A/N: Right, I know I said there wouldn't be any more updates for a while but this damn story has been bugging at me all day so I just have to get it out and get it gone or I'm never gonna get my life back… Hopefully the story will all be done and online by tomorrow evening at the latest, though I'm really not planning on pulling another all nighter if I can help it. I love you guys but I don't love you that much…

Doctor Temperance Brennan felt totally and utterly powerless as she sat on the dusty floor, her hands and feet bound. She didn't like not being in control.

Looking up at Katie, her gaze roamed the blonde's dirty face, the dishevelled hair and the angry red mark still prominent around her neck. Brennan offered a grim smile.

"Can you help untie me?"

Katie stared down at her, her head cocked to one side. Slowly, a smile spread across her face as she shook her head.

"No. You can stay down there with the rats and the worms."

Brennan blinked slowly.

What the hell is she talking about?

"Katie, I need you to…"

The profiler cut her off with an abrupt wave of her hand, accompanied by a severe sneer.

"I need this, I want that. Well, boo hoo for you."

She crouched down in front of the anthropologist, their faces just inches apart.

"I'm sorry Temperance, but your time's up. There's a cost for the things you've done."

Katie straightened up with a grin. Somewhere nearby, Brennan heard a door slam. She was tempted to scream but the glint of the knife in Katie's hand quickly drove that idea from her mind. The blonde's smile widened as she pointed the blade directly at Brennan's throat.

"There's always a cost, Temperance. And now you pay."

Doctor Harwood moved ever closer, her eyes darting between the point of the knife and the pulse in Brennan's neck. Carefully, she ran the cold metal across the porcelain skin with a smirk.

"I get to cut you up in to worm food for what you did."

Trying to keep her breathing regular and even, Temperance sighed heavily.

She really wants to kill me. I need to play for time. Booth will come. He always does. Booth will rescue me.

"And what is it exactly that I'm meant to have done?"

Katie jerked backwards, her laughter sounding bitter and full of rage.

"You're a murderer, Doctor Brennan. It's as simple as that. You can dress it up all you want with your trailer-trash books and long-winded science, but you're still a killer."

"Like you, you mean?"

She blinked rapidly, obviously trying to calm herself down as Brennan bit her lip.

There's no one else she can be talking about. I've only ever taken one life and that was one too many.

Katie cleared her throat, her eyes narrowed.

"The people I killed deserved their fate. The things they had done in their lives, the way they treated others, they deserved everything they got."

"So did Gil Lappin."

I don't mean that, do I? He killed Sarah Korskoff, he was about to kill Helen Majors, he attacked Booth. Maybe he did deserve it. I just wish it wasn't me that had to shoot him. He was going at my partner with a lead pipe. It was him or Booth. No contest.

Katie rushed forward in the blink of an eye, grabbing Temperance by the throat and slamming her backwards in to the wall. Everything went blurry as the wound on the back of her head connected with the plastic covered brickwork. Struggling to breathe, she attempted to get free to no avail, Katie's eyes boring in to her own.

"My brother was… That monster Howard Epps made him do it. He was forced! He would never have done the things you claimed unless he was under duress. He was a good, respectful, God-fearing man."

She loosened her grip on Brennan's throat slightly, a slow smile spreading across chapped lips.

"When you think about it, when you killed my brother, you sealed the fate of McAvoy and that little slut Joy Marshall. You signed their death warrants. In the end, you're the one that killed them. But that's just part of the price you pay…"

She rocked back on her heels, still crouching in front of Brennan. The anthropologist wanted to fight back, wanted to wipe the smug smile right off her grubby little face, but she just didn't have the energy. The pain in her head was immense, shooting daggers down her neck and blurring her vision.

There's nothing I can do. I'm trapped, I'm tied up, I'm going to die here…

Katie slowly rose to her feet, pacing back and forth across the dusty concrete in the hospital slippers and gown under her suit jacket. Brennan would have laughed at the sight if it wasn't so tragic.

The blonde stopped, twirling the large blade skilfully between her fingers as her sing-song voice filled the room.

"One for sorrow, two for Joy, three for answers, fourth is the toy… Technically, I died in the woods this morning so what does that make you Doctor Brennan?"

She laughed loudly as Bones just stared at her, her eyes wide as the gravity of the situation truly began to sink in. Katie's voice turned cold and hard as she pointed the knife directly at her captive's chest.

"The toy? That's you, Temperance. It was always going to be you. You think you're so much better than the rest of us, flinging your big important words about and writing trashy books that make the rest of us look like idiots. I always thought you deserved to be brought down a peg or two and the minute you messed with my family, I knew I was the one to do it."

She smiled fondly, the dim light bouncing off the blade and dancing across her face as she leaned in close.

"I enjoyed playing with you though, Temperance, more than I thought I would. I'm almost sorry the game's nearly over. Of course, it doesn't have to end right now… There's plenty of tricks I can teach the old dog yet."

Her eyes lit up as she put on an air of childlike innocence, her breath hot against Brennan's cheek as she ran the knife down the side of her neck and across her shoulder.

"I know a trick the toy can learn…"

Temperance just saw a flash of silver before her shoulder seemed to explode with pain, the blade slicing deep across her flesh as Katie grinned.

"Let's teach the dog to beg…"

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Agent Seeley Booth was terrified. Not that he was about to admit it to the squint stood staring at him.

Katie is Lappin's sister. Katie killed two people, just to get to Temperance. Oh God, Temperance…

Hodgins was staring at him expectantly, obviously waiting for some kind of plan to save their friend. But Booth couldn't think of anything, his sense of uselessness starting to take control.

