BETA READ by Lady Anemone
"All right. OK. All right. It's OK. I'm right here. It's all over. All right. OK. Sshhhh... I'm right here. All right. It's all over. All right."
"How did you get out of the hospital?"
"I... Hodgins gave me a ride. Maybe- maybe you can give me a ride back, huh? Can you?"
She nodded in exhaustion. Booth groaned in pain.
"Aaah... Aaah... OK. Aaah..."
It was still very early on that morning of April 16th, when Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan walked up to the crime scene, with her assistant Zach Addy in her wake. He held his camera ready to take some pictures of the body of a young guy in his twenties in far state of decomposition.
The corpse had been found a good two hours ago, in the pond of the family LaRue. It had been found by Jonathan Cochrane, who had been digging with a bulldozer, when all of a sudden a decomposed hand had appeared. He had immediately alerted the head of the family, David LaRue, who had informed the FBI, through one of his many connections. Jonathan worked with the English company Firestone, which had been hired by the politician to lay out a new larger and deeper pond than the current one. Firestone had globalised all over the world and much of the company had transferred to America.
The LaRue family had two sons of seventeen and twenty, Camden and Timothy. Of course, both were old enough to prevent accidents like drowning. The pond wasn't any danger for them anymore. Not that even one of the boys spent his time walking in their garden. They had both reached the age of going out: partying, chasing girls...
FBI agent Seeley Booth was already waiting for the forensic anthropologist and her assistant.
"What's all this fuss?" Tempe said as she crawled under the bright yellow crime tape and held it up for her assistant, pointing at the crowd of reporters that had gathered up at the gateway of the territory of the wealthy politician and his family.
"The father of the family LaRue is a state senator."
"Right."
Booth nodded, as the three of them walked up to the half-empty pond. Tempe squatted and looked over the body, while Zach documented the scene on camera.
"There's a little adipocere," Tempe said, cautiously indicating the water-insoluble material with a gloved index finger, "So the body may have been lying here for quite some time."
She opened the corpse's mouth with both hands, causing a large diving bell spider to crawl out of it. Looking on, Zach couldn't help but utter a sound of displeasure. Booth looked like he might retch any moment.
"I estimate approximately a month since death, because the saponification has already begun."
"Identity?"
"This is the body of a male, about twenty to twenty-four years old, who likely recently tore both his acromioclavicular and coracoclavicular ligaments during American football, according to the acromioclavicular separation." She looked up. "He didn't end up here by coincidence."
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"Dr. Brennan, Angela is ready with the hologram," Zach announced.
Tempe looked up at her assistant. She was studying something very peculiar under her magnifying glass. She didn't have any idea what it was or what it could be. All she knew was it had been found near the victim's body. It could be possible it had nothing to do with the found remains in the pond of the family LaRue at all, but she had to make sure. Although there wasn't much to make sure of as long as she didn't have the faintest idea what she was seeing through the magnifying glass...
She carefully put the unknown object down and stood up to have a look at the 3D-picture the Angelator had come up with. Booth, who had been sitting at the edge of her bureau, nervously tapping on the top while the female anthropologist had been studying the metallic piece, followed his squint partner's example and made his way to the 3D-room.
The hologram showed the face of a person in his young twenties with rather chubby cheeks.
"That's Aiden Rodriguez," Booth exclaimed, "He disappeared about a month ago with his niece, the fifteen-year-old Odyssea."
'Uncommon name,' Tempe thought, and she vaguely remembered it meant something like 'Female warrior'. She couldn't help but think of the Greek hero Odysseus who fought in Trojan War, according to the Greek legend.
"They disappeared after a party in town and never came home," Booth continued. "No one has heard from them since."
"Until now," Hodgins said.
"But," Tempe pointed out, "The remains have been lying there for at least a month, according to the quantity of adipocere. If this boy disappeared no longer than a month ago like you said..."
"He was killed the same night," Booth immediately finished the sentence.
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Brennan and Booth had only just left the building, when Zach noticed a small etching on the metallic piece. "Hey, guys," he exclaimed, causing Hodgins and Angela to look up immediately. There was something about his tone that caught her interest. Both walked over to see what the youngest squint had come up with. "Do you guys see this?" Zach asked, excitedly, almost bouncing on his chair like a child.
Angela and Hodgins huddled up more closely, and Zach moved out of the way, allowing Hodgins to see through the magnifying glass. "A thin etching," Zach added so fast it was almost impossible to make out his words.
"What kind of material do you think that piece is?" Hodgins asked, and looked up at the others. "Some kind of hard metal, that's sure," Brennan's assistant answered, causing Angela to frown and then come up with the most logical explanation for the combination thin etching and hard metal.
The boys moved over to let Angela look at the metallic piece. When she looked up again, the frown between her eyebrows was even deeper than before. "I can't make anything of it," she admitted, then sighing deeply and chewing her bottom lip in thought. "What kind of liquid is used to clean jewels?"
