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The hands stoking her hair woke her up. Left alone in the darkness and still feeling the effects of the drugs, Brennan had fallen asleep. In her mind's eye she was reliving a moment she had thought would be her last: Kenton was pointing his gun at her and there was nothing she could do. All her martial arts training, all her practice with firearms was useless now. She was going to die. Maybe her remains would be taken to the Jeffersonian. She imagined Zack and Hodgins looking at her bones on the examining table. She would never see them or Angela or Booth again. Booth will think that this is his fault. If there really is some sort of all-powerful deity controlling the universe, please don't let Booth be the one to find my body; it will destroy him. Kenton was preparing to pull the trigger. NO! I'm not ready to die yet!
Then she heard the shot and saw Kenton fall to the floor. She turned to see where the shot had come from, and there was Booth, limping towards her. He pulled her off the hook and she threw her arms around him. He rubbed her back, telling her that it was all over and everything was alright, and she believed him. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe and loved...then the hands in her hair brought her back to reality. I'm not safe in Booth's arms anymore. I've been kidnapped and tied up and now someone is touching me.
The stranger's hands moved from her hair to her face, caressing her cheeks and tracing the outline of her jaw. Shuddering at his touch, she turned her head away from him and tried to scream. Maybe the man who had been nice to her would hear her; maybe he would pull his employer away from her. Yet the gag effectively stifled her shouts. Now his hands were sliding down her neck and chest, stopping when they reached her breasts. Any minute now Booth will come and shoot this bastard. Please, Booth, please come. I don't want anyone but you touching me like this. His fingers were tracing circles around her breasts when she heard someone shouting her name. It sounded like...no, it couldn't be. That was impossible. Perhaps the drugs they had given her had distorted her senses. She convinced herself that she had imagined it when he shouted again.
"Temperance! Are you down there?" She heard footsteps running towards them, then the voice spoke again. "Step away from her."
The man touching her withdrew his hands from her chest. Temperance breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had surrendered. She was wrong. Her assailant leapt at her would-be rescuer, pushing him to the floor. The two men rolled around on the floor, punching and kicking each other. As she listened to the fight, Temperance prayed that her rescuer would win. If not, she was certain that the man who had touched her would continue to touch her...and probably end up raping her.
Someone was walking towards her...was it her attacker or her rescuer? Something hard hit her head, and she could feel herself losing consciousness. "NO!" Her rescuer yelled. He punched her attacker, knocking him out this time, then turned to Brennan. "Temperance! Temperance! Can you hear me? Are you okay?" She heard him, but his voice sounded as if it were coming from a great distance. She couldn't answer. She could only surrender to the pain.
XXXXXXXXXX
"You shouldn't be here, Booth," Agent Williams said to him when Booth entered the Jeffersonian. "You've been suspended, remember?"
As if I could forget it. He had driven to the Jeffersonian after Cullen had dismissed him. "I'm not here on official business," he lied. He walked up to Zack and reluctantly placed his hand on his shoulder. "I'm just visiting a friend. Right, Zack?"
Zack turned to Booth in confusion. "Uh...right."
"Sure, Booth. You get in the way of our investigation, and I'll make sure that Cullen hears about it." Williams glared at him before turning around to leave.
Jerk, Booth thought. He quickly removed his hand from Zack's shoulder. "Why was he here?"
"He was asking us questions about Dr. Brennan," Zack answered. "He wanted to know if she had received any threats or if she had any enemies we might know about." He lowered his head in shame. "I'm afraid that I couldn't offer him any useful information."
"It's okay. We'll get her back."
"You'll get her back. You always do."
Booth smiled at him. "Thanks, Zack. Did Agent Williams mention if they had any leads?"
"No, all he did was ask questions. Do you have any leads? Any evidence we could look at for you?"
"No evidence, just theories. Someone from the FBI has to be involved; no one on the outside could get Cullen's phone--" The sound of his own phone ringing made him pause. "Hold on, Zack, I gotta answer this." He opened his phone. "Booth."
"Hey Booth, it's Jim Ryan. Are you near a television?"
"I can be. Why?"
"Turn on CNN. Now."
Booth raced to an office that he knew had a tv, Zack following closely behind him. He grabbed the remote and turned to CNN. The blue banner at the bottom of the screen read: Best-Selling Author Temperance Brennan Missing. "...when she didn't show up for a book signing today," a female reporter was saying. "Her publisher is offering a reward of $10,000 for any information leading to Dr. Brennan's return. Anyone with information is urged to call the FBI tip line."
Booth's heart sank. Now every crackpot wanting to earn some money will call the FBI, and they'll have their hands full investigating hundreds of leads–almost all of which will turn out to be nothing. "Great. Just great. This is going to be a circus."
"I know. Sorry, Booth."
"Thanks for giving me a heads up. Do you know if our guys have found anything useful yet?"
"I heard they searched her apartment, but there were no fingerprints and there was nothing on the security cameras. Any evidence they found was sent to our labs. I'll let you know if I hear anything else."
"Okay. Thanks a lot, Jim."
"No problem, Booth. Talk to you later." Both men hung up.
"What do we do now?" Zack asked.
"You can go to the FBI lab and see if you can find out what they collected from Brennan's apartment."
"Got it," Zack answered, happy to have an assignment.
And what am I going to do? Booth wondered. I'm going to find out who in the FBI is behind this. Who hates me enough to want to ruin my career? I've clashed with colleagues over the years, but I can't think of anyone who has a serious grudge against me. Well, Kenton might hate me for shooting him, but he's been in FBI custody this whole time. There's no way he could have done this. Who else then? He sat in silence for several minutes, willing his brain to come up with the answer. Nothing came.
I wish Bones were here. She would help me figure this out. Suddenly he had the epiphany he had been waiting for. Maybe it's not about me at all. Maybe it's about Bones. Maybe someone wanted me out of the way so he could have her all to himself...someone like Tom Morris.
XXXXXXXXXX
Booth was waiting for Morris when he got home from work. "Hello, Tom."
"Hey Booth," Morris said nervously. "Is there a reason you're standing outside my apartment?"
"I just wanted to talk to you, and since I can't go to the FBI building right now, I had to come here."
"Oh, well, what do you want to talk about?"
Booth stepped dangerously close to him. "I find it interesting that last week you hit on my partner and she rejected you, and this week she happens to be missing. She hurt your ego and you snapped. You kidnapped her. You knew she loved me, so you set up the ransom to ruin my career and our partnership."
Morris backed away from him. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I didn't have anything to do with her disappearance or you getting suspended, Booth. I swear to God."
"And why should I believe you?"
"Look, your partner's hot, but she's not worth going to jail over. At the end of the day, she's just another piece of ass."
Booth's fist connected with Morris' face instantly. "Don't you EVER insult my partner again. She's a hundred times smarter than you and a thousand times the person you will ever be." He put his hands around Morris' throat. "Tell me where she is."
Morris was crying. "I don't know. I swear on my life that I don't know."
Unfortunately, Booth believed him. He wanted it to be Tom, but his instincts were telling him otherwise. He removed his hands from his throat. "If you're lying to me, I'll--"
"I'm not lying. If I knew anything, I'd tell you."
"If I find out that you had anything to do with this, I'll kill you. Good night, Morris." He walked away, leaving Morris shaking on his doorstep. I'm no closer to finding Brennan, he thought sadly. But at least I got to hit that sonofabitch.
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