Knock, Knock.
Booth looked up from his computer and stared at the young agent standing in the doorway. He pushed away slightly from his desk and motioned for the man—boy—to come in. "Whatcha got for me, Johnson?"
The sandy-haired, blue-eyed, fairly green agent stepped tentatively into the office of his superior and swallowed. "I—we found something."
Booth cleared his throat. "You wouldn't be here otherwise, kid."
Johnson nodded. "Um, right." He paused. "The woman's ex-boyfriend is pretty known to authorities. His résumé includes armed robbery, assault, and multiple drug offenses. He called her six times the day before she died and three times the night of the accident."
Booth scribbled the information down on a notecard. "Anything else?"
Johnson walked over to the desk and with shaking hands, he set a piece of paper in front of Booth.
Booth glanced down at the paper and scanned it before making eye contact with the agent once again. "Did you doctor this document in any way, Johnson?"
Johnson shook his head. "No-o, sir. Carney from Forensics handed it to me straight from the printer and I brought it up here to you."
"Did you read it, Johnson?"
Johnson nodded. "Ye-es, sir."
"Do you know what this says?"
"Um, yes. It shows that—."
"Agent Booth?" A soft female voice sounded through the speaker on Booth's desk phone.
Booth held up his finger, signaling Johnson to pause for a second, and pressed a button on his phone. "Yes, Sherry."
"I apologize for interrupting, but you have a phone call on line 1."
"Sherry, tell them I'm in a meeting and will call them back."
"I would, sir, I tried to tell her you were busy, but she insisted on talking to you."
"Who is on the phone?"
"I think she said Angela, but I—it was hard to understand her. She said she tried your cell, but didn't get through. Isn't she one of the scientists at the Jeffersonian? No wait, she's an artist, right? Should I tell her to call you back?"
Booth stiffened. "No, no, I'll take it. Thank you, Sherry." He picked up the phone and swallowed. "Angela, what's wrong? Are Hank and Christine okay? What happened?"
"Booth! Thank God. Hank and Christine are fine."
He exhaled, but then his eyes widened. If the children were fine, then why did Angela sound so distressed? "Angela, what's going on?"
"It's Bren," she cried. "She was—there was an accident. The—the hospital tried to reach you, but couldn't get a hold of you."
Bones. He shot up, knocking the phone off the desk in the process. He dropped the receiver and patted his pockets. When he didn't feel his wallet, cell phone, or keys, he hastily searched his office for the misplaced items.
"Sir?"
Booth growled at the young agent.
Johnson swallowed. "I—I'll go see if Lucas and Brendon know anything else about the phone number." He left, his departure unnoticed by the senior agent.
"Where are my keys?!" Booth opened and closed drawers, shifting papers around. He knelt on the floor and felt around the carpet. After a few seconds of searching, he felt the metal against his warm palm. He leaned back, knocking his head. Grunting, he crawled out from under his desk and stood up. He felt his phone buzz in his back pocket and froze. "Oh." He shook his head and reached back, sliding the phone out. He jammed his finger against the screen to answer to the call.
"Booth, I don't know what happened. The police—someone found her in a parking lot. A car," Angela let out a strangled cry, "Someone hit her."
He blinked. "What?"
"I—why? We're not—we're not even working! There are no open murder cases, so why?"
"Angela."
"Didn't they see her there? How do you hit someone with your car? Plow into them? And just drive away. In the middle of the day?"
His eyes widened. "Angela, where's Eli?"
"Oh God. No one said anything about him. Just her."
He heard her sniffle. "He's probably with his Aunt. Bones must have met with Lynette and dropped Eli off. That's why no one said anything about him. He wasn't with her." He nodded, trying to convince himself that was true. "Yes, he wasn't with her. He was already in his Aunt's custody. She's taking him home to Buffalo." He swallowed. "What hospital?" He jotted down the address on another index card and hung up. He left his office, barreling through the bullpen towards the elevators. When he reached them, one was just opening on the floor. "Move!" He snarled at the agents taking their time exiting the cart. Frustrated, he abandoned the elevator and yanked open the door to the stairwell. Taking the steps two at a time, he sped down the four flights and burst through the exit into the parking garage. He easily found his SUV in a sea of other FBI issued vehicles and jumped in. Within two minutes, with sirens blaring, he was on his way to the hospital.
Booth found Angela in the E.R. waiting room. He ran over to her and sank down in the plastic chair to her right. "Where is she?"
Angela jumped, having not heard him approach. "She's in surgery." She swallowed. "Booth, it's bad. She's—."
He leaned forward, his elbows digging into his thighs. He suddenly jumped up again. "I have to call Ma—oh." He shook his head. "Never mind." He sat down and sighed. "Damn it."
She sighed. "Hodgins is watching the kids. I—there's—they shouldn't be here."
He nodded. "Yeah."
She rested her hand on his forearm and closed her eyes for a brief second.
They sat there silently for a while until Booth's phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the contact name. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, but when he saw Lynette's name appear, he blinked. He quickly answered the call, ignoring the glares from the hospital staff. "Lynette, what—?"
"Oh, good, Mr. Booth. Temperance isn't answering her phone. Do you know if she's on her way?"
He blinked. "You mean, she didn't—you haven't seen her?"
"No. We agreed to meet at my office at 10 o'clock, but she still hasn't arrived. Eli seemed reluctant to get in Temperance's car Friday night, so I was thinking she was delayed due to a similar situation."
There was a pause and then he heard some hushed voices in the background. He thought he could hear sirens in the distance, as well. He swallowed. "Lynette?"
"I'm sorry, Seeley. I need to go. If you hear from Temperance, please let her know we need to reschedule our meeting."
"Lynette, is—are the police there?" He only got a beep as a response. He growled and shoved his phone into his pocket. He played through the brief conversation with Lynette and his eyes widened. "Angela!"
Angela jerked her head towards him. "What's wrong?" she asked, taking in his wild eyes.
"Bones didn't meet with Lynette. She never showed. Eli—if Eli wasn't with her when she was brought here, he's—." He took out his phone again and dialed a number. "Johnson, get Lucas and Brendon now." He paused. "Now, Johnson. I don't care if they are in the middle of something. I need to speak with you three right now." He leaned forward in the chair. He recounted what he knew, instructed the agents to issue an amber alert and to track down the ex-boyfriend, Mateo García. García wasn't Eli's father, but Booth's gut was telling him something was fishy about the guy. He hung up the phone, satisfied the three agents could handle the tasks. He turned his head and looked at Angela.
"Amber alert? Eli's—."
He nodded.
"Oh god." She leaned forward, holding her head in her hands.
"Even from the grave, Max is still—," he muttered.
Her head shot up. "What? What does Max have to do with this?" She paused. "Booth?"
"I need to talk to Bones." He stood up, but stopped, remembering why he was there. He couldn't talk to her right now. She was in surgery. He slumped back down. He leaned back and closed his eyes. Come on, Bones, he thought, letting out a breath.
Not entirely happy with this chapter, but wanted to give you guys something to nibble on before the next update. ;)