Past:

"We need to circle around the most obvious routes. The trip will take us three days. We're only going to have one car and rest will travel by horses. Not many people are going to come with you so lack of space or horses won't be a problem." The army strategist, Floyd said running his fingers on the map that was laid on the table in front of Brennan. She never remembered the guy's real name but everyone kept on calling him Floyd and, so did Temperance. Floyd was a perfectly normal looking guy; he wasn't bad looking and he wasn't the best looking either. He was the kind of guy who would not be noticed in a crowd. Floyd stuck in the business he knew and didn't appreciate if someone poked their nose into his job if they really didn't know what they were talking about. Temperance didn't like it either. She knew how irritating it was so she always let Floyd do his job without bothering him. Floyd kept on pointing at the map showing different routes explaining his decisions on chosen routes.

They were inside a large tent that was filled with maps, computers and different equipment. Commander Joe Riff stood next to Temperance hovering over the map like a vulture searching for prey. His bald head was covered with a cap that shadowed his face. He was wearing a dark uniform like the other superiors in the headquarters and he was sweating more than anyone else. "You do know how to move in the desert, don't you?" He asked from Brennan. She glanced at the commander. "Apparently more than you do sir." She replied with a flat tone. Joe raised his look from the map frowning with a surprised and slightly offended face. He clearly had not waited this kind of answer from Brennan; he did not expect anyone to dare to act snotty in front of a superior officer. She had not meant to be snotty but she realized she might have sounded like it. "These dark uniforms are very impractical in the desert area. They won't do any good. They will not make you blend in to the environment and they suck the light making it too hot to wear them." She decided it was better to explain her previous statement. Joe raised his eyebrows slightly but then returned his neutral expression. "I agree with you. Thought of it before but we just don't have such uniforms." He nodded to Brennan. "It will take a while to prepare for the journey; few weeks. Maybe we'll get better equipment by that time." Commander Riff said returning to talk about the mission ahead, the mission that included the reason why Brennan was brought into the operation.

Present:

Booth strolled out from the court hall building feeling satisfied that the guy he had arrested was put behind bars. It was a sunny weather, too hot but Booth was in a good mood. He went to a small ice cream stand that was across the street and bought a vanilla cone. He hadn't eaten ice cream since he had last time taken his son Parker to the carnival. The sugary taste of ice cream filled Booth's mouth and he immediately felt relief to the heat wave. This was the kind of day that made people crawl from their shabby holes that were also referred as apartments, just to get a cone of tasty, cold ice cream. I bet Bones would like one too. He surprised himself by suddenly thinking about Brennan. He had seen her earlier at the court house with one hell of a crew with her. If they had been there with her she had had one hell of a defence. Booth wondered why they had been there; especially sergeant Moskoff. He knew Brennan had been in trial, but the people she was accompanied with made Booth wonder what she was tangled into exactly. He walked on the street heading to his car. Suddenly his phone rang. He saw it was his boss.

Brennan circled around the examination table keeping her look firmly in the remains that were lying on the table of the forensic platform. The remains had been found from the Himalayas. It was well-preserved due to the fact that it had been covered by ice. Brennan looked at the x-rays taken from the remains. The remains were of a young male. Brennan saw from the x-rays that he had died of a head trauma. His skull was badly injured. Zach approached Brennan peering over her shoulder at the remains with curiosity sparkling in his eyes. Brennan gently examined the remains that were valuable and fragile. "He was badly beaten. I don't want to make presumptions but that is most likely what killed him. He didn't fall, that's for sure." She said when her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she heard someone use their key card. She raised her look and saw Booth enter the platform. Brennan raised her eyebrows as she noticed he was holding an ice cream. "Hey Bones!" He greeted with a grin on his face. There was a line of ice cream on his upper lip and Brennan couldn't stop staring at the F.B.I. agent who was holding a cone. Booth noticed her stare and then offered Brennan the cone. "Want some?" Brennan shook her head. "No thanks Booth." C'mon, have some! It tastes good!" He practically pushed the cone at her face. "No, Booth really." She raised her hand in front of her face like the ice cream would be the most terrifying thing on earth. "C'mon! Just a little. Try it!" Brennan opened her mouth to reject the offer but Booth saw this as an opportunity. He shoved some of the ice cream to her mouth. Brennan got surprised by this but she did like the taste. "Pretty good actually." She said as she got the ice cream down her throat. The not too sweet, smooth taste was great. Angela grinned at this fight about ice cream that she clearly thought was cute and little more than it just appeared to be. Brennan frowned slightly knowing what she was thinking. She was always making a match from Brennan and Booth.

