Chapter 2: Why Him?

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As they got to the crime scene, the team spread out, searching for any kinds of clues as to who the killer might have been. Three bodies littered the ground, but they didn't seem fazed by this at all. Instead, they just walked around and over top of them, examining the ground and vegetation around the dump site.

"What would you make of this?" Emily asked, holding up a small, neatly folded piece of paper. "It's probably from the UNSUB. They either left it here on purpose, or they accidentally dropped it."

Morgan took the note in his gloved hands, turning it over and over, looking for anything suspicious before opening it. Written in sloppy handwriting on the inside of the letter was something Morgan had hoped he wasn't seeing.

You think you can catch me? Good luck. You're gonna need it. And by the way . . . watch your backs.

Spencer watched over Morgan's shoulder as he read the paper out loud to the rest of the team. As he finished, Spencer was the first to speak.

"Maybe the UNSUB saying 'watch your backs' means that he's going to start aiming for us?" Spencer asked. "Maybe, since they're attacking girls, they're going to start after J.J. and Emily?"

All eyes turned to them. Hotch seemed to think about this.

"I want someone with the girls at all times. I want regular check-ins, and the sooner we catch this UNSUB, the sooner we can get back to Quantico." Hotch said, looking at the girls, who stood side-by-side.

"Okay then." Rossi said, breaking the silence that followed Hotch's declaration. "Let's keep looking before we get back. Who knows what else the UNSUB might have left for us to find."

The entire time they were there, nothing else came up. Right before they were getting ready to leave, something caught Reid's eye.

A small, homely cabin sat deep in the woods. He wouldn't have noticed it, if it weren't for a small shine on one of the tinted windows. He decided that it would only take a moment, and slowly walked through the trees, making his way to the front door.

It really did look like any regular old cabin. Wood walls, ceiling, a dirt driveway all the way back to the place. The door was new, though. It looked like metal, and when Reid reached up to knock, he was sure. He grabbed his cell from his pocket and quickly called Morgan.

"Hey, I'm probably gonna need some help back here, so if you could just--" Spencer caught one last glimpse of his teammate through the thick forest trees before being pulled into the cabin.

"Spencer down. Come on!" Morgan yelled, crashing through the forest towards the cabin. He had just made eyes contact with Spencer before he had been taken. He wasn't sure if he was really in any danger, but if it just so happened to be their UNSUB, he couldn't be too careful.

Hotch had soon caught up with him, Rossi and the girls not far behind. They had reached the cabin fairly quickly, and Morgan tried to bust in the door.

"It's metal." Morgan said. "Go for the windows!"

Soon J.J. had been able to smash through one with her gun, and Hotch helped Morgan climb through, then himself. Rossi would stay guard with the girls, who huffed in disagreement. They could take care of themselves.

As Hotch and Morgan moved quietly through the house, communicating solely through nods of their heads, they mentally prepared themselves before entering the last room. They were surprised to hear their friend's breath and his muffled screams, but they were also surprised when they took a look around.

No UNSUB.

No Spencer.

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"Where could he have gone?" Rossi asked when they got back to the station. "And what made this
UNSUB change his type? Spencer's obviously not a girl, he doesn't have green eyes, and he's not from around here. How would the UNSUB know to get him?"

"Maybe he wasn't planning on kidnapping Reid. Maybe Reid was just at the wrong place at the wrong time." Emily suggested.

"We know he was initially planning on the girls, since they would be closer to his type than the rest of us, but maybe he's planning on getting all of us, and not just them." Morgan said.

"But why?" Hotch asked.

"Revenge?" J.J. suggested. "I mean, a lot of families have been broken while we've been around. Maybe they think we're the reason why." 

"That's a lot of maybes. We should get some definites on this guy first, before we give a profile." Rossi said.

J.J. walked over to the board Spencer had rolled in when they got there.

"Okay, so our UNSUB originally liked to kidnap, then the girls are killed and ditched." J.J. said. "What was the cause of death?"

"They were all beaten, restrained, and had 13 knife wounds on their arms and legs. Right around where they would have bled to death. The main cause of death was a clean gunshot to the forehead, right in the middle. This guy has great precision, and obviously has something to deal with human anatomy." Emily said, staring at the three pictures of the victims.

"But what if there were more than one person doing all this?" Morgan asked. "What if, since they were all lesbians, a girl lured them in, and the guy did all the heavy work? Maybe he was specialized in a field that has human anatomy in it, but the girl was just for looks."

"Valid assumption," Hotch said, "but we still need the facts to prove it."

"It's still more than what we started with." Rossi said.

Hotch nodded. "I want Rossi and Emily to go to the bar where the second victim worked, and find out all you can. Search through security cameras, talk to the manager, other coworkers, et cetera. Morgan, J.J. and I will go to the second bar, where the other women worked. We'll do the same, and meet you back here with what we found."

With that, they set off, determined to find the UNSUB that had taken their one-and-only Spencer Reid.

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Spencer stuggled against the restraints that held him tightly to the wall of the inside of the car, kicking and throwing himself against the leather so hard he had momentarily cut off circulation in his hands. He couldn't see out the windows; they had duct tape over the inside. All he could rely on was brief glimpses of light out the windshield whenever the boxes around him were bounced out of the way.

He tried to get the duck tape off of his mouth, too, but failed. He couldn't lift his arms up to do so, nor could he lean down. This man was smart, but hopefully, Spencer was smarter.

As the car slowed to a stop, Spencer realized that they were now deep into the countryside, and they were a long ways away from the nearest house. Which, with Spencer's luck, was probably empty anyway.

Spencer was roughly taken from the straps, and was blinded by the bright sunlight. It's probably early afternoon. The team would definitely be looking for me, Spencer thought as the man in front of him put a blindfold over Spencer's eyes. Spencer had already seen the man, along with wherever in the world he was now. His eidetic memory was helpful in these kinds of moments.

Please, get here on time, was the last thing Spencer focused his mind on before something sharp entered his neck.

Then, his mind went blank.



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