the thought of leaving an anonymous message for the FBI with the location of the shack. He quickly dismissed the notion. Zoe wouldn't hesitate to shoot the agent at the first sign of law enforcement and she would roll on him immediately. Tyler didn't even know where he would go.

"Hurry up, Jack," Tyler muttered. He wasn't keen to get back to the shack. Zoe's tempers were becoming more violent and more unpredictable. Tyler was however, sick of his own thoughts. Anything would better then the endless repetition of "what-if's" that kept running circles around his thoughts. There was also the increasing unease that Zoe would just simply kill the agent if they were gone too long.

"Finally," Tyler growled. Jack was at the cash register. Tyler watched as Jack handed over his credit card and then chatted with the cashier, a petite blonde whose platinum hair looked more like it was from a box then natural. The sound of distant police sirens did little to calm Tyler's already frayed nerves. Jack and the blonde were still chatting when a black sedan pulled into the parking lot. Tyler was about to get out of the car and go drag Jack back to the car when the occupants of the sedan stepped out.

Tyler paused, his hand on the door. The people who got out of the sedan looked familiar. Tyler's paranoia was in overdrive. There was a woman in a sharp grey suit with dark hair, an older white man with dark, slightly graying hair, and a black muscular man. Anther sedan pulled up and a blonde woman and another older man, this one with graying facial hair stepped out. Tyler was still trying to figure out where he recognised them from when he say the holstered guns and the faint glint of sun of something shiny on their belts.

"Oh fuck," Tyler swore. It was the rest of the FBI team. They were probably looking for their kidnapped agent. How did they even know where to find them? Tyler ducked down low in his seat, but the agents weren't looking at the parking lot. Their attention was fixed on the liquor store, where Jack was. Tyler scrambled for his phone, punching in Jack's number. He had to warn Jack that the FBI was outside. Tyler hit the call button just as Jack finished flirting with the cashier and stepped outside the liquor store.

"Jack Mullery!" One of the agents shouted. Tyler peeked over the top of his steering wheel. He watched as Jack dropped the bag he was holding. The glass contents shattering upon contact with the pavement. Brown paper shredded as it was soaked with beer and glass shards, the liquor running across the ground.

"Dammit, Jack," Tyler muttered. Jack never made anything easy. Tyler watched as the black agent tackled Jack to the ground, wrestling handcuffs onto Jack's wrists. Tyler caught Jack's eyes across the parking lot.

He didn't wait for Jack to sell him out to the feds. Tyler revved the engine and drove out of the parking lot at a speed that he hoped wouldn't attract the attention of the FBI. The only thought that was running through Tyler's mind was how the hell he was going to explain this to Zoe.