"What? I'm only the bug and slime guy!" Hodgins exclaimed.
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*Zach Addy.*
Tempe looked at her partner, confused. How could it be possible the squints had already discovered something new in the couple of minutes Booth and she had left the Jeffersonian building?
*Dr. Brennan, I noticed something thinly etched on the metallic piece.*
"What did the etching say?"
*Camden's Odyssea*, Zach's voice spoke through the receiver.
"That's the name of the girl that disappeared together with Aiden."
*Exactly. We think she was with him when her cousin was murdered.*
"It could be possible. How could I not see that etching?" Tempe mumbled.
*When we are looking for small things, we just miss the bigger things out. Our minds work that way.*
"Do you have any idea what it's from?"
*We think it could be a piece of a girl's bracelet*, Hodgins' voice spoke. There was heard a silenced thud before Zach spoke again, *According to the size and the white gold material, we believe the little metallic piece is from a bracelet.*
"Thank you," Tempe said, and abruptly hung the phone.
/\/\/\/
At the scene, the family LaRue had been asked the usual questions: whether they had noticed anything odd lately... Both their sons had been spending the last few days on a hiatus somewhere in Columbia with their friends and were on their way home. They would have come back an hour before Zach's call, and would have to be questioned, too. And with the new information, Carmen and David LaRue would have to be questioned again as well.
/\/\/\/
"We have got some new information," Tempe informed Booth. She didn't quite remember the names of the boys, but Bones believed the oldest son of the LaRue name might be 'Camden'.
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Zach turned the skull around between his fingers, looking for any traumas or any other indications of what the murder weapon could have been. Hodgins was looking over his shoulder. "That's some kind of trauma here," Zach said, indicating a large but fairly shallow dent on the left side of the skull.
/\/\/\/
"I'm hungry," Angela spoke up, "I'm going to grab something to eat, you guys want some?"
"Sure," Hodgins mumbled, without turning to face her and not really paying any attention to her. He and Zach were discussing possible objects that could have caused the blunt trauma on the left side of the twenty-year-old's skull.
Angela rolled her eyes in irritation, undoing her lab coat and pulling on her red leather jacket, then stomping out of the place, leaving only two more words, "Fine. Starve."
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"We have reason to believe the remains of the boy found in your pond was Aiden Rodriguez," Tempe said as she showed the family a picture of the reconstructed face. "He disappeared over a month ago with his young niece Odyssea."
Booth didn't say anything. On their way to the luxurious villa, Tempe had informed him of the latest updates of the case. Even with the new information the squints had come up with, FBI agent Seeley Booth was quite frustrated. His guts told him Camden had something to do with the boy's death and the still missing Odyssea. He had told his partner, and she had just asked him to keep his mouth shut for once and let her do the talking. She knew how he was when it came to his gut...
Booth hardly ever listened to his female anthropologist partner, but... the fifteen-year-old girl was still missing and maybe her life was at stake. If his gut was really right and he didn't act carefully, the one who held her captive, if the girl wasn't already murdered as well, could do harm to her.
And Booth secretly believed she was still alive and held captive, because, otherwise her body would have been dumped in the pond, too. Murderers weren't usually smart enough to dump the bodies on different hiding places. Murderers wanted to get rid of them immediately.
There was no reaction from any of them. Tempe produced another picture, the one that had been used for the disappearance posters, that showed a somewhat chubby guy in his twenties holding a smiling teenage girl with beautiful white teeth and dental braces.
Booth and Tempe waited for a reaction and neither of them broke the long silence that followed. It was Carmen who spoke first after a few minutes. Some kind of shock was written on her face. "Odyssea," she whispered. "Camden and she had something for a while, until Odyssea broke up with him, two days before she disappeared." She covered her mouth in shock, not quite believing her words.
"Why did she break up with you?" Booth asked, turning his attention to the youngest LaRue, receiving a meaningful and warning glance from his partner.
"I already answered that question twice, right after her disappearance," Camden said and sighed deeply. "She said there was someone else..."
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"Do you believe his story?" Tempe asked, back in the car. They had only been at the villa for a couple more minutes. She looked over to her partner, thinking. "No," Booth replied.
"What made you think Camden was lying?"
"He always tried to avoid the real point of the question, and when you asked him about the bracelet, he..." Booth navigated the black Mustang around a right turn. "...seemed to be getting pretty nervous to me."
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"I'm sorry for your loss," FBI agent Seeley Booth said. When someone lost a loved one, there wasn't much you could say or do; the only thing that seemed to fit was that one sentence. Even when it was someone close to him who lost a loved one. There wasn't much more to say either way. All that helped was lending them a shoulder to cry on and being strong for them.
