A/N: Ok, just two more chapters or so to go and I get my life back. Wohoooooooo! Let me know what you think, please. The last few updates should be up this evening.

Temperance Brennan swallowed hard, trying to bite back the pain that throbbed through her head and shoulder. Sprawled on the concrete floor, she struggled to focus on Katie's slippers which were pacing back and forth through the dust.

Somewhere nearby, she heard a door slam again. A tiny flicker of hope now burning in her chest, Brennan struggled against the rope around her wrists and ankles, shuffling back against the wall so she could sit up.

Her eyes wide, she stared towards the open doorway, willing Booth to enter.

Please Booth, where are you?

Katie was staring down at her, obviously amused.

"You still think someone's going to come along and save you… Let me guess, you're just waiting on Booth, your favourite little white knight in FBI issued body armour?"

Brennan glared at her, not saying a word. Katie laughed bitterly, shaking her head as she stalked toward her victim.

"That's the thing about Seeley. He gives you that charming smile and everybody just melts. I know I did…"

Brennan ignored the knowing tone in Katie's voice, not wanting to hear about the history she shared with her partner.

Brennan felt her heart pounding in her chest as her eyes locked with Katie's. The profiler just stared at her.

"He's not coming for you, Temperance. He doesn't care."

Despite herself, Brennan was scared she might be right.

Katie turned away, rooting through a canvas bag in the corner of the room, mumbling to herself. Slowly, she straightened up and turned back to her captive, a slow smile spreading across her face as she stroked the gun lying on her palm.

"Gil's pistol… He was such a good shot. Such a good boy…"

Brennan couldn't keep the look of revulsion from her face as Katie's eyes glazed over, staring at memories long since past. Blinking rapidly, she turned her attention back to the anthropologist, creeping towards her with the gun at her side.

"I wish he'd seen who you really are before he died. Maybe that would have saved him… The screwed up kid abandoned by everyone. Did it never occur to you that the reason they all left was because they just couldn't stand to be around you?"

Brennan struggled to blink back the unwanted tears, her voice strained when she responded.

"No. My family loved me. They left to protect me and my brother."

Of course I thought they hated me. How else does a scared little girl see the situation? I thought they left because they hated me.

Katie glared at her.

"How anyone can stand to be near you, the cold and heartless little bitch making money out of trashy books full of lies, making herself out to be some kind of hero. You're no hero. You never were. My brother though, he was a hero. He was innocent."

The bitter laughter escaped Brennan's throat before she could stop it.

"Gil Lappin killed innocents. He was never one himself."

Infuriated, Katie rushed forwards, the pistol raised high above her head. Before Temperance ever had a chance to protect herself, the butt of the gun connected with her right cheekbone, jerking her head sharply to the left.

Her vision swimming and her mouth full of blood, Temperance felt the warmth of sleep creeping up on her. She knew that her body's response to the pain was to shut down, to make her unconscious, and she didn't want to fight it.

Maybe I do deserve this. I took someone's life. Booth always said there was a cost when you kill someone and I guess this is my cost. Booth, where are you?

Her body beginning to drift away, Brennan let out a long sigh as she thought of her partner.

He's not coming.

Her eyes drooped close and her shoulders slumped forward.

She had given up fighting.

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Booth and Hodgins charged down the barely lit road, finally reaching the start of Hogan's Alley. A small team of agents were huddled round the side of the first building, examining blueprints by torchlight.

Booth marched over.

"What've you got?"

Agent Shepherd straightened up, nodding gravely.

"Looks like you were right. The infra-red shows that there are two people in one of the post office classrooms, bang in the middle of the building where there's a load of renovation work going on. There's one figure on the floor and one who keeps moving, obviously the hostile. There's also a third person in a room three doors down, not moving but alive, probably just unconscious."

Booth nodded, slipping on the bullet proof vest that was offered to him as Shepherd cleared his throat slowly.

"Agent Booth, are we to assume that the individual on the floor in the main room is Doctor Brennan?"

He nodded, pulling his gun from his holster.

"Yeah, and we have seven minutes till the clock strikes. That's when Katie plans on killing her. I'll take alpha team round the front, you take beta round the back. I want radio silence till the package is secured and I want snipers on hand in case Doctor Harwood makes a run for it."

