Under gigantic flood lights, the work in the Washingtonian harbor continued even at night. Only some areas lay in darkness and a relatively silence. Broadsky's hiding place was one of them. The old forgotten rusty ship moved lazily on the waves between some huge container freighters. Inside however, was everything but tranquillity!
Jacob stared at the glowing screen of his laptop, the only light in the room, and could not believe what he just had read! It was an internal report of an FBI officer, one of Seeley Booth's staff. He had found it merely by accident, while looking for the measures taken up by the Federals against himself. But this was worse than anything what they might have planned…
'I arrived at Miss Paula Ashwaldts apartment 8.30.' he could read. 'When I entered, she was just about to phone Broadsky and warn him. I could hear her asking someone, when he was expected back. I entered with my weapon at the ready and ordered her to drop the call and raise her hands. She reacted very upset, almost hysterical. I repeated my command. Now she let the phone drop, but reached with her right hand after something. I thought it was a weapon. I knew she had the right to have a weapon in her office. I shot in assumed self-defence. I did not want to kill her, but she moved into the wrong direction. It was an accident…'
Jacob saw her die a second time. He got the news of her death a second time – and all wounds were ripped open again. Suicide, right, Booth? Wasn't that the official version? Did you knew about it and lied into my face? To protect your poor innocent colleague who just had murdered someone? He did not even feel the nagging pain in his broken hand anymore. From the blink of an eye to another, his old comrade Seeley Booth had become more than just a boulder in his path, an increasingly annoying obstacle: he had become part of the enemies' lines! All hopes Jacob still had harboured to bring Booth at his side somehow, crushed that very moment.
Suicide… so it looked like my fault! So I would feel guilty and surrender at once?
Not able to look anymore at this report, he stood up and paced through the naked, cold environment of his hiding place. Pain and anger burnt inside him. He knew he was very close to cross the thin line which had always separated him from a psychopathic revenge path…
Mechanically, he took the rifle from its casing and prepared the weapon with fast, swift moves.
Destiny!
The thought caught him one instant before he finally had set foot on that other way. He leaned back, breathing deeply. I can't leave her alone. I can't fail her! Fully aware of everything again, Jacob put his rifle back and looked out of the little porthole onto the harbour. No, he wouldn't get out of control on a frenzy revenge ride! This was not his mission! He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling a quite painful longing for Destiny's company.
…
Some miles away in the vicarage, the young woman was awake the same and pondered about what she could and should do. Father Sergey had been very kind to her. He had assured her several times, everything was in God's hands and she should stop worrying, because He would make it alright. Nonetheless, Destiny was not the person to lean back after such statements. She wanted to take things in her own hands. Especially when it came to her loved ones! Considering that, she hadn't been that good, of course. But this did not mean she could just sit here and wait! She aligned some curses to a long nasty row and turned around. Still open-eyed, she faced the icon in the kitchen's corner again.
I just want to be with him, is that too much to ask? We can start anew somewhere and be just nice people! If we only can get out of this, away! Far away!
Maybe Father Sergey had smiled, if he would have heard Destiny trying to bargain with the 'higher powers'. But he was in the church, and the young woman was alone with her fear and desperation.
Two days later
Jacob Broadsky climbed into the operator's cab of the tower crane and rested for a moment. The crane had been a gift from heaven, so to speak. It stood in a distance from his target – the Jeffersonian – that was still reachable with his skills. No one would disturb him here. The less, because the construction site was closed that day because of some material shortage, as he had figured out. But Seeley Booth would be in the Jeffersonian, just as every Thursday at a specific time. And there, he would get him. Jacob was all cold determination again, when he thought that. No distracting emotions…
…
This morning, Destiny's decision was made. She would ride back to Washington and get Jacob out! Father Serge might object to that, saying Jacob had told her explicitly to wait for his return – but Destiny did not care. She would not just sit here around and let things happen. Until now, she had not heard about any success of the police. So Jacob was still free. And she would make sure it stayed that way, she promised herself!
After checking her rifle like a soldier going out to battle, she marched to the bike. The morning prayers sounded from the church, meant that Father Sergey couldn't make any attempt to hold her back. The better! She took place and started the engine.
It was about 30 miles before Washington, when Destiny discovered the police car. First she thought it might follow someone else. But when she took the next exit and it was still behind her, she was sure she was the target. As she wore a helmet, it had to be the bike itself what ignited their attention… Whatever! It was of no use musing about this now! While speeding ahead, the young woman tried to calculate her chances. The police already signalled her. She had to get rid of the machine as quickly as possible.
…
Up in the tower crane, Jacob Broadsky watched the schemes of the people in the Jeffersonian on his infrared screen. Shortly ago, a fourth person had joined the others already at work in the lab. Supposedly Seeley Booth. But the sniper had to be absolutely sure! He took his cell phone and dialled the specific number of his target…
…
Meanwhile in a little farm area, Destiny turned into another road and almost crashed the bike in the curve. The police was very close, and they shot to get her tires. Shit! Another sharp turn, and she was under way in the opposite direction; then left again. Right in front of her was a wooden fence and a pick up truck. There was no time to think anymore. Within seconds, the police would be in sight again! Destiny sped on, jumping off the bike in the last moment. The police car stopped in order not to be swallowed by the ball of fire and smoke.
…
The split of a second after the scheme on his screen had taken the phone, Jacob pulled the trigger. A part of him wished to be able to fly along with the bullet and see with his own eyes how it reached its destination. However – this wasn't the fate of a sniper! When the scheme sunk on the floor, Jacob started to repack his equipment as fast as he could. Time to vanish!
