A/N: Apologise for the length of this chapter. It's much shorter than usual, but it came to a natural break so I thought I'd leave it there. It's also quite late over here - a lot of tonight had been spent watching Bones - doing research, naturally.
Anyway - let me knwo what you think, and I'll update tomorrow with a nice, fluffy chapter. We're getting pretty much to the fluff bit now...
Chapter 18 – The Catch
Brennan clung onto the door handle as they swerved round another corner at breakneck speed, holding her breath momentarily. What was a slight shower had increased to a pounding down pour, and they were now heading to possibly the place she least wanted to be; another river.
"Booth, if you're heading to the Huyana River you're going in the wrong direction," she pointed out.
She heard a chuckle erupt from him. "I'm not, Bones. Wheeler was going to take a group of children to the Sanuye River. My bet is that he's gone there. He'll have another hide out. The Sanuye is a popular fishing spot and there are huts pretty much up and down the stretch that's used. He'll be there."
"How can you be so sure?" She asked, feeling worried that going off Booth's hunches might cost them more than they would gain, although they had nearly always been right in the past.
"If I'm not, Cullen will have sent people out in enough directions to get a hold of him somewhere," he gave her a knowing smile. "But I am right, Bones, trust me."
"I do trust you, Booth," she said, knowing the words had more than one meaning.
"Good. It's about time you realized," he answered quietly. He was silent for a second or two before picking up the conversation about the case. "My theory is that on this little trip Wheeler had planned, he was going to select another child, who maybe wouldn't come back. It could have been easily done. That's what makes me think he had stuff set up here in preparation, maybe another tub and cleaning fluid."
"How does Mrs. Sanderson fit into this?" Brennan asked.
"You'd better tell me what went on," Booth replied, his hands on the steering wheel, gripping it tightly as they went round another precarious band in the road.
"Cullen and Laherne interviewed her. Laherne drove me to Valerie's house after you had called and basically said that she had told them she had instigated the murders, using rat poison to cause them as much pain as they had given her. From how Laherne told it, the three children had been trouble for her, and she wanted to get rid of them. Apparently she thinks that she's saved the country the money it would have spent in keeping them in jail," she explained.
"How did she know Thomas?" Booth asked. "He was never in her class."
"He was a problem at playtimes. That was the last thing she said before she stopped speaking," she told him.
Booth's face grew grim. "I'm sure many teachers are plagued with children that cause them to lose a little bit of their sanity every day, but I doubt any of them have considered actually going through with murder," he reasoned.
Booth swung the car into a pull in point on the road, switching off the engine. Brennan looked out of the window at the pouring rain, the waning moon hidden behind clouds and unable to shed any light.
"Do you have a good idea of where to start to look?" She asked Booth, who was now prodding around in his trunk.
He shrugged. "The fishing huts, I guess." He slammed it shut and handed her a large waterproof jacket. "This'll stop you from getting more soaked."
"What about you?" She asked in concern.
"I won't melt," he responded, not making eye contact with her.
"Booth!" She snapped quietly. "I'll be fine!"
He glared at her. "Bones, just wear the goddamn thing!" She looked at him, knowing that she shouldn't be so stubborn, she didn't ned to be where he was concerned, and gave in, putting on the oversized garment. He laughed softly when he saw her, and rather than snap at him for making fun of her, she found herself smiling back.
They trekked around trees that were in what could have been described asa bog, the density of branches shading the ground from the sun, stopping the water from evaporating as it had done in other places. Large, heavy drips from branches plodded onto her waterproof, and she felt glad that Booth had given it to her. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was now saturated, more concerned with finding Wheeler than anything else right now.
It didn't take long before they came into view of the Sanuye River. It ran faster than the Huyana, and was deeper and narrower. There was no way they would be trying to wade through it. Booth directed them to the right, following the marshy bank along, to where she could just make out the shadows of the fishing huts in the distance.
She stopped and waited for Booth to catch her up. He had lingered behind, examining something while she had been taken with the river and the view.
"We got footprints – fresh ones," he said, flicking off the flashlight he was carrying.
"It doesn't mean they're Wheeler's," she said doubtfully.
