Brotherly Love?
By wired2damoon
Chapter 16: Packages And Pie
"Well hey son what's-"
"-Sorry to interrupt Dad, but uh, I'm kinda in a hurry", Booth rambled as he sped towards the car rental place to drop back the Mustang.
"Seeley what-"
"-Are you sitting down Dad?" he asked nervously as he jumped out of the mustang and practically ran towards the rental office.
"Seeley James Booth what in the hell is the matter with you? Why are you so jumpy and keep interrupting me? It's disrespectful!"
"I'm sorry Dad it's just-" Booth paused for a moment as the clerk got him to sign a form and sped off to get his SUV from out the back.
"Just what Seeley? What's wrong? Has something happened to Jared?" his father asked worriedly.
Oh yeah immediately ask about Jared-I'm fine by the way Dad, just still recovering from nearly dying a few months ago! Seeley couldn't help but think bitterly, but the scolded himself for thinking such things at a time like this.
"Yeah, it's…it's about Jared…" he mumbled, banishing his thoughts.
"Well, spit it out!"
Booth took a deep breath to steady himself as his SUV pulled up in front of him.
Smiling grimly in thanks, he pulled open the door, leapt in and started the engine, the phone still clutched to his ear.
"Well dad-it's like this…"
Through the entire tale that Booth told his father, the older man remained utterly silent.
When Booth finished, he waited with bated breath for his father to say something.
"Dad what-"
"-We'll meet you at the Hoover Building in four hours!"
The line went dead.
Booth gaped in shock, merely listening to the dial tone as he finally pulled up at the J. Edgar Hoover Building after three hours and forty five minutes of speedy driving.
Quickly, he unbuckled his seat-belt and stormed into the building, dodging person after person until he was face to face with Deputy Director Cullen's office door.
On a normal day he would politely knock, but today he just burst in-startling his boss who was drinking a cup of coffee.
Cullen glared up at the man who so rudely intruded whilst wiping his tie furiously.
"Booth what the-"
"-Sir, we got a problem."
The activity throughout the Jeffersonian Institution was rapid and sleek.
Dozens of Grad Students were scampering about whilst their seniors observed or attended more important matters.
Five figures stood alone on the platform, hunched over a decomposing body, each one silent and face pensive. They had been standing like that for four hours already.
Both Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Sayoran poured over the body for hours, checking for any clue as to what might link the body to Jared Booth's missing case of he and the victim's brother Mike.
The results were the same. There were absolutely no link that could inform the team of anything that might be helpful.
All that was known was that Nick was a part of a drugs scandal (according to Booth) and that whoever was angry with him, definitely got their revenge. It was a violent and painful death.
At this point, all the team were growing impatient. None of them had heard from either Booth or Brennan in almost two days and they were beginning to feel left in the dark.
"Has there been any word for them?" Sweets asked the group eagerly, his high-pitched tone quite louder then usual.
Angela rolled her eyes and shook her head for what felt like the umpteenth time.
"No Dr. Sweets, for the last time, they haven't…" she mumbled, as she sat slouched in a chair, peering at her fiancé and Dr. Sayoran work.
"Well that's extremely odd, they really should have-"
"-I have a package here for a Special Agent Seeley Booth", a voice suddenly called from below the platform.
Angela jumped up from the chair as if she were scalded and scampered down the steps to greet the delivery guy.
"I'll sign for that!" she exclaimed eagerly.
The man smirked at her and handed her the clip board.
Angela scrawled her signature hurriedly and ran back up the steps of the platform after swiping her card through.
The gang then hovered around the package as Angela laid it on an empty table.
"Should we call him?" she asked, looking around her worriedly.
The rest of the team had grim faces but Cam minutely nodded her head.
Out of nowhere, a cell phone was trust into Angela's face.
"Why me?" she asked, her voice sounding slightly whiney.
No answer came so she just sighed and took the phone, instantly dialling Booth's number.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Just when she was about to hang up, the phone was answered.
"Booth", came a soft tone.
