Thanks for continuing to read this story. Your comments keep me motivated.
Camille Soryen grabbed the phone as it rang.
"Cam, its Angela." Cam had been expecting the phone call for at least the last twelve hours.
"Hey. I guess you heard?"
"Yeah, Jack is making some calls now. What do you know?" Cam sat back in her office chair and tried to ease the tension from her shoulders.
"Just that their plane never arrived in Maluku. The Fed has sent a search and rescue team from here to join the Indonesian team."
"What about Booth?"
"I tried calling him, but his phone is just going to voice mail."
"Surely they have let him know what is happening."
"I'm sure they have. Now what do you need?"
"I need you and Wendell at the lab, Jack is making some calls. Let's set up a video link. My equipment is more sophisticated than anything the military has. Cam, we have to help." Cam stood from her seat and walked into Angela's vacant office.
"Ok. I'm at the lab and I am requesting the link now. All of the interns are here, none of them wanted to go home with Dr. Brennan and Daisy missing. We will help anyway we can. What do you need Wendell to do?" Cam clicked the computer a couple of times and an image of Angela appeared on the flat panel screen. She hung up the phone once the video connection was enabled.
"Good. He's the only one I trust with the Angelatron." Cam nodded but wanted to laugh as Jack ran into the background behind Angela.
"So, the plane is a Cessna 172N a 1977 model. One that has a history of engine problems I'm afraid."
"Cam did you get that?" Asked Angela as she wrote the information on a pad near her.
"Yes, I have it, but how will that help us? We need something different than that if we plan to find them. Just a minute." Camille left the screen and returned a moment later with Wendell in tow.
"Hey Angela, Dr. Hodgins. What do you need me to do?" Angela gave him a smirk.
"Okay. I'm going to walk you through the Spatula program. Pull up a map of that area with the flight path between Java and Maluku." Angela guided him through the steps and was rewarded by the wall size map that came up on her screen. "Okay, Jack what else do you know?" Angela knew her husband well enough to know that there was more.
"I talked to my contact in the State Department and he contacted one of his buddies, you know how that works, anyway Booth is in Jakarta as part of the search and rescue team. A General Stark insisted that they send him." There was a collective sigh of relief from the group. That was one less worry.
"Okay, so they sent Booth to find his wife. Isn't that the same General Stark who Bren…" Jack rambled.
"Whoa! Dr. B got married?" Wendell said shocked. "When did that happen?" Angela gave a smirk through the flat panel screen.
"Well apparently, she and Booth got married the day before they left. They didn't tell anyone except for Parker. He told Max and Max told us. She seemed so happy when we were chatting the other day."
Everyone's eyes dropped with the silent prayer that she would be found. Cam was the first to break the silence.
"So Jack, what else do we know?" Jack clapped his hands together.
"I checked the location of the Cantilever satellites and there were two in that area that day." Angela's eyebrow rose slightly, knowing Jack had probably made sure there was a satellite in that region for the next year. Impulsively, she jumped and gave Jack a hug. "That's why I'm the king of Paris baby." He said as she dropped a kiss on Jack's lips.
"So, anyway guys, I think that with the images from the two satellites, we could take that footage and if I'm right, we may be able to pinpoint their location." Angela announced. "So Wendell, when the information is uploaded, we will have to run the images through the Angelatron and match it to the Cessna 172N. If we can get close enough, we may be able to follow it, go ahead and put in the GPS coordinates for the airstrip in Java, we will need those."
Wendell grabbed the tablet pc from Angela's abandoned desk with a gleam in his eye. His obvious excitement made Angela just a little bit homesick. She really missed the Angelatron.
"Just tell me what you need me to do."
"You see babe, even though we are all scattered , we are still the best team in the world. Let's bring them home." Jack stood behind Angela and placed both of his hands on her shoulders.
"Get General Stark, and Director Cullen on the phone. Tell them what we are doing. I need to speak to Booth, let's see if we can get him a video link." Angela's order was directed at Cam who nodded before she left the vacant office to locate the phone numbers.
Booth watched from the make shift stage as people gathered for the impending press conference. He noticed the blonde reporter sitting in the front row, no doubt looking for a chance at fame. He stood in the background as the appointed spokesman Captain Roger Woods made his way to the mike.