"I know," he answered, stepping up the pace. "But my gut says they are." She walked along side him, matching his stride with hers, keeping up with him all the way. The tension between them still simmered, even what had happened a few hours ago in the lab hadn't cooled them, if anything it had upped the stakes as now there was even more left unsaid. She shot a glance at him, and wondered if he was too focused on the case to be thinking about her and what had happened.
"More footprints," he observed. "The same ones too," he picked up speed and began to jog along in the wet ground, Brennan followed him, knowing that she would probably follow him anywhere, if she managed to squash the claustrophobiac in her.
They moved passed several huts, away from the river and back into the trees. She was reminded a little of the hut by the Huyana, where they had found the Compound 1080, and Booth had injured his leg, bringing about their first kiss.
"Who owns this huts?" She asked him, glancing at him and feeling a thrill go through her at the sight.
"Private owners. Some may be rented. If we'd have had time for a check I would bet that Wheeler owns one of these," he asnwered, keeping his voice low.
There was something different about this terrain though, compared with the other river.It hummed with a wariness that she didn't understand, a sense of worry and anticipation hung from the branches along with the leaves, rather like a snake waiting for its prey.
Booth had raced slightly ahead of her now, and was now stopping at a hut, newer than the one at the other river. There was no window for this one, and obviously he wasn't about to hang around, studying it for evidence. A foot went up and slammed into the door, pushing it open immediately. Brennan hoped that Booth's intuition was working well and this wasn't the property of someone other than Wheeler, else they would have questions to answer in the morning.
She entered, the load crash of the lock breaking having stopped resonating in the air, and silence falling heavily down on them. She watched where Booth's flashlight shone, following the light as it walked the room. She saw pictures of the mouthless man tacked up to the walls, along with a photograph of Wheeler and Valerie Sanderson. Wet footprints that had not dried out were still imprinted on the floor, showing that someone other than them had been here before and not that long ago either.
In a corner, as Booth had predicted, was a small tub, a barrel. There was nothing to drain the cleaning fluid from this one, but Brennan figured that Wheeler would have just emptied it into the river.
"There's Wheeler's work bag," Booth pointed out, shining the flashlight on the item. "That's what he's come to drop off – possibly pick something up as well."
"Why come here, I don't get it?" Brennan looked at her partner.
"It's the chase. This guy likes to be chased. It's how he gets his kicks. Phoning Cullen – why bother doing that? He has to prove that he is smarter and can avoid being captured. He would know that we'd eventually end up here at some point, but he'd have probably wanted it to have been a bit later on," Booth shone the light near to her face so he could see her. "I hope you weren't planning on taking any holidays anytime soon, Bones," he said.
"I wasn't," she shugged.
"Good, 'cause I think once we're holding Wheeler in custody for murder, then we'll have a few more bodies for you to look at," Booth said, not looking at her. He had begun to open the bag.
"You're thinking of his wife and son?" Brennan crouched down next to him, their thighs almost touching as she shared his light, looking into the bag with him.
"And probably one or two others along the way," he pulled out a jar identical to what had been found at the fishing hut at the other river. "He was gonna take another kid. Everything's set up here for it," Booth stood up.
Brennan looked around her, having the strangest feeling that they were being watched. She caught Booth's eye in the dim light, standing up to nearly his height.
"Booth?" She queried, sensing that something was not right.
"He's watching us," Booth whispered. She saw him go for his gun and then step in front of her. She heard a sound from outside that seemed to support Booth's assumption. She kept close behind him, feeling a little nervous. She knew she was more than capable of handling herself, having trained in three different martial arts, but the security of having Booth there was, well, nice. There was nothing left to prove to him; he knew she was capable of looking after herself, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy having someone who wanted to look after her, did it?
He pushed the door open and left the hut, moving his hand to keep her back. She didn't remain in the hut. For one, she knew that Booth was particularly pissed off with this guy, and when he caught him he would be liable to let his temper explode a little more that he should.
She saw him turn round and glare at her for not following his instructions; she shrugged and saw him shake his head, a smile tipping at the corner of his mouth. Then the sound of a branch crunching caught their attention, and both their heads turned to their right, away from the hut. Booth seemed to freeze, his eyes everywhere as he hunted for the sight of who ever and whatever had made the noise. He began to edge forward, and Brennan became aware of his noiseless feet heading over to the copse of trees.
Then she saw movement, and heard feet travelling fast over the dead leaves that had not yet completely disintegrated. Branches were snapped and crunched and Booth took off, his solid frame bursting through the air.
