supermarket flowers ⇢ s. reid

xxxiv.

Melanie's heart was beating so hard against her chest that it felt like it was the only thing she could hear. It felt like every thump got louder in her head. How else was she was supposed to feel? There was a gun pressed under her chin after all.

She didn't know if whether to lie or tell the truth would get her killed.

"Would it really matter if I told you?" She seethed. "If I said no, you'd think I was lying and you'd pull the trigger. If I said yes, you'd pull the trigger."

Ron just grinned at the journalist and moved the gun away from her. A cackle escaped his lips.

"I should just kill you for being a smart ass. How about that?" He asked, pointing the gun at her.

"You know, Ron. I don't get it." Melanie started off saying, leaning forward a bit. "You storm in here with your posse. Hold people hostage. And now you're hold me hostage. But for what? What do you get out of this? Here's the thing. This building has a back entrance. You could've escaped so easily. Hell you could escape right now."

Ron's faced softened up as he lowered the gun. Charles' ears perked up at Melanie's statement and walked up to Ron.

"Dude, did you hear that? They have a back entrance. We could make a break for it." Charles said.

Ron nodded his head. "Grab the bags." He then looked back to Melanie in which he pulled her up to her feet by her arm.

"What are you doing?!" Melanie cried. The way he gripped her arm was unbearable. She had a feeling that her circulation was going to get cut off at any moment if he didn't let go.

The man cackled and squeezed her arm tighter making her yelp in pain as she felt his nails dig into her bare skin. "You really think we're going to leave you behind sweetheart? No way. You're coming with us. Not for long anyways. I'm going to have my way with you before slowly putting you out of your misery and dumping your body where no one will find you."

At first Melanie thought the man was bluffing but when she looked into his eyes, she could see nothing but insanity. Clearly he was soulless and would kill anyone that got in his way. That should've been the first sign when he shot James considering he was the "weakest link." Now all she could think about was that she was gonna be a dead body that's waiting to be found.

[BAU Dream Team]

Currently outside of the building of Melanie's work was the DCPD and the BAU. They were all calmly, yet impatiently, waiting for a signal or a clear opening for them to go inside. They knew they couldn't go barging in in fear of innocent lives being taken away. It wasn't until people started parading outside. When Spencer and Luke were scanning through the crowd, they couldn't spot Melanie but they did spot Sam.

"Sam!" Luke called out. "Where's Melanie?"

Before Sam could respond, Emily walked up to them with mostly a look of concern on her face.

"They're keeping her." She answered.

Luke's jaw clenched. "What do you mean they're keeping her?"

Emily sighed softly. "Melanie's testing them. They probably think of her as a threat. That and they figured that she called us in."

In the team's in ear monitors, JJ had called them back onto the van to let them hear something. Emily had told Sam to wait outside with the rest of the civilians while the three of them headed back onto the van. The exchange between Melanie and the unsubs. It wasn't until they heard a gunshot that alarmed them. But once they heard Melanie start talking again, they could've only assumed the leader of the group shot one of the accomplices.