A Past Uncovered (Levihan AU)

Chapter 10 (De Cruz's POV)

All the BAU agents meet back at Quantico, pondering about where Amanda Eden could be holding Eric Sanders captive. 

"They could be anywhere right now," Armani says crossing her arms. "And the chances of Eric Sanders being alive is very minimal too."

"What are you trying to say?" I ask monotonously.

"Maybe," Armani continues. "Maybe we're rushing the case. Maybe we're not thinking this through. We should calm down and think things—"

"And what?" Zoe snaps. "Risk having a father taken away from his son? Eric Sanders has a two year old son. Do you really think that Sanders' death isn't going to have a scarring and lingering effect on his son's life?"

She's reminiscing over Rodriguez, I say to myself in my head. He was a senior FBI officer who temporarily transferred to Namibia for a case. Divorced and alone with a three year old son, he confided in Zoe. The thought of Rodriguez's son being an orphan must be what just triggered her, forcing her to think about Eric and his child.

I envy you, Rodriguez. I envy you so damn much. Quickly shoving away my thoughts, I propose a plan to catch Amanda Eden. "She must be in a place she's very familiar with and regularly visits."

"Or it could be a place that holds a lot of meaning to her," Gevanni says cutting in. All of us stare at each other in thought for a while.

"Olivia Tennison's house," we all say simultaneously. 

"Hurry," Dr. Davenport says grabbing her gun from her bag. "If we make it there fast enough, we might still have a chance at saving Eric Sanders."

"Then quit talking and get in the freaking car," I yell.

                                                                   ------------- 

"How do we know she's in there?" Gevanni says studying the windows of the mansion. 

"We don't," I answer blandly. "All we need to do is get in there and save Eric Sanders." I look over to Dr. Simons, who's stiffly sitting next to Armani in the back seat. "Please do us a favor and stay in the car."

He nods, and I exit the car with Zoe, Gevanni, and Armani. "What's the plan with Amanda?" Zoe asks holding her gun up.

"Arrest her I guess," I say hastily. "Just make sure Eric makes it out of there alive. Shoot Amanda if you have to."

They all nod and we slowly make our way to the door. "Amanda Eden?" I holler. "This is the FBI, open the door." I pause for a second, waiting for an answer. "That's it," I say impatiently. "I'm breaking in," I yell before kicking the door down.

"You check downstairs," I say to Gevanni before turning to Armani. "You go check the parameters outside," I continue. "I'll check upstairs, and Zoe come with me."

"There's a third floor," she says blatantly. 

"Then you go look there," I answer before running to the second floor of the mansion, with Zoe scurrying off to the third floor.

I tentatively search through the second floor, kicking down every door cautiously. Come out come out wherever you are, I repeat in my head. A few moments later, I hear a yell coming from the third floor. "I found her," Zoe says in a booming voice.

I run up to the third floor, with Armani following closely behind me. "Zoe?" I yell into the dimly lit hallway.

"In here!" she yells pointing her gun up towards Amanda, who has a knife hovering around Eric's neck. 

"Drop the knife Amanda," I say calmly. "Killing Eric is not the answer to this. I know that Wally was bullied and hurt by him, but this is not the answer."

"I loved Wally," Amanda says inching the knife near Eric's neck. He let out a squeal, causing Amanda to harshly smack him across the face. "I'm doing this to show him how much I love him!"

"Wally's dead," Zoe cuts in. "You accidentally killed him in his diner."

"That's not possible," she says denying what Zoe told her. "He told me that if I kill them, he'll love me. Are you telling me that Wally was lying?"

"No," I say cutting in. "What we're trying to tell you is that you were hallucinating. When was the last time you took your schizophrenic medications?"

"Two weeks ago," she says pressing the knife against Eric's neck. 

"Wally never told you to kill them," Zoe says. "You were hallucinating. Wally's dead, Amanda. He won't love you, he can't love because you killed him."

"That's not true," she says hysterically. "I believe everything Wally said. He's not dead, he's not." She presses the knife further into Eric's neck, drawing a small amount of blood. She suddenly drops the knife, only to inch back and sob madly.

Armani quickly grabs the handcuffs from her back pocket and arrests Amanda. "Amanda Eden," she says. "You are under arrest for the murder of three people. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court."

We all take a deep breath before walking out of the room. "It took a while," Zoe says panting. "But we finally got the unsub. Not gonna lie, that was one of the most difficult cases I've ever worked on."

"I'm pretty sure that's something everyone in the BAU can agree on," I say sarcastically before giving a slight smile.

We walk towards the door, only to hear a surprising voice. "Going somewhere?" the voice says from behind us. We turn around, only to be faced with none other than Damien...who has Dr. Simons at gunpoint.

"Oh come on!" Zoe says irritatedly. "Just when I thought this god forsaken case was over."

"Damien, let go of Dr. Simons."

"No can do," he says gripping Dr. Simons tighter by the second. 

"This isn't right!" I yell.

"Oh, this isn't right?" he says gritting his teeth. "And what you did to Jamie was so right, huh?!" A bead of sweat forms on my forehead. "Yeah," he says snarkily. "Jamie Henderson was my sister. Remember what you did to her when you attended high school? You left her to die in the hands of your thuggish friends!"

"What happened back then was a mistake," I say inching closer to him. "I was helpless and they were armed. There was nothing I could do to save your sister."

"No," he says raging. "There was plenty you could've done. You just chose not to. And now, I'm gonna kill this innocent old man in front of you, and there's nothing you can do about it." 

Damien's hand is on the trigger, which is about to be pulled. When suddenly, he gets shot in the head and falls to the floor. I look to my left, seeing Zoe panting heavily. There's complete silence in the room, the only sound heard is Zoe's ragged breathing.

"It wasn't easy to kill him," she finally says after breaking the silence.

"Don't worry," I say stoically. "It's never easy."

Attention! The story is coming to an end and all that's left to write is the epilogue.

I plan on editing this story further since it's an English project and it's for a grade. So please comment if you liked this and/or have something for me to edit.

            ---- Thanx!!! Roma