Booth, Cam, Hodgins and Angela sat in the red chairs on the walkway that overlooked the lab, each with a coffee and all the data they had so far spread out across the table. Angela had been crying most of the morning before getting to the lab, but had pulled herself together and was already vowing to take out whoever took Brennan with nothing but hormone-fuelled rage and her fingernails. Hodgins kept looking at her nervously, not sure if she was going to burst into tears or march out to find to SOB herself.

'What have you got, Cam?' Booth asked as Sweets, who was apparently still on Cam's speed dial, came up the steps two at a time.

'The blood is Brennan's. I checked the sample, it's inconsistent with menstrual fluid so it definitely came from an injury. While we don't know exactly how much time passed between sustaining the injury, and her leaving the apartment, it's reasonable to assume she didn't bleed out, although we couldn't find evidence of a struggle and she was still losing blood when she left.'

'When she was taken,' Booth said, trying not to grit his teeth.

'I know this is hard, Booth, but we have to treat this as scientifically as we do any other case—'

'It's not any other case.'

'—because that's how we get results. We work from evidence. That's how crimes get solved, and we're going to give the same high standard of work to Dr Brennan's case as we would to any other. We can't get sloppy and distracted because we know her, people. We have to give her case… the best work we can.'

Booth glanced at Cam and was somewhat mollified to see her wipe at her eyes. 'Yeah, okay. We get it. Evidence and results. So what did you get?' he turned to Hodgins.

'The fingerprint on the door was a match for Jacob Broadsky, just like you said. He wasn't on the criminal database but I checked the army records and it's a match for his right thumb print.'

'Good. What about…'

'The hair? I got a DNA profile for it, we have nothing to compare it to of course but it definitely matches what we see in Broadsky's photo. We'll keep the DNA on record and can use it to place Broadsky at Brennan's apartment once we get a sample from him.'

'I think if we find Broadsky I'll just make him confess—'

'Evidence, Booth,' Cam reminded quietly. Angela sniffed.

'Okay. What about the fibres?'

'Yeah. They were from a green cotton garment, snagged on a rough brick in the window ledge—'

'Brennan's top, I picked it out for her when we went shopping… for baby clothes, it looked great on her,' said Angela quietly, holding her belly protectively.

It did, Booth thought, though the image conjured in his mind was of Brennan's blue eyes and soft smile when they closed their last case, not of what she was wearing. She could wear anything and it wouldn't matter. She'd still be beautiful. And she'd gotten… softer, too, Booth decided, not knowing exactly how to quantify the change, but knowing it was inspired by him. And that just made him angrier—that she was gone, with someone who had a grudge against him, and was obviously willing to hurt others to get to him. It seemed cruelly ironic that just as Brennan was learning how to open up to someone, to him, to let her barriers down, she was kidnapped and would be better off having every barrier she could find.

'So Broadsky,' Angela said. 'Why… what does he want Brennan for?'

'Revenge,' Booth said quietly.

'Revenge for what?' Angela asked. 'What did Brennan do…'

'She did nothing. She's close to me, that's all. She's… she's collateral.' He spat the word out, making an effort to keep himself in check. 'If I had just— He's after me. He's going after the people…. I love, to get to me.'

Heavy silence fell for a few moments. 'I know that he's not… the nicest guy, but why is he focussed on Booth?' Cam started.

Sweets piped up. 'Because Booth has shown Broadsky that they aren't on the same team. Broadsky thinks he can make decisions about who lives or dies, that he can play god. Booth refuses to let that happen. So Broadsky, wants to take out Booth…'

'…and anyone close to him or that gets in his way. Oh my gosh Booth- Parker,' said Angela. The others looked at each other, beginning to realise the implications, for all of them.

'Parker and Rebecca were taken into protective custody half an hour ago, as soon as I knew Broadsky was responsible. They're in an FBI safehouse until we get Jacob behind bars. I… I guess I won't be shooting hoops with Parker this weekend,' he added quietly.

