Clueless

Negotiating Lives

"My phone is gone." Rowan frowned, looking under her blankets. "Emily, have you seen my phone?" She asked her roommate.
"Nope." She shook her head.
"Wh- I left it right here." She stressed.
"It's okay. We'll look for it when we get back." Prentiss gently took Rowan by the arm and led her out the door.
•
"Where's Spencer?" Rowan demanded the moment she stepped into the office.
"He's in the back." Morgan answered.
She went after him quickly, earning the looks of several.
"Rowan! Sorry I didn't answer my phone last night: I didn't see the calls till this morning." Rowan's fear was true.
"Hotch!" She half-shouted, jolting Spencer. She couldn't form her thoughts.
"What is it?" Aaron approached the two.
"The unsub has my phone. She got into our hotel room with an ex- Interpol and an ex- CIA agent undetected. And she contacted Reid." Rowan managed. "She was in our room. She could have killed us-"
"Are you sure you had your phone in your room?" Hotch pressed.
"I have an eidetic memory, Hotch. I'm positive."
"Alright. Reid, stay with her."
•
"You are not using him as bait." Rowan stood up as JJ entered the room her and Spencer had been sitting in.
"I don't like it either, Rowan." JJ said sadly.
"No, you're not doing it. They have to understand that Spencer might die." Rowan looked at him.
"If it catches the unsub-"
"You are not allowed to negotiate your own life like that!" Rowan's voice was rapidly rising.
"Rowan," he said softly, standing and reaching for her. He tentatively touched her face, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear. "You'll be there, too. Just hiding. Alright? I won't even be in danger." Reid's hand didn't move, still lightly touching her face. "Alright?"
She started to nod, slowly. "Alright."
•
Rowan was positioned with a rifle in the shrubbery where no one could see her. She, however, could see the unsub.
She had long blond hair and dark brown eyes. She was shorter than Spencer and had birth mark on her left cheek.
Rowan's instinct was to pull the trigger before the unsub could hurt Spencer. She had to restrain herself, however.
She couldn't hear them but was watching them closely, watching for the woman to make a move.
If she so much as went for a weapon, Rowan would end her.
"You know, you're the first contact on her speeddial. She must really like you." The woman said. "That's why you're not going to make her shoot me. You're going to tell her to stand down."
"I can't do that. I came alone." Spencer lied. She narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Now's the part where you kill me?" He guessed.
"Now's the part where you drink this and go to sleep." The woman offered a bottle of water.
"I know paralysis. I know I'm not going to sleep. I'll still be able to feel just not fight." Reid looked at her dubiously.

"If you want to keep her safe, Spencer Reid, you'll drink this and everything will go away." She promised him.

"Your word has no weight. You could promise to keep her safe and kill her the next instant. That threat isn't going to change my decision to not drink that water." Reid was talking quickly: part of him was terrified she already knew Rowan was in the bushes.

"Then I'll have to force you." The moment she advanced, Rowan fired.
A single bullet to the head.
"Are you okay?" She stood and shouldered her gun, going to Reid.
"I'm fine." He said. "Am I really the first on your speed dial?"
Rowan looked away. "I trust you more than anyone else." She answered.
"On this team?"
"I trust you more than anyone I've ever met. And that terrifies me."