(The year is 2001.)
Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.
I don't own Bones.
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She had been in El Salvador at the request of the government or at least a few members of the government. A mass grave had been found and several deputies in the legislator had vowed to find a way to identify the dead. The country had a violent history of Civil War and the ones that suffered the most were the civilians in the country side. It was estimated that over 40,000 civilians had died between 1978 and 1983 and many of the victims were buried in mass graves. Some experts on the war said that the number was far less and some said it was far more. Brennan didn't care. She was there to identify the bodies found and that was what she would do. She wasn't there for political reasons, but for humanitarian reasons. She wanted to give a face and an identity to the victims and allow their families to close that chapter in their lives.
It was hard and grueling work. The government of El Salvador had provided her and her colleagues with protection or so she had thought. They had set up tents at one of the grave sites and they began work immediately. Carefully, she had exhumed the body of a young girl found in a well. Perhaps the child was thirteen, but that hadn't kept her from being shot in the head and her body thrown away. With the bones of the girl on a table in one of the tents, Brennan had tried to identify who she was. There were books of photos provided by the government of the citizens who had been reported missing over the years. Most of the missing were assumed to be the victims of the civil war.
To her amazement, the day she began working on identifying the child, a police officer showed up at the camp and ordered her to stop what she was doing. He might have been a soldier, but Brennan didn't know since she had a hard time telling them apart.
She had refused reminding the man that she was there at the request of the government, his government. This infuriated the man and he ordered two other policemen to enter the tent. They grabbed her by the arms and the first policeman who had confronted her placed a bag over her head. Next, they placed her in a car much to the horror and loud protests of her colleagues and she was driven away.
In a state of panic, Bob Cummings, a friend and colleague of Brennan had called one of the deputies to complain and the man said he would look into it, but Bob heard the fear in the man's voice and he knew he needed to make another call. As soon as he was connected to the director of the Jeffersonian, he had informed him about Brennan being kidnapped and Director Feight knew he had to do something quickly. He contacted a friend at the Pentagon and was assured something would be done very shortly.
While this was going on, Brennan was driven for an hour or so by her kidnappers. She had no idea where she was, but she knew that she was alone. For some reason, no one else was taken, just her. Once they reached their destination, the men who had kidnapped her, pulled her from the car and escorted her into a building where she was locked into a windowless cell with a dirt floor. Her hands were not tied and because she felt like she was suffocating in the heat, she removed the bag. The room was dark and she was alone.
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His last enlistment was almost up. Booth had his degree in Criminology and the FBI had informed him that he was going to be accepted in their next class in Quantico. He was looking forward to working in law enforcement and he was counting the days until he was a civilian again.
Much to his surprise, he was contacted by a CIA Agent, Danny Beck and was informed that he was on loan to the CIA. A forensic anthropologist had been invited by the government of El Salvador to help identify bodies located in a mass grave. The first few days she had been there had gone smoothly, but now it was reported that she had been kidnapped, possibly by the military and they needed Booth's help to rescue her. The CIA had used him several times in the past in rescue operations and this wouldn't be any different than those.
While he and Danny were on the plane flying to their destination, Danny gave the Ranger as much information as he could. "The kidnap victim is Dr. Temperance Brennan. She works for the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington D.C. She was kidnapped early this morning and it's been ten hours since any of her colleagues have seen her."
Surprised, Booth took the folder from Danny and flipped through it until he found her picture. "I know her . . . well, I've seen her. She was on that dig in Guatemala two years ago. The CIA wanted me to guard the scientists at the dig because a terrorist named Ricardo Conedera was threatening to kill all the Americans at her dig."
"Yeah, that's her." Danny reached over and flipped a page over. "She's just 25 years old and she's already considered the best forensic anthropologist in our country. The Jeffersonian wants her back, unharmed. I think we have a small window of opportunity to get this done. We have some people in the country trying to find out where she's being held. They've been told it's pretty urgent that she be found and I expect to have her location when we land."
"I hope you're right." Booth worried that they might already be too late. "She took charge after the camp was attacked back in '99 and the mission director was killed. From what I could see she's calm under pressure. If she can keep it together for the next couple of days, we might have a chance . . . of course that depends upon whether or not she's still alive." God, I hope she is.
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She had no idea what day it was. There was no light in the room and without a window she couldn't use the sun as a reference. Whenever someone came into the room, the outer room was dark, thwarting her efforts to keep track of time. They had given her a slop bucket which she kept in the far corner of the room. She had not been deprived of water or food, but the room was miserably hot and there was no relief from the humidity.
So far, her kidnapper had entered the room twice. He carried a lantern with him which he kept near the door. Each visit had followed the same pattern.
"You have no business being here." The man was cold and unemotional.
Not willing to show fear, Brennan stood with her head held high. "I was invited by the government of El Salvador to identify the bodies that were found in a mass grave. I am not political. I am here to do a job and then I will leave."
"You are not welcome here and if you do not leave you will die." He moved closer to her and tried to use his height to intimidate her. "I may kill you now. No one can stop me. Once you are dead I can throw your body down a well and no one will ever find you."
She was afraid, but he would never know that. Brennan knew that to show fear would be to further endanger her life. "I was invited here by your government."
"Perhaps I will shoot you . . . a bullet between your eyes or perhaps through your pretty blue eyes." He laughed. "It would be a shame to mar that pretty face of yours."
Brennan didn't flinch. "Threats against women are usually done by ineffectual bullies."
He slapped her. "You think I won't kill you? You are alone and no one can stop me."
She sniffed her disdain. "I'm sure you feel very brave right now. If you kill me there will be retribution. It may not happen right away, but it will happen."
The police officer laughed though it wasn't a merry laugh. "I am safe unlike you."
Brennan shook her head. "I'm sure you'd like to believe that." She saw him bite his lower lip and she knew that her words were being heard.
"I may kill you tomorrow." The policeman turned and left the room taking his lantern with him.
Wiping her hand across her lips, Brennan felt a tacky wetness that meant there was blood on her lips. Cautiously moving over to the wall, she moved over to the corner near the door, sought the dipper in a water bucket and drank. She hoped that someone was looking for her. She had to assume they were and that she would survive this ordeal. If she didn't, she counted on someone killing the officer that had kidnapped her. Men like that had a lot of enemies and they didn't usually live to old age.
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They arrived in El Salvador and were met by a handsome middle aged woman wearing a floral dress. Once they had gathered up their bags, Booth and Danny followed her to a car. Once inside, Danny glanced at Booth then at the woman. "Have you found her?"
"Yes, we have." Elaina smirked. "They didn't try to hide what they were doing. Dr. Brennan is located in a barn on a small farm about an hour from where her camp is."
"Good work." Danny was impressed. "Booth looks like you'll get your chance to be a hero after all."
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A/N: we heard about Brennan's ordeal in El Salvador in the episode, "The Woman in the Garden." I'm taking a few liberties with that story.