Chapter 38
... imprints ...

When Brennan and Booth reached the scene and investigated the car, Brennan was overwhelmed with relief. Most of the blood was on the driver's seat, so it was Marks who was wounded.

The police men informed them, that they had not been able to track Marks and Tammy, because somewhere the blood stains had stopped and the ground changed, so there were no imprints any more, but that soon search dogs would arrive.

'He realised that he was leaving a trace and stopped it' Brennan mused, then asked
"Could I go and see where the blood stains stopped?"

"Sure" the officer answered "It's not far... just that way into the forest... I'll show you." Booth, Brennan and Officer Craig walked along the small path, careful not to cross the trace . Brennan's eyes were fixed on the ground.

"He carried her." She stated after some time. "What? Why do you know?" the officer looked at her curiously.

"There are only imprints of one person. Tammy's feet are not nearly that size. Marks is tall and strong, but slim. The imprints are very deep... Apparently he did not leave her in the car,... so I assume that he was carrying her." Brennan explained. Booth only nodded... he had come to the same conclusion too.

"He can not be very fast. He is carrying Tammy AND he is limping... you see how irregular these imprints are? He is limping, he can not charge the left leg properly. That will slow him down." Brennan stated.

"Is there anything where they could hide, anything he would want to go to?" Booth asked.

Officer Craig shrugged. "Not really... there is an old hut, but it's nearly rotten.. " Suddenly his eyes went wide "But if you go south... you'll reach a camping site..."

"Where he could steal another car." Booth added. "Where is this camping site... We have to go there immediately..."

Officer Craig and two other police men left together with Booth and Brennan, to drive to the camping site.

Tammy's senses slowly recovered. The first thing she sensed was that somebody was carrying her. By the muttered curses she could tell it was Marks... and suddenly everything came back to her. The kidnapping... the car... the accident. Marks was carrying her, so she apparently had fallen unconscious when the car crashed into the tree. She had a headache... and knew she must have hit her head somewhere. He had removed her gag, maybe to make sure she could breathe.

Tammy did not dare to open her eyes... what would he do if he knew she was awake again?

"You are awake!" Marks said and put her on the ground "You held your breath."

"Where are we?" Tammy asked. "Since when are you allowed to ask questions?" Marks snapped at her. At this moment he drew out a gun. "You are going to keep your mouth shut. We have to go this way." He pointed towards a small path through the forest.

She eyed him secretly. He was limping and he had bandaged his head, blood was already soaking the improvised bandage made of... of... she looked at him again, then looked down at herself. He had ripped parts of her shirt off to bandage his head... Fortunately she loved to wear oversize t-shirts, so she was still clothed, not half naked.

"Faster... " Marks growled at her, grabbing her arm. Tammy had no time to think of other things anymore, she had to keep her concentration on the path before her, careful not to trip over a root.

After some time the path widened a bit, obviously this part of it was used more often. Tammy saw that somewhere ahead the forest thinned out... and she heard voices.
Marks heard them too and made her stop. "I do not trust you... you might think of screaming..." his grin was foul when he ripped off another part of her shirt and gagged her with it. Then he loosened the rope around her wrists, but only to tie it around a tree and then fettered her again. Her face was no resting against the rough tree bark and could hardly move.

"I am going to get us a car... then we are going to find us a nice, cosy place, my little toy. Pray that I'll come back safely... nobody is going to find you here." With that he left her.

Booth and Brennan and the others reached the camping site... some kids were playing and everything looked peaceful and normal.

"The children have to go in. It's late anyway" Officer Craig said and one of his men went over to the children to tell them to go inside.

"I guess we'll best split to pairs. Starting from where the forest is directly abutting the site and then move towards the entrance." Booth suggested, he pointed towards the young officer who had told the children to go in "You stay here at the entrance and make sure that nobody leaves." Everybody nodded.

It was already evening and slowly the twilight made the whole place look eerie, since the children had passed on the information that the police had told them to stay indoors. Brennan saw a young woman watch them from the inside of a trailer and gestured towards her to hide inside. The woman's eyes widened at the sight of Booth's gun and she quickly disappeared.

When Booth and Brennan examined the third trailer they saw somebody lurking around a car. The twilight made it impossible for Booth to identify him... but he was tall and slim, just like Marks. "It is him..." Brennan whispered in his ear "Same shape...it could be him!"

Booth nodded. This was too much of a coincidence. It had to be Marks... but where was Tammy? The tall figure looked around and Brennan and Booth ducked behind a bush.

The man opened the door of the car, but then went to the back of the car to disconnect the trailer. Booth and Brennan slowly crept nearer, careful to avoid every sound.