Ch. 2

Matt and Emily arrived in D.C. late that night. Their flight had been great even with Matt's attempts to get her to agree to join the mile high club. He settled for allowing his hands to roam under her shirt after she covered them with a blanket. Emily fell asleep halfway through so he took a nap too. Now they were focused and ready to help Brennan out of this situation. They had little information, but read what they did have in the car on the way over to the scene. They were surprised when Frank and Duff, members of their own HRT team, met them.

"Matt, Emily. Cheryl decided that with this being so high profile, you might want some of your own team here." Frank informed them.

"Yeah, and that we can baby-sit you." Duff added without the teasing he normally had.

"We don't need a baby sitter. We can do our job and not let some things interfere, can you?" Emily countered shutting him up quickly.

"When did you get here?" Matt asked focusing on the situation at hand.

"About 15 minutes ago, we were on a different airline." Frank supplied.

The group continued walking and talking as they went in search of the agent in charge.

Agent Daniel Roper pointed them in the direction of a tall, dark haired man in a nice suit.

"Agent Booth?" Emily questioned hoping they had found the person they needed.

"Yes?" Booth responded a little annoyed much to the amusement of Frank and Duff who sometimes had the same response when Emily called their names.

"I'm Emily Lehman; this is my partner Matt Flannery. We're the crisis negotiators."

Emily stated calmly but a little aggravated.

"Thank God!" Booth exclaimed holding out his hand to shake theirs, happy they had finally arrived.

"What can you tell us about the situation?" Matt inquired eyeing Booth to see if he would be a threat.

"Bones has been in there for over 6 hours. We have to get her out. She's really smart, but not good with people who are alive. I'm surprised the HT hasn't shot her yet. She must not be talking which would be a first. She has an opinion on everything." Booth told them.

"We're going to do everything we can to get her out of there." Emily told him signaling to Matt the area where she wanted to set up.

"Agent Booth?" Matt began, "Has there been any contact from the HT?"

"No. That's what I don't get. If he wanted Bones, why take 9 others hostage, or if he wanted to get at me, why not just come after me? They haven't called." Booth said his aggravation with the situation beginning to show.

"No one on your team has tried to contact them?" Emily asked in disbelief.

"No. We were told to wait for the negotiators. So they have." Booth stated sadly.

"Okay, not a problem. Em and I will take care of it." Matt said as he pulled Emily to the side so they could discuss who would be primary.

Inside the room:

"Why are you doing this?" Bones asked impatiently for the twentieth time. She was not getting anywhere and the other people in the room were getting more and more worried as time went on.

"I told you to shut up before I make you!" The HT yelled. Pacing the room talking to himself out loud. He knew he was in over his head. The only thing he wanted is for the FBI to drop him as a person of interest in his daughter's kidnapping case. His ex-wife had all of his parental rights terminated because she lied in the hearing about him abusing them and now his eight year old daughter had disappeared and no one knew anything. The FBI became involved after she had been missing a few days and Bones was brought in last night when they discovered a badly decomposed body in the woods around the area where the little girl disappeared. The only thing the HT wanted was to talk to Agent Booth and get all the charges dropped. He had nothing to do with the kidnapping, but now what. Why hadn't they called yet? Maybe he should call them.

"Why did you do this?" Bones tried again knowing that she was aggravating him. This time it earned her a slap across the face. She put her hand to her cheek and cried out in pain. The other hostages scooted back closer to the wall and huddled together. They figured they were safer all together than alone. Now what she thought. Booth had better get me out of this soon.