Haley (Criminal Minds fanfic/Spinoff in the Boss's Niece series)

Finding The Rat

Henry managed to get me out of the hospital by telling the doctors it was official FBI business and I needed to go. The only catch was I had to promise them I'd return after we were finished with our business.

I hadn't been in the hospital long. The sun was starting to set, and the date on Henry's phone still read the day I had found out Henry was missing. It was still early evening, but I wasn't sure how much time had passed between the warehouse and that moment.

Henry quickly drove to the FBI building, luckily we weren't pulled over or anything.

Once parked, Henry helped me out of the car and into the building. I noticed some people in the lobby stare at me questionably, but I ignored them. We got to the elevator and it began ascending to the BAU floor.

I felt my heart race. I hoped we weren't too late. I hoped Jake told everyone about the possible rat. Henry's grip on my waist tightened. He must've known I was stressed. I relaxed into his embrace for a moment, resting my head on his shoulder. My body was still aching, but the fear I was feeling made the pain more faint.

The doors opened and the first face I could see through the glass FBI doors was Aunt JJ. She was smiling. When the elevator doors opened, she turned and her eyes widened. I wondered if this was the first time she had seen Henry since we rescued him.

Aunt JJ rushed through the door to Henry. Henry let go of me and I struggled to stand on my own, but I let him have his moment with his mom. Uncle Will was behind her, tears in his eyes as he hugged his own son. Moments like these were why I loved being in the FBI.

"Haley!"

I turned just in time to be greeted to a hug by my own mother. I winced as she wrapped her arms around me, but I gratefully melted into the hug. Dad hugged me next, giving me a gentle squeeze.

"We thought we lost you," mom said, her voice cracking.

"I'm fine, mom," I said. Technically, not a lie. I was fine. I was alive. I was just in tremendous pain from being thrown down a flight of stairs.

"Mom," Henry was saying to Aunt JJ. "Is the rest of the team in there?"

"Yes, and Monroe," Aunt JJ replied. "They're telling him both your and his suspensions are over. Haley's, too, whenever she's ready to return to work."

"Are the officers from the search still here?" I asked.

"Some of them are," Aunt JJ replied.

I looked at Henry and he knew automatically what I was thinking. He put his arm around me again and brought me through the glass doors.

Brinson, Crew, McBride, Jake and Martin were all stood together, along with some of the officers that had been here since the beginning of the search. Everyone paused what they were doing and turned to look at me.

Martin rushed over to hug me. "Oh my God, Haley! I was so worried!"

"Careful," Jake told him when he noticed me wince.

"Oh crap, right." Martin pulled away and gave me an apologetic look. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's alright," I smiled.

"Haley, what are you doing here?" Jake asked. "You're obviously not completely ready to be back yet."

I lowered my voice to tell Jake, "The Dirty Dozen rat is still here, Jake. With Cat. They're currently in a room full of the people they wanted to exact their revenge on. Did you tell anyone that?"

By the look on his face, I could tell the answer to that question was no.

"Brinson," I said. "Ma'am, may I have a word, please?"

I brought Brinson over with me, Jake and Henry and began to tell her about the call from Cat earlier that day. We told her about the possible rat in the room, and she listened. When we finished she looked between the three of us.

"The officer that questioned Haley earlier today is in with Cat now," she said. "Do you think he could be the rat?"

"He seemed eager to suspend me," I noted. I turned to Henry to add, "We have to get our parents out of here. They're former BAU agents, the Dirty Dozen are gonna take advantage of that."

"You two do that, I'll see what I can do about our rat," Brinson told us.

Henry and I nodded and went back to our parents. We were about to explain to them why they needed to leave when we suddenly heard a gunshot. Everyone spun to look at Brinson on the ground. Luckily, she was only clutching her arm.

The officer who had suspended me that morning and Cat were standing together with smirks on their faces.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Cat announced. "We are the Dirty Dozen! We are a group of hit-people, and we have informants all over the world!"

"We are tired of you putting away our members," the officer continued. "So, we're just going to kill you!"

I stared in fear, unsure of what to do. My heart was racing. Henry had his arms around me in a protective way. Mom, dad, Aunt JJ and Uncle Will had gone into full parent mode and were trying to protect Henry and I.

Cat's eyes wandered over to me. She raised the gun in her arms and aimed it at me.

"You're still alive, Haley Reid?" she asked. "I thought that trip down the stairs would've done you in. Shame, I wasted perfectly good escape time injuring you."

"You're not getting away with this," I sneered.

The officer was the one who laughed evilly this time. "Who's going to stop us. You? From what your team as told me, you're barley mobile!"

McBride and Crew cringed while Martin ran a hand through his hair. They had been discussing me and my injuries in front of the rat! I can understand McBride and Crew, but Martin knew!

I couldn't blame Martin. It wasn't his fault.

I shrugged out of Henry's arms and sorely made my way to the middle of the room. "Well, I am mobile, and I'm here. You may have informants around the world, but we have the leader in the room right now."

The officer smirked. "What are you gonna do to me, huh? Arrest me?"

I noticed Cat behind him give him a glare. "Excuse me, Hiriam, but I thought I was the leader."

The officer, Hiriam, rolled his eyes. "Oh please, Cat. I just told you that to shut you up. Did you really think we'd let a little girl run such a big operation? You've shown us just how well you could do that, you got caught in less than 24 hours!"

The smug look on Cat's face had disappeared. The overly confident leader of the Dirty Dozen I had fought (and had thrown me down the stairs) just hours earlier had changed to seem like an insecure little girl, just from those words Hiriam had said.

Hiriam turned his attention back to me. "Now, since you're the brave one, I guess you'll be the first to go."

I turned to look at mom and dad and Henry. Each of them looked ready to pull me out of the line of fire. I shook my head and raised my hand, silently telling them to stay. And they listened.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Whatever was about to happen was going to happen.

I heard the gunshot.