Consume Me Like a Fire

“For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.”
― Suzanne Collins

It was nearing 9 when Shiloh’s phone rang again. She saw it was Spencer and answered it.

“Hey Spence,” she said putting her book back on the shelf.

“Hey, I’m calling to tell you I'm about to leave. I just finished the last of my paperwork so I’ll be out before anyone else,” he said.

“Well, that sounds like a first,” Shiloh laughed and sat on her couch with her legs tucked underneath herself.

“It is… I’m usually here until 11,” he trailed off. Shiloh laughed at him, but stopped when she heard her floor creak. One of the floor boards near her front door creaks when you step on it. Furrowing her eyebrows, she slowly stood up.

“Spence, are you in my apartment again?”

“Huh? No, I’m packing up my things to leave the office. Why?” he asked worried.

“I just heard something, and I thought it was you. But I locked my door so I didn’t know if you were here or something… I’m gonna go see what it is.”

“Shiloh, wait. You need to leave if you think someone is there. I’ll be there in five. Stay on the phone with me,” Spencer said as he rushed to get his things. His team stared at him in question. Shiloh turned a corner in her apartment and saw her front door wide open.

“Spencer, my door is open… The lock looks like it was pried off…”

“Shiloh get out of there!” Spencer snapped. Shiloh’s heart thumped quickly in her chest. She pulled her shoes on and went to leave, but something held her back. She looked down and saw a large hand wrapped around her bicep. Shiloh let out a scream when she was yanked backwards; her phone falling to the ground.

“Shiloh! What happened?!” Spencer yelled. He was frozen in place next to his desk. He had his car keys in hand, but his legs wouldn’t move. Derek jumped up with Emily and ran over to him. Spencer was zoned out as he listened to Shiloh scream and struggle with someone on the other line.

Derek took his phone and put it on speaker. The bullpen was filled with Shiloh yelling at someone and the sounds of a struggle. Hotch, JJ, Rossi and Garcia walked in to see what was going on. Garcia gasped sharply and held a hand to her mouth.

“LET GO OF ME, IAN!” Shiloh yelled. A resounding slap echoed in the room. There was a loud thud on the other line, and Shiloh fell silent. Everyone was silent as they waited for something to happen. Someone picked up the phone and chuckled softly.

“Dr. Reid, is Emily there?” Ian’s voice filled the room. Shivers raced down Emily’s spine and Spencer spun to face her, his eyes wide.

“Y-Yes,” her voice failed to sound confident.

“Emily, you took my son from me and that hurt. Now I will make you hurt even more than I did. I've already killed your old team. Your new one is next. First is Dr. Reid. He will feel the pain I felt when I lost Declan. By tomorrow, Ms. Montgomery will be dead.” Ian hung up, but his threat filled the room. Spencer was the first to react. He threw his bag in anger and began pacing the room. His brain was going over every scenario trying to figure out how to find him. Coming up at a dead end, he turned to Emily again.

“This is your fault!” he snapped.

“What?!”

“If you had told us sooner, maybe Shiloh would be safe! We could have located him earlier, but now he has Shiloh, and he’s going to kill her!” Spencer panicked and felt his chest constrict. His breathing grew shallow.

“Spencer! Snap out of it!” Derek slapped him across the face.

“You won’t do any good for Shiloh if you lose focus!” Derek yelled at him. Spencer bit his cheek and tried to breathe calmly.

“Morgan’s right. We need to calm down and think clearly. We have until tomorrow to find Shiloh,” Hotch told everyone. A light bulb went off in Spencer’s head.

“She called him by name. Shiloh must have met Ian in person before because I never mentioned him to her,” he explained.

“That’s good. Garcia, see if any new apartments in her building were rented out recently and get me their names,” Hotch commanded. Everyone went in different directions to get to work. They were on a time crunch, and now Shiloh’s life depended on it.

~*~

Shiloh slowly woke up to the sound of dripping water. Her head pounded harshly and she groaned in pain. Shiloh went to rub her temples, but realized her hands were bound together with rope. She tried to squeeze one out, but the rope only chafed the sensitive skin of her wrists. Looking to see if anything else was odd, she saw a chain around her ankle. It was attached to the wall so she couldn’t walk very far.

