Hi friends! Holy heck, the response to the last chapter absolutely blew me away. I really cannot thank each of you enough for reading this story and loving it so much. I am so glad you're enjoying it! Here is the much anticipated next chapter and it was a difficult one to write.
Please note the TW below for the entire chapter. If you think anything listed might cause you even the slightest bit of distress, please do not read this update. This chapter is a doozy, but I hope you still somehow enjoy it nonetheless. I'll see you soon for chapter 16…and by soon, I mean Tuesday. ;)
***TW / mentions rape, attempted sexual assault, violence, gun violence, blood and injuries
"Hi Ronnie," Hailey breathes out.
"How ya doing?" He has the audacity to ask.
"I'd be better if you put that gun down," Hailey says, stepping further into the living room.
Booth snickers again at her, his obvious enjoyment making the knots in her stomach twist even tighter as he keeps his gun aimed at her.
"How about you put yours down?" He counters.
Hailey shakes her head, side stepping through the room to keep distance between them, but he moves closer toward her. She takes a step back instinctively and swallows hard, her weapon unsteady in her still trembling hands.
He tilts his head at her, a snide grin on his face. "Where's that little girl of yours? Avery, right?"
"She's not here," Hailey tells him, her eyes unblinking as she stares at him.
"I've been watching you for months. You really think I'm dumb enough to believe you'd let that kid out of your sight?"
Hailey shrugs, a look of indifference on her face. "You can believe whatever you wanna believe, but she's not here."
"Then where is she?" He asks with an incredulous tone.
"With her father," she tells him, forcing her voice to come out flat and hoping he doesn't see through her lie.
"Her father, huh? That's your detective boyfriend, right? First Garrett, now this guy. You sure do enjoy moving through the ranks don't you?"
Every muscle in Hailey's body goes rigid at the mention of her ex-partner and ex-boyfriend, but if Booth notices he doesn't let it show. She steps to the side again, keeping her gun raised as she juts her chin at him.
"Is that why you did this?" Hailey asks him, raising an eyebrow. "You held a grudge because I wouldn't sleep with you?"
Booth smirks, a glimmer in his eyes as he looks at her and says, "Almost had you though."
"You mean when you tried to rape me?" She scoffs, shaking her head.
"You should have just given me what I wanted. Just needed a few more minutes until your nosey boyfriend had to interrupt us," he says. The smirk stretches wider over his face as he asks, "How is Garrett by the way?"
"A few minutes, huh? No wonder you couldn't keep a woman," Hailey throws at him, ignoring his question because if he's going to kill her then she'll at least get some sort of enjoyment from pushing his buttons before he does.
His eyes darken and his jaw tenses and she can tell she's pissed him off as he takes another step toward her, but she doesn't move this time.
"You know you wanted it. You flirted with me constantly. Always touching me and smiling at me the way you did," Booth says sharply, shaking his head slowly at her before he says again, "You wanted it."
"I was doing my job," Hailey bites back, her voice raising. "I needed information."
"You took years from me!" He shouts then, shaking his gun at her and taking another step toward her. "I got locked up for almost five years because of your little stunt with Garrett. You lied, you got in my head. You messed with all of us!"
"You were dealing, Ronnie! To kids. You were hurting people!" Hailey yells back. "What did you think was gonna happen?"
"I sure as hell didn't think some little blonde bitch would come into my life and ruin everything!" He spits back.
"You can't put that on me. I was doing my job," Hailey says again, shaking her head quickly. "You made your choices and so did I."
"Our choices have consequences," he nods, then gestures to the space between them. "This is yours."
"So what, you're gonna kill me? Is that gonna make you feel better?"
He shrugs with another devilish curl of his lips as he stares at her. "Made me feel better when I killed Garrett. That rat bastard had it coming and so do you."
"Where's his body?" Hailey asks through gritted teeth.
Booth shrugs, the smirk on his face not faltering. "Which part?"
