Tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the elevator that would take him to the Hoover's parking garage, Booth was so engrossed in his thoughts about Brennan and her brush with danger that he didn't pay much attention to the person walking up behind him.

"Booth! What's going on? I haven't seen you all day!" Sweets grinned at the agent standing next to him. "I'm supposed to help you out around the office, right? That's what Director Cullen said, anyway…"

Not in the mood for inane chatter, Booth waved off the younger man. "Just leave me the fuck alone, okay? I don't have time for your shrinky shit…and I sure as hell don't need your help today." The elevator finally arrived and the agent hurried to enter it, hoping Sweets would get the message. "I've got to go to the Jeffersonian...there's been a problem, and I've gotta go see Bones…"

However, the psychologist wasn't willing to be so easily dismissed. Holding out his arm, Sweets stopped the doors from closing and joined Booth in the compartment. "Why? What sort of problem? What's wrong with Dr. Brennan?"

"She's in danger, okay?!" Booth clenched his jaw, selecting his floor as the doors closed. "I can't talk about it right now, but trust me...I have to go see her right away..."

"Unfortunately, I think you need to talk about it...about why you have this desperate urge to go see her." Punching the 'stop' button, the psychologist turned to the agent. "You see, your recent surgery may have colored your perceptions of what has happened to her. Your brain is still struggling to make sense of its surroundings...of all the input it's receiving, okay? It still can't properly sort things out, so what you perceive as a major problem might actually be a minor inconvenience...you know, the whole 'mountain out of a molehill' idea. Your senses could be having a problem with the overload of stimuli...and given how intense your feelings were during your coma dream..."

"You must have some sort of fucking death wish!" Booth turned to his companion with a snarl. "Cut the shit, Sweets! I'm a well trained, decorated, experienced FBI agent. I know when someone is in danger, even when my brain's been scrambled, okay? So do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up...NOW!"

Ignoring Booth's angry outburst, the younger man held up his hand to interrupt. "But are you sure that 'you're sure'? How do you really know? Remember, just a few weeks ago you couldn't remember that you like brown sugar on your oatmeal, right? Recently you've had difficulties with suspect interrogations as well. And then there's the bad dreams...the ones where you're scared that someone is out to injure your wife, who just happens to be Dr. Brennan, but you're not really married to her in real life, right? It's all very confusing, even to me, and so, you see, it's quite possible that Dr. Brennan is in no actual danger at all, and you're just looking for an excuse to see her so you can calm your own fears...that you're inventing a problem where none exists..."

"This isn't my imagination...although it's a nightmare, but not like you mean." Jabbing angrily at the 'start' button, Booth shook his head resolutely. "This is different, okay? I'm not making shit up just to see her. You know she was kidnapped, right? And she got away from the guy, but she fell down a flight of stairs?"

"So I've heard. She suffered a broken wrist and some cracked ribs…"

"And a miscarriage." Seeing Sweets' shock, Booth pursed his lips, trying to remain calm. "I know. I was surprised, too. She wasn't very far along...six weeks or so. She used my semen donation because you told her I was 'dead', you rotten little bastard...she said she did it as sort of a memorial for me." He exhaled slowly, hoping to rein in his emotions. He didn't have time to vent all of his pent up anger on Sweets at the moment. He had to get to the Jeffersonian. Clearing his throat, he spoke quietly. "The fall she had was too severe…and the fetus...didn't survive. As you can imagine, she's...upset. We both are..."

"Wait...what? That can't be right! Why would she do that? Why did she go through with the insemination process if she thought you had died? That doesn't make sense!" Sweets' brow furrowed as he considered Booth's statement. "She's far too rational to impulsively make that sort of intensely emotional decision…that would be too great a leap of logic for her to make! It's completely out of character! She can compartmentalize her feelings...she should've just accepted your death and moved on instead of reacting in such a rash manner…she must've suffered some sort of emotional breakdown. Given her lack of understanding and openness when it comes to her feelings...it simply doesn't make sense for her to do that..." The psychologist gaped at Booth, dumbfounded. "I...I'm sorry for your loss, Booth, but...she normally wouldn't do something like that…something so reckless...so crazy..."

