13.

Booth gets taken off the case by Skinner and vows to find Sweets on his own despite their miniscule amount of evidence. Fate intervenes when John Gillespie, Carter's boss walks in to voice suspicions about Carter, getting Booth back on the case and joining in to help. Booth & Gillespie track down Sam Rogers whose DNA was on the cigarettes found in McLaughlin's car. When Rogers is about to tell them about Carter, and possibly where Sweets is, he's shot in the head. Booth is left with Rogers cell phone.

Bumps. Ouch. Movement. Not Brennan's trunk. Ouch. Quiet…. Screaming - what was that? It's dark again…

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Hey quit it! Sweets came to with a jump but found he couldn't sit up. He was lying on a surface - an old flattened and musty mattress lay under him while his wrists were handcuffed above his head. His shirt was gone and he felt a chill in the room. As he felt a coldness at his sides he tried again to open his eyes. Thru the small slit of openness he saw the dimly lit room and a figure near him. He jumped at the outline but soon realized it wasn't Carter.

Carter. Oh shit, Carter, he got me - but where is he? Who is this?"

The figure timidly moved forward and wiped his side again but Sweets jumped. The figure became more clear, a young girl, she sighed in annoyance.

"Please stop moving." She asked.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Sweets asked as the girl continued to wipe the blood from his side. Sweets wasn't all that pleased to see the dirty rag being used to dress the wound.

"My name is Julie. I'm dressing the gunshot here, like he asked me to." Julie was a young girl, maybe 14 or 15 with dirty brown hair and dirty hands. She wore bulky and old clothes but she seemed small and frail.

"Who's he? Carter?" Sweets asked looking around. The girl only nodded as an answer. "Do you work for him?" Sweets asked thinking of Agent Patterson.

The girl laughed, but not in a happy manner. "If this is payment then I need a raise." She said. "A new job really."

Sweets looked down at his side which ached though the pain was manageable since his attention and adrenaline was drawn to his current situation.

"It will be fine, it's a thru and thru at the edge of the skin I've seen worse."

"Here?" Sweets asked. "Do you treat a lot of people?"

"Sometimes people get hurt and I'm supposed to fix them the best I can before they get send off."

"Sent off?" Sweets asked. "Sent off where? Where are we?" Sweets recognized that Julie must have been a captive too in some way so he hoped she could help him.

"Different places. Depends on who they are." Julie answered finishing with her job. "I don't know very much, you're the only one I've seen like you though, so I don't know where you are going."

"Julie!" Carter's voiced boomed in the room that echoed.

Julie stood up quickly with her rag and her cup of water and ran but she was past Sweets vision.

"No so much talking!" Carter shouted and Sweets could hear him strike at the girl as she fell to the ground.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Sweets shouted, angry that he had perhaps got her in trouble. He could feel Carter's gaze on him but he was tired of being scared of Carter. He could hear the girl run off as Carter approached and stood over Sweets.

Carter leaned in, Sweets shirt was gone so Julie could check on the injury. It allowed Carter to look over the rest of Sweets chest, it gave Sweets time to remember his last encounter with Carter - and begin to feel his braveness slip away.

"Looks like someone had these tended to. I doubt it was you." Carter said looking at Sweets previous scars. "Doesn't surprise me - you were double crossing me for quite a while weren't you?"

Sweets knew trying to explain he tried not to would do no good. Carter's attention was drawn to the bullet wound.

"I guess that's good enough. I don't want you bleeding out. Not before the fun can begin." Carter pulled Sweets head up and slammed his fist in his face.

As Sweets passed out he could hear Carter laugh. "Oh I wanted to hit him in the face since I first saw him."

When Sweets woke up again his arms were the first thing he realized was in pain - they were strung above him while his body dangled below. The pressure his slim yet dead weight had on his wrists was excruciating. His head bobbed forward while his neck snapped at the soreness of its position. Sweets vision began to focus on Carter ahead of him, sitting at a desk working. Sweets dangled from a ceiling joist like a long chandelier. What the hell? Sweets wondered as Carter sat at his desk working away. Sweets looked up to see how he was tied to the ceiling - his wrists bound in a thick rope, no way to get those undone. He looked down at his bare beaten chest exposed, his black pants around his too thin stomach were almost resting on his hips, his bare and cold feet dangling.

"You wanted to keep investigating Agent Sweets." Carter said hearing Sweets awake behind him. "A fly on the wall perhaps? Well now you can know everything."

Sweets looked around the room, an office with no window, file cabinets and stacks of clothes and various belongings. Sweets spied several things of interest, a phone and a gun - now if he could only get to them….

The door flew open when three men, one of whom Sweets remembered from the van incident came in with three men of Mexican descent. The men were terrified.

"Carter, we have more." The one man reported.