There was no denying that every loss of a loved one made a scar on you. He believed everyone has his or her scars, which are all different in number and size. He thought the size of our scars is more according to what kind of bond you had with the one you lost.
"I always kept hoping he–" Aiden's mother desperately dabbed her eyes with a white lacy handkerchief and stuttered a few recognizable words, before collapsing in another fit of sobs again. "Aiden was such a sweet boy..."
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Angela entered the work floor again with a bag containing a pack of French fries. She put the plastic bag down on one of the tables, causing the two guys to look around for the source of the wonderful smell. She turned around to dispose of her leather jacket, hang it on the peg and turned back to eat her lunch, which was already being unpacked by the guys...
"Hey!" Angela yelled, while Zach and Hodgins eagerly started the delicious French fries. "Mine!" She scowled, startling the two hungry squints and causing them to pull their hands back. Zach choked in his fry in fright, while Hodgins patted his back to help.
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"Wait, Aiden and Odyssea disappeared at a party in town, right?" Tempe exclaimed.
Booth nodded and wondered where she wanted to go to with the conversation. They had just informed Aiden Rodriguez's father of his only son's death and walked down the stairs of the modern apartment. Aiden's parents had divorced only two weeks after his disappearance. Just when they needed each other the most. They had likely blamed each other for what had happened...
"Who organized it?" Tempe asked, standing still and awkwardly turning her head to face him. When he noticed she wasn't walking beside him anymore, Booth stood still as well and looked at her. A frown appeared between his eyebrows as he answered.
"The... local Scouts, I think. Why?"
"Some of them must have seen the two leaving, right?"
"Likely."
"We have to question the Scouts who worked there that evening."
"And what do you think to achieve with that?" Booth asked, while he lightly pushed the button and opened his car door. Tempe did the same on her side of the old Mustang.
"I'm not sure. There just has to be something else there, all the other leads have been exhausted. Just trust my female intuition."
Booth rolled his eyes and didn't say a word anymore during the whole ride to the Jeffersonian. He just kept his eyes on the road, softly mumbling something about 'female intuition', while his partner supported her head with her hand and thought deeply. The longer she thought about it, the more sense it made.
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Tempe and Booth walked over the field of grass, still not having exchanged many words since Tempe's 'absurd' idea. In the distance, some teenage boys and girls were painting the old building on the field in a dark blue color. They all wore the same kind of uniform. The girls short khaki skirts, while the boys wore darker khaki knickerbockers. Both girls and boys wore short sleeved shirts and blouses with a pointed collar in button-up style. A U.S. flag was visible on the right shoulder, and all of them had an emblem on their respective uniform. There was a sign on the building, saying "Joint Scouting Volunteer Project" in dark green letters.
"Andreiinna Carrell?" Booth's voice spoke.
A tall and somewhat older Hispanic girl with two pigtails in her dark brown hair looked up from the highest step of the ladder, which was held on the bottom by a handsome lighter brown haired boy. She was likely the Scoutmaster.
"YEAH?" She yelled, making sure the two people on the ground could hear her. They looked like cops, but she and the other Scouts had nothing to hide, so she dipped her mop paintbrush in her can of navy blue paint again and waited for an answer.
"We would like to ask you some questions?" Tempe yelled back.
She climbed down, until both feet touched the ground. She put the can of paint down on the concrete, wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and walked in the direction of the two people, while she tried to clean her hands as much as possible by rubbing them on the piece of old clothing she had pulled out of the single pocket of her skirt. Her face was burned by the sun. She looked back to the others. "Don't just stand there, keep painting."
"Painting the cantina?" Tempe asked with a small smile. She had been with the local Scout Troop for only one year. She had found it a little too 'boyish' and had traded the club for reading even more books about science.
The girl nodded. "We usually do that once a year with all the leaders of our Scout Pack together, with the yield of our party and the yearly carwash we organize. Now it has been two years, since we didn't have enough money last year. It was really getting to be that time."
"We would like to ask you some questions about the Carpe Noctem party," Booth said, when she faced him again.
The girl frowned. "Sure. Ask away."
"Do you recognize this boy?" Booth asked, showing the picture of Aiden Rodriguez he had found in the case file.
She nodded. "That's Aiden. He disappeared from our party a month ago. He was Tarrah's boyfriend; she was quite devastated," Andreiinna said, indicating a red haired girl with a light nod, who was just opening a new can of paint with an old screwdriver. "She's doing a little better now."
"Did you see him leaving that night?" Tempe asked.
Andreiinna nodded. "He told me to tell Tarrah he would come back after taking Odyssea home. She was totally upset after an unplanned encounter with Camden."
"Camden LaRue?" Booth asked.
Andreiinna nodded again. "Odyssea had broken up with him a few days before that, and wanted to leave immediately. Aiden left, but didn't come back. That's what upset Tarrah the most. She was just getting another case of soda in the basement of the building with Thomas, and hasn't seen him since he disappeared."
