Brennan was almost asleep when the muffled sound of a gunshot reverberated through the hotel room. It echoed off the walls and slammed into her manically beating heart. Booth. She threw herself out of bed. Could he have hurt himself? Would he? She knew he had been set on sacrificing himself for the sake of his family. Had their disagreement sparked him into taking matters into his own hands? No. He doesn't even have his weapon. So far as she knew it hadn't been in his possession since she'd found him fighting for his life in the death pit. He'd signed himself out of the hospital before the bureau could have properly outfitted him once again.

She flung the door to the room open as thunder shook the ground and a soaking rain fell from the heavens. She ran barefoot through the forming sludge down the street. Red tail lights shone through the darkness like two glowing eyes. As she drew closer she could see the vehicle was a bright lemon color, and very obviously judging by its frame a sports car. Two black racing stripes ran across the length of the trunk. The back door on the passenger side was ajar. Just as she grew near enough to get a good glimpse at its occupants the door slammed shut. With squealing tires it kicked up mud and raced off into the night.

Brennan was a runner, but she was no match. She was left behind in a cloud of exhaust fumes. Tire tracks were left behind in the mud. Just besides where they began were a set of footprints. A smear streaked off of the road sideways into the grass. There though it was rapidly being washed away by the rain, Brennan spotted a few spots of blood. They shot him, and abducted him. Again. As disheartened as she was, she was also encouraged. Mere splotches of blood meant there was a possibility that Booth was still alive. The car was distinct enough that unless his captors thought to ditch it she could call in a description to the local police and easily have it located.

She turned around and went back the way she had come. She burst back into the room. Her phone had been set upon the bedside table hours ago. Her movements were so frantic that in reaching for it, it slipped from her grasp down into the dislodged drawer just underneath the tabletop. "I don't have time for this," she mumbled, inserting her fingers in between the narrow space. With all of her might she tugged until the track inside gave way. Backwards she fell, the drawer flying from the frame and landing upside down on the floor. She was swift in righting herself, and tossing the drawer aside to retrieve her phone. Only to her surprise two phones were awaiting her. One was hers, naturally. The other was Booth's.

We could have used this to trace his coordinates, she frowned sadly. But then another idea came to her. Could his mysterious accomplice be a savior in disguise? She flipped through his phone's "recent calls" list to see whom he had been talking to. The name listed turned her blood cold. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Booth's confident had been no other but his own brother.

"Seeley, quit acting so full of pride. Just say what they want you to say. I know you have it memorized. They've beaten it into you."

Booth found himself barely able to look Jared in the face. He may have been weak but his anger was feeding fuel into the fire. "What's it matter? They're going to kill me, anyway."

"I promise I'll keep you protected. But you've gotta be willing to give."

He finally raised his eyes to him. "Is that how you got here?"

Jared sneered. "I made some mistakes, Seeley. I'm trapped in here now. But you… this wasn't supposed to happen. You weren't supposed to be here. You know that."

"Yeah well, I guess your group had other plans for me."

The door to his cell opened with a loud metallic clang. Jared leapt away from Booth, rising up onto his feet. The mastermind of the group trumped in. "Fraternizing with the prisoner, Jared?"

"Trying to convince him to come to his senses."

The man smirked. "Sounds to me like he'd rather die. It makes no difference either way to me." In the blink of an eye the man had the sharp edge of a knife touching the skin under Booth's chin. "However, I'm stubborn. I'm not ready to give up on him just yet."

Brennan was holding onto her composure by a sliver thin strand. Sitting in a booth in a twenty four hour diner not all that far from her hotel, she was gripping her coffee cup as though she could absorb the heat into her body through osmosis. She'd purposefully sat by one of the floor to ceiling windows that looked on out into the parking lot. Being seated here meant she'd see him long before he'd see her. One of the gifts Booth had given her was to teach her some basic signs of body language; specifically, what they meant. She wanted to catch him, to see what he was like when he assumed no one was looking.

She'd called Jared right away from Booth's phone. He hadn't feigned his surprise over hearing her and not Booth over the line. At her request to meet he'd tried to refuse before she'd insisted upon it. "It's about Booth," she snapped. "You need to meet with me immediately."

Her thoughts alternated now between rage and fear. What was Jared's role in this? Was he the reason for Booth's continued silence? For his ignorance towards the FBI? And for that matter, what had happened to Booth? Had he been killed? Was he in pain? Was he in a remote location bleeding out? The last thought sent chills up her spine. Booth was too smart and too strong to be taken down so easily. But then again they'd gotten to him before.

She was so lost within herself she missed Jared's entrance. He slid into the seat opposite from her. Looking him over she couldn't see any indications that he was aware of what had happened. Well, he was about to.

"It's good to see you, Tempe."

"Stop." She snipped back at him. "I want you to tell me where Booth is. I know you know."

His face went blank. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do! I know you're involved with this… this group, that initially abducted him. I know he was considering turning himself over to them to keep us safe. I know all this because I heard him on the phone - with you! The fact that you were nearby when I called you is only further evidence of your involvement. A few hours ago I was laying in our hotel room when I heard a shot. I arrived outside just in time to see him get abducted for a second time. I have to find him. Now tell me what you know! This is your fault!" She slammed her fist down against the table top, drawing curious stares from other patrons.

Obviously Jared saw there was no talking his way out of this one. He sighed, and lowered his voice. "I told him not to get involved. I warned him. I told him to turn away-"

"Where. Is. He?"

"If I had to guess… they're taking him back to their compound in New Mexico. I don't know that for sure. But as far as I know they don't have any other locations or allies. They're an extremist group. They believe in working alone." Her cold eyes were clearly unsettling him. "Look Tempe, I didn't want to get involved in this, either. I don't know how it happened. But now I'm in so deep-"

"You were expecting Booth to pull you out. And as usual, he's the one who takes the fall." She sprung up to her feet.

"I told him-"

"And you really believed he'd leave you in distress? Despite the way you've treated him… has he ever left you to fend for yourself? That's been his trouble from the beginning. You've never deserved him. He lied to the FBI for you! Since you haven't been there to help him it's up to me now. And I will find him. Dead or alive," she swallowed a hard lump that had formed in her throat. "I'll find him."

"Then I think you need to be prepared. These guys don't play around, Tempe. If you heard a shot… you may already be too late."

"And if you believe that, you obviously don't know him at all." She spun on her heel and stalked out of the diner.

It was time to go back to the desert.

Booth had had no idea what had hit him. It seemed one minute he'd been conversing with Brennan through his computer and the next he'd been flat out on the floor with a stun gun being pressed down in the area between his shoulder blades, sending shocks up and down his spine. The static snap of electricity hadn't been powerful enough to knock him out. But it had been enough to leave him completely incapacitated. He hadn't suffered his first head injury until just before they were set to leave. He'd never saw the butt of his gun swinging towards him until it was too late.

After his confrontation with whom he perceived to be the "leader" of the group, they'd dropped him into a concrete cell without so much as a bed. He had no idea where he was. He couldn't think of a way to send a message to anyone letting them know of the trouble he was in. He had no doubt in his mind that Brennan would be looking for him. But who would be able to assist her?

How would anyone ever find him in time?