(Before 'The Loyalty in the Lie')

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Note: Remember this story is AU.

I don't own Bones.

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Jared was afraid. He'd been approached by his friend Kevin O'Donnell about something dangerous happening soon and the man was looking for a way out. Kevin had been having a hard time finding steady work for quite a while. He'd made a career serving in the Navy and after putting in his 20 years he had retired and tried to enter the civilian world. His specialty was a little too special and no one was searching for someone trained as an aviation ordnanceman. Handling service weapons and ammunition weren't in high demand. He'd found a job as a security guard at a local warehouse and even though the money wasn't that great the job was steady and he received a paycheck every week.

One of his former acquaintances from his Navy days had looked him up and promised him a lot of money if he'd do a special job for him. It was dangerous, but with four or five men helping him, Kevin could end up being a millionaire. All he and his crew would have to do was steal $2 million dollars from a very bad man and use that money to buy a list of FBI Agents who worked undercover, Agents embedded in criminal and terrorist organizations. His friend didn't have access to the list, but he knew someone that did and that man would give them that list when asked for it for $2 million. Once the list was in their possession, they could sell it for at least $40 million, the sky was the limit.

At first Kevin had thought this was his way out. With a few million dollars he could retire on some island, buy a boat and work as a tour guide or something. It would be the answer to his dreams, but it only took him a day to realize that his dream would turn into a nightmare for those Federal agents on the list. He contacted Jared and asked him what to do since he was in law enforcement and his brother was with the FBI. He wanted the money and he wouldn't have cared if he could get it killing a bad man like Victor Masbourian, a known criminal that was into drugs, racketeering and human trafficking, but using that money to buy a list of undercover agents and selling that list to criminal organizations would be too much to bear. He needed a way out without getting killed himself.

Determined to help Kevin, Jared talked to Sheriff Wilkins about the situation and received permission to take the day off and contact Agent Booth at the Hoover. The Sheriff had realized that if that list of FBI Agents was released to the wrong people they would die and he couldn't allow that to happen.

With Kevin in tow, Jared walked into Booth's office and closed the door behind them. "Seeley, thank you for seeing us. We've got a problem and we need your help."

"I have a problem and I need your help." Kevin didn't want Jared taking the responsibility for any of this mess. "I was approached by a friend of mine, Benjamin Metzger. He's a digital forensic scientist with the FBI. He came up with a scheme worth millions but that scheme could get quite a few FBI Agents killed."

Pointing at the chairs in front of his desk, Booth leaned forward and waited for the men to settle on their chairs. "Okay, what's the scheme and why you?"

"Well, Ben and I met while we were in the Navy. We both served on the Enterprise." Kevin rubbed the back of his neck. He was nervous and he felt like he was betraying a friend, but he knew he didn't have a choice. "He works here in the Hoover and he told me that he knew an agent that had access to a list of Agents that were presently working undercover. Ben said he can buy that list for $2 million and we can sell it for at least $40 million. The Drug cartels and Human trafficking rings would pay a fortune to know who these Agents are. Since we don't have $2 million the idea is to steal it from Victor Masbourian."

"Victor Masbourian? Are you out of your fucking mind?" Booth couldn't believe anyone would be insane enough to try to steal from that psycho. "He and his men would slaughter you."

Slowly shaking his head, Kevin knew something that Booth didn't. "I have a friend that works for Masbourian. He knows it's wrong, but once you do something for that guy you can never walk away and he's trapped. He wants out and killing Masbourian would do that . . . He can give me the floor plan for Masbourian's house and make sure the security system is turned off at a specific time. With the help of some other guys Ben and I know, we could go in, rob his safe and leave. If Masbourian or his men try to stop us, we'd kill them. I think my friend may do that if we don't . . . They're bad guys, so no one would work hard to find out who killed them, or at least that's what Ben thinks."

"You don't know my wife then. She's a forensic anthropologist who does contract work for the FBI and she'd try very hard. She wouldn't give a rat's ass if they were criminals or not." Booth glanced at Jared who shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, so you'd steal the money and then what? I want to understand what would happen next."

