A/N – SOOOO SORRY for the long wait for this update! Real Life is killing me lately and I am so burned out and depressed that I fall asleep every time I start writing! I am sorry if I missed any errors or anything! Thanks for reading and for all of the awesome reviews, story alerts and favorites, etc!!
Last Time On; Mistaken Identity . . .
. . . After going over more details and each volunteering for more tasks, they all disbanded and went to get started. Brennan's cell phone rang again and she answered it expecting it to be the ringleader again and eager to finally get to talk to her partner. "Brennan" she answered, but to her disappointment it was a female voice.
"Yes Dr. Brennan, this is Officer Dannon from building security and we believe we have been able to salvage and retrieve some of the missing footage from the garage at the time of the incident that occurred a couple of days ago. I was told to contact you if we found anything. Can you come down he- " Brennan had already hung up and out the door towards the elevator before the woman had even finished her sentence, eager to get to the footage as soon as possible so she could bring it to her team to view and dissect.
She never made it there.
Mistaken Identity
Chapter 23
Back At The Warehouse . . .
Booth started to regain consciousness, slowly opening his eyes only to squint in pain from his throbbing chest and leg. He was and relieved to find that the dreaded hood had been removed – thank heaven for small miracles he thought. He was not relieved by the fact that he was once again tied to the cot and duct tape was now holding his mouth shut, and that his pain seemed even more intense than before he was lost consciousness.
He paused to try and gain control over the pain as much as was possible, breathing deeply and slowly through his nose and forcing his mind to meditate on something soothing. The nest thing he could think of was to imagine himself laying on a sun drenched beach in Mexico. He imagined the warm heat of the Sun slowly relaxing his muscles and warming his skin. It was something he had learned as an Army Ranger before it was part of their unique training in case they were taken as a POW and tortured, or injured in the field with no medication or the luxury of medical aid, sometimes for weeks at a time. It had really come in handy when he ended up being one of the unlucky ones who actually did end up as a POW, but a POW survivor he reminded himself, and if he survived that experience which was far worse than this – then he knew he could do it again!
His meditation was cut short with the loud clanging of the door being unlocked and thrust open. As he pulled his head up from the pillow, he could see the silhouette of the familiar hourglass shaped outline of the female who had "tended" to him when he first arrived sporting a head wound. What was her name again? He struggled to recall.
"Wakey wakey Agent Booth, it's time we take a look at your wounds so as not to lose you prematurely. There is still a lot of information we still need to extract from you, and we won't be able to get Heather released from prison if we only have a corpse to offer in return. "hahahaha" she laughed heartily at the absurd thought. She then leaned down and pulled off the tape on Booth's mouth in one quick yank. Booth had to keep from yelling out loud at the pain as the sticky residue nearly pulled out his growing whiskers in one fell swoop! He rubbed his lips together tightly as though he could rub out the pain.
The woman set down a white square plastic bin on the floor near the bed that had the telltale red cross on the outside cover, obviously a first aid kit of some kind.. From what Booth could see, it looked like it held bandages and other basic first aid supplies. "We had to stock up on more first aid items just because you have just been a little more stubborn that we anticipated. But I like you Agent Booth so I must warn you that your stubbornness will only serve to anger my boss even more just so you know, and I don't like it when he's angry because you are not the only one he takes it out on." She admitted.
Booth then almost smiled with relief as he realized that he may have just found a way get through to her and convince her to help him. If he could make her see that she doesn't deserve to be treated that way, he may be able to get her to help him escape – he just had to win her trust by offering to help protect her from the abusive man as well.
So even though the mere thought of what he was about to do and say, physically repulsed him, he had no choice but to go for broke and see where it got him.
"Welll n-now," Booth said as he did his best to cover the pain that was threatening to betray it's severity by causing his voice to quake and his teeth to remain clenched, "Mayy-be you have a . . . a better - way to convince m-me to be more . . . cooperative with the man – hmmm?" he had to practically swallow the gag reflex that was kicking in as he wondered what lengths he might have to go to, in order to get her to taste her own potential freedom from this place, this sinister group.
Lexi's eyes grew wide as a leering grin spread across her face upon hearing the sexy agent's proposition. "Mmmm, well now, I can't say I don't like the sound of that idea Agent Booth." She purred and ran her fingers lightly over his lips, still tender from the duct tape being ripped off. Booth wanted more than anything, to pull away from her touch, it again took what little strength he had left not to do just that when she touched him. "Now one thing at a time Mr. B, I want you feeling better if we are going to explore your, umm . . . offer. First let's take a look at this chest of yours." She said as she began to peel back his bloody shirt.
Jeffersonian Building . . .
Brennan entered the elevator and headed down to the first level of the parking garage where the security office was located, she felt tremendous anxiety after the call from security, she was finally getting some possible clues to lead her closer to her partner and she couldn't get there fast enough. As the elevator doors were closing her cell phone began to ring. She hesitated to answer the call from an unknown number, assuming the signal would be too weak inside the metal walls of the elevator, but the second she realized that it could be yet another critical phone call from Booth's captor, she flipped the phone open in record time
"Brennan" she blurted out quickly in anticipation of finding out if her instincts had been right.
"Doc-tor Brenn-an my dear woman, how I enjoy the sound of your lovely voice" came the taunting and creepy response, "I assume that you are still going to nag me to speak to that all too annoying partner of yours, am I right?" he said, purposely pushing her buttons.