All the available agents are roaming the base and looking for her. I have no idea where Katie would take Bones. I have no idea how to save her.

Fear clawing at his stomach, he couldn't bring himself to look at Hodgins, couldn't bring himself to admit that he was lost for answers without his partner.

The shrill ring of the cell phone nearly scared him half to death.

"Booth."

"Sir, this is Agent Shepherd."

Please give me good news, tell me she's ok. Tell me I haven't lost her.

"We've covered the entire obstacle course and left a couple of agents at the killing zone but I'm afraid there's no sign of Doctor Brennan."

He sighed heavily, running a frustrated hand across his face.

"Fine, spread out. Keep looking."

He snapped the phone shut with such force that he nearly broke the handset, a fact that didn't escape Hodgins's notice. Stepping forward, the scientist's sharp blue eyes pierced the agent's fears.

"They can't find her?"

Booth just shook his head, unable to find the words.

This isn't happening. Not again. This isn't happening…

"So what do we do?"

Raising his eyes to the squint, Booth felt a bitter taste in the back of his mouth.

"The only thing we can do."

He marched out of the lab, slamming open the double doors at the end of the corridor, Hodgins scurrying along behind.

"Which is?"

Booth glanced at the squint, his eyes brimming with barely suppressed rage.

"We've got to talk to Nate."

Hodgins stopped beside the lift, eyeing Booth warily as he punched the button.

"But Katie's the killer right?"

Booth nodded, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the doors to open.

"Nate knows something about this. I can feel it."

Hodgins just sighed.

"No offence, man, but your whole gut instinct way of working hasn't really been, you know, working that well recently."

With the glare he received from Booth, Hodgins just raised his hands in surrender as he stepped inside the lift.

"But hey, let's talk to Nate."

Booth punched the close button, the music grating on his last remaining nerve.

Hodgins is right, my gut was wrong and now Temperance is out there somewhere paying the price…

The doors opened and Booth marched out in to the corridor, his fists clenched tightly at his side.

This is where they found the earring. This is where Katie grabbed her…

Swallowing back the anger, he turned the corner and headed straight towards the interrogation room, kicking the door open. Nate stared up at him, obviously startled.

"Agent Booth, is everything ok?"

Unable to control himself and no longer caring about the possible consequences, Booth swept his mentor out of the chair and threw him across the room. Behind him, he could feel Hodgins growing uncomfortable but that just served to fuel his rage as he towered over his fellow agent.

"Where is she? Where did Katie take her?"

Nate's wide eyes slowly filled with comprehension.

"So you finally figured out it wasn't me, huh?"

Booth loomed in closer, not bothering to conceal the rage in his eyes.

"I said, where is she?"

Nate raised his hands in surrender, scuttling away from his former student as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I don't know, Seeley."

He clambered to his feet as Booth approached, his air intimidating.

"You're trying to hide something from me and I swear to God, I'll beat it out of you if I have to. You have to know where she is!"

For the first time since his arrest, Nate looked genuinely sympathetic.

"I don't know, Seeley. I'm sorry but I honestly don't know where she is."

His last hope extinguished, Booth punched the wall, his anger barely masking his fear. Sighing, Nate took a tentative step forward.

"Let's think about this logically. Katie's been playing a game with you from the beginning, she wants you to challenge her. That's why she left you all the clues. Red herrings or not, she was giving you the chance to beat her. That way it would be all the more rewarding for her when she won."

Booth shook his head fervently.

"She's not going to win. I won't let that happen."

"So look at the clues, Seeley. Follow the damn evidence she's given you."

Blinking rapidly, Booth slid a hand in to his jacket pocket, pulling out the two evidence bags. Ignoring the pang of fear he felt seeing the earring, he instead turned his attention to the message on the card.

Placing it on the desk in front of him, he just stared at it, reading the words out loud as he hoped to find something he had previously missed.

"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'm getting it loud and clear now, you son of a bitch…

"I promised you four to sort through, my dearest noble boy, and now I've finally captured my favourite little toy."

Bones is the toy. What the hell is Katie doing to her? Oh God, Temperance…

"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."

Temperance. The bell tolls for Temperance, like a death knell at a funeral.

He shook that image out of his head, trying to focus on the evidence in front of him. Suddenly, it dawned on him.

"The bell. Of course!"

Hodgins frowned.

"What bell?"

Seeley grabbed the card, shoving it back in his pocket as he raced for the door, Hodgins barely able to keep up.

"Above the court house in Hogan's Alley is a bell that rings on the hour, every hour. When that bell tolls, Katie will kill Bones."

He felt his heart pounding at the thought.

She won't succeed this time, I won't let her.

Booth suddenly realised that Hodgins was no longer with him. Pausing to glance back over his shoulder, he saw the squint's eyes widen.

"The post office!"

Booth just blinked slowly.

"What?"

Hodgins marched over, his voice full of certainty.

"When Lappin attacked you and Doctor Brennan, it was in a disused sorting office, right? That was where she shot him, where he died?"

Booth nodded slowly.

"Yeah, so?"

"Isn't there a post office in Hogan's Alley too?"

Booth's eyes widened as he clapped a congratulatory hand on the squint's back, grabbing the cell phone off his belt.

"Agent Shepherd, get your men to Hogan's Alley and set up a perimeter around the postal office. We think that's where Doctor Brennan is. Hold in position till we get there."

He snapped the phone shut and charged down the glass corridors, stumbling through the darkness.

I'm coming, Temperance. Just hold on, I'm coming.

A/N: Reviews are my oxygen, people, so come on, help me breathe. Wow, that was almost poetic! At which point I should say that it's 2:30am and I desperately need sleep. Catch you all tomorrow. We've hit the final straight...