12.
Booth & Sweets deduce that Carter is capturing people off the road who pull over for a cop and are people who society won't notice are missing. They decide to have a young & pretty Agent Patterson drive along the roads Carter has picked up Sager & McLaughlin. Booth is in a secret department in the back seat while Brennan & Booth wait nearby. The plan goes awry when Patterson is working for Carter and double crosses them. Sweets gets shot in the side, then captured by Carter. Booth had been drugged by Patterson who was shot by Sweets.
Booth found his mind much clearer by the time they were escorted back to Skinner's off and in slightly less time Booth discovered the perception at hand.
"So you want me to believe that Dr. Sweets was the lead on this case - as assigned by you only to be terrorized by a highly decorated state trooper?" Skinner shouted.
"Yes and we need to find Sweets instead of standing around and talking about it. This guy is a psychopath!" Booth retorted.
"Agent Booth I have a dead agent - brought into the field by you! As per your wife's testimony - shot by Dr. Sweets! I don't plan on anyone going anywhere unless it's an unpaid leave of absence!" Skinner shouted back. "Unless of course you have some evidence to back this up."
Booth gritted his teeth, "I would think that Sweets missing would be a pretty good start!"
"How do I know that Dr. Sweets isn't the psychopath? He's the one who shot an agent. Why do you believe him when he says this Carter is nuts? All I've got on this guy is that he's the best in the field with multiple marks of recommendation. Dr. Sweets on the other hand tends to - along with you - work outside the system when it suits both of you. Now who do you expect me to believe?"
"I would expect you to support your own people." Booth said standing up. "And if you have no intention of starting an all-out search for Sweets then I'm leaving this office. I know what that psycho is capable of - I've seen it."
"Sit down Agent Booth, Internal Affairs will look for Dr. Sweets."
Booth looked outside the glass door to see two agents standing around a coffee pot shaking their heads and telling dirty jokes.
"You've got to be kidding me." Booth said standing up.
"Agent Booth where are you going?" Skinner said walking after him.
"To find one of the two best agents you ever had."
Booth got to his office and found a somber looking Brennan sitting there.
"Any word on Sweets?" Brennan asked quickly as Booth entered.
"No and they are in no hurry to." Booth said rubbing his head.
"Are you okay?" Brennan asked. "The gas she must have used to knock you out was pretty strong."
"I'm not worried about me Bones, Sweets is the one we should be the most worried about."
Brennan nodded. "I know, we've seen the handy work before. What do you mean they are in no hurry?"
"Internal affairs. They think Sweets is some crackpot who, I don't know made this up or something. If anything happens to Sweets I'm going to murder Skinner." Booth said pacing angrily. He was trying to think where to start.
"We need to find someone who knows where Sweets would be." Booth said thinking out loud. "We can't put anymore bait on the road for him to pick up - he's onto that by now."
"Do you think Sweets is still…alive?"
"Yes. Unfortunately Carter likes to torture people."
"He will be very angry with Sweets for the double cross." Brennan reminded him though there was little need to.
"I know Bones, that's why we need to hurry. You said something before about some evidence?"
"Yes but I'm afraid we're in a bit of trouble there."
"What do you mean?"
"I just got off the phone with Cam, because we were working on the case in secrecy and not keeping electronic files…"
"It's all going to get sorted out, somehow right?" Booth said more hopeful that sure.
"Booth we may not all have jobs after this." Brennan said. "The way this all looks, it looks pretty bad."
"Look, let's sort that out later. Sweets. Carter. We saw it all when it was just a warning. Now Carter's pissed."
Brennan couldn't help but be consumed with a feeling that they were too late.
"Well the file is still here." Brennan said picking it up. "We had pulled the fibers that were a match to Tallie Roberts in Carl Sager's truck but that only places her in the car with him.
"Something about cigarettes?" Booth asked thinking of what she had said.
Brennan smiled. "I thought you weren't listening when I had told you that. Yes the cigarettes in McLaughlin's car weren't his, we had noted earlier that he had signs of being a smoker."
"Fingerprints?" Booth asked.
"No, he must have had on gloves but Hodgins was able to pull some a small amount DNA off one the edge of pack where he would raise them his lips and use his mouth to pull one out of the pack."
"Do we have an ID?"
"Yes, Sam Rogers but we have no recent address."
"I think I can help with that." A man said standing in Booth's doorway. He was an older man in state trooper clothing.
"How's that?" Booth asked angry at the moment with all state troopers.
"I have some information about Dan Carter." The man said.
"Yeah well we don't want to hear about how great of a guy he is but you can go and tell Internal Affairs, I'm sure they're having another cup of coffee."
"I'm afraid it isn't good news." The man said. "I'm Lieutenant John Gillespie. I've worked with Dan Carter for years, the guy's never put me at ease, but he seemed to do his job, got plenty of recommendations too. But like I said, he never put me at ease and I kept him at arm's length because I had no reason to think otherwise of him. When I heard the call come over the radio that the FBI was looking for him, I thought I might come by."
"What kind of bad news is it?" Brennan asked.
"I've long since suspected Dan Carter of doing things, bad things."
"Perhaps I do have someone you can enlighten on this topic." Booth said.
Ten minutes later Booth stood impatiently between Gillespie and Skinner while Gillespie touted all his suspicions about Carter.
"Why now, why come out with it now?" Skinner asked skeptically.
"The guy is smart." Gillespie explained. "He has himself covered and he has friends, too many friends for a guy like him. I would fully agree with Agent Booth that he has people working in various places. The guy spent every minute he wasn't working on the phone with someone or other. He didn't say a lot, just yesses and no's but I always suspected there way more. Unfortunately I had no reason to push for an explanation."