"You son of a bitch. I should kill you right here and now because of what you did to him," Hailey says quietly, unable to hold back the tears that form in her eyes, but she shakes her head again. "Maybe that's too easy though. I'd rather see you spend the rest of your life in jail. How does it feel, Ronnie? Knowing you lost again? That the little blonde bitch got you, again."
There's an almost impressed look on his face even as he sneers at her once more and Hailey gestures to him with her gun, sniffling back her tears.
"Put the gun down and get on your knees," she tells him.
"You're really going to arrest me? Seems so dull after everything that's happened."
"You're damn right I am," she glares at him with another wave of her gun. "On your knees, now, and slide that gun over."
Booth smiles at her, a disgustingly sweet grin on his face that has alarm bells sounding in the back of her mind, but she ignores them as he leans down and drops his gun to the floor. He slides it over to her and kneels down, his hands raised with his palms facing out.
Hailey takes a step forward, her gun still raised and aimed at him, as she inches closer to Morales' body on the floor. She keeps her eyes and her gun on Booth as she feels around for a phone in the Marshal's pockets, but comes up empty handed.
"If you're looking for a phone, I have one in my pocket. You're more than welcome to go fishing for it," Booth comments with a tilt of his head and a raise of his eyebrows, and that same snide grin plastered on his face.
Hailey glares at him, but nods. "Let me see it."
"I'm going to reach into my pocket, Detective. Please don't shoot," he taunts as he lowers a hand to his chest. He reaches into the pocket of his shirt and pulls out a cell phone, then holds it out toward her. "Come and get it."
"Yeah, I don't think so," Hailey chuckles, waving her gun at him. "Slide it over."
Booth stares at her for a moment, but nods once before he sets the phone down to the floor and slides it toward her.
Hailey squats down and picks up the phone, her eyes still on him as she stands back up straight, and then in one split second as she glances down at the device Booth leaps to his feet and bum-rushes her.
It's after midnight and the team still has nothing solid on Booth or his whereabouts, but they all make the decision to stay at the district, ready to roll out if they need to, and then Antonio comes rushing up the stairs at the front of the bullpen, breathing heavily with a file folder in his hand.
"Techs got backed up with a case for Narcotics and the Feds, so we got pushed to the back burner," he tells the team as he makes his way to the center of the pen. He holds up the file in his hands, nodding his head. "They were able to get into the computer we found at the apartment. They combed through it, found surveillance photos of Hailey and Avery, the guy's been stalking them for a while. They looked through his search history too and found a search for directions to somewhere."
Jay shoots up from his desk and walks over to the man, reaching for the folder as he asks, "Directions for what?"
"Another hideout maybe? Not sure," Antonio shakes his head again as he hands the file over to him. "The address didn't come up in any of Booth's last knowns or anyone in his family, and it didn't pop in any of our databases either."
Jay looks it over, his heart beginning to race as he stares at the document in his hands, his chest and shoulders heaving with each quick breath he takes.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Voight asks as he steps toward him.
Jay looks up at his Sergeant, his eyes wide and filling with tears. He hands the file to the man, shaking his head in disbelief. "That's – it's…is that?"
Voight stares back with concern as he takes the file from Jay's hands, looking down at it for a moment before he lifts his eyes back to his detective.
"What is it?" Kevin asks, looking between them as the rest of the team does the same.
"I'll kill him, Hank," Jay nearly whispers, his voice laced with menace as he clenches his hands into fists at his sides. "I swear to God, I'll kill him."
Voight swallows hard, nodding slowly at Jay, then looks at the rest of his team. "It's the safe house where Hailey and Avery are. Everyone gear up. Now."
Their eyes all go wide, the same thought racing through each of their minds simultaneously, and they all move through the bullpen, heading for the stairs as a phone starts ringing.
Jay stops in his tracks as he pulls his cell phone from his back pocket. The caller I.D. flashing on the screen makes his heartbeat quicken that much more and he swipes his thumb over it, then brings the phone up to his ear.
"Hailey?" Jay breathes out, getting the attention of the rest of the team and making them halt at the doorway to the stairwell.