"Booth, its Angela, look I'm sorry to keep calling you like this but-"
"-It's all right Angela, what's up?" Booth asked, sounding as if he was extremely tired and on edge.
"Booth are you okay?"
She heard the agent sigh once more, she could tell something was on his mind.
"Yeah, I'm fine…was there something you wanted to tell me?" he murmured, and Angela couldn't help but notice that he sounded a little timid, almost scared…
"Uh…yeah…um, another package came for you just now…"
The agent gasped and started rambling hurriedly, "give me five minutes, I'm just waiting on someone, I'll be there as soon as I can".
"But Booth-"
Angela was cut off by the sound of the dial tone. He hung up on her!
Turning to the rest of the group, (who were all gawking at her, with eager faces), she mumbled, "um…he's on his way…"
The team looked grimly at the package for a moment, each fearing the worst, they always seemed to receive bad mail in this place.
After a while of mindlessly looking at particulates, something occurred to Hodgins. He turned to frown at his fiancé.
"How long did he say he'll be? It's a least four hours drive to Washington."
Angela looked thoughtful for a moment and mumbled, "actually he said he'll be five minutes…"
"Two minutes? Booth's in Pittsburgh, there's no way he'll get here in two minutes…" Hodgins said matter-of-factly.
No sooner had the words left his mouth, he heard a familiar tone yell up at them.
"Alright Squint-Squad, what do we have?"
They all turned and saw the burly FBI agent walk towards them, accompanied by two older people, a man and a woman.
"Booth, how the hell did you get here so fast?" Angela exclaimed in shock, "I didn't actually think you meant five minutes!"
Booth looked nervous for a moment before answering sheepishly, "uh actually, I've been here for a while now…got back earlier today…"
The squints frowned at him, before Sweets began, "hey Booth, where's Dr. Bren-"
"-Hey squints, let me introduce you to my parents…" Booth cut across him, suddenly stepping aside to the people who were now climbing up the platform steps.
"Mom, Dad, this is the team my partner and I work with. That's Angela, Hodgins, Cam and uh, that's…Sweets..." Booth mumbled, hesitating as he saw how eager his therapist looked at the mention of patents. His young face was practically shinning with anticipation of observing his patient's relationship with his parents.
There was a chorus of 'nice to meet you', 'hey' and 'hello' throughout the group.
When everyone was settled, the question that Booth was dreading was asked once more.
"So…Seeley…where is this amazing partner we hear so much about?" asked his mother, a small, plump, joyful-looking woman with rosy cheeks.
The team, Sweets and his parents all looked at him expectedly.
Suddenly the room grew very hot and Booth loosened his tie considerably.
"Uh…well…that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I thought it would be better to do it in person I-uh-"
Angela immediately knew that tone of voice and began to panic.
"Booth, where is she?" she asked, her voice laced with worry.
Booth's chocolate brown eyes gleamed with something only his mother and Angela could identify.
Fear.
Seeley drew a deep breath and readied himself for what was to come.
"She's been taken."
The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence…
It was cold, bitterly cold. The harsh gust of wind, hit like a tonne of un-welcome bricks against the soft, creamy skin.
Temperance Brennan shivered against her will as she felt goose bumps begin to form on her upper arms.
She had begun to come around and the first thing she felt was how cold she was. The second, was the unbearable pain she could feel all over her face.
Her cheek was severely swollen, she had a deep gash under her eye and she could tell she was going to have defined bruising.
She could not see anything, a blindfold covered her eyes as she sat, her arms and legs tied to a wooden chair.
Her over-sensitive ears could pick up a fraction of movement coming from her left.
She tired desperately to talk but there was a gag in her mouth, so her attempts just came out in muffles.
Suddenly she could sense someone standing over her. Even with the blindfold on, her brilliant eyes could tell that the light had dimmed.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" came a voice, standing directly above her.
Brennan began to struggle against her restraints, to kick, hit, slap, anything to wound the person, her attempts were in vain.
"Now, Temperance, there's no need to be so violent, we're all friends here…" the voice continued, in an utterly patronising tone.
