Vanished:
Chapter Ten:
The sun was rising on the Friday morning. The sky was painted with fiery oranges and reds, matching the colors of the fire that was still raging around them. Booth stood there with his gun still smoking with a menacing look in his eyes, looking somewhat demonic to anyone who was watching the scene. Booth's arm was throbbing from the combination of the reverberation of the gun and the debris that had lodged itself in his bicep. None of that matter to him though. All he knew was that he needed to find Brennan and soon. Sully watched as Booth struggled with his demons, struggling with his conscience. How far was Booth willing to take this before losing himself in trying to find her?
"That was your one and only warning shot." Booth warned. "I won't give you a second one."
Miller stayed on his knees, "You are such a coward Booth." Miller taunted him.
"Where is she you pathetic excuse for a human being?" Sully interjected, tired of playing the game as well. He knew that Brennan was a strong woman, but he honestly didn't know how much fight the fiery anthropologist had left in her. Six and a half months was a long time to be held in captivity.
Miller defiantly shook his head. "She's already dead. You should have heard her, right before she died, humming 'The Prayer to Saint Francis.' Damn bitch doesn't believe in God, and there she was humming a Catholic hymn. She always hoped you would find her. She died listening to those damn church bells, losing all hope she had in you. You should go ahead and pray for her soul in purgatory."
Booth held his phone back up to his ear.
"Angela . . ." He started off.
"Booth, did you shoot the bastard?" She hoped, not hiding the disgust for Miller in her voice. She knew that the man was going to rot in the fiery pits of hell, and even that was too good for him.
"Nope. I needed him alive for the moment, no telling what I am going to do when I don't need him anymore." Booth assured. "Angela, I need you to focus for me. Brennan is being held within a mile of the Saint Francis of Assisi Chapel in Maryland close to DC line. I need you to take Miller's picture over there and start showing it around the neighborhood so we can find her."
"Booth, are you positive?" Angela asked.
"Ange, I have been going to church there for over five years. Parker was baptized there. I know she is around that area."
"Seeley, we don't have time to waste. She doesn't look well." Cam told him.
"I know Cam. Just get on it. I'll be back in the area in thirty minutes. Just find where she is being held." Booth told them ending the call.
Sully threw Booth the keys to the SUV knowing that he was the better driver out of the two of them for going at extreme speeds. Booth got on his radio and immediately called for anyone in the area to go and search for his partner.
He started the SUV and threw it into drive, he turned to Miller in the backseat, "You know Miller there is always hope no matter what."
--
Booth had turned the normal commute of one hour into 40 minutes, deftly weaving the SUV through the morning traffic which gave way to the blaring sirens. He pulled into the church parking lot, killing the sirens. Father Connelly was out front tending to the shrubbery and washing the graffiti off the church walls.
"Good morning Seeley." He greeted as Booth approached the older man. "Did you come to help with the morning routine?"
"Father, good morning." He addressed the priest with respect. "I need your help." Booth began. He pointed to Miller in the SUV, "Do you know that man?"
Father Connelly studied him. "That is Harold Boyd. He is a parishioner here. He became a member of the church about a year ago. You wouldn't have known him, he goes to the Saturday night mass. What has Harold done?"
"I need his address. He is the one who has abducted my partner." Booth told the priest. Father Connelly nodded his head and retrieved the records for him.
After Booth obtained the records that he needed, he ran back towards the SUV. "Booth, how did you know to stop here?" Sully asked.
"Catholics believe in purgatory. I made the jump to believe that Miller, or Boyd, whatever your real name is, would have registered in the church in his neighborhood. My mother and father always beat it in my head." Booth explained, going toward the address that Father Connelly had supplied him with. "Hold on Bones, I'm on my way."
--
Brennan was in a haze, she didn't know how she ended up on the floor, and all she knew was that the pain in her head was threatening her to pass out again. She pushed herself up on to her feet listening to the ringing of the eight o'clock church bells. She touched her head gingerly where the pressure was building up.
