CHAPTER TWELVE: ATTACKED !

4x01
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         ONCE THERE HAD BEEN NEWS THAT AN SUV BLEW UP, HAVOC REEKED IN THE CITY. Morgan and Casey were left alive and untouched as they zoomed through traffic, the police lights blinking blue and red as they rushed.

          At first, Casey was worried. Where they were, the cell lines were busy and she tried contacting each member of her team and none of them had answered and she freaked but Morgan assured her that it had been the area they were in and so he zoomed and suddenly, Casey's phone rung and Garcia's Caller ID shows up on her screen and Casey sighed in relief and knew that Garcia had been okay.

          Casey immediately answered. "Garcia, I'm here with Morgan. You're on speaker." She informed as Garcia sighed in relief. "Yes, you are. Thank God." She said.

         "We're almost back at the federal building. What the hell's going on?" Morgan asked. "All right, we're going over the closed circuit footage right now." Garcia told.

        "Who else have you checked on?" Morgan asks. "You and Willows are the first. Rossi and Reid called me." Casey sighed in relief to hear that Rossi and Reid were safe.

        "All right, well, keep us on the line while you check on everyone else." Casey told. Another voice had picked up and Casey heard Emily's voice next. "Is everyone okay?" She asked.

        "I've spoken to Rossi and Reid and Morgan and Willows are on the line." Garcia informed to the woman. "Emily, where are you?" Morgan asked.

       "I'm following Detective Brustin to one of the NYPD's critical incident command posts." Emily told. "One of them?" Garcia asked.
       "Yeah, after 911, they decentralized. They had way too many eggs in one basket on that day." Morgan told.

        "Has anyone talked to JJ or Hotch?" Casey asked. "JJ was headed back to the hotel." Emily told. "In an SUV?" Garcia asked. Emily pauses, "I think so." Garcia's keyboard is heard.

        "Stay with me a minute. I'll dial her mobile." JJ's voicemail had cut out and the cell went dead immediately. "What was that? What happened?" Morgan asked.

    "It went dead mid-message." Garcia told.
         "Try her again. She's probably back at—" Suddenly, Emily was gone. "Emily?" Garcia asked and then the line went dead on Morgan and Casey's side.

           "Garcia? Emily!" Casey asked and looked and saw that she had no signal. "Ugh, goddamn it." Casey cursed. "Hey, we're fine. Reid, Prentiss, we're okay." Morgan assured, grabbing Casey's shoulder in reassurance before putting his hand back on the wheel.

           "Yeah, but we don't know about Hotch or JJ. I'm scared, Morgan." Casey admitted. "I know, me, too." Morgan told. "But we've got to keep our cool now." Casey nodded at his words and just prayed that the remainder or her team was okay and alive.

           Morgan and Casey had arrived at a barricade in the middle of the street where officers, SWAT and ambulances were parked in front of the barricade. Since the targets were first responders, they all had to take repercussions. They exit from the vehicle and rush over to a man dressed in SWAT gear.

         "Who's in charge here?" Morgan asked. The man pointed over to a man. "Captain Warner." Morgan and Casey rush over to the man.

         "Captain Warner, I'm Agent Morgan, FBI, this is my colleague, Casey Willows. I'm looking for Agent Hotchner, Aaron Hotchner." The man looks ahead, not even looking the two's way.

       "Go back to the federal building." Warner tells. "There are evac marshaling spots. Check in to make sure they know where you are." Casey rolls her eyes and stands in front of the man, moving past Morgan in order to do so. "Listen, we are not about to do that." She told.

       The man looks down at the girl. "Get out of my face or I'll have you bodily removed, agent." Casey scoffs, not even hearing that the man called her an agent. "'Bodily removed'... I'm ninety pounds, what am I gonna do? I'm not a threat." Casey stated.

       "Please, we're here!" Both Morgan and Casey turn their heads as they hear Hotch yelling and they see him down the street. "Hotch." Morgan mutters and begins to make a run for it but a SWAT member points his weapon at him. "Hey, the area's restricted!"

