('The family in the Feud')

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I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

As he wheeled the cart filled with bags of ice from the store, Hodgins noticed a dirty white cargo van parked next to his car. The van had parked over the line which meant he'd have to be careful when he pulled out of the parking space. He had just had his Mini Cooper worked on and repainted and he didn't want to scratch the paint.

Almost to his car, he stopped when a man walked around the van and stood in the back staring at him. "Pelant? . . . You're Christopher Pelant." Afraid, Hodgins looked around and noticed that there were very few people in the parking lot, most of them were near the store entrance. Pulling his phone from his hip pocket, he began to make a call. "We'll see what the police think of this."

As he was typing 911 on his phone, he saw Pelant move his hand from behind his back to reveal a taser gun. Before he could say anything, the suspected killer shot him with the taser and he fell to the ground, his phone flung under his car. As quickly as possible, Pelant opened the back of the van, picked up the entomologist and pushed him in the van. Before he slammed the door shut, he inserted a needle in Hodgins' neck, pressed the plunger, removed the needle and threw it in the back of the van. Hodgins' last sight before he lost consciousness was of Pelant with an unpleasant smirk on the man's face before he slammed the door shut.

Ooooooooooooooo

Awake, but feeling groggy, Hodgins groaned, opened his eyes and realized that he was tied to a chair. Struggling, he tried to pull his arms forward, but the restraints meant he couldn't move his arms or hands and he felt a sense of panic start to grow. Opening his mouth to shout out, he felt a stab of pain on the right side of his face and realized that it felt a little sticky. Looking around the room, he found that the only light available was from a light fixture from overhead and the area beyond the light was dark.

"So, Dr. Hodgins, you're awake." Moving into the light, Pelant stared at his captive and smiled. A smile that made the entomologist's blood run cold. "You people are very irritating . . . I mean, I did everything I could to call attention to the evil things the Justice Department is doing and how there are many cases that have been suspended that shouldn't have been. 20 known felons not prosecuted . . . drug traffickers, extortion, fraud and they weren't prosecuted because they became confidential informants. Where is the justice, Dr. Hodgins? Daniel Cassutto ran a real estate scam. One of his victims committed suicide because Cassutto took him for everything he owned. You know that. You found out after I gave Agent Booth and you people enough bread crumbs to follow the clues. Too many bread crumbs by the way. I thought you people were smarter than that . . . the FBI is corrupt, you were given proof and Daniel Cassutto is still walking around free. Why, Dr. Hodgins? What more do I have to do to get justice for his victims?"

Afraid, Hodgins shook his head. "We forwarded the information to the FBI. Booth took it to his boss and he said he'd look into it. What more do you want from us? We don't control the Justice Department or the FBI. We can't make them prosecute anyone."

Slowly nodding his head, Pelant knew that what Hodgins said was true, but he was tired of fighting by himself and he thought forcing the FBI to look at the files, to acknowledge what they had done might fix the problem. Clearly, he had been too optimistic. "You disappoint me, Dr. Hodgins. Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth were led down the path of justice and you and they did nothing . . . Dr. Brennan is the most disappointing of all. She's trying to prove I killed Ezra Krane and that foreign house sitter instead of getting justice for Mr. Berman. Cassutto scammed that man out of his life savings along with many other people and the FBI hasn't done anything about it . . . Dr. Brennan hasn't done anything about it. Why? Because her partner works for the FBI? Is that it? Is she the enemy too?"

Pelants words sounded ominous and Hodgins wasn't sure what that meant for him at the moment. "You killed two people that we know of . . . how is that getting justice for anyone? You murdered two people that had nothing to do with Cassutto. You're no better than Cassutto. In fact, you're worse, you killed two people. Cassutto is a con man but he's never killed anyone." Not sure if he was making a mistake, Hodgins decided that if Pelant was going to kill him then he would go down bravely and not a sniveling coward. "Dr. Brennan is doing her job. As for those other cases the FBI stopped working on, Booth did what he could. He doesn't run the FBI and he doesn't have control over what the Justice Department does. You're taking your anger out on the wrong people. You should go after the corporations that control our political leaders. That's the real danger. We . . . "

Amused, Pelant laughed and help up his hand. "You think you're telling me something I don't already know? Please, I probably know more than you'll ever know about what's happening to this country, to this government. Some of our leaders are being manipulated and coerced to do things that shouldn't be happening. I've been fighting that battle for a long time, but no one listens. I'm tired of shouting into the wind. If you and Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth can't fight for right then you're all fighting for wrong. You're the enemy . . . you should all pay for that. I won't let anyone tie me to any murders. Just so you know that."

