Still don't own them, still noticeable lack of money...

One more part before I disappear for a week.

Booth looked in all the empty motel rooms, but found nothing unusual, and no sign of either Charlie or Mikey. He was worried. He had a feeling time was extremely short, and he could not bear the thought that they might be too late. He stood for a moment, thinking, then remembered that behind the office he had seen what looked like a large old garage. He stuck his head in the room where Brennan was standing with the boy's father, with a mobile phone pressed to her ear. She drummed the fingers of her other hand impatiently on the back of the chair next to her, then removed the phone and stared at it in disgust. "It's engaged."

"I'm just going to check those sheds behind the motel," Booth said. "Won't be long."

Brennan nodded and waved a hand vaguely at him, before hitting the redial button on her phone. Booth had a nasty suspicion that any help she managed to raise would be too little, too late.

He fetched a flashlight from his car, and headed round the back of the rooms. The garage was where he remembered it. On closer inspection, the front doors had not been opened for years, but around the far side was a door that looked like it was in regular use, a shiny padlock sealing the hasp fastening closed. The building was fairly sturdy, with a couple of windows high up along one side, but no other windows, and nowhere to see in without forcing the lock. There was a leanto shed at the back of it, but Booth dismissed that as too small to be worth searching - at least not until he had checked out the garage.

Booth bent to inspect the padlock more closely. The lock itself was strong and sturdy, but the bracket that held it to the door was rusty and worn, and the wood around it split and rotten. It did not take much force to break the catch and open the door, leaving the padlock still securely fastened. He adjusted his hand on his gun, and crept carefully through the door, listening alertly for any sound. The door had been locked on the outside, which ruled out Charlie being inside, but he still needed to be cautious.

He stood and listened carefully for several moments, allowing his body to adjust properly to the light level, while he shone the flashlight around. There were piles of junk everywhere inside, and there was a partition not far inside, dividing the door area from the main area of the garage. As Booth rounded the corner of the partition, then passed the bits of old broken furniture and rolls of carpet, and the hundred and one other bits of junk that any old shed or garage seems to accumulate without effort, he became aware that a light was gleaming very faintly at the far end. He could hear nothing at first, but as he crept closer he began to pick out the soft sound of sobbing. A wardrobe stood between him and the lit area, and he stood with his back to the wardrobe for a few minutes, before carefully easing his head around the corner to have a look.

In the far corner, sitting on a pile of blankets and three or four blue cushions, was the boy from the diner. From his position, his hands were bound tightly behind his back, and Booth could see his ankles were tied together. He was still wearing the same red tee shirt and blue jeans that he had been wearing when Booth saw him last, but he now wore a black cloth tied tightly around his mouth to stop him calling for help. His eyes were swollen with crying, streaks down his face where dirt had been washed clear by tears. A very heavy wooden chair was just behind him, and Booth guessed that he was tied to it, to stop him trying to escape the shed. On a small side table nearby a small gaslamp burnt unsteadily, flickering as if the gas was about to run out. As it gave a particularly large flicker, Booth saw Mikey's eyes move towards it in fear, and Booth's heart went out to the boy, so alone and scared, and for a moment his imagination played tricks on him, and he saw Parker lying there instead.

Booth moved all the way round the wardrobe towards the boy, and Booth saw Mikey's eyes widen as he saw him. "It's okay," he soothed, slipping his gun back in its holster and kneeling down beside him. "I'm here to get you out of here, just let me look at those knots."

He reached forward to loosen the gag, feeling grateful that at least Charlie had been considerate enough to leave the boy with the dim light; untying those knots in the dark would be nearly impossible.

He felt Mikey suddenly stiffen, and glanced up at him, then following the direction he was looking in, he twisted round, to see Charlie standing over him wielding what looked like a chair leg in his hands. Booth scarcely had time to react as Charlie brought the chair leg down in a crashing blow aimed directly at his head.

Right, I'm off ;-)

I'm hoping I'll get a chance to update while I'm away, but if you don't hear from me for a week don't worry, I will be back! Meantime, you can always tell me what you think. I love reading your comments.