…
Destiny needed all her strength to pull herself together, while she drove along the street in the old boltbucket she had just acquired on a scrapyard. Every fibre in her body wanted to flee and hide, certainly not being out in the open, while police was everywhere for sure. But to run would draw attention for sure. This was the worst thing she could do. They had shot people in Afghanistan just because they were running.
Her body was covered with bruises and burns. At a gas station, she had stolen a boilersuit to replace her dirty and ragged clothes. The thing was twice her size and rubbed uncomfortably at her skin, but she had had no other choice. She hoped, the police would be busy with investigations and think she had died in the crash. This would give her some time! Sadly, she had to leave her rifle behind – what felt a bit like losing an old friend. It had accompanied her through the war, after all!
Odd things flashed through her mind, while her glance rushed over the traffic and the people on the sidewalk. Will I come out of this alive? – I don't want to be in prison. – Dad would be ashamed if he saw me now… would he? – I screwed everything up. – I'm hungry. – I'm afraid. – I want a child from you, Jacob. A loud honk catapulted her back in reality. She had just been about to cross a red traffic light! Out of another car, a guy yelled something sounding like 'corn ball morons'. Destiny wiped over her face and swore. It would be really stupid now getting arrested because of any traffic violation wouldn't it?
Half an hour later, she had made it to Washington and turned direction harbour. There was plenty of space to hide in some abandoned storage hall near the old railway station. She planned to leave the car somewhere and then –
She slammed the brakes again, having seen the shadow of a man in the very last second. The next moment, a cry of surprise escaped her, when she stared down at Jacob.
He glared stupefied, too. "Destiny! What are you doing here?" Then, before she could answer anything, he climbed up into the seat besides her.
"I… I just had to see you!" was all she could manage, and it was in fact the essence of all her reasons. Honking let her veer out of the traffic and park the truck at the side.
The words and the desperation in her face let him forget all reprimands which had built up during the last seconds. It was too close to his own emotions; things he had locked up with some effort in the last 2 days! But now everything welled up again, and all he could do was embracing Destiny.
"Listen, Jacob! The police are on my heels! I don't know how, but they are! I had to sacrifice your bike and my rifle to escape!" she blurted. "You have to forget this damned Booth and we HAVE to leave! Please!"
He gave her a wry smile. "I can forget him indeed. I just killed him."
"But…"
"I'll explain." He shot a glance outside and saw a police car racing by. "If we live long enough!" His senses kicked back in. "It was a foolish thing to follow me back into the city! You know that. I can't take you with me through the check point, you have no access card." He hissed through clenched teeth and stared through the window again. The police car had not returned. Nonetheless, this place was far from being safe!
"You'll hide over there near the old train station, in one of the halls. I go back into the harbour area, get my stuff and fetch you as soon as possible," he decided.
…
The Jeffersonian team was still in shock after the loss of one of its members. Of course, they were too professional to stay paralyzed by their grief. However, inside every one still burned the question why Vincent, the most innocent of them all, had to pay the price. Anger and determination were mixed in this question. An end had to be put on that – and it had to be put now!
Most members of the team as well as FBI and police worked over night. When a very resolved agent Booth returned early morning, Hodgins presented him his findings: "Broadsky did not only steal Leishingers rifle! He took something else."
"And what exactly?"
"A chip card! Like these…" He called up a page on his computer.
Booth took only a short look, then he grabbed his cell phone and notified his FBI colleagues: "Get me Leishinger's boss! I want him in for questioning within the next 30 minutes!"
…
The first sunrays danced over the harbor installations, when Jacob Broadsky was on his way back. Finally. Making love to Destiny last night could very well evolve into the fatal and final mistake of his life. It had been too late to get access to the harbor yesterday, and thus he had to wait until the early shift rolled in for work. Enough time for the police to close the net tighter! None of these facts had mattered last night, though, when they held each other. He was sure now, what he had with Destiny was more than a simple stress reliever. Exactly this weighed on his conscience. He might have put her in a danger with no way out. He might have pushed her down into the depression pool forever, if he lost his life now – or was dragged to jail…
Everything still seemed normal at the check point. No sign of police anywhere, no additional security procedures. However, how long would it stay that way? Moreover, how would the situation develop outside, where Destiny was hiding and waiting? Jacob had left her his gun, so she had something to defend with. He had taken his rifle along, so no suspicious item could be found next to her – in the case she was discovered by law and order.
Now he had to hurry, disassemble his bullet making machinery and get out again! He planned to hijack one of the smaller boats and then leave US territorial waters direction south. The ground beneath his feet had really become too hot to continue his mission. For now at least, and in this part of the States!
…
Seeley Booth left the interrogation room to contact and brief the Jeffersonian team again.
"Broadsky was somewhere in the harbor," he reported. "The access card he stole is used to enter the customs-free area of the harbor! And something tells me… he is still there! It is a perfect base of operations for a man like him." Booth hated the thought, but he had to admit, he would do exactly as his opponent. "He just didn't think we would find out about the card…"
"And we found out another thing!" That was Hodgins at the other end. He had set his jaws into this and not rested one minute. "Harbor is perfect, because I discovered traces of seasalt within the analyzed bullet! But we can narrow the area further, listen up…"
Seeley felt a spike of adrenalin race through his body, when he heard the rest of the findings. This matched an area approximately 1 km² - a very small space indeed, compared with the fact they had no clue about Broadsky's whereabouts yesterday! Now they would hunt him down! He would sit there feeling safe and sound, and they would get him!
The FBI agent walked faster, while calling his colleagues and giving orders: "Shawn, you come with me! Peterson, get me a SWAT team ready to deploy in the harbor, the area around Keevols Industries! Hillerman, you organize air support! I want a helicopter patrol! Pradesh, inform the harbor authorities, they should clear the area of all personel and stop any boat who tries to leave!"