(The Hole in the Heart)
Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.
I don't own Bones.
Ooooooooooooooooo
While the search for Jacob Brodsky continued, Booth and Brennan continued to roll out for cases. Jacob had been spotted in Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis and oddly enough, in Alexandria, Louisiana. The tips came in and each one was checked into and verified, but Jacob always managed to evade the police and show up in another city. Booth had tried to find a pattern to Jacob's movements and found that the sightings occurred right after someone had been murdered from a distance with a rifle. The FBI offered the local authorities their help and provided material about Jacob Brodsky and how he worked. The cooperation helped solve the murders, but it didn't lead to the arrest of Jacob Brodsky.
"It's been two months and Brodsky is still running around killing people." Booth's frustration was growing and there was nothing he could do about it. "I've told Fairburn that I need to concentrate on looking for Brodsky. He agreed. Jake has been connected to four murders in the last 7 weeks. That's seven too many." He still regretted not shooting Brodsky when he'd had the chance, but that was the past and there was nothing he could do about that.
Since Booth wasn't the only person frustrated with Brodsky's ability to evade arrest, Brennan felt that Booth was right. "I have had the information about the murders Brodsky committed in the last seven weeks sent to the Jeffersonian. Hodgins and Angela are trying to determine if there are any patterns in Brodsky's movements. So far, there isn't any. He is being paid to assassinate people he considers evil. He's the one that creates the client, by contacting them. He doesn't provide a way to contact him . . . Houston, Dallas and Alexandria are within a 325 mile radius. He appeared to be staying close to Dallas until his trip to Indianapolis . . . He's committed murders here in the District, so I don't think he really has a base he operates out if. He's unpredictable."
Sitting in Brennan's office with Booth, Lester decided to interrupt the conversation. "Harris says that the Cincinnati police contacted the FBI last night. They have a murder that fits Brodsky's modus operandi. He was working in the south and west and now he's in the mid-west. If he has a pattern then I don't see it."
Disgusted, Booth shook his head. "He's threatened to kill me, so he'll be back in the area sooner or later. I know Jake . . . well, I used to know him . . . but I think we can count on him coming after me. He blames me for Paula Ashwaldt killing herself and to him, I'm the face of the FBI. I'm a threat to him and he won't tolerate that for long."
The calm way he spoke about Brodsky's plan to kill him made Brennan feel uncomfortable. "We're not going to let anything happen to you, Booth." She was determined to save her mate and if she could find a way to kill Brodsky she would do it.
"Thanks, Bones." Booth knew he was upsetting Brennan and that isn't what he had meant to do. "Everyone is looking for him. He can't evade arrest forever." At least I hope not.
Oooooooooooooooo
Brodsky was spotted at the grave site of Paula Ashwaldt and Special Agent Genevieve Shaw had shown up dressed as a grounds keeper to see if it was true. She had spied Brodsky kneeling beside Ashwaldt's grave and she had taken his picture for verification. Unfortunately, Brodsky had noticed her actions, placed a bouquet of flowers on the grave and quickly left the cemetery. She had tried to follow him, but she had watched him jog over to a cab and watched it drive away with Brodsky in the back seat. Shaw had called in the number of the cab, but when the police had pulled it over ten blocks away there was no passenger. The cab driver told the police officer that his client had left the cab three blocks from the cemetery.
Disappointed that Brodsky had got away, Booth still found one good thing to be grateful about the incident, at least he knew that Brodsky was in the area. "He left a phone in the flowers. I hit speed dial and Jacob answered. We talked for a little while . . . he threatened to kill me which wasn't surprising. He thinks he's doing the right thing killing the people he's killing and he won't stop until we make him stop."
"Perhaps you should talk to Sweets." Brennan hated psychology, but Booth considered the psychologist to be a good profiler. "Perhaps he has some insight into what Brodsky is trying to achieve by coming back."
"He wants to kill Booth. That's what he's trying to achieve." Lester didn't care for psychologists either and he thought they caused more problems than they were worth. "I know you use Dr. Sweets as a profiler, but we already know who we're looking for and what motivates him. Brodsky is after you, Booth. You don't need a profiler to tell you that."
The fact that Brodsky had provided him with a phone was interesting and Booth wanted to know why. "I think I'll talk to Sweets anyway. Brodksy left me a phone. I want to know why he did it."