"Yeah? Well, that's where you're wrong, Sweets, because love makes people do crazy things." Turning to face the younger man, Booth couldn't help but pull a satisfied smirk. "See, she really does love me, so when she thought I was dead, she wanted to have my kid, as sort of a way to remember me, you know? And getting pregnant with my donation made perfectly good sense to her at the time, since she thought I was a goner." Inhaling sharply, his voice dropped to a threatening growl. "So that lie you told her? You remember...when you told her I was dead, even though you promised to tell her the truth this time? Well, it had some unintended consequences...like her getting pregnant when she really didn't need to, and like her losing her baby instead carrying it full term, and me losing a chance to become a father again...and maybe like ending your career with the FBI, and there's even the possibility that I'll beat the shit out of you someday in the not too distant future." Booth clenched his fists as he glared fiercely at the younger man. "But that's a story for another day. I don't have time to give you the thrashing you deserve at the moment. And it's not really any of your business, but her injuries aren't why she's in danger right now. There's a hit man after her...someone who wants to use her to get to me. I guess, technically, we're both in danger, and I need to go check on her right now."

"No way…"

Booth stared at Sweets with cold, hard eyes. "Oh, yeah…definitely 'way'. I've got facts to back me up, okay? See, I just left Cullen's office...I was there when he took the call. The guy's name is Dick Vorstenbach, and he showed up out of the blue at Angela's apartment complex, at the almost exact time that she and Bones were supposed to get there. That bastard shot and killed an FBI agent who'd confronted him and wounded at least two others…thank God, Bones saw him in time and Angela drove them ove to the lab instead..."

"But that's not possible…" Visibly shaken, Sweets shook his head. "That can't be right. Surely you're mistaken…the apartment complex was supposed to be safe...nobody was supposed to know she was there…"

"I'm telling you the truth, okay? I was sitting in Cullen's office when the call came through. He's probably at the hospital right now, trying to assess what happened so he can give info to the press. Anyway, he told me to go check on Bones, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'm worried about her...she needs to lie low for awhile, and you know how she hates that."

He paused as the elevator stopped on the parking garage level. As the doors opened, Booth turned to Sweets again. "And as far as my brain not working right at the moment, you know what, Shrink Boy? Fuck off! I know what I'm feeling, okay? The woman I love is in danger, and there's nothing you can say that would convince me otherwise, so I mean it! Leave me the fuck alone, or suffer the consequences!"

Watching Booth jog across the parking lot, Sweets stood stunned for a few seconds until the ringing of his phone brought him back to reality. "Sweets...yeah...yeah, I know! What happened? You said nobody would get hurt…"

Listening intently, he pressed the button elevator that would take him back upstairs. "No...that's not what you said. There wasn't any mention of collateral damage...no. Listen, I want out, okay? I can't handle this anymore…"

Oooooooooo

The siren on Booth's SUV blared loudly as he made the short drive over to the Jeffersonian. After taking the first parking space he could find, he jogged over to the elevator and took it up to the floor where the lab was situated.

He flashed his badge at the security officer before darting down the hall towards Angela's office, calling out as he approached the door. "Bones? Bones, where are you?"

"I'm here...I'm alright..." She rose from the sofa and met him with an embrace as he entered. "I'm so glad to see you…"

"Yeah...me, too." He took a step back as he gave her an appraising glance. "So you're okay? You and Angela...you didn't actually confront that bastard, did you?"

"No. I suppose we were fortunate that I just happened to see him as we drove up the street toward Angela's apartment complex." Taking Booth's hand, Brennan led him over to the sofa. "I know she must've wondered about my sanity when I insisted that she drive on…"

"I trust you, Sweetie." Angela grimaced slightly as she handed Booth a bottle of water. "But the real question is…"

"How did the guy know where to find Bones? Yeah, I know." Exhaling slowly, Booth took a drink of water as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Vorstenbach wasn't just visiting for the hell of it, either. The bastard shot and killed the agent who tried to stop him, and wounded two others…maybe more." He brushed a tear away as he took Brennan's hand. "I can't imagine what would've happened if you two had been there…"

"Oh my God! That's awful!," Angela gasped. "Wow…"

"Yeah." They sat in silence for a few minutes until Booth cleared his throat softly.