Booth looked at his partner questioningly. She gave him an almost invisible nod. He sighed and said, "I'm sorry, but Aiden was found this morning."
"Is he–"
Booth nodded. Andreiinna Carrell instinctively looked at her friend and then back at the two people. She bit her bottom lip, closed her eyes for a moment, and then sighed before saying, "I don't have any idea how to tell her."
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"Are you really going to eat all of that alone?" Hodgins asked, looking at the delicious French fries with cocktail sauce on the table with water in his mouth, and then looking up at Angela with sad puppy eyes.
She sighed. "Alright–" "Thank you," Hodgins said, continuing his assault on Ange's lunch. Zach already had his mouth full of fries, and everyone knows it really is impolite to talk with your mouth full.
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When they walked over the grass to the old Mustang again, they suddenly heard a wail and a thud. Tempe turned around instinctively and saw the sobbing girl sinking on her knees, being held by Andreiinna and the brown haired boy who had held the ladder earlier. The can of navy blue paint rolled over the concrete and colored it dark.
Tempe bit her own bottom lip, until she felt a soft squeeze in her hand and looked up in Booth's face.
"There's nothing we can do here."
Tempe nodded and quietly followed him to the car, still feeling his warm hand over hers. "We have to get this Camden LaRue in for an interrogation," she stated. Booth nodded. "I agree, but I don't think Camden will be saying much. I am willing to bet Daddy LaRue is going to hire the best damn lawyer in town."
"Who will prevent him from saying anything helpful..." Tempe finished his sentence.
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"Dr. Brennan, we discovered blunt force trauma on the side of the skull," Zach said as she walked up to her office with Booth panting in her wake. "It could have been caused by a fire extinguisher."
"A fire extinguisher? Are you sure?" Tempe asked in true disbelief, frowning her eyebrows and standing still, so that her FBI partner clashed on her. She gave Booth an irritated look and Zach a questioning one.
Her assistant nodded.
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"Camden... Why did Odyssea really break up with you?" Booth asked, sitting right opposite the table from where the youngest LaRue sat with his lawyer: a balding man in his fifties, with glasses and a grey beard. Camden Adam LaRue looked at his lawyer with rather nervous brown eyes, who gave him a little nod.
"She was childish," he said.
"Excuse me?" Booth looked at him waiting for more information.
"A couple of days before we broke up, Odyssea and I had sex with each other. It was the first time for both of us. I was as gentle as possible, but she kept saying it hurt and acting childish. She began crying when I didn't stop and when we were finished, she pushed me off her and told me she never wanted to see me again."
'When you were finished, more likely,' Booth corrected in his head. "Understandable," he said. Tempe looked at the interrogation through a thin layer of glass with her arms crossed. "You already knew she would be at the Scouting party, or was it pure coincidence?" Booth didn't really expect him saying the truth and was quite surprised when he actually did.
"I knew," Camden said. "I wanted to talk with her about what happened. I wanted to make it up to her."
"But you got in a fight?"
"She began acting hysterical and yelling she never wanted to see me ever again."
Booth nodded. "Do you recognize this piece of white gold?" He asked, holding up a little transparent bag, containing the now known object Tempe had been studying under her magnifying glass.
"No."
"'Camden's Odyssea'," the FBI agent read. "Still don't recognize it?"
The youngest LaRue looked at his lawyer again, who gave him a small nod once more, before saying, "That's the engraving of the bracelet I gave her for her fifteenth birthday in December."
"Do you have any idea how it got in the pond in your backyard, beside the body of her cousin?"
Camden 'surprisingly' shook his dark brown head.
/\/\/\/
Suddenly, something began to dawn upon the female anthropologist. She ticked against the thin glass, causing Booth to excuse himself and join her outside the interrogation room. "What?"
"Timothy."
Booth just looked at her, mystified.
"In every car, there should be a fire extinguisher," Tempe stated. "Camden's brother already has his driver's license, and, if I'm not mistaken, David and Carmen gave him a very expensive new H2 Luxury Hummer for his birthday in March."
He nodded. "What does this have to do with the case?"
She just stared right back at him, until his chocolate brown eyes enlarged in understanding. "I think we need to get the other brother in for interrogation as well."
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"I'm not going to ask this a third time. Where is the Hummer's fire extinguisher?" Booth was getting quite pissed. They really had to find that fire extinguisher to check for fingerprints to prove the oldest son of the LaRue family was guilty of manslaughter. Otherwise, he would simply get away with it, and Booth was not going to allow that.
"I'm not going to answer your question for a second time either."
Booth sighed deeply.
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Two hours and a very pissed Booth later, Timothy nor Camden still hadn't told him anything useful.
