A/N: Hello everyone,
first of all I want to thank you for the very warm welcome to the fandom of CM 'cause I've never written a fan fiction for Criminal Minds before.
I'm overwhelmed and flattered by the positive response regarding "Cheetobreath".
So, thank you! Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, followed and favourited it - I couldn't have asked for more and it means a lot. It means so much more than you'll ever know.
Real life is a bit busy at the moment and I apologise for not updating earlier. I really wanted to, but well...life happened.
I wish I had the time to answer every review, but right now it's not possible. Sorry for that.
In case you want to chat or something drop me a message - I'll try to answer them asap.
Enough of my rambling...here is the next chapter of "Cheetobreath".
Much love to everyone and thanks again,
N.
CHEETOBREATH
Chapter 2
Avery sighed heavily at the question, "The thing is...I barely know anything about him."
JJ shared a desperate look with Reid, aware that there was not much they could do without any information. They needed something, anything really, to find out whom they were looking for.
"I'm sure there's something Emily told you about him. Anything can help", Morgan encouraged and Avery nodded in understanding.
"All I know is that she met him in Rome one summer...she was there for a vacation, visiting old friends and so on...his name is Massimo...no last name. Mom told me that when they met he told her a fake name...so she didn't make the connection instantly...but his father is a mob boss or something...nasty guy apparently. And mom said he can never find out that I exist...she wouldn't tell me why...only that I wouldn't be safe anymore if he did...they dated for a while until she found out what was going on...and that she was pregnant. Nana helped her to get away and grandma helped her to hide the pregnancy. She stayed at some small village in France the last couple of months...a friends of Grandma took Mom in and they raised me...far away from the city, far away from everything. Mom came by whenever she could and as I grew older she explained to me that it would always be that way...that it had to be 'cause it was the only way to keep me safe."
The girl wiped the single tear that had escaped her right eye away, "She might not have been there in person a lot, but I could always count on her. She's an amazing mom and we have to find her. My father...he scared her more than...than Ian Doyle."
JJ felt the chill that ran down her spine at those words because Ian Doyle had done quite the number on Emily, but she had done the math and Emily must have met Avery's father two years prior to her first encounter with Doyle. It must have been so hard to go deep undercover when you have a child you barely get to see anyway. Oh, that burden Emily Prentiss had carried for all those years without giving anything away.
Hotch came back, his expression even more serious than usual, "Garcia, you are coming with us."
"Yes, sir."
"What about me?" Avery looked at him expectantly.
"We'll get you to a safe house. A couple of agents..." Hotch started, but Avery shook her head, "No. I'm not staying here."
"We can't guarantee your safety if we take you with us", Hotch reasoned, his lips nothing, but a thin line.
Of course Avery, being as smart as her mother, didn't accept that answer, "You are going to Interpol, right? And I take it the computer lady", she pointed at Garcia, "Isn't going out into the field with you. I could stay with her...I mean...people can't just storm the Interpol building and take me..."
"Kid, we don't know how your father found out about you yet...there might be a mole at Interpol", Derek tried to explain.
Avery shook her head again, "Impossible. Mom told no one. No one. Baptist registered my phone in his name...in case anyone would check whom she's been talking to it would appear that she talked to one of her mother's friends. Same goes for my email account. I doubt someone at Interpol dug deep enough 'cause find out anything 'cause there's nothing to find."
"Then how did your father find out about you?" Rossi asked and entered the room.
"Not a clue", Avery shrugged helplessly.
The profiler hummed, apparently weighing his thoughts, "We should take her with us though. Once we are in Emily's apartment we might need her help."
Avery realized that he must have overheard her discussion with Agent Hotchner, "I promise I won't do anything stupid, but I need to go. Mom has always kept me safe...it's my turn to help save her."
"You'll stay with Garcia at all times. Is that clear?" Hotch eyed her closely.
"Absolutely."
They boarded the plane only a few minutes later, each of them aware that this rescue mission might not have a happy ending.
They had no idea whom they were looking for 'cause Massimo was such a common name in Italy and the mob...well, with corruption and everything the information about everyone involved was far from complete and considering all of this happened about 16 years ago it would take a miracle to find something useful – even for Penelope Garcia.
Avery was curled up in her seat, listening to music from her iPod, her eyes closed.
Hotch was watching her worriedly while he poured himself some coffee when JJ appeared next to him, "How did you get Cruz to let all of us go?"
"Emily dropped everything when we needed her and he knows that. As soon as she heard you were in trouble she got onto a plane...I think it's only fair we did the same for her."
JJ nodded, "That letter she wrote me...it sounded a lot like a good bye."
She hated how defeated she sounded, but right in this moment JJ didn't feel much hope.
"Her mother is dead and we don't know what happened to this Nana...so Emily is his best chance in finding his daughter...he won't just kill her...because she is of no use to him when she is dead. And we all know how tough Emily is...she can take a lot...we have to trust in that."
"You're right", JJ agreed, but she wasn't as convinced as she wished she would be.
Emily woke up with a splitting headache and the taste of iron in her mouth.
Her arms were heavy and hurting, but then she realized that her wrists were bound together over her head and that she was hanging from the ceiling of a dimly lit room with no windows, her feet barely touching the ground.
The smell of death and decay hit her nostrils only a second later and she felt the bile rising in her throat.
"Look who decided to grace us with her presence", an all too familiar voice sneered in a heavy Italian accent.
She couldn't see him, but she would never forget that voice.
"I'm not going to tell you a thing", Emily almost choked on the blood when someone pulled her head back roughly by grabbing a fistful of her hair, "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, darling...I'm not done with you. In fact...I haven't even started."
Emily could feel his breath on her neck and she forced herself to stay calm. There was no point in wasting her energy when there was no chance to get loose at the moment.
"I want to introduce you to my friend Giovanni", he rasped out while a chubby and bald man she had never seen before stepped out of the shadows.
He was dressed like a butcher and Emily realized that they might as well be in some sort of a slaughterhouse.
She wanted to laugh at the irony.
Massimo was with the mob and he had brought her to a slaughterhouse. Oh, how original.
But then she saw the butcher's hook in Giovanni's big, right hand and she knew that things would get nasty in a moment or two.
"Get her to talk", Massimo ordered, "But do not, under no circumstances, kill her...is that clear?"
"Sì, ho capito."*
Emily closed her eyes to focus. So he at least had no orders to kill her, which means she was "safe" for the time being. She was aware that there would be pain, probably a lot of it, but pain she could handle.
That was until Massimo let go of her hair and stepped back just to watch Giovanni crash the hook into her left shoulder, right under her collar bone and excruciating pain flooded her mind.
A scream escaped her lips, a scream that echoed through the room together with Massimo's cruel laugh as he walked away and the sound of a door falling close.
* Yes, I understand.