(High Treason in the Holiday Season)

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The case had bothered Booth a great deal and he was feeling frustrated that they had been unable to complete the case. A reporter named Vivian Prince had copies of NSA documents given to her by an NSA Agent named Ryan Gill who was her lover. She had used that data to begin a series of articles about what the NSA was up to. Ryan Gill had thought Vivian was going too far, had tried to get the documents back from her, but he had failed. He had tried to use a metal detector to find the jump drive the documents were stored on, Vivian had tried to stop him and he'd killed her when they struggled over a metal detector wand. Booth was unable to locate the jump drive and he felt that left some NSA agents vulnerable if the wrong people ever found it.

After the case was considered closed, Hodgins had been determined to find the jump drive Vivian had hid the NSA documents on. Since neither Booth or Gill had found it, Hodgins decided to check Vivian's office to see if it was there. It seemed the most logical place to hide something that valuable. He found it hidden in a false bottom of an ink stand that contained a George Orwell quote and felt satisfied that the case could be considered closed.

Once he found it, he had taken the jump drive home, placed it in a wall safe, locked the safe and mulled over what he should do with the information he now had in his possession. Hodgins didn't believe that the government had a right to keep anything hidden from the public. He had always felt that a secret government was a dangerous one, but he was also a reasonable man and he knew that the NSA documents he had could endanger a lot of people who worked for the NSA. He might not agree with the things his government did, but he could never jeopardize anyone's life.

After a few days, he was still torn about what he should do, but he knew that he had to do something with the drive. He couldn't keep it in his safe forever. As he struggled to make a decision he thought about the one man he trusted who could help him make his decision. Over the years Hodgins had grown to admire Booth. When they had first met, he had considered Booth to be just another suit, one of many bureaucrats that the government employed. He hadn't trusted the Agent and felt that Booth's duty would be to the FBI and not to real justice. He had been wrong. Booth proved to be a dedicated agent who worked hard to solve any deaths that were assigned to him. He fought any pressure placed on him to hurry an investigation or to look the other way when powerful people were involved.

Hodgins had come to realize that Booth was an honorable man, a trustworthy man who would always do what was best for his country and the people he worked with.

With that thought in mind, Hodgins kept the jump drive in his safe until the day he and his little family were expected to attend Thanksgiving dinner at the Booth/Brennan household. That morning, he removed the jump drive from his safe and placed it in his pants pocket. Once he was at the house, Hodgins pulled Booth to the side, handed his friend the drive and waited for Booth to respond.

"You found it?" A little surprised, Booth was glad to see that the jump drive had been found. He knew that the information on the drive could get people killed if it found its way into the wrong hands. The NSA had tried to pressure him to find the drive, but he had told them he couldn't perform miracles and he didn't know where to look. He and his team had searched the hotel where Vivian had been killed, her home and her office and they hadn't found it. Now it looks like his friend had performed a minor miracle.

"Yeah, I did." Hodgins had worried enough about the drive and now he had someone else to help him make a decision. It was a relief to give it to Booth, but he kept his face neutral. He didn't want to influence Booth in any way.

Not sure what Hodgins wanted from him, Booth was surprised that the man hadn't sent it to the 'New York Times' or 'The Daily Beast'. "I suppose you're going to broadcast everything that's in this to blow the roof off the NSA." Knowing Hodgins, Booth assumed the entomologist had multiple copies of the drive and he was just holding the original.

"No." Slowly shaking his head, Hodgins knew that Booth might not understand his reasoning, but it was important that he helped his friend see. "No, I'm going to give it to you. I don't think I'm qualified to decide the right thing to do with that . . . If anyone is, it's you."

Surprised, Booth felt like Hodgins was testing him. He knew the man didn't trust the government and yet here he was giving him the jump drive. "You really trust me to know what to do with this?"

"I do . . . destroy it so nobody else gets hurt." One person was dead because of what was on that drive and one man was going to be tried for murder for trying to get it back. Hodgins was certain that too many people could get hurt if the information was released and he knew that Booth agreed with him. "I trust you to do the right thing."

After he placed the drive in his pants pocket, Booth smiled at his friend. "I will. Thank you."

"You're welcome." A great weight had been lifted from his shoulders and Hodgins knew that he had made the right decision.

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One of the interesting things about a flash drive is the fact that just because the drive is broken that doesn't mean the data is destroyed too. You also have to destroy the Memory chip inside the case. Booth knew the best way to make sure that the data was destroyed was to pulverize it with a hammer. Once their guests were gone, Booth helped Brennan clean up the kitchen and make sure the children were in bed, including Parker. He didn't want to answer any questions about what he planned to do next.

After he was in the garage, Booth placed the jump drive on his work bench, covered it with a folded rag and started to beat it with a hammer. He was hoping the rag would help muffle the noise when the hammer hit the case, but of course it wasn't as quiet as he hoped it would be.

Brennan heard a pounding noise coming from the garage and being the curious person that she is, she entered the garage and witnessed Booth using a hammer to beat something covered with a cloth. "What are you doing?"

Pausing, Booth lowered his hammer and rested it on the bench. "Hodgins found Vivian's flash drive. He gave it to me and I'm taking care of it."

"I assume by taking care of it, you mean you're destroying it." Brennan stepped further into the room and closed the door behind her. "Why not give it back to the NSA?"

"I thought about it, but then Hodgins and I would become persons of interest to the NSA . . . that's not something I want to happen." Booth wanted nothing to do with the NSA and destroying the drive would give him peace of mind and yet keep him off the NSA radar. "Besides, it was an NSA agent that started this mess in the first place . . . I'm just going to destroy it and that will be that."

She thought about it for a second then pointed out the obvious. "But the NSA will still think it's missing."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth lifted the hammer and continued to crush the case. "Maybe they'll look into increasing security so this won't happen again. It's the best I can do."

A slight smile on her face, Brennan turned and walked back to the door. "You're a very interesting man, Booth."

Not sure what that meant, Booth lifted the rag and looked at the destroyed jump drive. "Well, you'd hate living with a dull boy."

"I would, Booth. I really would."

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