"No small print, I swear," Pelant answered; "You tell me what you want me to do, I do this and then you let me go. Okay?"
He held out his hand, offering to accept the deal, but Booth wasn't so enthusiastic about it:
"Slow down, I haven't figured out all the nuances yet. What is the timing, what is the range?" he went around the room again; " What terms and conditions?"
"It's hard to answer until I hear something specific. But there are limits, of course. For example, you shouldn't tell me to jump off the roof or poison myself, this is unfair."
"Really?" Seeley laughed. He hadn't thought about such desires until now, but they could well solve this huge problem called Christopher Pelant in one fell swoop.
"Yes," he answered as seriously as possible, but then raised his index finger and exclaimed: "One more thing!"
"Okay," the agent folded his arms across his chest. It was amusing for him to watch how the criminal fluttered in an attempt to save his own skin from jail.
"You shouldn't tell me to do anything that can compromise me. Otherwise, our agreement makes no sense."
"Sounds reasonable."
"There are no consequences for you, my conditions are clear and safe. As for the rest, I will do my best, and you definitely saw my possibilities," Christopher smiled contentedly, slightly tossing his head.
"Not all possibilities, of course, but many of them," he added inwards; his face didn't change, only his eyes became more cunning when he asked again:
"So, deal?"
Booth was hesitating, and he really had reasons for it. Deals with the Devil never ended well, but situation with Pelant was a bit different. Seeley had all the levers of control In any case, no matter would he play fair or not, the final word would belong to him. He made an incredibly insensitive look, as if he didn't really want to dealing with Pelant, as if he wasn't in excitement, and replied drily:
"Deal."
Christopher couldn't believe he had succeeded in pulling off this plan, imagined in miserable seconds of panic. But his joy was quickly replaced by anxiety: it was too early to celebrate the victory, no desires had been known yet. So the criminal calmed down a little, gathered his thoughts, but a new fear settled inside his genius brain: whether he had done worse to himself, whether he had dug his grave by his own. What if Booth's desires would be impossible? Or… humiliating. Or… physically painful? Who knows what Seeley really had in his mind… But Pelant was used to take the problems when they arrived.
"Let me tell you an interesting fact," he said, smiling, but he didn't need any permission to go on; "Mermaid legends were popular in Scotland. Stories about beautiful maidens with long hair and a magnificent tail. If the fisherman catches such a beauty in his net, then, in exchange for freedom, she will offer him to fulfill three wishes. At first, people asked them for money, power and other benefits. But the mermaids were so beautiful , so tempted, and often the last wish was the opportunity to possess them."
Christopher narrated so expressively, as if he had written this fairy tale by himself, emotionally, with gestures, with expression. He had excellent acting skills, no doubt.
"What do you mean?" Booth asked just in case, although the comparison was obvious. It was weird to hear that from Pelant. Especially after what Sweets had told Seeley the day before. It was the true reason why he had come here, in Christopher's house, but he wasn't ready to show his hand without proofs. To be honest, he wished Lance was wrong in his last conclusions about Pelant's personality.
"Becoming the wife of a human, the mermaid dragged him to the bottom of the lake, and no one heard from them again. I mean that you should think wisely, agent Booth," Christopher was standing right behind him, whispering like a serpent. "Don't abuse your power, otherwise you may end up… at the bottom," the last phrase was said in such a sly voice that Booth couldn't afford to ignore it. He had to put him in his place immediately:
"Now listen to me very closely, my beloved little mermaid," screeching through his teeth, he grabbed Pelant by his shoulders, then pinned him against the wall and squeezed his throat until wheezing, until his bright eyes opened in terror; "One more time I'll see you showing off in front of me, I'll rip off your scales and tear off your tail. So you'd rather not piss me off, understand?"
"I do," he groaned and then, when the agent let him go, he added offendedly; "And it wasn't necessary to get handsy."
Seeley grinned, saying nothing, pulled out the phone to type a message to someone. Then put it away and announced:
"That's it, I'm here with you for the whole day, maybe even until the next morning. Depends on how fast you can fulfill the conditions of the deal."
"I'm all ears."
"I haven't figured out my desires yet," Seely retorted, calculating in his head how to reduce all his wishes to just three. Now, when he was ready to draw a pure benefit for himself, he suddenly had a lot of ideas for exploiting Christopher, different in legality, difficulty and social norms in general.