There's no answer, the line silent for a moment, and it makes the worry grow inside him as his hands begin to shake.
"Hailey? Are you there? Are you okay?"
It's quiet for another few seconds until a muffled voice comes over the line that whispers, "Daddy?"
The sound of Avery's small and scared voice crushes everything inside of Jay with that one word. He shakes his head in confusion and disbelief as his vision blurs with the tears that flood his eyes.
"Avery?" He cries out, his voice cracking in half as her name falls from his lips.
"Mama told me to call you," the little girl says quickly and quietly.
"Avery, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"I'm not hurt. I – I think there's a bad guy here," she whispers, the fear evident in her voice as her words continue to spill out in shaky breaths through the speaker. "There was loud sounds and pops like fireworks. Mama gave me the phone and told me to call you."
"Avery, where's mama?"
"I – I don't know. I don't know where mama is. She left me in the room and said to call you and then I have to be quiet," Avery tells him, a small whimper escaping her as she says, "I'm scared. I wanna go home."
Jay sniffs back his tears, swallowing hard as he grips the phone tighter in his hand and says, "I know you're scared bug, but it's gonna be okay. You gotta stay super quiet for me. Can you do that?"
"Okay," the little girl says before she lets out a sudden gasp and whimpers again. "Mama!"
"What's happening bug? Did mama come back?"
"No. I hear yelling. Someone's yelling at mama," Avery whispers, sniffling harder as she cries quietly into the phone and Jay's heart breaks all over again.
"I'm coming to get you," Jay tells her as he bolts for the stairs, pushing past the rest of his team. "I'm coming to get you and mama right now, okay? I'm gonna hang up the phone, but you need to stay where you are and stay quiet, okay? Can you do that for me, bug?"
"I can do it," she whispers, then pleads with him, "Please hurry daddy."
"I am, I'm leaving right now. I'm coming to get you baby, just stay quiet for me. I'm gonna hang up so I can drive, but I'll be there soon, okay? I love you," Jay tells her, hearing a muffled "Okay, I love you too" before he ends the call.
His heart pounds in his chest and his head spins in circles as he races down the stairs to the roll-up, the rest of the team following behind him. They move quickly and grab their gear, and then head for their cars – Jay to his truck, Kevin and Adam paired up in Atwater's Dodge, Kim and Antonio in another, and Al riding with Voight.
"The house is forty minutes out, so floor it! We go quiet and dark a mile out," Voight calls out over his radio to the team.
They peel out of the parking lot one by one, lights flashing and sirens blaring with Jay speeding ahead of the team. Tears continue to spill from his eyes as he prays silently to anything and everything that he won't be too late.
Hailey tries to step back, but Booth is too quick and she's too caught off guard as he rushes toward her and throws out a hand to hers that holds her gun. He wraps his fingers around her wrist, squeezing tight and shaking hard, making her cry out from the sudden onslaught of pain and she drops her gun to the floor. He lifts his other hand to her throat, his fingers pressing hard against her skin, and then he uses his grip on her to force her backwards until he has her pushed up against the wall.
"Now this seems familiar," he snarls at her, his fingers tightening just slightly around her wrist and her neck.
Hailey whimpers under his grip as she struggles to breathe and lifts her other arm to fight him off, pushing against him and clawing at any part of him she can reach, but he just squeezes harder and laughs at her.
"Still as feisty as ever," he breathes out.
She keeps fighting against him, trying to distract him with her hands, pushing and pulling at him, and then lifts a leg to try and knee him in the groin. He catches her leg and curls his hand around the back of her neck, and then throws her down to the floor.
"I've seen that trick before Hailey," he shouts over at her, his lips curling into an ugly grin as he stares down at her lying on her stomach.
She coughs several times, trying to catch her breath as she pulls herself to her knees and attempts to crawl away from him to reach for his gun a few feet in front of her.
"Oh no, ya don't. That's mine," Booth laughs wickedly, stepping toward her and blocking her path.
