Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews guys! It's my first story here, so it's great to hear from you. If any of you were wondering about the special task Booth had in store for Wendell, the kid's been playing spy for Booth.

I noticed Wendell immediately. My favorite squintern stepped out of his car and looked around nervously, as if on the lookout for potential enemies. I also noticed that Wendell did not leave the safety of his car door. Nor did he carry the items I asked him to bring when I met with him shortly before leaving the Jeffersonian with Sweets. I asked Cam to send Wendell to me when I called her to tell her that Bones had been taken, and the kid, dependable as always, came running.

If it was a different situation, I would have made fun of him for acting so paranoid. After finding out that I had unknowingly been under surveillance by a psychotic serial murder and sniper for several months, perhaps Wendell's precautionary measures were a sign of sanity. Bones would probably describe it more accurately as a sign of Wendell's intelligence.

I walked toward Wendell, and the kid let out a sigh of relief as he saw me and finally stepped away from the shelter of his car door. Despite how intelligent he is, I wonder if Wendell realized how very little protection a car door would offer him against the type of high-powered rifle that snipers like Broadsky and me used, the type of rifle that Wendell should currently have in his possession.

"Hey man." He greeted.

"Thanks for coming, Wendell. Do you have it?"

"Yeah. It's in my trunk. Just give me a minute." In actuality, a minute is about all the time I had to give him to retrieve the sniper rifle. The deadline with Broadsky was fast approaching, and there were a lot of things I needed to go over with Wendell.

"I thought it was best to keep it out of sight. It's not something I wanted to be spotted driving around with in the backseat." Wendell commented as he rummaged through his for my sleek, black rifle case. He also pulled out a smaller black backpack.

He approached me, and I quickly unzipped my case to inspect the rifle. All parts accounted for. Good. I could not afford to make any mistakes. My eyes shifted to the backpack in Wendell's left hand.

"Did you get everything I asked for?"

"Yeah. It's all there."

"Did anyone follow you when you picked up the burner phones?"

"No."

"What about when you went got my rifle out of my storage container. Did anyone see you?"

"No, Booth. I was careful. I swear."

"I need you to be sure, Wendell. This will never work if Broadsky suspects what I'm really up to. Bones' life depends on it. My life depends on it. That's why I need you to think really hard. Was there anyone who might have been following you? Anyone at all who was acting suspicious?"

"No, Booth. No one followed me. I'm sure of it. Trust me, man. I was looking too, and I followed every counter-surveillance technique you taught me. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm pretty nervous right now. The hypervigilence is definitely at work."

I smiled briefly, relieved that Wendell had followed my instructions. "Okay. Just one more thing. Did you get a hold of him?"

"Yeah. He's on board, Booth. He was beyond pissed when he learned someone kidnapped Dr. Brennan. He sounded like he was going to kill someone. That guy's a little scary."

I smiled wider. "That's exactly what I'm counting on, kid."

That comment was met with silence. A glance at Wendell let me know that I had unnerved the kid a little. Oh well. It's time to move this along.

"Listen, Wendell. I need you to do a couple more things for me. If you, Cam, or Sweets hasn't heard from me in 2 ½ hours, I need you to call Cam and Sweets and tell them to send to send backup and an ambulance to this address."

I took a small piece of paper out of my back pocket and handed it to Wendell. I hesitated for just a second longer before I also took out the four letters I had just written.

"Here. Take these as well. If you don't see me again, you know what to do with them." Wendell stared at the four letters with a solemn look on his face. Then he raised his head, made eye contact with him, and nodded his head yes. Satisfied, I grasped Wendell's empty left hand and shook it firmly.

"Thanks for everything, kid. You're a good friend. Take care of yourself, and don't let Cam and Angela give you a hard time for doing this for me."

Wendell didn't say anything, just continued to stare into my eyes. Maybe the kid wasn't into goodbyes. I had certainly had a hard time writing my goodbyes this afternoon. I gave the kid one last smile. As I turned to walk away and let go of his hand, I was slightly taken back by the kid's suddenly iron grip on my hand. As I turned back to Wendell, I was met with an apprehensive yet steely look, the kind of look someone gives you when they know you won't listen to what they have to say but are determined to say it anyway.

"About that, Booth. Are you sure you want to do this, man? Shouldn't you at least take some FBI agents as backup?"

I sighed loudly. I knew it would be a miracle if I could leave Wendell without the subject of my safety coming up.

"Look, Wendell. I know you think it's too dangerous for me to face Broadsky alone, and I know a part of you is wavering on keeping this a secret. I can tell you are thinking about telling Cam the truth. As much as I appreciate your concern, you gotta keep this quiet." I ran a hand through my hair, thinking about how I could make the scared kid in front of me understand this situation.

"Wendell, Broadsky is one of the deadliest, most accurate snipers in the world. He could kill you in a second and you would never see him or the bullet that killed you. He's like a ghost. Even more dangerous is the fact that he's essentially declared himself judge, jury, and executioner. He thinks that God gave him this mission, and he will do anything to complete it. He has no conscience. He doesn't care who he hurts, who he kills, or how many lives he destroys. He will kill anyone who gets in the way of his revenge. Right now, he's interested in me and Bones. That's it. If anyone else comes into that building with me, he will kill them. Broadsky is highly trained in covert military tactics. He won't even need his rifle to kill anyone who comes with me. He has the place rigged with traps and explosives to prevent anyone but me from getting in there."

I look at Wendell, and the kid's face has paled dramatically. I sigh again. I don't want to scare the kid to death, but he needs to understand.

"I know you just want to help us, Wendell, but you have done your part. Telling anyone else about this now will only put them in danger. I know you are worried about telling Cam, but you just have to be honest with her. This was my choice. This is the best chance I have to save Bones. Cam will understand that."

Wendell was quiet for a few seconds, considering my words, and then nodded at me. At least, he seemed to understand. "Good luck, Booth." He said simply and walked away.