(The Doctor in the Photo)

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I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

The fact that they were looking into Gale Storm's death didn't mean they didn't have other cases to deal with. A cardiologist's body had been found under a tree, entwined in the roots after lightening had struck and killed the tree. They followed the clues and finally determined that the woman had been killed in an accident. She had not been murdered. Lauren Eames had stood in the street on a stormy night and had been run over and killed. Her body had been buried under a newly planted tree by someone who had panicked and her remains had laid there until their morbid discovery.

"She was alone." Brennan had felt sympathy for Lauren. The cardiologist had been a leading light in her field, but she had cut herself off from personal relationships. Lauren had no real friends and when she died, no one had noticed. Brennan found that abhorrent. "I was like her."

Booth knew that Brennan had taken the case personally. She had felt empathy for the victim and she had a hard time letting the case go. "Not really. Yeah, she was the top in her field like you, but you have friends, family . . . Me. If you disappeared, I'd know it Bones. I'd never give up searching for you until I found you. Believe me. I love you too much to ever let you go silently into the night."

She moved closer to her boyfriend, laid her arm across his chest. They had retired earlier that evening, but they were both too restless to sleep. "Thank you. If you disappeared, I would search for you too." Brennan could see where her life could have ended up like Lauren's. "She didn't have any friends. She didn't want a personal relationship with anyone. She was afraid to feel anything and yet she wanted to feel something. When I was younger I was like that . . . before I met you. I had Angela in my life, but she was the only one who cared if I lived or died, then you came into my life . . . I'm glad I do have friends and I'm glad that you are part of my life . . . You helped me feel thinks I have never felt before."

Flattered and yet sad for Brennan, Booth moved his arm and encircled her shoulders. "You've helped me a lot Bones. Beside Pops and Parker, I was alone too. You gave me a family. We're family and someday we're going to have a little Bones running around and we'll be an even bigger family. It was the luckiest day of my life when I met you."

"Booth . . . about having a baby . . . you do still want a child, don't you?" Brennan held her breath. She was so nervous.

"I sure do . . . look, I know we've been pretty busy and we haven't had any luck yet, but someday you're going to get pregnant and when you do I am going to be so happy." Booth knew that his girlfriend wanted a baby, but so far, they hadn't had any luck. "This isn't your fault, so don't blame yourself, okay? We just have really busy lives and the pressures of what's been going on with Max and Abbot and Gale Storm's investigation . . ."

Brennan smiled. "Booth stop talking. I have something to tell you . . . I'm pregnant." Laying partially on his chest, she felt him inhale sharply then relax and breathe out.

"Really? Oh my God, Bones." Booth was stunned. They had been trying for months to have a baby and now it was happening. He held her tightly in his arms, afraid to let her go. "God, you make me so happy. A little Bones of our own. Wow!"

Pleased with his reaction, Brennan snuggled against his chest. "You make me happy too, Booth."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Pete Jackson was one of the best hackers in the country, or at least he thought so. He owned thousands of dollars in computer equipment and his house had the best security system in the country or at least he hoped so. Part of his basement was a fortress of solitude and unless he pointed out that the half basement was really a full one, no visitor had ever suspected that all was not as it seemed.

Sitting in his computer room, he diligently worked on tracking down the common denominators surrounding Abbot, Kirby and all of his minions. He couldn't find any connections with anyone at Homeland Security, so he set that aside for the moment and moved on to something else. He had managed to determine who the murdered Federal Agent was about the same time that Angela did. Once he had a name, he checked into the murder investigation and was appalled with the poor performance by the Metro police department, until he checked into the background of the detective assigned to the case. The man was deeply in debt and miraculously the week after he was assigned Storm's case, his debt disappeared.

Intrigued, Pete tracked down the cash infusion into Detective Donald Chute's bank account and found some intriguing facts. The money came from a bank account in Switzerland. Ah the classics. After a little careful hacking, he found that the account belonged to a mercenary group owned by William King. King's Company was notorious for working for the highest bidder which usually meant dictators. While Pete found that a bit odd, he was determined to find out why Chute deserved King's money.

Aware that he was investigating a company that would think nothing of killing him and making him disappear, Pete was careful how he approached the problem. Being the cautious man that he was, he decided to continue his investigation of Chute and to leave King's Company alone for the moment.

It wasn't too long before he found the connection between Chute and King. Donald Chute had a cousin that worked for homeland security and that cousin was an old school mate of William King. That excited Pete. He called Max and arranged a meeting.

The next day, Max arrived at the baseball stadium, found his seat and bought a glass of beer from a vendor passing by. Looking around, he didn't see anyone looking at him directly, but then again, he was surrounded by thousands of people, so he couldn't be absolutely sure he wasn't the object of attention.

Pete sat down next to his friend, bought a beer and a hot dog and checked out who was warming up in the pitcher's bull pen. He remained silent during the warm ups, but once the game was started, he felt free to talk. No one would be able to eavesdrop on any conversation while thousands of voices cheered and jeered around them. He leaned closer to Max, his eyes on the game and his hand over his mouth. "I think I found the Homeland Security guy Booth told you about in that meeting of his. Deputy Director Wayne Kitchen. He's an old school mate of William King of King's Company. King paid off the debts of the Metro detective that investigated Gale Storm's death and surprise surprise . . . Kitchen is also the cousin of the detective."

"Shit!" Max wasn't sure what to do with the information, but he'd have to make up his mind soon. His hand over his mouth, Max kept his eyes on the pitcher down below. "Okay, keep digging into Kitchen, but be careful. God knows what's going on. King's Company and a Homeland Security Deputy Director? This is not good."