He leans down and picks up the gun, stuffing it in his waistband behind his back as he stands over her again. He pulls back a boot-covered foot and drops it hard into her stomach, making her collapse to the floor. She gasps for breath and he gives no reprieve as he kicks her again and again, harder each time until she can barely move as she rolls over to her back, panting heavily through shallow breaths.
Booth steps toward her and leans down to grab one of her ankles. She tries to fight against him, tries to kick at him, but he grabs her other ankle and grips them both tightly as he sinks down to his knees between her legs. He leans over her, pinning her to the floor with the weight of his body, but she throws her hands to his face and scratches at him, hard and rough enough that she draws blood even with her short nails.
Booth growls out, wincing from the sting of her assault, and then raises a hand and slaps her hard across her face making her head whip to the side. She lifts her arms again and reaches up to try and claw at him once more, but she's out of it from the sudden hit to her face and he's even angrier now. He balls a hand into a fist and throws his knuckles into her jaw, making her head fall back and she whimpers at the contact as it smacks hard against the hardwood floor.
He grabs her arms and pins her wrists together with one hand, holding them above her head, and forces her knees apart again with the other. He pulls his gun from his waistband and sets it on the floor beside them, and then leans his body into hers again.
"You're not getting away this time," he tells her, panting in her face as he hovers over her.
He's so close that she can smell the stench of menthol cigarettes on his breath and it takes her back to nearly five years ago. When he had her in a very similar position in his office, when he almost killed her. Except now she's on her own and there's no one else to save her, but all she can think about is her scared and crying daughter hidden upstairs and she knows she can't not fight back, even if it hurts.
Hailey knows Avery will have called Jay, knows him and the rest of her team will come. She knows her daughter will be okay. She just has to give them enough time to get to the safe house. Has to prolong this torture and keep Booth distracted, has to make him angry enough to where all his attention is on her. She has to keep fighting.
"No!" Hailey cries out through gritted teeth. Her salty tears cascade down her cheeks, stinging the wound of a freshly busted lip, and she cries out again. "No, no, no!"
She lifts a leg to try and kick him, but he throws a fist against the side of her face, knocking her head to the floor again. He hits her once more and laughs harshly above her as he shakes his head at her.
"This is happening, whether you want it to or not," Booth says roughly, squeezing her wrists tighter in his grasp, and reaching between them to undo his pants. "There's nothing you can do to stop it."
Hailey whimpers again, trying to pull her arms free from his grasp, but he just squeezes her wrists harder, and then reaches between them once more to tug at her sleep shorts. She tries to lift her legs, fighting against him still, but her head is aching, throbbing.
He manages to get her shorts down just barely over her hips, and then she lets him think she's given up – hoping he's dumb enough to fall for it, and as soon as his grip loosens on her wrists so he can pull her shorts the rest of the way down her legs, she gives a sharp tug of one of her arms. His grip breaks on her wrists and she turns beneath him, then hooks an elbow up to his face.
He growls out in frustration as he rolls off of her and brings a hand to his eye, blinking quickly as his vision blurs momentarily from the unexpected blow.
Hailey tugs her shorts back up over her hips and tries to shuffle backwards across the floor, but the shooting pain in her arms and wrists stops her. She turns on her side, tries to crawl, but everything inside her is burning and aching and throbbing still, and then she feels his hands on her again.
The Intelligence team turns off their lights, sirens, and headlights as they near the safe house. They roll up half a block down from where the house is and kill their engines, each of them getting out of their vehicles and moving up the street.
Jay pulls his gun out of his holster and heads for the house, but an arm on his shoulder stops him and he turns around to see his Sergeant.
"I'm not waiting for a hostage negotiator or SWAT," Jay growls out.
"I know," Voight nods, squeezing his shoulder. "But you gotta be smart about this, Jay. That guy might be a psychopath, but he's not entirely stupid. Just – trust me, will ya?"
Jay sighs, but he nods his head slowly as he holsters his gun and Voight turns to the rest of the team, gesturing to Antonio and Kevin.
"You two go around back and hold your positions," he tells them, then looks to Adam and Kim. "You both keep an eye on the front. Jay, you come with me."
