Ladies and gentlemen (although, i dunno how many gentlemen really read fan fiction...)welcome to chapter 3! woot! thanks so much for all the positiveness in your reviews...it makes my day!
as always, i dont own bones/any of the characters (what i would do to own booth...*sigh*)
Enjoy!
Brennan came to with a quiet moan, her body aching and her head throbbing. Her first attempt to open her eyes was unsuccessful, even the dull light from wherever she was lying was too bright for her photosensitive eyes. She tried to roll over from her position face-down on the floor, but a sharp pain shot up her arm when she pushed against it, causing her to slip back to the ground with a thud and a yelp. As she lay there, she felt the surface she was laying on vibrating, giving her the idea that she must be in a car and, sure enough, when she cracked her eyes open for the second time she saw she was in the back end of a small truck with no windows. Trying once again to roll herself over, Brennan gently pushed against the cold metallic floor and managed to roll into a more comfortable position. As she turned, though, she noticed heavy bindings holding her ankles and wrists together. Opening her eyes a little wider, she saw bulky chains binding her ankles, and slightly smaller but nonetheless heavy chains linking her wrists.
Lying there in the semi-darkness, Brennan began to assess her body for any obvious injuries. The throbbing in her head suggested a blow, consistent with blunt force trauma, which seemed to have caused her to loose consciousness. The only other major cause of pain came from her arm, which seemed to have been crushed, most likely when she collapsed from being struck on the head. Although not broken, there would probably be substantial bruising and possible swelling. And it hurts like hell…
The car continued to drive, speeding along at a pace consistent with a highway or freeway, without making any turns or changes of direction. Although this provided more comfort for Brennan in the back of the truck, it also provided her with very little insight into where she was or where she was going. The trip was silent other than the road noise; no radio playing from the driver's cabin and no other sounds coming from outside the car. It was almost eerie, the lack of…anything.
Suddenly, the car slowed, before taking a left turn off whatever highway it was travelling on. It continued along its new path, before taking another turn onto what seemed to be some type of backstreet. It twisted and turned, the road quality decreasing so much that Brennan was beginning to bounce slightly against the metal floor. The car suddenly threw an unexpected u-turn at high speed, flinging Brennan across the truck and slamming her into the wall. She let out an involuntary cry at the impact, and winced as she was forced to bear weight on her injured arm. The car had come to a halt, but Brennan didn't have an opportunity to gather herself before the back door was flung wide open. The sun was blinding to her unprepared eyes, so she wasn't ready when a strong pair of hands snaked through the opening, grabbed her ankles, and pulled her towards the door as though she weighed little more than a rag doll.
She was flung unceremoniously over this same person's shoulder, fireman style, and quickly carried from the car. Brennan looked up quickly, hoping to catch a glimpse of something- anything- that may give a clue about where she was. Dismayed, all she saw were large numbers of massive and obviously abandoned warehouses, and a man-made river leading off into a bay. A man-made river that was so murky it was almost opaque, and a very convenient place for dumping something that didn't want to be found.
Shoving the thought from her mind and mentally reprimanding herself, Brennan tried to focus on finding something of use, which might be able to provide anyone searching for her with some kind of clue. Seeing nothing obvious, she began to assess herself, to see if she could drop something uniquely hers, but not attract the attention of her captors in the process. Seeing that they were approaching the door of one of the many warehouses, Brennan quickly grasped a bracelet around her wrist that had escaped the chains around her wrist. It was a silver charm bracelet, given to her by Booth for Christmas a few months prior. The bracelet was nothing unique to untrained eyes, but if examined closely, it was very distinctively Brennan's. Booth had personally picked each of the silver charms that were attached to the bracelet: a tiny skull, a microscope, a book, the intertwined letters T and B, and a custom-made Brainy Smurfette.
With a twinge of regret, Brennan slipped the bracelet off her wrist and let it drop to the ground, its fall luckily muffled by the presence of a convenient weed growing out of a crack in the cement. Brennan held her breath a moment, expecting her captor to have noticed her ploy and gather up the bracelet before it could do any good. But, thankfully, he continued to walk without pause. Brennan was only thankful for this fact for a moment, though, as she was quickly carried into one of the large, dark and foreboding warehouses, and the door was closed behind her with an ominous screech.
Brennan wasn't put down until they reached the far side of the room, and rounded the corner of a wall made out of rotting wooden crates. The temporary barrier blocked about a quarter of the space from the rest of the warehouse, hiding it from the view of anyone who may have glanced inside without looking suspicious. She was dumped harshly onto the concrete floor, the chains wrapped around her ankles and wrists clanking together as she thumped to the floor. She had been considering running as soon as she was put down, but the sheer weight of the metal encasing her ankles prevented her from even lifting her legs off the ground.
Her hands were grabbed roughly from behind and twisted above her head. Brennan's eyes shot up, and she immediately began to struggle when she saw what was there. A rusted hook was hanging above her; similar to the one Kenton had suspended her from when he had kidnapped her. She knew, from both experience and instinct, that things were going to start going downhill if she allowed herself to be tied up properly.
