This chapter is mostly filler, but I do promise that Brennan will get out there soon.

Chapter 3

It was the best sleep he got in a long time, but it was disturbed by the sound of little feet hitting the ground. He rolled over and looked at the time on his phone, seven thirty. He figured he could sleep a little longer, but then there was a knock on his door. A robe clad Paterson stuck his head in.

"Seel join us for some breakfast." Booth groaned in reply and then got up. He threw on a pair of socks and then headed for the kitchen not really caring about his appearance; he didn't have coffee yet. He wasn't the only one with bed-head thankfully, though his was probably worse.

"Good morning Seeley," greeted Jennifer. Booth nodded in reply, still sleepy, and headed for the coffeepot. "So what time are you guys leaving?"

"I'm not sure," replied Paterson. "Probably ten o'clock or so."

"Boys!" shouted Jennifer. "Come eat breakfast!" The two boys ran downstairs as they were called and placed their schoolbags on the ground before grabbing the box of Froot Loops.

"Thanks for the coffee," said Booth. "I'm going to get ready." He returned to his bedroom and laid out his clothes, jeans and a long sleeve shirt along with his favorite pair of sneakers. He shaved, showered and dressed before heading back out. The twins were putting on their shoes so their mother could take them to school.

"Bye honey," said Jennifer. Paterson nodded and pulled his wife in for a kiss. Booth and the twins looked on in disgust.

"Eww!" they called out in unison.

"Yeah, get a room," said Andy. When the couple parted, Michael had a big smile on his face and Jennifer was blushing.

"Come on guys, the roads are going to be a little slippery." She ushered the boys outside and left behind Booth and her husband.

"It's only eight thirty, you just want to start heading out there now?"

"Whatever. I don't care." Paterson nodded and grabbed his jacket and they headed out on another long journey.

"Okay, so the next drive is about an hour and a half to the company complex. It's in the middle of nowhere on a juicy plot of land so we can do the firearms tests. To test the sniper rifles we usually go into the mountainous areas so that we can get different terrain, distances and such. We'll go out later this afternoon and stay there perhaps half the night and check out the weapons. You'll give me your feedback and perhaps we'll make some changes and try it again. Sound good?"

"Okay."

"Good. So I never asked you how Parker's been doing. I remember you telling me that he was going into kindergarten this year and that's pretty much it."

"Yeah. The kid's great. He absolutely loves school and hanging out with his friends and everything."

Paterson laughed. "That's great. So I never got to totally bug you on the subject of your partner."

"Why is everyone fascinated with that subject?"

"Aw come on. If I wasn't married I'd tell you about my love life."

"Not that I would listen." Booth leaned his arm against the door. "She really is my work partner and we work together to solve crimes."

"Duh."

"You gonna comment or listen. Anyway over the past two years we have been working together we have become very close, as friends, and, well, it's just too complicated."

"Fine then. Don't share."

"What, are you going to get all pouty? There's nothing to it, really." Booth saw Paterson roll his eyes and he shook his head. "So what's this rifle you've got? What's it like?"

"Oh just wait. I've made a Powerpoint presentation for you."

"Oh. Cool." There was silence for a few minutes, and Booth took the time to take in the scenery around him. Then he realized he was in the middle of nowhere. "So what now?"

"Well I suppose I should tell you about the people I work with," said Paterson. There were four people on my team, now three. There was this one fellow, Jonathon Young that had the original concept for the rifle you are going to fire. He and the one guy, Theo Hunter really didn't like each other and constantly argued. Johnnie got fed up, left me an email, and left the project about two years ago. Theo's a pain, without a doubt, the surly thing he is, but the man's a genius. Served during Desert Storm, that's where I met him as a matter of fact. Then there is Joel Smile. Yeah, funny name, I know. He's good with his hands and does some of the casting and work like that for us. He was working with Cheyenne Tactical and their Intervention. The final one is an energetic boy genius. I mean the kid with the physics; he would make us look like total idiots. His name is Alex Devereaux and he, along with his wife Lindsay, has been working with us for some time with bullet dimensions and all that jazz. You'll like them."

"I can't wait."

The rest of the drive was spent in silence with each man immersed in his own thoughts. Within an hour they pulled into the parking lot of the complex. The building was large and gray, built right near the bottom of a mountain. Booth followed Paterson in and swiped his card through a slot, effectively opening another door.

"With all the security you'd think this place was Los Alamos or something," remarked Booth as they passed a security station.

"Yeah well you can never be too careful." Paterson pressed the call button for an elevator and a door dinged open. They rode the elevator down two floors and were introduced to a large room. Booth could see that this was the main area for all the work. Paterson whistled and three people form across the room made their way over. "Guys and lady, this is our test subject, Special Agent Seeley Booth. I served with him, crack shot." Paterson pointed to a man with black hair with a neutral expression on his face. "Seeley, this is Theo Hunter." Seeley extended his hand and Theo gripped it in a very lazy grip. "The next one is Alex Devereaux." The young man looked like he just passed puberty despite being twenty-five. He eagerly grasped Booth's hand in a firm handshake.

"Nice to meet you Agent Booth."

"Booth or Seeley will be fine," replied Booth with a nod.

"And finally this is Lindsay Devereaux, Alex's wife." She smiled and shook Booth's hand. "Well, now that pleasantries have been exchanged, let's get on with the show." Paterson began walking and everyone followed. "Besides working on fire arms, we've been designing new materials for the field, including new camouflage among other things. Now let's watch this Powerpoint I made."

"You know Mike, you were never good with technology," laughed Booth. Paterson was unable to get the Powerpoint to work and spent twenty minutes complaining about it as they headed to another room. In the center, lying down on a table was Paterson and his team's brainchild.

"We call it the Abdicator," said Paterson proudly. Booth looked at him, holding in a laugh. "Okay, we're working on the name."

"I hope so." Paterson smiled and picked up the weapon.. "Weighs about ten kilos, about one point three metres long." He handed it over to Booth, who scrutinized every inch to the point where he would have made the Squints proud.

"Light, easy to handle. I like it. But how does it shoot?"

"There's only a small recoil," answered Smile.

"Yeah," said Paterson. "With the math and physics, predictions have the effective range somewhere near twenty four hundred metres." Booth let out a whistle. "Yep. We haven't done the extreme field tests yet. That's why you're here."

"Cool."

"So, let's get our equipment ready."