The Best Laid Plans of Agents and Anthropologists
By LizD
Chapter 9
A/N: Looks like we are picking up some new readers. Alerts are nice. Comments Welcome. As for Chapter 9: At long last … something more than nothing … but is it too late?
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Maggie was working her way to Max. Suddenly they were stilled but a noise from beyond the room. The slide bolt on the door slid back with a clang. The door opened and the room flooded with light.
"Who is there?" Daisy squeaked out.
Officer Andy Richter of the Leesburg, Virginia PD stood in the doorway not understanding what he was seeing. It looked like a prison, but why would there be a prison inside a warehouse? He heard someone from above call out. He stepped in; saw Maggie first. He saw the blood. He suspected by the way Maggie was positioned that she was trying to reach someone who had fallen through the floor. "What is going on here?" he demanded to know right before the taser zapped him in the neck and he fell to the floor.
Someone wearing hat and gloves, reached in, took his gun and pushed him beyond the door. The heavy metal door slammed back into place and the dead bolt secured.
Max could see Maggie's expression. "So, not a rescue, huh?"
The lights went out again.
"Thinking no."
"But we have a flashlight now, yes?"
"Yes." Maggie crawled over to where she saw the officer fall. She searched around and found his flashlight on the floor.
"So you think that was Taffet?" Max called.
"I couldn't tell; it looked male, not female – but that was from 30' away with bad light." She inspected her wound with the flashlight. "So we are being guarded," she said absent mindedly as she tended to her wound. "I didn't expect that."
"Maybe we can get them to turn … you know help us."
"Wouldn't bet the farm on that."
"The cop was not supposed to be here; and if that guy is anyone but Taffet with a death wish, he is beating feet right now."
She grunted as she tied some makeshift bandage into place. "Well that is gonna leave a mark." She stood up and limped over to where Max was still contained. "Not sure how we are going to get you out of there."
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About ten miles from Poolesville Maryland they got final word from Caroline that they had a warrant to enter the facility. She made sure this time that everything was legal - i's dotted, t's crossed. The fact that she had written the warrant days ago and had a judge at the ready to sign it pending location was just good lawyering. The fact that they would be entering a facility under "precedent of imminent danger" meant that they didn't need a warrant, but they weren't taking any chances.
They parked about three hundred yards from the location off the road in the trees. They would have to hoof it in. They didn't want to alert anyone that they were coming. Brennan was behind the SUV putting on her vest. Booth came around and saw that she was struggling with it. "Here, let me." Like a dad putting on a child's snow suit, he dressed her. He pulled the tabs off, adjusted the shoulder straps and positioned it correctly across her chest to cover all vital organs. It was clearly not designed for someone her size or … shape. He cinched up the straps on the side and affixed the Velcro strap across the chest so the vest was tight. "Ok?"
"As long as I don't have to breathe," she choked out.
He smiled at her. He loved her. That was all there was to say. He loved her; he was in love with her. Nothing had changed, but nothing was the same. She could make him angry; she could frustrate him like no one's business. She was competent, self-reliant, and independent. She didn't need him. Booth didn't know how to be with a woman would didn't let him take control, but he always seemed to pick strong willed independent woman. Brennan of course was the pinnacle. She was amazingly strong willed, and of course there was the whole BRILLIANT thing that never got old. She was out of her element on this case. There were no bones to read; no science to glean or facts to find. There was only one dead body so far, and he needed to do everything in his power to keep it that way. He had never felt this way about any one before. He wanted to tell her, he wanted shout it from the roof tops. Things were going to be different for them; if they survived this, things would be very different. They had to be, he couldn't let her walk out of his life, not again.
He pulled the Velcro straps off and repositioned them a little bit looser. "Better?" he said lowly. The desire to kiss her was full on him again.
"Yes, thanks." She looked up into his eyes. They were soft, warm, loving and inviting. Was that the opening she was waiting for?
He touched the infa-red goggles she had in her hand. "You Ok with these?"
"Yes."
"If the lights come up …"
"Shut my eyes and take them off immediately," she repeated his instructions though she had been used to night work long before she met Booth but never on that kind of mission.
