Title: Cruise Line
By: Ryan Johnson
Pairing: gen
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Agents Reid, Prentiss and Verble all get a free week long Christmas cruise courtesy of the FBI. But it isnt the dream holiday they expected.

***

Alec Morton shivered in the darkness of his cell. If you could call it a cell, it was much more comfortable, with padded walls, but a solid ground, a desk, a nice little cot, a shelf full of books of poetry and all his favorites, and a chess board in the middle, the one he was currently playing on. It had been almost a year since his capture, and an outside observer could tell, he was unshaven for a 17 year old kid, his hair was now straight back and short, and his eyes were so entrapping that many of the other inmates could hardly look away. Life wasn't so bad, not for dear old Alec.

"Checkmate." He told himself, and tipped over the king on the opposite end of the board. The piece fell to the ground and rolled. Then the rolling stopped with the mild squeak of leather shoes. Alec didn't look up to greet the man standing right outside of the plastic wall that separated Alec from the rest of the world.

The person outside the plastic didn't speak. Alec finally looked up.

"Agent Gideon. It's nice to see you again. Pity you had to give testimony against me in court."

Gideon grinned as always, "It's only my job."

"The working man's excuse." Alec laughed, "So why are you here? Have you come to beat me for answers on the other murders? Come to tell me I should have gotten death?"

"No." Gideon shook his head.

"Then why?"

"To interview you, about your life."

Alec snorted, "Well as you can see my life isn't too interesting at the moment. I sit here, read until they bring me food, and then go to the gym, then a session with some overly idiotic doctor, then back o this cell for more food. Think about how beautiful the sky is, and wish you weren't caught, cry until you fall asleep. Wash Rinse and Repeat for the next sixty years."

Please," Gideon seemed even calmer, "Save that Shawshank Redemption shit for someone else. I want to know about your past, your childhood forward."

"Writing a book are we?"

"No, we just need to know. I won't be the only one asking, most of the team will,"

Alec cut him off, "Will Agent Verble come over here to see me?"

"Yes, probably."

"I will answer any and all questions to the best of my ability." Alec agreed. "Where do you want to start?"

Gideon shook his head. "Not yet. I'm going to come by after Christmas with video recording equipment."

Alec laughed sarcastically, "Goodie Goodie, now I'm going to be next summer's blockbuster. Tell me, how does this benefit me? Hmm?"

Gideon stood up, "You'll have someone to play chess with."

"Why must you leave so soon Gideon? I was about to set up for another round."

"I have somewhere I need to be."

Hoover Building, Quantico:

Garcia stormed out of her office and into he conference room, "What is all the noise about? And who is this guy? And why are there donuts? And why wasn't I told there were donuts?"

"Settle down Garcia." Derek soothed with a chuckle. "We just solved a string of 52 murders in one shot, this is Agent Chace Verble, and there are donuts because we got a new guy, and you weren't told because we didn't even know you were here yet."

Chace rose from his seat and held out a hand. Garcia took it and flashed him a stunningly friendly smile."So, where you from new kid?" Garcia asked.

"Oklahoma."

"Mmmhmm." Garcia nodded, "And what unlucky even landed you in the BAU?"

"I shot Agent Gideon."

The group laughed, and Prentiss took a donut and bit into it. After finishing her large bite she asked, "Why didn't I get donuts on my first day?"

"You didn't catch a mass murderer before even joining the team." Reid answered. Prentiss scowled at hi, but even that was friendly in nature.

Derek looked over to Chace, "How Is your girlfriend taking the transfer?"

"She isn't."

"Aw man. Sorry."

"Don't be. She was looking for an excuse to leave anyways." Chace said, a memory of Sarah Throne filling his mind. He missed her already.

Gideon entered the room halfway, "hey, new guy."

"Yeah?"

"I need to speak with you for a moment."

"Sure." Chace walked out of the room with Gideon. Chace was pretty sure he already knew what this was about.

Gideon gave Chace a seat in his private office, and then took a seat behind the desk himself. "Agent Verble, let me start by welcoming you into the team, I've been looking over your resume. You have your Masters Degree from John Hopkins in Criminal Justice, Psychology, Psychiatry, and Agriculture. Very Impressive."

"Thank you sir."

"Do you have plans for the Holidays? Friends? Family?" Gideon asked.

