Chapter 8
Outside Trenton, NJ...
The three hour drive back to New York from West Philadelphia is tedious even when the car being driven is a $180,000 Mercedes. Booth, sitting behind Beckett in the backseat, figures he can't make it more tedious, so he decides to get another chore over with.
He decides to call Hacker.
Dizzy had three burner phones that Booth took with him when they left, so Booth pulls out one and breaks it out of the clamshell. Hacker's line is surely being monitored, but if he keeps the call short enough, the call will only track back to a little bit of nowhere outside of Trenton.
"Hacker."
"It's Booth."
"Booth... I was worried when you didn't call... Is Temperance with you?"
"Yeah, we're fine, so far. Look, any more word on Broadsky?"
"We got the names of the two inmates Broadsky killed … Charlie Anders and Samuel Easton. No word yet on why Broadsky might have gone after them. The DOJ won't even be straight with us on why they were there, but I'm still working on it. He also has a guard, we think, who left with him. Juan De Arroz hasn't been seen since the break."
Booth knows both Anders and De Arroz. Anders, he remembers, had been a pretty decent kid and an excellent specialist who spotted for Booth, a few times in Kosovo. De Arroz he never liked. He keeps all of this to himself though.
"There's more, Booth. Last night, there was a breakin at the Jeffersonian."
"What did they take?" Bones asks. Booth had thought she was asleep.
"Temperance, good to hear you are okay. We don't know yet. Your Dr. Saroyan is trying to take inventory. They appeared to be principally interested in your office and the … what do you call it? Where you store all the skeletons?"
"Bone Storage..." Bones says, just as Booth chimes in with, "Limbo."
"Yes, that. Dr. Saroyan doesn't believe anything was taken from there, but she has several interns checking the cataloged records now. But I think we need to discuss bringing you both back into protective custody again..."
"No," Booth says, "I'm sorry … Director … as bad as this is, it'll be worse if we don't play by Broadsky's rules. We'll contact you in another twenty-four hours."
"Agent Booth, I sympathize with you, but you are not …" Whatever else Hacker has to say is lost when Booth kills the connection. He immediately dials a second number.
"Hello?"
"Marigold," Booth says.
"Tarot," Hodgins replies. "Good to hear from you man, you had us worried."
"Sorry, Hodgins, couldn't be helped. Is everything in place?"
"Yeah man, all primary protocols were in place in fifteen minutes. But our secondary protocols, including the Jeffersonian..."
"I heard, from Hacker. Doesn't matter. Can you open sites 32 and 34 for me?"
"Sure … soon as this call ends. Be ready for you in an hour, that okay?"
"Yeah. Hodgins … I need your wife. I know its not a good time, but …"
"Come on, Booth. She's going out of her mind. If she knows she can help and we don't let her? Hold on..."
Booth looks up at Castle and Beckett, who are quietly listening to the speakerphone, but haven't commented.
"Booth! Are you and Brennan okay?"
"We're fine, Angela," Bones interjects. "Are you safe?"
"Jack's got us all jumping through crazy hoops and procedures, but with you guys gone, and with Vincent … I'm just worried."
"We'll be okay, Angela," Booth says, "but I need something, and you're the only person I know who can..."
"As much as I'd normally love the flattery, Booth, let's just..."
"I need you to hunt through military records, find what assignment the following people have in common..." he waits for her to be ready for notes … "Jacob Broadsky, Eric Leisenger, Samuel Easton, Charlie Anders, Juan De Arroz, Benny Winkler, me, and William Bracken. I need to find how we're all connected, and who else might be involved."
"You think this ties to one of your assignments?" Bones asks.
"I don't know," Booth says, "just that we need information. But Angela, I'll warn you... this is going to be like hunting hay in a haystack. There won't be any direct record. It's gonna be something obscure … oddball travel records or TDY's at the same time. BS assignments that are all near each other, but not together. The guys in charge of hiding all of us … they didn't even like it if you could figure out how many socks were being ordered for us."
"Yeah, I got it, Booth. You just keep you and Bren safe, okay?"
"I will, Angela. I promise."
"Brennan, sweetie... love you. Be safe, okay?"
"Of course, Angela, of course."
Booth kills the connection. He dials one last number. Once it is connected, he rolls down the window and throws the phone out past the shoulder, into high grasses off the highway. Track that, Broadsky, he thinks as he rolls up the window.
"The time is now 5:38 … The time is now 5:38..." the voice says through the phone, laying by the side of the road.
A/N: Sorry, one last extra interlude was necessary... Action to resume presently...