"Good. Stay behind me … please," he said gently. He would have preferred to hogtie her and put her in the back of the SUV until it was over.
"I will … but I have no wish for you to take a bullet for me again."
"I'd like to avoid that myself. Here." He handed her a weapon. "Don't shoot me in the back, OK Bones?"
"I'm an excellent shot, Booth."
"Yes you are, Rainman."
"Booth - "
"Max is gonna be fine," he assured her. "Guns are not Taffet's MO … this is just in case."
"Booth, please don't get hurt," she said in a small voice. "I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you."
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Bones," he joked a little too blithely for her tastes.
"Booth." She touched his arm and searched his eyes for the courage to say what she had to say regardless of the response. "I love you, Booth. Please don't get hurt or killed. Please don't -"
He stopped her with a kiss; it was a reaction. He hadn't planned it; it was not appropriate given their setting. He crushed her into a tight embrace as much as the vests would allow. 'I love you,' his mind screamed out. 'God, I love you.' He heard it; loud and clear, but there was no voice. Why was there no voice? He looked her in the eyes. "Be careful." He brushed some hair away from her face. "Let's go find your dad. OK?"
She nodded her agreement forcing down the fear of what was coming next. She meant what she said. She couldn't lose him. But she didn't understand his reaction. It didn't matter. It wasn't the time or place. She just needed him to know.
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Angela was continuing to work the data in her office; Hodgins was down in the lab. Cam and Sweets were working their own set of data in the lounge. "We are getting nowhere," Sweets said tossing the files that he had across the room.
Cam nearly jumped out of her skin. She had just gotten into a fight with Michelle about why she had to stay house bound. She was missing all her friends at a basketball game. Cam didn't want to tell her how dangerous it was for her to be out in the world. She was trying to protect her. But it left her completely on edge. "Sweets!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm going crazy here."
"Well chers," Caroline said breezing into the office. "This ought to just make your night. We have a SWAT team and your FBI boys headed out to that Storage Facility in Poolesville. With any luck, we will have your missing people back in a couple of hours."
Angela joined them and looked confused. "The storage facility? No, No … why are they going there?"
"Isn't that the information you gave them?"
"Yes, and no … there is a warehouse that just recently had some work done. That's where they're probably holding them … if at all. I mean this is all a huge supposition."
"Where is it?"
"It's in Virginia … north of Leesburg. About 30 minutes from Poolesville." She pulled up the address. "That storage facility has been closed for years."
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The team made their way toward the Storage Facility spreading out to come at it from all sides at once. There was a fence around it and it looked abandoned. There was no power at the facility. Booth, Sully and Jacobson with Brennan in tow took the front. Jacobson easily scaled the fence and unlocked the gate for the rest. The other three units were also inside the perimeter. There was snow on the ground that had not been trampled on. No one had been there in months.
"Something is wrong," Booth called to Jacobson nodding toward the snow.
"You think we have the wrong place … NOW you think we have the wrong place?"
"We should still check it out … but no one has been here. At least not since the last snow."
Jacobsen clicked a message to the other units. They all froze and held their positions. Booth and Jacobsen advanced on the facility, leaving Brennan and Sully to watch their backs. A long few minutes of dead silence, then the full team came from around the side. A 'no joy' gesture was made. Booth was on the phone, by time they reached Sully and Brennan, he had hung up. "We have a new location – let's go."
They ran back to their vehicles. Brennan was trying to hear what Booth was saying to Jacobsen, but missed most of it. It was something about a warehouse and Leesburg. She wondered how they lived with that kind of adrenal kick only to be denied the completion of the mission.
A call was put into Leesburg PD, who reported that one of their officers was not responding. They were put on alert and were requested to have EMTs standing ready. Poolesville PD was told they could stand down.
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Maggie could hear the officer coming to, but couldn't deal with him at the moment. The only good news was that the local PD would be looking for a cop. It was just time away; less than twenty four hours, in her mind. Daisy however needed help sooner. Max was in a well about 6' deep, about 5' x 4'. "Think you can climb at all?"
"What are you thinking?"
"Cell door? You could use it like a ladder."
"Nothing to brace it with."
