29-Did You Just Call Us Tick Tock?
Booth was speeding down the street, cracking the knuckles of one hand while the other was on the steering wheel.
"Booth, where are you going?" Brennan asked. "This isn't the way to 7th Street."
"I know," he said. He looked over at her. "I'm taking you back to the lab."
Brennan grew furious. "But you said I could come with you and help you!" She was almost out of her seat.
"'When you come, you'll come alone,' Bones. It doesn't get any clearer than that."
"Screw that, Booth. I'm coming with you so turn around."
"Bones," Booth sat calmly as he parked the car at the lab, "I will not put your life at risk. Don't try to argue with me. I'll call for backup when I'm on my way there. You'll stay at the lab. I'll have Charlie update you on everything."
She paused and he thought maybe he had won this argument. "No!" she yelled.
Spoke too soon, he thought.
"I will not be waiting by the phone to hear from Charlie if you're dead or alive!"
"Looks pretty heated," Wendell commented.
"Yeah, they're really goin' at it," Hodgins added. From outside the doors they had a great view into the windshield of Booth's car.
"I wonder what it's about," Angela said mischievously.
"Whatever it is seems to have upset Dr. Brennan," Wendell said.
"Why do you say that?" Angela asked.
Wendell jerked his head towards the pair. "She's crying." Sure enough, Brennan was shaking in Booth's arms.
"Booth, I can't…I won't…I won't have you leave me," she cried.
"I'm not leaving you, Bones," he soothed, stroking her hair.
"I'm not going to sit at home while some man comes to my door and tells me that you died like a soldier in battle!" she screamed before collapsing back onto his chest.
"Bones, why are you so obsessed with the idea that I'm going to die?"
"Vainglory, avarice, and lust, pay for these you must? It was written on the ceiling, Booth! Those aren't venial sins! They're mortal, just like you. He'll kill you, Booth." Booth's face was a mask of shock and confusion. "Now that I have you, really have you," she said, raising her head from its place on his chest, "I'm even more scared to lose you."
It took an hour, but Brennan had finally cried herself to sleep. She sat limply in Booth's arms as he carefully got out of the SUV and carried her to the lab. No one said a word as Booth took her into her office and shut the door.
Angela, Hodgins, and Wendell hadn't stuck around long enough to watch her cry, and all three of them were dying to know what had transpired. Especially Angela.
She was standing some ten feet away from Brennan's office door when Booth emerged, quietly shutting the door behind him. "What happened?" she asked quietly. Booth took out the clue with the address on it. "What's that place?"
"I don't know, I'm goin' there now. Keep an eye on Bones, and don't let her leave the lab. I'm gonna call Charlie and tell him to keep her updated on my progress. I'll be back." He said nothing else to anyone, just stuck his hands in his pockets and walked out the doors as if it were any other day.
Booth called Charlie, explained the situation, then picked up his receiver. "This is 22705 requesting a tac team at 575 7th Street Northwest, ETA approximately 20 minutes."
"Roger that, 22705, tac team is on its way."
Twenty minutes later, Booth was at the given address. Surprisingly, it was in the middle of a nice part of town and he was in the midst of people milling about. Truthfully, he had expected a dark warehouse in the middle of nowhere. He had actually had to track a kidnapper so many times he had established his own norm and expectations, and he didn't think that was good. Making his way up the sidewalk to the building, he noted that it looked a lot like a house, which made more sense to him than just having someone holed up in a public building. But then he read the sign and groaned; it was a public building. NATIONAL CRIME AND PUNISHMENT MUSEUM.
Booth noticed that the tac team had arrived and he signaled them discreetly. Pushing the door open, he noticed the museum was closed for renovation. So that's why this place worked, he thought as he crept through sawdust and loose nails. Climbing up a set of rickety steps, he made almost no noise as his gun was drawn and his eyes scanned his surroundings constantly.
There was only one door atop the steps, and it stood slightly ajar, welcoming a silent visitor. Back to the wall, Booth shuffled until he could see inside the door. He could not see the man's face, only his back. He was mostly bald, with white hair around the dome of his head. He was of average height and had a bit of a beer belly from what Booth could tell. He was older to be sure, in his late fifties if not sixties. Booth met his brother's eyes and saw them widen, effectively giving away Booth's position. Damnit, Jared, he thought as the man slowly turned, keeping his gun trained on Jared's head.
"Agent. Booth," he spat as he punctuated both syllables. "You've figured out the clues. No doubt your…curvaceous scientist helped you." Booth bit the inside of his cheek. "Don't look so angry, Agent Booth. We both know a simple cop," and he spat this last word, "doesn't have the brains to keep up with something this complicated." Booth's trigger finger twitched. "You probably smelled your way here like a common bloodhound."
Booth waited until the man was done laughing. "Don't," he warned, "talk about Bones like that."
Brennan lifted herself halfway off the couch and looked around, rubbing her eyes with back of her hand. She soon realized that she was in her office. All the lights were off and a blanket covered her. Blinking a few times, she shook her head and dashed out of her office, almost running into Angela. "Angela," Brennan said breathlessly, "where's Booth? Did he leave?"
Angela bit her lip. She couldn't lie. Well, she could, but she wouldn't. "Yeah, he left."
"Where did he go?" Brennan asked hurriedly, ready to shake her friend.
