A/N: I am so sorry that this update took such a long time! I had some family issues I needed to take care of, but they are since resolved, so the rest of the updates should be on a much more regular basis! Thanks for your patience! Giant hugs to everyone

Disclaimer: None of it's mine!

Booth squared his shoulders as the knob turned. Brennan held her breath. They both stood anxiously as the man stepped across the threshold.

His face smiled. White teeth gleamed against a slightly tan complexion. The corners of his mouth turned up, smile lines creasing the corners of his eyes. He seemed normal, happy even, until the rooms occupants looked closer. Then they saw the eyes. Dark pools of brown without any gleam of life- empty, flat, with nothing left to live for. The man may have been flesh and blood, but his eyes seemed soulless.

"Good evening Agent Booth." The man checked his watch. "Or should I say good morning?"

Staring into the face of a madman, Booth knew his options were limited. The man before him was calm, controlled, organized, with revenge on his mind. All these things meant that throwing him off balance would prove challenging, if not impossible.

"Hello Jarrod. How does it feel to be back from the dead?" Booth inquired curtly.

The man chuckled eerily, the sound reverberating off the walls. "So nice of you to remember me, Agent Booth. I was afraid you'd have forgotten about me and Madeline."

Brennan stood silently watching the byplay between the two men. She didn't understand the reference to Madeline, or how they seemed to know each other. In the past she'd never hesitated to speak up, interject the conversation or interrogation with questions, but this situation seemed different. This felt like shaky ground which could crumble beneath their feet at the slightest misstep, so she remained quiet, allowing Booth to unravel the man's demons.

"I've never forgotten your daughter. Never. I remember her everyday," Booth informed Jarrod, pain evident in every word spoken. "You don't think I regret that night? That I don't go through that scenario again and again in my mind? Do you honestly believe that I absolved myself from all responsibility?"

Instinctively Brennan moved towards him, wrapping her fingers around his, wanting to soothe him in whatever way she could.

Jarrod laughed harshly. "How sweet. Look at how willingly she comes to your aid, not knowing the true nature of your spirit. How you let little girls die rather than do what your badge demands, protect them! Shall we tell her the story now?"

Incensed, Brennan's grip on Booth's hand tightened. Forgetting her resolution to keep quiet she spat, "He would never hurt a child, ever! You know nothing about him! Nothing!"

Booth turned, surprised at her immediate defense. He would've told her so, but the glint of pale light off an Anschutz bolt-action rifle that Jarrod removed from under his jacket froze him in place.

Booth knew the kind of firearm personally. It had a two pound trigger which could go off at the slightest motion; a sneeze could set it off if handled improperly. It was something only experts carried because of the risk of accidental discharge; seeing it made Booth's blood run cold.

"Let's not do anything foolish now, alright folks? I've put painstaking thought into the groundwork for this event, it wouldn't do to mess any of that up. So no sudden attempts at heroics?" Jarrod met Booth's gaze, locking their eyes. "As you probably remember I too was in the armed forces- Navy."

Booth gave a brief nod in understanding. The night of his daughter's death he had engaged Jarrod in conversation to distract the man while they waited for the equipment to arrive. He'd learned that Jarrod Pouerston was an ex-Navy Seal who'd retired to become a family man after the adoption of his daughter. The man was almost as good of an assassin and soldier as Booth himself, which meant he could kill either of his captives in a matter of seconds.

Glad that his point had been made Jarrod settled onto the sofa motioning for Brennan and Booth to do the same. "You might as well get comfortable. We have a small bit of time before we depart," he informed the two.

Unable to resist, Brennan finally gave into the urge to question the man. "Why aren't we tied up? Aren't you afraid that we could overpower you, escape?"

Jarrod smiled, than chuckled. "That won't happen. You see there are two of you, which means that if one of you rushes me the other is left exposed, or if you both rush me, both of you are vulnerable to injury. I happen to know for a fact that Agent Booth here would never risk your pretty-little-head for any such plan. As for how I could take either or both of you out? Why don't you ask your partner here?"

Jarrod and Brennan both turned expectant eyes towards Booth. He gave a rough sigh. "Because Bones, he's an ex-Navy seal, special ops trained. He could kill us both in the time it took us to reach him, besides which, if I'm not mistaken, he's got this building rigged to make sure that even if we did succeed in taking him out we wouldn't get out alive."

Brennan's eyes widened. She'd been uneasy since she'd been kidnapped, but now terror tinged with panic flooded her body. "Booth?" she asked uncertainly.

"It's fine Bones, just sit down for a minute." Booth helped her slide to the floor. "Take a few deep breaths. Angela and Hodgins will find us, and let's not forget Zack. We're gonna get through this."

Stilted applause from Jarrod caught both their attentions. "That was so touching; attempting to make her feel more secure while she awaits her death, such a noble gesture."

Anger shimmied down Booth's spine. "Stop tormenting her," he ground out between tight lips.

"Torment her? Agent Booth I was merely telling her the truth. I do intend on killing her within the next," he peeked at his watch, "half-hour. The 'team' you speak of is off chasing down Madeline's birth father. They have no idea where you two are, and even if they did suspect where you are the 'who' in this case hasn't even registered in their small minds. They believe I'm dead because the information tells them so; they don't have the imagination to even dream up a plot where the 'dead' father could be the mastermind behind all of this. You two are well and truly alone."

