Update 28- Hush
Harding and Temperance were walking down the hallway toward his office, when another agent stepped in front of them. "Do you have those files, Harding?"
"I'll get them for you in a second." He said as he continued walking, his voice was a bit anxious, but stern and he rounded the corner toward his office. He could hear the other agent behind them, and he picked up the pace as he pulled his keys from his pocket.
"We need those files now, Harding… not later, now."
"I said I'll get them for you!" He said, glancing back at the agent with an irritated scowl. "Why don't you stop being an ignorant ass and show some respect to Doctor Brennan here." He said as he turned the key in the lock and stepped inside.
"Good Morning, Doctor Brennan." He said, noting that she hardly even looked at him as she stepped into the office. "Alright… file, Harding… we're trying to find this kid."
"This 'kid', is Doctor Brennan's daughter… call her by her name, please." He said, trying his best to stall, as Temperance watched him follow Harding right to his desk.
"Um…" Temperance said softly. "Agent…"
"Goodman…" He said, nodding toward Temperance as he turned his attention back to the desk.
"Agent Goodman, would you mind stepping out into the hallway for a second, I need to speak to Agent Harding about something of a personal matter, and I would appreciate some privacy, please."
"I was just…" He turned and saw the stern look on Temperance's face, the intensity was strong. "I'll wait out in the hallway…" He said with a nod. "I'm sorry, Doctor Brennan." He said as he glanced to Harding. "Just hurry up with those folders, Harding!" He barked one more time before stepping out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Harding looked over at Temperance, who gave him an impatient look. "What are you looking at me for… folders, folders…" She said as she rushed him along, watching him pull the files from the drawer.
"Good stall tactic, partner…"
"Stop stalling with me, and just tell me what we've got!" She said with an exasperated sigh, grabbing one of the folders she started to flip through it.
Booth was breathing heavily as he held the little girl against him, the pain was now everywhere, not just in his ribs. His face hurt, his arm hurt, his hip hurt. He felt weak and broken, and was on the verge of tears. The little girl's crying had stopped after a few minutes, but he could still feel her trembling against him. "I wish I could hug you." She whimpered tenderly to him. "I wish I could hug you, Deuce… I'm so scared…"
"I know, baby…" He whispered, his breathing labored, his voice weak. "I know… I know…"
"Where is mommy, Deuce? Where is mommy, why isn't she here?"
"They're coming, princess… they're gonna come…" He whispered, praying in his head that his words were true. He was having a very hard time staying conscious, his head was hurting and he could taste blood in his mouth.
"How do you know? What if they can't find us?" She whimpered.
"They'll find us, they will…"
"Anything?" She asked, flipping through the pages. "What did Deuce tell you, Harding? Did he mention where they might hold someone? Did he say anything about anything other than the bar…"
"They wouldn't hold her in the bar." He said quickly.
"What if they just killed Deuce and…"
"Temperance, don't even say it."
"It's possible, Christopher!" She exclaimed. "Why are we going to delude ourselves into believing that these savage monsters that put a hole in a mother of three's head is not capable of murdering a three year old girl in cold blood?"
"Because that's not his M.O, Temperance. He doesn't shoot people… that was one of his men that did that… it wasn't Snake Eyes… He doesn't want her dead, he needs to use her as bait, and even if he finds Deuce, chances are that he's trying to do more than just kill him, he probably intends on torturing him."
"They could have killed her already!" She exclaimed, slamming her fist on the desk, her phone screamed loudly in her pocket. She grabbed it out and put it to her ear. "Brennan." She said coldly into the line. "Are you sure?" She paused. "Hodgins, are you positive?" She asked, her voice lifting slightly as she glanced to Harding. "Thank you! Thank you!" She exclaimed. "Send me the addresses and any other info to my phone now… thank you, Hodgins." She said one more time before pressing the button on the phone. "Come on, we have to go…"
"Temperance, what is it?"
"I'll explain on the way… give the files back to Agent Goodson… they're useless, we have to go now!" She exclaimed.
"Goodman…" He corrected as he shuffled the papers, slammed the drawer closed and walked toward the door.
"Whatever." She said, swinging the door open, she breezed past the waiting agent and right behind her, Harding dropped the pile of unorganized files into the other Agent's hands, watching several papers flit from the files as he and Temperance disappeared around the corner toward the elevator.
"Deuce?" Antonia whispered, her eyes watching her protector's face as his eyelids drooped in pain induced exhaustion. "Deuce?" She whispered again, noticing he was spacing out. "Deuce… please don't fall asleep."
"I'm not going to sleep." He shook his head, not looking at her, he could feel the pain in every muscle in his body. "I'm not going to sleep…" He said, shaking his head, his eyes cleared. "I'm not… we have to go." He said suddenly, his voice a little stronger.
