30CHAPTER THIRTY
A hard back handed slap to the side of her face caused Krys to land down on her side, and hard. Cringing she could barely get her legs to bend and curl up near her chest. Though she had intended to go tighter, curl up into a ball, her body refused to do so and instead she looked more like a relaxed 'c' sort of shape. She closed her eyes and felt a little trickle of wetness move down the side of her face. It was warm and she knew it was blood. The closing of the eyes provided her with a momentary escape from this hell, from this certain death. She could feel it in the air when Harold had entered. This was it, he was done screwing around, he had to finish her off because the news coverage no doubt was getting too intense.
She could feel cold, hard dirt stick to her sweaty face as she inched her head up toward the ceiling. So the last thing she was going to see was this dark room with a horribly boring ceiling. She had to admit, at least to herself, this isn't how she thought it would all end. Then again, she never got to choose anything in her life why should this be any different? A kick at her gut caused her to lose her wind and her train of thought.
"I have to admit, this isn't my usual routine but I'll have to improvise seeing that you helped your little friend escape." Harold admitted in a calm voice and a smile that could send a shiver right up your spine as he leaned over Krys' crumpled body. "Big mistake helping him you know, as I'm sure you realize by now." Krys didn't respond, instead she closed her eyes again, trying to gather her thoughts or what little dignity that she had left which was diminishing. "I haven't lost one yet and I'm certainly not going to stop with the likes of you."
Bending his knee he moved to give her another hard kick but Krys' hands moved out and caught his shoe taking most of the blow. Harold's leg stiffened as he had been caught off guard, but after a few fleeting moments he let out a soft chuckle, yanking his foot out of her grasp.
"Oh, so you still have some spunk in you." He sounded almost amused by this and in a way excited about the little happy accident that he had inadvertently discovered. "Don't worry." Harold cooed from where he stood, towering over her body. "When I'm done with what I'm about to do, it'll take the fight right out of you." Quickly he moved to grab her by the upper arms, lifting her up into a sitting position and causing her to cry out.
"No!" She panicked, barely able to find her words as strands of her unwashed brown hair clung to her sweaty and bloody face. "You don't want to do this."
"Oh but I do." Harold smiled smugly as he stared right into her eyes with his own determined dead pools. "I want nothing more than to watch your body slump into the ground like a rag doll as the last bits of life or snatched right out of you." His hands moved slowly to her throat to the point where he could feel the pulsing in her neck which was riving him mad.
"No!" Krys squirmed against his grasp going backwards she tried to kick her legs out in an attempt to push against his legs and get him off of her. "Don't! Get off of me! GET OFF!" She cried out even louder to the point that it echoed in the small room, her legs kicking harder now with the adrenalin rush that was surging through her body. "They'll find you! They know who you are and they'll find you!" These were empty threats and deep down she knew it but the words still came out regardless in a last ditch effort.
"However that mouth of yours is a whole new issue." Harold remarked and then threw her back onto the ground and she stayed there. Reaching behind him he pulled out a rope and then three black pieces of fabric.
Krys saw this and her heart began to race as she looked on with widened eyes from where she laid. He stepped toward her without speaking and grabbed her arms, roughly he pressed her wrists together and lapped the rope around them and then tied the knot which pinched her skin, but this was the least of her worries. Next came one of the black pieces of fabric which he tied right into her mouth as a gag, like a bit in the mouth of a horse. Krys tried to cry out but it was muffled by the fabric which was drying out her mouth. It was the most uncomfortable feeling in the world.
"Now, now.." Harold soothed like one might with a baby, reaching out he lightly grazed his knuckles down her cheek. "No need to fuss or get upset. Sh..." Krys trembled now, tears sparkling in her eyes causing Harold to shake his head in a tisk tisk-ing fashion. "Now those puppy dog eyes are a whole different matter." Reaching back he pulled out another piece of black fabric and roughly tied it over her eyes and behind her head.
Krys was jerked back and forth as he blind folded her with no regard toward her being a real person. She couldn't stop her whole body from shaking and if she had eaten anything in the last few days she would have thrown up, or at least tried to run away, even being tied as she was. But that was no longer an option. Now there was only darkness. This was it.
She felt like she might pass out but she couldn't fall back as Harold picked her up by the scruff of her neck using the fabric of her shirt to hoist her up into a kneeling position. She couldn't see a thing, only black, but she then heard a gun cock. She knew what one sounded like, she worked for the FBI after all, even if it was only for computers. A stifled cry came from her mouth with the fabric pushed in. But she could still hear every word.
"Once again, not really my style, the whole gun thing. It's too quick." Harold remarked to his blindfolded victim. "But we all have to adapt to survive, don't we? Well... Some of us." Another chuckle that caused Krys to let out a high pitched whimper, she cringed beneath her blindfold, bracing herself. "Don't worry. At least for you it'll be all over quick." Harold informed her one last time before lifting his weapon, preparing to fire.
