A low buzzing sound woke Booth up the next morning and he suppressed a groan when he discovered that it was still dark out. Slipping out of bed as quietly as he could, he scooped up his vibrating phone and headed downstairs where he could answer it.
"Booth," he flipped the phone open, voice still gravely from sleep.
It was Charlie. Apparently, Angela had program her computer to text Charlie as soon as the mass recognition program got any readings that matched Burke's description. The graveyard shift keeping watch over the warehouse had confirmed the sighting. Burke was currently inside the building and Charlie was calling Booth, wanting to know what the next move was.
Booth ran a hand through his hair, trying to ignore the microwave clock's declaration that it was four in the morning. Pouring himself a glass of milk and gulping it down, he listened closely as Charlie laid everything out for him. It was one of the scenarios the two men had gone over in his office yesterday morning, though neither of them expected it to happen so soon- or so early in the morning.
"How sure are we that he's in there?" Booth asked.
"As sure as we can be," Charlie answered, "So do we proceed as planned?"
Booth sighed heavily. He'd been hoping that Burke would hold off just a few days longer so that he'd be cleared for field duty and could take the SOB in himself. It was killing him to be the guy behind the desk making decisions instead of the guy in the field getting the job done.
"Yeah," he answered reluctantly, pulling on the spare jeans and t-shirt he kept in an overnight bag in the closet, "We might not get another shot at this guy if we don't. Tell Tac One and Tac Two to standby for their orders. I'm leaving for the Hoover now and will co-ordinate with you once I get there. If he moves before then- pounce, otherwise sit tight until I'm hooked into the command post."
He heard Charlie relaying his orders over the radio to the guys on the ground as he hastily scrawled a note to Bones, letting her know where he was and what was going on. He was fairly sure he was going to have an angry forensic anthropologist on his case anyway, but at least this way there wouldn't be panic mixed with anger. For a brief second he contemplated waking her, but there was nothing she could do to help, not to mention there was a little girl sleeping in the other room who didn't need to be disturbed, so he signed the note and put it by the percolator where she'd be sure to see it.
On the other end of the phone, Charlie finished giving Booth's orders and the two men hung up, with the understanding that the younger man would call him if Burke popped up before Booth got to the Hoover. Donning his holster and personal sidearm, he checked to make sure his weapon was secure before slipping on his leather jacket and heading out the door. His standard-issue had been taken away until he cleared for field duty and even though he had no intentions of heading out to the warehouse, he felt practically naked without his gun on his hip.
The noise of the engine starting felt deafening in the pre-dawn stillness and he was surprised not to see Bones come running out of the house after him. As he pulled out of the driveway, heading for the Hoover, he felt a slight tug at his lips at the thought of his wife.
Last night he had passed out about an hour into her paperwork, only to awake several hours later to find her typing away at her laptop. He knew immediately that she was working on her novel, because every so often she would let out a soft grunt in frustration, followed by the rapid tapping of the backspace key. Her brow was furrowed in concentration and every once in a while she would stare hard at the screen, her eyes scanning whatever paragraph she had just completed, while the end of her tongue peeked out. It was one of her little quirks that amused him to no small end.
He'd let her go at it until he noticed it was eleven, then he had cleared his throat to let her know he was awake and that it was time to go to bed. She'd put up a mild protest, but he could tell that the story wasn't flowing as smoothly as it normally did and she'd turned it off without much fuss. On the way upstairs he had teased her about being able to provide her with inspiration for one of Kathy and Andy's famous bedroom scenes and to his surprise she had taken him up on the offer. Two hours later, she'd kissed him on lips, told him that she would consider thanking him in her next book for his "inspiration" or some such nonsense, and promptly turned over and fell asleep.
Which is why, he told himself for the tenth time since leaving the house, she was better off at home in bed right now so that at least one of them was getting sleep. As he reached the Hoover and passed through security, he made sure that his phone was on and charged so that when she called him, he'd get it.
He made his way through the labyrinth of corridors that led to the communications room that had been set up for this case. It was too early for the donuts to be out so he had to grab something from the vending machine and content himself with the sludge from the nightshift's coffee pot. Still, for going on three hours sleep it was something, and at this point something was all he needed.
In a soundproof room at the end of a long hallway, he entered and nodded to the two communications guys on-duty, sinking into the empty office chair beside them. In front of him were enough computers to power a small, third-world country. Some gave him multiple views of the warehouse and its surroundings, others gave him the thermal imaging readings, and still others monitored all communications coming both from the warehouse and the tactical teams.