'I'll… get a protective detail sorted out for the lab,' Cam said, grabbing her phone and walking away.

The others sat quietly, half-listening to Cam making phone calls. No one seemed to be able to say anything. They'd been targeted by criminals before, but every time it happened, it seemed worse. What were they playing at, doing these jobs- tempting fate over and over, seeing how close they could get to the edge, like kids playing on the edge of a cliff?

They'd got through it in the past—there'd been text messages to decipher, or soil samples to analyse. But now Brennan, who always knew what to do, was gone, and alone. How were they going to find her?

'So do we know what happened to Brennan next?' asked Angela eventually. Booth looked up at her, and then everyone turned to Hodgins.

'Uh… not exactly,' Hodgins shrugged. 'I mean, however he did it, it was pretty clean. I've been talking to the FBI forensic unit, they scouted out the roof of the building, the concrete below, questioned the doorman, got feeds from the CCTV security cameras… there was nothing. But Broadsky, he… you know, he's not exactly the type to shy away from getting caught…'

Angela looked puzzled but Booth nodded in agreement. 'Yeah, Hodgins is right, he wants us to know it's him. He knew he'd leave a thumbprint- he didn't care. He left me a note knowing I'd trace it back to him. He broke into my apartment a few months ago—he's not scared of us.'

'Don't underrate yourself, I think he is,' said Angela. She looked at the two guys and shrugged. 'I mean, he sees you as a threat, Booth. He like, respects you. He's singling you out because you're the one person who could take him down. He's trying to get to you first.'

The team sat in silence. After a minute, Booth grabbed his empty coffee mug and smashed it on the ground. No one said anything, but Booth seemed to feel better after finally destroying something, and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

'…Okay, thanks Jim. That's great. Okay bye.' Cam ended her call and strode back to the others. 'I've just heard from—whoa, cleanup on aisle four.' She stepped around the smashed cup, glancing knowingly at Booth, who was avoiding her gaze but looking much calmer. She took a seat. 'FBI security detail's on the way, they'll accompany us on any field work and also start sweeping the lab for bugs, any unauthorised equipment, checking the video feeds to see if Broadsky or anyone suspicious has been here. It'll probably come up empty but we'd be remiss not to do it.'

'Okay. Good. I'm gonna call it in to Hacker,' said Booth, standing up. For the first time since breaking into Bones' apartment last night, he felt like himself again. Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI. Ex-Army Ranger and sniper, the guy who could shoot a hole through a dime on the run. He had an ID, and damn if he wasn't going to do something about it.

Judy Baggins was having a good day. Her boss Assistant Director Andrew Hacker (who she secretly rather liked), was in a good mood and looking exceptionally handsome today in his crisp pinstripe suit (a look which he could definitely pull off, thought Judy). And when he was in a good mood… well, it was a bit hard not to smile right back, and she'd been extra chirpy on the phone all morning.

Also, she'd gotten that extra shot of hazelnut in her latte (it was Hacker's favourite indulgence and she had grown quite partial to it herself), and when she'd taken in Hacker's coffee he'd looked so happy that she just… slipped the hazelnut one to him instead. She was just in a generous mood thismorning. The girl at Starbucks had given her a free cookie since she'd earned one on her loyalty card, and she could swear that Mr. Hacker winked at her as she dropped off the coffee and his mail at his desk at half past eight. He was probably a bit too old for her, really… but he was definitely single. As his secretary, Judy knew that for certain—in fact he had only had two girlfriends in the last couple of years, one that lasted eight months (Jennifer… Judy had developed a slight aversion to that name, nothing personal of course) and before that, the prickly scientist woman who was always with that… well, rather exceptional male specimen Seeley Booth.

