A/N: Sorry for the uber-short review replies but I was trying to get this done today.
Warning for fairly unpleasant violence/implied violence.
Chapter 16 - Showdown
"Drop your weapon, Dr Brennan."
She shook her head, keeping her gun trained on Luca Dellato's chest as he came closer, a calm look on his face as he asked, "Do you really think you're in a position to rebel? Drop your weapon or they will be shot."
To reinforce the threat, Carlo grabbed Zach by the arm, training his gun at his head, while the two men holding Booth pushed him to his knees before pressing the barrel of the gun to the base of his skull. Her eyes flickering between the two of them, Brennan spoke with as much confidence as she could muster, "Let them go. You let Booth and Zach go, and I'll surrender."
"No-" Booth shouted desperately, only to be silenced by a kick in the ribs from his captors.
Ignoring his outburst, Luca kept his attention focused on Brennan, his voice as relaxed as ever, "No deal. You either drop the gun now or my men pull the triggers. It makes little difference to me either way."
She hesitated a moment longer, her back pressed against the wall and her chest still heaving from the chase, before grim resolution passed across her face.
A victorious smirk played on Luca's lips as her gun dropped quietly to the forest floor, her arm falling limply to her side in defeat. Motioning to his men, he congratulated her smoothly, "Wise choice, Dr Brennan."
Her eyes stayed locked with his as two more henchmen approached her, cinching a plastic zip-tie firmly around her wrists. She gave a perfunctory struggle, but the hopelessness of the situation was reflected all too clearly in her demeanor; there were nine of the Dellatos and their men while her two friends were already at gunpoint. She barely felt the black-gloved hands of the men gripping her arms, instead maintaining a stoic appearance as Luca walked slowly toward her, the expression on his face like one of a snake toying with a mouse.
Finding her voice, she tried again, demanding quietly, "Let Booth and Zach go. I'm the one you wanted to kill; they've not done anything wrong."
His chuckle made her jump, and Luca raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked pointedly at Zach. "Not done anything wrong? Aren't you wondering how we found you here?"
Doubt registered on her face, and she said, more of a question than a statement, "You traced the call from our cell phone. When I called Angela, you triangulated the signal."
He smiled again. "You're half-right, Dr Brennan. Except... we weren't the ones who traced the signal."
Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she slowly followed his gaze to where Zach stood, eyes fixed firmly on the ground and face flushed with shame. Her mouth fell open and she whispered in disbelief, "Zach? You- you told them?"
Zach raised his head at her address, his shoulders hunched as he explained awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Dr Brennan, but I didn't want my family to be hurt."
"Bastard," Booth spat, struggling hard against the men holding him back. "I told you they'd be safe!"
"I couldn't risk it," the young man answered nervously, turning his attention to the agent. "I know what you said but my family were the easiest targets for them, and I wasn't satisfied with the reasoning you gave me."
"Reasoning?" Booth repeated angrily. "You just gave up your boss to be killed, kid. What the hell kind of reasoning is that?!" Fists clenched as he pulled against the ties on his wrists, he pushed down with his good leg, making a lunge toward Zach as he yelled, "You son of a bitch!"
He barely made it to standing before one of his guards stamped down hard on his broken ankle. His cry of pain echoed through the desolate forest as he dropped back to his knees, gasping in agony and trying to stay upright as Luca moved over to him, smiling maliciously.
"Agent Booth, I thought you'd have learnt the consequences of speaking out of turn by now." Brennan saw Booth's jaw tighten at his words, but he kept his eyes forward, not looking over at her or up at Luca, who raised his eyebrows in response to his silence. "You don't think so?" He circled him slowly as he taunted, "As far as I remember, your ankle wouldn't have been broken if you'd behaved."
Brennan swallowed hard at the memory of watching her partner on the floor of the slaughterhouse, the weapon slamming into his ankle in retribution for his attempts at fighting back. She was quickly jerked back to the present by a wince from Booth, and she tried to pull away from the men holding her when she saw Luca rest his foot on her partner's injured leg. Before she could say anything, she caught Booth's subtle shake of the head as he bit his lip against the pain, and fell silent as Luca continued to speak.
"In fact, you would've gotten away with far fewer injuries if you'd just left it up to your girlfriend to decide," Luca informed him with a mocking shrug. "Guess you're just a glutton for punishment." Roughly, he pulled the neck of Booth's shirt back and smiled broadly at the marks still left by the whip strokes. "Well, that's what my sister seemed to think anyway."
This comment provoked a reaction, and Temperance watched as Booth pulled away from Luca's grip, his head down and his mouth in a tight line. She heard Luca laugh, but didn't take her eyes off her partner, her thoughts a mixture of curiosity and sympathy. She'd seen the marks on his back, but he'd never spoken about where they came from or why they'd been inflicted on him, instead avoiding the subject wherever possible.
Any further analysis was suddenly interrupted by another pained scream from Booth, and her gaze snapped up to see that Luca's foot was still on his ankle, pressing down harder and harder as he watched him nearly collapse with the pain. Unable to take it anymore, she yelled loudly, "Stop it!"
