Chapter 12
Chesapeake Bay, Thursday at 2:00 pm
Brennan stepped out of the Jeffersonian van and grabbed her long black rubber boots. She slipped them on over the pants of her navy jumpsuit. Then the forensic anthropologist quickly pulled her auburn hair up into a ponytail and headed for the water's edge where the local police had pulled to the body.
"Is that who I think it is?" Booth called from up on the shore as he got out of the SUV.
"If you jump to conclusions about the hospital gown, then yes, I think you think it's Jimmy 'Concrete Fist' Visone," Brennan told him.
"Crap," was her partner's only reply. She nodded and continued to look at the body before allowing the local coroner's office to lift him from the water.
"I hope Angela is getting something off those tapes. We have to catch this guy before someone else ends up dead," Booth spoke up after a few minutes.
"I'm sure she'll call if she has found anything. Getting all hypertensive isn't going to make her work any faster," his partner said as the waterlogged body was removed from the bay. Brennan stopped the local coroner who had a name patch that read "Brett Smith" when she saw something strange.
"What is it Bones?" Booth asked.
"Most bodies that have been in the water this short a time frame don't look like this," she said.
"I thought something seemed odd about that," her partner agreed.
"We need to get him back to the lab as soon as possible if he was injected with acid like Fitzpatrick then we might have lost some evidence," Brennan told him.
"Wouldn't the water dilute the acid?" Booth wondered.
"To an extent but not enough to stop the destruction of evidence, of course the water doesn't help either," she heaved a sigh. Turning to the coroner she thanked him for stopping and asked him to load the body into the Jeffersonian van. Then she walked to the cab of the vehicle and grabbed her shoes. Brennan pulled off her boots and pulled on her sneakers so she could drive back to the lab. The forensic anthropologist was about to get into the van when she heard a popping noise. The next thing she heard was Booth shouting for her to take cover. Instinct kicked in and she dropped to the ground and rolled under the large vehicle. The sound of metal on metal sounded a few more times and then she heard the familiar sound of Booth's Glock. After what seemed like an eternity, the shooting stopped and all was quiet.
"Booth!" Brennan shouted. She hoped he would respond since she could not see him from her vantage point under the van.
"Bones!" He shouted back much to her relief. The forensic anthropologist crawled out from under the Squintmobile to her partner's out stretched hands. He pulled her to her feet and quickly grabbed her shoulders. Looking her all over to make sure that she wasn't injured, he saw the terrified look in her blue eyes. Despite the mud she was covered in, he pulled her into his arms and whispered into ear that it was over. She seemed to calm down and he helped her into the SUV. The Jeffersonian van had three bullet holes in the side but it was still drivable but now it was part of a crime scene. Brett Smith promised to transfer the body from the Jeffersonian van to his van and drive to the lab. Booth left the local cops to sort it out while he put on his lights and sirens and rushed back to the Jeffersonian.
The Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab, Thursday at 4:00 pm
"Sweetie!" Angela shouted from her position on the platform as a muddy Brennan walked through the lab doors. She friend rushed over to her and walked with her to the forensic anthropologist's office. Cam took one look at Booth and saw that he was just as muddy.
"What happened? I thought you were going to retrieve a body not take a mud bath," Dr. Saroyan said.
"We were until someone decided to try to use Bones for target practice," Booth told her, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"What?" Hodgins cut in.
"Yeah the Jeffersonian is going to need another van. It took the three shots meant for Bones," the G-man explained.
"So that means they broke Visone out of the hospital and then used him to lure Brennan out of the lab so they could eliminate her," the entomologist said.
"That appears to be their plan. The Chesapeake coroner is driving the body over here. Bones thought that he was injected with that acid again," Booth filled them in.
"I hope the body gets here soon then because otherwise there won't be much left of it," Cam spoke up. Zach had been oddly quiet the whole time and the young doctor seemed to be staring off into space.
"Hydrochloric acid is used to make vinyl chloride, Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate, Toluene diisocyanate, gelatin, and leather processing," he finally said.
"This helps us how?" Booth asked a confused look on his face.
"Vinyl chloride is used for making PVC piping and Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and Toluene diisocyanate are used for polyurethane. Have you come across anyone who runs a plastic business?" Zach wondered.
"No, but then again it's the Mob so they could have some sort of connection. What were you saying about food?" The FBI agent inquired.
"Gelatin and other cooking applications use Hydrochloric acid," Zach told him.
"Like restaurant cooking?" Booth asked another question.
"Well a restaurant wouldn't get a bottle of acid but it could be used in their food. When mixed with other food ingredients the acid is quite harmless," the young forensic anthropologist said.
"But it wouldn't be that hard to get their hands on it if they prided themselves on being the only ones to use Snappy Gell?" Booth wondered.
"But most restaurants don't make their own," Zach said skeptically.
"They were famous for using Snappy Gell, besides their Italian cooking," he said.
"Then that's how they got their hands on it but it would take a whole factory to make the stuff. Where do they own a factory?" Hodgins wondered.
"It wasn't raided in the sting because it technically isn't owned by Salvalzo but we suspected he had his hands in it," Booth explained.
"Oh so they control the guys who own Snappy Gell and you think they used that control to get their hands on the acid," Hodgins was getting the whole sordid picture.
"Exactly, they're part of the money laundering. Now they're out to get Bones because you guys were able to make this link between them," Booth said.
"Where is the body?" Brennan asked interrupting the think tank as she entered the platform, now wearing some clean clothes.
"It's not here yet, but it shouldn't be too long now. I need to check on something and then I'll be back. You promise me that you will stay inside the lab," Booth told her.
"I'm not a child," she protested.
"I know but I don't want to have to explain to my boss why you're dead either," her partner said. He didn't want to sound cold but he had no choice in the matter. Brennan took a deep breath and was about to respond when the lab doors opened and in came Brett Smith and the body from the bay.
"Sorry, this took so long. I got pulled over when a cop saw the bullet holes in the van," he explained.
"I just hope that the water diluted the acid enough that we can still get something," Brennan said as she and Cam exited the platform and wheeled the body into autopsy. Booth sighed and turned to leave. That's when Angela came out of her office and shouted,
"Booth! You have to see this!"
To Be Continued…