Chapter 11. Judas on a pole.
Three weeks later.
Booth and Brennan were going at it when the phone rang.
"Seriously?" Booth sighed. "It's our day off" he reached for the phone. "Booth" he answered and Brennan rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom. "Yeah. …where…ok. Be right there." He sighed hanging up annoyed. Then smiling and hopping in the shower with Brennan.
A half hour later. They were on top of a hotel examining burned remains.
"Male. Middle-aged." She said getting up close and personal with him. "I think these are what's left of his intestines." She said picking up charred remains.
"He's a stoolie."Booth said making notes.
"What?" she asked confused.
"A rat…a Snitch."
"What makes you say that?"
"His guts got spilled. …you know, Spill your guts."
"That's very literal." She pointed out.
"Yeah. Hang up there like a scarecrow on a rooftop of a hotel used to house witnesses, it's a warning." He said certain.
"I think there's something jammed down his trachea. We'll have to get it out when we get back to the lab." She said stepping back.
"Ok boys. You know what to do!" he called to the techs waiting by.
Back at the lab.
"Are the remains ready for x-ray?" Zack asked walking onto the platform.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and ID the poor bastard that way." Cam said stepping back.
"Oh, we just got lucky." Hodgins said as he showed them a piece of paper with writing. "This was in his trachea."
Zack read it aloud. "'My name is Garrett Delaney'"
"There's something else. ...something metallic." She said pulling out a coin with forceps and placed it in a dish. "This is going to turn out to be some freaky, weird ritualistic thing, isn't it?"
"Oh man, I hope so." Hodgins said too excited.
"Christopher Columbus." Zack said looking at the coin.
"Where's Dr. Brennan?" Cam asked wondering why she wasn't examining the remains.
"Her brother came for a visit." Zack said and they all looked at him.
Brennan's Office.
"Dad called you? You sure it was him." She asked surprised.
"He said 'You and your sister are in danger' and he hung up." Russ said seriously. "I'm pretty sure it was him."
"I spend half my time with a sniper-trained FBI Agent. I feel safe." She said chuckling.
"Tempe. I know someone is watching me."
"What's your evidence?" Brennan asked raising an eyebrow.
"I can feel it on the back of my neck. You spend some time in jail, you develop a sixth sense."
"Maybe you should stay with me for a few days." She suggested giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"No, Tempe. I have work and I have , I have Amy and the girls.." he said shaking his head.
"What about your sixth sense?" she asked turning it against him.
"Hey!" he said annoyed.
Brennan laughed. "What?"
"You can't not believe in something one second and then use it against me in the next." He said smiling.
"It's a long drive. You can start fresh tomorrow and I've got cold beer in the fridge." She said dangling her keys infront of him.
"No, Don't drink the Moroccan Beer, it tastes like earwax…how you doing, Russ." He said walking in.
"Okay Booth." He said shaking hands "You?"
"Great"
"Good." Russ said leaving with her keys.
"I still make him nervous, don't I?" he asked pulling her out of her chair and kissing her quickly.
She laughed. "You're FBI, he's a parolee. Of course you make him nervous." She said closing the blinds.
"Good point…" he said smiling as she kissed him. "So he's staying with you for a few days?"
Brennan rolled her eyes. "Yeah. … Doesn't mean I can't work late every night this week." She hinted kissing him again until they had to pull away.
" …Come on, let's go."
"Where?" she asked curiously.
"Check out Delaney's apartment of course" he said smiling and backing towards the door.
She smiled following.
A half hour later. They were looking around his apartment.
"Garrett Delaney left the FBI about 15 years ago. He's now head of security of some big K Street lobbyist."
"So why did he end up a human torch?" she asked as they enter a room and a wall full of surveillance photos of Russ.
"Whoa. Russ might have gotten it right this time."
"Russ. These are all pictures of Russ."
"I know."
FBI headquarters. A conference room where they are talking to Russ.
