Hey everybody! Here's another chapter for all of you. I hope you like it!
"Guys! Have you found anything?" Booth shouted across the lab. Three heads snapped up to look at him.
"Seeley, you left ten minutes ago," Cam pointed out. "What's going on?" Booth swiped his card and took the steps two at a time up to the forensic platform. He handed the envelope to Angela.
"I need you to check out this letter," he said as he tried to catch his breath.
"How?" Angela asked, turning the envelope over and over in her hand. Booth sighed in exasperation.
"How should I know?" he snapped. "I'm sorry. Just… do something, okay? I need to know who wrote it."
"Why don't you have the FBI check it for fingerprints?" Angela suggested.
"No, that won't do any good. This guy is too smart to leave fingerprints behind. He was smart enough to avoid licking it so he's smart enough to wear gloves." By now Hodgins and Cam were surrounding Angela and reading the letter over her shoulder.
"I can run an analysis on the ink," Hodgins suggested. "It'll probably just be run-of-the-mill printer stuff but maybe I can narrow it down to a certain brand."
"Not good enough!" Booth shouted. "I need to know who this is now!"
"We can only do so much!" Angela yelled back.
"We'll do the best we can but you have to be willing to wait," Cam added. Booth nodded.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. Look, I'm gonna go back to the hospital, make sure Bones and Evi are all right. Just… keep working."
"You know we will, Booth," Hodgins said. Booth turned on his heels and headed out of the Jeffersonian. He pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Brennan's number.
"Bones!" he exclaimed as soon as she picked up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Booth," she promised. "But two agents just arrived. What happened? Are you in some kind of danger?"
"I don't know," he answered honestly. "There was a letter in the mailbox when I went home to check it. There wasn't an address on it or anything. Listen, Bones, there's still somebody out there trying to get me out of the way. Whoever it is killed Daniel. I don't think you're in danger but I didn't want to take any chances."
"Oh. Be careful, Booth." He smiled in relief when he saw Will's car in the parking lot.
"Yeah, Babe. Will's here, everything's fine. I'm on my way back to the hospital now. I'll see you in about ten minutes, okay? I love you."
"I love you too," Brennan replied. She hung up; reassured by the fact that Will was there. Booth often talked of his old friend from the Gulf who had saved his life more than once. She glanced at the guards who were standing just outside the glass door to the NICU. She smiled and looked down at her baby. "You are certainly lucky to have Booth as a father. Although you will have to grow accustomed to having FBI agents follow you on dates." She chuckled as Evi made a gurgling noise and stroked her arm with her index finger.
-BONES-
The last thing Booth remembered was sitting with Will. They were discussing the letter and who it could possibly be from. He remembered calling Charlie to tell him to check out anybody who could have a grudge against him. He remembered Charlie making some stupid joke about that being a long list. He remembered asking Will how his wife and kids were doing in the week or so since they'd seen each other.
And then…
-BONES-
Brennan frantically mashed the buttons on her cell and held it up to her ear. She paced the length of the waiting room in pure anxiety. "Angela!" she shouted when she heard her friend pick up.
"Sweetie, what's wrong?"
"Have you heard from Booth?"
"He was here almost an hour ago," Angela replied. "He said he was going back to the hospital." Brennan nodded unconsciously.
"Yes, he must have called me just after he left the Jeffersonian," she reasoned. "Will was giving him a ride over here. They should have been here at least a half an hour ago. He isn't answering his phone. Ange, do you think something's happened?"
"Hey, aren't you the one who's supposed to be all about not jumping to conclusions?" Angela said lightly, trying desperately to keep her already frantic friend calm.
"There's still someone after him, Angela. He said he was on his way here nearly an hour ago. He won't answer his phone and I know he would call if he was going to be late to keep me from worrying. Logic suggests that something has happened. That isn't jumping to conclusions."
"Okay, something's wrong," Angela conceded. "What do we do next, Sweetie?"
"I'll tell the agents Booth sent over to guard me about the situation. They'll drive me to the Jeffersonian and we'll go from there."
"What about Evi?" Brennan stole a look over to the closed door to the NICU that held her still very fragile infant daughter.
