Booth made it to the car with Aiden right behind him. The younger agent kept his mouth shut as they climbed into the car, his eyes cast down as he buckled in and waited for Booth to drive. When the car was started, Aiden noticed that Booth made no move to leave just yet. He looked up to see Booth staring at him.
"What?" Aiden asked, watching as Booth just stared silently for a moment. "I'm keeping my mouth shut, okay? I'm sorry."
"No." Booth said softly.
"No?" Aiden replied.
"No." Booth sighed. "You are scared, it's okay to express that. I'm just… I'm trying to make sure that only one of us is freaking out at a time." He cleared his throat and looked out the window, waiting to see Officer Rollins so that he could lead them to the car. "I'm convinced Toni got the drop on them. There are too many signs of it for it not to be true. The missing boots, the dressed wounds, the fact that they were left in a place where there was pretty heavy traffic. She knew they would be found there in practically no time at all. "
"But where did she go? Why would she go? Why wouldn't she just drive them to the hospital? Why leave them there and disappear? I mean, if she got the drop on them, who is to say someone else couldn't have gotten the drop on her?" Aiden asked, nodding toward the police car that was waiting for them to follow. "What if something went wrong?"
"That's where the evidence comes in." Booth said. "Let's get out to the car, see what else she left behind besides those two morons." Booth handed Aiden his cell phone and nodded toward it. "Call Ace. Let him know what's going on, and when he gives the phone to Bones, just let me have it back."
Aiden nodded his head and took the phone, quickly dialing Ace's number he waited for a moment. Ace picked up on the second ring.
"Hey Deuce. Did you find the girls?" Ace said quickly into the line.
"Hey, it's Fitz." Aiden sighed. "We have the suspects, not the girls. Are there any leads on who these guys are, and what they want from Melody?"
"You have the suspects? The suspects were the gunshot victims? Where is Toni?" Ace's voice was extremely serious, bordering frantic.
"Booth and I are on our way to the scene. Gunshots, blunt force trauma, puncture wounds to the suspects. They're still alive, but barely. We're still trying to figure out where Toni and Melody are." Aiden sighed. "Is Doctor Brennan there? Booth wants to talk to her."
"Remind me never to get in that girl's way." Ace sighed. "Doc isn't here."
"What do you mean Doctor Brennan isn't there?" Aiden said clearly, watching Booth's attention snap to him as he drove. He immediately put the phone into Booth's outstretched hand.
"What do you mean, Bones isn't there, Ace. I told you to keep her there, she was going to wait with you." Booth said gruffly.
"She's on her way to you." Ace said, clearing his throat. "Do you think I could keep that woman away from her kid?"
"And why the hell aren't you with her?" Booth snapped.
"Angela is with her, she's driving her there. I'm keeping the squints in line here, seeing what we can find on the case side of things." Ace said quickly, listening to a low, guttural growl from Booth. "You know I'm right, Booth. You know that I need to be here. We can't all be out there and get this thing solved."
"I know." Booth said with a resigned sigh. "Bones was heading toward the hospital, right?" Booth asked.
"Yeah."
"Do me a favor. See if you can get ahold of her, let her know we're going to the scene. I'll text you the information and you can pass it along to her. Tell her what's going on with the suspects, and to meet me at the scene." Booth said with a sigh.
"You got it." Ace said, hanging up the phone.
Booth tossed the phone to Aiden and glanced to him. "Call Bones, see if she answers."
"But you just told Ace…"
"Yeah, well, I promised her I'd call. I never break a promise." Booth said, giving Aiden a pointed glare as the younger agent dialed the phone and handed it back to Booth without another word.
Booth listened on the receiver for a moment, and when the phone went to voicemail, he took a deep breath. "Bones, Ace said you are on your way here. Fitz and I are heading from the hospital to the scene. The girls are still out there somewhere, not in the hospital. The suspects are being held at the hospital. Ace will send you directions to the scene, because the reception out here is spotty. Hopefully Toni left us some evidence." There was a soft tone in his voice as he paused for a moment. "I love you, Bones. We're going to find them." He said, ending the call. He tossed the phone to Aiden. "Text Ace the directions, and forward them to Bones too, just for the hell of it." He said with a shrug.
"You got it, boss." Aiden said with a nod, as he found himself finally feeling a bit more confident that everything was going to work out for the best.
July 5th 9:00pm-
Once Booth and Aiden arrived at the scene, the sun was nearly set. They pulled into the overlook carefully as a Virginia State Trooper moved the barrier aside for them to enter. He pulled to the side of the small pull off and his eyes never left the car that was sitting there, trunk open, doors wide, and the hood still open. They had brought in some work lights for the scene, illuminating parts of the scene.
