A/N: Quick recap for those coming late to the party. Someone's killing people at Quantico, the FBI academy, where Brennan, Booth and co are spending a weekend of seminars, etc. The dead bodies contain clues directed at Brennan, referring to her past and her family. Upset, she found comfort with Agent Rouse (Booth's former mentor) only to find out from Profiler Katie Harwood that he was one who tried to kill her so Booth arrested him. With me? Good. Your next chapter should be up in a few hours. I'm Speedy Gonzales this week!

Brennan smiled at her partner as he laid a hand on the door to the interrogation room. He sighed heavily, obviously trying to steady himself.

"Don't worry, Booth. It's over."

He nodded slowly, turning the knob.

"I just wish I could believe that."

He disappeared inside, slamming the door behind him. Sighing, Temperance made her way back to the observation room on the other side of the one-way glass. About to walk inside, she saw Doctor Reynolds racing down the corridor towards her, his pale eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Doctor Brennan! Doctor Brennan, wait!"

She stared at him with a frown, seeing the panic in his face.

"Is everything alright?"

He grabbed her arm and she had to suppress the urge to forcibly remove it as he started dragging her away.

"Please, there isn't much time! You have to come now."

He broke in to a run again, pulling her with him. Utterly confused, she shook her arm free and glared at him, hands on hips.

"I'm sorry Doctor Reynolds but what exactly is the problem?"

He stopped, breathing heavily as he stared at her. His blatant fear was beginning to make her nervous.

"There isn't time. You have to see for yourself. I can't believe I missed it before! It's all so obvious now!"

He raced off again, disappearing round the corner. Letting out an angry sigh, she charged after him. Catching sight of him a few feet ahead of her, Brennan called out to him.

"Where are we going?"

He paused for a moment, letting her catch up with him.

"It's Joy Marshall's body, the evidence, the files… You have to see! It's all laid out for you in the autopsy suite."

But Brennan never got there.

Turning the corner, a sudden pain coursed down her spine from the back of her head. Her vision blurring, she could just make out Doctor Reynolds sinking to the ground beside her as everything faded to black.

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Booth sat down in the chair, kicking his feet up on to the table as he folded his arms across his chest. Saying nothing, he just stared at Rouse. His former mentor just stared right back.

They had been going back and forth for what felt like hours. Glancing at his watch, he wondered where Brennan was.

Rouse smiled slowly.

"Somewhere you're meant to be, Agent Booth? Don't let me hold you up."

Booth thrust a sarcastic grin at his old mentor.

"Don't worry, Nate. I've got all day to wait for you to admit to what you did."

Nate snorted with laughter.

"You really think I'm guilty, don't you?"

Booth shrugged.

"Well, the evidence points to you so yeah, I think you're guilty as Hell."

Nate's eyes narrowed as he shook his head.

"No, you're making the evidence fit with me because Profiler Barbie claimed I hung her up from a tree branch. Deprived of oxygen for that long, can you really trust what she says she saw?"

Booth glared at him, the anger rising in his chest, as Nate continued.

"Tell me Agent Booth, what's my motive? What possible reason do I have for murdering two people and then trying to kill Katie too?"

"I don't really want to hear the rambling psycho speech. I know you did it and that's enough to put you behind bars. I don't need to know why."

Nate burst out laughing.

"Who the hell are you trying to kid? You always want to know why, Booth, that's part of what drives you. You can't understand how people bring themselves to do the things they do so you spend your life investigating, poking and prodding until you find a motive, a reason for why these tragedies occur. Some might call it a noble pursuit. I call it desperate."

Booth raised an eyebrow.

"Desperate? You think the life of an FBI agent is desperate? Is that what drove you to it, Nate? Is that why you started this ridiculous mind game with Doctor Brennan? Because you were jonesing for some sort of control and power in your desperate little life?"

Nate jabbed a finger at him.

"See, you're doing it right now! You're trying to figure out why I did the things you think I've done. I'm afraid I can't help you, Seeley. The only people I've ever killed have been in self defence. You can't claim that though, can you Ranger?"

Booth's chest tightened.

"Just because you know what I used to do doesn't mean you know me."

Nate's thin lips curled in to a smile.

"Oh, but I do know you Agent Booth. Here you are in the middle of Quantico, practically hallowed ground for an all-American boy like you, and someone's abusing everything your precious FBI stands for. All that integrity, that nobility, lost with the pointless deaths of two agents who seemed to have done nothing to deserve their brutal end. Someone's mocking your profession and even worse, they're mocking your partner, and you can't stand it."

Booth felt his jaw clench as Nate leaned forward across the table.

"You can't protect her, Booth. She doesn't want you to. And that kills you, doesn't it? The thought that whoever it is that's playing with her could win, could snatch her away like Agent McAvoy, like Joy Marshall, that kills you."

Rouse leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest with a satisfied glint in his eye.

"You can't save her from this one, Seeley. You never could."

Booth rolled his eyes.

"She's safe, just like Katie. With you locked up in here, everybody's safe."

Nate arched an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about that, Agent Booth?"