"So, why are you here Booth? Or is this a social call?" Brennan asked raising her other eyebrow. She asked the question even though she knew Booth didn't do much social calls to the Jeffersonian lab for he didn't particularly like the place, but she didn't want to jump into conclusions, especially when it had something to do with human behaviour. Booth continued on eating his vanilla ice cream. He still hadn't noticed the white line on his upper lip and it continued to be a slightly bothering, yet amusing, eyesore for Brennan. "My boss called me. He told me to come here for we have a new case that he'll be bringing here himself." Booth replied taking a seat on one of the lab tables. Brennan frowned at this wanting to yell him not to sit on one and smack him, but he managed to pick up her frown. He quickly got up sitting on a chair instead raising his hands as a sign of surrender. "What kind of case?" Brennan folded her hands on her chest. I do have other work to do too. She finished off her sentence in her mind not wanting to show her slight irritation that Booth had created by entering the lab, interrupting her work and shoving an ice cream down her throat. It did taste good though.

"Okay just bring it here!" Brennan heard someone yell from the lobby. Soon a bunch of men entered the lab area. One of them was Booth's grumpy looking boss, deputy director Cullen, who wasn't too fond of Brennan. Cullen directed his look to Booth raising his eyebrows: He noticed the ice cream cone Booth had been holding. He also noticed the ice cream whiskers Booth had gotten. Cullen stared at his face clearly not knowing whether he should laugh or cry. "What?" Booth asked as the stare went on. "You have half of the ice cream on your face." Brennan answered saving Cullen from answering. Brennan took a tissue wiping the vanilla off his face. Booth clearly felt embarrassed as Brennan noted he had had ice cream on his face the whole time. She helpfully wiped it off and he then threw his cone to the nearest garbage can he saw. Soon, after Director Cullen had entered, few F.B.I. agents came to the lab and they were followed by some delivery men that were carrying large boxes. The men gently placed the boxes on the floor as Cullen stopped and signed them to do so. Then some more delivery men came in and more boxes were placed in the middle of the lab's lobby. Soon they were looking at twelve large, wooden boxes. As the delivery men left more men entered. One of them was Sergeant Daniel Moskoff who was followed by Harvey Black and agent Jason Hawk. This surprised Brennan and she couldn't even cover it from her face. She however managed to move her look back to director Cullen who was standing in front of the boxes looking like he would own the whole lab. Brennan was about to open her mouth to say something but someone beat her to it. "So, director Cullen. What is all this about?" Cam stepped asked stepping forward from behind Brennan where she had been peacefully doing her work. "Well we have a special delivery for Dr. Brennan here." He answered patting one of the wooden boxes. "This is Sergeant Daniel Moskoff and Sergeant Harvey Black. Agent Hawk you already know if I remember right." Cullen motioned at the three men. "And they all are from the CIA."

Booth looked at the three serious-looking men and greeted them with a nod when Cullen introduced him to the men. Brennan walked down from the forensic platform where they all were standing and walked to the three men. "Dan, what is this about?" Brennan looked at the tall man in the eyes standing so close to him that she looked like she would attack him in any second. Booth noticed that Deputy Director Cullen seemed surprised when Brennan called Moskoff by his nickname referring she knew him well. Moskoff's expression was uncomfortable like he wouldn't have liked to answer to her. "These are a delivery from Africa, considered as classified." He said with a hinting tone which Brennan seemed to pick up. Blood ran off from her face making her look so pale that she reminded Booth of a body from straight out of the morgue. Her expression was tensed and it looked like she wouldn't have breathed at all. She moved to the nearest crate pulling the cover open almost violently. Inside there was a metallic crate that's cover was closed with three locking mechanisms. She opened them with one quick, smooth hand movement and then carefully opened the cover. A massive cloud of dust rose to the air making Brennan cough few times. Booth carefully walked to her to see what was in the box. Brennan backed one step away from the box folding her hands on her chest, keeping her look still on the content of the box. Booth peered to the box waving his hand to get the dust from the air scatter. He saw a box full of sand and from the sand he could see pieces of a human skeleton peeking on the surface. He could see a part from the skull and hand; the rest was buried in the sand.

Brennan looked at the remains feeling like someone would have been strangling her. "We are going to work with the CIA on this, in full co-operation." She heard Cullen say. Booth answered but Brennan wasn't listening. It was like the rest of the world would have disappeared as she stared at the skeleton that was peeking from the sand like a child that had played in the sandbox for too long. So long that he had died in it. Brennan shook this morbid thought as she started to hear the surrounding sounds again. "Hello, earth to Brennan!" She heard and startled as she saw Angela standing next to her. Angela looked worried. "You okay sweetie?" She asked as she got her full attention. "I'm okay Ange." Brennan answered with a tone that made it sound like Angela's question would have been a senseless thing to ask.

Angela glanced at Brennan who walked back at the group of men who had now joined Booth and Cullen as if they would have wanted to give Brennan some privacy. Angela knew the tone Brennan had used, she knew it too well. It was the tone that she used either when she was lying she was okay or when she was excited and busy with her work, so busy that she didn't have the time to take care of herself properly. This time Angela knew she was lying for she didn't seem particularly happy about the crates that apparently contained remains. Angela took a look at the open box. The remains that were in that particular box were in good condition. She would be able to do facial reconstruction with no problem at all.

-----------------

Sorry it took me a while. But…longer chapters…longer time to write. Also I've been once again busy with school. Now the exam week is coming again so, next chapter will most likely take long to appear. Therefore; patience. And I hope you enjoy this chapter!