"No sir. Why are you asking?"

"Every other Christmas we have tickets to take the members of the team on a weeklong Cruise in the Florida Keys and Bahamas region. Most of the team can't make it, except for Reid and Prentiss. We used one of the tickets to let Reid take his mother with him, but we still have one I was wondering if you wanted to take a free vacation."

"Yeah, I'll take it. What is one Christmas?" Chace found himself smiling from ear to ear. "When do we leave?"

"Two days from now."

Chace was very glad it wasnt what he thought it was going to be.

Victor John Longwitch was only a hired gun, not a terrorist, but money was money, and these clients paid in cash. His family didn't mind missing good ol' X-mas, and he managed to assemble a crew of twenty that could take a week long job during the holidays. The details were not specific yet, and that worried the team. But Victor John wasn't worried at all. He knew the team could take whatever might be thrown at them. Hadn't they survived Desert Storm in several large scale battles on both sides of the conflict?

There was no reason to believe this would be harder. In fact the idea of something they could not accomplish seemed downright crazy to Victor John. Maybe he was just loyal to his company.

***

Three Days Later:

Chace Verble dived into the picture perfect swimming pool and did a couple of spins under the water. It was late at night, and stars were scattered over head without a city light or a cloud to block them from reflecting off the pool's water. Chace pushed off an edge and let the cooling water rush past his entire body giving him a sense of speed and mild freedom that came whenever he was in the water. It was as close to weightlessness he could experience.

Emily Prentiss sat at the edge, sipping a pina colada and watching the new guy swim gracefully in the pool. "You look like you are having fun." She commented softly.

"Yeah, I am. Care to join in on the fun?" Chace offered.

"No thanks. My swimming suit is in my room."

"How about you Reid?" Chace looked over to Reid, who was now accompanied by a young, cute girl with long blonde hair and a youthful face.

"Uh, um. I'm, uh.." Reid sputtered to the girl.

The girl smiled a flirtatious smile, "nervous eh?"

"How, how old are you?"

"16, how about you?"

"Twenty four." Reid stood up and sat cross legged next to Emily. The girl he had left behind seemed flustered. "Do I really look 16?"

Emily opened her mouth to answer, but stopped herself.

"It is all in the way your carry yourself." Chace answered for her. "When I was 15 everyone thought I was 26. I went to my father's flight wing and everyone thought I was the new pilot."

"Your father was a pilot?" Emily asked, her eyes moving to him curiously.

"Yeah, AWACS. It's the plane with the big radar on top." Chace said. He was used to confused looks, and wasn't surprised when Emily gave him one. Reid however seemed to get visibly excited.

AWACS, E3s', right?"

"Right." Chace nodded.

"AWACS stands for the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System. Its, uh, built by Boeing Defense & Space Group. They pretty much carry out airborne surveillance, command, control, and communications functions for both tactical and air defense forces." Reid added, looking at Emily.

Emily laughed and shook her head. "English Reid."

Reid tried again to explain, "They use a radar system to connect with ground and other air forces to establish the locations of opposing forces…"

"They use radar to find bad guys, and then go tell the good guys to where to go to blow the crap out of the bad guys." Chace simplified.

"Oh." Emily laughed, and Reid blushed.

Chace was gleaming. He was on the sea with a quirky boy genius, and a pretty young woman. Back in DC he had a group of people who took to him quicker than even his parents did. He had found some stability by taking an unstable dangerous job where he puts his mind and life on the line to catch psychotic serial killers. The way things happened. "You want to swim Reid?"

"No, that's alright. I was hoping to take my mother dancing."

"You dance?" Emily asked.

"No, but she does."

Chace laughed, "Well I have no plans. I was just going to see what there is to see. We got all week."

Derek Morgan kissed his sister Sarah and grinned as he took eggnog from her hands. "Thanks." He said, letting the warmth he felt in his hands spread throughout his body. Christmas with his sister, something he hadn't been able to do in a long time. He didn't make it out to his home very much and family was a nice change from psychopaths.

"Derek, can you grab me a pot holder!" Sarah called to him. She must have had gone to the kitchen.

"Sure sis." Derek called back, and came into the kitchen. His sister was busy over a pot of what smelled like Chili. Derek opened a couple of drawers, found what he was looking for, and tossed it over to Sarah. Sarah smiled and thanked him.

