(After 'This Light in the Life")
A/N: This is a sequel to Chapter 65 in 'Day After Day'. Thank you for your continued support of my stories. I really appreciate it.
Warning, rated T for language.
I don't own Bones.
Oooooooooooooooo
Jimmy Kosinksi was a fairly brave man, but every man reaches a point in time when common sense kicks in and they realize that there is something they should be afraid of. He woke with a headache and when he tried to rub the back of his head, he found he was sitting in a chair and his hands were tied behind his back. Struggling, he attempted to free his hands, but all he accomplished was to tear the skin on his wrists and the bonds seemed to tighten. "What's going on? Let me go." The bookie tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but he knew he had failed. "Hey . . . what's going on?" A thump on the back of his head told him he wasn't alone.
"You're a real piece of work, Jimmy." The voice was a tenor voice and very cocky.
"You're making a big mistake messing with me." Jimmy tried to take control of the situation. He knew that most men and women are incapable of murder and he would get his revenge eventually. "You better let me go or you're going to really regret this."
The chuckle behind him made Jimmy's skin crawl. It was low and very menacing. "That right? You ever heard of Columbus? I was part of the Mid-West Bank Crew back in the 70's? Maybe you're too young or just too stupid."
His throat suddenly dry, Jimmy blinked his eyes and tried not to panic. "Yeah." He nervously cleared his throat again. "Yeah . . . you killed the Deputy Director of the FBI a few years ago and got away with it . . . Everyone knows who you are . . .um . . . what do you want with me? I've never even met you before."
Amused at the man's nervousness, Max planned to use it to his advantage. Slowly, he walked around Jimmy until he was facing him. He could clearly see the beads of sweat on Jimmy's forehead and the nervous tick in his right cheek. "So, you know I'm a dangerous man, not someone to fuck with."
Jimmy couldn't help it, he was terrified. The fact that Max Keenan was letting him see him let him know his life was on the line and he might die very soon. "Look, what did I do? Whatever it was, let me fix it, okay? If I disrespected you in any way, I'm sorry."
A little tired, Max walked over to a chair he had resting against the wall and brought it back to place in front of his hostage. Slowly, he sat down, crossed his legs and stared at the trembling man before him. "You're a bookie." He said the word as if it were the filthiest word he knew. Max hated bookies. He didn't like people taking advantage of people's addictions. He and his wife had robbed safety deposit boxes for a living. They stole from people who had money and jewelry. They didn't prey on weak people.
"Yeah, I'm a bookie. I take bets." Jimmy didn't like the way Max was staring at him as if the man was trying to decide what to do with him. "Look man, why am I here? What did I do?"
His lips pursed, Max waited a few minutes before finally answering. "You threatened Temperance Brennan and her daughter because of her husband's gambling debt. Instead of waiting for Seeley Booth to come back from Iran and make arrangements with him to pay you back, you threatened his wife and daughter instead."
Furiously thinking, Jimmy tried to figure out why Max cared. "It was business. I wanted my 30 grand and I didn't think Booth had it, but his wife is a famous author and she does have money. I just wanted my money and I knew she'd pay it to make me go away."
Just to make sure Jimmy understood how much trouble he was in, Max uncrossed his legs, placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward. "Temperance Brennan is my daughter and her daughter is my granddaughter."
"Shit!" Jimmy was certain he was about to die. "I didn't know. If I had known that I would have stayed away. I would have never taken a bet from Booth if I had known he was your son-in-law. I'm not crazy."
"But you think it's okay to threaten mothers of small children?" Max stood up, slapped Jimmy hard on the face and sat back down.
The slap left the bookie's cheek partially numb and he felt blood leaking from his mouth. "It was thirty thousand dollars . . . it was just business. I wouldn't hurt Temperance or her daughter, it was just a scare tactic. I'm not a murderer and I don't hurt people unless I have to and I would never hurt a kid. If she hadn't paid up I would have found a way to make Booth pay up. I have to put the fear of God into people sometimes to get my money. They always pay up after they realize I mean business."
Disgusted with the whole situation, Max stood up, took a pistol out of his jacket pocket and aimed it at the bookie. "So, putting the fear of God in people can get you what you want?"
Desperate to get out of the situation alive, Jimmy cried out. "Look, I'm a small business man, but I can't go to the law when people don't pay me . . . I shouldn't have gone to Dr. Brennan for the money, but there was no way Booth was going to cough up the money . . . I wasn't going to hurt them. I was just using pressure . . . please, I have never killed anyone, you can ask anyone. I have never hurt a kid in my life."
"You're very selective in what you're saying aren't you?" Max was a con man and he knew that words were important. "You would never hurt a kid . . . you don't say you would never hurt the mother of the kid . . . also, if you know that Booth wasn't good for the money why take the bet? You knew who his wife was didn't you? You knew that no matter how much he lost his wife could cover it? Right?"
Filled with fear, Jimmy realized that what he was saying was burying him. "Tell me how to make this up and I'll do it . . . please, let me make this up . . . hey, you know I haven't told anyone about Booth and his gambling . . . I got my money and I let it ride. His career is safe as long as I don't talk . . ."
The bookies words were grating on Max and the old man knew that Jimmy could ruin Booth's career. Moving closer he pressed the gun muzzle against the man's forehead. "Of course, if your brains are all over this floor you can't tell anyone anything."