"Me at work. Me and Amy. This is the day before yesterday. Dad was right. Someone's watching." Russ said dropping them on the table.
"This is worse than watching." Booth shook his head. "This is hunting."
"Hunting?" Russ asked surprised.
"As in kill. You see these?" he asked pointing to the picture. "Right here. These are ranges. He's picking out a spot from which to shoot at you."
"So what do I do now?" he asked seriously.
"The hunter's dead. The hunt is over, right?" Brennan said hopeful.
"Anyone else know you're here?" Booth asked.
Russ shook his head. "Only Amy."
"Good. You call Amy and tell her if anyone calls looking for you, she doesn't know where you're at."
"You should stay with me until we find out why Delaney intended to kill you." Brennan insisted.
"How are you going to do that?" he asked incredulously.
"By figuring out who killed him." Booth said standing.
That night. Brennan's apartment.
"Hayley's 6 and Emma's 8." Russ said showing her pictures, but she's not paying much attention. "Tempe."
"I'm sorry. I'm a little… Preoccupied." She said with a sigh.
"If I play my cards right, these little girls are gonna be your nieces in the next couple of months, the least you can do is memorize their names." He said annoyed.
"They're cute." She said picking up the pictures.
"Hayley has lung trouble. They're trying to figure it out. You ever deal with an HMO?"
"If it's money, Russ, I can help." She offered.
"No. Forget it. If I'm gonna become these little girls daddy, I gotta man up for the job."
"That's not rational." Brennan said standing to answer the knock on the door.
"I'm a good mechanic. I'll take care of my own." He said smiling.
Brennan opens the door and booth walks in kissing her on the cheek. "I've got news."
"Russ is in the living room." She said leading the way.
Booth held up a file. "Gus Harper's - service history. Graduated top half of his class at Quantico. He was assigned the joint State/Federal Bank Robbery Task Force."
"And the victim?" Brennan asked.
"Back then he was Special Agent Delaney, he supervised Gus Harper."
"And the guy that was hunting me." Russ nodded.
"I also found this…"he said handing it to Brennan. "It's a list of the bank robber's with their FBI code names."
"…Dad's code name was Columbus." Brennan said stunned.
"You got Lewis, Clark, Magellan, Cook, and Columbus" Booth said showing pictures.
"All named after explorers." Brennan nodded.
"That's Mom and Dad." Russ said pointing to the last 2 photos.
"Every one of these people are deceased…" Booth said.
"Except for Dad." Brennan sighed.
"Delaney was killed to send a message to the FBI. This Columbus coin was found in the victim's mouth." He said putting it on the table.
"Columbus …shot a man in the head, hung him from a pole, gutted him and set him on fire. And Columbus… is our father." She said looking to Russ.
The next afternoon.
"I figured out a way to solve the case and get your job back." Brennan said standing.
"Wow. That would be great." He said looking at her.
"We need my father to give us the rest of the evidence he stole from that safety deposit box."
"Great …how are we gonna do that?"
"We talk to the father ask him what he knows. …I'll drive." She said remembering he didn't have a car.
A few hours later. They were back in her office after an uneventful visit to father coulter.
"Why are you mad at me?" Booth asked confused.
Brennan sighed. "I need a gun."
"No, you don't. You got me. I'm your gun. You want equipment, here" he said putting cuffs on the desk. "Have these, alright. New division of labor. I shoot 'em, you cuff 'em."
"Why didn't you tell me you had Father Coulter under surveillance?" she asked revealing why she was really mad.
"It is my job to find your dad and put him in prison." He said honestly.
"And you don't think I'll help?" she guessed offended.
"What? He's your father. I really don't think I should have to ask you to help." He said disbelievingly.
"He abandoned me, Booth. And that's the best thing you can say about him. He's my father?"
"Your father lives by a certain code, and part of that code is defending his family by whatever means necessary."
"You mean killing people and setting their corpses on fire." Brennan shot.
"Any means necessary sorta covers that." Booth nodded staying calm.