"Do you smell something?" She asked.

Derek sniffed the air conditioned room. There was an odd powdery smell that made his nose sting for a second. Derek recognized it, and instinct took over. "Sarah! Get out now!" HE yelled as he grabbed her arm and ran for the door. His heart was pounding as he burst on top the cold dark street, he kept running down the road, and fell onto the ground as a force pushed him forward. An explosion sounded and the house blew apart, debris piling onto Derek and his sister as they held each other under the rain of wood.

Victor John watched the house from a safe distance, safe enough to not be spotted, or hit by any pieces that might just find their way to his car. The agent hadn't died in the explosion, which was a pity, but the message was still sent, the warning still in place. Plus, Victor John didn't want to get his hands dirty just yet, he needed some time before he could confront the team up close and personal. But then again, why not go after the agent? Send a real message. Maybe Victor John couldn't his hands dirty, but it didn't mean he shouldn't call in someone to get some mud on theirs.

Victor John picked up his radio. "This is Ace calling in."

"Roger Ace."

"How close is the agent to your 20?"

"Maybe two hundred feet."

"Is he armed?" Victor John asked

"I cant tell. I don't think so."

"Take the agent out."

"What about the sister?"

Victor John grinned. "You have more than one bullet in your Nine millimeter"

Derek looked up from his grounded position on the road. A man was running towards them. "Call the police!" Derek yelled to him. The man kept running, not answering. Derek saw the man's hand go to his side. A shot was fired, and hit the ground next to Derek. Derek rolled to the side as another shot hit near him. Sarah began yelling. Derek rolled next to her, avoiding the third bullet. "Stop!" Derek ordered. He could feel the fourth bullet whizz past his head. He quickly pulled out his pistol and fired wildly. The man fell back, his chest torn by the force of the gun.
Gideon looked at his papers without blinking, or making any facial movement. JJ and Garcia looked at him intently. He looked up to them. "Get the team in here."

***

Reid led his mother to her room slowly in the semi dark Cruise ship hallway. He was a little scared by the hall, it reminded him too much of the same hall he had seen in the Titanic film. "Watch your step mom." He whispered as they reached a small step before the door to Miss Reid's room. He let her curl up in her bed and fall asleep under his watch. Once he was sure she was asleep, he sat down on his own bed. His mother had tired him out with her dancing. It had been a long time since she had been able to dance like that. Emily and Chace had been good friends as well. Chace even took a slow waltz with Miss Reid when Spencer got a little tired.

"You asleep mom?" He asked quietly. His mother didn't respond, and that was answer enough. Reid laid down on his own bed, fully dressed, and soon found sleep himself.

In the ballroom on the ship, Chace and Emily sipped on their 2002 Pino Grito wine and chatted about their family, and past Christmases. All of it was small talk with the usual harmless flirting mixed in.

"So, then John, well, we called him Waffles back then, sat down, and tried to put the cap back on, after about a minute he shouted out to all of us, I'm Screwing it wrong!" Chace smiled at the fond memory he had of the Church camp he had attended. Emily laughed on cue, but it seemed genuine enough to Chace. "So, did you attend any camps a kid?"

"None that come to mind. My friends weren't quite as entertaining as yours seem back then." Emily said.

"Your parents were Catholic?" Chace joked.

"Not exactly."

"Oh." Chace tried to think of what else to say. Something made sharp, crack in the near silence of the ocean night. Another shot followed, then a steady stream of bursts.

"AK-47…" Chace gasped. Emily looked over.

"What?"

"That was an AK-47." Chace leapt up from his seat, took Emily by the hand and ran for the stairs away from the gunfire.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked as Chace rushed her down the stairs

"Did you bring your gun?"

"Of course, why are you,"

"Get it, and meet me back here in five minutes. Go, go!" Chace let go of her hand and sprinted down the opposite hall for his room. He pushed his key into the lock and twisted it, burst in, grabbed his Beretta and ran back into the hall.

Emily was waiting, her own gun at her side, "Someone screamed down at the north end of the ship."

"I'll lead the way." Chace said, and stepped around Emily. They both jogged down the hall to the Dining Room level of the front of the ship. Emily stopped at the door to the Dining room. The door was closed, but the lights inside were on.