"Put him on – now!" she demanded.
"Ohhh now there is no need to lose you temper – Temper-ance. What if I said I can do you one better?" he continued to taunt.
"Okay I'm listening. Just . . . just what are you saying?" his words caused her some confusion, leaving her mind more focused on his puzzling remark, and less focused on her surroundings. As soon as the steel doors slid open - she simply exited and slipped just around the corner near some large recycle bins. She pondered continuing across the long garage level to get to the Security office but quickly nixed that idea out of fear that her cell phone reception would fluctuate or worse - drop the call.
"Now, now Dr. Brennan – let's not be too hasty shall we? What I am saying is, wouldn't you be even more convinced that Agent Booth was alright if you were able to speak to him let's say . . . in person?" he asked mockingly.
But before Brennan could fully absorb what he had just alluded to, she felt a pair of very muscular arms wrapping around her from behind, trapping her own arms at her side so tightly that her cell phone slipped from her hand and clattered to the cement floor. A hood was quickly thrown over her head and before she could even begin to kick or fight back – she felt the familiar prick of a needle in her arm and immediately began to feel all of her strength leaving her body, with her mind being the last part of her to feel the effects of the drug. She was angry with herself as she realized that she had not been paying any attention to anything other than the voice on the phone.
Usually Brennan was almost hyper aware of her surroundings at all times, Booth had bee responsible for training her to be that way, especially since the Gravedigger first kidnapped she and Hodgins. She hadn't even noticed how her overwhelming concern for Booth over the past two days, and her preoccupation with finding him, had dulled her usual senses, including concern for her own well being.
Her last coherent thought as she felt her body being lifted and her mind starting to drift towards unconsciousness - she had been wondering just what he meant by his last comment about her seeing Booth in person. But once her attention was crudely brought back to the forefront – she had no time to even think about trying any of her various self defense moves!
Then just as suddenly she felt the jab of a needle as a stinging fluid was then forced into her vein – her entire body suddenly, within a matter of seconds, felt as though it were now encased in lead – dragging her down to the point that she could no longer hold the weight of her own body up. Strong hands kept her from dropping to the ground as they threw her into the trunk of their car, parked in a handicapped space since it was the closest one to the elevator.
Nabbing her had been much easier than either of the men had anticipated, they had of course gone over the plan extensively before executing it – just to make sure they hadn't overlooked anything or anyone that might come into play and screw it up. It had it had been decided that once Sam and Nik had gotten into position in the garage, that they would send Lexi a text message with a pre-determined signal notifying her to go ahead and call Brennan's cell phone under the guise of being from Jeffersonian Security. Sam hadn't exactly been shocked that the brown haired beauty had dropped everything - including caution for her own safety - in hopes of getting new evidence to help her find that FBI Agent partner of hers.
Nik jumped into the driver's seat after helping Sam toss Brennan's limp form into the trunk. He hadn't bothered to tie her up but he did pick up her fallen cell phone and threw it in his pocket. They felt they had done a good job in covering up there tracks, in fact if anyone had bothered to look up at the video cameras that periodically filmed a sweep of the area would have noticed as a thick white rubber-like foam substance that had been sprayed on them. Sam had waited until they heard the tell tale sound of elevator cables starting to move and he knew it was most likely Brennan inside since the timing of the elevator was just a few minutes following the call Lexi had placed to Dr. Brennan.
Inside The Small Security Office – Level P1 Garage . . .
Phillip Barker answered the ringing phone as he flipped through a magazine – bored with the job he had taken only to tide him over and pay the bills until he began training at the Police Academy in two and a half months – to finally fulfill his ultimate dream of becoming a Police Officer. "Security – Barker speaking." He barked into the phone.
He immediately sat up a little straighter after hearing the soft voice of his favorite Jeffersonian employee Angela Montenegro, he had quite a crush on the exotic beauty and looked forward to seeing her as she entered the garage each day and again when she left each night. "Hey Barker, how goes it? I am trying to catch Dr. Brennan with an important question and she isn't answering her cell, is she still there or did I miss her?" she asked.
"No Miss Montenegro she isn't here- nor has she been. Did she say she was coming here?" he asked. "Well you should know Barker – you called her!" Angela scoffed as she answered. She liked the guy and thought his little crush on her was very sweet, but sometimes she found him to seem a little dense.
"What?! I don't know what gave you that idea but no, I never called her." Angela then asked about the other person who sometimes worked in the small office with him – to see if perhaps they may have called Brennan to come down to see them.
"No, I don't see that having been the case either Ang - . . . Miss Montenegro, that would be Joe and he has been out sick for the past two days."
A chill ran down the back of Angela's spine as she started practically sprinting towards the other section of the lab to go find Hodgins and Cam. "Well Barker someone called Brennan a while ago and said they were with Jeffersonian Security, but Brennan said it was a woman who called her. Okay, I gotta run, something isn't right! We will be down there shortly to check things out, call me immediately if you notice anything suspicious – and DON'T – I repeat, don't touch anything if you come across anything that seems out of place or whatever, okay?! Thank you sweetie." And with that she had hung up before awaiting his response, she had to notify the others as soon as possible - something was wrong, very wrong.
To Be Continued . . .
I hope you liked this chapter - I wanted to at least get you something since I am so overdue on giving you an update. Please review if you can!!