Unhooking the Stars
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@enbies-and-felonies chapter 6!
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Broken Glass
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Lauren glanced back at the body sprawled limply in the back of the car. She’d mostly covered JJ’s still form with an old blanket she kept for the express purpose of hiding bodies, but a few strands of blonde hair peeked out, threatening to reveal the bloodstain on her temple. Lauren swore under her breath as she turned onto the highway, heading north as the sun set.
What a mess. How didn’t you know she was a fed, you idiot?
She shook her head. At least it’s dealt with now.
5 hours later, she pulled the car onto a gravel road leading to an old farmhouse in northern Maine. Once a last stop before slipping across the border, now a last resort for her to hide. Leaving JJ in the car for a moment, she crept into the barn, grabbing a shovel from against the wall. There were plenty of graves in the back garden, another hole wouldn’t make a difference. Lauren chose an out-of-the-way spot, underneath an oak tree, mostly bare in the late fall chill. Stabbing the blade of the spade into the soil, she dug around six feet into the frozen ground before turning back to the car to retrieve both JJ and her hastily-packed bag.
Dragging JJ around to the back, Lauren stripped off her jacket and gloves, throwing them into the hole and filling it back in. She looked down at JJ on the ground, just starting to stir. ‘C’mon, fed. It’s cold out here.’
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JJ awoke to find herself staring up at the low, wooden board ceiling of the farmhouse kitchen. Lauren, or Emily’s, generosity in leaving her alive didn’t seem to extend to a bed. She was untied though, and that was a surprise. Even more of an oddity was that she was alone. Emily didn’t seem to be even in the house, much less the kitchen.
That can’t be good.
Laying on the floor, JJ took stock of her unfortunate situation. Untied, so we’re not near anything. She left me alone. That’s either very good, or very, very bad. Considering the sequence of events that had occurred last night, she was rather inclined to believe the latter. Reaching to grasp at her pounding head, she found a welt that had dripped blood down her face and neck, almost certainly from the blow she vaguely remembered Emily dealing out the night before. Lovely. How am I going to get out of this one? She’s going to put a bullet in my brain when she gets back, and I don’t think I can even stand right now, let alone run.
JJ was interrupted from such pleasant musings by the door creaking open. Emily poked her head in. ‘Oh. You’re awake.’
JJ gave her as much of a glare as she could. ‘You seem disappointed.’
‘I assure you, I’m not. Just surprised.’
‘Yeah, you pistol-whipped me pretty hard.’
‘To be fair, you did lie to me about...pretty much everything.’
JJ dragged herself upright. ‘And you believed me?’
Emily sighed. ‘Not a bit. I would have liked to, though’
‘I'd like you a lot better if you’d let me go.’
‘Ah, not so fast. I believe we discussed a deal last night?’
‘I may have mentioned a possibility of leniency, but certainly not a deal.’
‘Well, I’m mentioning one.’
JJ nodded. ‘Okay. First I have to let my team know I’m alive, then we’ll talk deal.’
‘That easy, huh?’
‘I just said we’ll talk. I can’t promise you anything.’
Emily looked almost hopeful. ‘I understand.’
She handed JJ an old satellite phone from her bag. ‘I’ll be right here while you make that call.’
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Spencer answered the phone on the second ring. ‘Hello?’
‘Spence. Can you put Hotch on, please?’
‘JJ? Where are you? Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine. Put Hotch on the line.’
Hotch’s voice crackled over the speaker. ‘I’m here.’
JJ took a deep breath, conscious of Emily behind her. ‘I want a deal for Lauren Reynolds. She’s of far more use to us as a mole than in a cell.’
JJ could practically hear Hotch’s frown. ‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘We don’t make deals with terrorists.’
‘She’s an assassin, not a terrorist! You’ve made deals with nastier.’
‘Those deals still involved them in a cell. You’re proposing she stay free.’
‘JJ, the only way I will make that deal is if the other option is your death.’
‘It is. If you don’t make this deal, she will kill me, Hotch.’
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Emily stared at JJ. The silence on the phone was deafening. Finally, the man JJ had been conversing with spoke up. ‘Okay. We can promise to take her alive, and the rest will have to depend on what information she can give us.’
JJ nodded. ‘Okay. I have to go.’
Emily snatched the phone from her hand. ‘What was that? Do you think so low of me that I would shoot you in the back?’
JJ gazed back at her. ‘No. But I don’t want to see you in prison for the rest of your life, and there was no other option.’
‘I can leave! Why do you think I dragged your ass all the way up here? I can assure the fall foliage was not a factor!’
‘I don’t have no idea where we are, we could be in France for all I know! I’d like to keep you safe, and federal custody will do that.’
‘Bullshit! You might be safe, but me? I’ll be killed before I can talk. They don’t take kindly to whistle-blowers in the mob, let me tell you.’ Emily’s voice softened. ‘Why do you care so much about my safety?’
‘You deserve a second chance.’
‘Why me? Why not the child I killed last year, or his father the year before that? There is blood on my hands you cannot erase.’
‘You are not the only one deserving. But you are the one I can try to help.’
‘Oh, stop with your redemption crap. Why are you helping me? And if you say ‘because it’s the right thing to do,’ I’m gonna shoot you.’
JJ sighed. ‘No. I can assure you I’m not trying to earn any favour by trying to keep you alive.’
‘Then why? What am I to you?’
JJ had gotten very, very close over the past few minutes. Emily was suddenly aware of that fact, and found she really would rather be anywhere else than almost nose-to-nose with an FBI agent who probably wanted her dead. JJ stared back at her, eyes unreadable, for a string of moments before turning away. ‘You could be something to me. Please, don’t make us give up that chance.’
