"𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗴𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴"
-𝗖.𝗦. 𝗟𝗲𝘄𝗶𝘀

-----

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲

JJ, Spencer and Valentina were now stood outside the residence of Tobias Hankle after Hotch had told them to go over there.

"Hi, Mr. Hankle?"

"Yeah" The way he spoke, he sounded nervous Val thought.

"I'm Agent Jareau, this is Agent Ortiz and that's Agent Reid. We're from the FBI" JJ greeted the man, a smile present on her face even though something seemed off as she showed him her ID badge.

"FBI?"

"May we come in?" Spencer asked.

"I'm sorry. I don't let anyone in the house" He quickly replied, his face full of worry.

"Actually, I really have to, you know, go" Spencer stuttered, Valentina and JJ held back a laugh, this conversation instantly becoming awkward.

"You do?" Val asked.

"Yeah, for like thirty minutes"

"Why didn't you say something in the car?" Spencer ignored JJ's question "Do you mind?" He asked Hankle.

Again he looked back into the house for a second "I'm sorry. My father doesn't like it"

"Your father? Aren't you like thirty?" Val's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the man, she thought people moved out of their parents around the twenty mark.

"At what age can one start disrespecting the wishes of their parents?"

JJ then cleared her throat as Spencer looked around awkwardly "You witnessed something a few months ago, that might be very helpful to us"

"I did?" He asked, confusion written all over his face.

"You saw someone go over a wall into a yard. You called the police?" The blonde reminded him but by the look on Hankles face showed he really didn't have a clue.

"Me?"

JJ frowned "You didn't?"

"Sorry"

"Is there another Tobias Hankle here?" Valentina sighed and shared a look with JJ.

"Just me and my father, Charles"

"Well there's a report on file that lists you as calling 911. You were walking a dog" Val told him and yet he still had that confused look on his face.

"No, that's wrong. I don't have a dog"

"Oh. All right. Well, sorry to bother you, sir" JJ nodded and sent him a smile.

"Are you sure I can't just quickly use the. ."

But Spencer was cut off by Hankle "Sorry. Have a good night" And with that, he shut the door.

"There's something wrong here" Val said as the three agents started to walk off the porch, her eyes checking their surroundings "Like why would you call the police just to say I didn't later on?"

"To gauge the response time" Spencer stopped as he came to a realisation, he'd figured it out.

"What?"

If you were going to kill somebody but you wanted to call the police first, what would you need to know?" He continued.

"How long it takes them to get there" JJ's words came out slowly but they were more like a question rather than a statement. Spencer nodded before jogging away.

"Reid!" JJ scolded him like a mother would a child. Sending a nod to Valentina they then jogged after their coworker, the former soldiers hand rested on her gun as she kept checking their surroundings.

While Spencer's eyes were set on looking through the window of the house "Guys! Get back here" He yelled but in a hushed voice "He's the unsub. He's in the barn, come on!"

The trio made their way over to a big, red barn and leant against the wall to pull out their guns "He's in here"

"Are you sure?" JJ breathed heavily, catching her breath from running, while Val didn't even break a sweat.

"Have you ever seen me pull this thing out when I wasn't?" He referred to his gun "Call Hotch"

The two agents just looked at him like he was dumb "We're in the middle of nowhere, Reid. We have no call service" JJ huffed.

"Of course, we have no service. Great" He spoke sarcastically.

"Okay, this is not how I expected my first case at the bau to go" The brunette spoke.

"Right. You both cover the front, I'm going to go around back. Hotch knows we came here. He'll come looking for us. We'll just wait him out" Spencer suggested.

"Reid! We can't just split-" But the doctor had already rushed off leaving one frustrated coworker and the other confused "-up" Val finished her sentence with a sigh.

"You good?" Valentina asked JJ who nodded slowly "Well I feel safer with you by my side so yeah, I think I'm good"

Valentina sent her a small smile before they heard what sounded like Spencer's voice "Guys! Guys, he's out back" It was faint so the two women could barely even understand what he's saying.

"What?" JJ frowned before the door to the barn opened, the two immediately held up their guns "Reid?" JJ whispered but she got no reply.

Keeping their weapons up, all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the two agents and the wind that seeped through the barn. Valentina took the lead and in JJ's head she was very happy about that.

"Reid!" It was Valentina who whispered her coworkers name this time as they continued to walk through the barn. Their guns up and flashlights on as they observed the chains that were hanging to the side of them before Val came to a halt.

"JJ, stop walking because I think I just stepped in blood" She didn't want to believe it but when she pointed her flashlight to the floor, it revealed a small puddle of blood just around Val's shoe.