"Good, we have grown short on laborers." Carter said opening a book that appeared to be some sort of log. One of the men began to plead in Spanish causing one of the captors to strike him with his shotgun. The man fell to the floor. The other two men continued to stare at Sweets in horror, Sweets realized his other purpose was to serve as an instant warning to incoming 'visitors'.

"Put them in the holding area, 22." Carter announced. The men pushed the others thru the room.

Sweets was ready to pass out from a myriad of issues when the door came in again, the cold air hitting his chest and waking him. If the cold air wasn't enough the screaming was.

"Shut her up!" Carter shouted as Sweets came to. "Name." Carter demanded but the young girl only resumed crying.

"Lisa Johnson." The man said. "Runaway, no family, she was looking to get into prostitution."

"No I wasn't!" She shouted trying to get away but the man only twisted her arm more making her scream again.

"Leave, her, alone." Sweets said though his speech was slurred.

"Good!" Carter said pushing his wooden chair away. "I was hoping you would say something. It gives me a reason to illustrate a good point - to both of you - obedience."

Carter jabbed a Taser into Sweets side where the bullet wound was still fresh. Sweets arched at the pain but had nowhere to go as Carter continued to dig in.

"Stop it!" The girl now cried for Sweets' sake. The man holding her hit her across the face.

"Cell 18." Carter barked as the girl was carted off.

Sweets body ached as it hung from the space above, he was sure his wrists were going to fall off from his body if something didn't happen soon.

"You see why double crossing me was a bad idea?" Carter said turning back towards his desk. He was still near Sweets who swung his body and hit Carter in the head with his foot.

It wasn't a hard hit but the intention was clear. Carter's temper blew it's top and he ran to the door to demand for help. In a couple of minutes Sweets was lowered from the ceiling when Carter took joy in kicking and beating Sweets while the other two held him. Sweets almost smiled as it was better than hanging from the ceiling.

Having lost consciousness part way thru the beating escapade Sweets was carted off into the other room. He woke not long after having felt fingers on his chest. He jumped back, an motion that proved to be a painful reminder of his recent quest but he kept his pleas of pain to himself. His eyes opened to see Julie.

"He won't hit you in the eyes." Julie said. "He'll want you to see - everything."

"Oh good." Sweets said sarcastically.

"It's a good thing you passed out." Julie said. "Otherwise he would have kept going, it's not pretty when he does."

"Where do these people go?" Sweets asking slowly sitting up from the cold and hard cement floor. He was pleased to see he wasn't tied in place this time, apparently they didn't think of him as a threat. Once he was sitting in place Julie leaned in to place an old and worn large sweatshirt over his head.

"This is the best I could find." Julie said.

"It won't get you in trouble will it? Where's Carter?" Sweets asked as Julie helped him pull his numb arms thru the sleeves.

"He's gone, they went some place, his patrols I guess. And no, he wants you alive." Julie said sadly. "Thank you for trying to help me. No one's been nice to me in a long time."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I felt home, my old man used to hit on me, turns out that wasn't nearly as bad as this."

"Who are all these people?"

"Carter picks them up from the road. If he doesn't pick them up the others might if they hear someone's story or if a girl's turning tricks they'll act like a customer and get them."

"Young girls with no family." Sweets said while remembering the case. "Do you remember seeing a Tallie Roberts?"

"Oh yea." Julie said very sure. "She caused all the ruckus. She was with some trucker when they got her, the trucker wasn't as lame as they thought, put up a fight. They killed him then Sam made some mistake with the body drop. It was a mess I gathered. They got her on her way pretty quick."

"Her way?" Sweets asked feeling the pain from the fist in his stomach half a dozen times. "Way where?"

"I don't know where exactly, Carter has a log though."

"What does he do with them?" Sweets asked less specifically.

"The Mexicans? Labor camps. The girls go into a slave ring." Julie said sadly.

Sweets tried to hide his complete and total horror which wasn't hard while he was bracing for a wave of pain to shoot thru his head again.

"What about you?" Sweets asked what he had been wondering for a while now.

"I was sick when I got here so he had to wait for me to get better, fetch a better price. In the mean time I ended up being useful so he kept me here. I don't know if it's worse than being moved on or not."

Sweets looked at the girl who was living a life no girl of 14 should have to. He imagined all the horrible moments she had witnessed.

"Julie, we can get out of here, I just need your help I saw a phone…"

"Are you kidding?" Julie said with wide eyes. "You don't get it, there's no out of there. I've been here, well I don't even know how long, at least a year, and there is no way out!" Julie was adamant. "I tried once." She pulled back her sleeve to show a long scar along her arm. "You don't leave. You don't try. Besides, there's no way - each door has three locks and after that door is another door. You only leave one of two ways."

