Within ten minutes, Booth and Sweets walked into the entrance of the lab and spotted a brunette holding a camera while speaking with Angela. As soon as the woman spotted Booth, she started marching towards him, yelling, "You bastard!"
Whoa, where did this come from? "Ma am-" Booth started to say, but stopped when the woman slapped him across the face. "You killed those children! You animal!"
Sweets gently pushed her back and said, " He didn't do it, ma am-"
"How can you be so sure?" The woman glared into Sweets' eyes, "Ms. Montenegro informed that some of Agent Booth's friends got killed because of him!" She took a step forward to slap him; Booth stepped back, cowering slightly behind Sweets. This woman was the one thing that could save his life and marriage.
"That's true," Sweets told her, "I lost my girlfriend…..we need your help in identifying anyone else that could have seen the raid on the school. Everyone else involved in that raid is dead. Don't do it for Agent Booth or the other men in that squad, do it for the two interns and the many more lives that could be lost if we can't catch this man."
The woman hesitated before dropping her shoulders. "Ok. I'll do it."
"Thank you. What's your name?"
The woman's accent gave away that she was Middle Eastern. "Alia Mali. I'm the on sight reporter for the Middle East, mainly the war in Afghanistan."
"Ok…did you- let's sit in one of the offices and you can tell me what you saw." Alia nodded, her eyes glued on Booth. She caught a glimpse of his wedding band and snapped, "You're married? To who?"
"To me," Brennan called out from her office, Madeline on her hip. "I'm very happy with him." Booth shot her a thankful look, but Brennan glanced away. She returned her attention back to Alia. "What did you see that day?"
"I saw a lot of things, including your husband storming a building full of children."
"What about outside the building? What did the area look like?" Angela asked.
"It was a small Afghani village- not a lot of people. At the time of the raid, it was noon and everyone was inside getting lunch, working,-stuff like that. I had gone out to get some landscape shots- people always like that sort of stuff. Anyway, I stepped outside and I catch the Army boys sneaking into the school through the fire entrance. "
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"What was I supposed to say? They had guns and I didn't want to walk in there and get shot!" Alia's right hand tightened into a fist with her eyes still locked on Booth. "The next thing I heard was gunshots and I ran. I booked a first class ticket out of that place within the hour and came home."
"You didn't fully answer the question, Ms. Malia," Brennan stated, "Was there anyone outside with you when the attack occurred?"
Alia closed her eyes and sighed as if she was playing the day back through her mind on tape. "There was an Afghani solider walking towards one of the restaurants. He acted as if he hadn't noticed the American soldiers sneaking into the building, but…..when I turned to run for it, he stood frozen in shock with tears running down his face. I caught a last name on his uniform- Dehi. D-E-H-I. "
"I'll see what I can find on him," Angela said before returning back to her office. Sweets shook Alia's hand. "Thank you for your help. I can't stress how helpful you've been."
"Of course. I'm sorry for your loss," Alia told Sweets before shooting another glare at Booth. Hodgins gently showed her to the lab entrance. "I'll walk you out."
Once Hodgins and Alia left the lab, Booth turned to Sweets and asked, "Kid, are you angry with me?"
With a blank look, Sweets responded calmly, "No, Agent Booth. I'm not angry."
"Sweets, I can see that you're pissed! Come on, you want to scream? Yell? Do it! I deserve every last piece of it!"
Sweets turned his back on Booth before turning back around and in an angry yet calm tone said, "Agent Booth, you had the choice to tell those men to stop. You're very highly ranked and appreciated in the army- those men would have stopped. Unfortunately, you cowered and let them massacre little girls, which now has left you standing in the cold with Wendell and my Daisy's deaths hanging over your head." Before Booth could respond, Sweets marched off to Cam's office.
Twenty minutes later, Angela stuck her head out of her office and saw Booth still standing in the spot that she had last seen him in. "Booth, I found Dehi."
"Um, ok. Where is he?" Booth asked in a very quiet, childlike voice.
"He landed in the United States days before the first killing. Based on his cell records, he's in DC. I'm going to go get Cam." She walked past him, allowing him the opportunity to walk into her office where he saw a picture of Dehi and his information. He spotted the man's cell number and dialed it into his phone. I need to make things right, he thought before walking towards the lab doors. Once into the hallway, he dialed Dehi and listened for a response.
"Agent Booth, it's about time," he heard after two rings. It was the same snide voice that had called him with the threat days earlier.
"Dehi, I have a proposition for you."
"I'm listening."
"You want me to atone for what I did then I'll do it. We can meet somewhere and you can do whatever you want to me. I deserve it- I should have done something in Afghanistan."
"Interesting…what's the catch?"
"You leave my wife, my children, and my friends at the Jeffersonian alone."
Dehi paused before letting out a malicious laughter. "I like the way you think, Agent Booth. You saved me a lot of trouble. You will be coming alone, I assume?"
"Yes, once you're done, you can leave the country and move on with your life. Name the place and I'll be there."
"Good, but I'd say goodbye to your wife if I were you, because when I'm done with you, you'll be dead."
