(After "The Heiress in the Hill")
Jenny1701: Perhaps Booth could be in a difficult/perilous position, possibly missing having to struggle to get back and realize that he is not really trying to get back to civilization/freedom but to Brennan. (There is a lot more to the prompt and its a great prompt but I had to put my spin on it. I hope it's okay.)
A/N: This story is rated T for violence. (Actually most of my stories are rated T.) It is just seven chapters long, so one of my short ones.
I don't own Bones.
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Startled from a sound sleep, Brennan scrambled to answer the phone, "Brennan."
"Dr. Brennan, I know Booth is on a special assignment, but a body has been found at The Point at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. The body is lying partially in the river, next to one of the columns that used to support an old railroad bridge. The boater that found it called it in and the Sheriff's department checked it out. The body is mostly out of the water so it's safe for now. We'd like you to take a trip up there and make sure that the body is recovered properly and quickly. We wouldn't normally ask you to do something like this but the Sheriff's office thinks the victim is one of ours and we may have two other agents in danger."
Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Brennan moved off of the bed and walked towards her dresser. "Yes, of course. Have someone pick me up outside my house in thirty minutes. I'll be waiting outside."
Ending the call, she called her father, "Dad, I need you to come and stay with Christine. Booth is away on an assignment and I need to drive up to West Virginia for a case. Agent Harris will be by in about 30 minutes to pick me up."
Yawning, Max slid out of bed and walked over to his dresser, "I'm on my way Honey."
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Stepping into the small boat, Brennan and Agent Harris quickly settled into the boat while the Sheriff's deputy waited patiently.
Moving the boat out onto the Shenandoah River, the deputy approached one of the stone columns in the middle of the river. The column partially surrounded by a stony island and dried brush sat as a sentinel in the river, a reminder of a violent past.
Deputy Clark, pointing at the broken columns evenly spaced in the river, informed his passengers, "These columns held up the B&O Railroad Bridge. The Confederates blew it up the first time. It was built and destroyed several times. After 1862 B&O built the new one made of iron. . . The body was found by a fisherman a few hours ago. The FBI has some people out there waiting for you."
Nodding, Brennan watched the column in the distance get nearer, "That's fine. As long as no one's touched the body."
Shaking his head, Deputy Clark responded, "Well, the fisherman moved him a little bit to see if he was alive. It was dark and he really couldn't tell. We were told to look and not to touch. It's obvious in the daylight that the guy is dead so believe me no one really wanted to bother the body."
Curious, Brennan asked, "What made you think the victim belongs to the FBI?"
Watching the river for underwater obstructions, the deputy responded, "He has an FBI t-shirt on."
Satisfied, Brennan watched as they made their approach to the column. The boat moving around the column from upstream, Brennan finally saw the body partially lying on the island. The upper torso was supported by the island surrounding the column, the lower part of the body was submerged in the river.
The deputy carefully moved the boat next to the island so that first Harris and then Brennan could leave the boat. Backing the boat up a little, the deputy waited in his boat for further orders. Another boat containing three FBI techs floated near the column, one of the techs holding onto a rock next to the boat.
Glancing at the techs, Brennan stepped carefully on the rocks and made her way over to the body. Calling out to the techs, she asked, "Have pictures been taken yet?"
One of the techs, holding up his camera nodded his head, "Yes, Dr. Brennan. We took everything we needed while we waited for you to arrive. If you need to move the body you can."
Squatting next to the victim, Brennan became uneasy. Noting the build of the body, the color of his hair and it's length, the skin tone, his apparent age, she felt a tightness in her chest. Placing her gloved hands on the body, she attempted to lift the body so she could get a better look at the face. Harris, trying to be helpful, pulled on some gloves and helped move the body over on its side so that Brennan could examine the front of the victim.
Nodding her head, Brennan said, "You can lower the body. His face has been obliterated. It appears that he was shot in the face at point blank range by what was probably a shotgun."