A knot of fear began to twist in his stomach as Nate sighed heavily.

"What if I'm telling you the truth? What if I really am innocent? What happens to your partner while you're wasting all this time in here with me?"

Booth glanced at his watch.

Where the hell is she?

Getting to his feet as he prepared to leave, Nate began to laugh. Except it wasn't from happiness. Hearing the bitterness in Nate's tone, Booth glowered down at his former mentor who just grinned right back up at him.

"What's the matter, Booth? Worried about poor little Temperance?"

There was a strange glint in his eye.

He knows something…

"What have you done to be so happy about?"

Nate shrugged.

"Me? I've not done anything. But then I'm not the one who's running around out there killing people with a beady eye on your partner. Speaking of the lovely doctor, shouldn't you be following her around like a wide-eyed puppy dog right about now?"

The hairs on the back of Booth's neck began to stand on end.

He's done something. He's done something to Temperance…

"There's a madman out there, Agent Booth. I suggest you find him before your partner does."

His heart pounding, Booth charged out of the interview room.

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Temperance Brennan felt strange, like she was floating. She didn't want to open her eyes. It would take too much energy.

Somewhere in the distance she could hear hurried whispers. Someone was saying her name, over and over, calling to her.

She sighed heavily, her voice a raspy whisper.

"Booth…?"

The voices stopped and she forced her eyes open. Her vision swam, making her feel sick with dizziness.

She realised she was lying on her side on a dusty concrete floor. In front of her were a pair of shiny leather shoes. Her eyes trailed along the limp legs, reaching Doctor Reynolds' pale face, his eyes closed beneath a deep gash on his forehead.

Where the Hell is Booth?

A hand flashed in front of her face and suddenly something was covering her nose and mouth. Struggling to breathe, Brennan tried to fight herself free, finding her hands were tied tightly behind her back.

I need Booth…

Her eyelids began to droop, the vapours on the rag over her mouth making her drowsy. As she drifted back into darkness, Temperance Brennan found herself praying for her partner.

She prayed he wouldn't blame himself.

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Angela found herself being shaken awake somewhat roughly. Blinking her eyes open, she stared up in to Hodgins's concerned face. Sitting up, she stretched and yawned, suddenly aware of two frowning doctors behind her colleague.

"What's up?"

He moved aside, his sharp blue eyes piercing into hers. Blinking, she looked at the empty bed behind him.

"Where's Katie?"

He shrugged as he crouched down in front of her.

"We don't know. Nobody knows."

Angela looked around the room, her eyes wide.

"You don't think someone came back to, you know, finish the job do you?"

Hodgins said nothing, his silence making her nervous. Angela grabbed her bag, rooting through its contents to retrieve her cell phone, immediately dialling her best friend's number.

She felt the fear rising in her throat as the phone just rang and rang and rang. She always answered the phone. Always. As the line switched to voicemail, she snapped the handset shut and locked eyes with Hodgins who had his own phone pressed to his ear.

"Brennan's not answering."

Hodgins sighed heavily.

"Neither is Zach."

Angela jumped to her feet, marching towards the door, shaking her head.

"What the hell is going on?"

She dialled Booth's number, praying that all the scenarios racing through her mind were wrong. She prayed her friends were safe.

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Booth leant against the wall in the corridor, trying to breathe calmly as he cursed Nate for being able to wind him up so easily. He knew Brennan was safe, probably squinting down some microscope in the lab or working her magic over a pile of bones.

So why is my stomach still churning, why am I still worried?

The cell phone ringing in his pocket pulled his attention back to the sterile corner. He answered gruffly.

"Booth."

"It's Angela. Are you with Bren?"

"No, I've been interrogating Nate. What's going on?"

He could hear a slight tremor of fear in her voice.

"Katie's gone, and neither Zach or Bren are answering their phones. Me and Hodgins are heading over to the autopsy suite now."

Booth marched down the corridor, trying to keep his face calm.

What the hell is going on?

"Ok, I'll meet you there. Don't you dare go charging in without me. Last thing I need is a load of dead squints."

An unfamiliar agent rushed round the corner, skidding to a halt in front of him, slightly out of breath.

"Ange, I've gotta go. Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

He snapped the phone shut, giving the agent in front of him a quizzical look.

"Can I help you?"

The agent seemed to squirm under his gaze and Seeley felt the cold clamminess of fear begin to crawl across his skin. The agent cleared his throat and forced himself to look him in the eye.

"Agent Booth, do you recognise this?"

He took the small evidence bag, eyeing the contents carefully and his heart skipped a beat.

Inside was a blood-stained earring. Bones had been wearing them that morning. She loved them, they used to belong to her mother.

"Where did you find this?"

"Around the corner, just outside the elevators. We were alerted to a possible security breach when a technician noticed someone had tampered with the internal CCTV cameras for this area. Arriving at the scene, we found Doctor Reynolds' ID card, the earring and this."

He passed over a second evidence bag, this time containing the familiar piece of white card.

My dearest Seeley, stumbling through the darkness without a clue.