The agent spun back round to his team, making the arrangements, as Booth turned back to Hodgins. The scientist's eyes widened and he started shaking his head angrily.

"Don't you dare, Booth! You're not leaving me out here to just sit around and twiddle my thumbs. I'm coming with you."

Booth stared at him for a few moments, trying to make up his mind. Hodgins took a step closer, his jaw set.

"That's Doctor Brennan in there. I can't just…"

He swallowed hard, averting his eyes. Seeley just sighed heavily and threw a vest at the squint.

"Fine but you know, if you get shot, I'm not dealing with the wrath of Angela…"

Hodgins grinned as he slipped on the vest, following Booth silently to the head of the alley. The teams assembled around them and Hodgins begun to wonder if he really had made the right choice. Leaning forward, he tapped Booth on the shoulder.

"Er, do I get a gun?"

"No."

"It's just, I'm feeling a little like one of those ducks on a firing range..."

"No."

"Ok, fine, just wanted to check…"

Booth signalled to the second squad to move round the back as he moved forward silently, the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Pushing the front door to the fake post office open as quietly as he could, he stepped inside, his gun level as his eyes roamed the space for booby traps and hazards.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he pushed forward, carefully making his way down the main corridor, his heart pounding.

Come on, Temperance, hold on. I'm almost there. Just hold on.

Checking every classroom on the corridor, Booth knew he had to keep his calm even though the fear was starting to claw at his stomach.

What if we're too late? What if Katie kills her before the bell tolls?

Swallowing hard, Booth pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, focusing on the job at hand instead. He continued down the corridor, carefully approaching another door. Pushing it open a little, he crouched beside the gap, trying to see inside.

The sight of feet lying unmoving on the floor made his heart jolt. Signalling to the two agents behind him, Booth glared at Hodgins to stay put. The scientist just nodded and watched as the group charged in to the room. A few moments late, Booth emerged, shaking his head. The two agents carefully carried Doctor Reynolds from the room, disappearing back down the corridor.

Three doors down, Temperance is three doors down.

His weapon drawn, Booth practically sprinted the rest of the way, Hodgins hot on his heels.

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Katie slapped Brennan hard across the face, shaking her awake.

"Don't you dare quit on me, bitch! I'm not done with you!"

Temperance groaned, blinking rapidly as her whole body screamed with pain. Raising her head, she did her best to swallow back the tears and hide the fear that was threatening to control her.

Katie opened her mouth to say something but then paused, a frown creasing her features. Brennan watched as she crossed the room quietly, slowly poking her head through the sheets of plastic as she looked out the door. Satisfied that they were alone, she stalked back across the room, shaking her head.

"We don't have much time… Gotta finish soon, not much time."

Her gaze snapped back on to Brennan as she cocked her head to one side, a sneer pulling at her mouth.

"Oh dear, poor Temperance... There's no-one to save you now, is there? All alone, they've all deserted you. Nobody wants a killer like you."

Brennan swallowed hard, trying to buy herself time.

"You won't get away with this, Katie. They'll track you down."

The blonde laughed heartily.

"There's no such person as Katie Harwood. My name, my real name, is Anne Lappin. And why would they even suspect little old me? You saw to that when you found me hanging in the woods. I'm just another victim. You though, you snapped. I had to shoot you, I had to stop you to save myself. At least, that's what they're going to think when I'm finished."

She crouched down in front of Brennan, a strange glint in her eyes.

"Just think how easily Booth will fall in to my arms again once you're gone… He doesn't care about you, Doctor Brennan, he never did. That's why he's not here. He doesn't love you, he doesn't care. Nobody does."

She got to her feet and took a step back, pointing the gun directly at Brennan.

"The will of the Lord be done - Acts 21:14."

Katie cocked the weapon, leaning forward slightly as Brennan's eyes widened, the fear paralysing her. Somewhere in the distance, a bell rang out the hour. Katie's smile almost stretched from ear to ear.

"Time's up."

A/N: Dun dun derrrrrrrrrrrrr! Don't worry, the next chapter should be up and running in about an hour or so. Please review and let me know what you think cos I'm really not a fan of this chapter. It's all going a bit wrong for me at the mo... Lack of sleep doesn't become me obviously...