They arrived at the Station after a long, uncomfortably silent car ride, the uneasy married couple in the back, Hotchner driving, and Lynn staring out the window, trying to figure out how the unsub could have gotten Sue back to Leweys.
Entering the station, Lynn led them to the Sheriff, leaving the couple with Kevin and Paul. Sheriff Hoplar explained their situation and Lynn watched their reactions through the window from across the room.
A sinking feeling entered her stomach. She was failing her town and her friends. Even her family. The longer they couldn’t find the unsub, the more time the murderer had in order to plan and complete his wicked game. From the years he spent possibly waiting for the bodies to be discovered, he must already have some kind of plan.
To make it worse, it seemed like they hit a roadblock within the investigation- which was not totally uncommon to have in cold cases, but disappointing nonetheless since the BAU wanted to catch unsubs as soon as possible.
The mail service had no idea on how the fake letters under Lynn’s name had been sent out, and Garcia had checked for any suspicious behavior in the estimated send-out days, but nothing popped up.
They searched box after box of records and managed to empty almost each and everyone- only a small stack of four boxes leaned against the wall. Lynn’s head pounded from all the musty smells of old paper and dusty photos and she decided to take a break.
She walked out to grab some coffee until she noticed Susan at her desk with Paul in her seat, laughing with him.
Lynn slowly approached the boy from behind and grabbed him and twirled him up, surprising him and making him scream and giggle. He latched onto her neck and she held him there, sitting into her chair next to Susan.
“He’s a beautiful boy,” Susan stated, her voice sweet as she smiled at the child.
“I know, he took it after me,” Lynn chuckled and rubbed his back, knowing the little ball of energy was crashing into sleep.
“Don’t tell Kevin that.”
They both laughed and trailed off. Lynn would have been ecstatic to see Susan again, but under these circumstances, it was hard to dwell on normal conversation topics.
“We tried having kids, but it just didn’t work out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, but we are both all right. Can you keep a secret, Deputy Lynn?” She asked teasingly.
“You know me,” she answered.
“I think we should adopt a kid or two. I haven’t told him my thoughts yet…”243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfJusDDodY
Lynn reached out and held her hand, “That’s a wonderful idea.”
After the incidents with Daniel and Jenny, Susan and Lynn had grown closer than before, trying to close the gap of their two missing friends. Even after Susan moved out of state and got married to John Ford, they never stayed out of reach.
Paul fell limp in her arms and his breath on her neck signaled her that it was bedtime.
She glanced at the clock, discovering it was time for her to sleep as well.
She stood up from her desk and entered Hoplar’s office, handing Paul over to Kevin before returning to the investigation room. Only three boxes remained, and the young Spencer Reid would have stayed to finish them if Morgan hadn’t nudged the young man, as everyone else was gathering their coats and things to take back to the lodge. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7r6lwmvvP
From all the activity and the wait to solve Daniel’s murder, Lynn could have stayed up all night, but they all knew they needed clear heads to finish the investigation. Sleep deprivation would not help them find the unsub.
Kevin held Paul in his arms, his backpack of clothes on his back. He looked down at Lynn, remembering how he used to love the short woman. It had been his choice to divorce and though they were on good terms, he couldn’t help but feel that it would be harder for her to move on with their lives.
“We’re not going back home tonight, are we?”
“You guessed right. We are all staying at the lodge tonight. I can’t risk us going home after the window incident.”
“Do you really think we’re in danger?”
Lynn’s mind wandered to Sue and John, and the fake letter they had received, luring them back to Leweys. They were definitely in danger.
“We can’t be sure of anything right now,” she lied, not wanting to worry him. They’d be protected at the lodge.
“Deputy!” Sheriff Hoplar called out to her before they exited the station and he finally caught up to her.
“Yes, Sheriff?” She turned to him, only to see two officers with him.
“You and your friends will be under our protective custody tonight. Nash will guard you and Kevin and Yates will be in charge of the Fords. I don’t want anything going down tonight, got it?” He stated the question like an order, making her waver.
Was he expecting her to stay on guard through the night as well?
“Yes, sir.” She answered, not wanting to delve into it, and not entirely sure of what his expectations for her were.
They arrived at the lodge and they all went into their rooms, the agents on the same floor as Lynn and Kevin, but Susan in the floor above. Tourists had already been filling up lodges throughout mountain towns, getting ready for the new hunting season. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJrx01ucIO
Darkness filled the room after Kevin turned the light off and Lynn rested her head on one pillow, holding the other in her arms. Kevin started snoring quietly and she smiled, remembering the nights she had to get used to the sound in order to sleep.
She thought that rooming with Kevin would have been awkward, as her bed was only a foot or two away from his, but perhaps she was too tired to think about him or the old feelings that hadn’t stirred up within her heart. She had never been lucky with her relationships or dating, as Kevin had been her high school sweetheart and longest partner not in the force. It was finding someone new to date when you already knew almost everybody in town.
Even though it had only been a year and a half since the divorce, it was easy for her to let go of the feelings she had for him. He was the one who ended it anyways. She still loved him, but only as the father to her son and as an old friend. Perhaps the small thought of a certain tall, dark-haired agent made it easier to think of starting over.
She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to dispel her thoughts. She hadn’t just thought of Agent Hotchner, had she?
Yet now that she had named him in her thoughts, she knew it was true. All the subtle things he did, how he had an air of leadership and strength, and his voice- soft yet authoritative- made her realize the growing feelings she had for him.
