Of Beasts and Men

Chapter 7

One year, three months, and twenty-one days before...

Reid groaned as he woke, briefly wondering why his bed was so cold. He shifted to see if he could pull his blankets back up, which was when he finally registered the duct tape binding his wrists together and another piece over his mouth. It didn't take long for him to remember what had happened. He took a deep breath through his nose, despite the many experiences he'd had being held hostage or stuck in other dangerous situations, it never seemed to get any easier to calm down long enough to think. Thankfully, the steady breathing helped to clear his mind.

First step: Figure out where you are. This was made difficult by the complete darkness that surrounded him. He let his fingers brush the surface beneath him and found that it was carpeted. The roof was metal and only a few inches above his head, he couldn't stretch out fully either without his legs and skull hitting walls. He smelled gasoline, which, coupled with the rest of the factors, suggested that he was in the trunk of a car, likely a sedan given the shape of the trunk. Okay, he could work with that.

Step two: Is there anything around you that could help you escape? It was difficult to check his pockets, but he quickly realized that his keys, gun, phone, and bag were all gone. He felt around the edges of the trunk with his bound hands and was disappointed to find that the space was completely void of any objects at all, besides himself. He didn't discover any sharp edges that he could possibly use to saw off the duct tape, either.

Third step: Wait. Having failed at the other actions, there wasn't much more he could do until he could see or talk to his abductor. He hoped that his team would notice he was missing soon, he figured that Hotch at least knew something was wrong given their conversation on the phone. It was unexpected when the car rumbled to life beneath him, and he felt it start to move. He lay back defeated and struggled to rein his emotions.

He heard muffled sirens sounding from far away and started to bang on the hood of the trunk desperately. The car sped up abruptly and the rapid acceleration caused him to slam into the wall. Then the brakes screeched and Reid tumbled into the opposite side with a grunt of pain. The warning was clear and soon the sirens faded. Reid slumped as his last hope disappeared into the distance.

******

The hood of the trunk opened, making Reid squint against the light of day that aggravated his headache. That didn't keep him from clearly hearing the click of a gun being cocked, however.

"Sit up and stay quiet and I won't have to shoot you," A voice demanded, Reid tentatively cooperated, though the duct tape on his mouth and hands would have made it difficult to do otherwise. He blinked to adjust his eyes to the brightness as he was tugged out of the trunk and made to stand rather unsteadily on the pavement. He glanced at his assumed kidnapper who had a tight grip on his elbow, supporting him.

The man was slightly shorter than Reid, but much older. His styled black hair was streaked with grey, especially at his temples. He had a worn, but kind face, there were crinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth, indicating that he smiled a lot. But when Reid looked into his brown eyes, they were void, empty of emotion, which scared Reid more than the gun still pointed at him.

The Unsub led him across a neglected yard and into a dilapidated house that could more accurately be described as a shack.

Once inside, the man forced Reid into the corner of a small room off the main hall. There was a dusty mattress against one wall which the agent was made to sit down on, below the only window in the room, which was boarded up. He was relieved when the duct tape covering his mouth was torn away, albeit painfully, allowing him to breathe more freely. The man stepped back and lowered the gun, seeming to study Reid with a calculating gaze. Given that the weapon was no longer trained on him, the profiler took a chance and spoke up.

"Where am I?" He was surprised when the man answered in a charitable tone.

"Wisconsin. This will be your home for the next while, I'm trying to find a better area to set up though, and once your head heals, the experiment can begin. Sorry about that by the way, whacking people in the head isn't my usual style, but I was in a hurry. Jamie'll be joining us in about a month, I would say, when your damn team is off his back. For now, it's just you and me." Reid blinked at the unexpected information, this Unsub was being bafflingly friendly. He vaguely remembered the name Jamie and knew that it was somehow pertinent to the case, but his skull still pounded with the aftershock of the probable concussion he had sustained and made it difficult to focus too hard. He decided it was safe to ask another question, though.

"Who are you?"

"Ah, well now. My name is Doctor Clint Hatfield. You met my assistant, Jamie, we're working on a project involving Ātmāra. I'm sure you already guessed that though."

"Something along those lines," Reid agreed. It was starting to come back to him. He winced when the shrill ring of a phone sounded. Dr. Hatfield pulled a cell out of his pocket and glanced at the screen.

"I apologize, Spencer," Reid startled, he hadn't realized that the doctor knew his name, "I must take this." He stepped out of the room and locked the door, leaving a confused and scared Reid inside with no way out.

******

They spent a month in the crumbling house, during that time, Reid never left the room he had been put in when they first arrived. He was given three meals a day, and Dr. Hatfield always engaged him in conversation on these occasions. They usually discussed various inquiries in the scientific field, Reid discovered that Clint, as he came to know him, was actually quite brilliant. He got to know the man very well, but the doctor never told him anything about the Ātmā project, and always left when Reid tried to bring it up. Though he didn't talk about her much, he had mentioned someone named Julia, who Reid presumed to be the man's daughter, and it was always with an air of great sadness. He knew that Clint often left the house, he could hear the car when it drove off. Sometimes, it was hours before Clint returned.

Reid had long ago given up on escaping. The doctor had removed the bonds on his wrists during the first week, but he never failed to lock the door behind him and there was nothing within the room that could potentially aid in an attempt at freedom. Despite the amiable nature of their relationship, Clint always kept his gun in his pocket while he visited Reid and kept his distance from his captive.

In the long stretches of isolation, Reid had little better to do than think, thankfully it was what he did best. Clint had given him a pen at his request, and he would scrawl complex mathematical equations on the walls of his prison in order to keep himself busy, even though he could probably solve most of them in his head granted enough time. He also ruminated on the team and his friends in Virginia. Those sessions quite often left him depressed and feeling even lonelier than before.

Finally, the day came when Reid heard the familiar sounds of Clint's car pulling up in front of the house. Something was different on this instance, however, the front door opened and Reid listened as two separate people conversed while they entered the house.

The pair came into his room, Clint was one of them, and the second, Reid recognized as the clerk from the Rochester Public Library.

"Spencer, say hello to Jamie, there will be an occasion for more of an introduction later. Now, I do believe that it is time to get out of this dump." Reid nodded in silent agreement and the three of them left together, Clint keeping a hand on Reid's elbow. When they stepped outside, it was night, Reid was stunned by the sky, a vision that he hadn't seen in a month. He didn't have long to admire the open air before the group was clambering into the car. Jamie drove and as they cruised toward their destination, Reid was left to stare out the window at the passing scenery. Suddenly, he was hit with a realization, for Jamie to be here, that meant he was no longer a suspect in Reid's abduction. That led to the question of whether the team were still looking for him or not. If they were, it wasn't likely that they would find him, as their only lead was now in a different state. He was filled with sorrow and had to hold back a sudden wave of tears.

******

The journey ended in the parking lot of what seemed to be an abandoned veterinary clinic. Jamie took Reid inside and shoved him into an old dog kennel, the agent preferred even the tiny room in the falling-apart shack to this. Being treated like an animal didn't sit well with him, not to mention that it was cold. At least the kennel was from floor to ceiling, meaning Reid had enough room to stand up and move around. He slid heavily against the back wall to the ground and began to wait.