The Face With Two Skeletons
by Tropicwhale
disclaimer: Not mine
Author Talk: *shrug* I am not Kathy Reichs. I don't science as well as I should.
Chapter Forty-seven
Sweets ran up to Booth who was crouched over his computer screen, waiting on the report that would isolate the cell phone that sent the ransom note. It had already been traced to being bought by stolen credit card. Brennan was hovering. They were both already dressed in bulletproof vests and tactical gear. "What can I do to help?"
"Nothing. Leave." Booth had no time. Sweets started to leave and then turned on his heel, his finger raised.
"Perhaps I can figure out the state of the kidnapper's mind if I read the note?"
"It said, 'Drop $500,000 in various size bills in a paper bag in Lafayette Park by sundown or Zack dies.'. It was pretty straight forward." Booth snapped. "Leave!"
"We need to find Zack and you will only slow us down. Go away." Brennan was adamant. Dr. Lance Sweets was a smart man. He recognized this moment as not the right moment to try and bond with either Agent Booth or Dr. Brennan and so left. "Was I too harsh on him?"
"Zack's life is in danger. No." Booth assured her. His desktop pinged. "Got it. Lets roll" He grabbed his walkie-talkie, speaking into it as he and Brennan marched to the elevators. Telling the tactical team the location of the cell phone.
"Do you think that Zack is ok?" Brennan asked in the car as they sped through downtown traffic to the waterfront, sirens blaring.
"Yes." Booth didn't really have the attention span to spare as he edged around stopped cars into oncoming traffic and then down a one-way. "He's smart. He's fine." Brennan nodded.
They got to the location of the cell phone only to find it shoved in a garbage can. Brennan bagged it and they booked it back to the Jeffersonian, informing the tactical team to go back to headquarters and wait. The captain of the squad asked to stay with them; to keep the delay of information to a minimal. Brennan agreed before Booth could speak but demanded that he keep quiet and let her and her team work. He agreed and they were back at the Jeffersonian lab in under 20 minutes. Brennan, Hodgins and Wendell worked the particulates and the partial fingerprint they found while Angela worked on the phone's computer to trace it's location for the last few days. Cam stayed as a floater, working with all her team and keeping the federal agents informed. It was only a matter of time before they rescued Zack.
Sweets came running up to Booth. "I caught up with you. Excellent" . The federal agent glared at the younger man.
"Not now, Sweets." Lance straightened from where he had bent, panting and held up a piece of paper triumphantly.
"Not even when I have a picture of your kidnapper?" He asked. Booth glared at him and snatched the paper from his grip. The picture was a color print out of security footage. Zack was slouched and being carried by a young man; dark brown hair, brown beard, around 5 foot and eight inches wearing black boots, ripped blue jeans and a red and brown tee shirt with a logo of some kind on it. "I got from the camera store on the corner of your building block. I have city police and junior agents canvassing for more footage. They were heading east...if that helps." Booth looked at the younger man.
"It does. Thank you, Sweets." He pulled out his security card and swiped it and then practically jumped to Brennan "Bones, Hodgins-"
"I heard. Get off the platform, Booth." Brennan was mind-deep in her analysis of a particularly large gouge on the phone. Booth bounded down the stairs. Sweets shrugged at him. Cam came up to him and asked for the photograph. He handed it over and she went and told Angela to narrow her search.
"They are very good." The tact captain said.
"Yes they are." Sweets agreed. Booth was silent. All he could think about was rescuing Zack. Brennan straightened and walked over to the edge of the platform.
"The gouge marks match the gouging in the stereum of the twins. I believe our kidnapper is our killer and that he shot the phone to try and destroy its GPS." Hodgins looked up from his particulate analysis.
"There are also traces of the explosive used to blow up Zack's apartment." Angela came out of her office.
"I got a match for the fingerprint." She said sadly. "Brian Shultz. Detroit, Michigan. Arrested for drug dealing, prostitution and petty theft. He's moved around the country and was caught in Alabama, Maryland, and Florida all for the same sort of stuff. No known address, no family, and no record other than a name and a list of convictions and some jail time." She handed Booth the print out data of Brian Shultz. Shultz was young, about Zack's age, greasy brown hair, brown eyes, square features, and a scruff of a beard. He would have been an attractive, clean cut young man in another life. His prison psych eval stated that he was a quiet man, polite, distrustful of authority and cagey about his past. This behavior was typical of runaways from abusive homes. The prison psychologist noted that it was doubtful that Brian Shultz was his real name. Due to the record of books that Shultz borrowed from the prison library he was highly intelligent. He read everything from forensics, ecology, meteorology, criminal sciences, astrology, psychology, fantasy, science fiction, drug studies, civil engineering treatises, sports, animal behavior, Agatha Christie, Uta Hagen, agriculture, car manuals, and the entire body of Dr. Temperence Brennan's literary career both fiction and non-fiction. The prison stint was shortened due to model behavior and Shultz was released at the end of last year. Just in time for Mrs. Oscarmann's disappearance. Booth tapped down any sympathy he may have had for a life gone wrong. He reminded himself that Shultz showed an escalation of criminal behavior and probably took Zack at gunpoint.
"He was picked up in Alabama for suspected prostitution two towns away from where Olivia went missing...right after she went missing. He was released after 24 hours." Booth observed. "Is known to carry a hunting shotgun. This is our guy."
"But why take Zack?"
"He's obsessed." Sweets chimed in. "He has found some reason to have a connection to Zack and it has driven him to kidnap him. His reading material clearly suggests an intelligent, troubled young man scrambling for purchase on society."
"And the ransom?" Angela asked, unconvinced. Sweets stuttered and shut up.
"I got nothing."
"To get out of dodge." The tact captain spoke up. "Guys like that, they realize they did something wrong and all they want is to undo it and get a get out of jail free card. Half a million dollars can go a long way south of the border."
"Still doesn't explain the kidnapping though." Sweets said. The guy shrugged.
"You guys were closing in on his racket. It's clear that you lot care about Dr. Addy and he was the easiest to grab." Booth shook his head.
"Nah, there's something else going on. This entire case has centered around Zack for whatever reason. I'm going to bring Shultz in and ask him about it." Brennan and Hodgins joined them. Angela looked at them.
"I have the general parameters set up and ready for you." she told Brennan.
"Excellent." The three of them went into Angela's office.
"What are they doing?" Sweets asked.
"Angela narrowed the field of where he could have gone. They are going to track him down using science."
"The human condition-"
"Sweets."
"What?"
"They've done it before." Booth prayed to St. Anthony and to St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saints of finding lost things and of scholars...please let them find Zack.
Author After Notes: Sweets insisted he get to help. I am a little annoyed by that but it works with canon. I thought Booth praying to the saints was a nice reminder that he is, in fact, a religious man surrounded by scientists. I am really hoping I've ramped up the tension properly. I really feel like it isn't as tense as it should be but then...there's a lot more emotional stuff going on that I didn't plan on so it's tense in another way. It's also bothersome that it hasn't occurred to Zack to just call them and tell them that he's fine. But, to be fair to him...he's kind of distracted by Bradley not being dead and mostly naked...oh, Zack. Oh Booth. Okay, It's offically 2:34 am on my birthday. I must get to the sleeping.
Love from the Dorkside;
Tropic