She lashed out, using her elbows and knees and any other body part she had available to attack her assailant, trying to disable him. To her utter dismay, it seemed to have no affect on the man behind her. He lifted her arms easily, and secured her chained wrists over the rusty hook, tying it in place so it was impossible to move her hands. He then quickly moved to her chained ankles, hooking the links to a peg that was cemented to the floor, essentially making it impossible for her to move. Brennan struggled a moment longer, but after a few attempts realised that her efforts were futile. He captor was slowly walking around her, and eventually came to a halt before Brennan, letting her see his face for the first time.
His skin was ebony black, his head clean shaven. He wore nondescript clothes, and had a dark tattoo running along his arm. But none of his physical features were what caught Brennan's attention. His eyes were dark and foreboding, and were staring Brennan down with such anger that she felt herself shrink away from him. He stood a moment, looking murderously down at his captive, before lashing out. He viciously slapped her across the face, causing her to cry out in shock and pain.
'You will learn,' he hissed in a deep, Jamaican accent, 'to respect your superiors!'
'Why the hell should I respect you, then?' Brennan snapped without thinking of the consequences, but immediately regretted saying anything. Booth had warned her, after the last time she'd been kidnapped, that if it ever happened again not to provoke her kidnapper into doing anything drastic.
The man's hand flew to Brennan's throat, pressing painfully against her windpipe.
'You will learn to respect me, Brennan!' His hand tightened, cutting off more oxygen from Brennan's lungs. She tried desperately to pull away, to draw breath, but the man's grip was unyielding. Her vision was starting to darken dangerously around the edges when he finally pulled away, and she took a loud and shuddering breath, gasping in as much oxygen as she could. The man paced before her, looking hostile and threatening, waiting for her to stop her coughing and gasping. Once she had settled back into a relatively normal breathing pattern he turned to her once more, but the murderous expression on his face had been replaced with one similar to a host welcoming his guests.
'Doctor Brennan. Tempe…you don't mind if I call you that? You didn't when we last knew each other…such a long time ago, it seems…but I am getting off topic. I've missed you, Tempe, longed for your attentions every day of my life since you left, but you chose to ignore that. Pretended that I never existed, that's what you did. That may have been what you wanted at the time, and I understand that. We were young, stupid. But now…now I think it is time that we get…reacquainted.' Brennan was sure that this speech would have been more informing, as well as more threatening if she actually had any idea who he was. But, as of yet, she was still completely nonplussed as to who the man's identity. Still, she decided not to mention it, to bite her tongue and be a good hostage, like Booth had told her, but some of her confusion must have been betrayed on her face.
The man chuckled, running a hand over his smooth head.
'Tempe, Tempe, Tempe…you don't remember me, do you? Even after I wrote it on the walls and everything…' Brennan was becoming more and more confused with every passing moment, but stayed quiet, hoping to ascertain who this man was by his pending speech.
'I don't get it, Tempe, why wouldn't you remember me? The day we met has been imprinted upon my mind permanently, and it is beyond me how you could forget…How could you forget, Tempe? How!' His voice had risen in intensity and anger until he was shouting at Brennan once more, and fear tainted Brennan's heart as she realised he was going to attack her once more. He raised a furious fist, and Brennan winced away, but the blow never came. Chancing a glance from beneath her wincing eyelids, she saw him hovering before her, his fist still raised, but even as she watched she could see his anger begin to cool ever so slightly.
Brennan internally sighed in relief as she saw him lower his fist, and slowly walk away. He paced before her a moment, before looking back up at her with a small, determined smile.
'Well, we are going to need to correct that, aren't we?' He let the question hover in the air, before abruptly turning away and leaving the area. Brennan could hear his footfalls echo across the warehouse, gradually getting further and further away, until she finally heard the door screech as it was slid open and closed. The shriek of the metal echoed around the large warehouse for a moment, but then there was silence. Nothing stirred; all Brennan could here was herself drawing breath. She didn't even hear the man pull away in his car.
As soon as she was sure that she was going to remain undisturbed for at least a short while, she began to relax the sharp alert that she had been on ever since she had been tied up, and along with that she felt her emotional resilience begin to weaken. Both the logical and mental disadvantages were weighing down heavily on her. She had once heard that if you were ever attacked with the intent of abduction, to never allow yourself to be placed in your attacker's vehicle. Once there, your chances of being found, preventing injury and escaping death dropped exponentially. This, combined with the fact that no one else was around to hear her assault, meant that the likeliness of her being found unharmed was basically zero. A fact which did nothing to improve her outlook on her situation.
On the other hand, Booth had been on the phone with her at the time. He must have heard something, or at least must have become concerned when he heard her drop the phone. She had complete faith in Booth, and trusted him with her life, and was confident that he would find her. Her only concern was if he would find her in time.
C'mon Booth, I need you…
Duh Duh Duh!!!! well, it isnt really that much of a cliffie, but yeah...i just wanted to write duh duh duh again :P
I hope you peeps out there enjoyed that... if so, share the love and review (wow, i sound like such a hippie...peace out, man...lol)
if you didnt like it, my apologies, and let me know what was wrong with it (but dont be too harsh! im merely a fragile teenager!! dont kill me!)
thanks a billion for reading, hopefully more coming soon (im on holidays in five days, so i should have a lot more time to write :D)