But Judy shook herself out of it. Booth wasn't an Assistant Director of the FBI (which really was very impressive, I mean surely Hacker was better than Booth or Booth would be director, wouldn't he!) Also, what kind of a first name was Seeley? I mean, it was nothing like Andrew, 'Andrew' had such a nice ring to it… She sighed and allowed herself a little peek through the window into Mr Hacker's office. He was reading something intently, probably scribbling his name after the microscopic fine print on some dreadful form, leaning over onto the table. Judy sighed again. He's so committed to his work, she thought, that's such an attractive quality…

The phone rang and she picked up brightly. 'Assistant Director Hacker's office, this is Judy speaking, how can I help you!' she recited, glancing again through the window as Mr Hacker worked.

'Hi there, it's Agent Booth. Can you put me through?'

Judy rolled her eyes. Booth was… well maybe he was a little bit out of her league, and was always attached at the hip to that odd scientist woman, not that she was so petty as to resent him for that, but he really could show Mr Hacker a little more respect. He was much higher up the food chain, after all, and, she added on reflection, he was probably jealous of Hacker.

'Oh, certainly Agent Booth, I'm putting you through now.' She buzzed the direct line to Hacker's office and waited for him to pick up.

Usually Mr Hacker would pick up after one or two rings- he was so nice that way, he'd never keep her waiting on the line while he took his sweet time. You'd think that someone as important as an Assistant Director wouldn't bother thinking of his staff and treating them with respect but Mr Hacker always did. However this time, the phone kept ringing. Six… seven times… Judy glanced through the office window to see him still intently reading whatever horrid paperwork he had to approve. He probably didn't want to break his concentration. She frowned and waited. Fifteen, sixteen rings and Mr Hacker hadn't moved. Maybe the phone in his office was broken and wasn't actually ringing.

Judy got up, brushed down her pencil skirt and adjusted her heels, and rapped softly on his office door. 'Mr Hacker? There's an agent on line one for you.' He didn't answer, so she pushed open the door and stepped inside. 'Mr- AAHHHHH!'

Booth frowned into the phone. It was taking an awfully long time to patch through to Hacker. The FBI Muzak was awful, as usual. After nearly five minutes on hold, the call connected—but not to Hacker. The ditzy receptionist was back, sobbing into the phone. 'It's Mr Hacker, something's happened—I have to get security up here right away—'

The line went dead and Booth, now in his SUV and pulling out of the lab parking lot, groaned in frustration. If he couldn't get through he'd just go see Hacker in person, as he was going to the Hoover anyway. But every minute on the clock was time that Bones might not have. Booth flipped on the siren and was at the Hoover in record time.

There was quite a crowd of people as he stepped out of the elevator on Hacker's floor. Something was going on… There were EMTs milling around, yelling at people to stand back, wheeling a gurney out of Hacker's office. Booth looked around, trying to find out what was going on. A girl in the office was sobbing hysterically and two agents were talking to her—he recognised her as Hacker's receptionist. As everyone else seemed to be congregating there for no real reason, Booth made his way over to the girl and the agents to find out.

One of the guys was trying to calm her down. 'We just need to get a statement, Ms Baggins, then you're free to go down to first aid—'

'What the hell's going on?' asked Booth.

This seemed to make the receptionist wail even louder, but she seemed making an effort to answer. 'I— I knocked on his door because he wasn't answering the phone, and that is so unusual, he always does—and I went in, I thought he was you know, signing documents but—he—he wasn't, he was just slouched over, hardly breathing, and his coffee was knocked over, and the phone was going and he just wasn't moving—'

The EMTs wheeled Hacker past them and into the elevator, the sight of which made Judy so hysterical that she was useless for any further information.

'Right— thank you, Ms Baggins, you're free to go… Bill maybe you should take her down…'

One of the agents escorted Judy downstairs, still wailing loudly, and Booth slipped into Hacker's office. Just as the girl had said, coffee was spilled all over the table. Hacker hadn't been signing any papers- all he'd done was open a couple of letters. Booth leaned over at one of the envelopes— white and unmarked, with a sheet of folded paper that had been written on with a thick black pen. Booth reached across and picked it up by one coffee-stained corner, still dripping onto the desk. His stomach lurched even as he read it—he knew exactly who it was from.

'For using your brains.'