The anthropologist wanted to scream, yell and curse at him but yet again her attempts were futile.
There was a swooping motion and she could feel someone kneeling on front of her, very, very close.
"Now Temperance…I'm going to take off your blindfold now…just for a little bit. I hate talking when the person can't see me, I find it terribly, terribly rude…" the voice mumbled and she could feel hands creep behind her head and untie the blindfold slowly.
The black straps fell away from her face and Temperance's eyes crept open.
She was almost blinded by the harsh light that was omitting from the large room, squinting violently, she ducked her head down to shield herself.
"Sorry for the bad lighting Dr. Brennan, but it is necessary for our filming purposes…" the man, whom she saw as being a tad blurry due to her damaged vision, said softly.
Filming purposes? Brennan thought to herself, what the hell does he mean by that?
Just as she was about to voice her thoughts, she was answered as she witnessed the large video camera that stood several feet from her.
Her mouth dropped open at the sight of it.
Was this guy really that sick? It certainly seemed so…
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice sounding a lot braver than she felt.
She tried desperately to peer into his face, but the harsh light would not allow it. That and the fact that the man was wearing a baseball cap over his eyes made it too hard to identify him anyway.
That, it seemed, caused the man great amusement.
"Ha! Oh where are the manners my sickeningly controlling mother taught me? My name is Mike, and I have to say Doctor, I am very pleasured to finally meet you…"
Brennan refrained herself from shivering at the tone of his voice.
He sounded, for lack of a better term (due to her only coming around from unconsciousness)…creepy…
As his words sank in, something occurred to her.
His name was Mike. Same as their 'so-called' victim.
"What's your last name?" she asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't pushing her luck with this guy.
This seemed to amuse the man further.
"You want to know my last name? Ha, of course you do. You're a smart woman Temperance, you've probably figured by now that things aren't quite like what they seem…I had a feeling you'd be that type. The name's Johnston, Mike Johnston…"
Temperance's heart panged to the icy depths of her stomach.
This was not good…
Seeley Booth held the large, brown envelop in his hands, peering down at it with such intensity it was as if a cryptic code was etched onto it that the agent was desperately trying to interpret.
If he were to look up he would plainly see six people eagerly staring at him, in silent, agonizing, anticipation.
Taking a deep breath, he tore the paper open suddenly and gawked at what now lay in his hands.
It was a video tape, with the words "PLAY ME" written in bold, capital letters on its sticker.
Angela immediately jumped into action, running down the steps and somehow arriving back with a portable television and hoisting it (with the help of Hodgins) up the steps to sit directly in the middle of the platform.
The others watched with bated breath as Booth silently inserted the tape into the VCR, turned the TV on and pressed play.
The screen came up in black and immediately words filled the screen.
GOOD DAY AGENT BOOTH. WELL DONE FOR GETTING THIS FAR, YOU ARE SMART TO FOLLOW BY MY RULES. I TAKE IT BY NOW YOU MUST BE DESPERATELY MISSING THAT SEXY SCIENTIST YOU FLOUNCE AROUND WITH ON A DAILY BASIS. I'VE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING THAT MIGHT EASE THE PAIN HOWEVER…
Suddenly the words dissolved and an unfocused picture came into view.
Booth felt everyone lean forward in order to see it properly.
It was a darkened room, basked in a strange, green glow. The room itself, reminded Booth of a warehouse chamber, or a particularly large cell. But it wasn't the room that caught his attention. It was the fact that the room was entirely empty, apart from one thing. A lone, black figure sat hunched in a tight corner, looking terribly small. The agent squinted his eyes desperately, trying to make the figure out in the impending darkness. The figure was bound to a chair, that much was obvious. It's shoulders were slumped and the head lolled-suggesting that they were unconscious. Due to the positioning of the head it was impossible to clearly see the face, that and the fact that dark hair was spilled about.
Words began to fill the screen again.
RECOGNISE MY PRISONER YET AGENT BOOTH? HERE LET ME GIVE YOU A CLOSE-UP…
The words dissolved and the camera began an instant close-up on the figure, focusing mainly on the face.