"I'll leave one agent here to guard her. She's in excellent health and certainly does not need me right beside her every moment. She'll do fine."
"Will you?" Angela pointed out. Brennan sighed.
"I'll see you in a while, Angela." She hung up her phone and made a beeline for one of the agents.
-BONES-
Booth came to and tried his best to take in his surroundings. He was outside, judging by the patch of blue directly overhead. He turned his head painfully and saw several tall trees. They were quite a ways away so he figured he was in a field of some sort. He turned his head the other way and was met with the eyes of his attacker. He held a gun that was pointed directly at Booth's head. "You…" he managed to choke out. "Why?"
"Why?" his attacker scoffed. "Of course you would have to ask. He never really meant anything to you, did he?" The man was kneeling next to him now. Booth could feel his breath on his cheek.
Booth knew what he was referring to. There wasn't a day that went by where he didn't feel guilty. No matter how misplaced that guilt may be. "Not… my fault…" he rasped, telling the truth he had come to accept years ago. His lungs felt like they were on fire. He didn't know what his attacker had done to him, but it hurt. Badly. The man chuckled humorlessly and stood up straight.
"Is that how you live with yourself? He was like my kid brother! There's nothing I wouldn't have done for him! And you let him die!" Booth shook his head weakly.
"Tried… to save…" Booth was quickly losing the ability to speak. His vision was fading and a strange sense of peace washed over him.
"You tried to save him? Hero Booth saves the day again, huh? Well where was that heroism before he was hit, huh?" Booth wouldn't have responded even if he could. "And he's not the only one! Now you're going to have to die out here all alone. Just like I should have let you do back then!" Booth barely registered the swift kick to his chest, but heard the distinct crack that meant he had broken ribs. As he slipped out of consciousness again, Booth's only prayer was that Bones would forgive him for being so completely stupid…
-BONES-
"How can we have nothing?" Brennan shouted in exasperation as she leaned over Daniel's body. Everyone was at a loss for how to comfort her. "There has to be something here. I have to find him!" Angela put a tender hand to her shoulder, but Brennan shrugged her off.
"Come on, Sweetie. Take a break."
"I can't take a break! Booth… Booth always found me. No matter what. If I can't find him…"
"Hey, look at me." Brennan did so, rather reluctantly. Angela gripped her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes. "You've found him before too. You'll find him again. I promise."
"You can't know that. What if… what if this time I can't get to him? How am I supposed to live with that?" Brennan was crying now. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she wiped at them desperately.
"Brennan, listen to me. You will find him. We will find him. There's an answer here somewhere. Okay? So we just keep looking until we find the clue that'll lead us to him." Brennan nodded with new resolve and turned back to the examining table.
-BONES-
Booth drifted in and out of consciousness, but he felt that this time might be the last he would ever be able to form a coherent thought. "Teddy… not my fault…" he managed to breathe once again.
"Shut up!" his attacker warned before delivering another blow to his stomach. "It was your fault! I saved your ass three times over there! I saved your life! And you couldn't be bothered to take care of my best friend! He was a kid! Barely twenty!"
"I… know… but…" He couldn't get any more out. His fight was quickly draining and he simply waited for death to take him. He saw his attacker rear up for another kick. "No!" Booth protested with what he was sure was his final breath. "No more… Bones… My… Our baby…"
"I'll make sure they're taken care of. I'll protect them. That's what you hired me for, isn't it? Did you think that'd make up for everything you put me through? After everything I did for you? You got me a lousy job! Like that would fix everything! You get to be a big shot FBI agent, and what do they get to be? What does he get to be?"
"Sorry… Sorry…" His attacker shook his head in disbelief.
"You're not far from the end now," he practically promised. "You'll probably live another hour or so. But you'll be alone. No one here to tell you it's going to be okay. No one to cry with you while your life slowly slips away. Now you'll know how they felt. You'll know how he felt!" With that, his attacker turned on his heels and walked away.
"I'm… sorry… Will…" were Booth's last words before it all went black.
I know at least one person guessed the killer. What about the rest of you? We're just about done with this fic. Two more chapters I think then an epilogue. Leave a review telling me what you think!