18.
I was going to have a longer scene where Wittner tortured Sweets but this just seemed to work out more by them going to the boat house more.
"What, what do you mean?" Booth asked nervously. He didn't understand how they had gotten to this point. When he heard Sweets had a case and was working with Cam he hadn't imagined it was anything like this. Now he gazed down at Sweets, though in reality not all that much younger than himself, seemed very young right now, too young to die. Cam put her head to Sweets chest and her hand to his neck searching for a pulse which she gladly found though she announced it wasn't strong.
Booth felt relief but a restrained relief as well as a feeling of feeling completely uselessness. Instead he looked over the therapist, doctor, agent, friend – pale in color, a fresh split lip, a cut on his eye, blood coming from his right shoulder, a red hand, and a multitude of scars and bruises that looked slightly healed, but still very fresh and new. He had noted that the rest of the team didn't have a scratch on them.
Unable to merely watch as Cam began to breathe for Sweets, Booth took over chest compressions as Cam breathed. Cam wasn't just cold as she shook with increasing fear, one that finally relinquished when Sweets turned to his side, water spewing. Cam & Booth let out a heavy breath, gave Sweets a second to find his own breath.
As he lay on his left side, his right was visible to the fresh blood coming out of the open injury the hook had left. Booth immediately reached for his phone to call in help, then looked around for their boat but having jumped from it, it seemed to continue along its own course and was now out of sight. Luckily the other two search parties were not far, Brennan being the closest.
"Bones, I need you to get to us right away, we need to get Sweets to a hospital, ASAP." Booth said and Brennan asked few questions, instead directing Arastoo, who was driving their small boat, to where they were going.
As Booth hung up he turned to Cam who was trying to remove Sweets jacket to see where the source of the blood was coming from.
"No, no please." Sweets softly requested. "It hurts."
"I know Sweets but I need to stop the bleeding, this is pretty severe." Cam said trying to remove it gently and was able to get it off better with Booth's new assistance.
"Where's Wittner?" Sweets asked slightly panicked. "I need to…"
"Cam got him buddy." Booth said reassuringly.
"Booth?" Sweets asked hearing the voice over his shoulder, Sweets back was to him.
"Yeah I'm here." Booth said reassuring but Sweets got quiet. He thought of the case and how Sweets had never once called him for help, someone he perhaps wished he had, but was proud that Sweets was able to handle it himself, keep everyone safe, if not including himself. "Yeah, Cam, I just got back with the call to the feds to secure the sailors and scientists. Cam told me though how you handled this case, I'm impressed Sweets."
"Yeah thanks." Sweets said though with a slight tone that he wasn't buying it. Cam pressed on the open wound to suppress the bleeding.
"Sweets I'm just glad I could return the help you have given all of us lately." Cam said. "I don't want to lose you."
"Me either Sweets, glad to help, that's what friends are for." Booth said and Sweets recalled what he had told Wittner about friends being there when you needed them. He now looked at this moment not that they came to his rescue, which they had, but it had far more to do with the fact it was circular - friends help friends.
"I've got pretty good friends." Sweets said getting light headed.
"You're not so bad yourself." Booth said but as he put a reassuring hand on Sweets shoulder he felt little resistance in his frame. He looked up at Cam who was also nervous at the sudden quiet.
Brennan and Arastoo arrived and while they wanted to rush they didn't want to run the boat aground. Arastoo killed the engine and allowed the boat to coast into the shore. Before the boat could stop, Booth and Cam had Sweets ready to board. The three medical degree toting squints lay Sweets on the flat surface while Booth took the wheel and sped back to shore.
Hodgins & Genevieve were the first back to shore having received the call that the others were bringing Sweets back. Hodgins was quick to locate a paramedic and ambulance and got them as close to the dock as he could. He looked back at Genevieve who was following him down to the boat slip.
"You're still here." Hodgins said partially sarcastic to Genevieve who was known for her disappearing acts.
"I'm not going anywhere this time." She said following closely behind him. "I don't have to be scared anymore and I have that man to thank."
"There!" Hodgins shouted seeing the boat come to the dock. "Oh boy." Hodgins added as Booth was not slowing the engine as early as he should be. Hodgins was nervous what that might indicate in regards to Sweets condition, of which he knew little.
Booth looked to Hodgins and both knew little could be done as the boat abruptly slammed into the dock. The rest tried to brace for the impact with Cam holding Sweets as securely as possible. The boat crashed in the dock with a slight bang, having slowed some against the current. Hodgins took the line thrown to him by Arastoo and pulled the boat close to the dock slip and secured it.