The com guys wasted no time hooking him up with a headset and establishing a connection between Booth, Charlie, and the leaders of Tac teams One and Two. No sign of Burke- or anyone else for that matter- had been seen entering or exiting since Booth had left home, which was a good start. The four men quickly went over the plan before Booth gave the order to execute.
He held his breath. Tac One Lead had confirmed that the roof was guarded with four armed men- one on each corner and according to their thermal readings, there were thirty-seven people inside the warehouse. There, unfortunately, was no way to know who in the building was armed and with what. Plus, Booth had drilled into Charlie over and over again the other day, the women were there somewhere too.
The sound of gunfire brought his senses to heightened alert as the guards caught sight of something in the dark. Tac One Lead cautioned that the guards had night-vision and Tac Two reported four more armed men coming out of the warehouse. As he surveyed the scene from the insulated safety of the com room, Booth kept a close eye on the overhead of the warehouse's west exit. Once again, thankful for the water tower three miles away that was already equipped with cameras, allowing him a bird's eye view of what was going on. Sure enough, the thermal readings shifted, showing a large group of people heading for that exit. He ordered Tac Two to fan out to that side, warning them that it was most likely an evacuation situation. The last thing he needed was for one of the girls to get caught in the crossfire.
Meanwhile, Tac One had neutralized two of the rooftop guards and had managed to capture the armed guards on the ground alive. Tac One Lead asked for permission to enter the building and Booth gave the go-ahead as one of the com guys beside him kept the team appraised on the thermal readings they were getting from that part of the building. Tac One's objective was to secure the part of the warehouse they suspected of housing the computers.
Tac Two, on the other hand, was in charge of securing all persons coming in and out of the building. A small firefight was going on as six armed men attempted to spirit the women away. Squinting at the monitor, Booth realized that there was a van hidden just inside the tree-line beyond the west exit. Without hesitation, he radioed Tac Two Lead and let him know what was going on. Booth watched as three of the men broke off and headed toward the woods.
Unfortunately, this didn't go unnoticed by the guards, either, and the night air was filled with the roaring of an engine as the van attempted a getaway. Radio chatter flew back and forth between the Hoover and the warehouse until someone gave a triumphant cry and the van sputtered to a halt. The men inside the van attempted to flee on foot, but were easily nabbed and taken to the temporary holding pen.
Meanwhile, now that their ride was gone, the guards who were left quickly surrendered, allowing Tac Two to move in for the arrest. Free of their guards, some of the women fled, while others remained still as if waiting to see what happened next. It didn't take long for everyone to be rounded up and taken to the rendezvous point.
Booth switched back to the Tac One channel to find that they were meeting with some resistance inside, but were slowly but surely making their way to the heart of the operation. Fortunately for them, the company that had built the warehouse still had blueprints on file. A wire schematic had been built on the computer and Booth and the two techs were able to keep a close eye on the activity level inside the building.
According to their readings, only five of the original thirty-seven were still inside. Booth was willing to lay odds that these five were the ones with a vested interest in what was hidden inside the warehouse, especially given the resistance that they were putting up. His ears picked up the sound of an automatic weapon being fired at his guys and he decided it was time to end it, giving the order for the tear gas grenades to be thrown.
Five minutes later, it was over.
All thirty-seven occupants were accounted for, along with the four roof-top guards and Tac One had located and secured the main computer hub. More importantly, Charlie confirmed that the man they believed to be Arthur Burke was in custody and under heavy guard. Once the scene was secured, Booth gave the order for the transport vans to move in and begin the loading process. Since it still wasn't clear if some of the women were there of their own volition or not, all of them would be taken into custody and held for questioning.
Something vibrated against Booth's hip and he jumped slightly before realizing it was his cell going off. Suppressing a groan, he excused himself from the room as he flipped the phone open.
"Booth," he answered, knowing full well who was on the other end.
"Where are you?" Bones demanded, "And why didn't you wake me up?"
"The Hoover," he replied, keeping his tone even.
"I surmised that much from your note," she said shortly, "And you did not answer me as to why I wasn't woken up. However," she let out a deep breath, "I was calling to determine your location in the building as I am in your office and you- obviously- are not."
"Look, I'll explain everything as soon as I can," he said in an attempt to calm her down, "Just stay there and I'll be up in a few minutes, okay?"
"Fine," she said, clearly not pleased, but at least she was willing to drop it for now.
They said goodbye and hung up. He re-entered the room to find the operation was cleaning up as nicely as could be expected. Charlie assured him that the situation was well under control and he and both of the tac team leaders would join Booth back at the Hoover for a briefing at ten o'clock. Thanking the two communications men for their hard work, Booth chucked his now-cold sludge and headed up to face Bones.