Booth gasped.
Angela clamped her hands over her mouth, fresh tears falling onto her reddened cheeks.
Hodgins shook his head, feeling a mixture of anger and sadness.
Cam bit her lip, looking utterly shocked.
Sweets hung his head low and shut his eyes tightly.
Booth's parents exchanged worried glances.
Suddenly, more words began to form over the face of the anthropologist.
SAY HELLO TO TEMPERANCE, SEELEY. DON'T WORRY, SHE'S JUST KNOCKED OUT. SHE GOT A LITTLE FIESTY WITH ONE OF MY MEN AND THEY HAD TO SHUT HER UP SOMEHOW, A PISTOL TO THE FACE DID THE TRICK.
BUT, HERE'S THE REAL KICKER AGENT BOOTH…
YOU AND ONLY YOU CAN GET HER OUT OF THIS SITUATION.
YOU SEE I'M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR BROTHER OR THE SEXY DOC EITHER (ALTHOUGH I WOULD LIKE A PIECE OF HER) I'M INTERESTED IN YOU.
SO HERE'S THE DEAL.
YOU COME TO WHERE THEY ARE, AND I'LL SET THEM FREE, ON ONE CONDITION.
YOU STAY.
YOU HANG BACK AND FIGHT ME, FACE TO FACE.
IT'S TIME FOR MY REVENGE SEELEY, AND REVENGE IS VERY SWEET.
STILL DON'T KNOW WHO I AM YET?
NO MATTER, YOU WILL SOON.
TAKE ONE LAST LOOK AT YOUR PARTNER BOOTH, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GET HERE NEITHER SHE NOR YOUR BROTHER WILL BE ALIVE.
AND IT'LL BE ALL YOUR FAULT.
YOU HAVE 2 HOURS TO FIND ME.
YOUR NEXT CLUE IS WRITTEN ON YOUR DEAR PARTNER'S CHEEK.
UNTIL NEXT WE COMMUNICATE.
The writing dissolved and was replaced by a close up of Temperance.
Booth leaned forward and studied her beautiful face.
He frowned when he saw a small symbol he didn't recognise etched onto her cheek with black felt-tip marker.
"What the-"
"It's the mathematical symbol for pie", Hodgins suddenly exclaimed and everyone turned to look at him.
Looking around himself, he cleared his throat nervously, "you know, 3.14, pie."
Booth continued to frown but something was slowly beginning to click into place.
"I don't think he means pie as in the math thing, I think he means the food…" he mumbled.
Everyone gawked at him, and he felt he owed them an explanation.
Suddenly the words began flowing out of him like a water-fall…"Look, I think the reason he snatched Jared was not only to hurt me but to gain information on me too…same goes for why he took Bones. This guy obviously knows me from the past, but now he's focusing on the present. He wrote the pie symbol on Bones. I think he's referring to when I eat pie with Bones at the diner, meaning my next clue is at the diner!"
Everyone seemed amazed at how Booth had come to this conclusion but no one could find words to speak.
Booth took this as an opportunity and immediately sprung into action.
"Booth where are you-"
"-I gotta go…I only have two hours to find Jared and Bones!" he cut across Sweets, running down the steps of the platform and speeding towards the exit of the Jeffersonian.
Hodgins made to follow him, but Booth's father suddenly reached out to hold him back.
"Let him go son, this is his to deal with…" he said wisely.
Hodgins nodded as Cam spoke softly, "I still think we should call for back-up, I'm going to get in touch with Deputy Director Cullen".
Everyone nodded solemnly and tried not to focus on the looming, ticking clock hanging over their heads.
1 hour 52 minutes to go.
A/N: Okay, I hated that chapter. I'm actually considering re-writing it so please bare with me.
Coming up, the mystery behind the body of Mike's brother Nick. Just what Mike's problem is with Booth, and of course the amazing rescue. But does that mean the story is then over? Ha! Not by a long shot… Stay tuned! xx