Alice's POV
I awoke in a strange little room. It was dark and damp, but totally silent. This was really bad. I remembered walking off to the bathroom, but nothing else. Zach was probably freaking out! What the heck had happened? Where was I? I glanced at my watch, which read 5:30 pm. I've now been missing for 3 hours.
************************************************
Zach's POV
My alarm clock woke me up. I felt like I'd had a terrible nightmare. I couldn't find Alice. I turned over, expecting to see her there asleep. Then it hit me. She was gone. Missing. Vanished. Millions of synonyms ran through my head, but they all meant the same thing. I was alone.
Picking up the phone, I called Booth.
"What is it?" he was groggy.
"Anything on Alice?"
"You'll be the first one I call, Zack."
"Ok. Thanks."
"Don't take this out on yourself, alright?"
"Yeah…"
There was nothing I could do now. The FBI was still investigating and the flyers hadn't gotten any hits. I felt so powerless. I could identify people who'd been killed and destroyed in the most brutal ways imaginable. I could help to track down murderers. But I couldn't find my kidnapped girlfriend.
************************************************
Alice's POV
They'd chained my body to a chair. Based on my observations, they were a very powerful organized crime group. They seemed to have a purpose for taking me. The tall one in the suit talked first.
"Dr. Owens, we have a proposition for you."
I sat in silence.
"We know you are a very accomplished forensic anthropologist, and we need your assistance."
I still sat there.
"A building of ours was burned down two days ago. Around 13 of my associates were inside. We need you to identify their remains, and make sure they are all there. One of them was a traitor and escaped."
"What's in it for me?"
"We won't kill your new friends."
He slid pictures of all the team, even Booth and Sweets, across the table. I stiffened when I saw the picture of Zach. It was the two of us at the Diner for lunch yesterday.
"Well?" he asked impatiently.
"After I've ID'd the bodies, you'll let me go?"
"Yes, but if you tell the police about this, he'll be the first to go." He pointed at Zach's picture.
"I'll do it, but you need to give me all the supplies that I require."
"Deal."
They led me to a small room with 13 body bags, an examination table and some boxes of supplies. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can leave. I thought.
-------14 hours later------
I yawned as the guy in the suit walked in, "I'm done. Do you have any tea?"
"We'll get to that later. Please enlighten me on this situation."
"Mr.-" I glanced at the chart, "Markowitz was the traitor. He lined them up and shot them with a machine gun. If you lay the bodies out in alphabetical order by last name, the bullet pattern goes in a downward slant. He then dragged their bodies – mind you some were still alive – to other parts of the building, to make it look like they were just doing their jobs, and torched the place." I was used to giving full reports.
"Well done, Dr. Owens"
"Can I go now?"
"Yes, but should we need your assistance, we will contact you."
"I hope not, but if you do just call me or something."
"Of course. Now we will have to sedate you while we bring you back."
"Wha-?" someone grabbed me from behind and gave me an injection, then everything went black.
************************************************
Zach's POV
I was still in bed. I'd gotten up to eat, knowing that Alice would be worried about me starving. If she's alive… A little voice said in my head. I frowned and rolled over and looked at the clock, which read 10:30 am. Dr. Brennan had told me to take the day off and calm down until Alice was found. I wanted to work, to take my mind away from the situation, but she'd insisted. Then the phone rang. I lunged for it, "Hello? Did you find her?!"
"Calm down, Zach! We got a hit on a flyer. Guy says there's a girl asleep on a bench by the Lincoln memorial that looks like Alice."
"Is it her? Can you pick me up and take me there?"
"We don't know for sure, so I'm coming to get you and we'll go together."
"Ok, thank you so much Booth!"
"No problem, kid."
************************************************
Alice's POV
There were bright lights above me. A siren was nearby. I was being jostled around. Someone was holding my hand. Everything was hazy. I was cold. "Where's Zach?" I asked, whispering.
"Oh god, Alice! You're alive! Thank goodness! Who kidnapped you? Are you ok? I missed you so much!"
I painfully lifted my hand to his face and stroked his cheek. "I missed you too, Zacharoni."
"I think you should wait until she's warmer and more awake to ask questions." The EMT told Zach as they unloaded me at the hospital.
After a few hours of hot soup and heated blankets, the hypothermia I'd gotten from sleeping outside in DC in November had gone.
Zach had been by my side the entire time, holding my hand.
Booth walked in to ask me what had happened. "So, can you give us a summary of what happened?"
"They said if I told the police that they'd kill you all." I tightened my grip on Zach's hand.
"We need to know who they are."
"They had pictures of all of you! You and Parker at the grocery store, Dr. Brennan at Wong Fu's, Angela and Hodgins on a fancy date, me and Zach at the Diner, Cam getting into a cab, and even Sweets walking to his car!"
"Alice. We can provide protection for everyone. I'm FBI! Everyone will be just fine, now I need you to tell me who they are."
"I don't know. They appeared to be an organized crime group. Tall guy, always wore a suit, he called the shots. He looked about mid-30s, brown hair."
"And why did they take you?"
"They had me ID 13 bodies that had been shot and severely burned. They needed to determine which of their 14 agents had killed the other 13."
"Any names of these agents?"
"I can't remember the ones who died, but the one who killed the others was a… Jonathan Markowitz I think…"
"Markowitz?!"
"What? Why is that significant?"
"The Markowitz family runs a huge drug dealing company. They deal to crime groups who deal to individual people."
"They said that if they needed me again that they'd contact me."
"Oh geez… this is just great. I'll have agents over to protect you two here. I got to go set up protection for everybody."
I sighed. "Well this is just great."
"I'm still just glad you're alive and unharmed." Zach said hugging me tightly.
I snuggled into his arms, finally feeling safe.