Lowering the body, Harris squatted on his heels and stared at the back of the victim's head. Clearing his throat, Harris asked, "Is it okay if I check something real quick? I want to check for something around his neck."
Worried, Brennan nodded her head and watched Harris move his hands around the neck of the victim. Observing the agent, she saw him slide his hand around the blood soaked neck of the t-shirt and pull a gold necklace out of the shirt. Pulling gently, he soon found the clasp and unclasped the necklace. Pulling it slowly, he soon had it in his hand, "Oh shit!"
Standing, Brennan leaned over and stared at the necklace in the man's outreached hand. Feeling a little sick, Brennan shook her head and moved her eyes over the body, trying to determine the shape of the victims shoulders and upper arms, "I don't think this is Booth."
Harris, standing slowly, pulled a plastic bag out of his jacket pocket and place the St. Christopher necklace in it for safe keeping. Placing the bag into his jacket pocket, the agent cleared his throat, "I'm sure you're right, this isn't him, Dr. Brennan. This may look like him but it isn't him."
Nodding her head, Brennan leaned over and picked up one of the arms, wiped the mud from the wrist and stared at it. Relief flooding her body, Brennan closed her eyes and felt a tear slip through her lashes. "It's not Booth."
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Entering Brennan's office, Agent Morris Harris found it unoccupied. Scratching his head, he left the office and walked over to the platform. Staring at Hodgins, Harris called out, "Hey Hodgins, have you seen Dr. Brennan?"
Nodding his head, the busy man pointed in the general direction behind him, "She's in the examination room."
Exasperated, Harris responded, "Hey, Bug man, I don't know where that is. You know this is Booth's gig not mine. Take me to her, I need to talk to her and my calls are going to voice mail."
Reluctantly, Hodgins tore his gaze from a tray holding some very blood soaked clothes and walked over to the stair case, "Where is Booth? Shouldn't he be back by now?"
Crossing his arms, Harris answered, "He's where he is. You don't have enough clearance to know where he is."
Annoyed, Hodgins leaned on the rail, "Fine, find Dr. Brennan by yourself."
Glaring at the etymologist, Harris unfolded his arms and placed his hand on his gun, "Why don't I shoot you and then Dr. Brennan will come out from wherever she is to see what the screaming is all about?"
Snickering, Hodgins shook his head and walked down the staircase, "Yeah, yeah, I've been threatened by Booth for years. He'd never shoot me and neither would you."
His eyes boring in the smiling man, Harris growled, "I'm not Booth. He has the patience of a saint compared to me. I wouldn't push me if I were you."
Shrugging his shoulders, Hodgins led Harris to the anthropologist he was looking for. Leaning in the open doorway, he called out to Brennan, "Hey, Dr. B. Agent Harris is looking for you."
Turning, Brennan spied Harris moving past Hodgins and entering the room, closing the door behind him. Pointing at the skeleton on the table before her, Brennan informed him, "The face is too damaged for a facial reconstruction to be successful. Cam is running DNA tests but they take time."
Stepping further into the room, Harris stopped a few feet from Brennan and clasped his hands in front of him. "The DNA tests will be great, Doc but we think we know who this is. Agent Kent Roberts was assigned to a team that included Booth. Their team consisted of three agents. They were in the area of Harper's Ferry looking for a kidnapped child. We found the body of Agent Mark Rodrigue a few hours ago. He was shot in the face with a shotgun. His body was found by two of our agents about five miles from the river southwest of where our victim was found." Pointing at the body, Harris' finger wavered, "We're sure this was Agent Kent Roberts. We have two dead agents and a missing agent. We don't know where Booth is but we have men out looking for him right now." Retrieving a flash drive from his pocket, Harris placed it on the corner of the table holding the victim." This holds all the information you need to identify whether or not this is Agent Roberts. Agent Rodrigue's body is on the way to the Jeffersonian as we speak. His personal info is on the drive too. We're hoping you and your team can look over our dead agents and see if you can figure out where they've been. We need to find Booth and we need to know where to look."
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Does this sound interesting? Reviews would be great. Thank you.