"We'd hand the $2 million over to Ben and he'd give it to some FBI agent who has access to the list and once Ben has the list, he'd start contacting people and offer to sell them the list for a couple of million each." Kevin sighed. "He thinks we could make over $40 million, but damn it, men and women would die if that list got out to the wrong people . . . I was tempted, don't get me wrong, I need the money, but . . . I just can't be responsible for the blood that would be spilled. I just can't do it . . . I talked to Jared, he talked to Sheriff Wilkins and the Sheriff told us to talk to you. So here we are."

"Do you have any proof that you talked to Ben about this plan to steal the $2 million from Masbourian?"

After he brought up messages on his phone, Kevin handed it to Booth. "Ben is a tech specialist, so you might want to make a copy of these messages he sent me before he finds a way to delete them. He told me to delete my messages, but I didn't. I downloaded the messages to my PC and then I backed it up on a flash drive . . . Ben is a friend, but I don't believe in letting people set me up for a fall either. I was kind of worried about this from the minute he contacted me and if it had just been stealing from Masbourian I'd have done it, but he wants to take a step too far."

Disturbed that the FBI had two men willing to allow other agents to be killed for money, Booth struck his closed fist on his desk. "Damn it! When are we going to be rid of the traitors in the FBI? First Kirby, then Robert Hanssen and Wayne Kitchen and then Durant's stooges and now some greedy bastards out for a buck . . . Okay, I need to talk to the Deputy Director and probably the Director to see how we should play this. I need you two to stay in my office while I'm busy taking care of this. If you need coffee or snacks, we have a break room near the elevators. The bathrooms are down the hallway. I'll have someone go get you lunch in a couple of hours. Do not talk to anyone about why you're here and stay in this room."

"Got it." Jared stood up. "Seeley . . . If you need my help, just say so."

"Ha, Padme is seven months pregnant and I'm not going to let your kid become an orphan." Booth walked over to the door. "Stay here and don't talk to anyone . . . and thanks for coming to me. You did good."

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Back from an interview with a suspect, Agent Aubrey spotted two men in Booth's office, opened the door to the office and poked his head inside. "Can I help you? Does Agent Booth know you're in his office?"

Turning to face the Agent, Jared smiled. "You may not remember me, I'm Seeley's brother, Jared. I've been to a few of his barbecues when you were there."

"Oh yeah, yeah, hey, I just wanted to make sure that Booth knew you were in his office." Stepping inside, he glanced at Kevin then back at Jared. "Do you need me to find your brother? Does he know you're here?"

"Yeah, yeah, he knows." Aware that Booth didn't want him to talk to anyone, Jared shrugged his shoulders. "He had to take care of something and he said he'd be back as soon as he could. He asked us to wait in here."

After glancing at his watch, Aubrey nodded his head. "It's lunch time, would you like me to pick up something for you from the Royal Diner. I have some work to do and I'm going to eat lunch while I'm working. It's not a problem to pick up something for you."

Not sure when his brother would be back, Jared fished his wallet from his pants pocket and handed Aubrey a $20 bill. "Kevin? A hamburger and fries?"

Since he didn't really care, Kevin nodded his head. "Yeah, no ketchup or tomatoes on the burger."

"I want my burger loaded with everything and a piece of pie as well as fries. I don't care what kind of pie it is. We can get a drink from the break room." Placing the wallet back in his pants pocket, Jared walked over to Booth's desk and removed a folded newspaper sitting next to the PC. Flipping it open, he sat down and looked through the paper while Kevin walked over to the window and stared out at the street below. Seeing that they weren't going to say anything further Aubrey left to go get lunch.

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While they were eating, Booth entered the room, noticed the burgers in his guest's hands and heard his stomach rumble. Ignoring it, he sat down and faced Jared and Kevin. "Okay, I've talked to Deputy Director Stark and Director Darouse and Caroline Julian and I are going to confront Ben Metzger as soon as he comes back from lunch. The techs have your phone, Kevin but I should have it in my hands before I start my interview. It'll probably be awhile before you get your phone back. It's evidence. I'm sorry."

"I need that phone for work." Kevin didn't like his job, but it was a job and he couldn't afford to lose it.

Concerned, Jared held up his hand. "I'll buy you a new one Kevin. Don't worry about it. It's the least we can do for you for turning Metzger in."

Since he didn't want his brother to foot the bill, Booth handed Jared a check from his checkbook. "Buy a phone and send me the receipt. I'll get the FBI to refund the price."

Relieved, Kevin smiled. "Thanks. It's a shitty job, but it pays the bills."

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