Chapter 12

The drive to Peter Douglas' house was fraught and tense and filled with the kind of energy that could only be felt when someone's life was in danger. Morgan and Rossi drove in one jeep, tearing down the freeway so fast they were almost flying, whilst Hotch and Prentiss rode in the other. They had barely spoken since Quantico; what was there to say? They had to find Reid, that was their priority and neither of them were unprofessional enough to let think about anything other than finding Reid as quickly as they could. In the office they were both buzzing with the electricity of desire but now, as they drove to discover their friend's fate, they were powered by adrenaline and fear.

It was still there though, this pull between them. They seemed to be moving in sync; it was as if they were planets that had finally aligned in the night's sky and the eclipse they created was beautiful and mysterious and made all those who saw it consumed with awe.

When they had left the offices Garcia had gone right about alerting the authorities who were local to Douglas' ex-wife and she and her new husband had been moved to a safe house already. The new husband was indeed an FBI agent, as Douglas has claimed, and he was respected by his peers for the many cases he had helped to solve and the many lives he had saved. There was nothing bad or snake-like about him. Peter Douglas had not been located yet and this unnerved the authorities, but they were prepared for him.

Almost three hours later, Morgan and Rossi arrived at their destination, have shaved a considerable amount of time off their journey due to slightly reckless driving. Hotch and Prentiss weren't there yet, but the two agents weren't going to wait around for their colleagues. They had to move.

Guns held high in front of them, Kevlar vests strapped on and fierce determination in their eyes, Morgan and Rossi certainly looked the parts but under their pretences they were both terrified. They would never be able to live with themselves if Reid wasn't absolutely fine. Nobody could imagine a world without their sparkling genius...it was a terrible thought.

Morgan wasted no time at all in kicking the front door and yelling "FBI!" as he scanned the front room. He and Rossi instantly recognized the couch and the radiator from the first video they had seen of Reid's abduction. They checked out all the rooms of the first floor, calling Reid's name as they searched. Nothing. Morgan was about to storm upstairs when he heard Rossi calling him.

"Morgan! Hey, Morgan, through here!"

Morgan sprinted as fast as he could to where he'd heard his older colleague's voice. Had he found Reid? When he found Rossi, we was just standing there, stock still, head tilted, listening intently.

"Ya hear that?" he asked Morgan. Morgan froze and concentrated on the silence of the house; or what he thought was silence. There was the faint sound of rushing water.

"We near a river?" Morgan asked.

"No," was Rossi's reply and dread overwhelmed both men as they couldn't help but picture their friend floating lifelessly underwater, dead...

Morgan scanned his surroundings; they were standing in a hall by the stairs. The first thing Morgan noted was the awkwardly placed ceiling-high cupboard. The second thing he noted was the scuff marks near the feet of the cupboard, showing it had been pushed there. Recently.

"There's a door behind this thing!" he exclaimed and grabbed one side of the giant cupboard, pushing it away from the wall, "Help me move it, man!"

The two men made short work of moving the clunky furniture and sure enough there was a door there! Morgan second-guessed that it would be locked so he kicked it down with almost super human strength. He and Rossi bolted down the stairs and saw what they had been dreading; a few feet of water filled the bottom of the basement, gushing ever still from a rusty old tap in the corner. Below the surface they saw the outline of a body.

Hotch and Prentiss pulled into the driveway and left the car next to Morgan and Rossi's identical ride.

They jumped out and sprinted to the open front door, and upon entering they heard what they feared the most...

"He's not breathing,"

Morgan jumped into the water without hesitation. It really was very shallow, but a smart statistic-spouting genius once told him that it only took a couple of inches of water for someone to drown and be lost forever. He bent down to his still friend who was completely submerged with an eerie blue glow cast on his face from the water. There was a slab of concrete weighing him down.

"Oh no no no no," Morgan groaned as he thought about what a horrible sensation it must be to be trapped underneath the water like that...a terrible way to die...

Rossi was beside him in a second, and wordlessly they lifted Reid's motionless body from the water, grunting from the weight of the concrete. Rossi ripped the concrete off Reid's chest, while Morgan supported his unconscious friend and they both proceeded to lift their colleague up the stairs to somewhere they could revive their friend. They laid him down on the soft carpet of the living room, instantly soaking it, water turning the light red surface a blood red crimson.

Morgan began performing CPR on Reid's motionless body, pumping his chest with forceful, desperate motions.

"He's not breathing," Rossi said, frozen to the spot.

Hotch and Prentiss saw the terrible sight upon entering the living room of Peter Douglas' house. Morgan was pressing down on Reid's chest with the timed beats of CPR, murmuring "Come on, come on, come ON," as he did. Rossi was just standing there, covering his eyes, the picture of a broken man.

Hotch laid a gentle hand on Prentiss' shoulder, pulling her out of her horrified stare.

"Emily, call an ambulance," he said softly looking deep in her eyes, absorbing some of the sorrow that was brewing in them, relieving some of her pain. She went to the nearest phone and began dialling, whilst Hotch knelt on the other side of Reid and began trying to remove the duct tape from his mouth to aid the CPR. Reid was still not moving.

Morgan rested his head against Reid's chest, trying to listen for a faint flutter, anything. Beneath his friend's sodden clothes he could feel a bony, fragile chest and he realised with crushing sorrow that Reid just hadn't been strong enough,

That made Morgan's shock when the body began to buck and convulse on the floor even more intense.

"Oh my god, Reid!" he yelled, astounded.

Hotch finally succeeded in getting the tape off Reid's mouth and was immediately greeted by a fountain of water that the genius was coughing up from his lungs. Reid coughed and spluttered and heaved but it didn't matter; he was alive.

Reid saw black spots in his front of his eyes and his chest felt heavy and full of water. He coughed and coughed, expelling water from his lungs and gulping in the sweet fresh air. He was cold and everything hurt, but it didn't matter because he was staring up into the faces of his friends. Prentiss, Rossi, Hotch and Morgan were all beaming down at him, waiting for him to speak.

"You found me," he croaked, trying to smile. He had never been so grateful.

Prentiss leaned down to his side, a pair of scissors in hand. He could hear an ambulance siren somewhere in the distance.

"Here, hold still," Prentiss said softly. Everything sounded to Reid like he was still underwater. Prentiss began gently cutting through the soggy duct tape on Reid's ankles, his knees, torso, elbows and wrists; it was glorious to be free. He didn't even notice Hotch's fatherly hand on his shoulder or Rossi's soothing words of comfort. He passed out, happy, in the presence of his team.