Disclaimer: See my profile.

There are a few incidences of rated R language in this chapter. Slight rewrite from the original posting, a couple of lines of conversation added near the end, and a few words here and there changed.

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'A Force of Nature'

Chapter Twelve

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Reid turned around to head back to Daniel's car and saw Daniel walk out of the store and place some items inside the vehicle. "Oh, shit!" Reid said, reaching for his gun when he saw two men approaching Daniel.

"We're going to get in the car and go for a ride," one of the men told Daniel.

"Uh, I don't think so," Daniel answered.

"You don't have a choice."

"I, uh, don't have the keys. My friend has them."

"Very funny. We just saw you open the door with the key."

"Oh, right. And, uh, who are you exactly?"

"My name isn't important. What is important is that we met briefly in Bermuda."

"Uh, well. I don't get what you're doing. I mean, everyone knows about this now. The entire F.B.I. has seen the video I shot. Your being in Bermuda stopped being a secret several days ago."

Carriol laughed. "You think I don't know that? You think I can't run off somewhere else as easily as I ran off to Bermuda? Right now I'm having too much fun. Nice car you have, by the way. Lexus RX Hybrid, isn't it? Let's get inside, why don't we?"

"What do we do then?"

"We go for a little drive, just like my friend said," the other man spoke this time.

Daniel's mind was racing. Where was Spencer? He knew he had to be safer staying outside the car in a public place than he would be once he got back into the car. They couldn't shoot him out in the open in front of all these witnesses, could they? What should he do? Could he jump inside the car and lock himself in? "Okay," he finally said. "We'll get in the car." He opened the driver's side door and reached down between the seats for a small item he had hidden there. He turned around and looked at his two companions. "Can't we talk about this?"

"Give me the keys, kid."

"Uh, nobody drives my car but me. No one touches it but me."

"Give me the keys."

"Uh, okay. Fine. Here they are." As soon as Carriol's companion reached for the keys Daniel pressed a button on the object he was carrying and sent 50,000 volts of electrical current through the man's body. He fell to the ground in pain, unable to do anything to help Carriol, who immediately drew his weapon and pointed it at Daniel.

"F.B.I.! Drop your weapon now." When Carriol made no effort to comply Reid added, "I assure you I never miss what I'm aiming at when it counts." Carriol responded by raising his weapon, and without any hesitation Reid fired, hitting Carriol squarely in the chest and knocking him to the ground. Daniel kicked his weapon out of his reach. "Get my handcuffs out of my bag, Daniel," Reid said as he held his gun on the two men. Daniel reached into the car, found Reid's bag and pulled a pair of handcuffs out, which he handed to Reid. Reid immediately handcuffed Carriol's companion who, despite being Tasered, was not severely injured.

"It took you long fucking enough, Spencer! What the hell?"

"Daniel, I didn't know you carried a Taser in your car!"

"You didn't ask, Spencer."

"Uh, you do know possession of a Taser is illegal in Washington, D.C. and most of Maryland, right?"

"You're going to fucking worry about that now, Spencer?"

"Uh, no. I don't think I am." Spencer looked around to see a number of employees and customers of the gas station staring at them in shock. He held his badge up for them to see. "F.B.I.! One of these men on the ground is one of our ten most wanted fugitives. Everything is under control, and backup is on its way."

"Yeah?" a nearby customer commented. "It doesn't look to me like you guys need any backup."

About thirty seconds later Reid could hear sirens in the distance; and soon after that several police cars including a supervisor drove onto the gas station property. It seemed like it had been forever since he had called Hotch requesting assistance, but in reality it had been less than five minutes. "F.B.I.!" Reid called out once again, holding up his badge. "This man on the ground here is Dolby Carriol, one of our ten most wanted fugitives. He is in immediate need of medical attention."

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Reid and Daniel sat on the curb outside the convenience store watching the scene before them. The police supervisor had immediately called in EMTs and an ambulance for Dolby Carriol, and he was already at the local emergency room being prepared for surgery. His companion, identified as a man named Douglas Hyde, was being treated in the same hospital. His only injuries were burns from Daniel's Taser gun. Both men were under heavy police guard. A little over an hour after the police initially responded Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss and JJ arrived. They had driven the entire distance with sirens blaring and lights flashing, but the distance they had to travel plus the traffic they encountered had prevented them from arriving any sooner. The police had already interviewed all the customers who were willing to talk to them before Reid's BAU teammates arrived, and most of them had been allowed to leave. Store employees were currently being interviewed and Hotch immediately requested copies of the surveillance video from the stores outside video cameras.

"Hey, kid," Morgan said to Reid as he climbed out of the SUV. "You didn't tackle him?"

"No, Morgan. Tackling people is your thing, not mine!"

"Hey, you need to get on the phone to Garcia right away and let her know you're okay, Reid. She'll be freaking out by now."

"Shit! My parents! Where the hell is my cell phone?" Daniel said.