"No! No! I wasn't trying to blackmail Booth." Jimmy realized that he was just a hair's breadth from dying. "I just meant, I could have talked to reporters or called in a tip about Booth, but I didn't. I just wanted my money . . . please, I'll give it back . . . I'll . . . please tell me what you want me to do to fix this . . . I'll move . . . I'll move to the other side of the country . . . please don't kill me. I didn't really hurt anyone. I never really hurt anyone, just rough them up a bit. I just . . . I just let my clients know that they have to pay me . . . Please don't shoot me."
The raw fear coming from the bookie gave Max a sense of satisfaction. He needed to see that Jimmy was taking him seriously. After he lowered the gun, he turned to talk to a friend of his standing in the deep shadows. "What do you think? We could pop him one and dump his body in the ocean?"
Ben Dawes stared at the terrified man and thought about their options. "Yeah, we could do that . . . I don't know anything about boats though, do you?"
Max shook his head. "Nope. Got any other suggestions?"
"Wait!" Jimmy was truly terrified. "You don't have to kill me . . . please. I can move away. I'll never tell anyone about Booth's gambling and I'll give you the money. Give it to your daughter or keep it or give it to charity . . . I don't need the money . . . please, you don't have to kill me."
Dawes rubbed his chin and thought about it for a few seconds. "That money might come in handy. I know of two charities that could use it . . . course, it's up to you Max."
Certain that Jimmy was now in a pliant mood, Max turned to stare at their hostage. "We could let you go, but that would involve a lot of risk. I mean we'd have to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't tell the cops then we'd have to make sure you did what you said. It'd be easier to kill you than trust you. Know what I mean? We didn't get to be our age trusting people like you."
Desperately, the bookie shook his head and tried to plead his case. "Look my life is more valuable to me than money and I know who you are. I know you could kill me and so could whoever your friend is . . . Just let me go. You can come with me. I'll go to the bank and get the money and give it to you. We can go to my house and I'll pack my clothes and I can arrange to have my stuff packed and sent to me. I'll leave. You'll never hear from me again. I'll never tell anyone about you or Booth . . . please."
The Sheriff of Merville County stared at Jimmy and smiled. "Course if you did tell anyone, you wouldn't enjoy it for very long. You don't know who I am, but I do know who you are. It wouldn't really be anything to just get rid of you . . . Max, let's go ahead and let Jimmy go. You can go with him and get the money. Just mail it to me and I'll take care of it . . . yeah, I think if he leaves this could work . . . he knows if he makes trouble for anyone he could end up in the desert dying a slow and painful death or maybe a fast and painful death. I'll make up my mind when I have to."
Relieved to hear Dawes' words, Jimmy almost cried. He was past the point of caring about his dignity. "No I get it. I'll just leave and start a business somewhere else. I won't make trouble for you or Booth or anyone here. You can believe me."
Max stared at his gun for a moment and finally nodded his head. "We'll give this a try, Jimmy. If you fuck with me, if you do anything to try to hurt my daughter or granddaughter or Booth, if you tell anyone about any of this or Booth's gambling . . . well, you'll die in pretty short order. I may not do it either. My friend here might do it or a few of our other associates and believe me, there are a lot of us . . . you fucked with the wrong family, Jimmy. You fucked with me and I don't take that shit very well."
"No, I understand." Jimmy was praying that Max would release him. If he did, he thought Seattle might be a good place to move to or maybe San Diego . . . somewhere far away from Max and his friends. "You can trust me."
Dawes found that amusing and snorted. "No, we can't, but you can trust us. We are men of our words. Screw this chance up and there won't be a second one."
Jimmy nodded his head. "I understand."
Oooooooooooooooooooo
One week passed and Max walked into the Sheriff's office in Merville County and handed the Sheriff a bag containing $25,000 in cash. "I took $5,000 and opened up a saving account for my granddaughter. She deserves it."
"Fine by me." Dawes took the bag and grinned. "Kosinksi moved to Phoenix the dumbass. It's practically in my backyard. If he does something to screw any of us, he's going to find out what an Arizona desert is really like." Placing the bag on top of his desk, the Sheriff sat down and pointed at a chair. "Want a Coke?"
"No thank you." Max sat down and pointed at the bag. "What charities are you going to give them to?"
"The Navaho Water Project." Dawes glanced at the bag. "My sister is big on that charity, so I think I should help them out."
Tired from all the traveling he had done in the last week, Max rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Booth made a mistake, but he's in the program again and it looks like he's going to be fine. Tempe took him back and I think their marriage is safe."
Glad to hear the great news, Dawes smiled. "Great . . . He and Dr. Brennan helped me save my sister and I vowed that if they ever needed help I'd be there for them. Of course, I never thought I'd get the chance . . . Imagine my surprise when you contacted me and you knew about Dani and what had happened to her . . . How did you know anyway?"
Max shrugged his shoulders. "I know a lot of things especially if it pertains to my daughter. I checked you out and I knew you were the man I needed to help me. Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me." Dawes grimly stared at a picture of his sister sitting on his desk. "Dani is all I have. I've never had time to get married although that might change pretty soon. Anyway, it was my pleasure to help fix Booth's problem. If it wasn't for him and Dr. Brennan and Angela I would have lost Dani. The pleasure was all mine."
Ooooooooooooooooooo
A/N: We met Sheriff Ben Dawes in season 1, "The Skull in the Desert."