Chapter Twelve
Temperance watched in fear as the man approached her, with the knife in his hand. She tried to fight back, but the pain of the contractions was almost constant now, and she knew the baby would not come without what the man planned to do to her. His task would save the baby's life, but not hers. She decided to try to reason with the man, to save the baby. She conceded herself to her fate.
"What's your name?" Her eyes were wide and filled with pain, but she questioned the man who had now knelt beside her.
"You don't need to know my name." He cut open her shirt revealing her engorged stomach that was wrinkling with the nearly constant contractions. She had to keep him talking,
"Okay, I understand that you have to kill me, but can you promise to save the baby?" He looked intrigued. She continued though her voice was scratchy and barely audible; the tough labour had taken a lot out of her.
She killed a few minutes explaining how to tie off the cord and cut it so the baby wouldn't bleed to death. The survival of her and Booth's child was her only goal now. She told him to wrap the baby in her shirt so that it didn't get cold. He nodded agreement. His knife flashed in the light, and temporarily distracted him. He was further distracted when the radio he had set on the floor crackled, and they both heard Gus yell,
"Get out of there Billy, we've got company. FBI crew bearing down. They'll be there in less than five. Get out Get out Get out!"
Billy plunged the knife into her upper abdomen and she screamed as loud as her strained voice could, hoping that Booth would hear her. At first that's why she screamed, but shortly after that, the pain dulled her conscious thoughts and she screamed in agony.
The knife was raked across her swollen abdomen, and blood poured out, it was coming fast. Her vision blurred and for a second she stopped screaming. She heard a gun fire and then a loud bang. She heard footsteps on the ceiling above her and she tried to scream again, but she was getting very weak, her voice was hoarse. She blacked out momentarily, but was awoken by the sound of her baby crying. It lived. That's all that mattered for now.
Billy wrapped the infant in her shirt that he had cut completely off her, and ran for the door. As he approached it, he heard someone trying the handle, and he turned and ran the other direction as fast as he could. The baby cried. He heard a man yell something, and as he fled out the back door, he heard the front door crash open. The door slammed behind him, and he ran up the stairs to the south door of the warehouse, and got into the helicopter where his brother waited for him. It took off and the brothers smiled at each other. They had done it.
When the door crashed open, Temperance tried to focus her eyes on the man approaching her. She started to recognize him as her Booth. She raised her hand towards him and couldn't help but notice that her hand was covered in blood. She heard him say,
"Tempe honey, talk to me."
"Booth... He took the baby." She was having a hard time staying conscious, but she noticed that her husband took her hand and held it tightly.
"Just hold on, help is here." Her eyes were growing dark and she faded in and out of consciousness.
She woke up briefly as she was being loaded into the ambulance. She saw Booth, standing outside the doors, and wondered why he looked so sad. He had found her. She knew he wouldn't stop looking, and then she faded in to black.
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Booth watched the Doctor approach him and he tried to read his face, but the Doctor gave nothing away.
"Agent Booth, My name is Doctor Weaver and I am in charge of your wife." The doctor shook the hand of the tall FBI agent, and he noticed that the man's hands were trembling.
"How is she...is she okay?" Booth looked at the Doctor with his worried eyes. The Doctor took a deep breath.
"Your wife had lost a tremendous amount of blood, and we are prepping her for surgery right now. There seems to be a major tear in the placenta, it was ripped out of her quite viciously." He felt he could be honest with this man. He saw Booth's eyes close tightly, trying to back the tears up, but all it did was push them out.
"If we can't stop the bleeding, we may have to do a full removal of the uterus." Doctor Weaver made sure that Booth fully grasped this concept. It seemed he did, because pain flashed across his features.
"Do whatever you have to do to save her life. Do it NOW!" The Doctor jumped back, and turned with a nod of his head towards where he was treating Temperance. Booth had finally released a little more of his pent up anger.
That child out there somewhere might be the only one they would ever have. He found the two FBI officers, who had been charged with the task of keeping him informed of the situation with the helicopter crash. No one had found the body of any baby yet, only the pilot. The wreckage was still burning.
Booth approached the front desk and left his cell phone number with the nurse to call him if any news came down about his wife. She smiled at him with sympathy and made the promise. She watched the man walk away, wondering what his story was. He seemed very intense.