No one else was around so she closed her eyes and tried to remember everything that happened. Someone yanked her back before she could leave her apartment. She recognized Ian’s blue eyes, but he was trying to subdue her. Shiloh remembers Spencer yelling something , but she was focused on fighting Ian. He slapped her hard enough to throw her into the wall, and then everything went black from there.

“I see that you’ve woken up.” Ian walked into the dark room, and Shiloh’s eyes snapped up to follow him like a hawk.

“You tricked me… I thought you were a nice guy,” Shiloh spat at him. Ian smirked and caused his eyes to crinkle.

“And yet that’s why you're tied up, and I'm the one in charge. Listen Shiloh; I need your help,” he explained kneeling down so that their eyes were leveled.

“As if I’ll help you with anything!”

“You won’t have much of an option. When the sun rises tomorrow, I’ll put a bullet in your head. But before that, I want you to send a message to Dr. Reid. Will you do that for me?” he asked in a sickly sweet tone. Shiloh’s heart plummeted and was at a loss for words.

“Or I can kill you now and end things quickly…” Ian trailed off and pulled a gun out from under his coat. He brought it up to Shiloh’s forehead and cocked it.

“What will it be?” Shiloh’s eyes filled with tears, and her bottom lip quivered in fear. She wasn’t as brave as she was with Mr. Fritz. This was different; Ian didn’t care if she lived or died.

“I-I’ll send the message,” she whispered. If she could buy time for Spencer, he and his team will be able to find her. She just needed to believe in them. Ian smiled at her and put the gun away.

“That’s a good answer. I’ll be right back.” Ian left the room and came back with a small video camera. He turned everything on and handed Shiloh a piece of paper. She stared at it blankly until Ian cleared his throat.

“Read,” he demanded and hit the record button.

“My name is Shiloh Adele Montgomery. I was abducted at 9:04pm tonight because the FBI is in-incompetent at their jobs. Now the FBI has until 6am tomorrow morning to find me. Otherwise, I will be killed ex-execution style, and my body will be left in front of the FBI headquarters. The only way to stop him is if Declan is given back to his father. Once the boy is ready to be returned, call this number: 555-489-6321. Don’t bother trying to track it; it’s a disposable,” Shiloh took a shaky breath and couldn’t read the rest. Her tears were falling on the paper, and her tied hands were aching against the rope.

“Finish it.” Shiloh glanced up at her tormentor who still had the camera aimed at her. She shook her head quickly.

“Shiloh, we made a deal,” Ian drawled and pulled the gun out again. He rested it against her forehead; Shiloh closed her eyes tightly.

“Finish reading.” Shiloh took another breath and forced herself to continue.

“If these terms are not met, you will never see me alive. Then he will track down Spencer and kill him the same way. Slowly, he will kill the rest of the agents who were ever involved with Emily. It’s up to you to decide what happens…” Shiloh dropped the paper and hung her head sadly.

“Anything you’d like to add?” Ian asked with sick amusement.

“Please come find me…” she whispered, but it was loud enough to hear on the video. Satisfied, Ian turned the recorder off and walked out of the room without another word. Shiloh pulled her knees into her chest and cried in anger and fear.

~*~

“Garcia, how’re the traffic cams coming?” Hotch asked the tech. The normally bubbly blonde shook her head.

“There’s a lot to go through. I’m going through all the ones around Shiloh’s apartment,” she explained. Hotch nodded and went back to talking with his team.

“So we know Ian rented an apartment in the same building, but under a different name. There’s bound to be a video of him putting Shiloh in a vehicle. Then we should be able to track their movement with the traffic c—“

“Hotch! You need to see this!” Garcia yelled. The entire team ran into her computer cave and hovered around her computer.

“I just got this video sent to me from an untraceable source…” Garcia clicked play and the screen filled up with a video of Shiloh bound and being forced to read. Spencer’s heart clenched tightly at the sight. He balled his hands into fists to keep his anger in check. Never in his entire life has he felt so useless.

”Please come find me…”

Spencer’s heart stopped as he watched the woman he was falling for cry at the hands of a man he should have caught a long time ago…

“We’re running out of time!” Spencer snapped. Everyone was silent for a minute before Garcia jumped again.

“I found them!” she pointed to her screen where a traffic cam caught a picture of Ian running a red light. The time was 9:06pm.

“Good job, Garcia. Find out where he took her!” Hotch said as everyone got ready to leave.