Pete agreed. For the rest of the game, both men ignored each other and once the game was over, left without speaking to each other.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Angela was nervous, very nervous. She asked Booth to come to her office whenever he could find the time and while she waited, she checked her office for listening devices and cameras, then did the same for Hodgins, Cam and Brennan. She also ran the wand in the hallway outside of each office, but thankfully found nothing.

Once Booth was in the Lab, they all met in Angela's office with the blinds drawn and the door locked. Booth didn't comment on the precaution. He noticed how nervous Angela was and he felt a pain in his stomach. This looks bad.

Clearing her throat, Angela swallowed her nervousness and decided that they were as safe as they were going to be. Instead of using her computer, she handed out photocopies of pictures. "Okay, I'm trying not to use my computers right now. I'm updating my firewalls at this moment. I plan to update everyone's computer firewalls in the next few days. I can't do that to yours at work Booth. Sorry. The FBI would come after me, but I can upgrade your computer at home." Everyone nodded their head. They knew that Angela was afraid. "Okay, I think I found the Homeland Security guy that Danny is worried about."

Surprised, Booth looked at the three pictures in his hand. The second one gave him pause. "Deputy Director Wayne Kitchen? You've got to be kidding me . . . He served in Desert Storm. He's a hero. He . . . He was part of the unit that saved my life when I was captured by the Republican Guard." Booth felt sick. "Are you sure?"

She had known that Booth was going to be upset and she wanted to cry for her friend. "Yes . . . let me explain what I found out . . . The detective that botched Gale Storm's murder investigation is Kitchen's cousin. The detective, Donald Chute had a serious debt problem. He got involved in flipping houses in the Metro area just before the housing market crashed and well, he owed a hell of a lot of money to the banks. He was going to lose everything he owned, but suddenly he got a large cash infusion in his bank account and his debts disappeared. That money came from William King of King's Company."

"Fuck!" Hodgins rarely used strong curse words like that, but now he understood why Angela was afraid. "The man owns a mercenary company. He sells his services to dictators and the rest of the shit in the world." The entomologist was afraid. "He's been linked to a few disappearances including Janet Sheehan, that reporter for the Indianapolis Star . . . She was doing a story on his connection to the Beaker family and their connections to a drug company selling expired pharmaceuticals in Central America. No one could ever prove that the Beaker family was responsible or that King was responsible either, but he was working for the Beakers at the time . . . this is very bad."

Cam could see that Hodgins was afraid, but she also knew he was a brave man. "Settle down there Hodgins. You aren't alone in this. We already know that Danny and his boss at the CIA know about Kitchen and if they know about Kitchen then they probably know about King. You know Danny wasn't going to tell us everything. The CIA can't work in this country, but you know Danny has people outside the Agency looking into this for him."

"Yeah, that's right." Hodgins didn't trust the CIA, but at least the Agency knew about Kitchen which meant they knew about Chute and probably the King connection. "Okay . . . yeah."

"If Danny doesn't know, he will after Booth tells him." Brennan glanced at her partner and saw him nod his head in affirmation. "Now we know that Wayne Kitchen was the one working with Abbot to shut down our partnership. Perhaps he was worried that we would be handed the case and that we'd eventually find Gale's murderer and that it would lead back to him. Obviously, the drug addict is innocent of that particular crime, so whoever murdered Gale may lead us back to either Kitchen or King. Danny said that Gale had some kind of proof that Kitchen had betrayed his oath as Deputy Director at Homeland Security. If we find out who the murderer or murderers are perhaps we can find the proof against Kitchen. I am sure Danny will want to know what is going on since this involves his dead analyst."

Cam agreed. "Let Danny know and we continue to do our jobs. I'm running DNA tests on all of the blood samples found in Gale's house including those under the floor boards in the living room. I should have an answer in a few days. I think we should leave General Storm out of the loop for the time being. I do not want to be responsible for the death of a war hero. He deserves answers, but we need to get all of our ducks in a row and make sure everyone is safe, including the Storm family."

Booth agreed. "I'll contact Danny." He wondered how his friend was going to take this. He had served in Desert Storm too and the idea that Major Kitchen was a traitor must be gnawing at him. Booth felt sick about it, but he would do his job.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"William King? King's Company?" This was news to Danny and it infuriated him. "I knew about Chute, but not about King . . . God damn mercenaries. They'd sell their soul for money." His boss was going to be livid. The man hated William King and if this could be used to destroy King's Company the Agency would use it. "Damn it!"

"Cam is running DNA tests on the blood we found in the house to see if we can identify the murderers." Booth leaned against the oak tree and stared at James Rawlings gravestone. He had plans to visit Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day along with Pops and Brennan. James had been his grandfather's friend and he had been killed in action. They visited his grave every year. "Since Gale had a black belt in martial arts, Bones doesn't think one man attacked Gale. We're looking for at least two assailants. Once we get that information, we'll see where it leads."

Danny stared out at the many gravestones before him and sighed. "Keep me informed."

"I will." Booth turned and stared at his friend. "Kitchen saved my life in Iraq. How did you know I wouldn't cover this up and point the evidence somewhere else?" Booth was curious. If he had been in Danny's shoes, he would have never let Seeley Booth near this case.

Amused, Danny laughed. "Yeah right. You are not built that way. You couldn't cover up a crime like this. You love your country and if Kitchen is a traitor then I know you'd want to know why. That's who you are. I never doubted you for a second."

"Thanks." Booth turned and walked away. He really hated this case. It had taken an ugly turn and it made him feel ill, but he would not fail to investigate it properly.

Oooooooooooooooooo

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