Keeping You a Secret

The sunlight glittered against the windshield of the BAU’s black SUV, the bright light nearly blinding me as I tried to keep focus on the road. Derek and I were seated up front, with Rossi and JJ in the back. The only reason I had been allowed to drive was the fact that everyone else was too busy.

JJ was making frantic calls to the media, trying to get a few reporters to meet us at the building the unsub was hiding out in. Rossi too was yelling into his cellphone, desperately attempting to get more reinforcements to join us at the scene. Derek was busy talking to Hotch, who was driving the other SUV, along with Prentiss. Garcia, as was usual, had been left back at the police station, but was only a phone call away.

“Turn here, Spence,” Derek said, jabbing his finger towards a narrow dirt road. I turned off onto it, the cornfields on either side of the road making me feel a bit paranoid. Ever since Tobias had kidnapped me a few years ago, I’d had a fear of cornfields. It probably didn’t help that the movie Children of the Corn had also upped the scare ratio of cornfields for me.

The dirt road was long, narrow, and apparently a dead end. Where the road ended was supposedly the unsub’s location- an old, rundown general store that seemed to be falling to pieces.

The SUV in front of us came to a screeching halt in front of the store, the squealing of the tires echoing in the midmorning silence. I jumped a little, frightened by the sudden stop of the other vehicle. I slammed as hard as I could on the brake, pushing it down until it touched the floorboard. The vehicle came to a stop, just inches away from the other SUV.

“That is the last time we’re letting you drive,” Derek said firmly, unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of the car. “You scare too easily.”

My lips pursed, my eyebrows pulling together at his statement. It wasn’t so much that what he had said bothered me- it was just that it was true. I sighed, pushing the car door open and stepping out. I pulled out my gun, like everyone else had, and stood next to Derek, surveying the small store.

The police sergeant, Dale Matthews, growled as he walked towards the BAU team. He had a hand on the holster of his gun, and an angry gleam came to his eyes as he looked at the general store.

“If that son of a bitch doesn’t come out in the next ten minutes, I’ve given my men the order to shoot the whole place up,” he said, his gruff voice sounding cold. I felt bad for the man, considering he had lost his wife to the unsub, but, still, he was in the wrong right now.

“We can’t let you do that, sir,” I spoke up, clearing my throat a little.

“And why the Sam Hill not?” Sergeant Matthews demanded, his bushy white eyebrows pulling together. “That man has mutilated and killed over fifteen people! We’ve got no reason to let him live.”

“Actually, you do, sir. It’s not anyone’s place to execute this man,” I said, glancing at Hotch for reassurance. Hotch nodded, his dark eyes set on the building. I followed his gaze, noting that the unsub was staring down at all of us from the upstairs window.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, looking around at the team. “I think you should let me go in and talk to him. I think I can get him to come down quietly. Nobody will get hurt that way.”

“Reid, are you out of your mind?” Prentiss demanded. She looked at the other team members for support, but the only one who seemed to agree with her was Derek.

“Prentiss is right,” Derek said, a hint of an angry growl in his voice. “You can’t go in there, Spencer. It’s too dangerous. This man has killed over a dozen people that we know of. The number could be even higher-”

“You guys can’t just decide for me,” I protested, feeling a bit frustrated. I hated when the team babied me like this; it always made me feel like they didn’t think I was good enough to be a part of the BAU.

“Reid is right,” Hotch spoke up. “Besides, we need a way to get the unsub, James Locke, safely out of the building. Go ahead, Reid, but be careful.”

Derek threw his hands up in the air, cursing under his breath. I saw him aim a kick at the SUV’s tire as I started towards the front door of the store, my gun held out in front of me.

I used one hand to gingerly open the door, the other one keeping my gun in front of me. I stepped inside, letting the door swing shut behind me. The front room of the store was dimly lit by the sunlight pushing in through the dusty curtains, making it hard to see. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear before placing my free hand on the gun, knowing that I would need all the steadiness I could muster.