"What are you going to do to me?" Resolved to be brave, Hodgins glared at Pelant. "Killing me won't accomplish anything. I'm just a bug and soil man. Dr. Brennan and Booth will come after you if you kill me . . . it's not a good idea to screw around with either of them."

Pursing his lips, Pelant placed his hands behind his back and smiled. "I'm not going to kill you, Dr. Hodgins. This was just one act in a very long play. A play I've written. I'm the only one that knows what the play's about and I'm the one that will finish it . . . I just kidnapped you to send a message. Stop trying to tie me to Krane and Johanssen's murder. Go after the real criminals. Go after the 20 I showed you that the FBI has let continue their crime sprees. Investigate what's happening to our political leaders, our corrupt judges. It's not the powerful corporations you need to worry about . . . If you're a patriot, you'll find out that I'm right and you'll do something about it."

Uncertain, Hodgins just stared at the man standing before him. Even if Pelant was right there wasn't a lot he could do about it. He'd been trying to warn people for years that powerful people controlled more than most people understood and no one believed him. They thought he was a little crazy and he'd learned to keep most of what he knew to himself. And he knew that no one was going to listen to Pelant either. He'd murdered two people and he'd done it in a brutal and inhumane way. Pelant was dangerous and who knew how far he would go now on his crusade.

"Nothing to say?" Pelant shook his head. "I suppose you'll have more to say later." Walking away, the man laughed. "I was never here you know. I'm at home and the monitoring company will back me up."

Ooooooooooooooo

Angela was getting worried. Hodgins should have been back over an hour ago and Booth was asking where the squint was. "Booth, I've pinged his phone and it looks like he's still at the store."

"Maybe he had car trouble. That car of his belongs in a junkyard." Checking his watch, Booth sighed. "I'm going to get Jared to watch the meat cooking on the barbecue while I drive over to the store to see what's going on."

Nervous, Angela tugged on her left ear. "I'm coming with you. I'll let Bren know I'm going with you and she can watch Michael Vincent . . . It's probably what you said, his Mini Cooper is his baby and he can lose track of time when it's got an issue."

"Whatever, come on." After arranging for Jared to keep an eye on the barbecue, Booth and Angela walked into the kitchen. "Bones, Hodgins is taking too long and he's not answering his phone. Angela and I are going down to the store to see what's going on."

Worried, Brennan turned from the counter where she was slicing loaves of French bread. "I can come with you, if you need me to."

"No, Bren." Angela managed a worried smile. "It's probably his car. He just got it back from the shop, but I noticed it was acting sluggish on the way over here."

"Alright." Turning back to the bread, Brennan picked up the knife. "If you need me call me."

Entering the kitchen, Max pointed over his shoulder. "I heard what you said. I'm pretty good with old cars. I'll come with you."

Since time was slipping away and Booth wanted to serve food in about an hour, he knew they needed to go check on Hodgins. "Let's go. I have a crowd of people outside who are going to be pissed if we delay dinner too long."

Ooooooooooooo

Arriving at the parking lot, Booth parked near Hodgins' car and exited the truck. "Angela call Hodgins. Maybe he's in one of the stores."

While Max, stepped out of the truck and walked over to the car to inspect it, Angela dialed the number and hit send. A faint sound coming from under the Mini Cooper made her suddenly feel like her world was crashing down around her. "Booth . . . Booth, look under the car."

Down on his knees, Booth checked under the car and saw Hodgins' phone. "Shit! This can't be good."

Noticing a small blood stain on the pavement nearby, Max shook his head. "I don't think this is good at all."

Oooooooooooooooo

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