"So you think Dr. Sweets was really onto something." Skinner said considering it but not convinced.
"It's possible." Gillespie said. "Agent Booth was asking about Sam Rogers. Rogers was another trooper in the unit. He was a screw up and was let go not long after he started with us. I would see him with Sam, I think Sam fell on hard times when he was let go, Carter said they were just hanging out but it seemed to me that Sam held pretty close to Carter like he was relying on him, like for a job."
"So what is this Carter guy up to?" Skinner asked.
"I don't know. He always seemed to have a lot of hands in a lot of pots. He always had cash, lots of cash. But that's not a crime." Gillespie said in his own defense. "The only thing I stopped him on was he had a guy, resisted arrest Carter said. The guy wasn't that big, wasn't high, nothing. I wouldn't have known anything but the guy collapsed and we had to call a paramedic - collapsed lung. The guy had fresh bruises all over his chest. Wouldn't have seen them if he hadn't collapsed. The guy swore Carter didn't do it but he wouldn't look up at him the whole time either, I couldn't do anything without a confession. I always suspected Carter did it, and something bad enough that the guy was scared enough to never talk."
"I need to find Sweets." Booth said thinking of Sweets similar condition before, possibly worse right now.
Skinner shook his head. "Internal Affairs…"
"…is not ready for this kind of field work. I need the Jeffersonian' s help, I need you to clear us to work." Booth demanded.
Skinner seemed hesitant.
Booth walked closer to Skinner and lowered his voice. "If anything happens to Sweets I'll be sure and let them know who held up the investigation." Booth considered a further incentive. "I also suspect Carter of having killed the two men in the case and kidnapping a young girl - possibly others. Do you want to hinder finding all of them?"
Like a typical bureaucrat fearful of his job, Skinner quickly agreed.
"You have no idea where I can find Carter?" Booth asked Gillespie.
"I went by his place before I came here, dummy address, no one was there, looks like never has been just a fake address."
"Where can I find this Rogers guy?" Booth asked.
"That I can help you with." Gillespie said. "But I'm coming with you. Carter is my responsibility too, and I've let him roam free far too long."
Booth considered it and he liked someone around with a good knowledge of Carter who could come up with more possible clues as they worked, plus he was an officer.
"Alright, let's go."
Brennan headed back to the Jeffersonian with the evidence that was released back to her while Booth & Gillespie headed to a bar that would be best described as a dive.
"He hangs out here sometimes. I'll warn you though, we may come across more friends of Carter's." Gillespie warned as they headed towards the door.
The bar was typical of most dives - still fell under the rules of the local no smoking inside but everyone did it anyway rule. As suspected most of the patrons turned and looked at the two "outsiders" as they walked in. Booth could feel all the eyes on them though few seemed sober or attentive enough notice much. This was the place you came to forget, not socialize.
Gillespie eyed the bartender who nodded to the back corner. Booth followed Gillespie as he headed towards a man he assumed was Sam Rogers.
"What? What did I do?" Rogers asked.
"How long you been here son?" Gillespie asked in his authoritative but somewhat caring Grandpa voice.
"What do you care old man. You fired my ass!" Rogers spit back.
"You can't jerk off in the car at a picnic spot." Gillespie quietly reminded him.
"Yeah, well how did I know the mayor was there with his girlfriend in the next car?" Rogers slurred. Booth was getting a clear idea of how Carter's network was built, amazingly the slum had quite a bit of intel.
"How about we walk this off." Gillespie said reaching for Rogers who backed away.
"Get off me!" Rogers shouted drawing some attention to the trio. The crowd seemed eager to join in on Rogers side should a brawl ensue. Booth didn't like those odds.
"Alright I don't have a lot of time here." Booth said. "Maybe we can reach a language you can understand, a fiduciary language."
Rogers looked confused.
"Money." Gillespie spelled out for him.
"Nah, I don't money, I'm good, besides, I ain't got nothing to tell." Rogers said. Booth suspected that Rogers was more fearful of what Carter would do to him, making money useless.
"You don't want to tell me why your DNA was on the cigarettes in Ross McLaughlin's car?" Booth said losing interest in bribing Rogers and now just wanting to beat him.
"Must have planted it there. Happens you know." Rogers said going back to drinking his cheap beer. Booth noticed that his pocket lit up but Rogers hadn't noticed. He wondered how many missed calls Rogers had in this noisy joint, possibly from Carter. Booth didn't care what procedure was, he quickly pulled Rogers phone out of his pocket. Rogers grabbed the phone but Gillespie held him back.
"What do you have to hide?" Gillespie said holding Rogers back.
"A lot of phone calls from different numbers." Booth said looking at them. "This should be enough to put you away for a long time. Pretty guy like you, you should enjoy prison."
Rogers suddenly appeared far more cooperative.
"Alright, alright." Rogers said standing up. "I can tell you about Carter but you won't like it."
"Go on." Booth said but Rogers didn't get the chance. A gun fired from across the room striking Rogers between the eyes and dropping him to the ground. Booth and Gillespie turned to see where the shot was coming from but the busy bar went up in hysterics as everyone ran to the door, most likely including the gunman.
"Looks like someone didn't want him talking to us." Gillespie said. "But why shoot him and not us?"
Booth looked at the deadbeat dead on the floor. "Carter has people killed that no one will miss."
Booth looked back at the phone, their only clue at the moment where Sweets might be. "Let's hope Angela can do something with this, before it's too late."