-Chapter Eight-
Six months later Booth and Brennan were eating lunch when Booth's phone rang.
"Booth." He listened quietly and Brennan watched as the color drained from his face. "What happened?" He whispered. He was quiet again as the person on the other end spoke. Brennan could tell that something was wrong so she reached over and put her hand into his. He squeezed it and sent a quite 'thanks' with his eyes. She nodded her 'you're welcome' and sat silently as she waited for the phone call to end.
"I'll be right there." He closed his phone and sat staring into space.
"Seel? What happened?" She asked gently.
He swallowed as a lump formed in his throat. "Rebecca was murdered."
--
The pair slowly walked up the sidewalk to the apartment complex that Rebecca Stinson resided in.
"I…I…I don't know if I can go in there Bones." Booth whispered as he stopped abruptly.
She turned to look at him and nodded slightly. "It's ok Booth. I understand."
She slowly made her way into the building and up to Rebecca's apartment. She'd met the young woman and liked her. Even though they weren't close friends, Temperance Brennan knew that this would be hard for her as well. She knew that Booth was currently going through hell and she wanted to help him through this, but she also knew that he needed space. She couldn't imagine how he was going to break the news to Parker. She knew the kind of pain that the little boy would go through and she hoped that she could help him through the worst of it.
She reached the floor and followed the voices of cops and other agents to an open door at the end of the hallway. She took a deep breath before entering the room.
"Doctor Brennan." Agent Sanders nodded solemnly. "Where is Agent Booth?"
"Outside. He didn't feel that he could come up here. Perhaps it would be best if he was removed from this case." She said as she made her way over to the white sheet that covered the body of Rebecca Stinson. The room around her was cluttered, a clear sign of a struggle. Broken glass was everywhere.
"I thought you only dealt with bones." A man in the corner said and another agent quickly explained why she was here.
Brennan carefully lifted the sheet off of the young woman's face and was met with the sight of empty eyes.
She took a deep breath before speaking. "Cause of death appears to be a gunshot to the front of the head." She hesitated before sadly adding. "Execution style."
--
The next few hours seemed to fly by for both Booth and Brennan. They were sitting in her office, Emma asleep in her portable crib and Parker asleep on the couch, when Cam came in. Booth and Brennan looked up expectantly.
"The uh, the rape kit came back negative." The two let out a sigh of relief. "We got DNA from under her fingernails." Booth nodded slightly indicating for her to continue. "Results came back as belonging to one Antonio Mena."
Brennan felt Booth stiffen beside her. "Son of a bitch."
Cam and Brennan looked at him. "A few weeks ago, the FBI arrested Loréna Hernández for possession of cocaine. It was rumored that she was dating Ramon Ortez." He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I got a note from Ortez telling me that I would pay. Antonio Mena is the right-hand man of Ramon Ortez. He'd do whatever his boss told him to do."
Brennan remembered Ortez, she'd taken him down outside the elevators in the case with the woman that they found in the trunk of a car, he was a member of one of the most feared gangs in DC.
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A/N: The action starts soon!