The girl looked at Sweets with a hurtful glance and then ran from him, slamming the door as she left. He wondered what he had said or done, he figured it must have been renewing her sense of wanting to escape, and the hopelessness of it. It was easier for Julie to live in a numb world than try and think of how to be free from it. He realized she had no hope of leaving and he wondered if he could convince her otherwise - she was the one and only 'prisoner' who was able to roam free.

Sweets took a moment to look around the room, still dimly lit he could see rows of 'cages' like the one he was inhabiting. Some were made out of fence, others bars - it was obviously whatever material they had found and made more out of, made cheaply to keep costs down Sweets assumed. Sweets could see the door they were brought in, the other they were sent out of.

His attention was drawn away when the large door swung open and Julie appeared again this time carrying a bucket. One of Carter's henchmen sat another bucket down for her and pulled out a chair to watch whatever was about to go on. Julie walked from each cell handing out a piece of scrap food, another cost effective method Sweets figured. As she approached Sweets' cell he saw her reach for a larger scrap of food.

"No!" Carter shouted. "Next."

Julie placed the food back in the bucket and commenced her rounds. Soon the bucket was empty as people pleaded for her to give them more. She handed all out except for the three times Carter told her not to - one of them being Sweets. Sweets eyes narrowed with curiosity.

Carter called for her to bring the remainder of the bucket to the center of the room where she dumped it - revealing four times the amount of food. Sweets had a bad feeling he knew what was going to happen next. Carter's men opened two of the cages, two of the ones skipped and were soon given instructions - fight for the food that was left. Sweets figured they must have been skipped several times - now near starvation that they would do ask asked. The two frail women looked at each other and the offering of food. At first reluctant to engage they were soon amid a heated battle, an instinct having taken over that surpassed the urge to do anything else. Soon the one female was defeated. The other approached the pile of food almost primate like as the other girl, alive though defeated was taken out the door, apparently to her next destination along with three others from their cages. Sweets realized the maneuver didn't exist to prove any point, it merely amused Carter who had sat and watched everything.

Whether it was the same day or later that night Sweets didn't know. The lack of windows or doors or light or clocks made time impossible to tell. His loss and regaining of consciousness gave him no indication of time either. All he was aware was the squeak of the door opening awoke him as two of the men collected him from the small cell and pulled him along though with his cold and still slightly numb feet did little of the walking.

"Where to boys?" Sweets asked trying to stifle his fear of Carter's next payback.

Sweets was placed in a wooden chair, his hands tied behind his back though he had little strength to move anyway. He head lulled to one side as his body beckoned for more sleep but a hard crack across his face with something hard and wooden brought him to. Sweets looked to see a baseball bat in Carter's hands. Could be the murder weapon from McLaughlin and Sager Sweets considered except if I don't find a way out of here soon that's not going to matter.

"Bring them in." Carter shouted as Sweets stomach clenched at what would be arriving. He felt bad that he was half relieved that it was no one he knew.

Standing before him were two women, one in her early twenties and the other the same age if not younger than Julie.

"Choose." Carter said.

"Choose what?" Sweets asked knowing this was anything short of a loaded question. "Which one goes free?"

Carter approached Sweets and hit him in the chest with the bat.

"There you go again, asking questions when I asked for answers." Carter said as Sweets struggled to sit up again in the chair. "That's what got you into trouble in the first place - not following simple directions."

Carter sighed and waited for Sweets to sit up again. "Choose." He said again in a very plain, almost friendly voice.

Sweets looked at the two, wondered what every possible scenario was he deduced none of them would be good.

"I choose me." Sweets said. "Whatever bad thing you want to do, just do it to me and leave them alone."

The two girls almost looked glad and yet tormented but Carter shook his head, and struck Sweets shoulder with the bat. He motioned for the two girls to be taken out the door towards the cells while Carter circled Sweets.

"Still don't want to be obedient I see." Carter said. "Really doesn't bother me any, I enjoy working on it."

"No you don't." Sweets said suppressing the grimace of pain that continued to emerge.

"Oh that's right you're some sort of shrink too aren't you?" Carter said smiling. "Tell me what's wrong with me doc!?"

"Well asshole, I'd say quite a lot."

Carter's smile faded and while Sweets knew it wasn't a smart move it was his only way to hold onto his independence and his mind and keep himself from slipping into Carter's demands for obedience. Carter slammed the bat into Sweets right knee, which Sweets wasn't prepared for making him wonder if the bone or the bat made the cracking noise. He leaned over in pain at the swipe trying hard to keep the screams inside when Carter raised the bat again.

"Sir!" One of the men said before Carter could continue his movements. "We have an issue, it's Rogers."

"What did that dumb shit do now?" Carter said heading to the door. Sweets tried to hear what they were whispering about but he could only hear the pounding of his heart and his chest. "Take him out. Make the call." Carter said stepping back in the room. "Wait, are they still there. I'm heading there now. Take him back." Carter said and laughed. "No need to be gentle."

Maybe a little dark? Reviews welcome.