The team follows their Sergeant's orders as the man leads Jay to his SUV, glancing at Alvin who follows behind them. The three men return a few minutes later, and Kim and Adam share a look of concern as they notice the tactical gear that Jay seems to have removed from his body.
Adam clears his throat quietly, then nods over at them and tilts his head toward the house. "Antonio and Kev are in position. There's a back door with a shattered window. Looks like that's how he got in."
"Alright. The four of us will hold down the front," Voight says gesturing to himself, Alvin, Kim and Adam, then nods to Jay. "Go in through the back. You see your chance, you take him out. Understand?"
"That's not gonna be a problem," Jay scoffs.
"Yeah, didn't think so," Voight smirks, clapping the man on his back before he nods ahead of them. "Remember what I said. Be smart, Jay."
Jay nods back as he steps away and hurries up the sidewalk. He cuts through a side yard of a neighboring house, moving quietly to the back, and finds Antonio and Kevin hunkered down behind a fence in the backyard.
"You got eyes on him?" Jay whispers, kneeling down beside his teammates and they both shake their heads at him.
"There's two lights on upstairs and one in what we think is the living room at the front of the house. Rest of the house is dark," Antonio says quietly, looking through the scope of his long gun.
Kevin nods beside him, pointing at the house. "It's a shotgun layout. Mud room at the back door, kitchen, dining room, and then the living room. You get through the back door, you should be able to creep up through each room to the front and take him by surprise."
Jay nods, breathing deeply, and he claps a hand over Kevin's shoulder, then glances at Antonio. "Thanks guys."
"Go get this son of a bitch," Antonio tells him.
"And be careful bro. This guy is slick," Kevin says, nodding back at him.
Jay gives them one final nod then stands on his feet. He hops over the fence into the backyard and moves toward the back porch, stepping lightly and carefully to avoid any creaking floorboards as he goes up a small set of stairs. He stands against the wall next to the back door and peeks his eyes through what's left of the glass window, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness. He catches sight of a dim light coming through from a front room, but can't make out anything else so he focuses his attention on entering the house as quietly as he can.
He reaches for the doorknob and turns it slowly, pushing the door open just enough that he can slither inside, careful to avoid the broken glass on the floor as he does so. He closes the door behind him with a nearly silent click and steps through the mud room, noticing the kitchen in the next room just as Kevin had told him.
His heart beats wildly in his chest as he moves into the kitchen, his ears perking at the sounds coming from the front of the house. He can make out a man's booming voice as he shouts and curses, the anger evident in his slurs, and the familiar sound of slapping skin and the dull thud of punches being thrown.
Jay's stomach churns and he tenses his jaw at the thought of someone putting their hands on his partner, but it fuels the anger inside of him as he steps out of the kitchen and sneaks through the dining room. He stands behind the wall at the entry way into the living room and peeks around the wall slowly. He spots Booth in the center of the room, his back to the detective as the man leans down over the nearly lifeless body of Hailey.
Jay grips his gun tighter in his hand, his finger ready on the trigger as he steps around the wall and enters the living room, stepping lightly and slowly so he doesn't spook the man in front of him.
He inches closer, raising his gun at the man's back, and as he nears the two of them he catches sight of Hailey's bloody face. His jaw tenses again, tighter, his chest heaving in disgust for the man in front of him, and then he locks eyes with Hailey's over Booth's shoulder as she lies on the floor.
Hailey nearly breathes out a sigh of relief at the sight of her partner, still somehow lucid enough to know she's not dreaming and not yet dead, but she holds her breath in. She continues fighting with everything she has inside of her, pushing against the man on top of her with limp arms as he pulls roughly at her shirt and rips through the fabric.
Booth leans down closer above her, gripping her jaw between his thumb and pointer finger with a harsh grasp, and shakes his head at her with a maniacal laugh.
"Your precious Garrett isn't here to save you this time," he breathes out above her face as he reaches for her shorts again.
