(The Babe in the Bar)

Thank you for your continued interest in my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

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They met in Angela's office. The blinds were drawn and the door was locked. Staring at the covered windows, Booth wondered what Angela was thinking. "This doesn't look suspicious at all."

Standing next to Brennan, Hodgins smiled at Booth's comment. "Well, if you think about it, if someone is really keeping tabs of you and Brennan then no matter what we do, we're going to look suspicious. At least no one can enter the office and overhear what we're talking about."

Angela help up a wand and waved it around her head. "I swept this room just before you all arrived and made sure there aren't any listening devices or cameras in here. I know it sounds paranoid, but I think everyone should do it to their offices at least once a day . . . Cam, you can borrow this one. Hodgins checked his office this morning."

"Do you think someone is spying on us?" Brennan found that disconcerting. "So far, we really haven't seen anything that points to any of us being spied upon. We only have Danny's word that Booth and I are on a list that his person of interest is keeping. He didn't say that any of you are also on the list. I think we should be careful, but not paranoid."

"Wait, I think Angela is right to be cautious Bones." Booth turned to face his partner. "We need to keep in mind that there is still the matter of the murder of the Federal Agent that Danny told me about." Booth sat down, it had been a long morning. "Maybe Abbot was after us for revenge, I mean that makes sense. He was a friend of Kirby's and now we also know that he was working with Kirby and the other dirty agents. But, we have to keep in mind that he was also connected to the HLS person that has me on a list with some other guys . . . What we need to focus on is the murder of the Federal employee. His murder hasn't been solved yet and no one has asked us to look into it. Hell, we don't even know who the victim is. We're the best and yet no one has given us the job of finding out what happened to this murder victim. I wonder why? . . . And there's the matter of Abbot being murdered within 24 hours of being locked up. He was murdered by someone he testified against a few years ago, but this all seems to be too much of a coincidence. He was connected to the Homeland Security guy that Danny's worried about and now he's dead. My gut tells me that someone didn't want Abbot alive and talking. Why? I don't know and it's that unknown that should make us all look over our shoulders."

Placing the wand down on the table next to a PC, Angela picked up her remote and stood in front of the widescreen on the wall in front of them. "I might have an answer to at least one of your questions, Booth. I've been looking into the murder of the Federal employee and that's why I called this meeting." She clicked a few keys and a picture of a youthful looking man appeared on the screen. "I'm certain that the murder victim was Gale Storm. The timeline fits anyway. Danny said that the employee had been killed four months prior to when he told you about it . . . Gale was murdered in his home in Georgetown on February 6th. He was a senior analyst for the CIA . . . thirty-three years old, born in Washington D.C. The only child of the late Lucian Storm, the former ambassador to Belgium . . . A graduate from the Walsh School of Foreign Service. His mother and father are both dead and his only living relatives are . . . were an uncle whose retired from the Army and a cousin who's an attache' at the German Embassy. It looks like Gale was moving up in the CIA ranks and his bosses had great plans for him . . . well before he died. His death stirred up a hornet's nest in the CIA, but the press didn't seem very interested. There were a couple of mentions in the papers and a modest obituary. His death was ruled a homicide caused by a home invasion that went wrong, so the news agencies lost interest and dropped the story. A drug addict supposedly interrupted the security system in the house and attacked Gale in his bedroom while he slept . . . Some of his property was taken during the robbery and the police have a man in custody for the murder. They consider the case closed and the press is treating it like that. The CIA doesn't consider it closed at all from what I can tell. That's probably why Danny mentioned it to you."

"Wow, Angela, have you been hacking into the CIA databases? I mean that's hot, but it could be dangerous." Hodgins admired that his girlfriend was so proud of her computer skills and so was he since they almost had a ninja quality to them, but she was playing with fire. "If the CIA finds out you've been snooping . . . well, people have been known to disappear and never be heard from again."

"Hodgins!" Booth shook his head. "No one is going to disappear." He turned to face Angela. "But, you do need to stay out of CIA databases. They have computer specialists who look for stuff like that just like the FBI . . . just saying."

She appreciated everyone's concern, but she knew what she was doing. "Let's just say, I'm not in any danger right now . . . I found an account that's been hacking into CIA accounts and I piggybacked on it . . . Don't worry. The account is a CIA security account. They try to hack into their own accounts all the time, setting up traps for outsiders. I didn't initiate anything. I just looked and I didn't leave any footprints. I know what I'm doing."

Brennan shrugged her shoulders. "Does Gale Storm have any connections at Homeland Security?"

"No, not that I can find." Angela had hoped to learn more, but so far, she had hit a dead end. "I'm still looking. Gale's job was to monitor web sites and blogs that came out of Russia. As far as I know he didn't have any contact with Homeland Security, so if he had some evidence that someone at HLS was a traitor then I don't know where he would have got it. I'm not going to give up looking, but right now, Danny's suspicions don't seem to have any solid evidence to back it up. If Abbot was connected to this . . . well, I don't know. So far, we have a dead CIA analyst and a dead congressman who was a former FBI Agent . . . Abbot was connected to Deputy Director Kirby who was a murderer who had ties to other lawless agents, but Kirby had no ties to HLS that we know of. What this has to do with Gale? . . . I don't know and I have no idea why someone at HLS would be interested in you and Booth either."

"So far, a lot of questions and not a lot of answers." Cam stared at the picture of Gale Storm. "Well, we know the CIA is looking into this, albeit quietly and probably illegally . . . Let's all keep our guards up and keep all of this between us. I'm with Booth about Abbot. My gut is telling me that Danny is onto something and we need to take it seriously . . . I think it's very odd that Agent Harper's missing papers and tape just conveniently showed up at this time . . . very odd timing and rather detrimental consequences for the congressman."