"You respect him?" she asked surprised
"I'm just saying, in his world, he's a very honorable man." He said with a sigh.
"That's ridiculous. There's only one world; it's this one." She said pacing.
"Would that be the one world where you're mad at me for trying to catch your father or the other world where you actually want him caught?"
"Neither." She shot back.
"Well, you have to pick one." He said playing by her rules.
"Either." She said unsure.
"Oh, mm-hmm." He said unconvinced.
"Both." She guessed.
"You don't even know why you're mad at me." He said laughing.
"So. …I found out my father is a murderer who kills to protect me. I don't have to be rational right now." She said dropping down on the couch next to him.
Caroline walked in "Here's your list of snipers from the decade of disco. This time, I'm advising you… Duck." She said walking back out.
"Anyone you know?" Brennan asked looking over his shoulder.
"Yeah. The ATF ref on the task force was a marine sniper, Robert Kirby."
"FBI Deputy Director, Robert Kirby? That just suspended you?" Brennan asked surprised.
"Call your brother, tell him to get out of the house. Tell him to get out, now." He said pacing now.
"Why? What's going on?" she asked dialing.
"Seconds after Caroline got this list, Kirby knew about it." He explained.
"He's not answering. I don't understand, Booth." She asked growing scared.
"It's not us that Kirby is afraid of, it's your father. The only way to strike at him, is to go through you or Russ. Kirby was the one that took a shot at Russ." Booth said anxiously.
"…No answer."
"Come on." He said walking out with Brennan right behind him.
Brennan's apartment, Booth kicks the door in and they begin searching for Kirby or Russ, gun drawn and ready.
"Russ." Brennan called.
"All right, just stay back." Booth said walking infront of her. "…There's no sign of a break-in. I'll check the back. Russ!" he said hesitating before walking the other way.
"Russ?" Brennan asked slowly walking around the couch. She saw a large pool of blood on the floor infront of her and her face fell. "Oh, my god. Booth?" she called.
"What?" he asked walking over to her.
"Russ." She said scared
"We don't know that for sure." He said trying to reassure her.
"That's too much blood. Nobody could survive tha- that much blood loss. Nobody." She said falling into him and holding him tight.
"Alright. Okay. It's alright. Shhh" he said calmingly.
Back at the lab. Outside the autopsy room.
"Results?" Booth asked hopefully.
"The blood's not Russ's." Cam said confidently.
"See, even you can't do a DNA test that fast."
"Didn't have to. Both Brennan and her brother are O type blood, as was their mother. The blood sample you brought me, was AB – therefore…"
"Okay, let's go tell Bones." He said mildly relieved.
"I just saw her. She's on the way to see the priest." She said stopping him.
"Why?" he asked confused.
"He said he had something for her." Cam explained.
"No, she can't be going places without me. Not when it's open season on Brennan's." he said walking away as his phone rang. "Bones?" he asked hopefully.
"Not even close, Cherie. We need to talk." Caroline said seriously.
"Well, first, I want to tell you that your brother, is uh, with his father." Father coulter told Brennan.
"You mean….with God?" Brennan asked confused.
"No, his earthly father. Your father." He corrected.
"Are you certain?"
"Saw it with my own eyes." He nodded.
"Oh, thank god – which I use only as a figure of speech." She said relieved.
"Well, I mean, you have to start somewhere. You know, you're – you're very much like him." The father said as they entered the garden.
"I'm …nothing like my father."
"Black and white, the two of you. You always saw the world in black and white. Your mother wasn't like that, either is Russell."
"What's wrong?" Booth asked Caroline.
"Father Coulter is 90 years old, confined to bed with Alzheimer's at a convalescent home out there at the seminary… which does not much sound like the priest you told me about."
"Oh my god." Booth said realizing who father coulter really was.
Brennan finally realizing who Father Coulter was. "Hair color…plastic surgery…colored contact lenses, chin and cheek implants…fifteen years older. Still…I should have seen it." She said sitting next to him on the bench.