"You're right. Garrett's not here," Hailey mumbles, shaking her head from side to side slowly. Her eyes begin to droop from the pain pulsing through her, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep, but she forces them open, using the last bit of energy she has as she grinds out, "But he is..."
Booth tilts his head at her words, ready to laugh in her face again until there's a pressure at the back of his head. He locks his jaw, his eyes glaring in annoyance as the pressure intensifies.
"CPD asshole," Jay growls out, pushing the barrel of his gun harder against the back of Booth's head. "Get off of her."
Booth sighs as he lets go of Hailey and pushes himself up onto his knees, raising his hands defensively in a mock of surrender. He turns his head slowly to see Jay standing directly behind him.
"Ah, the boyfriend," Booth says, glancing back at Hailey with an amused grin on his face. He cocks his head, raising his eyebrows at her. "Should I kill this one too?"
Hailey whimpers as she tries to get up, the blows to her head and the kicks to her stomach making it nearly impossible as she struggles to breathe so she stays on the floor instead, staring between Booth and her partner.
"Get up," Jay bites out at him.
Booth sighs again, shaking his head almost defeatedly, but he stands to his feet regardless and looks over his shoulder as he keeps his back to Jay.
Jay holds his gun out in front of him, aimed at Booth and glances down at Hailey, the worry on his face evident as tears pool in the corners of his eyes, and that's when Booth makes his move.
He turns quickly and steps back, catching Jay off guard as he elbows him in the face, sending him stumbling backwards, and then Booth grabs Hailey and his gun on the floor. He pulls her up roughly by her shoulders and she whimpers again as waves of pain shoot out through her entire body. He drags her in front of him, using her as a human shield, and holds the gun up to her head.
"Her and I are walking out of here," Booth sneers at Jay, pressing the end of his gun against Hailey's temple.
Jay brushes off the blow to his face, shaking his head quickly as he stands up straight with his gun held out in front of him again. "That's not happening."
"Or I can kill her right here," Booth chuckles, pressing the barrel harder into her skin.
Hailey whimpers again, clawing at his hands and trying to fight him, and then she locks eyes with Jay.
"You promised," she mumbles, her eyes pleading with him as more tears fall from them.
Jay shakes his head again as he keeps his gun held out in front of him, trying to aim it at Booth, but it's no use as the man holds on to Hailey. He keeps her in front of him with an arm held against her throat and the gun still pressed to the side of her head.
"You promised," Hailey cries out through a strangled breath.
Jay stares back at her, a look of uncertainty on his face as he breathes heavily, his eyes now darting between her and Booth, trying to decide what to do.
"It's okay," Hailey nearly whispers, trying her best to nod at him under Booth's grip as she keeps her eyes on him. "It's okay."
"Hailey," Jay sighs, shaking his head slowly as he looks between her and Booth again.
"What's it gonna be?" The man asks, squeezing Hailey tightly against him and staring back at Jay.
"There's no way out of this, Booth," Jay tells him. "Just let her go."
Booth shakes his head, holding his arm tighter against Hailey's throat. "If you shoot, you better be damn sure of your aim. Wouldn't wanna hurt her instead of me now, would you?"
"Let her go!" Jay shouts.
"Or I can shoot you instead, huh? Killing you is just as good as killing her. Makes no difference to me. I still hurt her somehow," Booth says, pulling the gun away from Hailey's head and pointing it at Jay. He leans his head down just above her ear and says, "I could take out another boyfriend. How about that Hailey?"
"No!" Hailey cries out, shaking her head and sobbing, as she struggles in his tight grasp. "Jay, please. You promised me…you promised!"
Booth laughs against her ear and it sends a chill through her as he shakes her roughly, and then he sighs.
"This has been fun Detective, but you're boring me," Booth says before he presses a finger over the trigger and fires off his gun.
A single bullet shoots out from the barrel and it's as if time stands still as it moves through the air, and then it hits Jay in his stomach. The force of it sends him falling backwards to the floor with a loud thud against the hardwood as Hailey screams out a gut-wrenching cry.