"So, anyway...I've been trying to figure out who knew that Bones was going to stay with you, Angela." Seeing the anger blazing in the artist's eyes, he rushed to explain. "I know you weren't careless, okay? I'm just trying to figure out where the leak is. Somebody had to alert Vorstenbach as to Bones' whereabouts…"

Sighing softly, Angela sat back in her chair. "Okay...okay. Let me think about this for a minute. So when we talked about it yesterday, it was just the three of us there in the hospital room, right?" Seeing Booth nod, she continued. "Then this morning...the nurse came in with Brennan's discharge orders and we talked about them…" Her eyes widened in horror. "Oh no! I followed the nurse out into the hall and mentioned that Brennan would be staying with me! Do you think...could it have been one of the agents you had stationed at the hospital? Maybe one of them passed on the information to whoever's behind this…"

"Could be. I'll see if I can get the names of the guys who were on that detail." Booth picked at his thumbnail for a minute. "Um...so...neither of you told Sweets, right?"

"No…" Brennan glanced at Angela and then shook her head as she continued. "...I haven't seen him in several days. Why?"

"He, um...he acted like he knew what was going on, both with your kidnapping and where you were going to stay after being released from the hospital. When he found out about the shooting at the complex, he said you were 'supposed to be safe there'." Booth laughed bitterly. "I need to have a very long talk with that scrawny son of a bitch. Looks like he's been hiding tons of shit from me."

Springing up from the sofa, the agent began to pace the room. "So let's say that Sweets knew what was going on with Bones somehow...maybe one of the agents at the hospital called him, and so then he gave the information to someone at the Hoover. It wasn't Cullen...he was as shocked as I was. He apparently had no idea why Vorstenbach was at that apartment complex. So who was it?"

He fidgeted with his gambling sobriety chip for a few minutes as he pondered the problem. Suddenly he gasped in shock. "Hacker!"

Brennan's face went blank. "Andrew? What about him?"

"He must be the rat that's causing the leak! It all makes sense!" Booth ran a hand through his hair as his words tumbled out in a torrent. "Jesus! I should've seen this before, but I guess I haven't been thinking straight. That goddamn brain tumor's been messing with my head again!" He slumped down on the sofa. "He's been there every step of the way…he knows everything we've done. He's been manipulating the situation..."

"I don't understand, Booth." Rolling her eyes at what appeared to be a huge leap of logic, even for Booth and his trusty 'gut', Brennan sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're saying that Andrew is working with Vorstenbach? Really?" Shaking her head, she glanced at Angela. "I've never seen any indication that he's been involved in illegal activities…he's been so pleasant and thoughtful every time I talk to him..."

"Well, of course you haven't seen anything bad from him, Bones. He's been too cautious for that to happen. He'd be especially careful to put his best foot forward around you, okay? He's always wanted to impress you, probably with the idea of getting you into his bed, but he could still have his own agenda on the sly, right? Listen, before he made Deputy Director, he was in the RICO division...he was the 'go to guy' for the Gang Task Force. He'd have the resources to keep The Council and the Persians in the loop when it came to our investigation…"

"But what would he have to gain?," Angela asked, taking a sip of her water. "Why would he push for an investigation when you'd be the one who ended up discovering the truth about his involvement?"

Booth chewed his lip slightly. "He wasn't really pushing the undercover investigation...not like Cullen was. Sam got word from the brass above him that the Bureau was wanting to take down The Council, so he offered my services to RICO, with my approval, of course. Hacker had to agree to the plan, whether he liked it or not, because otherwise it'd look suspicious, right? He couldn't afford to look like he was complicit with the Council's agenda. So since he couldn't stop the investigation, he did the next best thing...he informed C-Synch what I was up to, and they decided to have the Persians put Vorstenbach on the job…they put a price on my head...and if they were careful with doing the job, it'd be nearly impossible to trace it back to Hacker..."

"But this is all speculation, Booth." Seeing his frustrated expression, Brennan shrugged slightly. "I believe you, of course, but you have no real proof that Andrew is involved…at least not enough for the FBI to investigate one of its own." She sighed as she looked over at him. "The way you've explained it sounds logical, but I'm not sure you can get an arrest warrant based solely on your theory." She studied her nails for a few seconds. "Do you think Sweets knows what's going on?"