Booth told his two escorts to lead him to the crash site. He had to do something. He couldn't just stand there and wait. He had to find his child. He did not believe the baby was dead.
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Seeley saw the smoke before he saw the wreckage. He got out of his vehicle and flashed his badge at the patrolman guarding the perimeter. The young man knew who he was, and looked down as Booth went under the tape and walked further into the crime scene. He hoped they would not find the body of the baby. Agent Booth had always seemed so nice to him.
Booth found a familiar face, working over the blackened remains of a body, still strapped to the pilot's seat. He asked Cam what she knew so far, she looked at him in shock,
"Seeley...you should not be here. This one is way too close to home, don't you think? We can examine the remains. You should be with your wife. How is Doctor Brennan by the way?" The coroner looked at Booth's face and saw his eyes harden a little bit.
"She's in critical condition, and she's in surgery right now. There's nothing I can do there, but maybe here I can help." He seemed in control of himself, so she directed him over to officers who were interviewing witnesses. Before he turned away she said to him,
"Seeley, I'm so sorry. I'll pray for everything to be alright."
Their eyes connected for just a moment, and Booth nodded at her with a furrowed brow. Boy did he hope so.
The next hours were passed by him and the rest of the FBI crew scouring the wreckage for evidence that their baby was in the crash. They had found no remains, except for the pilot, but they had found another body not far away, across a parking lot. The man had been shot three times in the head at point blank range, but was also covered in someone else's blood. Cam was doing a quick test on the blood. She told him there was evidence of amniotic fluid on the man's clothes. This was the first actual evidence that the baby might not have been on the helicopter when it crashed. Booth knew it all along. He noticed a set of tire tracks leaving the scene from where the body lay. He called a team over to collect evidence so they could find make and model of the getaway car.
His phone rang and his heart jumped into his throat. He didn't recognize the number and he answered with a cautious hello.
The voice on the other line told him,
"A couple just walked into a private hanger at the international airport matching the description of Gus Clark and his wife, they had a very small baby with them. I suggest you get there now, they're preparing a plane for take-off!" Booth could tell the person on the other end of the line was trying to disguise his voice.
"Who is this?"
"Someone who has connection with people of the criminal persuasion. Someone who has made friends with these said criminals in case one ever needs to make a quick getaway."
"Max?" Booth caught on very quickly to the implications of the man speaking on the phone.
"Yeah...it's me Booth, just get over there now," he paused briefly, "How's my daughter?"
Booth had so many questions for his father-in-law, but he decided that now wasn't the best time.
"She's really bad Max, I don't know if she's going to make it. Can you meet me at the hangar, I could use some backup." Seeley heard Max saying something about having the entire FBI behind him, but Booth just hung up the phone, and quietly left the scene.
When he was in the vehicle, he turned on his siren and flashers and raced at crazy speeds to the airport. If that plane took off, he would never find their baby.
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Booth pulled up outside the hangar after flashing his badge to the security guard who was manning the entrance gate. Before he could get out of the vehicle, Max's head popped in the window. Booth reached into his glove compartment and pulled out a thirty-eight calibre pistol and handed it Max, who accepted it readily.
"How did you get here so fast Max? I thought I was driving fast."
The older man just looked at him with a straight face.
"You don't stay hidden for fifteen years without making a few contacts along the way that would be willing to do anything for you." Booth looked over Max's shoulder and saw a bright red porche driving away at a very fast pace. He looked back at his wife's father and said,
"Okay Max, here's the story, he's crazy, she's crazier and they have my baby with them. Shoot to kill, but don't take a shot unless you have a clear one. Got it?" The older man nodded, "And if anyone in the FBI asks, you beat me up and stole that gun."
"I beat you up?" Max started to joke but Booth gave him a look that said, don't try it.
The two men went around the back of the building and entered quietly through an unlocked door into the hangar. They still had the surprise factor in their favour. Booth saw the white head first, Gus and his wife were sitting with their backs to him, and he motioned for Max to stay behind him. He heard the baby's whimpers from under the blanket that the woman held close to her chest. His child was so close. He paused about twenty feet behind them and pointed his gun at her. Max continued out of their line of site to approach them from the front. To surround them. Booth waited until he was in position, and said in a loud but calm voice,
"FBI! Put your hands up!"
