Bring Them Home, Morgan Chapter 1

“Hotch!”

Morgan ran through the empty bullpen and raced up the stairs taking the steps two at a time.

“Hotch!”

The Unit Chief’s office was empty. Puzzled he turned making a 360 as he surveyed the entire area. Not a soul was there. It was like the world had ended while he was out to lunch.

His phone rang and he yanked it from his belt and answered it.

“Where are they, you son-of-a-bitch?”

“Now you will learn how it feels to lose everything that’s important to you!”

“This is between you and me! Let them go! You want to take somebody, then take me!”

“That would be too easy and not nearly as much fun.”

Morgan stood on the catwalk in the middle of his worse nightmare. His team had vanished into thin air, taken by a maniac out for revenge.  It had been so long ago and way before his life had even begun with the BAU. He had to do something, anything to get them back.  The voice on the other end of the phone sent shivers up his spine. He knew far too well what he was capable of. Morgan had done battle with him nearly losing his life. He had seen his handiwork, the damage, and the joy he received from making others suffer.

“If you hurt any of them I’ll kill you! That’s a promise!”

All he heard was a sick cackle of a laugh and then the dull moan of his phone as the line went dead.

He began dialing cell numbers; one by one each call went to voicemail. He left hers for last. He was frozen in place. His hand held shaking hovering over the numbers not knowing what he would do if she did not answer.

Just as he began dialing Garcia’s number his phone rang. It was her face flashing across his phone and his entire body fought for control of his emotions.

“Baby Girl!”

“So she is the special one!”

“Let her go!”

“Don’t tell me that the eternal bachelor Derek Morgan has fallen in love?”

“If you touch her…”

“Please don’t start making idle threats, agent!”

“What do you want, Kirkwood!”

“I want you! I want you to see how it feels to watch your family die!”

“You sick…”

“Yeah, yeah I know…I’m a sick son-of-a-bitch!!! I see your vocabulary hasn’t grown much over the years!”

“Your beef is with me not them! Let’s settle this, man to man!”

“That sounds good and all but…I much rather play with your friends. Remember how I like to play, agent?”

“Don’t do this!”

“Maybe I’ll even let you watch me carve the heart out of your pretty little tech geek! Would you like that, Derek?”

Derek closed his eyes trying not to show emotion in his voice. The thought of Penelope in the hands of this maniacal killer was too much for him to handle. He had to get them back, alive and in one piece but he didn’t know how or even where to start.

15 years ago Antoine Kirkwood had haunted the city of Chicago for two years before he was stopped. He was responsible for the deaths of twenty-four women, kidnapping, torturing and killing them and then dumping their bodies in public areas staging them in sitting positions with their arms crossed holding their own hearts in their hands that had been cut out of their bodies while they were still alive.

Morgan had been the lead detective on the case and he had always known that Kirkwood had a partner but he’d managed to disappear into thin air and was never found. Kirkwood had been killed in a bloody shoot out with Derek placing a bullet in his head.  Several months after Kirkwood’s death he began receiving threats from Kirkwood’s twin brother, Andrew. After six months, the threats stopped and Morgan moved on dismissing it as nothing more than the idle rumblings of a distraught sibling. Now, Morgan understood that the silence was merely Kirkwood taking the time to plan and prepare for his revenge. Shortly after the case, Morgan moved onto the FBI and away from his life with the Chicago PD.

Unknown Location –

The room was dark and damp and smelled of old musty clothes. Hotch was the first to open his eyes and fight through his hazy vision and the darkness of the room. He was laying face down on the floor and it was hard to move; he quickly realized that his hands and feet were bound tightly behind his back. Fighting against the bindings that rubbed roughly against his skin he realized that he wasn’t alone in the room. The rustling and moans nearby stopped him, looking and squinting through the darkness.

“Hotch?”  JJ’s voice was slurred.

She too was bound and lying face down. Reid was next to her still unconscious. Alex and Rossi began stirring and struggling to sit up which was futile.

“Where the hell are we?” Rossi groaned.

“Is everybody okay?” Hotch asked looking around the room the best he could.

“What’s going on?” Garcia’s voice was shaky filled with fear.

“Reid? Reid!” Alex felt panicked when Reid didn’t move.

Hotch began rocking his body from side to side trying to gain some sort of leverage to be able to sit up. Finally, Reid began to stir and Alex let out a sigh of relief.

The entire team was there except Morgan. They had all gone to lunch together; all except Morgan who’d decided to workout instead. Hotch could only hope that he had not been captured if he hadn’t he could be their only hope of making it out alive.

“Where are we?” Reid asked groggily.

The sound of a creaky door broke up the conversation. The sound of heavy footsteps entering the room grabbed their attention as they waited for some clue as to their current predicament.

“Welcome! I’m sorry that your accommodations couldn’t be better but I assure you that that will change very soon. In the meantime, I have but one question, who wants to die today?”