"I think he's been reporting stuff to Hacker, but I don't think he has any idea why Hacker is so curious about what I've been up to. I think Sweets thought he was providing Hacker with information about my health, that's all. Sweets has no nefarious motives as far as I can tell. He's just stupid and naive." Booth picked at the label on his water bottle. "The kid seemed genuinely distressed about the possibility of me and you being in danger, Bones. He was really upset."

"So now what?" Reaching over to take Booth's hand, she frowned. "Do you go to Director Cullen with your concerns about Andrew?"

"No…" Booth groaned softly, shaking his head. "I gotta be careful, you know? I mean, this whole deal is gonna sound crazy...like I've gone off the deep end, especially after my brain tumor...so if I accuse Hacker of being a crooked agent involved with a dangerous gang I've got to be able to back it up with evidence. Sweets has already made it sound like I'm prone to be loony after my brain surgery, okay? Sam's a good guy, and he'd give me the benefit of the doubt, but he'd have to talk to Hacker to get his side of the story, and that'd give Andrew time to cover his tracks…and to alert Vorstenbach, too." He ran his hand over his chin. "I need to talk to Sweets first to find out how he's tangled up in this mess."

Brennan took her phone from the pocket of her lab coat. "I'll call him and ask him to come to the lab…"

"No...wait!" Booth put his hand over her phone. "I already told him you were here. Let's wait to see if Hacker shows up instead. That might give us an idea about whether or not they're communicating with each other about me, okay? There'd be no way for Hacker to know I'm here other than hearing it from Sweets. I'm sure Cullen didn't mention it to him." He hesitated slightly. "So listen...if Hacker does show up here, let's play our cards close to our vest." Seeing Brennan's confusion, he sighed. "Let's not tell him everything we know, okay? Don't lead him into any discussion...wait to see what he says…"

"So in the meantime, that's it? We just wait to see if he comes to us? I don't think so." Angela shook her head in frustration as she sat down at her computer. "I'm gonna use my time better than that...with a little reconnaissance work." She typed noisily at her keyboard. "Maybe I can see if there's been texts or emails between C-Synch and Hacker…"

"You can't just hack into the FBI computer system!" Booth was horrified. "Angela…come on..."

"Actually, I'm not going to crash the FBI system. I'm going to see if I can figure things out from C-Synch's end. That dude is all over social media...it shouldn't be too hard to access his emails and his phone…"

"But any evidence you find would be inadmissible! We couldn't use it as probable cause to get a search warrant…" Booth was pacing the room again. "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Angela…"

"Oh, okay…" She heaved an exasperated sigh. "Let's try a different tactic. You have access to the Gang Task Force database, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course I do, since I was working undercover for them. Why?"

Grinning as her fingers flew across the keys, she nodded. "Because you're going to access it for me so I can snoop around a bit. Maybe we can find some information about meetings between Hacker and The Council...things that might look innocent at first glance." She arched an eyebrow as she pointed to her monitor. "Your password, if you please…"

He nodded reluctantly. "Um...okay, but only because Bones might be in danger." After making sure she wasn't looking over his shoulder, he typed in the phrase. "There you go…"

"Thanks. Now you and Brennan just sit there and be all lovey-dovey for a few minutes while I look around…"

"Angela! You're not very good at keeping a secret!" Brennan giggled at Booth's surprise. "Yes...I told her that we've decided to have a monogamous relationship…"

"Complete with sex, right?," Angela added with a chuckle. "It's about time you two got it on…besides, contrary to what you may think, Sweetie, what's been going on between you two hasn't exactly been a secret...not at all. We've all known about this 'secret' for years, okay? Everybody knows you're in love with each other. We were just waiting for both of you to figure it out...which seemed to take forever."

Blushing, Booth tried to hide his grin before laughing merrily. "Um, okay...that makes me wonder if I was ever any good at going undercover…"

Their laughter was cut short by the appearance of a tall man in Angela's doorway. "Special Agent Booth?"

Standing up, Booth nodded grimly as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Deputy Director Hacker. What can I do for you?"