The break-room clock told him it was almost eight and he was more than happy to see that the morning donuts had arrived and fresh pots of coffee were waiting. He popped several donut holes in his mouth and chugged a quick cup of coffee down before he felt like he was ready to face whatever he had coming. He grabbed a mug of coffee for each of them as a peace offering, also figuring that she would at least have to wait until he put the cups down to attack. She'd sounded mad enough to spit nails on the phone.
As he approached his office, she was there, arms crossed, fire blazing in her eyes, and watching for him. He entered the room and placed the cups on the desk, careful not to knock over his bobble-head in the process, then slowly turned around to face her.
Instead of the tongue-lashing he expected, though, she walked over to him, looking him up and down like he was a piece of meat, and settled down in the chair just beside his left leg. Her body-language was still screaming "Closed!" and her eyes told him this was not an act of forgiveness, but at least she hadn't reamed him out- yet.
He handed her a cup and took up residence in the seat beside her, figuring that behind his desk was too far away. A stony silence fell on the room as each of them sipped at the bad coffee.
"So," he started, not knowing where to start, but knowing that they needed to clear the air before Charlie showed up for the briefing.
"Yes?" she asked expectantly.
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, the lack of sleep finally catching up to him despite the coffee, "Look, Bones, I'd say that I'm sorry I didn't wake you up, but I'm not, so I'm not sure what you want out of me."
"An explanation would be a good start," she shifted in her chair, "Beginning with why you felt it necessary to leave me out of this crucial part of the investigation."
Ah, so that's the angle she's coming from, he thought, glad for once that she was a woman who pulled no punches.
"Okay, but you have to listen all the way through with no interruptions," he waited for her to agree before continuing, "First, the call came in at four and we'd only gotten to bed at one," he could tell that she wanted to say something, but she was restraining herself so far, "Second, this was my part of the investigation and there was really nothing you could have done to help, or I would've considered having you with me," her face was still a mask, but the fire in her eyes was lessening, "Finally, there's Sadie to consider. The daycare doesn't open here until six and there was no way we could've had her in the communications room with us even if I had wanted her there. And believe me, Temperance, those were not images that we want her exposed to at a young age."
"Even if you did not want me to come with you," she sounded a little hurt by that, he noticed, "You still could've woken me, or simply called at a more appropriate hour and let me know what was going on."
"No," he shook his head gently, "I couldn't have. The operation had just ended when you called, which is why I could pick up, but before that too many lives were at stake for my focus to stray."
"What do you mean, Seeley?" she asked, "What exactly happened this morning and what was your role in it all?"
He stifled a sigh, knowing that she'd never let up until she had details.
"Look, it was long and involved and had a lot to do with those plans you typed up for me the other day," he took a long drag of coffee, "I was the Special Agent in Charge; the one calling the shots and keeping an eye on everything as it went down. There were a few really intense moments, but we rounded up the bad guys so that's all that really counts. Charlie and the tac team leaders will be back here in a couple of hours for a briefing with me and Cullen, so you're more than welcome to sit in on that if you want."
She nodded mutely and seemed to find her coffee interesting all of a sudden. He studied her face as she avoided his eyes, his tired mind trying to recall everything that she'd said so he could figure out what the problem was.
"I suppose," she said after a long moment, "That this is similar to my occasional need for a distraction-free environment."
"Yeah," he agreed, offering a smile, "I mean, it's not like you let me hover over you on the platform when you do your super-detailed inspections."
She shook her head and gave him a small, understanding smile, "No, I do not."
"We okay, then?" he wanted to make sure.
She nodded.
"Hey, Bones," he stood up abruptly, hauling her to her feet too, "Is Sadie downstairs?"
"Yes," she answered warily.
"Good," he grinned, "'Cause all I had for breakfast was this crappy coffee and some stale donuts and I'm betting you didn't eat much better."
"But what about your briefing?" she asked, moving quickly to match his long strides toward the elevator.
"We've got about two hours left, so I think we've got time to grab Sadie and hit the diner."
Minutes later they were checking Sadie out. She giggled upon sight of him and ran into his arms as soon as she was freed. He scooped her up and held her tightly to his chest, enjoying the softness of her skin against his morning stubble. Burying his face in her curls he inhaled deeply, letting her innocence infuse him and take away the sting of the morning's events.
"Time to eat, Dada?" she asked.
"Yes, sweetheart," he kissed her cheek, and took Bones' hand in his free one, "Time to eat."
