18.

I know in my version of Bones, which I still don't own, the characters express more emotion and Sweets may be a bit more suave. Maybe it is OOC but I just think it would be nice if they did show a little emotion - they struck me as sort of rigid on the show. I guess that's the point of fan fiction though, alternate takes on them. Well, better see who's going to find Sweets first, Carter or Booth. What's your preference? :)

The team discovers and collects much evidence at the compound – much of which suggests what physically happened to Sweets, however they have no insight into his mental state. They are frustrated they have no leads on Sweets whereabouts and Booth is increasingly concerned that Carter is also out there looking for Sweets and the log book. Sweets is trying to walk towards civilization and get the book to someone so the victims can be found however he is deeply paranoid that anyone he meets may be working for Carter. The result is a severely damaged mental state for Sweets along with a multitude of growing health concerns.

"Ange, what are you doing here?" Hodgins asked his lovely wife placed in a navy blue work jumpsuit.

"I thought maybe I could go thru some computers – something." She said searching for a way to help.

"Well we haven't found anything yet." Hodgins said. "Looks like he only kept paper files."

"He's out there?" Angela asked, wanting to confirm her fears were true.

"Yeah. Somewhere. Both of them."

"Any luck?" Booth's voice rang out in the echoing room. The vast space once filled with prisoners was an abandoned fortress.

"No." Gillespie said hanging up. "He's disabled the tracked on his cruiser, put it on some other car – just scared the crap out of a traveling salesman – Carter put the tracker on his car."

"Wait, don't the cruisers have laptops?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, to run plates, background." Gillespie answered.

"And they use Wi-Fi, satellite." She added.

"He'd just bounce that signal." Booth said dismissing the thought.

"Not on a cruiser, he'd have to have it on to show he was working." Gillespie explained.

"You think he would be out in his cruiser?" Booth asked.

"He could be coming unpredictable." Brennan considered. "He's knows we are onto him, he's moving his captures, he's hunting Sweets – he may do things that are not the most logical."

"Sounds very psychological Dr. Brennan." Cam mocked but they all turned to hear a scuffle – Angela was prying a laptop away from an FBI agent. The agent who spoke with Booth earlier nodded that it was fine and the tech reluctantly he handed it over.

"We can track where Carter is. If he's looking for Sweets we'll get an idea where he is." Angela explained.

"This time I don't want to be a step too late." Booth reminded her.

Sweets thoughts had stopped. If he had been able to put thoughts together he would have commented that his mind sounded like crickets. He had ceased thought, cares, motivation, just walking, avoiding people, movement – always movement. So very badly he wanted to lie down and sleep but he knew ceasing movement would make it so he could not move again.

Sweets had walked miles, the rain and overcast was keeping the morning's sunrise at bay greatly with it's dark gray skies. It left Sweets in a constant state of thinking it was still night – one long and endless night. His head would snap back, nearly asleep on his feet, feet that kept moving, one in front of the other, one step at a time.

The noises changed, commotion, Sweets heard commotion – there were people, maybe, cars, he heard cars…lots of them. A diner was ahead, a small town. Carter's people Sweets thoughts resumed like gears going back to work. He moved to the edge of the town, he felt like a bright beacon - a target and wanted to hide, Carter will see, he always sees…he will hurt them…book…phone…

In this day and age pay phones were about as rare as gold deplumes so that wasn't an option. He was pretty sure he would be turned away from 'just making a call' at any business with the way he was sure he looked. Instead Sweets found a tiny gas station and waited.

"Well I see where Carter's cruiser was about a half hour ago." Angela said using the cruiser's WI-FI signal to locate him.

Booth felt like they might be getting closer and increased his pacing speed and took up biting a couple of fingernails.

"If we can…"

A phone began to ring and Brennan quickly realized it was hers. "Yes, this is Dr. Brennan who is this? How did you get this number?"

Brennan's tone had garnered the interest of the rest of the team and they paused what they were doing.

"You gave it to me Dr. Brennan." He added with a delirious laugh.

"I don't know who this is." Brennan stated plainly but in a way it hurt a little that she didn't know him, he didn't realize the real reason.

"It's Dr. Sweets, Dr. Brennan."

The formalness and deadpan of his cracked and mangled tone had confused Brennan.

"Sweets?" She asked to clarify earning tremendous interest from the others.

"Yes." Sweets said. "I need you to…"

Brennan could hardly hear more her heart was pounding so hard - or was it interference?

"Sweets, where are you?" Brennan asked.

"I, uh, I don't know. It doesn't really matter." Sweets said though he was still cutting out. "I have a book, I need you to get. They could find me at any moment, the book is the important thing." Brennan realized it wasn't Sweets connection that was cutting in and out it was his voice itself. He seemed unaware it was doing such. "Look, I can't explain it all right now, they might find me." Brennan could sense a hint of panic in Sweets' voice but mostly he sounded exhausted - and worse - defeated. "You need the book to find the people, please find Julie."

"Julie is here with us!" Brennan said hoping to create a stir in Sweets monotone and drained voice.

"Is she alive?" He asked cautiously.

"Yes! Yes, she's been helping us, she told us about the book, Sweets we know about the whole thing."

