Hi there, I only discovered Bones about a year ago and have been devouring the box sets ever since. This is a story of three chapters, set during season 6, after The Daredevil in the Mold, but before The Change in the Game (ie, post Hannah, but before Booth/Brennan get together).
This is my first fanfic and I did look for a beta a couple of times, but had no luck (sob) so decided to push on.
Anyway, enjoy and please review!
Disclaimer: I am in no way talented enough to create two fully formed and interesting characters such as Booth and Brennan. They belong to Hart Hanson and Fox.
Paladin
Chapter 1
Special Agent Seeley Booth sighed in frustration as he heard the telephone ring behind him.
Glancing at his watch he realised he was already late for dinner with Bones and Parker and cursed whoever had decided to call at seven o'clock on a Friday night. Spinning on his heel he strode back into his office and reached across his desk to snatch the receiver from its cradle, cutting off the irritating noise.
"Booth!"
But whoever was at the other end had was muffling the reciever; he could only hear a scratching sound and mumbled talking.
"Agent Booth here!" he repeated, again glancing at his watch and trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
The mumble suddenly became clearer: "And get the SWAT boys ..." before scratchy, white noise filled his ear again.
Recognising the voice, Booth immediately stood up straighter. "Deputy director Hacker? Is everything ok sir?"
"Ahh. Agent Booth," the deputy director sounded slightly flustered as his voice came clearly over the line. "Ah. Just working on a big case . . ."
A pause, which quickly became a strained silence that Booth felt compelled to fill. "Is there anything I can help you with sir?"
He had described Hacker as a bit of a doofus to Bones more than once, but he thought the guy was decent enough not to be ringing so late before the weekend without good reason. Besides, the mention of the SWAT team had caught his interest.
"Booth, I need to see you in my office straight away," his boss seemed to have regained his train of thought. "I'm sorry for the late hour, but this can't wait."
"Sure sir, I'll be up right away. I just have to make a quick call."
"Ok."
Another strange pause.
"Anything else sir?"
"No, no. That's fine."
Puzzled, Booth moved to replace the receiver.
"Booth?"
Quickly he brought the phone to his ear again. "Yes sir?"
"It's not Temperance you're calling is it?"
"Ah, yes," he felt strangely irritated at the mention of his partner's name. He knew Hacker had had a thing for Bones, and he knew that Hacker knew that it was over, but it still annoyed him.
"If you reach her, give her my love, won't you?"
Booth could feel himself blush, not knowing quite what to say. He felt territorial, but pushed the feeling away - Bones would hate it.
"Sure." He knew his tone sounded clipped, but he couldn't help it. "I'll see you in a few minutes."
Returning the receiver harder than he should have, he stood there staring as he adjusted his tie.
What the hell was that about?
Booth snapped his cell shut as he got out of the lift and made his way to Hacker's office. Still no reply from Bones. She would be on her way to Wong Fu's with Parker by now. Hopefully she'd pick up the message that he'd be late and order for him. He should make it in time before the food arrived.
As he dodged the staffers heading for the elevator and the weekend he could see the deputy director's secretary attacking the keys of her computer like an angry woodpecker. He figured it wasn't a good sign.
"Hey, Nadine," he gave her his best smile. "He's expecting me?"
"You and the whole damn cavalry. I don't know what's going on Agent Booth, but I know I'm going to be eatin' my dinner cold tonight."
"Something big, huh?" he said, trying to gauge whether he was even going to get near dessert.
"He's been roarin' and hollarin' for the past hour. At this rate we'll be lucky if we get a break to get to the cafeteria."
"Well, dinner there isn't so bad."
"Darlin', I meant for breakfast! You'd better get yourself in there. The sooner you're in, the sooner we're all out and we can all go home."
Booth moved towards the office. Hacker was facing him, hunched over the boardroom table staring at a laptop; two men stood across from him, their backs to the door.
He felt the tension as soon as he stepped into the room.
"Agent Booth," Hacker snapped the laptop shut and stood up. His face looked drawn. "Come in. I don't believe you've met US Marshall Paul Nicholls of WITSEC, and Agent Philip Mantua."
"Sure, nice to meet you fellas," Booth extended his hand. Grey-haired and well-dressed, Nicholls looked like a bit of stuffed shirt, but Booth knew that the men who ran witness protection were heavy hitters, creating new lives for hardened criminals and often under threat themselves as they tried to protect their charges.
Nicholls silently extended his hand and gave a firm, dry handshake.
