Chapter Eight:
Sully maneuvered the SUV into the driveway belonging to an old, dilapidated wooden house.
"Oh home sweet home." Miller muttered staring at the shutters that were threatening to fall at the slightest blow of the wind.
Sully turned off the vehicle. "Is this it Miller?" He questioned, turning around to look at the man he had grown to detest over the past hour.
"No games?" Booth questioned, unbuckling himself. He went to the back door and opened it up, roughly pulling Miller out of the vehicle.
"No games." Miller confirmed as Booth shoved Miller in front of him.
"Well then, lead the way." Booth told him, silently praying to God that this would be the end of his nightmare. Miller glanced back at the men.
"Let's go find her then." Miller said in a sing-song voice, leading them to go find Booth's Bones.
--
Brennan sat quietly on her cot, hoping that Booth would be on his way. She looked grimly at the littered floor, she had just ate the last piece of bread, and her mouth was watering. Brennan placed her hand on her stomach and rubbed it back and forth.
"Connor kicking me is not going to help me find any water any time soon Baby." She blinked her eyes a couple of times. Her vision was going blurry, she attributed it to anxiety and stress. The blurriness soon righted itself and she knew she had to go stretch for a couple of moments. She pushed herself up from the cot and took a couple of steps acutely away of the chains tethering her to the wall. Brennan paced a little bit looking at the walls.
"Six months, two weeks, four days." She muttered. "Booth, please hurry. Connor, don't worry, Booth will find us soon." She said, more for herself. Brennan walked back over to her cot and picked up her pen and notebook and started writing to pass the time.
--
Back at the Jeffersonian Angela had started what Hodgins called "Brennan watch." He opened the door and walked quietly over to her, placing her Starbucks next to her.
"Angie, honey, staring at the monitor isn't going to get us any closer to finding her."
"Jack, she is running out of time. We need to do something. She is probably dehydrated, hungry, exhausted. Bren should be experiencing the joy of pregnancy not worrying about surviving. We should be planning a baby shower. I should be painting a mural in the nursery, you should be buying some ridiculously expensive toy. Max should be a doting grandfather and Booth should be rubbing her feet, not trying to rescue her. It's all wrong!" Angela screamed at him, her voice was growing louder and louder until she was screaming.
Jack gathered her in his arms. "Honey, we will find her and when we do, we will do all those things." Hodgins assured her. "Come on. It's almost two in the morning. We can't do anything else here tonight."
"I can't Jack. I know she doesn't know that we know she is a live, but it helps me to see her." Angela explained.
He swiveled the computer monitor around led Angela to the couch. "I'll sit here with you." He pulled her close, studying the computer monitor for anything that would lead them closer to her.
--
Booth surveyed the grounds. There was nothing that was remarkable about the place at all. He breathed in the cold April air. Something didn't sit quite right with him. He swept the flashlight around the yard. The breeze caught the branches of a nearby tree with a wind chime hanging in it.
"Sully, this seems too easy." Booth commented as he caught up him. "I mean what serial killer makes it this easy."
"I promised you Agent Booth, there would be no games. You will be with your precious Dr. Brennan soon." Miller sneered.
They walked past the pool. "Is this where your mother drowned?" Sully asked, following Miller down the path. "Is this your childhood home?"
"Very good Agent Sullivan." Miller praised him. "I'm a textbook case for murderers. I have my safety zone. Dear old mom and dad's house, where it all began, and where it will all end." He muttered. "Dad tried to make us the freaking beaver family. He held a steady job working all the time as a demolition man for the construction companies. Leaving me all alone with that whack job of a mother. A free spirit. She never even wanted children. I don't know why he would have ever forced her to have children."
"People can change their minds." Sully responded. "It is human nature to not want something in one point of your life, but then to change your mind when your life hits a different point. Your mother had choices, just as you had the choice to help your mother or watch her drown."
"There is always a choice." Booth added.
Miller stopped in front of the back door. The windows had been boarded up, the wood that was used though was rotted through and they lock held firmly in place.
"Where is the key Miller?" Sully asked. He was getting impatient as well. He didn't know how much longer Brennan could hold on while they were playing games with a killer.
"It's in the house in Philadelphia." He responded.
Sully took his gun out and blew the lock. He put the gun back in the holster and turned to Booth who was staring out. Something just didn't sit right with him.
"Sully we should probably call for backup, equipment, and the EMTS. We don't know what kind of shape we will find her in." Booth reasoned with him. He wanted to be prepared for every possible scenario. "We shouldn't go just busting in there, who knows what kind of trap he has set up for us."
"Booth, she doesn't have that kind of time, we both know that." Sully responded. "What's the worse that could happen? This place hasn't been in use for years."
Booth just looked at his friend. Brennan would have listened to him. It was at times like this when he needed someone to listen to him that he really missed Brennan the most. She would have at least listened to him and then told him that he shouldn't take too much stock in what a digestive organ would tell him. Then, they would go by his gut anyway. He missed their partnership so much. He missed just seeing her for no reason at all.
Sully stood at the door. Miller was standing behind him. "Booth, the faster we check it up, the faster we can get to her." Booth nodded at the logic and watched Sully push open the door.
Booth heard the unmistakable sound of a pin being pulled out a grenade. He ran toward Sully and Miller, quickly pushing them into the pool. They plunged into the dark green murky water as debris from the house flew around them.
"NO!" Booth shouted as he watched the house burn.
--
Back at the Jeffersonian, Angela and Hodgins sat staring at some crime scene photos, hoping to find anything that would lead them to their friend and get her the help they so desperately needed.
"Oh my God!" Angela screamed watching the screen. "Call Booth now!" She sobbed.
AN: Hmmm, I hope you guys enjoyed this installment, even though you might want to kill me for right now. Was she in the building or was she not in the building? Please review.
Thanks for reading.