Surprised by her interruption, Luca instinctively moved his foot, looking over at her as she pleaded, "Leave him alone. You've done enough already."
"Have I really?" He looked down at Booth who was still struggling to get his breathing back to normal. "What about you, Agent Booth? Do you think I've done enough? Because I seem to remember telling you something before I dumped you in that ditch... Do you remember what it was?"
Booth said nothing, and before Brennan could figure out what he was talking about, Luca grasped her partner's hair, wrenching his head back and holding the sharp blade of a pocket knife to his throat as he asked cruelly, "How about now?"
"Booth!"
Luca tugged his hair harder as he ordered, "Keep your mouth shut, Dr Brennan. Agent Booth is going to remind us all of what I promised him."
She saw Booth close his eyes as the knife pressed harder against his throat and felt her heart constrict when he finally answered quietly, "You said you'd kill me if she tried anything with the evidence."
He nodded, satisfied. "And I am always a man of my word, Agent Booth."
"No!" Making a futile attempt at escaping the grip of her captors, Brennan struggled violently, trying to reason with the leader of the Dellatos, "I was the one who switched the evidence. You already want to kill me; you don't need to hurt him too."
To her immense relief, Luca actually lowered the knife, releasing his grip on Booth's hair and stepping away from him as he replied, "You're right, Dr Brennan. After all, you are the reason we're all here today." He smiled. "It only seems fair that your boyfriend and your colleague should get to watch your death before meeting their own." He gestured to his cousins, "Tony, Carlo, she's all yours."
Brennan's eyes widened as the two brothers stepped forward while their men kept a firm hold on Zach and Booth. Luca stood in the center of the group and watched with satisfaction as the two men approached her, Tony holding a gun and Carlo toying with a knife while she backed off against the wall, her attempts at bravery slipping away.
Handling his gun, Tony's voice took on a mockingly reassuring tone as he informed her, "Don't worry, Doc; we're not going to shoot you yet."
Carlo chuckled. "Yeah, after all the running around we had to do to find you, we're going to take our time." Without warning, he lashed out, smacking her hard across the face and sending her sprawling on the ground. Unable to break her fall due to her bound wrists, she struggled to sit, backing away as best she could and looking up at them through her disheveled hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Booth pull against his captors' grip, but to no avail.
The two brothers towered over her, Carlo's shadow falling across her face in the afternoon sunlight as he said conversationally, "You know how we work, Doc, and you know what we're going to do to you." The knife glinted in the light as he inspected the blade before asking, "So, tell us, should we start with the hands, the eyes or the tongue?"
Feeling a wave of nauseous terror sweep over her at the question, Brennan said nothing, her voice almost paralyzed by fear. Tears formed in her eyes, threatening to join the blood trickling from her split lip in a path down her face, and her breath came quick and shallow, as though her lungs were desperately trying to take in oxygen while they still could.
A shout of "Bones!" drew her eyes away from the knife for a second, but Booth's cry only served as a distraction, allowing Tony to grasp a handful of her hair and twist it painfully as he dragged her up to her knees, forcing her head upward. Her hands left the dirty ground and she could feel a dead leaf sticking to the perspiration on her palm as she fought uselessly against the ties.
Carlo bent over her, his cold eyes meeting her wide ones, and said darkly, "I think I'm going to start with those baby blues." He grinned. "Open wide, Doc."
"No!" Booth yelled, struggling against the men restraining him with everything he had left. Her eyes traveled quickly over to him, drinking him in for the last time while he shouted as loudly as he could, arriving at his last resort, "Help! Please, somebody, help!"
His voice reverberated through the quiet forest, with the pleas for help appearing to carry further than anyone thought they would. Tony and Carlo froze for a second, hearing his continued shouts echoing across the hills before one of the men clapped a hand over Booth's mouth on Luca's signal. The two brothers looked to their cousin, who gritted his teeth in annoyance as he scanned the area around them. Making a quick decision, he ordered in a low voice, "Take them inside. I don't want anyone interrupting us."
Frustrated by the delay, Tony lifted Brennan to her feet, practically carrying her over to the door as she kicked helplessly, still choking back tears. Booth and Zach were dragged behind her, with the rest of the men standing guard while Luca kicked down the old wooden door, striding inside.
Making one last attempt to stop herself being pushed through the door, Temperance planted her feet on the wooden wall and pushed back, the weight of her body making Tony stumble backward. His grip on her arms momentarily loosened and she wrenched free, spinning round and aiming a kick at his midsection.
Her foot never connected, and Carlo's fist instead collided with her cheek, knocking her to the floor as he followed her inside, eyes blazing with anger. Wincing, she instinctively brought her knees to her chest to protect herself against the blows she knew were coming, feeling rather than seeing him as he stood over her in the darkness of the large hut.
A blinding flash of light suddenly assaulted her eyes, and she closed them, bracing herself for the jolt of pain that was to follow, when a cacophony of shouts reached her ears, different voices yelling the same thing,
"FBI, put your hands in the air!"
(grins) All will be explained next chapter, but reviews and guesses are very welcome.