Both heads turned towards him, and the woman reached under the blanket, pulled out a silver pistol and fired at Booth. She missed, and he took aim at her and fired. It hit her right between the eyes, and she fell off the chair backwards, the baby landing on her chest.
Gus just sat there shocked. He finally looked at Booth and said,
"I guess that's what I get for letting her hold the gun and the baby. That was dumb." The man with the white hair slowly raised his arms in defence, and Max stepped behind him and pointed his gun to the back of the man's head. Max looked at Booth and said,
"Get the baby and get the hell out of here Booth, this is now between me and the man who did this to us all."
Booth was approaching the fallen woman while Max was talking. He saw a tiny arm fly out from the blankets, and his heart stopped. The baby was wrapped in blue blanket and he saw the tiny blue-wrapped head poking through. It was a boy. He and Temperance had a son. Tears came to his eyes. He picked the baby up tenderly and held him to his chest.
"Hey there little man. I'm so happy to meet you." He looked up at Max, who also had a tender look on his face, but his eyes were slightly cold, as he continued to hold the gun to the man's head.
"Seriously Booth, get out of here. This is between me and Gus."
Seeley, with his son in his arms started to walk away, but he turned around one last time to convince Max.
"If you shoot an unarmed man in the back....I can't protect you. The FBI will come after you."
"I don't care Booth. You just have to protect my grandson there, and take him to his mother. Tell Tempe I love her, and I will see you all soon."
The man on his knees spoke up at that moment,
"I suggest that you take his advice Agent Booth. I just set a timer on the explosive device in my bag, and you have about a minute to get out of here."
Seeley could tell it was no lie; he turned around and ran as fast as he could out of the hangar. As the door swung shut behind him he heard a gunshot and as he and the baby jumped into his vehicle the hangar exploded. Pieces of debris hit the windshield, and he sheltered his son with his own body. When the noise stopped, he looked over the baby quickly and then himself. They were both fine. The baby didn't even cry.
He took the first real look at his son, and noticed in passing that he bore a striking resemblance to his mother. That was a good thing. He also noticed in passing that the baby was most definitely a boy. Who knew what those crazies had done to fool him.
"Now, let's go meet your mom, okay bud!" Booth hoped more than anything that she was still there to meet. She had to be. He wrapped the baby tightly in the blanket and drove with one hand to the hospital, his other hand holding the baby tightly to his chest. Very slowly, and very carefully. Very protectively.
When he arrived at the hospital, the baby was snatched out of his hands by Doctors and nurses who needed to examine him, to make sure he was okay, considering the events of his short life thus far.
While his son was being weighed and measured and checked over, Booth hovered. He wasn't going to let this boy out of sight. Possibly ever. Doctor Weaver found him as the baby was being washed. Seeley was proud as his son never shed a tear at the process.
"Ha haa. That's my boy! Loves his baths!" The proud new father turned around with a smile, until he saw Doctor Weaver standing there. His smile faded.
"Agent Booth, will you come with me?"
"Ah...no. You see, I went through a lot today to get our son back, and I am not letting him out of my sight. Just tell me whatever it is you have to tell me." Booth stood with his hands on his hips. He wasn't budging.
"Well, your wife came through the surgery alive, but she did lose a lot of blood. I am afraid we weren't able to save her uterus, there was too much damage. She was haemorrhaging badly from her internal cavity, never mind the cut across her outer abdomen. We saved what we could, and the bleeding is under control. She's still out of it from the anaesthesia, but we think she will recover in time providing there's no infection or other complications. She's a very lucky woman. If you had been even five minutes longer in getting to her, she would have bled out. She would have died."
The doctor saw the man's eyes close at the thought. He turned back to the baby, and pressed his head against the glass wall, the only thing blocking him from his son. Doctor Weaver patted the man on the back and said,
"Agent Booth?"
"Yeah..."
"Congratulations." Seeley never took his eyes off of his new son, the only child he and his wife would have, but answered,
"Thanks Doc. We'll be up in a minute,"