JJ did the same with her flashlight to look at the pool of blood and she moved it up to reveal a blood trail when the sound of multiple growls echoed through the barn. The two women, on high alert, pointed their flashlights at the noise which lighted up three angry dogs.

"Maybe their friendly" JJ shrugged as the two agents slowly started to back away but when the dogs looked like they were ready to pounce, Valentina shook her head "Defiantly not friendly"

The sound of muffled screams and gunshots rang out in the barn alerting Spencer "JJ! Valentina!" His gun at the ready as he started to run back to the barn before something or someone knocked him to the ground and the next thing he knew he had a gun pointed at him. His hands making their way into the air slowly. They were defiantly screwed.

-----

The gunshot rung in Valentina's ears as the dog she had shot twice fell to the floor beside her.

"Valentina? You okay?" The words of JJ spoke to her as she pulled her up and in for a hug.

"I'm alright JJ, are you? You hurt anywhere?" JJ shook her head as Val sighed in relief "Hey, where's Reid?"

"I don't know"

It was the sound of footsteps on the ground that made Val turn around and pull her gun up "FBI! Don't fucking move!" She yelled making the people in-front of her turn around in fright, their flashlights pointing at the two women making them wince.

"Val, it's just me! Val! It's Morgan and Prentiss, don't shoot!" Once the words had registered in her head she slowly put her gun down and back into her holster.

"You guys okay? Any of you hurt?" JJ shook her head and that's when Derek and Emily noticed their messy appearance. JJ's hair was knotted, Val's was falling out her low bun and their bodies was covered in dirt and blood which thankfully wasn't theirs.

"Tobias Hankle is the unsub" JJ breathed heavily as she spoke while also slipping her gun back into her hip holster.

"Yeah, we know"

"I'll go call an ambulance" One of the state police officers said before walking away.

"We just thought he was a witness. Valentina and I had to kill the dogs" Their eyes travelled to where the dead dogs laid.

"Hey, look at me" The snapping of Derek's fingers in Val's face and his hand on her shoulder seemed to snap her out of her daze "Where's Reid?"

"Wait, he's not with you?" Derek and Emily shook their heads "Fuck, I knew I should've gone after him"  Guilt was all Valentina was feeling at that moment.

"We split up. H-he said he was going round back" JJ told Emily after Derek had ran out to go check. Emily then lead Val and JJ to the ambulance for a routine checkup.

"Hey, is there any sign of him yet?" Emily asked the officer who had called in the ambulance.

"We've got every one of our units on the road. He won't make it far"

"You can't find Reid?" JJ asked as Val looked down at her hands.

"Not yet"

After searching the house with Gideon, Hotch's eyes were searching for one person and he sighed in relief when he finally spotted her "Thank god, you had me worried Val" He mumbled into her hair as he held her close to him, not wanting to let go in that moment.

"I know, I know"

-----

"Welcome to our nightmare" JJ said to Garcia, who had just walked in as she looked around. The place was a dump.

Garcia had been called in because if they wanted to find Spencer alive they needed all hands on deck "His computer is an extension of his brain. I need you to dissect it" Gideon told Garcia so Derek went to help her set up.

"So nothing new since I left?" Even though Hotch knew the answer.

"Well, the good thing is, the guy documented practically every second of his life. The bad news is, we're still unpiling" Emily told him as she looked through a box.

"From the looks of it, he hasn't left this place in years" JJ muttered, still shaken up from the previous event.

"He knew he could pretend to be looking for a motel and throw us off the trail" Emily voiced her opinion.

"No, no, no. It's more than that. Sheriffs office, 911 calls. Every time he engages with the police, he gets away with it. Reassures himself God's on his side, not ours"

Valentina was in one of the rooms looking through some boxes after Morgan had given her his jacket so she didn't have to just walk around with a blood stained t-shirt.

"How do you do it?" JJ had walked over as she started helping Val with a box.

She frowned "How do I do what?"

"Val, this is your first case and we end up nearly dinner for a couple of dogs yet you get over it, just like that. And I already asked Emily but she didn't give me a proper answer" JJ let out.

"Well me and Emily must just be one of the special ones" Val smiled "But in all honesty, it was just how I was brought up, you dust yourself off and you carry on. I got that from my dad" This time it was JJ who smiled.

"Just know none of this is your fault, alright? We're gonna get Reid back. You've got this JJ" She then pulled the blonde into a hug just like JJ did with her not that long ago in the barn.

And the two agents just stood there for a bit, not knowing Hotch was watching them from across the room, a small smile on his face as he watched Val pull JJ in for a hug. She had always been the comforting type.