Sweets breathed a sound of relief. "And Carter?"

"We were unable to retain him." Brennan said though it pained her to do so.

"I've got to go." Sweets said upon hearing Carter was confirmed to be on the loose.

"Sweets, wait where are you?"

"The book, right you need the book, I'm leaving…I…the book, I'm at a small town gas station, I'm going to put it behind the ice machine here, I'll bury it with the phone, I'll leave it on, you can track the signal. It's stolen, I uh, I stole it from a car…" Sweets sounded tired again.

"Sweets where are you going?" Brennan asked. "Sweets you need to stay with the book and the phone." Brennan urged. She didn't understand why but she could tell that Sweets was obviously not thinking clearly.

"No, I'm sorry, I can't risk him finding me with the book. I'm sorry Dr. Brennan."

Brennan cringed inwardly, his voice was empty, uncaring - not the person she knew. He sounded lost as if in tiny fragments.

"Then I'm not coming for the book." Brennan declared adamantly.

"These people need your help Dr. Brennan." Sweets said coldly as he was losing interest in the conversation, no he was lost interest in the fight to continue on.

"No Sweets they need your help." Brennan said hoping to stir something in him she hoped still existed. "I need for you to stay with the book and the phone."

There was a long pause while they silently wondered why Sweets wasn't interested in being found.

"Fine." Sweets said finally. "As long as you promise to help them. Now I'm getting out of sight, just in case."

"Keep the phone on so we can track it, in fact, don't hang up, the signal will be stronger." Brennan wasn't sure that was true but she liked being connected to Sweets having looked for him for so long it was the only tether they had and it was thin as it was.

"I've got a signal, I think." Angela said.

"Sweets we are on our way." Brennan said but there was no response except for some noise. "Sweets?" She asked again.

Booth took the phone from her hand which gained a slight tremor. He put the phone to his ear and listened. "I hear a car go by…he must have the phone in his pocket."

"I've got a signal, we'd better go in case we lose it." Angela suggested feeling very anxious as they headed towards the door.

"Hey Ange, can anyone else track that signal?" Hodgins asked.

Angela knew who he meant. "Let's get going."

Sweets drug his feet along the alley of the small town. It was a town that time seemed to have forgotten, straight out of the pages of history. The main drag was lined with old brick buildings and a few people milling about. Wanting to keep out of sight he stuck to the side streets, of which they were few to remain out of view. The cloudy skies darkened even more to look even more like rain was a possibility. He came across a building where the back door was falling in. He welcomed himself in, figuring if there were vagrants there couldn't be many in this small town. The brick structure had a lean to it and Sweets could see why it had garnered little interest in occupation, the back was missing large sections. This can't be safe. He said looking at it briefly before entering -he didn't really care if it fell down. The place looked to be an old bakery with the large oven in the back too large to remove so they remained and deteriorated over the years instead. He opened the long and slim oven door to see it was dry inside and placed the book in the oven's opening. Should Carter show up he planned to not be holding the book and thus have ultimately failed. Just stay awake until Brennan can get it. He came upon a leaning staircase and decided that being above would be best - there he could see if anyone was coming. He held close to the wall should the stairs collapse and headed to the rear of the building where the large window let in the most light. He remained at the back of the building because the floor was missing in the middle section that led to the front. They should really have this all taped off, torn down Sweets said to himself but doubted the town had the money to do so, they probably figure people are smart enough to stay out. Sweets laughed to himself as he leaned against the wall and looked up to see the rain threaten to rain. Wanting to stay out of sight he slid slowly down the wall so he could sit on the floor. It had been so long that he had stopped from moving, even while on the phone with Brennan he had kept moving, movement could have stopped him - for good. But now, now the movement stopped and he felt a blissfulness he hadn't in a while.

"Sweets!" He could hear a distant voice shout but it was muffled. He ignored it twice but it persisted when another female voice joined in. He looked to his pocket which had lit up. He sighed as he doubted the noise would stop and he was enjoying the solitude of the rain hitting the window pane as it no longer contained glass.

"Yes?" Sweets asked struggling to hold the phone to his ear.

"We're not getting a signal that's strong enough to pinpoint, where are you, can you give us something to go on?" Angela said.

Sweets sighed, nothing had been easy about this, he just wanted them to get the book. "I don't know, it's a small town."

"I can see that, we're almost to Petersburg." Angela barked.

"It's an old building. Abandoned. Falling down."

"Why the hell are you in a building that's about to fall down?" Hodgins asked since Sweets was on speaker.

"It's nice, it's quiet."

"Well can you pinpoint us a little more?" Brennan requested.

"Bakery. Some old bakery." Sweets said. "Something in the oven." Sweets vision was blurring and his hand was too heavy to hold the phone now and it fell beside him.

"What's he talking about?" Angela was saying on the other end.

"Yes. What on earth is he talking about?" Carter asked standing over Sweets whose eyes were now wide open, almost as wide as Booth's who heard Carter on the other end of the phone.

I want to express my extreme gratitude to those who have supported this story and others, it has been greatly appreciated. Hopefully another update in a few hours with what happens next...