I don't think I've reminded anyone in a while but I still don't own Bones. Hope you enjoy this next bit...


7.

Recap: After the accident Sweets is missing but is reachable by phone, though not track able by phone. He is in the trunk of an old car and the team race to find him in time.


"Okay there is one guy that sort of stands out, Jon Smith." Angela said. "He came to Kareat for a reading after his wife died. Based on their exchange on his Facebook page, Kareat spent quite a bit of time with this guy. Another family member even tries to intervene when he says that Kareat needs to leave his uncle alone, that his uncle is spending all his money on these readings with Kareat. The jerk then encourages the guy to talk to him more in person and they go offline. Presuming the guy did and cut off ties with his family…"

"Where can I find him?!" Booth demanded. The image was coming clear in his mind that it was Jon Smith who on request of Kareat killed both Isabella & Bennett that night and kept the baby until Kareat told him to get rid of it. He was probably also the one who put the cold drinks on the table and the one who drove the vehicle into the SUV, always giving Kareat an alibi.

"Um, 1919 Juniper Lane." Angela said and Booth quickly ran from the room. He was gone before he could see a single tear roll down Brennan's cheek, at what she was listening to.

"No, Sweets, there's time, just hang on." She said in as strong of a voice as she could. Cam sat next to her and took the phone giving her a minute. She continued talking to Sweets while Angela tried to ignore them and concentrate on work.


Booth opened the door of Brennan's car, wishing he had his car. He reached for the seat belt and took a quick breath in. The heat of the car sitting in the sun was intense and he looked to the readout on the dash. 'Exterior temperature 104, interior 110.' A clench went thru his chest as he knew this is what Sweets was feeling right now. He reached over to turn the air conditioner on high and welcomed the cool air but it hit him with a great sadness. He turned the cool air off and let the heat pour over him. In his mind if Sweets had to endure it, he wouldn't let that reality escape his mind as it fueled his anger as he drove to find Jon Smith.


Sweets breathed in but it felt like an oven of hot air entering his lungs. His mind slipped to his times in tight cramped spaces. As a kid sitting in the closet with blood dripping down his back from lash marks it was cool and dark, almost cold as he sat shivering with thoughts mostly from the pain and the fear. At that moment he had been fearful of him coming back, then after the days had passed he hoped someone would come back. That was his fifth birthday present.

By the time he was senior in high school he knew he had graduated from tiny clothes closets to the memory of the tall skinny locker. His growth spurt hadn't occurred yet and he fit in the locker much to Barton's delight. Sweets breathed in and that memory of the locker was tight and cramped but the metal was cool against his skin. He could smell the pages of the school books and pencils and stale school lunches lingering in the hallway air. The hook for a coat dug into his back and pressed against his scars, then only just over half a decade old. Thru the slits at the top he could hear the laughter of the boys and it felt like the worst moment of his life. As Sweets thought of that memory it seemed welcoming compared to now, though instead of laughter and shouts of 'nerd, coward, dork, dweeb' coming thru the thin door he heard the voice of Cam floating towards him from inside his confining space asking him to hold on and words like 'significant, care, love, friend' filtered in. A smile came on his face though his lips were stuck together since all the moisture had gone. His lips felt dry as the loose skin shriveled and withered.

The memory dissolved into the more recent box on the farm that night. He didn't remember being put in, only waking up and the matter of being there. It had been cool and rainy that night though time drew out like a blade, endless and sharp. What was real and what wasn't had blended into a swirling mass as the head injury reverberated within. He was sure it was Booth who had hit him and placed him there but he didn't know why and he was left as he had in the locker, only then he knew someone was just outside the door, even if it hadn't been a friend who had put him there then.

Now here he was again, in a confined space, only this time it was more like an oven. The air was stifling and thin, nearing hard to come by. He felt a cool breeze and by cool that meant maybe 98 instead of 120 degrees over by the wheel and he pulled towards it. Cam was asking if he was still there. He would have said no but a new sensation was taking over, feeling sick to his stomach. Cam was becoming frantic and even in this state of being he felt the need to help her.

He pulled his fingers to his face to force his sealed lips apart. The motion caused a tear and lip started to bleed in the center.

"Here Cam. It's okay."

He could hear her exhale deeply in relief.

"Don't do that to me Sweets." She said emphatically. "Tell me how you are feeling, I need to know so we can help you when we find you."

Sweets suspected she was trying to keep his mind busy which rocked from semi-lucid to seriously delirious from moment to moment. He had no idea how long he had been in the space but it felt like an eternity.

"Nauseous." He answered. "Maybe the smell of oil and gas and, and the heat."

Cam nodded though she suspected this had more to do with a serious case of hyperthermia setting in. She had been apprehensive and predicted this would happen. She jotted down the time and symptoms on paper should they be able to help him later. Brennan looked over her shoulder.

"Hyperthermia?" Brennan asked quietly and Cam nodded.