Emily knocked at the door. "FBI, open up.

No answer.

"FBI, open these doors."

Machine gun fire tore holes in the door, Emily and Chace ducked down, their ears filled with the gunfire. Chace stood and popped off three shots through the broken glass of the door, then moved up to cover behind an upturned table Emily ran up firing behind him, and rolled to the same table. Machine gun rounds rattled their cover, and then shouts in Russian followed. Chace looked up.

"They were expecting us."

"What?"

"They just yelled, there they are, get them!" They knew we were coming."

"So why hit this ship?" Emily asked as Chace fired wildly above the table.

"Damned if I know. Cover me, I'm going up."

Emily fired towards the enemy, and Chace made his way quickly to the next table, and pushed it over. Someone yelled, Emily had hit someone, but who? Chace took a peek to see four thickly built men all holding AK-47's pointed toward Emily and Chace. No, there was a fourth, on the ground clutching his chest; a pool of blood surrounded him. Something made a click behind Chace.

"Hello Agent Verble. Put down the gun. We wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Gideon frowned at JJ, Hotchner, Garcia, and a cut up bandaged Derek. "We have a situation. Two hours ago, we received reports of a Cruise ship taken hostage by the Russian Mob using a group of hired guns. Agents Prentiss, Reid, and Verble are all on that ship. We haven't gotten any messages from the crew or our Agents. Security video shows three seconds of gunfire before the feed was cut."

"Anything from Emily or Reid?" Hotchner asked.

"Not yet. We have helicopters on the way to the ship. The HRT team should be there within five hours. Till then we are in the dark."

"What are we supposed to do?" JJ asked.

"Nothing we can do yes." Derek said.

Reid woke in a cold sweat. Still in his briefs, he took his gun and went out of the room. He had been woken up by the gunshots, and jarred by the third set. It sounded like machine gun fire coming from the dining room. He first went to Emily's bedroom, then to Chace's. No one was there. People were beginning to fill the hallways. Reid held up his FBI badge.

"Everybody back into you rooms and stay there." He ordered, and then whispered to a passing crew member, "Get me the captain. Now."

***

Chace looked to his side. He couldn't tell the positions of the Russians anymore, they had all moved. He mentally kicked himself for getting caught in the open. Of course the terrorists, or whatever these men were, would have the ship surrounded. Above Chace was a large chandelier. He tilted his head back and looked up at it. It was very contemporary, made up a long mirror like slates. If he could just look at it from the right angle…

There she was. Emily had stood up, her gun was not visible. She had probably dropped it in surrender. Chace's thoughts went to Reid. Hopefully the boy wasn't planning any heroics. Chace knew little about Spencer's service record, but he had a feeling that gunfights weren't a major part of it.

"Agent Verble, stand up." The Russian ordered.

The man pressed his gun harder against Chace's head. He stood slowly, keeping his eyes on the chandelier. Prentiss had been moved. Chace lowered his gaze.

"Now step over here." The Russian said. He slowly led Chace a few steps forward, then lowered his gun. "Ok Agent, sit down." The man roughly pushed Chace onto a chair.

Reid looked Captian Anderson right in the eyes. "Captain, you have a hostage situation on your ship."

"I heard the gunfire."

"Doesn't you ship have security?" Reid asked.

"No armed guards. Just a few strong men." The Captain seemed defensive.

Reid shook his head, disapprovingly, "What about security cameras?"

"We have those." Anderson nodded his head.

"I need to tap into one."

Gideon gazed somberly at his team, or what was left of it. With Verble, Reid, and Prentiss gone, that left Morgan, Hotchner, Jaraeu, and Garcia. The situation was grim, and none of them had any idea about what they were supposed to be doing, what they even could do. All they had left was Hostage Rescue Team. As members of the FBI, they knew just how effective HRT was at their job, but the BAU team also knew that their Agents would have gotten involved.

Gideon's cell began to ring. He looked down at it. Everyone looked at it. Gideon opened it and answered. "Agent. Gideon, BAU." He said.

The voice that replied was thickly filtered and electronic. "Hello Jason. Are you having a pleasant night?"

Gideon looked at Garcia, and motioned to her computer. She got the idea, and opened up a tap program. She entered Gideon's number in, and the voice began to play on speaker phone.

