Chapter 15

Scene of the Accident, Thursday at 7 pm

Brennan took little comfort in the fact that CSI Mendoza was expecting them. She knew that she had to get her partner out of the car before the situation escalated. Pushing the eject button on his seat belt, she was relieved to see it dislodge like it was supposed to.

"Booth," once again she tried his name but got no response. The forensic anthropologist moved her right arm and found that a shooting pain erupted from her chest. Cracked ribs and deep bruising from the force of the impact between her body and the seat belt and from her slight fall almost on top of her partner.

Then she heard sirens in the distance. Heaving a small sigh of relief, someone had dialed nine-one-one. It was a good thing too because she had no idea where her cell phone and purse had ended up. Once again the smell of gasoline invaded her nostrils and she gagged. Chiding herself for losing focus, she turned back to the task at had.

Booth was too heavy for her to push back out of the passenger window the other option would be to drag him over the seats and head for the SUV's rear window. Quickly she looked for the seat reclining lever. It was lying crushed up against the driver's side door. That wouldn't work and the only option left would be to try to bring him to the passenger side of the car. Carefully she positioned her arms around her unconscious partner and tried to pull. Her ribs and chest screamed but she tried to ignore it. Again she tried to pull and he moved slightly. Repeatedly she made small movements until her chest felt it was going to explode. Then she heard voices and the sounds of the sirens getting louder.

"In here!" She screamed. Looking up at the passenger window she saw a man who smiled at her and then he motioned for her to help him open the door. Reluctantly, Brennan let go of Booth and squirmed her way over to the door. Grabbing the door latch handle she popped it and the man pulled on the outside to open it.

"Is it just the two of you in here?" He asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Ok, I'll help you out and then we'll get your boyfriend. More help is on the way," the Good Samaritan explained and she didn't bother to correct him. Brennan didn't want to leave her partner but the only way to get him out was for her to get out. She and the man worked as fast as they could and soon she was free of the vehicle. Then the man carefully climbed inside the SUV.

The police arrived shortly after the man entered the vehicle. One went to Brennan and the rest focused on the vehicle. Firefighters and ambulances were close behind.

"Dr. Brennan, what happened?" She immediately recognized Officer Chambliss.

"Someone tampered with our rental vehicle. Booth did everything he could to avoid a crash but I don't know how we ended up like this. Just get Booth out of the car," her normally organized brain was all over the place. Chambliss nodded and rushed to help the others. Within a minute the three officers and Good Samaritan had her partner out of the vehicle. Quickly everyone backed up and let the firefighters foam the SUV to avoid any fire scenarios.

Booth was rushed to the first ambulance and Brennan climbed in after him. She wasn't about to let them be alone. The paramedics looked him over as the ambulance screamed its way down the road toward St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, where they'd been only hours before.

"Head trauma and I've got what looks to be a gunshot in the left side," one of the paramedics said.

"A gunshot?" Brennan couldn't believe it. Although it would explain why he hadn't been in the right frame of mind when the accident occurred. She had assumed he would have tried to downshift the vehicle in an attempt to force it to slow but that hadn't happened. She tried going back through the accident in her head but she couldn't seem to get a clear picture. One minute they had been talking and then the next…

"His pulse is weak and thready. He's lost a lot of blood," the second paramedic's tone wasn't good.

"We're almost there. Hang on buddy," the first paramedic looked at Brennan, hoping to God he didn't have her boyfriend crash on them in the ambulance. They arrived at the hospital, thirty minutes after the accident. Booth was rushed into surgery and Brennan was forced to have a doctor look at her.

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Thursday at 9 pm

The doctors had taken care of Brennan very thoroughly. They had wrapped bandages snugly around her damaged ribs and cleaned up the minor cuts and scrapes. Dr. Tulane had explained that she would probably have some pain in her neck from possible whiplash and was waiting for her CAT scan results. He feared a minor concussion due to the fact that the events of the accident were not clear and that she had been squinting to avoid full exposure to the fluorescent lights.

"What about my partner, Agent Booth?" She asked.

"He should be out of surgery soon," he smiled but didn't give her any more details.

"Where can I wait for him?" Brennan wanted to know.

"I'll talk to the nurses and find out. Now try to relax a little. The pain medication is working but I can't have you over stressing yourself," again Tulane smiled before leaving the room. Brennan didn't like being kept in the dark and had her ribs and head not bothered her so perhaps she would have yelled at the doctor and demanded that she see Booth. However considering he wasn't out of surgery all it would have done was cause a ruckus.

"Dr. Brennan, how are you feeling?" Officer Chambliss knocked on her door. She winced and invited him in.

"I'll be better when I know how Booth is," she told him. He nodded and gave a slight smile.

"We've impounded the car and the FBI lab techs are looking at it. We'll know more in a few hours. Can you give me any details about the accident?" He wondered.

"I know that the brakes failed and I know something else must have gone wrong because Booth was shot," the forensic anthropologist said.

"He was shot?" Chambliss couldn't believe it. That's when Doctor Tulane entered the room and interrupted the conversation.

"Agent Booth will be on the next floor very soon. I'll have the nurse come and get you. Now Officer if you would please stop hassling my patient,"

"No problem Doc," Chambliss nodded to Brennan and left the room. He quickly pulled out his cell and called up Agent Blachura. Hopefully she had some leads he could track down.

To Be Continued…