        Morgan turns around towards Warner. "That's our boss down there." Morgan informs. "My orders are what they are." Morgan was getting fed up with Warner. "I don't give a damn what your orders are."

       "I get it, agent. But we've been told by you responders are the targets. So till the blast site is cleared, no one goes in." Warner told and Casey looks ahead over at Hotch and is worried. What if he's hurt? He went with Kate. What if she's hurt? Casey thought.

        Morgan looks back at Warner. "You're Marine Corps, right? Right?" The man looks down before looking back at Warner. "Please, go back to the marshaling point."

       "I'm not doing it." Morgan says sternly. "I'm not just gonna let my man lay down there like that." Morgen points as Hotch yells out: "Help us! Damn it, we're here!"

       Casey tried to make a break for it, only to be stopped and held back. "We can't just let him stay out there like that! Someone needs to do something! I don't give a damn what you want! We got to get him out of there!" She yelled.

     "Never leave a man behind. You do remember that, don't you?" Morgan turns over to Warner as Hotch yells once more.

      It was obvious that both Casey and Morgan were not gonna give up without a fight until they got what they wanted and Warner saw that. "Go." He said and both Morgan and Casey sprinted towards Hotch as they yelled his name.

     As they neared, Casey and Morgan saw Hotch cowered over an unconscious Kate and a boy had been with them. "Hotch." Morgan said and Casey gasped as she bent over down and saw Kate. "Oh, my God." She muttered.

    "Morgan, we've got to get her out of here." Hotch told. "They're not letting any ambulances down here till they clear the scene. Kid, you gotta get behind the barricades. Let's go." The boy turns over to Morgan. "Go!"

     "Go, Sam." Hotch says. "Good luck." The boy says running over in the opposite direction. "Talk to me. Can we carry her?" Morgan asks. Hotch looks down at the woman, not answering Morgan's question. "Hotch, can we carry her?" Morgan repeats. "No, I tried." Hotch told.

    "Morgan, she's gonna bleed to death if we don't get her out of here. We gotta do something." Hotch says. Morgan's cell begins to ring and he checks the Caller ID and picks up. "Garcia, I got Hotch. But listen to me. You gotta get somebody down here right away, you hear me? Right now." There is a pause. "What?" Morgan looks ahead. "You're absolutely sure?" Morgan hangs up and looks at Hotch.

     "Hotch. The kid. He's the bomber." Casey turns her head over to see the smug look on the kid's face. "Go." Hotch tells and Morgan runs after the kid and Casey takes Morgan's place as she looks down at Kate. "What do we do?" Casey asked.

     Casey turns over and yells over at the people at the barricade. "Someone! Please help us!" She yelled. There had been a siren heard from the opposite side of the street and an ambulance had arrived for Hotch, Kate an Casey and a paramedic had grabbed gear and headed towards the three.

"She's got an arterial bleed in her back and I'm doing my best to hold it closed." Hotch informed. "You okay?" The man asked as he began to get her pulse. "I just want to get her out of here." Hotch told.

"Her pulse is weak and thready. I'm gonna need your help, okay?" Hotch nods and Casey nods her head, as well. "Is the area clear?" Hotch asks. "You were calling for help and I couldn't listen anymore. My partner was too afraid to come in here with me." The man told.

"Kate, we're gonna get you out of here. We're on our way out of here." Hotch tells Kate, who is still unconscious.

"We're gonna get her on the gurney but we have to flip her over first, okay? On three." The paramedic tells. He counts and both her and Hotch flip her over to her side as they countdown. "Okay, I'm gonna clamp that artery. When I say move, move your hand and get as far out of my way as you can. You got it?" Hotch nods, "Yep."

"Okay, move." Hotch moves his bloodied hand. "Okay. I need to get a bag in and start getting her pressure up. Get the gurney from the bus." Casey stands up and gets the gurney and soon enough, they are on their way to a hospital.

