Hello all! :-) Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou all for your amazing reviews and support! I've unfortunately been too busy in RL to reply and thank each of you individually but I will defintiely try to do that this time with this chapter! I was struggling a little with this chapter because I needed to find a way for Brennan to send a secret message or clues to her team without her captors seeing or hearing her do it. I had to find a way to make it seem realistic and true to the show and this story though at the same time so I hope you like the outcome. I was happy with it in the end sp hopefully you will be too. Please keep the reviews coming and enjoy this update. :-) I will fix any missed errors later as usual.

~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~

Previously on Mistaken Identity . . .

'Havvve - to keep – going . . . 'have to . . . g-get . . . toooo . . . Bo-onnnessss . . . . . . .' he mumbled out loud as he finally lost the battle to remain upright and pitched sideways for the last time, his body finally caving in completely and causing him to the fall all the way down this time, hitting the wall of yet another old abandoned structure with a hard thud as he went down hard and fast.

It happened so fast that he only vaguely aware of his unfortunate tumble, his last thought before succumbing to pain free darkness was the weak and silent prayer that he would not be found by his captors who were still just several yards back and more assuredly aware of his escape.

~BnB~BnB~BnB~BnB~

Mistaken Identity

Chapter 32

Unmarked van parked just across from the main Jeffersonian Institute . . .

Lexi and Sam were watching the monitor that was currently displaying the faces of the people that made up Dr. Brennan's lab team and listening to the audio feed that went along with the video. They had quite a sophisticated set up which included a two way radio device that allowed them to communicate with the 2 Jeffersonian employees whom they had hired to keep tabs on Brennan while she was there to gather the evidence they were seeking.

One of the two spies they had hired had their own extensive and violent criminal history, but with the help of the powerful yet even more shady Attorney William Burton, they were able to create a false identity and after pulling some strings – Burton was able to get the man hired on as a maintenance worker at the Jeffersonian. The other person they had hired was already a current employee who just happened to have a greedy mind. This man was ironically connected with the Institute's security division. If the Jeffersonian Hiring Manager had known about any of this - about these two less than honest and fairly new employees – he would have resigned his position immediately!

The two employees were easily bribed and then promised another handsome reward if they fulfilled their mission of keeping tabs on Brennan and immediately reporting any tricks she may try to pull.

They watched the monitor intently while Brennan was explaining to her team that she needed them to bring her up to speed on what they had uncovered about the case so far, including that surrounding what happened to the Gravedigger's most recent victim – Special Agent Booth. As some members of her team scattered, coming back with files and some hard evidence showing what they had each been working on – mainly hoping to help find their friends Brennan and Booth and putting other cases and duties on the back burner.

As Brennan looked over the documentation she was then bombarded with questions about her return and about Booth.

. . . Why was she set free? Where had she been taken? Where was Booth? Was he also set free? . . . she couldn't even begin to field all of the questions that were flying at her from her obviously shaken up crew. She hadn't been sure how she would handle this, especially when it came to explaining why Booth wasn't here.

Plus knowing she was being watched made it even harder to deal with. She didn't know how to avoid answering them or explain Booth's absence without raising their suspicions even further. She just knew she had to try. "Please, all of you, no more questions. Please just let me talk and I am sure you will all feel better and hopefully all of your questions will be answered as well." She pleaded.

The room grew silent as they all waited for her to continue.

"Look, I know you are all worried about me and about Booth. If I had more time I would answer all of your questions but for now I can only tell you a fast version of what transpired over the past couple of days. When I was kidnapped they took me to where Booth was being held - but I don't know anything about where that is because I was unconscious and blindfolded in the trunk of a car to ensure that I wouldn't be able to determine the location. They asked us questions, Booth was unfortunately the one who took the brunt of their tactics that were obviously meant to intimidate us. But you know Booth, all it did was further encourage his stubborn and sarcastic replies!" she said shaking her head at one of the most frustrating traits her partner had - traits that put him in harm's way on numerous occasions.

The team didn't need to know the truth in that she wasn't even present when Booth was questioned and tortured. She could only imagine though, that her hypothesis about Booth's taunting of his captor's was right on the money since she knew him better than anyone. She hated lying to them but she saw no other way out. This next lie was going to be the biggest and she knew she would have to figure out a way to let them know that it was a lie. She couldn't live with herself if she gave them the false impression that Booth was freed along with her and was not still in danger. She continued with apprehension.

"Finally they told us they were going to let us go only to finish gathering the evidence that had been compiled this far - and they threatened us that my Brother Russ and Booth's son Parker would be immediately killed if we didn't comply. We have 12 hours to gather everything and they said they would be in touch. Then we were chloroformed and dumped off in the alley behind the Hoover building."

Angela was first to interrupt, anger clinging to ever word, "Wow sweetie I am sooo sorry that you and Booth had to go through all of that. Gosh it was bad enough what you have both already gone through because of that sadistic bitch! But that still doesn't tell us where Booth is Bren? Or hw you got here for that matter - and why didn't Booth come here with you?" she quickly added.

