In the Line of Fire
It took every law enforcement agent less than ten seconds to withdraw their weapons, but Bernie was faster, even with a hostage. He’d backed himself quite thoroughly against a wall holding JJ between him and the drawn weapons, a standard police issue held to her head. Emily looked around frantically, finding the guilty face and trying not to huff. They’d been so bloody careful to try and ensure this type of thing didn’t happen, so much so that their hyper vigilance on the crowd had meant no one was keeping an eye on the rest of the place.
“Bernie, what are you doing?”
Emily had to admit, she was surprised by the calm in Shaw’s voice as the man posed the question. Her heart was beating erratically in her chest, her eyes locked on JJ’s terrified face.
“This is why sluts like her shouldn’t be in law enforcement!” Bernie yelled maniacally. “They can’t even protect themselves!”
“Maybe you’re right,” Shaw responded, still surprisingly calm. “But killing her isn’t going to make a difference.”
“Of course it will,” Bernie scoffed. “Another useless whore out of the way.”
Emily wasn’t sure which emotion was flooding her more, fear at the fate of her friend, or anger at the old-fashioned way Bernie was looking at her job. She and JJ, Morrow and Garcia had been forced to work just that little bit harder to get to where they were. They had to push just that little bit more, always outsmart the rest of their male counterparts. There was never room for mistakes.
“And what about the rest of them?” Shaw asked, slipping a note of curiosity in his voice.
Emily darted a glance over to the man, surprised at his steady calm, only to find his hands shaking. It made her feel a bit better. She vaguely remembered Aaron pulling him aside this morning and wondered if the man that had written the textbook on hostage negotiation had given lessons to the Tuscon cop. It wouldn’t surprise her. When his own team was on the line, Aaron didn’t want to be the negotiator, he wanted to be in the thick of the action.
“They too will fall. Useless broads. Can’t even get their stories straight. It’s stupid cunts like this that put innocent man in jail,” Bernie raved.
Emily watched out of the corner of her eye as Shaw cocked his head to the side.
“Innocent men, Bernie? A good cop doesn’t put away an innocent man.”
She resisted the urge to wince, hoping upon hope that his words wouldn’t trigger the rage inside Bernie Dell. The last thing she wanted to see was JJ injured, not when they’d worked so intensely hard to get to this point, to keep them all safe.
Morrow made her way over to them, staying behind the police line. “Anyone got eyes on Hotch?”
The question made Emily’s blood run cold, even more so than seeing JJ with a gun held to her head. “No.”
Derek shook his head. “Haven’t had eyes on him since he walked JJ to the edge of the platform,” he responded, not taking his eyes or aim off of their unsub. “Snipers?”
“They’re looking for Hotch’s go-ahead,” Morrow lamented, her eyes trained on Dell, her voice low.
“Go for it,” Derek and Emily hissed almost at the same time. Technically, Derek had seniority, but he chalked Emily’s own agreement up to her worry for her friend.
And in part, that was exactly what it was. Where the hell had Aaron gotten off to? It wasn’t like him to leave such a precarious situation and it definitely wasn’t like him to not be around when someone else was in danger. His hero complex was legendary and something that she both admired and hated.
Derek’s voice crackled in her ear and in her earpiece. “Hotch? Come in, Hotch.”
Nothing crackled in response and Emily felt her heart rate triple. In a place like this, a time like this, she wasn’t sure she like the idea of not knowing where Aaron was. In her panic, she’d zoned out what Shaw and Dell had started talking about, but she did tense when Dell pressed the gun closer to JJ’s temple. The poor woman was going to have at least a bruise to show for it.
If she made it out alive.
He had no idea what had possessed him to do what he was currently doing. His eyes were trained on his agent and her captor, his brain working faster than the speed of light. He’d seen the tension in his team before they’d prepped for the conference, knew each and every one of them was feeling that something was off, that something was about to go wrong. Sometimes, even in their line of work, where their job was to observe simple human behaviour, you had to go with your gut.