Casey has joined the paramedic and Kate in the back as Hotch drives the ambulance to the hospital.

"Where's the closest emergency room?" Hotch asks. "St. Barclay's." The paramedic informs. "Where?" Hotch asks. "St. Barclay's." He repeated.

      "And where is it?" Hotch asks. "It's four blocks uptown, one block East." The paramedic tells. "Where's the emergency entrance?" Hotch questions. "Under the hospital. Just follow the signs to the ER."

Kate stirs awake. "Hey, look who's back. Hello." The paramedic says. "Kate." Casey speaks, looking down at the woman. "Is she awake?" Hotch asks. "Yeah, she's awake." Casey informs to Hotch. "Willows? When did you get here? Is that Aaron?" Kate asks.

"Are you Aaron?" The paramedic asks to Hotch. "Yeah," He tells. "Kate, we made it." The woman looks towards the paramedic. "Thank you." She says. "Don't thank me. Thank your partner. He did it all."

Hotch goes as directed to the emergency entrance but has immediately come to a halt. "What's this?" Hotch asks and Casey goes up to the front to see what's going on. "Secret Service." A man looks at Hotch. "We're directing all emergencies over to Lenox Hill." The man informs.

"I'm SSA Hotchner. I have SSA Joyner on board. She was injured in the bomb blast at Federal Plaza." Hotch informed to the man.

"Credentials."
"They're in my jacket at Federal Plaza."

"I appreciate that, agent, but this hospital is on a strict bypass." The man says. "What is-- what's that?" Hotch questions. "It means the hospital is closed. We're redirecting all emergencies to Lenox Hill."

"Sir, with all due respect, she's not gonna make it to Lenox Hill. She'll die before we even get there!" Casey told.

"I'm losing her! She's crashing!" The paramedic yells and Casey goes back and before, they know it — they're driving into the emergency entrance.

Doctors and nurses rush over as she is brought in and they immediately bring her to the surgery room. Casey hadn't even realized that she was covered in Joyner's dried blood. She looked ahead as the doors closed behind the doctors and nurses and Kate.

Casey redirected her attention over at Hotch, who seemed alert. He had immediately fallen on the ground and Casey rushed over to him, a nurse joining her. "Hotch." Casey spoke. "Hotch."

    "Let's get him on a gurney." A man tells.

    Casey sighs and calls Morgan and informs him that Hotch and Kate were now at a hospital. Morgan tells her that the bomber had killed himself and Casey sighed, not knowing how they were gonna carry on with this case. Who was responsible for all of this?

    Casey waited in the waiting room and decided to call JJ (she was relieved to hear her voice) and informed her of what was going on. Casey had finished getting off of the phone when she heard Morgan's voice. "Doc. FBI. How's Aaron Hotchner?"

    "Morgan." Casey called, walking over to him. "Willows, anything?" Morgan asked her. "Not yet." Casey looks over at the doctor in front of her. "He's got acute acoustic trauma in his right ear, and I pulled shrapnel from his leg."

   "Just lay down. Sir!"
   That had been coming from Hotch's room and the doctor, Morgan and Casey had rushed over. "Agent Hotchner, lie down." The doctor demanded.

   "Doctor, I'm all right." Hotch assures. "Hotch, stop it. Just calm down. Doc, I got it, okay?" Morgan tells. "Willows, where's Kate?" Hotch asks the girl. "She's in surgery." Casey informs her boss.

   The doctor and nurse walk away from the room.  "Where are my clothes, please?" Hotch questions.

  "Hotch, your go-bag is on its way." Morgan assured. "Has anything happened since the first blast?" Hotch asks. Morgan shakes his head. "Nothing."

    "Sam?"
    "He's dead."
    "Morgan, the profile's wrong."

    Hotch had told Morgan that he wanted the team over at the hospital now. He had also ordered for the FBI vests to go on for everyone and soon enough, everyone arrived.