"We were warned that if we didn't keep up our normal duties and appearances that we would be sealing the fate of our family members even faster. But since Booth was tehnically still on medical leave he had to convince his boss that he was fit for light duty so he could go in and collect the evidence that he had on this case while I came here to do the same."

At this point Brennan was scrambling, her lies were getting harder and harder to come up with. For a second she almost felt proud of herself that she was so surprisingly good at it. But then she realized quickly that it was not something to boast about, immediately shaking the insane thought from her head.

She realized now that she should have prepared herself better- knowing that her team would bombard her upon her rather mysterious return. Knowing they would question how she and Booth suddenly re-appeared – or so they thought. She paused to think of how to explain why Booth wasn't here – but she knew she also had to somehow find a way to let them know that Booth was actually still being held captive.

All of a sudden an idea came to her out of the blue as to how she could handle this situation. It was as if she was somehow channeling Booth's brilliant investigative mind when the idea struck her like a proverbial brick.

"I waited while Booth talked Director Cullen, he told me his boss would only agree to give him a cold case to work on since he still has to get re-tested to use a fire arm again to be fully reinstated for field work. He was assigned to the Gallagher case – involving a volatile criminal Melvin Gallagher. He said he would call me later and then he arranged for someone from the FBI to drop me off here."

She then made sure to raise her eyebrows just a tiny bit higher when she stated the name Melvin Gallaher – in hopes that they would notice the slight gesture and remember the old case. At first they all just stared back at her as if she had gone crazy prompting her to slightly panic thinking they had missed the clue completely. She realized they had worked so many cases over the years that it was taking them all a moment to figure out why that name sounded so familiar to them, so she quickly added a little reminder so as not to alert any suspicion from the voyeurs who were monitoring her every action.

"You guys should all remember the old Gallagher case. It was the one my Father had ended up helping us with? The one that ended in a plane hangar but the case was later dropped over technicalities?" she stated as she raised her eyebrows even higher knowing that her face was the one thing that was out of line from the video feed. She knew she couldn't give too big of a clue or facial expression – or write down any more obvious clues because her captors who were watching the video feed would know based on the expressions on the faces of her lab team. No – her clues had to be as subtle as possible!

Cam and Angela of course spotted the eyebrow raise immediately and knowing Brennan as well as they did, they quickly caught on to what she was doing. They knew it was their friend's way of giving them a subtle signal to alert them that she was giving them a clue!

Finally all of them remembered the case mainly because it was one of the most dangerous criminals they had been up against and after Booth had gone missing they had all feared the worst - that Booth had already been killed by the man. Then thankfully to Brennan it didn't take long for the group of collectively brilliant minds to figure out the clue – they all knew that the Gallagher case had indeed been solved so there was no way Booth would be working that as a cold case. Which could only mean one thing – that she was trying to give them a clue and alluding to the fact that Booth wasn't actually free and working at the Hoover building. Booth was still captive and most likely injured just as badly as he had been when they found him back then.

Wendell was the only one who hadn't caught on but simply because he wasn't working there at the time of that awful case. A case that left Booth battered and bruised and sadled with cumbersome crutches for 2 weeks as the deep, burned and infected stab wound in his thigh healed.

"What? The Gallagher case? I'm not familiar with that one." He stated, a frown of confusion evident on his youthful face.

Cam jumped in, cutting off the questions she was sure would follow his statement. "It's a very old case Wendell – before your time so to speak. I don't want you to focus on that anyway – what I need you to focus on is the Gravedigger case and getting Dr. Brennan whatever she needs. I'll be damned if I will let anyone else get hurt because of that evil woman – and whomever she has working for her. "

Having blocked that potential disaster Cam breathed in a sigh of relief. She figured that Booth was being held as a negotiating tool rather than Russ and Parker, to get Brennan to cooperate and get them all of the evidence they had developed so far. She knew they probably wanted the evidence so they could figure out ways to clear the name of one Heather Taffet since she had an appeal filed and if they knew what evidence the FBI had against her – they would be better able to come up with plausible arguments to prove Heather's innocence even though perjury would be most likely part of their plan. It could work she shuddered to realize, the very idea that Ms Taffet being set free made her nauseas. After all, the evil woman had been behind the near deaths of three people who meant a lot to her. Booth, Brennan and Dr. Hodgins.

She then turned to Brennan once again, "So Dr. Brennan, I can understand your wanting to be brought up to speed on the Gravedigger evidence we have this far, but do you need to take it to Booth?" she asked, playing along that Booth was simply at his office, and wishing that were truly the case.

"Yes actually, he's too busy with his new case his boss forced on him since Cullen obviously couldn't be told that this was all a ruse. Booth asked me to bring it to him so he can see what progress we have made and so we could combine the FBI's evidence with ours. Now if you will excuse me, I just have a couple of things in my office I need to take care of." With that she left them for the time being, she had just thought of another great idea and time was of the essence. She knew her captors would get antsy if she didn't get back to the lab to take care of the one and only thing they wanted her to focus on.