And his had said to stay clear of the area, find a little spot just out of view, and wait for the fireworks.
It had paid off, in a manner of speaking. Bernard Dell had no idea he was there, watching, waiting, hoping for the right time to step in and end this once and for all. He’d heard Morgan’s call over his earpiece, but feared any noise on his part would draw Dell’s attention away from Shaw, a man doing a spectacular job at negotiating. When this case was closed, he made a mental note to talk to the Arizona native about working on hostage negotiation.
“She’s not even law enforcement,” he heard Shaw say, as if pointing out the obvious. “She’s a media liaison.”
“For the FBI,” Dell countered, his eyes glimmering. “She’s a cop.”
“She’s a federal agent,” Shaw corrected, changing his tactics once again. “You’re in for a world of trouble when this is over, Bernie.”
He knew what was coming next, had specifically prepped the detective for the next phase in the process. Shaw was about to poke the bear.
“Eddie wouldn’t want you doing something like that.”
He saw Dell’s eyebrows raise, his entire body tense and knew he was cutting off JJ’s valuable air supply. He knew the adrenaline of fear had frozen the blonde’s body, forcing all of her training out the window. With a gun held to your head, it was supremely difficult to stay calm so he didn’t begrudge her the missed opportunities.
“What the hell do you know about Eddie?”
“I know that no matter what he did “ or didn’t do “ he wouldn’t want you standing in front of forty armed officers choking a federal agent to death,” Shaw said frankly.
“He was an innocent man! That bitch put him away.”
“You took Eddie’s death hard, didn’t you, Bernie,” Shaw said conversationally, lowering his weapon. “He was your brother, the guy you looked up to, the guy that could do no wrong.”
“He wouldn’t be dead if it wasn’t for your stupid cop whore,” Dell snapped. “If it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t have gone to jail!”
He tensed as the gun was pressed harder into JJ’s temple.
And then came the opportunity.
He didn’t hear what Shaw had said, didn’t know what exactly had been done to set Dell off in such a way, but the gun turned on Shaw and Aaron made his move, racing out from behind the corner to tackle Dell to the ground. Much to his surprise, Dell fought with strength, rolling the seasoned agent to his back and battling him for the gun. But Aaron’s training gave him more of an advantage, not to mention the Kevlar and it didn’t take much effort to flip their positions again.
They rolled and rolled, over to the edge of the concrete steps and down two or three while the rest of the crowd looked on with bated breath.
Then came the sound of a shot.
Emily had to hold herself rigidly in check when she heard the gun go off, forcing herself to keep pace with Derek as they made their way over to where Aaron and Dell had disappeared over the edge of the steps. Neither one was moving, Aaron on top of Dell and Emily felt her breath catch in her throat. If he was dead, after doing something so stupidly heroic, she’d find a way to bring him back just to show him his entrails.
It was then she gave up all pretences of propriety, racing over to crouch down beside both men. It took her a minute to ascertain what had happened, that the gun had gone off into Dell’s chest rather than any part on Aaron’s body and she felt herself sag in release. She reached to check Dell’s pulse, unsurprised to find it non-existent. Then she moved to Aaron, almost collapsing when she found the feeling of blood pumping under his skin.
Aaron looked up at her, unsurprised to see tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. “JJ?”
Emily hadn’t even looked for her blond friend. She’d seen Spencer rush to her side out of the corner of her eye and trusted that she was in good hands. “Reid’s got her. I have no idea…” she had to trail off, unable to hold in her emotions. “You’re going to need an ambulance.”
“I’m fine. A couple of bruises,” he argued quietly. He allowed her to help him up, a little hurt but understanding when she pulled away.
“You went down concrete stairs,” Emily replied, her tone brooking no argument. “You’re going to make sure that all of your ribs are okay and the only thing you have to deal with is bruises. Then I’m going to kick your ass.”