Chapter 7:
Cowl stared for a minute at Brennan. Booth and Hawk just seemed to freeze and wait for the next words from Cowl's mouth. Suddenly Cowl was a blur of motion. He rushed across the room and crashed into Brennan sending her flying into the wall with a thud. Booth whipped his gun free, screaming, "Stop, F.B.I.!"
Hawk silently pulled his gun free and fired three times as Cowl zigged and zagged, out the back door.
Booth ran to Brennan's side to make sure she was okay. Brennan was shocked, but nodded her head. Booth suddenly turned on Hawk, who was rushing out the back door after Cowl.
"Stay here." Booth said. He ran out after Hawk.
Booth followed Hawk as he dodged into and out of bushes and yards. They broke out onto a street and Booth yelled again for Cowl to stop. Cowl pushed himself harder and started to pull away from the two pursuing men.
As Cowl started to turn onto a street with small shops and stores on it, he started to grab pedestrians and trip them, or smash them into walls, to slow down his pursuers. Booth paused, but Hawk jumped over them, or dodged out of their way.
As Cowl turned up a street he started over a bridge that drifted over Rock Creek Park. Cowl paused and then leapt off the bridge into the park, and disappeared.
Hawk got to the edge of the bridge and looked down. He fired a few shots into the trees where he saw Cowl duck into, but didn't hear a scream, or any other sign that he'd hit him. Booth trotted up shortly after and stared after him.
"He in there?" Booth asked.
Hawk nodded.
"You do realize we want him alive?" Booth muttered.
Hawk shrugged. "Long as we stop him, who cares?"
"Look, you still need a good reason to shoot him." Booth said. "If he's endangering your life or the life of …" Booth paused as Hawk pulled out another leather case and held it up in front of Booth's face.
They were diplomatic credentials.
Booth shook his head in disbelief. "Is your country giving those away as door prizes?"
Hawk climbed up onto the ledge of the bridge and leapt over, trotting into the forest, after Cowl. Booth was just about to follow when Brennan trotted up behind him. He turned and grabbed her arm.
"What the Hell are you doing here? He may have another victim in his house." He said. "I'll call for back up. Go and wait there."
"Booth, I'm not just going to leave you out there." Brennan started.
"Please, Bones." Booth said. "This thing's already FUBARed."
Brennan made a confused face. "I don't know what that means."
"Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition." Booth said with a smile. "Besides I'll move faster without you."
Brennan suddenly looked angry. "Are you implying that I slow you down?"
Booth sighed and stared at the sky, as if asking God "Why me?" He looked back at Brennan and put on his best fake smile. "Look, Bones," he started quickly. "Cowl is a Canadian Special Forces soldier, I was a trained Army Ranger, and you're a Forensic Anthropologist." Brennan opened her mouth to speak. "No matter how good of shape you keep yourself in, you won't be able to keep up." Booth added quickly.
Brennan pouted for a moment, and turned back the way she came, muttering under her breath about wasting valuable time arguing when they could be on Cowl's trail.
Booth shook his head and jumped after the Canadians.
Brennan made it back to the house and sat on the hood of the car, waiting. She stared at the house and wondered if there really was another girl inside. She shook her head, and started walking towards the house. Cowl was in the forest somewhere, running from Booth and Hawk, there was no one in the house, with the possible exception of Cowl's last victim. Brennan wasn't going to make her wait to be rescued.
She burst through the door and looked around the room, for any clue about where he would hide a girl he was torturing. Suddenly her ringing phone shocked her.
"Brennan." She muttered as she thumbed the answer button.
"Hi, it's Hodgins, how goes the interrogation?" the voice on the other side said.
"He ran." Brennan replied. "Do you have anything for me?"
"That white dust all over everything is cement dust." Hodgins said. "Just the regular commercial stuff, but if you find any more I should be able to match the base component ratios." Hodgins paused for a moment. "So, running is a bad thing right?"
"Yes." Brennan replied and then hung up.
She looked around the house. Cement dust. No garage outside. Only one other place it would be common to find it. Brennan started looking for the stairs to the basement.
Booth was one of the most accomplished trackers the Rangers had ever produced. He ran through the woods glancing down at seemingly innocuous things and immediately knew where Cowl and Hawk were heading. He wove in and out of trees and jumped over fallen logs before he heard Hawk yell, "Freeze!"
Booth turned on his heel and went towards Hawks voice and approached the clearing it was coming from. Something inside his gut spoke to him, telling him to wait, to hold back and watch. Something wasn't right. Booth stayed in the trees and watched as Hawk and Cowl faced each other. Hawk's weapon was out and he was holding it steady at Cowl's chest.
Cowl was standing, calmly staring at Hawk. His pale, drawn face a mask of silence.
Then Cowl spoke. "You're not RCMP are you?"
Hawk took a few steps forward, not taking the gun from Cowl's chest.
"No." Hawk replied. Booth had to suddenly resist the urge to jump up and scream, "I was right!".
"Who are you with?" Cowl asked.
"Military." Hawk replied, his voice had gone cold, unlike his more animated self earlier.
"I'm not going to walk out of here alive am I?"
"No," Hawk said. "You're not."