"What have you done with our Agents?" Gideon asked in a strong tone.

"Oh, nothing. Yet."

"Who are you?"

"That isn't important. What is important is that they will each die if you do not do us a little favor."

"What do you want?"

"You currently are holding a very special man in prison. Michael Vroskly. We want him back. It's a trade, all the people on your little cruise ship, Agent's Prentiss and Verble included, for Vroskly. I think the right decision is obvious."

The phone clicked off. Dial tone followed.

Garcia shook her head; "He is running the line through about seven countries. I can't trace him."

HRT Commander Dominic Winters was ready for action, and so was his team. They had spent the entire helicopter flight out planning a strategy, and they had a good one. Not flawless, there was no such thing as a flawless strategy, but it was damn near close. They had divided into three three-man teams. Alpha team would enter from above, near the pool deck. Bravo would go by the sides and Charlie would stand by on the Aft of the ship.

The helicopter was five miles off. It would be mere minutes before the mission would be engaged.

Reid loaded his pistol and waited at the door of the dining room. The door was riddled with bullet holes, but no blood. Reid had seen that Chace and Emily were not at all harmed. And he knew where they were, he could see from where he was standing. Luckily none of the Russian's could see him.

His plan was stupid, more of a distraction than anything else. He felt stupid for coming up with it, and even worse for deciding to put his neck out and go through with it. He had a large cart filled with every alcohol imaginable. He moved it to the door, and then gave it a large shove. The cart went flying into the dining room. Every Russian opened up on it. The hall became an orchestra of Ak-47's and various pistols firing, and then it all died down. Reid had aimed the cart perfectly; it tumbled down the stairs and stopped a few feet before Verble. Reid lit his torch. It was one of the tiki torches that warded off bugs. Not very practical but it would do. He through it down into the dining room, right onto the trail of booze. The trail light, then he came out of cover and fired. His aim had gotten much better since the LDK case. He got direct chest and head shots on three Russians before having to go back into cover.

Prentiss rolled away form her agent and grabbed her gun. She was quick and got behind a large couch-chair. She fired wildly from the cover, just keeping the guns off her. Chace grabbed the arm of his captor and spun. He brought the arm down onto his leg. A satisfying crunch of bone sounded. He pulled his right arm back then let it rip at the Russian's chest. The man grunted and fell to his knees.

Commander Winters had no idea what the hell was going on down on the ship. Even as he repelled down he feared that the terrorists were shooting hostages. His M-16 was ready, and so was Alpha team. They were the closest to the gunfire. Hey burts intot he dining room from a side entrance. Gun's were erupting form every direction, it was ahrd to know who to fire at. Winter's picked out a tall man holding an AK-47 up and pulled the trigger to his M-16. Short, concentrated bursts were the most effective way of dealing with enemies. The terrorist fell.

The rest of Alpha was firing as well. Bits of wood, glass and food were flying up everywhere. Bravo broke in from the other side.

"Alpha team, find cover! Cover!" Winters shouted, then ducked behind a table. Bravo hadn't entered in the correct area. There would be crossfire, and crossfire got people killed. But before Bravo could take a shot, the firing died down. Moans of pain and screams of terror replaced the sound of gunfire.

One man came out from a doorway. He looked to be in his mid twenties to Winters. The man walked slowly to a woman and helped her up. They seemed to know each other, and both held guns. Winters realized that these were the Feebees that were on the ship. Another looked directly at Winters.

"You Swat?" The man asked.

"HRT." Winters turned, showing the badge stitched to the arm of his uniform.

The man nodded, "I'm FBI, Agent Chace Verble, those two," Agent Verble motioned to the two other Feebees Winters had noticed earlier, "Are Agents Emily Prentiss and Dr. Spencer Reid. Thanks for saving our asses."

"It's a part of the job, sir." Winters nodded.

Gideon smiled and hung up the phone, "HRT got there in time, no hostages were killed. And only a few are injured."

"Any of ours?" Derek asked.

"Reid has a cut, and Emily has a grazed arm, and everyone has a few bumps and bruises, but they are going to be ok." Gideon said.

Everyone let out audible sighs of relief. It had been a long night.

Maybe now they could get some sleep. Besides, they all had to be rested for Christmas breakfast.

***