"Go?" She whispered.
"We have to get out of here." He said. "We're going to have to do this ourselves." He whispered.
"How?" She whispered softly.
"We're going to have to work together." He said, smacking his lips, he spaced out slightly, trying to deny himself the pain that he was experiencing, trying to ignore it.
"But you're hurt."
"I'm going to need your help, Toni…"
"Like partners?" She whispered.
"Exactly… you're going to have to be my partner…" He whispered. "I need you to roll over… roll over and wiggle up…" He whispered.
"Wiggle up?"
"Bring your arms up to me." He whispered. "I need you to wiggle up until your hands are near my mouth, do you understand? I'm going to try to untie your hands with my mouth." He whispered.
"Oh…!" She whispered as she rolled over instantly, wiggling her legs against the cold floor, she scraped her arm against the floor, but it was for freedom, she hardly even felt the pain, and as soon as she felt him tugging on the binds against her wrists, she could feel her bravery beginning to rise. He tugged at the ropes on her hands, methodically pulling the knots apart with his teeth. He pulled and spit, pulled and spit again and again, feeling her hands becoming loose, she finally pulled at her hands, and the ropes fell to the floor, instantly, she rolled over and grabbed hold of Booth, her arms wrapping around his neck. "Deuce!" She squeaked as she began to kiss his face, her hands rubbing the back of his head, her fingertips against his neck as he laughed nervously against her, the pain in his body waning for the adrenaline in his body was starting to pump full force.
"Okay, okay…" He was breathing heavily against her as he tried to get her attention. She was so excited to have use of her hands, that she wasn't listening to a word. She just gripped him as tightly as she could, and began to cry against him. "Hey…. Hey, no tears… no tears, little one… you have to help me now… you have to get my arms free, baby… so I can hug you back." He whispered, as she looked at him and eagerly climbed over him, forcing him to grunt and groan in pain as she began tugging at the ropes around his hand. "Can you get it?" He whispered. "Can you get it?" He asked.
Her tiny fingers worked at the knots in the rope, tugging and pulling, her own teeth coming into play with the ropes as she tried to free her friend. "They're tight…" She whispered as she kept tugging at them, his voice encouraging her softly as she pulled at the ropes. He could feel the knots loosening, and twisted his hands as she worked.
"You're doing a good job… you're doing a great job, baby… good job…" He whispered. "You're a great partner, a great partner, such a good helper." He encouraged as he felt his wrists finally come free, he could hear his heart beating in his ears, he could feel every muscle in his body screaming at him to stop moving, but as soon as his sweaty, rope burned wrists felt that cool air, he turned as quickly as he could and gathered the little girl into his arms. "Oh thank God!" He whispered as he finally felt his arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as he could without losing his breath. "Oh… my baby…" He whispered as he kissed her cheek and held her to him. "It feels so good to hold you."
"I'm a good partner, huh? Aren't I, Deuce?" She whispered as she clung to him tightly.
"You're a fantastic partner, my little Bones…" He said softly as he just held her for a moment, allowing the tears of finally feeling his arms around her flow freely. "Oh… no crying… no crying, little girl…" He whispered softly, holding her against her securely as he took a moment to rest.
Harding followed Temperance quickly, his pace was a step or two behind hers, and try as he may, he couldn't seem to catch up with her for more than a second. She was determined, her eyes showing an intensity that he had never seen before. She walked into the parking garage and started toward her car. "Temperance, you have to tell me where we're going."
"We're going to go find Antonia." She said with a determined growl. "We're going to find that sonofabitch, and we're going to kill him." She said, perfectly serious, and perfectly livid. He watched her for a moment as she walked toward her car.
"How are we going to find her? What did Hodgins tell you? Temperance, please stop for a second."
"We don't have a second!"
"Then take my car… we should take my car, it has the siren and the lights…"
"I am going to drive." She said sternly as she continued toward her car.
"Fine! Fine! You drive! But we're taking my car!" He said as she stopped and turned. Her eyes were wide with surprise, her mouth open slightly as she looked at him. "What?"
"There's a card on my car." She said. "Under the windshield wiper."
"Let's go… they know we're here." He said, grabbing her arm, she didn't pull away, just stared at him for a second.
"How do you know the card wasn't there before the folded card was at the bar?"
"It doesn't matter, Deuce is out of the game, he's not leaving clues… we need to get to my car, now! Tell me what Hodgins found." He said as she started toward him quickly, passing him on their way toward his car.
Booth continued to lay on the floor, the little girl now gripping his shirt so tightly that her fingernails were digging into his skin. He didn't care about the pain, only that she was no longer trembling. He could feel the pain of his other injuries pulling him into shock, and he resisted it as much as he could, the adrenaline of having been released from his bound wrists was quickly retreating, and he could hear his breathing, short labored breaths, and he was finding it increasingly more difficult to concentrate.