Booth quickly disembarked the boat and motioned to move Sweets towards him. The therapist's battered body was lifted from the floor where the bleeding had slowed but his other injuries remained a concern. Cam was quickly off the boat and took Sweets other side and between the two, supported most of his weight as they walked up the narrow path where the medics were waiting.
"What can do?" Genevieve asked nervously having met them at the boat slip.
"Tell the medics we are here." Booth said to the woman he wasn't entirely sure who she was.
Genevieve quickly ran ahead the narrow slip to the approaching paramedics who could not take their gurney down the narrow and dark path towards their arrival point.
"Perhaps you can tell me all about this case soon." Booth said seeing the red flashing lights.
Cam smirked. "It'll be a long story."
"That's okay, I like long stories." Booth said as the paramedics opened the back of the van to accept their patient.
The paramedics inquired about the battered patient as they laid him down on the gurney and Cam explained what she had ascertained. Booth noticed when she listed a laundry list of previous injuries, all rather serious to what had just occurred.
"Can you come with us mam, we may need more information." The paramedic asked Cam.
"Absolutely." Cam said and looked back at the others who nodded in an unspoken agreement they would meet her there. "Booth, I think Sweets would like you here." Cam said grabbing Booth's arm. He was about to leave and follow in his car feeling Cam had this covered – with her partner.
"Cam I can always meet you…" Booth began to say but felt glad to be invited. He looked back to Brennan who informed them she would meet them there.
Cam and Booth sat in the back as the medic nodded and went to sit in the front seat. Cam thought it was odd but he had announced Sweets had stabilized. Cam continued to keep an eye on Sweets herself.
"I know you said it was a long story, but you listed off a lot of injuries, where did so many come from?" Booth asked as the ambulance barreled along the road, Sweets silently breathing and resting.
Cam sighed as she mentally reviewed the recent past. "There was the break in where he was almost strangled to death, I slammed his hand in the door, the beating in the alley, the worst may have been when he was shot and then admitted to Davenport, a mental institution reopened to stash away the mentally injured sailors that were the result of the invisibility experiments. That didn't help matters much, but we go him out, the wound was infected and poorly treated, he'd been starved, then we got past that only to have the lab blow up and the glass. I'm sure I'm missing a few things too."
Booth's mouth gaped open and his eyes wide. "What? I mean…what?!" He hardly knew where to begin. He looked back at Sweets and realized whatever he thought of the young man he had severely underestimated his fortitude.
"Booth?" Cam said but he could hardly even begin to process all that had gone on let alone find out more medical possibilities. Still Cam said his name again in a near whisper as she put her hand on his arm.
"Booth, this isn't the way to the hospital." Cam said silently and nervously.
"What? Why?" Booth asked completely confused why they would be off course.
"Oh no it's happening again. But how, no one's left." Cam said almost to herself.
"What? Who?" Booth asked again feeling like a confused owl.
"Hired cops and paramedics, they're probably trying to take us to Davenport." Cam said alarmed.
"Okay, I got this." Booth said stepping to the front of the ambulance having nodded to Cam first.
"Hey." Booth said acting alarmed. "We need some help back here!"
The medic in the passenger seat got up to go and help Sweets but soon found himself faced with a gun Cam had pulled on him.
"Hey, what's…" The driver said only to be met with Booth's gun.
"Now, tell me where you think you are taking us." Booth said.
"I have orders." The paramedic said looking ahead again, very stoic and undeterred at the point of a gun.
"You should know those orders have been called off, all your guys have been rounded up." Booth said guessing at what he knew.
"These orders came in ten minutes ago. I need to follow orders." The driver said, continuing to speed along.
"You have a gun to your head by a federal agent, we're going to the hospital." Booth ordered.
"No can do. You can shoot me if you like sir, my orders are to make sure the parcels do not speak." The driver said and Booth knew this guy was operating on a kamikaze level. If Booth took the wheel or shot the guy, they could possibly kill other people on the busy road, including all of those inside.
"Who, who did your orders come from?" Booth asked wondering how these new orders could have come in so late, from who?
"I can't say." The driver said.
"Booth!" Cam shouted. "We need to get to the hospital."