Shrugging his shoulders, Lester knew that all he could do was give his opinion. He was still learning the trade and Booth was the head of his division. "Mr. Nigel-Murray says you guys ordered a dinosaur for some conference you're going to, Dr. Brennan. You can order a dinosaur?"
"A skeletal replica. The paper we're going to be giving is titled 'The Comparative Forelimb Osteology and Biomechanics of Theropod Versus Homo sapiens'."
He knew what homo sapiens was and a few of the other words she had said, but Lester didn't have a clue what Brennan was talking about. "Cool, I'm sure you'll knock them dead."
Amused, Booth had no idea what Brennan was talking about and he was sure Lester didn't either. "Yeah, Bones has some great ideas. She is the best forensic anthropologist in the country."
"The world." Quickly correcting her partner, Brennan made sure he understood where she was in the hierarchy of her profession.
"Yeah, the world." Standing, Booth stretched his back. "I'm going back to the Hoover. Agent Shaw is trying to trace the phone Brodsky left me. I'm sure it's a burner phone, but it's worth a try. See you tonight."
Once she was alone, Brennan spoke to Angela and told her that Brodsky was in the area. She hoped the assassin would make a mistake and he was found before he killed anyone else.
Oooooooooooooooooo
Sweets had warned Booth that someone might try to help Brodsky because he didn't know what Jacob was up to. He was also certain that if Brodsky asked someone to do something for him and that person refused to do it then Brodsky would consider that person an enemy and the assassin might do something about it.
Agent Shaw had looked through known associates of Brodsky in the DC area and had found that Matthew Leishenger had withdrawn $2000 in cash from his bank account in the last 48 hours. That wasn't normal behavior for Leishenger and Shaw thought it might be a connection to Brodsky. Appreciating her initiative, Booth had taken Shaw with him when he and Lester drove out to a piece of property that Lesihenger owned to confront the man. What they found was a decayed body in a field that wildlife had been feasting on for two days. They also found an empty gun case for a Barrett Sniper rifle. Booth found a wallet lying next to the body and the ID inside seemed to confirm that Lesihenger was dead.
Wary of the situation, all three agents spread out just in case Brodsky was still in the area. A camera tied to a tree branch alerted Booth that Brodsky was probably watching them. He shot the camera to keep Brodsky from tracking them, but he knew that Brodsky was now aware that they knew that Leishenger was dead and his rifle was missing.
After the FBI tech team showed up at Leishenger's property with Hodgins in tow, Booth, Shaw and Lester left. The body, the wallet and the rifle case were going to be delivered to the Jeffersonian and Booth wanted to get back to the Hoover as soon as possible. Brodsky had killed again and the agent needed to alert law enforcement in the area and that it was important they find Brodsky before he left the area again.
Oooooooooooooooooooo
Much to everyone's horror the next day, while Booth and Lester were at the Lab, Brodsky shot through the glass ceiling and killed Brennan's intern, Vincent Nigel Murray. Booth had been standing on the platform talking to Brennan when Brodsky's phone had rung. Trying to pinpoint the cell tower Brodsky was using, Booth handed the phone to Vincent to answer while Booth used his phone and a special app that Angela had downloaded to find Brodsky. Once Vincent accepted the call, Brodsky had shot at the man holding the phone assuming that it was Booth.
During the ensuing chaos, Booth threw Vincent to the floor while Lester pushed Brennan under an examination table. The pierced glass roof rained broken glass on the platform, but thankfully it was tempered glass, so there were no glass projectiles to harm the people standing below.
It didn't take long for everyone to realize that Vincent had been shot and though Booth tried to slow the bleeding he couldn't. Vincent's heart beat hard trying to save his body and his blood pumped out through the hole in his heart with each heartbeat. Vincent had been aware that he was dying and he had asked not to go, but Brodsky's skillful shot had doomed the young man. In a few minutes, the intern was dead.
Stunned, Brennan stared at her intern and tried to shake herself from the fog she felt enveloping her. "You did everything you could." She wanted Booth to know that she knew he had tried his best, but Vincent had been doomed the minute he had been shot. She knew that, but she had hoped Booth could save the boy anyway. "You were very brave." The last thing she wanted to happen was for Booth to blame himself. "I saw everything and you did what you could."
Watching the tragedy play out before him, Lester felt helpless as he watched the intern die. He had seen death before while in a war zone and he had known the minute Vincent had been shot that the boy wasn't going to make it. He assumed that Booth had known it too, but he had tried to save the young man for his partner, for Brennan.
Ooooooooooooooooo
Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.