Did you really think you could stop me, did my message not get through?

I promised you four to sort through, my dearest noble boy,

And now I've finally captured my favourite little toy.

So what exactly will you do, how can you win?

I'm sad to say that you will fail before you even begin.

You can not save all these souls

So now you know for whom the bell tolls.

Booth felt like someone had just hit him in the stomach with a sledgehammer, his heart racing. Running a hand through his hair, he attempted to control the fear that was steadily threatening to take over his every thought.

The agent in front of him cleared his throat.

"Sir, what does the quotation mean on the other side?"

He turned the bag over with a frown.

At the top was written Luke 23:22. Frowning, he mumbled the biblical quotation under his breath.

"And he said, unto them the third time, Why, What evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him."

His eyes trailed down to the single line beneath the quotation.

I found the cause of death in her. I witnessed her evil.

Swallowing hard, he locked eyes with the agent.

"I want every inch of this base searched and searched again. I want to know where she is and who's got her. Start at the second crime scene on the obstacle course. That seems to be his preferred killing zone."

The agent nodded, scurrying away as he barked orders in to a walkie-talkie. Booth slid the card in to his jacket pocket and spun on his heel, charging through the corridors as he raced towards the autopsy suite.

Someone's got Temperance. Someone's hurting her. All because they think she's done something evil?

Seeing Hodgins and Angela waiting for him up ahead, he yanked the gun out of his holster, his heart pounding as he stopped at the door, his voice gruff.

"Stay here, don't get in my way."

He saw them share a look as he raised his gun, slipping inside the lab.

Nothing. She wasn't here. Nobody was.

A groan from the far side of the room caused him to spin round, his gun steady as he crept towards the noise. Coming round the side of the autopsy table, he nearly tripped over a pair of outstretched legs.

Zach groaned again as Booth crouched down beside him, carefully helping the young scientist up as he eyed the welt on his forehead.

"Zach, are you ok? What happened?"

Leaning on the counter, Zach tried to shake the cobwebs free. Clearing his throat, he attempted to explain.

"I was assisting Doctor Reynolds with the bodies when he seemed to find something important in one of the files. He started laying out all the evidence for Doctor Brennan to see and then went off to get her, saying it was urgent. After that, it all goes hazy."

Booth stared at him.

"You didn't see anything at all? You didn't hear anyone else in the room?"

Zach just shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Agent Booth. I just can't remember."

He clapped a friendly hand on the scientist's shoulder. Never in a million years did he think he would ever find himself comforting the irritatingly clever young man. Zach looked surprised for a second, blinking rapidly as he looked away. Slowly, a frown crossed his youthful features as he pointed at an overturned table.

"Someone's taken the evidence."

Booth followed his gaze, marching over to the mess.

"It was all on here?"

"Yes. Doctor Reynolds laid all the files out on the desk, including the x-rays, the tox reports and Doctor Harwood's profile notes. He'd been circling information in them all day."

Angela came charging in to the room, racing towards Zach with her eyes wide. Carefully examining the wound to his head, she shot a worried look at Booth.

"I'm going to take him over to the hospital wing, get him checked out. Let me know the minute you hear anything."

She turned to leave, stopping as Booth laid a gentle hand on her arm.

"We've got her back before, Angela. We'll do it again. She'll be fine."

She just nodded mutely, her eyes swimming with tears as she led Zach out of the door. Hodgins watched her go, obviously torn over whether to go with her or stay behind. When she disappeared around the corner, he turned back to Agent Booth.

"So what the hell's going on? Why did someone attack Zach, kidnap Katie again and snatch Doctor Brennan?"

Booth just stared at him, not knowing what to say.

I have absolutely no idea. I don't know why anyone would ever want to hurt Temperance, even though that's never stopped people trying. I have to find her…

Hodgins took a step closer, frowning at the federal agent.

"Booth? Come on man, what's going on?"

He dug the evidence out of his pocket, handing it over to the scientist. When he finished reading, he looked back up at Booth.

"So what do we do?"

Booth dropped himself on to a stool, staring at the overturned table.

We panic, we pray, we fight…

"I have agents out searching every inch of Quantico. Of course, the base covers 385 acres, including classrooms and woodland. The search could take hours."

"That's great, but what do we do?"

Booth frowned, his eyes narrowing. Slowly, he moved over to the upturned table, retrieving a slim manila file from underneath the metal edge.

"Looks like our attacker missed something."

Booth swallowed hard as he opened up the file, Hodgins reading over his shoulder.

Please God, let this help. Just don't take Temperance away from me, not now, not before I've had the chance to tell her all the things I've been too scared to say before.

Don't take away the woman I love.

A/N: I was watching 'Death of a President' on More 4 as I wrote this. If you missed it, bad luck guys cos it was great. Not that I support assassinating George Bush or anything (not that I like him either but you know what I mean!) but it was very well made. Anyway, watching that slowed me down a fair bit but the next chapter should be up very very soon. Please please review or I'm just not going to update and leave you all hanging... Yes, I am evil. Deal with it...