Brennan shifted closer to Booth, drawing comfort from the heat radiating off his body. She could tell by the way Booth's body stiffened that everything Jarrod had poured out into the open was true. They were alone, left to their own devices against a madman who believed Booth responsible for the death of Madeline.

Wrapping an arm around Brennan's shoulders Booth drew her closer, wishing he could shield her from the taunting of a lunatic. Booth didn't have a plan, he didn't have an out.

Standing, Jarrod quickly slipped out the door he'd entered without so much as a word to his captives. Brennan noticed he didn't turn the lock after his departure.

"Booth now's out chance! We can try and slip out before he gets back," she excitedly tried to stand up, but Booth's strong hands pulled her back down.

"No, we can't. You remember what I said about ex-Navy Seal? He's got this place rigged from top to bottom. He doesn't need to tie us up, or lock the door, because we make one false move and we're dead," Booth explained gently.

Brennan glanced around. "How can you be sure? I mean maybe he's just psyching us out, trying to make us think that--"

"Bones he's not lying," Booth interrupted. "Listen to me. I was in the army, I know the kind of capabilities this guy has. He's desperate with nothing to lose, that makes him more dangerous than most criminals and you know it."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here waiting for him to return?" Brennan leaned into the wall, now more irritated than scared. She didn't like not having the upper hand in any situation.

Booth cracked his knuckles. "There's something I need to tell you before it might be too late."

"You said we're going to get out of this and we will," Brennan corrected. "So whatever you have to say can wait."

Stifling a smile Booth continued, "It can't wait. It needs to be said regardless of whatever happens in the next hour. Just promise me you'll listen without interruption, okay?"

Brennan shrugged, hoping he was going to explain his connection to the man he called Jarrod, along with the girl Madeline. "I never interrupt, but sure go ahead, as long as we can figure a way out of this mess as soon as you're done!"

"Deal," Booth replied solemnly. He didn't have the heart to tell her that getting out of this situation wasn't like the other close calls they'd had, it was deadlier than anything they'd faced together; it was why he needed to speak to her now, before it was too late.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Zack stared at the file before him, blinking every so often, only to continue staring.

Irritated Hodgins tossed down his pen. "Could you help out a little more and daydream a little less! Damn Zack we're against a clock here, Booth's now missing too, and all you can do is stare at the same--"

"Hey!" Angela frowned at Hodgins. "We're all stressed, but taking it out on each other isn't going to help!"

Slumping his shoulder in fatigue Hodgins glanced at Zack. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Oblivious to the tension in the room Zack smiled. "I think I've got something!" He skimmed a few notes before continuing. "It says here that since the car was identified as being owned by Mr. Pouerston, along with charred skeletal remains matching his height, body type description, it was assumed it was Mr. Pouerston who died in the crash, but they never did a dental record analysis."

"What?" Hodgins frowned. "I thought dental recognitions were mandatory in cases where the body is severely maimed in Maryland and D.C."

Angela nodded. "Right, they are. So why wasn't one done on Mr. Pouerston?"

Zack gestured excitedly. "Because he didn't die anywhere around here, his accident occurred in Wise County, Virginia where they have no such laws governing body identification."

"Alright, but what does that have to do with what we're working on?" Angela asked, glancing at Hodgins to see if she missed something important, he simply shrugged.

"Let me finish," Zack told them. "The same night as Mr. Pouerston's accident a man from Wise County went missing. He fits the same general height, weight, body structure description as Mr. Pouerston."

Hodgins stared at Zack incredulously. "Wait, you mean you think that the man in Pouerston's car when it crashed may not have been Pouerston?"

"That he kidnapped some random guy to fake his own death?" Angela raised her eyebrows. "I don't know Zack, what reason would he have for that?"

Frustrated Zack scribbled some notes on the board. "Look, the man who disappeared that night was never found. No trace of him, no sightings, nothing. There hasn't been any activity on Pouerston's social security number, or the man who went missing since that night."

Angela played devil's advocate. "Maybe it's just an odd coincidence."

"Is it also a coincidence that, although there were no reported sightings on the man who disappeared, there were sightings of a stranger in town matching Pouerston's description after the crash occurred, for about the next forty-eight hours," Zack replied.

Hodgins nodded. "I think I'm beginning to see where you're going with this theory. Pouerston loses his daughter, and then loses his wife in a bitter divorce because they can't handle the loss of their daughter. He desperately wants revenge, but wants to fly under the radar in order to achieve it, so he fakes his death so that nobody will look for, or suspect him."

"You two are taking lots of thing for granted here," Angela reminded them. "Like the fact that we can't prove it wasn't Pouerston in that car crash."

"Come on Angela, think about it! It fits, especially with the information we received a little while ago about the little girl's birth father having lived in Australia for the past two years without a single trip back to the States," Hodgins reminded her.

Looking from Zack to Hodgins, Angela knew she was outnumbered. "Okay, let's get any and all information we can on Pouerston and go from there. I guess we also have to see about getting Pouerston's body exhumed so we can compare dental records."

Hodgins smiled, squeezing her arm in support. "Let's get to work."

Angela nodded; giving what she hoped was a confident smile. Before picking up the phone she offered up a silent plea that this long shot would pay off; that they wouldn't be too late in their efforts. A look at the wall clock revealed that it was 4a.m., sunrise was rapidly approaching.