"Ladies and gentlemen, approximately four days ago, a small plane carrying Dr. Temperance Brennan and Daisy Wick of the Jeffersonian and Dr. Jean-Paul Renaud from the Medico-Legal lab in Montreal Canada, disappeared en-route from the island of Java to Maluku Province. In approximately fifteen minutes, our assembled search and rescue teams will begin their aerial search of the area. We will be searching the area along their projected route and then branching outward. Any other questions?" The young Captain signaled to the blonde.
"Hannah Burley, NBC News. I received information this morning informing us that Sergeant Major Booth and Temperance Brennan are in fact married. If this is true, I must ask why he has been included in the search team? Isn't that against protocol?" Hannah tossed out with a smug self-assurance, convinced she had found the real story.
Booth kept his face passive, in reality, he was furious with the woman for bringing up his relationship with his wife. It was something personal between the two of them, not something that the world needed to know. She pointed her gaze directly at him and waited for the confirmation of the rumor.
"Ms. Burley, at this time I can neither confirm nor deny the personal relationship between the Sergeant Major and Dr. Brennan, however, I will say that his specialized training and his relationship as FBI liaison with the Jeffersonian Institute gives us a unique ability to have a successful mission, and we do consider this a rescue mission at this time. We have received word from the Army Chief of Staff and the State Department that the team at the Jeffersonian is working, even as we speak, to locate the aircraft. Sergeant Major Booth and myself will be speaking with them momentarily." Booth schooled his features to keep his surprise hidden.
"Any other questions?" Hannah scowled as the Captain put her in her place. She glared at the Sergeant Major who simply stood stoic, as if he didn't see her at all. Not used to being ignored she tried to ask another question, but the Captain ignored her for a reporter with the AP. Just as she was preparing to raise her hand again, a gentleman tapped the Captain on the shoulder, signaling the end of the press conference. Perturbed, she signaled her cameraman, and spoke quietly with him. She was going to make sure she got her story.
Jean-Paul and Bones very slowly followed Daisy into the dense interior of the island, resting every few moments to allow Jean-Paul to catch his breath. Walking on a broken leg wasn't the smartest thing to do but he had insisted, convinced that the bone had been set properly and was as secure as possible. He hobbled on his crutch and Bones had her arm around him for additional support. When they caught up with Daisy at their destination she was on her knees in a gulch, gently wiping dirt away from what appeared to be part of a small skull. Bones and Jean-Paul both gasped in surprise. It appeared to be very, very old.
"Temperance, help me down. I would like to see it a little more closely." Bones helped the older man sit on the rim of the gulch, just above Daisy's find. "Miss Wick, was it just sitting there exposed?" Daisy continued brushing the dirt away as best as she could with her fingers.
"Yes. I was looking for something a little more filling for our next meal when the color caught my attention. I thought that it was a stone at first, but when I knelt beside it, I realized it was bone. I started brushing away the layer of dirt and discovered it was a skull. That's when I came for you." Bones knelt in the dirt beside Daisy and assisted with its removal.
"What do you think Temperance, is it homo sapien?" Bones studied each piece as it was uncovered. She cautioned Daisy to handle it with extreme care.
"It's too small, but is definitely a hominin, of which species, I am unclear. It is however, incredibly old." Jean-Paul studied the jaw line that had been exposed. The chin was non-existent and the teeth seemed to be excessively large for such a small jaw.
"What do you think?"
"It would depend on whether or not we are able to uncover more of the skeleton." Daisy stopped brushing her fingers as more of its jaw and cheek were uncovered.
"Dr. Brennan, Dr. Renaud, is there a possibility that this is the Homo floresiensis that we were looking for in Maluku?" Both doctors exchanged disbelieving glances with the other, but Bones was the first to speak.
"It is doubtful Miss Wick, however, since we seem to be marooned here and this is some type of hominin, we should continue working to identify it." Satisfied with Bones' logic, Daisy resumed the arduous task of exposing more of the skull. "Good work Miss Wick. This is still an important find." Daisy blushed from the compliment, but didn't stop her work.