"Well maybe Officer Krupke here can pull you up." She went back over to him, careful not to the shine the light in his eyes. "Hey Officer … come back to us."
He groaned and groggily asked "What the hell happened?" He touched the spot on his neck where the taser hit.
"Yeah, that's gonna sting a bit for a while, but you'll live."
"Who are you?"
"Margaret Walker … Agent .. DCIS. I have been tasked to the FBI to track Heather Taffet."
"Yeah … yeah … we got a call about that. Someone said they saw someone matching that description out here."
"Hence the taser. We've been abducted." She helped him up. "One of us fell down a whole in the floor, can you help me get him out?"
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Rachel Dawes was given her phone call - finally. She sat stone faced as dialed, waited for the beep, entered a three digit code and hung up. She waited a minute before calling the guard back to take her to her cell. Once there she sat perfectly still. Her expression was unreadable. The door to the hall opened and she heard the guards talking. She dropped her head to her chest, with in a moment her shoulders were shuttering, her head was bobbing, and sobbing moans were heard.
Agent Robert Hendricks stepped up to her cell. "Rachel?" She continued to sob. "Rachel, honey?"
She looked up. Tears were streaming down her red face. "Oh Bobby!" She flew at the cell door to link hands with him. "What is happening? I don't understand. I don't know what I'm supposed to have done."
"They think you are helping Heather Taffet ... you know the Gravedigger."
"That awful women who kidnaps people, buries them alive and demands ransom or she will let them die?" He nodded. "Oh my god, why do they think that? I thought this was a traffic violation."
"What did they ask you?"
"All kinds of things that I didn't have the answers for. They accused me of being someone's daughter - they might have said Taffet. Why do they think that?"
"I don't know, honey," he tried to calm her down. "Did you ask for a lawyer?"
"Yes ... no ... I don't know ... I was so scared."
"I know, baby, I know. Look I know a lawyer, let me give him a call and I'll see if we can get you out of there."
"Thanks, Bobby. I don't know what I would do without you."
"You'll never have to find out." He kissed her through the bars and left. As soon as he was out of sight, Rachel's expression went flat again. There was the edge of a grin across her lips. Mother was right. It is good to keep a cop in your pocket.
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Together the officer and Maggie pulled Max from the well. Maggie fixed his shoulder and made a sling out of his belt. They checked on Daisy and brought her down to the first level near the door. The officer generously gave Daisy his jacket for her legs. She didn't look good.
"So Officer," Walker asked. "What is outside?"
"An empty warehouse ... with the exception of this place that was walled off. Like a building within a building."
"Did you see a car? Did you call in the plates?"
"No car, no one was here which is why I didn't call for back up." He used the flashlight to search the floor. "My radio?"
"Won't work in here." She had already tried.
"What ... are the walls lined with lead?"
"No, just a jammer. Did it look like anyone was staying out there? You know, table? Chair? Bed? Heater? Food?"
"No, nothing ... and I have to tell you it is colder out there than it is in here."
"That's not saying much."
He nodded toward Daisy. "Is she gonna make it?"
"If we get her out of here. She hasn't had any food or water in a couple of days ... and the cold is not helping."
"Well I don't know how long before they start looking for me. I was on by myself tonight - well me and the dispatcher. She will give me a least two check-ins before she calls up anyone else."
"How long between?"
"60 Minutes."
"Great ... well ... we should be able to last two more hours." Maggie looked at Daisy. Her eyes were glassy and she was still shivering, but she wasn't talking.
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Booth and crew were approaching the warehouse. They again had split into four teams to hit it from all sides. The south team had found a Leesburg PD patrol car hidden in the back under a tarp. They had the right location. A call was put into the PD to secure the roads leading away from the warehouse. The power was shut off at that main breaker. A man was left there to turn it one when the time was right. They entered the building through two doors. Booth and Jacobsen took point on one. Brennan and the new kid took up the rear of that unit.
There was almost nothing inside the warehouse. No remains of what it used to be used for. The center was a building within the building. This must have been the remodel that Angela was referring to. There was one door into the facility. One of Jacobsen's guys went to inspect the door for booby traps. He found none. He was waiting for the order to breach the door, when there was an explosion from the south side of the building. The floor shook and reports were coming in from all men. Seems there was a time delayed booby trap on the south entrance.