She shook her head once again, trying to refuse the growing feelings inside- she needed to focus on the case, or go to sleep. Besides, once it was over and they caught the unsub, he would leave. Nothing would happen between them and he and his team would literally fly away, permanently gone from her life. Or, at least, she kept telling herself that. No need for hopeful thoughts. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWDdgpI877
Once the topic changed in her mind from this frivolous nature, she tried once again to go to sleep. She closed her eyes, adjusted her pillow, focused on Paul’s breathing and the constant snores of Kevin, but nothing helped. Besides the other inhabitants of the room, nothing else seemed to stir in the lodge.
The silence lit up her nerves and instead of it lulling her to sleep, it was deafening and heavy.
Quietly, she swung herself off the bed and put her holster on with her handgun in tow. Better safe than sorry. She tied her boots and didn’t bother trying to change out of her sweats and baggy shirt. It was time she checked up on Susan and John, the Sheriff’s order popping back into her brain.
Opening the door, she walked into the hallway and Officer Nash stood from where he had been guarding their door.
“What are you doing up?” He whispered.
“I couldn’t sleep. What room is the Susan in?”
“Room 26… why?”
“I wanted to go check on them.”
“You shouldn’t wander around here at night, Yates and I are here for a reason. Here, I’ll radio over to him now.”
He detached the radio from his shoulder and signaled to Yates.
“Nash checking in, over.”
Static answered. They waited a few seconds, but panic had started to creep into her mind.
“Yates, this ain’t funny, check in, over.”
Still silence.
“When did you last check in?” Lynn questioned.
“Just ten minutes ago-”
“I’m going to him, alright?” She asked him, but it was more like a statement and nothing he could do would change her mind.
“I’ll go with you-” He started to draw his weapon, but she stopped him, grabbing his arm.
“You need to stay here. If anything happened, then it means the unsub is here.”
“But Yates…”
“I’ll check on him. Please guard Paul and Kevin- that’s my whole life in that room, got it?”
His gaze rested on her, softening, and he straightened up.
“Yes, mam.”
“Good.”
Without another word, she drew her own pistol and entered the staircase at the end of the hallway, the golden lights of the stairwell bright despite the night hours.
She entered the second floor, cursing that Susan and her husband had been so far away from her room and the team. Maybe they should have stayed overnight at the station…
Rounding the corner, she scanned the area, her eyes resting on Officer Yates, slumped to the ground and the door to the room open. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQ2Q0Ku9hY
He suddenly moved once he heard her footsteps, panic in his eyes until he realized it was just the deputy, coming to the rescue.
She ran to his side and dropped to his level to assess his injuries. A bullet hole in his side bled slowly but steadily and she helped apply pressure.
“He- he shot me- ugh-“ he stammered, his left hand trying to cover the wound in his side, blood staining his uniform. He had a bleeding cut on his forehead, and she couldn’t tell which wound was first. The unsub must have fought to keep the officer down.
“We should have heard-”243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewRNP0g0YE
“It was muzzled. He took John and killed the woman… hurry…” His eyelids drooped, but she tapped his face, trying to keep him awake.
“I can’t leave you,” she started, but she knew the unsub could be escaping into the woods or the lodge that very moment.
“He smashed my radio and took my phone, just get the agents and go after him, just call an ambulance and I’ll be fine- I think that son of a bitch went back down.”
Her hold on his wound lessened.
“Are you sure?”
“Go!” He winced as he pushed her away.243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLZMT0sgznT
She stood and quickly checked the empty room, and Yates had been right. Susan's body lay dead on the floor, shot in the head, just like Daniel. There was no sign of John either.
She raced past Yates and down to her level again, dialing 911 on her way, requesting an immediate ambulance to the lodge. She ran past Nash, yelling at him to stay at his post, no matter what. The Unsub had started his final moves.
Her fist pounded on Agent Hotchner’s door and it opened quickly. The tall agent dropped his gun seeing the disheveled deputy at his door, looking her up and down.
“Lynn- are you bleeding? What’s wrong?” His voice was laced with worry.
“There’s no time, Yates was attacked, I called an ambulance- the unsub was here and Susan’s dead and John’s missing and…” she tried catching her breath, and then moved to the next door to awaken the rest of the team, only for the door to open before her hand hit the wood.
Morgan stepped out with Dr. Reid in tow. 243Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fhHLwQE8m
“We heard you, let’s go.”
With the rest of the team fully awake, they all split up into pairs, searching the rooms in the lodge, hallways, and finally searching outside around the building. Lynn walked by Hotchner’s side and noticed a door leading to the back of the building near the trash bins.
“He could have gone straight to this door from stairwell- that way Nash wouldn’t have seen him,” she stated, and Hotch nodded.
They stepped out into the freezing autumn air and rounded the corner of the building, a large wall of woods facing them. Pools of blood were scattered in front of a hiker trail, leading into the forest.
She started towards it, but Hotch grabbed her arm, holding her back.
“It could be a trap, Lynn.”
“It could be John, bleeding to death,” she stared up at him, determined.
He looked out again at the wall of forest. It could be an ambush. The Unsub could have made the trail to lure Lynn, or anyone for that matter, into his hands.
Wood crackled to their right and he drew up his pistol, but the brush blocked whatever made the first noise.
“FBI, reveal yourself!” Hotch yelled out, but more wood started cracking under heavy footsteps, running away.
“Lynn follow the trail!”
“Wait-”
“Now!” He didn’t look back at her as he ran to chase the suspect into the woods, leaving her to follow the trail of blood.
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