"Deuce, are you okay?" She whispered, sensing his anxiety, her grip on him loosened as she looked up at him. They had freed their hands, but she couldn't understand why he wasn't getting up, why they weren't banging on the doors to get out. "Deuce, we can get out now…" She whispered.
"No…" He said weakly. "The door locks from the outside." He explained. "They have to come in here…God…" He groaned as he felt a sharp jab of pain in his side. "Oh…" He groaned, his body shivering from the oncoming shock.
"Deuce, don't move…" She said as she started to get up, he watched as she moved quickly across the room.
"Toni…" He moaned, he could hear her bare feet slapping against the floor, a slight limp in her step as she came back with the blanket, she draped it over him. "What… what is this for?"
"You're cold, Deuce…" She whispered.
"We have to figure something out." He said, feeling tears in his eyes as he felt so weak lying on the floor, his mind racing faster than his body could move. "We have to get out of here…"
She leaned up toward his face, kneeling in front of him. "Shh…" She whispered, placing her hand on his face as she softly ran her hand over his cheek. She could feel the blood from where the man had hit him, and she lifted a corner of the blanket to her mouth, and spit on it just a little. His breathing was labored, and he watched as she so gently wiped the blood from his face with the corner of the blanket.
"You don't have to…"
"Hush…" She whispered, staring into his face, what she could see in the darkness of the room, she leaned down and placed her head on his chest, and tenderly, she began to hum her favorite lullaby.
They were driving through the streets of DC, waiting on more information from Hodgins. He was sending addresses and possible locations based upon the particulates he found in the apartment. Apparently, the person who had killed Lola, and taken Antonia had been in a slaughterhouse recently. The man had left a boot print on the carpet, and Hodgins was able to find animal blood, along with other indicators. Based on a seed that was found in the dirt left behind, he was able to determine that it had come from a rare type of grass that grew near the river. They were now waiting on the locations of those facilities.
Her phone beeped suddenly with a text message, and both she and Harding jumped as they read the address of three different slaughterhouses that were possible. "How do we know which one to go to?" She asked, glancing to Harding.
"We need to call for backup." He said as he lifted his radio, when suddenly the sound of the gunshot blasting through the side window made Temperance pull the wheel hard. Glass shattered throughout the car. "DOWN! GET DOWN!" Harding screamed.
"GET DOWN? I AM TRYING TO DRIVE!" She screamed back as she slammed on the gas and turned the car around, following behind the van that the shot had come from.
"Temperance! What are you doing?"
"I'm following them!" She screamed. "Isn't that what police officers do? Follow the suspects?"
"Yes! But you're not a police officer!"
"And I'm not going to let this asshole shoot at us and get away with it!" She screamed as she pushed hard on the gas, though the van seemed to be going faster, moving toward the river, when suddenly something was thrown from the window. A handful of playing cards came flying out of the van and slammed into the SUV, and when they realized what was flying through the air, into the car, she followed with even more vengeance. They dodged traffic, and before she even realized it, she was led into an industrial area along the river. She tried to keep up with him, but before she realized it, the van had disappeared through the bumpy roads of the abandoned buildings, and disappeared down an alleyway. She slowed the car down, stopping eventually, she could feel her pulse racing as she took slow, deep breaths and turned her head to her partner. "We lost him…"
"Yeah, we lost him…" he said with a shocked expression. "Move over, I'm driving!" He said as her jaw dropped in surprise. "I'm serious, Temperance… switch seats!" He shouted as he climbed from the car and ran around to his side, he jumped into the driver's seat. "You could have gotten us both killed!" He exclaimed.
"I am a very good driver!" She exclaimed, as he suddenly realized that they had been led to one of the industrial parks that were on the list that Hodgins had given them. His eyes widened as he looked at Temperance, and she tipped her head in confusion. "What?" She whispered, as realization dawned over her face, and the two of them stopped in a stunned silence.
The slaughterhouse was quiet as Snake Eyes paced back and forth through the darkest sections of the building. He had heard from his associate that the target was in the vicinity. Suddenly, the muffled sound of a child screaming echoed through the empty building and he turned to one of his men. "Ramon, find out what the hell is wrong with that stupid little bitch… make her shut up if you have to." He said in a growl as he waited patiently for his next target.
Ramon walked quickly toward the freezer, the screaming becoming louder and louder as he reached the door, when he peeked through the tiny window in the door, he could see the little girl, screaming as she shook the man on the floor, his eyes wide open as he lay motionless on the floor, paying no heed to the screaming child who was grasping at him desperately.