She sank to the floor, sobbing, knowing that time was running out. Her energy was spent, and her vision went blurry, and before she knew it, she was back on the floor, her body giving in to the seizure. If her consciousness had lasted a couple of moments longer, she would have heard the sounds of sirens coming to rescue her out of her hell.
--
Booth swung the SUV into the driveway, this house looking vastly different from the last house they were previously at. The house was newer, in a subdivision that was in the process of being built. A construction agency had taken over some unused and dilapidated land and was revitalizing it, putting middle class homes in an area that was once overran by prostitutes and drug dealers. It was all part of an initiative to clean up the streets.
The squints had noticed the SUV in the driveway and came running up. "Booth, did you find her?" Angela asked.
"We believe this is the house where she is being held." Booth confirmed, "But we can't go storming in there like we did last time, we need to make sure he didn't booby trap the house like he did with the last one. The bomb squad is on its way."
Booth paced the front lawn, nervously waiting for any word about whether or not he could storm in and protect her. He finally sat on the curb, putting his head in his hands. "I failed her Angela." He whispered.
"No Booth you didn't. You kept fighting for her even though the rest of the world was telling you to let it go. If anyone failed her it was the ones who didn't believe in her." Angela spoke softly, waiting for the bomb squad to finish their sweep.
Sully finished talking with the commander of the squad and walked up behind Booth. "The house is clean. We can go in now." He helped Booth off the curb and the group made their way into the house to go retrieve their comrade.
--
Booth entered the house, making his way through the kitchen. The air smelt stale, the house left completely abandoned by its owner. Booth saw that the cupboards where left open by the bomb squad revealed rotting food and cans of food past the expiration date. He hoped that Brennan was still with him.
His cell phone rang, "Agent Booth speaking."
"Agent Booth, its Zack. Dr. Brennan has suffered another seizure. You need to get to her quickly." He reported, hoping that Booth was close.
"Thanks Zack." Booth quickened his pace, confirming that she wasn't on the first floor. He made his way down to the basement. Looking around he knew that the basement was smaller than it should have been, with cinderblock walls.
"Sully, Cam." He called for the team to come down to where he was.
He heard the team coming down the stairs, wondering if they had any better luck that what he had. "What did you find Seeley?" Cam asked coming down the stairs.
"Something that probably shouldn't be here." He replied, pointing to the walls. "These weren't put here for support at all, and it looks like there was some recent construction here." Booth pointed to where there was some obviously newer concrete. "I'm going to need a sledgehammer to get in there."
--
Sully and Booth stood at the wall several minutes later knowing that they were closer than ever to finding her. Booth, took the first swing, cracking into the wall. The concrete crumbled away with each swing, and Booth felt a renewed energy, knowing the each swing was going to bring him closer to her. Angela and Cam stood at a distance, letting the men work, knowing that finding her would finally close one chapter of Booth's life and begin another.
"What are you going to do when you find her man?" Sully asked pounding into the wall.
"I'm going to hold her and never let her go." Booth replied. He swung again, his arm protesting with every movement.
"Good luck with that. Tempe isn't going to let you do that." Sully replied.
"I know, trust me I know." Booth swung again, this time cracking through the other side. He peered in and saw her on the floor. "Hang on Bones!" He swung again, the concrete crumbling away, forming a big enough wall for Booth to step inside. He ran over to her, aghast at her frail appearance, but just overwhelmed with happiness to see her again. "Temperance, come on, wake up for me." He whispered, cradling her. He saw the chain that tethered her to the wall and the infection on her ankle, Booth put his hand on her stomach. "Hold on little guy." He whispered, waiting for the fire department to come to cut her from the wall.
He felt her move, she stirred a little bit. "Booth." His name escaped from her lips.
"Hey there." He whispered. "I missed you."
Tears started forming in both their eyes. "I knew that you would come for me."
"Always Bones." He promised her. She started seizing again, losing consciousness. "We need some help in here now!" He screamed, praying that he wasn't too late.
AN: Here is the latest installment. I brought them back together. I hope you enjoyed the installment. Please review. Let me know what you want to happen next.