    Casey had greeted everyone with a hug, even Reid. She had been worried about everyone after the bombing and was just glad that the team was here and that they were gonna fight back.

    Hotch had changed into his suit and Emily looked at Hotch and asked, "Are you ok?" Hotch sighs, "Yeah, I just want to understand why I'm still alive." He answered.

   "I think the idea was to maim, not to kill." Reid stated. "Did you identify Sam, the bomber?" Hotch asks as he puts his vest on. "Garcia put Sam and the other dead unsub into every know database. Nothing." Reid told.

    "We know how terror cells evolve. They learn from one campaign to the next. How to stay off radar like the London bombers." Rossi explains.

    "Yeah, but they, uh, they hit at 8:50 in the morning with a series of coordinated blasts aimed at London's transportation system and this cell targeted a lone SUV where the only people on the street are two federal agents." Hotch compared.
    "It's not multiple targets, it's one target. One target, one bomb." Morgan added.
    "Garcia said the device was placed under Kate's SUV." Rossi continued.

    "It was likely made using oxydizing agents, including chromates, peroxides, perchlorates, chlorates and Red Mercury — all jammed into a device no larger than a cell phone." Reid tells.

    "Imagine what a bomb the size of an oil drum could do. I mean, that bomb under Kate's SUV was small, another one the size of an oil drum could... blow up the entire city." Casey explained.
    "Yeah, but to make something that big, you'd need a chemical engineer." Hotch added.

    "Like the recently deceased, Dr. Azahari Husin, Asia's most-wanted bomb-maker? Authorities dubbed him the, uh, Demolition Man. He treated each bomb like a work of art. One wrong move... he becomes a victim of his own creation. He'll be more revered than all of the people who died as a result of his devices." Rossi explained.

    "Stop the bomber, stop the bomb." Emily says. "To do that, we need to know how they would deploy something that big." Morgan says. "Hotch." Reid points over to the laptop screen showing what happened when the bomb exploded under the SUV and Hotch flying out of frame and Kate nowhere to be seen. There's a brief pause on Hotch's end.

    "Did you ever find Sam's cell phone?" Hotch asks. "Yes." Morgan nods. "Did he call 911?"

     "No," Morgan begins. "He dialed one number six times every few minutes."
      "It was a disposable cell." Rossi tells.
      "Garcia tracked the number, but it went dead minutes after Sam died. Whoever had it, destroyed it." Reid added.

      "Well, if he didn't have a secondary device to detonate, there's only one reason that he stayed with us." Hotch said. "To make sure the ambulance got to you." Rossi read his mind.
      "And in a city on lockdown, an ambulance with its siren blaring and lights on, it's gonna make it through every roadblock virtually uncontested." Emily told.

      Casey took notice of the look on Hotch's face. "And straight into a hospital with a bypass order on it." Hotch spoke. "What?" Emily asks. "Secret Service has a bypass on this hospital."

     "Secret Service? Who are they protecting?" Rossi questioned. "That's who Sam was calling, the paramedic on the ambulance." Reid told.
      "The ambulance which I drove in here." Hotch stated. "That son of a bitch was right there." Casey spoke.
      "This hospital is their target. Let's go."

        The team rushes down the surgery room to talk to the Secret Service. "Hey, who you got in here?" Morgan asked. "Why is that information important to you?"
       "The ambulance I drove in here-- where is it now?" Hotch questions. "In the basement. Why?"
"There's a bomb in it." Morgan informs. "What?"

       "It's rigged."
       "It's rigged to assassinate whoever it is you're protecting. You need to get them and everyone else out of here right now."

        "We can't do that. He's undergoing surgery as we speak." The man asks. "The paramedic I came in with-- do you have eyes on him?" The cameras pop up in front of them and they see as the man is walking around. "That a cell in his hands?" Hotch questions.

        Casey turns around when the continue speaking and sees how Morgan had run off. Casey looked over at her boss and colleagues and decided to follow him. He would need help on whatever he was doing and Casey was damn well gonna make sure he was gonna get whatever he needed.

