Malpractice

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TW! mentions of knives/knifepoint
long chapter! ~ 1800 words

I shouted, "Emily?!" No reply. "Emily?!" I hesitantly walked back into the brush of the woods, continuing to shout for her with only silence in response.

I searched around the forest for 20 minutes before giving up in a panic. I raced back to our car and got inside before dialing Emily, hopeful but pessimistic that she'd respond. There was no answer, so I dialed again. I got her voicemail three times before finally deciding to leave one, "Emily it's me, where are you? I've been-been looking around... the woods for like 20 minutes and I can't find you! If this is some game I'm really gonna kick your ass because I'm freaking the hell out right now! If you get this then call me back!" I hung up and scrolled down in my phone to find Hotch's name.

He picked up on the second ring, "JJ?"

"Hotch! Hotch I-I need help, Emily's missing!"

"Missing? What happened?"

I panted, "W-We were at Poplar Point and we were about to head home... but I can't find her and I've been calling her name for like half an hour now! Something is wrong, Hotch."

"Okay I'm on my way with a search party. Call Penelope and send her to Quantico to track Emily's phone."

"Right away, sir." I called Penelope and she took off for the BAU right away. Within 15 minutes, Hotch and Derek arrived with a search party. I got out of the car to go meet them.

Derek met me halfway, "How you holdin up?"

"My girlfriend is missing, take a guess."

Hotch chimed in, "Okay let's just... take some deep breaths and see what the situation is. Do you have anything of Emily's that the dogs can use to pick up her scent?" I jogged back to the car and they followed. I grabbed one of Emily's baseball caps and handed it to Hotch who handed it off to the search team; Derek left to go help them in the woods. Hotch spent the next several minutes asking me questions about what Emily was doing when I last saw her, was anyone else in the woods with us, did I notice any unusual behavior— standard search protocol. He found it hard to believe that Emily was there one minute and gone the next, but that's exactly what happened. Suddenly, my phone rang with Penelope's name appearing on the screen.

I held it up so Hotch could listen too,"Hey, Pen, you're on speaker... Did you find something?"

"JJ, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I tracked Emily's phone to a location that she was at 6 minutes ago. But the bad news is that means she's likely not in the woods and her phone has since been shut off."

I sighed, "Shit. Where was the location?"

"Uhhh... Looks like it was across the Potomac. Heading North on South Capitol Street back toward the Navy Yard."

"What? What would she be doing over there?"

Hotch softly said, "JJ... It sounds like she was taken."

Before I could respond, Derek jogged out of the woods, "JJ, they found something— it looks like some kind of neck gaiter. They'll swab it for DNA and see if we get any results."

Hotch nodded, "That could belong to the guy we're looking for... It isn't common for people to lounge in these woods, there isn't even a hiking trail. Anyone else who might have been here was probably lurking around."

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