Kate was wandering. Just wandering. Wandering through the shadowed memories deep in her mind. She was enjoying the peace and solitude of the first night of true, deep sleep she had gotten in far too long. Then she heard them.

The shadows are restless...rarely do they invade the realms of my dreams. What could it be? What has The Watcher done? He can't have gotten to Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth...they're locked in this apartment with me. Can't be him...can't be...

Suddenly, a mournful howl broke her train of thought, bringing her crashing to full consciousness with a gasp and a yell.

"Raaaafe!" Her eyes snapped open, and she found the Rottweiler's huge head less than three inches from her face. The mortal terror that flashed through his amber eyes sent her heart rate from forty beats a minute to over one-sixty in less than a second. She knew instantly, without a doubt, that her two charges, the two people she had sworn to defend to the death, were in danger.

They left! They left and they're alone and The Watcher knows it! DAMN IT!

The one hundred-forty pound soldier launched herself from the bed and hit the ground running, not even stopping to open the door. With Rafe on her heels, she crashed through the bedroom door, barely hesitating long enough to open the apartment door before she tore down the hall, her mind in a frenzy.

He can't win! He can't! I swore that Tobi was his last victim, the last person he would take that I care for. Never again, Watcher! Never again!

XXXXX

The body was already at the Jeffersonian, ready and waiting for Booth and Brennan. They got out of Booth's Toyota, slamming the doors and heading inside, side by side, perfectly in stride. But the silence between them was tense.

Booth looked over at Brennan, wondering what she was thinking.

I wish, for once, that I could actually read her mind and not just hear her thoughts when she isn't shielding them, he thought ruefully as they walked through the doors and headed towards the platform. Angela, Cam, and Hodgins were already there, as were three or four of the 'squinterns', as Booth called them.

"What do we have here?" Booth called as Brennan swiped her card and they both mounted the platform.

"One hell of a problem." An unfamiliar voice called from behind them.

As one, Booth and Brennan turned, the big FBI agent moving instantly to place himself in front of the anthropologist in an unconscious defensive maneuver.

They were staring straight at a man that they had never seen before but identified instantly and without question. The fact that he was pointing an AK-47 at them certainly narrowed it down.

No one said anything. The silence was deafening, and filled with the nearly electric current of sheer animal terror that erupted the second the man entered the room.

He grinned, but there was no humor in the smile. It just made him look that much more dangerous.

"FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan. What a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. I believe you know an old friend of mine. She's known as The Guardian by some...perhaps to you as well. If not, you will know her as Sergeant Kate Bell, United States Army."

It was Booth that spoke, his brown eyes glittering with something akin to rage, or insanity, or perhaps both. "She's not your friend...Watcher."

Despite his fury, a chill went through Booth at the reptilian coldness of the man's eyes, which had no color. No life. No soul.

The Watcher's flat black eyes reflected no light as he chuckled, the sound so blood-curdling that intern Daisy Wick fainted dead away on the platform.

"So you've heard of me. I suppose Kate has told you quite a lot about me. She is an honest one, so it's all true. Aaahhh, I was looking forward to killing you with her present, just to prolong her suffering, but I suppose this will have to do."

Booth cut in with a cold snarl, his eyes showing no fear as he barked, "You don't have the right to say her name. And trust me, no matter what you do now, she will get you, and she will kill you. And you will suffer...every...step...of...the...way."

The last five words were gritted out from between Booth's teeth. It was all he could do to keep from hurling himself at the man, no matter how dangerous he was.

The Watcher smiled, an odd sheen entering his eyes as he said calmly, "Time to die."

Right as he pulled the trigger, a roar split through the air, the raw fury in it making everyone hit the deck without question. "Watcheeeerr!"

There was another gunshot, a thud, a grunt, and a cry. And then everything went strangely still as silence fell.

And blood started pooling on the floor.