/\/\/\/
"I mean, neither of the parents was even a little responsible for the disappearance, and they still got divorced," Dr. Brennan said, matter-of-factly. She really didn't understand.
"Bones, people usually get divorced for less."
She nodded. "You think you are ever going to get married?"
"Maybe if I find the right girl..."
Tempe chuckled, as they stepped out of the old Mustang and walked up to the coffee shop just around the corner. A nice black coffee would be very welcome. It had been a quite hectic case thus far, and it still wasn't coming together.
"You think you're ever going to get married?" Booth asked.
"Maybe if I find the right guy..."
Both of them laughed this time. "This case is a quite stressful one... You going to drink some coffee with me at Starbucks before going home or what?"
She cast a smile in Booth's direction. "I thought you'd never ask." Booth had parked his department vehicle around the corner of the street where she lived, so both of them could walk to their respective destination.
"The question, Bones, doesn't always have to be asked by me."
"Don't call me 'Bones'..."
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Booth had already noticed the silver BMW on the other side of the street when Bones and he entered the coffee shop, but hadn't found it that suspicious and hadn't paid further attention to it; which he would seriously regret later.
When he and Bones had drunk their coffee and walked out of the store, he heading to the old FBI department vehicle, and she heading to her apartment, the BMW had inconspicuously followed them. Their destination was the same way for a while, so they walked together. Neither of them had noticed until it was too late.
Suddenly, they heard the noise of a semi-automatic. Tempe, not having a gun in her possession, was pushed to the ground by her partner.
"DOWN!" Booth yelled, as he reached for his own Glock nine millimeter, pulling it from his ankle holster, not paying any attention to his partner anymore. He shot a few rounds, but knew they didn't hit. Bones could fight like no other; she would be able to defend herself. The one who would even think about harming her, would hopelessly regret it.
She had become like that through the years. Her parents disappeared at the age of fifteen, right before the night of Christmas. No one had heard from them again, and not knowing what had happened to them; not knowing if they were actually dead or alive, weighed so hard upon her. On the outside, she was a beautiful and smart woman. A woman that had been forced to grow up too fast. Deep inside, Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan was still a child, waiting for her parents to return, though as an adult she fully realized that chance was almost impossible.
And even though her job as an anthropologist hadn't been without danger thus far either, she always retreated into the anthropology. She had even been held captive as a young student, but the thought she could lean on science and pure facts, gave the woman a kind of peace. True peace, however, she was sure she would never find.
/\/\/\/
The shot from a full Magnum .357 penetrated Booth's upper arm. He groaned and shot his last bullet out of the chamber. When the car was out of sight, Booth put his revolver back, covered the painful wound with his hand, sank down and looked behind him. No Bones. "This really isn't funny, Bones." When he didn't hear any commentary, he suddenly got very quiet and upset. "Temperance?"
/\/\/\/
Right when Booth had turned off his attention from her, Camden had dazed her with a chloroformed cloth, which he had easily gotten with the usual intimidation, which both the LaRue sons had (un)fortunately inherited from their father, from a friend of his that studied Medicine. The female anthropologist had immediately fainted and had been easy to overpower. Camden was quite strong due to all the free fitness and she wasn't too heavy. He had carried her to his car, and had driven her to the hiding place where Odyssea was, while Timothy sat behind in the car with another dose of chloroform to use if she woke up and a revolver pointed at the woman's head, in case she struggled. Normally, when someone points a gun at Dr. Brennan, she just kicks it out of their hand.
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"There... was no license plate!" Booth yelled for the second time in scarcely one minute.
"You sure?" Dr. Brennan's assistant asked.
Booth angrily nodded. He had immediately driven back to the lab, where he and the team were trying to think. They had already sat there for the majority of the night. The sun was gradually coming up now and the clock indicated it was a little past six in the morning.
"I would die just for the smell of fresh coffee," Hodgins sighed, noticing his empty mug and rubbing his eyes with both hands. Suddenly, Booth got a very bright idea. "There has been a very big mistake," he said, standing up and grabbing his jacket on his way to the parking lot.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Angela yelled, but an answer wasn't heard. Only the sound of the heavy door of the Jeffersonian building being smashed in the lock and tires screeching over the ground not even a minute later.
"I think someone might be mad," Hodgins announced, mild sarcasm off his words.
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Booth was driving back to his office at headquarters at full speed and was calling at the same time. "John, I want you to search the whole area for old oil refineries." Another driver pushed the horn of his car angrily when Booth drove by, but the only thing he gave that other driver, was the middle finger of his left hand.
That smell of burnt tires had finally done it. Timothy had likely been at the same party as his brother, and when his little brother got into a fight with Odyssea's cousin, Timothy had almost surely tried to protect his brother by getting the fire extinguisher out of his car and hitting Aiden's head with it to prevent him from killing Camden, who had followed them outside, but it got out of hand and when they realized Aiden was dead, they had to hide the body and prevent Odyssea from telling anyone about it. Killing a girl in cold blood was something different from fright that got out of control, so Timothy and Camden had held her captive in an old oil refinery since. Suddenly, it all made sense.
