They still don't belong to me, and I'm still not making any money (especially while I'm writing this instead of working!).

Thanks for the reviews :-)

Wednesday 11.50pm

Brennan moved instinctively towards the building, but Agent Palmer held his arm out. "You need to stay here," he said firmly. "The situation is under control. They wouldn't have called for the medics if it weren't."

"But who's been hurt?" demanded Brennan. "Please, I need to know."

He just shrugged. "We'll find out soon," he answered, and turned his attention back to the building. Brennan saw a medical team moving towards the entrance to the warehouse, with a gurney between them. Two agents met them at the door, and they disappeared inside with one of them, while the other remained just outside.

Nothing else happened for a while.

Brennan resumed her pacing, hugging her arms around her body as if for warmth. As soon as someone appeared at the warehouse door her attention was back there, but he only said something to the man waiting at the doorway, and then disappeared inside again. Another medical team was summoned and disappeared inside.

Eventually, Brennan could bear the waiting no more. By her watch, no more than fifteen minutes had passed since the team had entered the building, no more than five since the call for the medical team, but her heart felt as though it had been a lifetime. Her chest ached, and she realised dully that she had been almost holding her breath, willing with every fibre of her body for Booth to be unharmed. Someone was injured, but there was no reason to suppose it was Booth. A dozen men were in the building. Harris, as far as they knew, was already in there, and in far more danger than the men who had entered in body armour and fully armed. But why would her heart not accept the reasoning of her head? Why did she feel this pressure, this unwillingness to breathe normally, to even dare to imagine Booth walking calmly out of the building, dropping his body armour and dropping it to the ground at his feet, grinning at her and saying...

"They're coming out."

"What?" Startled, Brennan turned to find Agent Palmer standing beside her.

"They're just coming out," he repeated. "I heard that one of the perps was killed outright, the other injured slightly."

"And the agent?"

"Seriously injured, but he'll be okay."

"Who was-" Brennan began to ask, but Palmer was summoned away before she could finish. Now she could see the medics appearing from the doorway. Two gurneys were brought out, and headed towards the two ambulances standing nearby. One was attended by the medics and one agent who was holding a gun; Brennan assumed he was the perp. She turned her attention to the other gurney. The man on there was wearing an oxygen mask, and covered with a blanket. Brennan couldn't tell if it was Booth or not. She tried moving closer, but still could not see.

"Looking for someone?"

She jumped, then swung round. Booth was standing there, still wearing his body armour but with his gun holstered, looking the same as ever, if somewhat tired. Brennan fought off the impulse to throw her arms around him; she could imagine what his colleagues would say about that. Instead she smiled. "About time," she said cheerfully, trying to hide how worried she'd been about him.

He nodded at her, then turned to Agent Palmer. They moved off a short way and Brennan could hear them talking. She heard Booth explain something about two perps being captured, and Harris injured but rescued. "The leader's still at large," she heard Booth say. "He told the others something about dealing with the top name on his list personally."

"So who's that?" Agent Palmer wondered.

Booth shook his head. "They didn't know. All FBI agents are being warned to be extra careful until he's captured. It's only a matter of time now; he's working on his own."

They discussed the matter some more, then eventually Booth clapped his hand on the other agent's shoulder and turned back to Brennan. "What say we head for home? They can cope with the rest here."

Brennan looked at him closely. His face was pale, and his voice sounded weaker than usual. She indicated the body armour. "You going to take that off?"

He put his hands up to the fastening, but pulled at it so feebly she took over and helped him remove the armour. Agent Palmer took it from them. He frowned at Booth. "You look like you could do with some rest," he commented.

Booth shook his head. "I'm okay," he insisted, but put up little protest when Brennan led him to the car. He climbed in and rested his head on the back of the seat.

Brennan climbed in the driver's seat and started the engine. She looked across at him. "Did you get much sleep today?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I got a couple of hours," he said defensively.

"Then it's time you got some more," she said, putting the car into gear.

Wednesday 12.42pm

Booth was nearly asleep in the car by the time they reached Brennan's home. He had opened his eyes once or twice on the journey, but had said nothing, even when he realised that they were heading for her house and not his. When they pulled up he opened his eyes again with a groan, and looked across at her enquiringly.

She shrugged. "You said all agents were to be extra careful," she reminded him. "It seemed a bad idea to take you back to your place. After all, we know you're on his hit list. You can get some sleep at my place, then you'll be ready to go and help find him in the morning."

He put up no argument, but opened the door and nearly rolled out of the car. He meekly followed Brennan up to the front door, and waited while she unlocked it.

Brennan walked in first. The first thing she noticed when she hit the light switch was that a man was standing by the bottom of her stairs. The second thing she noticed was the gun, held pointing steadily at her heart.

Nearly there, just one more part to go!

Thanks for staying with me, why not tell me what you think? I'm especially interested in which parts you felt worked best and which parts you felt worked least.