Booth jumped from the car and Aiden quickly followed him, each with a flashlight in their hand. The reddish orange tint of the setting sun gave the scene an odd glow, illuminating the mountains as well as the officers that were cataloguing the scene. Booth introduced himself and Aiden and they walked around the car slowly.
"Has anyone touched anything inside the car?" Booth asked, trying to determine the freshness of the scene.
"No, sir." The trooper standing nearby said as he held out his hand. "Family came upon the car, heard some noises in the trunk and when they saw the two people in there, they hightailed it out of here and called the rangers. We ran a check on the plates after getting them in an ambulance, but when we heard there was an APB out for a vehicle of its description with the photos provided, we were told to cease investigation and wait for the Feds." He said gruffly. "So this is the car you were looking for?"
"Yes, and the men that were in the trunk are our suspects."
"I'm not following." The trooper said, obviously confused as to how two suspects ended up in the trunk of a car.
"The car was involved in an incident in DC." Booth said, walking with him around to the side where the damage was. "The damage to the car is consistent with a fairly recent collision, a collision that occurred this morning that involved the forced removal of the occupants, and subsequent kidnapping. Are there any video or cameras along this stretch of road?"
"The toll booth at the north and south have cameras, we have some folks looking into that. Now you're saying that there were occupants of the vehicle that had been taken forcibly?"
"We do believe they were, yes. A woman and a young child. The child is a witness to a crime, and we believe that the suspects were in pursuit of her. Have there been any sightings of any women with a child? Anybody mention picking someone up?"
"Not as far as I know." The trooper said as he glanced over at Aiden, who had pulled out a latex glove from his pocket, slipped it on his hand and leaned in the open car door. "What is he doing?"
"He's looking for evidence." Booth said, as if it were obvious. "Doctor Brennan of the Jeffersonian is expected to be arriving within the next hour and a half. She's probably going to want this car to be towed there on a flatbed. We may as well just get that on the way here as well." Booth said, watching the trooper nod his head, he turned toward the car and watched Aiden lean across the driver seat. He walked over toward him. "Do you always carry around a spare pair of latex gloves?"
Aiden pulled his body from the car and looked toward Booth, his eyebrow arched. "In the words of the incomparable Antonia Brennan-Booth, you never know when you'll happen upon a crime scene. Never go anywhere unprotected." He said.
"I can't help but wonder if that advice would have helped in other aspects of your relationship." Booth said without thinking, catching the younger man's scowl out of the corner of his eye.
"That was a cheap shot." Aiden snapped back.
"Consider it payback for your freak out at the hospital." Booth said with a smarmy grin as he looked into the car. "She leave any cards?"
"There are some on the dashboard." Aiden said, nodding toward the car. "I assume she left them for you or Doctor Brennan to interpret."
"Probably." Booth sighed. "If she left cards, then she wasn't taken. She left of her own free will." Booth said, looking into the car at the cards, he stood up straight and looked toward the woods on either side of them, and across the street.
"There would be nowhere for her to go, Booth. She'd have needed a ride."
Booth nodded and glanced toward the trooper, getting his attention. "Hey, while your guys are looking at the security footage for the entry of this car, see if they can also get info on any large vehicles that passed through the gate on the way out that may have had extra passengers. Focus in around 10am to after the car was discovered. Trailers, campers, RVs. We're looking for a young woman, 27 years old, approximately 5'10" in height, average weight, brown hair. She's traveling with a five year old little girl, blonde hair, deaf and probably scared half to death."
The trooper nodded his head and lifted his phone to call the gatehouse.
Aiden walked around the car again, glancing at the trunk for a moment he looked closer at it for several moments. He pulled his flashlight across the inside of the trunk and looked closely, leaning in carefully. He touched nothing, and only observed. "It looks like they had the girls in here when they grabbed them." He said, noticing that there were several long strands of brown and blonde hair stuck to the carpet. He noted the broken latch. "She must have pried open the latch." He said, mostly to himself.
"She's extremely adaptive and good at problem solving." Booth said with a nod. "There's a crowbar in the back seat." Booth said, shining his flashlight into the car. "It's probably what made those colorful bruises on our suspects." He said, watching Aiden nod his head and shrug, he watched the younger man's brow furrow as he continued to walk around the car, scrutinizing every single scratch, bump and dirt streak on the car. "Hey." He said, watching Aiden look up at him. "She'll be okay." He said, watching the slightly incredulous look in his eyes. "She is a strong girl, she has resources. All three of them will be okay." Booth said, watching as Aiden sighed. They both looked up as a car came toward them from down the road, slowing quickly. "Well, there's Bones." He said as Angela's car eased through the barricade as it was moved to allow her passage. "Time to get to work." He said, as Booth walked quickly toward the car.