Bones was almost surely kidnapped because she and her team would find the truth sooner or later. The most logical solution was that the LaRue sons had paid some guys to distract him so that they could abduct his partner. She was almost surely being held captive at the same place as Odyssea, which was an old oil refinery. That explained the bad smell. The oil refinery might not be used anymore, but the smell of burnt tires would stay there after centuries of refining.
The ride to the FBI building could be described in one word: fast.
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"Where's he going?" Angela yelled, looking at her fellow team members for support. Support she didn't get, because both Zach and Hodgins kept their mouths shut and neither of them looked her in the eye. They knew she was going crazy inside. Her best friend was missing, for the second time in less than a month...
"If there's anything I know about Agent Booth," Zach spoke, "It would be: never mess with him when he's angry."
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"Booth, where have you been all day? You left in a hurry this morning, and I wondered–" John 'J' Gallagher exclaimed, indicating Booth's blood stained dark blue shirt. "Is that blood?"
The FBI agent had just directly driven to the Jeffersonian after realizing his partner was missing. How agent Booth had ended up there with a full Magnum .357 in his upper arm and without having caused an accident, could be defined as a mystery. He had Angela pull the bullet out of his flesh with tweezers and had it disinfected and covered up with a bandage.
She hadn't liked doing it and had winced every now and then. Although Booth had told her to just do it fast, because wriggling with the bullet in his arm would cause even more pain, she had done it very slowly… but very thoroughly as well, so that actually wasn't too bad.
Suddenly, a light had shone on the case, and the man had immediately jumped in his department vehicle to get to the FBI building as soon as possible, without going home to change first. His partner was being kidnapped, and Booth swore it would be the very last time. He was almost sure one of the LaRue brothers had hired someone to distract him with the gun, so Tempe could be caught without trouble.
"John, have you looked up that information for me?"
The young technician immediately nodded, handing him an A4 paper with the most useful information. Gallagher was new at the Bureau and was an old friend of Booth. They had been with the Army together for one year, until Gallagher realized being a sniper wasn't really something for him. He had left the Army and had gone back to College, to graduate with a degree in Computer Science and Engineering at the well known University of Washington. He had been hired for AV stuff, like tracking down cars with the Global Positioning System, or better known as GPS.
"There are two abandoned oil refineries in the area. One shut down in 1890 after a huge fire. That one is the nearest and entirely in ruins. The other one was closed in February after bankruptcy and the mayor has recently approved the plans to build a new mall there." The smell of burnt tires was still fresh for it had only been two months since it had shut down, but it would surely be very different once a new mall stood there, like planned. Booth couldn't help but wonder whether the new mall would still smell like burnt tires. Shopping couldn't be nice with such a smell around. Although he also wondered if shopping could be fun ever. He really didn't have any idea what women liked about it anyway. It was just: store in and store out all the time.
Booth nervously chewed his bottom lip, putting the paper down and asking Gallagher to write the address of the last building down, before running over to his office, throwing open the drawer to expose a thirty-eight heavy caliber. He picked it up and ran to the parking lot, grabbing the post-it from his old Army friend's hands on his way down there, leaving most of his early colleagues staring after him.
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Criminals always tried to be smart and choose a remote location to hide their hostages, because that was what Odyssea and Bones were. Hostages, if either of them was still alive by then. Camden and Timothy had to be released due to lack of evidence. No fire extinguisher, no fingerprints, and no evidence either.
The thought his female partner could be killed right then, made him push the throttle further.
When the old oil refinery came into sight, Booth noticed five or six orange bulldozers to push the large quantities of rubble that would be created by the large crane with iron ball and during the construction work. It was only a matter of time before the full iron would break the building down with only one swing. Damn. Odyssea and Temperance could be still in there.
Booth pushed his horn hard as he drove up the sandy field. The workers looked up briefly, but just continued their work. The fattest of them, with the dark blue overall, started the engine of the crane, while the iron ball swayed dangerously. It hit the old building hard, causing it to fall down like a house of cards after the second swing. Booth brought the car to a screeching halt, climbed out of it and yelled, "STOP!"
The man who was driving the crane, braked and shut down the engine, climbing out of the cabin to face a panting Booth, who had been running like no one had ever before. "My partner is still in there!" Booth said angrily, before hurrying to the rubble.
"BONES?" he yelled, but there was no answer heard. Meanwhile, the crowd of workers just stood there staring, jaws gaping in disbelief at what was happening.
Booth thought he heard a soft cough and continued pushing the rubble aside. He promised himself he would get her out of there. "TEMPERANCE?" Again there was no answer.