Mantua moved toward him. "Agent Booth, its great to finally meet you!" The greeting was delivered a little too loudly and the man seemed jumpy. He was scruffy and bearded, with a tattoo curling around his neck and into his shirt - he could have taken lessons off Nicholls in the what-to-wear department. "I've heard a lot about you."
"Agent Mantua has been undercover with the Mara Muerte for the past 18 months," Hacker said, moving to the head of the table. "He's been trying to get Roberto Ortez to turn state's evidence."
Booth glanced at his boss and was surprised to see a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.
"Well good luck with that," he said, directing his attention back to the agent. "In all my dealings with him he was a hard man to convince of anything that his gangbangers didn't back up."
"Well, we think we've got him fairly convinced now. He's ready to roll!" Mantua said slapping the table.
"Gentlemen," Hacker laughed nervously, "Agent Mantua is obviously still coming down from the high."
"Yeah, takes a while," Nicholls observed dryly, taking a seat opposite Hacker.
Sneaking a look at his watch, Booth sat at the table, two places down from Nicholls.
"So," Hacker said, grasping the back of a chair. "Now we're all here, we can bring this thing up to speed."
"What thing?" Booth asked. Must be important, Hacker's gripping that chair like he's going to break it apart.
He heard Nicholls shift slightly beside him and suddenly felt uneasy; his stomach clenched and it was nothing to do with hunger.
"As Agent Mantua said, Agent Booth," Hacker removed his hands from the back of the chair in a visible effort to pull himself together. "Ortez is ready to leave Mara Muerte."
"Yeah, ready to fly into the arms of Nicholls," Mantua laughed from where he was lounging on the wall behind Booth.
"That's a good catch, Mantua," Booth said, his eyes never leaving Hacker. "But I don't see what that has to do with me."
He leaned forward on his elbows, trying to catch Hacker's eye as his boss paced back and forth.
"My boys are all ready to get him out Agent Booth," Nicholls said. "But there been a complication, shall we say. And it involves you."
"Me?" Booth sat back in his chair, taking the older man in. "But I haven't had anything to do with Ortez and his gang for about five years."
He remembered with satisfaction following the gang leader into the alley after he'd threatened Bones, telling him in no uncertain terms what would happen to him if anything happened to her.
"Booth, you need to take a look at this," Hacker said, moving the laptop toward him and flipping open the screen. It flashed to life, showing what looked like CCTV footage taken from the top of a lamppost.
At first it was hard to be exactly sure what he was watching for. Most of the screen was taken up with an empty sidewalk. The extreme right showed the edge of a road. He could just make out the tops of cars going by.
"This was taken about 5pm tonight," Hacker said softly, almost apologetically. There was something in his tone that made all Booth's senses snap to high alert. He kept watching.
Then, at the top of the screen, two figures appeared. Even though the footage was grainy and taken from above, he instantly recognised the cut of the woman's hair, its bounce and sway as she looked down at the boy beside her. There was only one person that boy could be.
He would think back to that moment later and wonder at the fact that the panic didn't kick in immediately. That he was able sit calmly, watching the two people he loved the most on CCTV godamnit as his world slowly tilted on its axis.
Part of it was probably disbelief. Disbelief that this time he was the victim. He was the guy on the other side of the table as the bad news played out. Part of it was probably years of training as a soldier, a sniper, and an agent. Waiting until he had all the facts before he made a decision. Nothing bad has happened yet.
Part of it was probably just shock, his body's defences shoring up the dam of panic.
What happened next, broke that dam.
A car pulled in beside the pair. Suddenly a man appeared, looming up in front of Bones like he'd sprung from the ground. She looked up from Parker as she stopped short. Before she had time to react, the man had slammed a fist into her face.
Booth flinched as Bones fell, then felt his muscles tighten as his son started to move, disappearing from the frame. That's my boy. You run Parker, run!
The man was down now, Bones had swept his feet out from under him. But he tackled her as she struggled to get up. He slammed her head against the sidewalk, once, twice, and then she was still.
Booth felt his skin crawl as the man dragged her to the back of the car and out of view.
"He probably put her in the trunk," Hacker said quietly.
"What?" Booth looked up, he felt confused, his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. "Bones . . .?" He struggled to order his thoughts. Everything was happening too fast. He took a deep breath. "Parker, he'll know . . . he got away. Who picked him up?"
Nichols leant toward him. "I'm sorry Agent Booth, there's more."
I'm sorry Agent Booth, there's more? What the hell . . .?