Hodgins rubbed his forehead. "It's one thing to read about conspiracies . . . it's another thing to be involved in one . . . I have a few contacts at Homeland Security . . . I might . . . "

"Don't!" Booth stood up. "Don't draw attention to yourself. We have no idea who Danny's person of interest is, so you might be signing your own death warrant. Just . . . just let Angela do her thing and let Danny continue his investigation. There is no way he's going to blow off the murder of one of his guys. I'm going to see if we can get Gale Storm's body here in the Lab and start our own murder investigation. I think I know how to do it . . . Yeah, let me work on that."

Brennan nodded her head. "If we can investigate his murder, maybe we can track down Asshole."

Shocked, Cam, Angela and Hodgins turned to look at Brennan.

Aware that she was being stared at, Brennan pointed at her boyfriend. "That's what Booth calls the person of interest at Homeland Security."

"Am I wrong?" Booth walked over to the entrance to Angela's outer office. "I have work to do. I'll pick you up this evening. Bones."

Amused, Angela laughed. "He certainly likes nicknames."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

After a few phone calls, Booth finally connected to Gerald Storm the cousin of Gale Storm, the murdered CIA analyst. "Sir, I'm Supervisory Special Agent Seeley Booth, I'm in charge of Homicide Investigations in the Washington D.C. area. I've heard about the death of your cousin Gale and I'd like to offer the services of the FBI to try to locate his murderer."

But I thought he was killed by some dope head. The Metro Police told me the case is closed. We buried Gale a few months ago.

"We've come across some information that may point to someone else having killed your cousin, but right now I don't have the authority to investigate his murder . . . I was hoping that you would make a request to the Justice Department asking for the FBI's help . . . I know this is unusual, but I work with the best forensic anthropologist in the country and wouldn't you like to know for sure if some drug user killed your cousin or if it was someone else?" Booth hoped Gerald would be interested. He needed someone like Gerald to make the request.

I did find it odd that some drug addict managed to overcome the security system at Gale's home. Why invade a house when someone is home? It would make more sense to break into a house where no one was home and just take what you wanted . . . I don't know how much pull I have, but let me see what I can do. I really would like a proper investigation done. Nothing against the Metro police, but I haven't had a lot of faith in their findings. Just too many inconsistencies . . . My wife agrees with me. She thinks either Gale's death was easier to blame on a junkie so they could just put a check in their win column or something else is going on . . . You do know that Gale worked for the CIA? There is also the fact that my cousin was a black belt in Aikido and no junkie would have had a chance up against Gale. I told the police that, but they said that someone hopped up on drugs can be like a berserker. My wife and I considered that to be a load of rubbish. If the junkie was that high then how did he overcome the security system? Does that sound plausible? . . . Thank you for calling me. You've made me realize I should have pushed harder than I did. My Uncle was a former ambassador and my father is Strickland Storm. You may not know who he is, but the people that count in the District do know and if I get him to make the request that should do it. I'll get back to you Agent Booth . . . Soon.

Oooooooooooooooooo

"Well Cher, that's quite a pot you stuck your big spoon in." Caroline charged in to Booth's office, stopped in front of his desk and placed her hands on her hips. "Strickland Storm paid a visit to my boss and he wants the Gale Storm case reopened and he's asked for you to be in charge of the investigation . . . Care to explain what's going on?"

Booth stood up, moved across the room, closed the blinds and locked the door. That accomplished he turned to face his friend. "Gale Storm was murdered a few months ago. Danny Beck, a CIA Agent that I know brought to me some information about the murder. Gale was an analyst for the CIA and it looked like his murder investigation had been botched. Both Danny and his boss wanted the case reopened, but they didn't want to make it political. Danny came to me with their suspicions and I thought their concerns were worth looking into. There are too many inconsistencies in the investigation and I think we should take a good look at Gale's death. I talked to Gales' cousin, Gerald Storm who thought the case was botched too. The Storm family has served the United States with honor since the War of 1812. They deserve to have Gale Storm's death be treated seriously." He knew he wasn't being a hundred percent up front about Danny and the CIA, but he wanted to investigate Gale Storm's death. He had no idea what Danny was up to and why, but he was done waiting on Danny to get the job done.

Caroline shook her head and sat down. "Strickland Storm is a very scary man to cross. Of course, the Attorney General has given the green light for you to take over the investigation, but he would have liked to have been given a heads up before General Storm marched into his office. Cher' that was quite a meeting. I was there and I'm glad I wasn't the object of Strickland's wrath . . . Next time, keep me informed. We'd have opened the case without involving Strickland Storm, believe me."

"Sorry, Caroline." Booth knew that what he was trying to do was going to upset some apple carts, but he didn't want to take chances. "When Gerald told me he was going to involve his father it was too late to stop it. I talked to Gerald two hours ago, so he must have contacted his father right away. I was in a meeting with Bishop until fifteen minutes ago and I've been looking over my emails and handling calls."

"You should have called me anyway." Caroline sighed. "You'd better not botch this case either. Now that General Storm has his back up, no one had better do less than their best."

Booth agreed. "We're on this one, Caroline. We're going to find out what happened to Gale Storm and we will find out who murdered him and why."

Appeased for the moment, Caroline walked over to the door and paused. "We should have been involved from the start. The Attorney General knows that. We just let the Metro Police do the investigation without any oversight. My boss is embarrassed, Cher'. He's embarrassed and he wants the case handled quickly and thoroughly."

"Got it." Booth watched his friend leave. "Shit! Danny you're going to owe me big time when this is done."

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