Suddenly, his eyes caught something glittering. He moved to the glittering material and pushed a large piece of concrete aside, to expose the petite body of a fifteen-year-old girl. The shine had come from the emerald in the girl's ring.
As Booth checked for a pulse in her neck, he knew it was too late. A circle of blood marked an entrance wound in her stomach and her body was cold. She had already been dead before the building had fallen down. He was too late for her, but it also gave him courage, because if Odyssea had been held captive there, Bones must lie there somewhere as well.
Booth turned his head to the stunned workers and yelled, "I COULD USE SOME HELP!" If Temperance had been still alive before the old oil refinery had come crashing down, there wasn't much time left before she would suffocate under the rubble of concrete and bricks. He just had to find her before it was too late, although the pain in his arm prevented him from working fast. He just hoped she was still alive by the time he found her... He wouldn't lose her. He couldn't.
A lock of brown hair caught his attention and Booth hurried to it immediately. When he rolled the large stone pillar aside, however, it wasn't the person he thought he would find there. It wasn't Temperance. It was Timothy LaRue. Booth check for a pulse and felt a weak one. How he wanted to let him die there, but then he would be just like him, and that was the very last thing the FBI agent wanted.
"He's still alive," he mumbled against the nearest worker, one with wavy dark blond hair. "Call rescue." The rather young worker did like he was asked, and pulled out his cell phone to call 911.
When Booth's eyes caught another lock of brown hair from under a large piece of wood, the man knew it would be the right person this time. He sank on his knees and pushed aside the heavy wood that covered his partner's limp body. Her eyes were completely shut and she looked very pale, but she still breathed. She was still alive. Timothy hadn't been able to finish his plan before the building had fallen down.
Booth stroked her cold cheek with his large hand, and softly whispered her name. "Temperance?" Her grayish blue eyes stayed closed. "Bones?" His breathing was quite heavy.
Her whole body shook when she coughed and tears of exhaustion wet her cheeks. She had been held captive for eight hours. Booth supported his partner as she coughed the concrete dust out of her lungs and airway and tried to breathe normally. It took her a few minutes to realize Booth was there. She closed her arms around his neck and began to sob into his chest. "Shhh..." he said, pulling her on his lap and lightly rocking her. She grasped his shoulders and hugged him tightly. When the building had come down, she had thought she would never see him or anyone else again.
The wail of the ambulance could be heard in the distance, as Booth picked her up like a bride and carried her to his black department vehicle. She felt as cold as ice, and she had to warm up as soon as possible. He put her on the trunk of the old black department Mustang and rubbed her upper arms with two hands. Her khaki blouse was torn and her black bra was obviously visible. He couldn't say it did nothing for him, but blamed himself for thinking about that kind of intimacy when his partner had just had a narrow escape.
The tires of the ambulance screeched over the sand and came to a halt right beside Booth's Mustang.
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Tempe still sat on the trunk, with a silver blanket around her to help her warm up. Although it was almost 70 degrees out, she still felt really cold to the touch. Booth was sitting on a cooler of one of the workers in front of her, holding her cold hands in his larger ones and running his thumbs over the top of her hands.
She had a little gash on her forehead, an inch above her left eyebrow. The back of her right hand was pretty much scraped and her wrist was seriously bruised. A huge gash adorned her left calf and looked like it needed to be stitched up. She had been very lucky.
A gentle nurse was disinfecting the gash on her forehead with a piece of cotton wool with povidone-iodine. She put the cotton wool down on the trunk and took a white sterile piece of medical tape to cover it up. "Done," she said, picking up the cotton wool and povidone-iodine and going back to the ambulance.
When the oldest son of the LaRues was carried by on a stretcher, Tempe turned her head away and then looked up in Booth's eyes, who understood. He stood up from the cooler, swiftly kissed her cheek and held her tight. "I–"
"Shhh... He will never hurt you again, Temperance." He heard her chuckle faintly as she heard her first name, before picking her up and carrying her to the other ambulance, which had arrived not long after the first one. He laid her on the stretcher, softly squeezed her un-bruised hand and promised her to be with her in the hospital as soon as possible, after reassuring her team she had been found and was alive. He received a light nod in return.
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Tempe's calf had been anaesthetized for the stitching, and she had been given an IV, which gradually began to kick in when Booth arrived at the hospital. He sat by her side holding her hand and told her she would only have to stay for another half day. She nodded and closed her eyes. The IV and the exhaustion had finally won.
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She hadn't been sleeping for long before her eyes blinked open again. Booth was still there at the side of the hospital bed, and didn't immediately notice she was awake. "Seeley?" Tempe muttered, hoarsely. Weakly.
Booth looked up in her grey-blue eyes and smiled seeing her awake. "Hi, Bones."