      Casey had successfully followed him and saw as the doors of the ambulance were open and stood clear of them. "Morgan." She spoke as she saw him inside of the ambulance. "Willows, get back to the hospital. Now." Morgan ordered.

     "What? No, you need help!" Casey told.
     "I'm fine by myself, Willows—"
     "Morgan, I'm helping you whether you want me to or not." Casey told.

      Morgan sighed. He really didn't want Casey going with and he was gonna damn well make sure she wasn't gonna go. But Casey wouldn't give up without a fight. "Casey—"

     "Derek," Casey said sternly. "I chose this job for a reason. I wanted to save people."
     "Willows—"
     "So let me save people."
     "You're not even a real agent yet—"
     "You know, you really don't have time to argue with me about this right now."

       Morgan sighed, giving in and looking down on how much time they had. "Garcia, how long can you keep jamming the cell phone lines?" Morgan asked. "Uh, a few minutes, max. Why?" Garcia asked.

       "'Cause I'm gonna have to get this ambulance out of here." Morgan told. "Or you and Willlows could just evacuate the building like everybody else." Garcia stated.

       "No," Morgan says. "As soon as the airways are clear, this thing's going up."

       "Going up? Oh, my God, that's like 3 minutes, 'cause that's when the satellite moves position." Garcia informs.

        Morgan carefully closed the doors and both him and Casey rushed over to the front of the ambulance and took their seats and Morgan hot-wires the ambulance bus.

       "Garcia, listen to me. I need you to find an area of town I can drive this thing and you tell everybody, you hear me, everybody that I'm coming!" Morgan looks down as he successfully hot-wires the bud.

       "All right, talk to me, Garcia!"
       "Okay," Garcia's voice was shaky. "Head North and floor it. I'll tell you where to turn."

        The ambulance bus get shot at and Casey sinks in her seat as they get away. "What was that?" Garcia questions. "It was nothing. Just talk to me!" Morgan yells.

       Morgan and Casey get out of the parking garage and Casey can't help but look at the bombs every few seconds, worried they might blow up at any given moment.

     "How are we doing, Garcia?"
      There was one minute and fifty seconds left on the clock.

     "Why does it always have to be you? Why do you always have to do this? And Casey, why did you have to string along with him?!" Garcia questions. "Garcia, that's not really helping right now!" Casey shouts.

      "Derek, Casey, you don't have much time. Please be smart about this. Signal's coming back online. Thirty seconds to full coverage. Derek, drive to the opening and then you and Casey get the hell out." Garcia ordered.

      "There's something I really want you to know, Garcia."
       "Save it. Just get out."
       "No, no, no, I'm not quite there yet."

     10...

"Morgan..."
     "Just listen to me."

     9... 8...

    "Morgan, please."
    "You know what you are, Garcia?"

    Morgan yelled, "Jump!"

    Both Casey and Morgan had jumped out of the ambulance and onto a green patch of grass and the ambulance had blown up in front of Casey's eyes and she squinted as the flames bursted with orange and yellow and the explosion made her ears ring for a moment.

    Casey stood up and walked over to Morgan as he continued his conversation with Garcia. Casey coughed out loud. "Garcia... I'll tell you what you are to me. You're my god-given solace. Woman, you promise me one thing... whatever happens... don't you ever stop talking to me."

    "I can't right now 'cause I'm mad at you."
    "I can wait."

     Morgan turned over to Casey. "You okay?" He asked. Casey nodded, "Yeah." Morgan looked at the girl as they both saw the flames. "Tell me you'll never do that ever again." Morgan told the girl.
     "Can't make any promises." Casey exhales.

     "Let's go home, kid."

hey, lovelies!
me updating this book again???? what??????
lmao we're officially on s4!! 🥳
casey was being her baddie self this episode i mean, as she should 😫🤞
next episode is — minimal loss
because why not????
anyways i love you all :)
-mya <3