Booth immediately turned to the new kid, "GET HER OUT OF HERE!" he ordered.
The kid turned to Brennan who had no intention of moving. "Please, ma'am ... I'll have to carry you if you don't come now."
Brennan would have liked to see the kid try, but there was another explosion from the other side of the building. She did as she was ordered.
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There was a loud noise, like a small explosion outside the walls. The emergency lights went on inside the warehouse. Then another one. It was muffled through the walls, but it was undeniably an explosion. Max, Maggie and Officer Richter shared a look. That couldn't be good. Then six loud pops that came in quick succession were herd on the upper level, one from each cell. Gas started filling the room.
"That is definitely not good."
"We gotta get low," shouted Maggie. She had no idea what the gas was or how pervasive it would be in that large a room. Clearly they weren't meant to get out of their cells. She and the officer quickly shared a knowing look. "The well."
"I just got out of there," Max complained as he moved toward it carrying the blankets.
Officer Krupke picked Daisy up and carried her over to the well. He set her down on the edge, jumped down himself and then had Maggie lower her down to him. Max jumped down himself and fell on his shoulder again. Maggie tried to land on one leg, but tumbled onto her injured on reopening the wound.
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Jacobsen gave the order for the power to be restored. "GO! GO! GO!" Jacobsen ordered. The door was breached. The smell of the gas was pervasive. Booth knew what it was and it was not good.
"WALKER!" He shouted through the cloth on his mouth and nose.
"In the well."
Lit a pit crew every man set to a task. The hostages were pulled from the pit and escorted out of the room. They were not safe in the warehouse, so they didn't stop until they were outside and a good 50 yards from the structure. Orders were giving for the local PD and EMTs to come. Brennan was at her father's side as soon as he was put down.
"Hey honey," he said. "How was your vacation?"
"Better now, Dad." She hugged him hard and he groaned with pain. "Dad?"
"I'm OK, honey. Old football injury," he joked. "Daisy is in pretty bad shape."
Daisy was being tended to my the new kid and Sully. "Will she be OK?" Brennan asked Sully.
"Some IV fluids, a warm bath and some food and she should be OK."
"Miss Wick?"
"Dr. Brennan ..." she said weakly.
"Don't talk, Ms. Wick. You will be OK."
Brennan looked over and saw Booth talking with Walker. She was still standing but leaning on him holding her injured leg off the ground. They were smiling - nah laughing about something. Booth turned to find Brennan in the crowd as the EMTs arrived. Brennan quickly looked away.
At the edge of the clearing for the Warehouse a good distance away, she saw a figure watching them. The person pulled her cap off revealing medium length auburn hair. The person was Heather Taffet and she was looking right a Brennan. She pointed directly at Brennan. Brennan assumed she was being taunted again. She pointed backand called out "BOOTH!" A shot rang out.
All eyes were turned to where the shot came from. The order to return fire was given. The shooter ran toward the other side of the warehouse. She was hit at least once. Booth, Jacobsen and three other men gave chase. There was another loud explosion. The people watching stilled to silence. A long thirty seconds later the five men stepped back into view they couldn't take their eyes off the remains of a body in and out of the crater. "This is a job for Bones," Booths muttered. Whomever that body was, he would bet money that it wasn't Taffet's.
He turned back to where Brennan was standing. The EMTs were working on someone on the ground. Booth's heart froze. Sully made eye contact with him. Did he shake his head? Did Sully shake his head NO? Booth ran toward them his fear increasing with each step. There was so much blood. She wasn't moving. The EMTs were barking orders to each other and into the radio. Booth was helpless. They needed to transport STAT. He was ordered to stay at the scene, but he would not leave her side.
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A/N: Ohhhh ... another cliff. Not to worry. Can't kill Brennan off; that would just be rude. But that doesn't mean she can't get roughed up a little bit. I've been meaning to apologize for the lack of beta, I am working hard to get the chapters out fast. Work seems to take up too much of my day. Comments encouraged.