"I…"
"Angela!" Brennan shrieked.
"I don't know," Angela said, seconds from sobbing.
"I'm going to find him," Brennan said.
She was moving towards the door when Hodgins got to her. "No, no, no," he said, putting his arms under hers and pulling her back towards her office. Brennan was kicking trying to get free. "Wendell!" Hodgins called. The blonde boy bounded up quickly and grabbed Brennan's feet, helping Hodgins carry her to her office.
"Sorry, Dr. B," he said, smiling and cocking his head to one side.
Brennan stopped struggling. "Don't be sorry, Wendell," she said smugly before kicking him in the chest. Wendell fell to the ground as he got the wind knocked out of him. Brennan rounded on Hodgins and he basically sidestepped her. She was out the door in no time.
"What on Earth is going on out here?" Cam asked as she walked out past the platform.
Wendell got up and brushed himself off. "Um," he started. Cam raised a threatening eyebrow. "Dr. B ran away," he said.
"What a cute nickname," the man sneered. Booth growled low in his throat. "I have no doubt she's your lover. Tell me, Agent Booth, are you looking forward to watching her witness the Booth brothers' deaths?"
"Screw you, Stevens," Booth said through clenched teeth.
Stevens smacked Jared with the gun, causing the chair he was in to topple over. Jared was out cold, wrists and ankles bound to the hard wood. "Oh, how I hate men like you," Stevens snarled. "But we'll get to that later. You see, Scott was my brightest student in years. He had so much potential. But James." Stevens' grip on his gun tightened. "James was getting in the way. Talking about how no matter what happened when Scott went off to war, God would protect him. I didn't want Scott getting those ideas in his head, but he wouldn't listen, so I had to get rid of James. And now the same must be done for you, Agent Booth. I doubt you'll deny that Jared has gotten in your way more than once. You have always taken the hit, the blame." Here he stopped, waiting for Booth's response. Booth wouldn't have offered one if he didn't catch a glimpse of something outside the window. He knew Stevens didn't see it, so he used his answer to buy time.
"I was protecting Jared. That's what you do…for the people…you love," he ground out.
"Oh, Agent Booth," Stevens chuckled. "You are so…insufferable. You're too proud. You think you're so special. You believe that God will protect you, even after all the horrible things you've done. He can't save you, Agent Booth. No one can. Because God doesn't like people who think they're better than everyone else. What's that called again, Agent Booth?"
"Vainglory," Booth answered, buying more time.
"Yes, vainglory. I'm sure your partner would attest to your unrivaled levels of cockiness."
Brennan had remembered the address and arrived there quickly. Sprinting towards the building, she used a ladder left there by the construction crew to climb onto the roof. Making her way carefully across the slanted rooftop, she found what she was looking for: a small access panel that had been cut by the workers, and she put one eye to the finger hole and observed.
"But that's not all, oh no," Stevens continued. Booth tried to control his racing pulse as he heard Brennan on the roof. She was quiet, but he was a former sniper. He heard her. "Avarice, Agent Booth. You crave the riches your partner has. It would make life so much easier, wouldn't it?" Booth stood stock still. "Child support, hospital bills. You're barely keeping up." It was all Booth could do to keep himself from shaking with rage. "And, last but not least, lust. Like a dog on a leash you've followed that woman for four and a half years, just waiting. Waiting to use her and then throw her away, leaving her without looking back." Booth saw Brennan open the access panel out of his periphery, but kept his eyes focused on Stevens. "You shouldn't have bothered. From what Jared tells me, she thinks you're a loser."
"I do not," Brennan said. Stevens quickly turned his head to look at her and Booth smirked.
"I knew you'd come," Booth said. Out of nowhere Stevens screamed in rage and fired a shot, barely missing Brennan. "Bones!" Booth yelled, which, consequently, drew Stevens' attention back on him. Another shot rang out but Booth didn't register the sound. He marched over to Stevens while Brennan gave Stevens a swift kick to the knees, landing him on his back. She wrenched his gun away in the process and Booth stood with one foot on Stevens' chest and pushed down hard. "You have no idea of the power of God, and I'm sure you never will. See you in Hell." He fired the shot and all was silent.
The tac team rushed into the building virtually unnoticed by Booth and Brennan. Booth was holding his breath and then letting it out in grunts through his nose. "Booth, you're shot," Brennan said, leaning down to examine the hole in his thigh.
"It's alright," he grunted. "Mostly muscle." His leg gave out and landed on the wooden floor with a thump. "Please, Bones, get the bullet out." She reached into her field kit and produced a pair of tweezers. She carefully pulled the bullet out, all the while Booth clenching his jaw and letting out long breaths through his nose. One of the tac team members called the ambulance. "Bones," he grunted.
"What?" she asked worriedly. "Booth, what is it?" she asked when he took a while to answer.
"Go untie Jared."
"But Booth-."
"GO. Please."
Brennan rushed over to Jared and untied him just as he was waking up. "Temperance?" he asked warily.
"Hi, Jared," she said.
"Where's…where's Seeley?" She helped him to sit up and pointed to Booth, who was clutching his leg and leaning his head back.
"Hey, little brother," he said, cracking a smile.
"Hey," Jared responded, and they miraculously heard each other over the sound of sirens.