"Russ knew it was you all along?" Brennan asked looking to him.
"Yeah." Max nodded.
"You talk to Russ, but not to me?"
"You know. To tell you the truth, you do… you do better without me and Russ does worse. Take this." He said handing her his bible. "We're gonna play this your way. Please."
Brennan flipped through the book. "This is Gus Harpers journal."
"There's a key there that's to a safety deposit box. In that safety deposit box, is all the evidence."
"Why didn't you give it to them? Back in 1978." She asked confused.
"Because your mother took one look at it and said 'If you turn this over to them, they will kill us. And our kids.'" Max explained.
"They got Mom anyway." Brennan sighed.
"Yeah, there's not a day that goes by that my heart is not broken." He agreed looking into her eyes as Russ pulled up in a truck
"Dad! Come on." Russ called from the truck.
"I gotta go." Max said standing.
"Wait. I can't let you go." Brennan said hugging him.
"Oh, I love you too." He said hugging her tightly.
"No. I mean I can't let you go." She said kicking him and he falls to the ground. "I'm sorry."
"Ooh. I must be getting old. I let you get the drop on me." He said getting up.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just can't let you get away" she said holding him and getting the handcuffs out. But Max reversed her hold and cuffed her to the bench.
"I'm sorry. Listen to me. If you find somebody that you can trust, you hang on to 'em. Remember that." He said kissing her on the forehead.
"Dad! Let's go!" Russ called again.
"I'm proud of you, I love you." He said walking away, leaving her again as Booth arrived in Caroline's car.
"You take care of her." He called to Booth
"FBI. Stop or I'll shoot." He called pulling his gun.
"Booth." Brennan called and he hesitated but ran to her unlocking her as they got away, but not before backing into Caroline's car.
"Oh man not the car." Booth sighed.
Brennan sat down on the bench feeling defeated and Booth sits next to her and put his arm around her. "You okay?" he asked holding her tightly.
They got another call that night. A body was burned on the same rooftop.
"It's Kirby." Booth said certain. Brennan nodded. "No one's gonna come after you now."
She nodded again. "I know."
"Let's go get a drink" Booth suggested.
Brennan pulled off her gloves with another nod. "Good idea"
An hour later they were seated at Wong Fu's working on their third drink.
Brennan laughed. "What are we doing here Seeley?"
"Drinking." He suggested smiling.
"No. …not that. …me and you." She said kissing him lightly. "We've spent the past month at either at your place or mine."
"A couple changes of clothes at each other's place." He pointed out.
Brennan gasped laughing. "…Seeley… are we dating?"
He laughed nodding. "I'd say so."
"Hmm… how did that happen?" she asked kissing him.
"By you doing that." He said smiling and kissing her again.
"Oh… right" she said pulling him back in.
"Hey, hey, hey. None of that in here." Sid said placing food infront of them.
"Sorry Sid." Brennan apologized taking a bite.
"Yeah you better be. I don't wanna see that." He said giving them a look.
"Suffering from lack of laid syndrome, Sid?" Booth asked smiling.
"That obvious huh?"
"nah." Booth laughed.
"So since when are you two all kissy kissy?" he asked leaning on the counter.
"Depends on the day." Brennan said sipping her drink.
"I'm confused."
"It's…complicated" Booth said with a sigh unable to explain it.
"... I see how it is" he said smiling.
"It's not like that" Booth shook his head.
"Like what?" Brennan asked curiously.
"Get drunk, have sex whenever it suits." Booth explained. "…come to think of it it's not so far off" She laughed. "How 'bout another round Sid?"
"Last one." He said pouring. "Then you two are gonna go back to your place and have crazy, semi-illegal, hot monkey sex. Understood?" he asked handing them their drinks. Then pouring one of his own.
They laughed. "Deal." They clinked glasses and Sid walked away.
"Come on." Brennan said taking his hand. "Let's go."
Booth smiled being led out and they hailed a cab.