Booth looked blankly at the screen. What more could there be? His partner beaten and kidnapped, his son . . . Please God, where is my son? The screen was empty.
Then, from the left, his child, being carried, seemingly lifeless, by a second man, a stranger, and dumped in the back seat of the car before it drove away.
Booth groaned as his head sunk to the table.
"I'm sorry Agent Booth," It seemed like Hacker's voice was speaking to him from under water, the words muffled and wavering. "We can't be sure how many there were. The second man either exited the car out of the camera's range, or was waiting nearby."
He felt the director's hand on his arm.
He started to pray.
"Agent Booth?"
Be strong and courageous.
"Agent Booth!"
Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.
"Agent Booth, please."
Be strong and courageous!
In one clean move Booth kicked his chair away and was on Mantua, holding him against the wall by the throat.
"Where did they take them you sonofabitch?!"
"Agent Booth! Stand down!"
It was Hacker, coming around the desk; he sensed Nicholls getting out of his chair.
"If they die! I swear to God I will kill everyone responsible. Starting with you!"
"Agent Booth! I said stand down!"
He slammed Mantua's head against the wall and stepped away as the man fell. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to erase the images of his son, lifeless; his partner, beaten, and no one there to help.
He turned back to Mantua, ready to beat him again until he had what he wanted. Nicholls grabbed his arm.
"He's no good to you dead, Agent Booth."
"You!" Booth turned, wrenching his arm away, stepping in close. "You. Is this your "complication"?!"
Nicholls stood his ground. "Ortez started to get nervous. He wasn't sure of the plan. He didn't think it was tight enough. We were to pick him up at a roadside diner, away from his crew. But he didn't think the gangbangers would be convinced. He never travelled without his top men and he knew they would have to be convinced that the arrest was a fluke."
"What?! So Ortez thinks, 'Let's pick up a couple of civilians. Better yet, FBI family, then we'll have a real reason to come in and raid the place'," Booth balled his fists, struggling to control his emotions. "Tell me Nicholls, since when do gangbangers get to choose the moves?"
"I tried to stop him Agent Booth," Mantua had a hand to his head, trying to stem the bleeding. "I tried to get the word out for protection."
"Well you didn't try hard enough," Booth snapped, turning toward the agent, towering over him as he lay on the floor. "We make the play! We make the deals! They don't get to make the play!"
"Booth!" Hacker stepped between the men, his palms up. "We know where they are. Ortez is back in the game. He gave us heads up."
"Where. Where are they?"
"We have men waiting to go in."
"What?" Booth heard his voice grow softer, more deadly. He stepped closer to Hacker. "Men like this," he pointed at Mantua. "Amateurs like this? You seriously think I'd risk the life of my partner, my son with amateurs like this? No." He turned away. "I'm going in myself."
"You can't," Nicholls said. "Be reasonable. The whole gang will be there. What's going down has to be that public."
"If you think I'm ..."
"Agent Booth, the deputy director says you're the best agent the bureau has, but that's only if you're alive."
Booth leant heavily on the table, trying to get himself under control, trying to think.
Be strong and courageous.
He knew the men were right, but he also knew he had to be involved. There was no way he was going to risk his family with anyone, not when the bureau and WITSEC had already lost control so badly.
He looked up at Hacker, and forced himself to be professional. "I'm going in. You can follow with back-up. But I'm going in first to secure them."
Nicholls shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I wouldn't advise that."
"I don't care what you advise," Booth spat. "Agents going into a gangbanger stronghold, guns blazing; chance to get a medal. I'll be damned if this is going to be another Waco."
"It won't be," Hacker bristled. "I think it's fair to say the agency learnt its lesson there."
Booth struggled to control himself; it was time to play his trump card. "Tell me Hacker, do you want Max Keenan on your tail if this goes wrong?"
Hacker swallowed uncomfortably.
"Keenan? Who the hell is Max Keenan?" Mantua asked, struggling to his feet.
"A career criminal who gets very upset when his daughter – you know her as Dr Temperance Brennan – is put in danger," Booth answered.
"We'll be lucky if he doesn't know about this already," Hacker muttered.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"So, it's decided. I'm going in first." Booth stood to leave, "You," he said, jabbing Nicholls in the chest, "talk to Ortez and make it happen. Tell that sonofabitch that if anything happens to my family, he'll get a lot more from me this time than just a gun down his throat. "
He turned to Hacker as he walked out the door. "I'll be in my office talking to Rebecca. Let me know when it's done."