Then there was a loud sound from behind Harold causing the killer to spin around just in time to see Seeley Booth who had kicked down the door. Gun raised the special agent had three men behind him, all of them wearing bullet proof vests, even Temperance Brennan had joined though she had been instructed, well ordered, to stay at the rear. At the loud sound and not knowing who it was Krys practically jumped and let out a nervous cry.
"Put the gun down!" Seeley barked rather loudly doing his best not to look at the data analyst out of fear that he'd get distracted with how upset the poor girl looked.
Despite being outnumbered and having Agent Booth yelling at him Harold didn't budge, instead he redirected the gun from the team back onto Krys who was shaking but had no idea what was going on, only that it was loud and the end was near.
"Put the weapon down!" Seeley repeated the command and he watched as the bad guy lowered his face staring back at him with dead, meddlesome eyes.
"Booth, he's not listening." Doctor Brennan announced the obvious lifting the gun that she had actually been given by Seeley Booth, probably a serious no-no but in his opinion it was a better decision at the time than to argue with the woman, not with the precious seconds that lingered.
"I can see that Bones." Booth noted with a side nod, his aim with the gun not budging despite his rapidly beating heart. Parker was currently seated in the car waiting with the extra back up they had, and the ambulance, other people were gathering outside and through the broken window you could see the flashing red and blue lights casting shadows on the walls. "Harold put the gun down NOW."
Harold smirked very calmly and brought his index finger to the trigger causing Temperance to open her mouth. "Booth-" And that was all it took as Seeley pushed his own trigger hitting the man right in the shoulder causing Harold to fall right to the ground. Krys practically screamed, as much as she could being gagged, from where she knelt on the floor because of the loud pop. Tears were seeping out from beneath her blindfold as she shook and hunched her shoulders forward in an attempt to protect herself. Harold meanwhile was bleeding on the ground, his eyes wide open as he moved about. He should have been in shock but he looked eerily calm, smiling away.
"You two, on him." Seeley announced quickly. "Clear!" He added before briskly racing over toward poor Krys who had no idea what was going on.
Temperance watched as Booth dropped onto his knees, pushing his gun back into its holster he reached out and pulled the gag out from Krys' mouth which, once removed, resulted in her crying out and actually speaking without saying much at all.
"Please! Please.." She kept repeating over and over again in a panicked tone. Seeley could feel her shake as his hands ran over her in an attempt to gather his thoughts so he could figure out the next move so to help the situation. "Don't touch me! Let me go!"
Seeley Booth ran his hand over her shoulder so to steady her. "Okay. Sh... It's okay. It's me Krys. It's Seeley." In hearing this Krys opened her mouth and gave an inaudible sort of cry, a sound of relief or utter disbelief and her shoulders slumped forward. "I'm going to untie this okay?" And he reached behind her head undoing the flaps of the black blindfold and pulled it off of her face. That's when he saw her panicked brown eyes wet with tears, barely able to focus.
"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" She cried out, thrusting her arms at him which caused Seeley to nod and he quickly tried to undo the knots.
Temperance noticed that he messed up untying a simply knot quite a few times which was very unlike him. Finally he undid the rope and it fell to the ground, once this occurred Krys threw her arms around the FBI agent's neck hugging him close. Doctor Brennan looked on in quiet as Harold was dragged out behind her, but her focus remained entirely on Seeley and the data analyst who now had her tear streaked face pressed into Seeley Booth's shoulder as she sobbed. Her fingers clutched at the fabric on his back.
Seeley's hand moved to rest on her back as he held her close, trying to provide her with some comfort. "It's alright. It's okay." He whispered to her in a hoarse sort of voice as the poor girl just broke down in his arms.
It was then that Doctor Brennan felt an odd sort of sensation in her gut for both of them. Emotions definitely weren't her specialty as she couldn't put a name to them and out of no where she found herself walking toward the two as she handed her gun off to one of the men who was exiting. Walking toward the two she watched them silently for another second. She could see the back of Krys' dark brown hair which was badly in need of a washing, and Seeley's gentle brown eyes which made contact with hers for a quick second before looking back to Krys as he attempted to calm her.
And, in having no idea what possessed her, Doctor Temperance Brennan reached out with slender fingers and ran them through the back of the crying Krys' hair. A gesture which didn't go unnoticed by Seeley Booth. He gave Temperance a look of acknowledgment before continuing to gently rock the newly saved Krys Robin.
"It's okay." Agent Booth whispered to the crying, shaking girl, still holding her close as she didn't show any sign of letting go. "I'm here. I've got you."