Booth was about to say that he knew that, it seemed obvious but he then realized something must be going on with Sweets. He was alarmed by an erratic beeping sound, he glanced back seeing Cam couldn't tend to Sweet with her concentration on the gun she had trained on the second man. The driver took the opportunity to swerve the van throwing Booth off his feet and tumbling over. Cam's head hit the cabinet above her but she held onto the gun. The second man took the opportunity to lunge forward but Cam hit him on the head with the butt of her gun knocking him to the floor. She scrambled to her feet to check on Sweets whose vitals were beeping rapidly. She looked between Sweets and Booth, wondering who to help first. She looked again to Booth, knowing if he was shot she had little chance of saving Sweets. The driver was about to retaliate as he was pulling a gun out of his jacket.
"Booth!" Cam shouted as Booth looked up knocking the gun out of the driver's hand. The driver swerved again as car horns blared then went past them. The gun slid across the floor as the van swerved and Cam tried vainly to keep Sweets on the gurney. She pressed a few buttons and increased a medication that had been inserted and soon his pulse began to stabilize.
The van swerved again and Cam looked up to see Booth and the driver fighting over control of the wheel. Cam with gun in hand stepped forward to intervene when she was pulled backwards and thrown against the back doors of the van. She seethed against the pain and looked up to see the second man had recovered and was standing over her. He walked forward towards her when Cam was showered in a spray of blood.
She opened her eyes to the sound of a thud on the floor as the second man lay dead on the ground, a shot thru his neck.
The sound of gunfire caused the driver to freeze a second long enough for Booth to poke him in the eye, causing an instant reaction for him to grab at his eyes. Booth grabbed the wheel with one hand and put a sleeper hold on the man with the other. Soon he was unconscious on the floor, Booth having slid him out of the driver's seat and took the place himself.
"How are we doing back there?" Booth shouted to Cam. He had seen in the rearview mirror the second man flop to the ground so he figured Cam shot him.
Cam blinked again to clear her mind. Did Booth shoot him? He seemed pretty busy. The sound of the vitals alarmed was increasing again and Cam found her balance and got off the floor. As soon as she did she saw Sweets sitting up on an elbow, her gun in his hand.
"Sweets!" Cam said coming to his side and easing him back on the gurney.
"Are you okay?" He asked, eyes bloodshot and exhausted but full of worry. "I didn't get you did I….I…."
"No, you didn't get me, you got him. Thanks." Cam said smiling at him. He still wanted to sit up to see. "Trust me you got him. Good shot by the way, why did you aim for the neck?"
"I was aiming for his head." Sweets said in defeat. "I didn't want to take the chance he would…."
"It's good all the same." Cam said but was alarmed at the shaking with Sweets hands. The alarm was increasing again. Cam knew more meds wasn't going to replace the fact that Sweets was in serious need of blood having lost so much.
"Booth, how are we doing?" Cam asked
"Back on course, there in ten minutes says this GPS thing here."
Cam looked back at Sweets. "We need for that to be sooner than later."
Booth slammed on the accelerator. He hadn't looked back, but he didn't need to, he heard the alarm.
"Where do you suppose they are?" Brennan asked standing at the entrance to the emergency room.
"This isn't right, we shouldn't have beat them here." Arastoo said as they all nervously paced.
"This is the right place right?" Hodgins asked. His phone was buzzing wildly with Angela wanting more updates. He hadn't wanted to tell her the ambulance with three of their dearest friends were missing.
"Something's wrong." Genevieve said. "You got everyone right?"
"Yeah, they rounded up all the people, wait, do you think.." Hodgins said to Genevieve.
"I don't understand, what do you mean?" Brennan asked.
"It's a long story Dr. Brennan but there are…" Arastoo began but an ambulance was approaching – announced by its horn in addition to the lights.
"That's some crazy driving." Hodgins said feeling the need to move everyone safely out of the way.
The ambulance slammed to a stop and the team ran to the back, medical help in tow. Hodgins opened the back door only to be welcomed by a body that rolled out the back and doors covered in blood.
"What the hell happened in this ambulance?!" He asked.
Cam ignored the blood, body and questions and pulled the gurney towards the doors. The medics stepped forward to help her and sensed her distress. Booth rounded the corner from the driver's side.
"We've got a problem." Booth said. "Someone's still out there working."
"This was them?" Genevieve asked in a near panic. She thought she had no reason to worry anymore.
Booth approached her. "You have to know something more."
"Honestly I don't." She said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Right now I've got a bigger problem." Cam said pushing them out of her way. "I need a defibrillator now!"
Booth felt enraged as the medics rushed the gurney inside at a running rate he had seen few make. His knuckles were past white as they disappeared inside and he heard a groaning sound from the front of the ambulance. Booth was sure he was in the right mood to get questions from someone.
Did you think we were almost done? Just a little more...