Truth and Lies

Chapter 48

** Emily's POV **

It was dark and cold when I woke up. I couldn't see JJ.

"JJ? JENNIFER!" I yelled over and over, but the only response I got was my own echo.

I sat up, rubbing my arm. The room was empty, but the door was locked. I couldn't see Dasha, but I realized that I was still wearing the necklace, although the glasses had got lost along the way.

"Anyone, please help. JJ and I have been taken by Dasha, and I don't know where. But I don't know where Dasha and JJ are now, they're not here." I whispered before falling silent at the sound of light footsteps.

Dasha came in, carrying a blood-stained knife. I immediately moved away from her, backing into a wall.

"Please, don't. I just want JJ. Dasha, where's JJ?"

Dasha didn't say anything, she just walked toward me, holding the knife high.

"JJ?" I screamed as the knife pierced my left arm.

She carved a jagged line down my forearm, stopping just short of the wrist. I writhed in pain but she didn't stop there. She cut away my top and pushed the tip of the blade against my chest, drawing more blood. As I lost blood, I was starting to fade out of consciousness, and I tried to shout for JJ one last time before falling to the floor.

** Hotch's POV **

"Sir, I know where they are!" Garcia said from her laptop.

"Address, Garcia."

"2410 Briarwood Lane. An old house which used to belong to Greta Thompson, Dasha's old nanny. She died last year, it's been empty ever since."

"Thanks, Garcia. We'll call from the car." I raced out with Reid, Blake, Rossi and Detective Attwood.

We arrived within ten minutes and split up, with Blake and I taking the front.

"FBI! Open up!" I yelled before kicking in the door.

The house was empty, and there was no sign of Dasha, but then Reid called out from the back room. He pointed to the table, where Emily's glasses were neatly folded along with JJ's earrings.

"They're here somewhere." I said.

"These old houses have storm shelters, right?" Rossi asked the detective, and he nodded.

"Yeah, these were all built with safety in mind, back when we used to have large families and bad weather."

"Out back!" I ordered, and we all ran outside to look for the storm shelter.

We found the entrance covered by piles of leaves and all stood poised, our guns out in front of us.

"Ready?"

"Go." I shouted and Rossi pulled open the shelter.

"Dasha? Emily? JJ?" Their names were shouted and I heard a faint murmur.

"Help." 

I ran to where JJ lay on her back, her hands pressed against a large gash across her abdomen. It wasn't deep, but she was losing lots of blood.

"JJ, help is coming. Where's Emily?"

"Emily." She muttered before starting to close her eyes.

"No, JJ, don't you dare. Stay with me now, talk to me. Do you know where Dasha is?"

"Emily." She said again, before blood started to spurt out from her mouth. 

"JJ!" I yelled and her head rolled to the side.

The ambulance sirens were faint and I shouted for them to hurry up as I held JJ's hand whilst pressing hard on the gash.

"Sir, what's her name?" The paramedic asked.

"Jennifer Jareau. She's an FBI agent." 

"Thank you, sir. I'm going to need you to step away." 

I just stood and watched as they carried her away and didn't hear Alex and Reid approach.

"We found Emily, she's been taken to hospital too. Dasha committed suicide, she slit her own wrists and we found a folded picture as her suicide note. It was of another girl, probably around thirteen or fourteen."

I nodded silently and didn't resist when Alex took me into the house to wash JJ's blood off my hands.

"I shouldn't have let Strauss send them into the field. They weren't ready."

"That wasn't your decision to make, it was theirs. And Strauss is good at manipulating others. Aaron, don't blame yourself. It won't change what happened. But Dasha's dead, and they're safe now. They're being looked after and treated, and I've got Garcia running facial ID on the girl from the picture. Now let's go to the hospital with the others." She said gently.

"I know, I just wish it went differently. Thanks, Alex." I gave a rare smile and climbed into the SUV.

We drove silently to the hospital, only speaking when Alex's phone rang.

"Garcia, did you find anything?"

"Sadly not. I couldn't find anyone in the system with that face. And believe me I tried."

"Alright, thanks anyways. See you at the hospital?"

"I'll be right there. I hope my babies are okay."

I hoped so too. I prayed that they would be alright as we pulled up outside the hospital and raced inside.

"Jennifer and Emily?" The doctor asked.