"I was just getting used to you calling me 'Temperance'..." the female anthropologist answered, gradually finding the strength in her voice back and pushing herself up in an upright sitting position with both hands. She seemed to have forgotten her right wrist was bruised for she instantly pulled it back and softly rubbed it with her other hand.
"Angela was here half an hour ago to bring you some clothes. She said you could keep them if you wanted to."
"I don't really like these ordinary hospital gowns much," she replied, meaning the white fabric with blue spots. Tempe noticed light brown linen pants and a darker brown tank top at the end of the bed and pushed the sheets aside, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Bones, what are you going to do?" Booth exclaimed, standing up to help her if necessary.
"Change," she simply answered him.
She stood up without any help from Booth, grabbing the bundle of clothes and disappearing in the adjoining bathroom of her single hospital room, leaving her male FBI partner there staring after her. He sat down on his chair beside the bed again, sighed, and waited for her to return to the room.
Between the tank top and the pants lay a comfortable purple sports bra with matching purple panties. She grabbed the panties and put them on after a struggle. Then, she picked up the baggy linen pants, which she slid over the panties. She tied a little knot in the cotton ribbon of the pants, to prevent it from sliding down again and sighed, realizing she could never fasten the clasp of the bra with her sore wrist.
She took the hem of the hospital gown she was wearing, and pulled it over her head. A little cry of pain escaped her lips as her sore body protested against the movement.
"Temperance, you alright?" Booth asked.
"Sure," she mumbled, only just loud enough for her FBI partner to hear it. She grabbed the purple sports bra and realized she would need some help with that. She just couldn't reach this far behind her back to fasten the clasp. Tempe sighed. "Booth, would you mind helping me for a second?" Within mere seconds, the FBI agent stood at the doorway of the bathroom. She noticed him in the mirror and turned around to face him, holding the fabric in the front. "Could you fasten the clasp of my bra?" Tempe asked, a little embarrassed.
He nodded. "Turn around."
She did as he said and turned around again, feeling a rough hand softly pushing her brown hair over her shoulder.
Booth took the two ends of the bra and fastened the clasp without trouble. He was likely used to doing that. 'Otherwise he would have never succeeded on the first try,' Tempe thought, her body lightly aching for more touch.
"Thank you." She turned to face him, as he grabbed the dark brown tank top and put it over her head, helping her to pull it on. When she was fully dressed, she softly smiled and stood on her toes, kissing him on the cheek. "Has Ange brought shoes as well?"
"She brought you some flip-flops. She thought that would be more comfortable."
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An hour later, Booth and Tempe walked down the white hospital corridor. She had been released from the hospital, but had been told to take it easy for a couple of days. The stitches in her calf could be removed in two weeks. Until then, she wasn't allowed to drive and that pissed her off. How was she supposed to get to the Jeffersonian? By walking? And... who would do the groceries?
Booth told her to worry about that later, as they collected her personal things at the reception. The nurse gave her a plastic bag containing the torn clothes she had been brought in with and another one that held her wallet, BlackBerry and huge bunch of keys, which had been in the pocket of her black jacket. She opened the last one at the reception and confirmed nothing was missing.
She accepted Booth's offer to take her home.
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"This is already the second time you saved me," Tempe exclaimed, quietly, as her partner drove the black department vehicle up her driveway and shut the engine down.
"Bones, I would die of boredom if you didn't sometimes stir things up," he answered as they each stepped out of the car and walked up to her front door. Tempe took her bunch of keys and opened it with the largest of them.
"I still don't understand why you need all these keys," Booth sighed as the door fell in the lock behind them. "I don't understand how you are able to tear them apart either."
"Easy," she said, holding up the bunch of keys. "The largest one is the one for my front door, the black one is the one for my garage–" "Bones." "I'm sorry..."
She pushed her head against his shoulder, causing him to pull his arms around her. When she tightly hugged Booth, she noticed his blood stained shirt and pulled back.
"What happened with your arm?"
"Bullet wound," he simply answered her.
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"Bones, I'm not going to leave your side for a second anymore," Booth said as she handed him a scotch and sat down beside him on the couch, sipping from her own hot chocolate. "You always get kidnapped or in trouble in one way or another."
"Just give me a gun to defend myself, then," Tempe replied. This had already been the subject of most their discussions lately. "No, Bones, you are just a little too dangerous with guns."
"Seeley–" "Bones, did you just call me by my first name?" "Maybe you should do that more often, too," Tempe answered.
"Stalemate."
Oh how they loved fighting...
"Would you really stay the whole night?" she asked after a few silent minutes.
"Of course," Booth answered after another few minutes. "I would even hold you in my arms during the whole night if you want me to," he joked and drank his scotch in one time, putting a now empty glass on the living room table. Tempe took a last sip from the hot chocolate before putting her mug down beside Booth's empty glass and huddled up in his arm, thinking about his last words.
"You still don't have a new TV?" Booth complained.