She followed behind, managing to keep in the direction in which Booth was travelling, but not trying to keep up. Her foot got caught in a root and she stumbled, falling over. She pulled herself up, aware that searing pain was running up her leg from her ankle, but knowing that she had to get to Booth. She had decided on more than one level tonight that she was not going to let him get away from her.
Stubbornness furrowed her brow as she ran on, still able to hear the sounds of footsteps. She saw another flash of movement and ceased her travels, freezing, watching. The body near to her had stopped, she could see his chest rising and falling with each breath. Wheeler hadn't realised she was there, he had been too busy concentrating on Booth to think about where she had gone, or maybe he had just assumed that they had stayed together.
She waited for what seemed an eternity, but in reality was only a few seconds, the throbbing in her ankle nearly making her gasp out loud. She took a stride, rounding the bush that was shielding her, keeping her eyes focused on Wheeler. She moved almost silently, glad of the rain and the force at which was falling and banging down on the ground and leaves, helping to mask her movements as she stepped closer to him.
The back of his head was in view just a few feet away. Even if he turned around now she was close enough to speed up and kick him, hopefully taking him down. She moved closer, her heart pounding so loudly she imagined it could be heard all the way down the river bank.
He turned his head round and they both stood still for a split second. She saw a look of surprise and fear on his face as his foot went up, about to run out of the way. She was quicker, her reflexes and brain more supple and agile and within half a second her leg was raised and she round house kicked him with all the force she could muster, making up in strength what she lacked in style, and ignoring the pain from her ankle.
He was off balance and toppled like a felled tree. She booted him again out of frustration, making him roll onto his stomach. Sitting on his back she grabbed both of his wrists, moving the heel of one shoe into the base of his neck, pushing his face further into the wet soil.
"Booth!" She hollered at the top of her voice. "Seeley!" Footsteps came into her hearing, and she turned her head to the direction of them.
"Bones," she heard back. Booth came into her line of vision. "I see you've found our friend." Booth took a set of handcuffs from his belt and moved to Brennan's side. The heat coming from him was almost palpable, and she found herself revelling in it.
"Where were you?" She reproached as he moved her slightly to snap on the cuffs.
"Watching," he grinned.
She glared. "You saw what was going on?"
He nodded, she moved from her position on Wheeler's back as Booth began to pull him up. "You got there first. If I had closed in he would have heard me. Besides, as you keep telling me you can look after yourself. If he had been armed, or tried it back with you I had you covered," she looked to where he had replaced his gun. "But I had no doubts that you wouldn't get hold of him."
She realised that she was in love.
"Right, Peter Wheeler," his tonechanged in depth. "I'm arresting you for the murders of Patrick Kearney and Thomas Dyer, as well as the kidnapping of David Matthieson. And I'm pretty sure that we'll be discovering some other things about that sweet little past of your that'll have the jury calling for your number to come up," Booth shook the man slightly, giving him the dubious grin designed to annoy whoever was looking at it.
Wheeler glared up at him, his look cold.
"You got caught, Wheeler. I guess you weren't quite smart enough. What was the problem? Did you not get into teacher training when you wanted to? Couldn't pass the tests?" Booth laughed. "Bones, could you call Cullen and let him know that we've apprehended the suspect?"
She nodded, her hand mooching into Booth's back pocket where she knew he kept his cell. She felt him flinch at her touch. He was holding Wheeler against a tree, pinning him to the bark so he was unable to make a move. She knew that he would be fighting the urge to hurt Wheeler andthat the case, with it involving children, had particularly gotten to him, but he was too well trained to do something as impulsive as hurt the man.
He had saved his impulsions for different circumstances.
She felt a dull ache inside of her as recollections of just a few hours ago rose inside her mind as she listened to the ring of Cullen's phone. When he did answer, he voice shook a little, knowing, almost certain, of what would come next.
Iapologise for the length of this chapter, it just seemed to break nicely there, and I have spent a good deal of the night 'researching' Bones by watching Two Bodies in the Lab.
There's mucho fluff coming up, if you have any burning desires that need to resolved please feel free to review and make your suggestions!
Otherwise, just review - let me know what you think - good, bad, poor - tell me, just press that little button down there.
Sarah x