Upon arriving at her office she made a bee line for her desk, quietly sliding open the 2nd drawer she pulled a few things out. She had first made sure to position her body so that the hi-tech lapel pin on her blouse was shooting video of the top of her desk and the rest of the office and made sure her chest wasn't aimed anywhere near the now open drawer.

Two of the items that she retrieved were just a pad and paper which she set on her desk in full view of the video feed knowing or at least hoping that the people watching her would be so focused on that pad of paper - most likely assuming that Brennan was planning to do something stupid such as writing some kind of SOS note – that they wouldn't even notice what else she was doing with her other hand, or see what else she had removed from the drawer.

Her plan worked like a charm as Lexi and Sam were on the edge of their seats, Sam's hand on his cell phone ready to call his boss – and Lexi's fingers anxiously anticipating having to press the button to send Brennan a low voltage electrical warning.

As Brennan held the third item that came from inside the drawer – something she had grabbed while she knew they would be focused on the pad and paper. She made sure to keep the item out of the path of the wide range hidden camera located in the gaudy pin on her chest. She left the pad and pen untouched as she then proceeded to turn on her computer with one hand, hoping to keep the people guessing and hopefully focused on the computer screen now – still concerned that she was getting ready to either email an SOS to someone - or write one by hand.

Meanwhile her other hand remained completely out of sight under her desk - gripped tightly within her slender fingers was a small lint roller which was the missing items she grabbed from the drawer. one hand hidden beneath her desk, she started slowly and quietly running a lint roller down each of her pant legs, then lifting one foot at a time to run it across the tops bottoms of her shoes. Her goal was to gather as many microscopic dirt and other samples of trace evidence knowing that it might help Hodgins to find the location where Booth was being held. Having finished her sneaky task she then stood up to leave, reaching back and dropping the now covered roller to fall behind on her chair. Since her lapel pin was facing the other direction there was no way anyone would know what she had done.

Just then Cam walked in, having followed Brennan in hopes of gathering more clues from her since she wasn't able to come up with any ideas as to how to help her obviously threatened and worried Forensic Anthropologies whom had eventually become, her friend.

Brennan looked up, her expression almost like a deer in the headlights as they say. Breathing with relief she reached her hand backwards once she had Cam's attention, and pointed down towards the seat of her chair. Cam made sure not to let her eyes immediately go to where she was pointing, she had to assume that Brennan was somehow being monitored since she looked extremely nervous and only made gestures from behind her body rather than in front of it. Brennan felt so much relief realizing how lucky she was to be working with such brilliant minds since she knew they would figure out the clues she was leaving them faster than average people with average brains.

"Cam, do you need anything? I was just checking some emails because I was expecting a couple of things. I was just going to head back to the lab."

"Oh, well then no – it's fine. I just wanted to check in and make sure you were alright. You look kind of worn out to be honest. You sure you're okay?"

"Well, I guess I am tired a little bit now that you mention it. But there is a lot I need to get done so resting will just have to wait for a little longer." She answered, wishing that were the case and that she actually would be able to rest. She would never rest as long as Booth was still a prisoner of those damn bastards. With that she quickly left the room, heading back to the lab and leaving Cam to retrieve the gift she had left for her on the chair.

Cam moved fast, going over behind the desk and looking around for anything unusual that caught her eye. It only took a matter of seconds for her to spot the now filthy lint roller, most of the sticky cream colored paper now hidden by hair, dirt and other tiny fibers that shrouded it's surface. She opened one of the drawers on the desk where she knew Brennan kept a box of latex gloves and evidence bags among other items that she used so frequently.

She then slowly placed the roller into the plastic evidence bag, cautious not to allow any of the invaluable debris to be shaken lose. Sliding it into one of the large pockets on her lab coat she started to walk around the desk only to look up and be startled by an intruder.

Her eyes widened when she looked up. To her confused surprise standing before her was none other than one of the Jeffersonian security guards - Phillip Barker. The same Phillip Barker who just happened to be on duty the day Brennan was first kidnapped from the P1 level of the building's parking garage after receiving a phone call supposedly from the security office. Cam suddenly remembered that she had been a little suspicious of the guard when they had first questioned him about the mysterious phone call that Brennan had received - the same phone call that brought Brennan down to the garage where her kidnappers waiting to nab her in the first place.

Her suspicions had been based on a couple of things; one being that he seemed to answer each of their questions a little too quickly, as if he had rehearsed his answers beforehand. The second reason was due to the fact that since he was of a similar ethnic orientation as Cam, she recalled asking him where he was from, mainly just to make small talk while they were questioning him and because he was new to the Jeffersonian. She remembered being uncomfortable with the longer than normal hesitation he took before answering her – it seemed as though he was trying to make something up, as if to avoid stating his actual birthplace for whatever reason. Now his sudden appearance out of nowhere only heightened her suspicions.

"Did you need help with anything Dr. Saroyan?"

To Be Continued . . .

I hope that you all liked this chapter! I wanted to have more about Booth's situation but I am going to try hard to get another chapter posted within a 2-3 days that will have more Booth. I just felt this was a perfect place to end this chapter. Please review because I was unsure of how this chapter would unfold so I am excited and anxious to see how you all feel about it.