"Isn't that when you are cold?" Angela asked.

"No, that is hypothermia. Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature due to the body's failure to thermo regulate. His body is producing and absorbing more heat than it is dissipating." Brennan explained.

"So what does that mean?" Angela asked. She had assumed they would find a naked and sweaty Sweets in the trunk of a car.

"If his body temperature continues to climb it will force the body to shut down completely." Brennan's voice explained clinically but her expression was laced with misery.

"I'm going to look for Allen Barton's family." She said tapping away a bit faster than before.


Booth pulled up at 1919 Juniper Lane in a suit laced with sweat. He rapped on the door with a heavy fist. He waited for a second with the scorching heat beating down on his black blazer. There was no answer so he kicked the door in - he felt a little better for a moment. The heat from the house was immense as was the smell he couldn't deny a familiarity of. He passed the thermostat which was maxed out on high and quickly located the source of the putrid smell, Jon Smith, dead on the kitchen floor, the oven door open and on high.

Booth turned to leave, throwing up as soon as he got out the door.


"Did you find him?" Brennan asked as soon as Booth's walked back into the office. She wondered why he was so sweaty and hot.

"He's dead." He said tossing the keys aside. The air conditioning was making him slightly sick. "I called it in, they can poke around but I'm betting Kareat did it. I think he wanted it to look like a suicide but I'll bet Kareat took him out so he couldn't talk."

"Maybe you should see Kareat after all." Brennan said feeling they were nearly out of options.

"I did." Booth said, his voice grim. "He cancelled his shows. He hasn't been seen all afternoon. He's not answering his cell and the agents I sent to his house said it's empty."

"He skipped out?!" Brennan asked her last distant hope fading.

"Looks that way."

"Okay, I've got something!" Hodgins announced coming in the room. "Booth's SUV was hit with a tow truck!"

"How does that help us Hodgins?!" Angela shouted, the tension was mounting as fast as Sweets labored breathing.

"Well, we can track the guy who drove it." Hodgins said.

"Booth did. He's dead." Cam informed him.

"Oh." Hodgins said, eager to catch up on everything he had missed while he was working.

"And Allen Barton's family hasn't heard from him in years." Angela added.

Booth wanted to hit something, this wasn't happening he told himself. They could hear Sweets, breathing, well for the most part breathing, they couldn't lose him. They were all consumed with the similar feeling of hopelessness and frustration.

Booth briskly walked over and picked up the phone.

"Sweets! Can you hear me?"

The sudden loud noise made Sweets jump, it was different from Cam and Brennan's soothing tones.

"Yea." He said rubbing his head and rolling forward. His stomach lurched and he felt like he was going to be sick.

"Can you give me anything on Kareat, or Barton, anyone else would work with him, back in high school?"

"I don't know Booth." Sweets said coughing. The nauseous feeling was making him uneasy in the small space as his nerves were raised. He didn't want to yell though he was feeling angry. "I was picked on a lot, I'm sure there's a long list of people who didn't like me."

Sweets said it matter of factly for he had little mind at the moment to mask his remarks. He was bound in frustration, nearly literally as his wrists screamed in pain from the tight grip and slowed circulation. He wanted out of the trunk desperately but as powerless do anything. His legs had no room to kick but with a last bout of energy and anger he mustered together he punched at the lid above but it only proved it would not pop open and only left him with bloody knuckles.

"Success?" Booth asked.

"Maybe welded shut." Sweets said. "Look, Booth."

Booth waited but heard nothing.

"Sweets?" Booth asked.

"Yeah?"

"You were about to say something."

"Oh." Sweets obviously had no idea what he was going to say.

Booth pressed the mute button and looked at the group. "Anything? Come on guys we need something! Sweets doesn't go out like this!"

Exhausted and emotionally at their ends the group felt lost to find a clue. Brennan looked up at the research Angela had done so far.

"Heat, it's been playing a role." Hodgins said trying to look for a clue, talk thru what they had. Booth continued to listen to Sweets breathing of the phone, monitoring it though each breath felt painful, even to Booth just to listen.

"The car that had the baby in it." Brennan said pointing. "It turned out to be Jon Smith's?"

"No, it wasn't his, just a coincidence on name." Angela said. "That car came from the junk yard."

They all stopped when she said it.

"A perfect place to hide Sweets!" Cam shouted.

"Because he thinks he's junk." Brennan said softly.

Angela tapped away as the energy in the room mounted.

"Yeah except there are four in the area." She said deflating their vitality. "Wait!" She said tapping away. "How did I miss this, Barton worked in a junk yard after high school, he couldn't get a job anywhere or another scholarship after he was expelled.

"Where!" Booth asked with gritted teeth.

Angela secured an address and as Booth turned to leave they were all on his heels. He didn't mind, they would need all the help they could get in order to find him in time. The junkyard was sure to be immense in size.