When I was sure the first floor was clear, I crept towards the staircase, listening to the sounds above my head. James Locke seemed to be pacing, his shoes scuffling loudly across the floor. From what I could tell, he was probably wearing a pair of old sneakers or work boots, which meant that our earlier conclusion about him being middle to low class would be right.

I took a deep breath as I stepped off of the top stair, my eyes darting back and forth. A quick calculation told me that James was in the room to the left, considering he had been looking out of the window that, to us, had been on the right side of the storefront.

Keeping a tight grip on my gun, I made my way to the room our unsub was hiding in, not bothering to glance into any of the other rooms to make sure they were empty. There was hardly any point, right? Wrong.

Out of nowhere, it seemed, James Locke leapt at me, a pair of big, dirty hands grabbing me from behind. One hand covered my mouth and kept a tight hold on my head, while the other one jerked my gun away and threw it back down the staircase. I struggled vainly against my captor, trying desperately to get away from him. I screamed into his hand, calling out in a muffled voice for Derek.

James dragged me into the room he had previously occupied, his hands keeping a tight hold around me. He threw me to the ground, where I landed awkwardly on my arm. A loud crack sounded around the room, intense pain causing me to cry out. My arm, from the forearm to the wrist, was twisted to an angle like a flattened out “V”. It had been rotated around so that the palm of my hand faced outward like a hand never should. I choked back a sob, looking up at the man with a mixture of surprise and fear.

James had a lengthy lead pipe held in his hands, and as I looked up, he swung it at me. I tried to scramble away, but I was limited to dragging myself across the floor; there wasn’t enough time to get to my feet. The end of the pipe cracked down sharply on my ankle, shooting pain all up my leg. I yelled, both from pain and because I needed the team to hear me.

The pipe was swung again and again, each time making contact with my body. After only a few hits, I had lost the ability to cry out, pain racking my body with each movement I made. I was curled up in a pool of my own blood, my hands covering my head as James swung once more. The lead pipe smashed into my forehead with such fierceness, it was a wonder I wasn’t killed.

I nearly lost consciousness, my eyes blinking rapidly as a cloud of darkness pushed at the corners of my eyes. The only thing that kept me awake was the sound of thundering footsteps on the staircase, muffled shouts echoing through the floorboards and into the small room.

Through blurred vision, I was able to see that Derek was the first one into the room, his gun drawn and pointed at James Locke. His gaze drifted to me and he yelled over his shoulder, “Someone call for a damn ambulance!”

“Don’t come any closer!” James Locke shouted as the BAU filed into the room, save for JJ who was presumably still outside. He pointed the lead pipe at me, jarring me in the ribs with it, “I’ll kill him!”

I let out a small whimper, feeling absolutely pathetic. Not only had I insisted on coming in here, but I had gotten my ass kicked.

“Put the pipe down,” Derek growled, his low voice visibly sending chills down James’s spine. “Or so help me God, I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands.”

James shifted his gaze down to me, a sadistic grin pulling his lips upward. He swung the lead pipe, malice shining in his cold eyes. I shut my own eyes, not wanting to see the hit that would surely be the death of me.

The hit never came.

With a force that shook the room, Derek slammed James into a wall, dropping his gun as he did so. The smaller man tried desperately to fight him off, even going to lengths to try and hit Derek with the pipe. Derek jerked the pipe away, throwing it roughly across the room. He didn’t hesitate to throw a punch at James, who crumpled to the floor, clutching his jaw.

“You son of a bitch,” Derek snarled, swinging his foot so that it kicked James right in the face. “Don’t you ever fucking-”

“Morgan, stop!” Hotch shouted as Derek kicked mercilessly at James, angrier than I had ever seen him. Four men from the police force had to pull Derek away. He shook them off, grumbling under his breath as he crouched down next to me.

The last thing I remembered before sinking into a blanket of warm darkness was the worried look Derek had as he reached out a hand to seemingly check my pulse. His hand moved to gently cup my neck, for just a moment, as the sounds of an ambulance’s siren filled my empty head.