"It's in your pocket, Daniel!"

"It is? Oh. Duh." Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He immediately dialed his parents' home phone to check on them and reassure them he was okay.

Reid flipped open his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Garcia. Before he had a chance to say anything Garcia said, "Reid, please tell me this is you and you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Garcia. And so is Daniel."

"What happened sweetheart?"

"Daniel Tasered a suspect and I shot Carriol in the chest. We handled it."

"You tell me all about it when you get back here, do you hear me? If you people don't quit scaring me like this I'm going to have to start kicking some butts around here!"

"Yes, Garcia. Thank you!" Reid smiled to himself knowing full well Garcia was not only capable of kicking his butt, but also willing to do so if he failed to listen to her.

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Reid walked into Hotch's office and shut the door behind him. He looked at Rossi sitting off to the side of Hotch's desk, and then sat down in a chair directly opposite Hotch. "You wanted to speak to us, Reid?" Hotch said, looking directly at the younger man.

"Yes, I…" He grimaced, looked down at the floor, and then back at Hotch. "I, uh, wanted to speak to you about the Carriol incident."

Hotch and Rossi looked at each other briefly and then back at Reid. "What about the Carriol incident?" Rossi asked.

"I'm afraid I messed up again. No one has said anything, but I know I didn't follow proper procedure," Reid stated.

"In what way?" Rossi asked him.

Reid stared at him. "I walked away from Daniel Meier and left him by himself. I put him in jeopardy when I did that."

"Perhaps so, perhaps not."

"What do you mean?"

"Reid, you were the only agent present. You had to try and determine whether you were actually in any danger; and, the only way you had to do that was to check on the suspect vehicle."

"Rossi is right. It's true that normally the agent would stay with their charge; however you weren't exactly in a normal situation. You did spot the suspect vehicle on your own in the first place," Hotch inserted.

"But backup was on its way, Hotch. You told me to sit tight."

"I did, Reid. However, Carriol made his move before any backup arrived. Therefore no matter whether you had stayed at the car with Daniel or not, you still would have been faced with a situation you had to handle yourself."

Reid looked from Hotch to Rossi and then back to Hotch. "You're seriously telling me I didn't do anything wrong?"

"I didn't say that. I said you weren't in a normal situation, therefore your reaction couldn't be straight out of the rule book."

"I'm not in trouble, then?"

"Reid, you're probably the only agent I've ever met who would go to a supervisory agent and ask if they were in trouble before they knew for sure there was anything to be in trouble about," Rossi said with a grin.

"Well, I… Uh, what about Daniel and his Taser gun?"

"Well, he could be charged with possession of an illegal weapon. However, I think that's hardly likely in this case."

"Don't you have a report to finish on this case?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, yes, actually. Yes, I do. I'll go do that now. Thank you." Both Hotch and Rossi suppressed grins as a slightly confused Reid stood up and left the office and shut the door behind him. Back at his desk Reid sat in his chair and looked at his computer screen before turning in his chair to look up at Hotch's office. He shrugged and turned back toward his computer, booted it up and then opened the case file to work on his report.

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"Look, I really can't handle this right now. I've had enough. I just want everyone gone; gone from my house, gone from my rink, just gone," Daniel said, as he paced the BAU conference room the day after the capture.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Daniel," Hotch warned.

"I don't really care what you think right now, Agent Hotchner. I've had enough. I just can't deal with this right now." He looked at Reid. "Tell Penelope I'll call her about going dancing. I'll keep in touch with you, Spencer."

"I really need to advise you against doing this, Daniel."

Daniel looked at Hotch. "I appreciate your concern, Hotch. Really, I do. I just don't want to deal with this right now. I'll keep in touch with Spencer, okay?"

"Daniel, think..." Morgan began. "This won't make your stalker go away. You'll still have to deal with that."

"I know that, Derek. However, I am thinking. In fact, I've thought so much I'm getting a headache. I don't want to think about it anymore. Like I said, I've had enough. I'm going home." Daniel turned around and walked out of the room.

"I'll go talk to him," Reid said, starting after Daniel.

He only got a few feet before Daniel turned around and said, "Don't bother trying to follow me and change my mind, Spencer. Just leave me alone, okay?"

"Daniel, will you please at least listen to what I have to say?"

"Spencer, please…just let me have a little bit of peace."

Reid put up his hands in a gesture of surrender and said, "Okay. Okay. I'll call you later."

"Reid," Hotch said after Daniel had gotten into the elevator. "I know you're close to him. Give him a little time and then call him. Talk to him. Try to change his mind."

"Okay, Hotch. I'll do my best."

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TO BE CONTINUED...IN MY STORY 'A FORCE OF NATURE: PART II'. I thought it better to continue the stalker case in another story once the murder case was wrapped up.

A/N: Okay, I know wrapping up the murder case was a little lame…but I really wanted to get it done!

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