"So, you're my guest for today, and my main concern is to serve you properly. Should we just order something to eat? At my expense"
A presence of a federal agent in his house was getting on his nerves so hard, but he promised himself to do literally anything to get out from this messy situation. He was always glad to see Booth, which he wasn't going to admit, disguising his true feelings under the mask of an obsessive love for Brennan, which he really didn't care about. She only annoyed him as a rival and as a person who received all the fame and attention that, as he believed, belonged to him. They were too similar in many things, including intuitive taste for people…
"Just tell me honestly," the criminal took the udon with chopsticks; "What was the real purpose of your sudden visit?"
"What?" Booth wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"You appeared in the morning, all alone. I bet you haven't informed, not even Miss Julian, because the signature on the warrant isn't hers."
"She just wasn't at her workplace," Seely looked at him askance, but received an equally reproachful look back.
"Probably… But I think you wanted to ask me something. Or… to talk to me, who knows. In any case, you didn't want anyone to know about your plans. Temperance first."
"Don't you dare to call her Temperance," he growled, which was not the least bit surprising. "Okay. I may have intended to clear up a couple of things with you, but that doesn't matter in the light of what I've found here."
"Why? I'm completely ready for the conversation," the criminal stared at him, propping his head in his hands.
He bet Booth wanted to talk about Brennan, about his fake obsession with her that seemed so real from the outside. Well, he didn't mind to play his favourite role again.
"Sitting in silence is really sucks," Booth admitted finally.
He had time to come up with a convincing lie. Because the truth shocked him to the core after Sweets made him doubt everything. He suggested that they were wrong about the third side of Pelant's personality. In accordance with his final opinion, Christopher wanted to live, but to live next to the person he felt passion for. And it might not have been Brennan…
However, Seeley couldn't figure out how to expose Pelant, and a million thoughts were blazing in his brain, overwhelming, melting it from the inside. He wasn't a psychologist, but he wasn't a fool as well, so he decided to came and watch after Christofer in an informal setting. Because Sweets was sure: Pelant would never have the guts to show his feelings in person, but his words and especially his behaviour might speech for him.
"It's about agent Flynn," Seeley said. He put a crab roll into his mouth, chewed and continued: "I can't help but notice how you close you got. I bet his number is at the top of your important list."
"I don't sleep with feds, if that's what you mean," he answered immediately and he opened his mouth wider, putting there a portion of noodles. He even stuck out his tongue.
Booth was petrified. Obviously, he overestimated his level of knowledge about Pelant and his behaviour outside the interrogation room. Christopher smiled meanly: he's just received a new achievement when embarrassed Seeley with a dirty trick.
"Gosh… That's not what I was asking about. But I appreciate that we started with revelations. Tell me, you bribed Flynn? Maybe you gave him something he needed?"
"I don't know what are you talking about," he raised his eyebrows, and his defiant look was filled with irritation: he couldn't stand cheating.
"Okay, I got it" Booth gave up; "Then let's think hypothetically."
"That's a different story!"
"Imagine if you… No, not even you. If some dishonourable person offered Flynn money, would he agree to inform this person about the FBI actions and investigation details?"
"A dishonorable person, you say," Pelant was about to burst in laughing, but he kept a poker face from the last forces: "Dishonourable people can offer not only money, for your information."
He swallowed too loudly and made an incomprehensible movement of his head, which made the fed feel completely sick:
"Disgusting!" he already lost his appetite, but it was much more awful to see how Christopher was laughing at him so loud, sitting opposite; "Are you kidding? No, seriously, are you kidding me right now? Ugh! Are you always up for vulgarity, or you're trying to change the subject?"
Joking aside, Booth worried about the fact that Christopher would say anything to get what he wanted. And he would do anything, too. But… his laugh was unexpectedly soft and pleasant, without a hint of pretence or narcissism which he always showed in bureau.
"Flynn is clean, calm down," Pelant finally replied; "We just found a common language with him. Are you surprised? Think I'm incapable communicating with people like any normal human of what? He is an interesting person, by the way. Feel better?"
"I do… Thank you," Booth exhaled and slammed his palms on the table with unspeakable enthusiasm; "So, my first wish is ready! Relax, this one's right up your alley."
He came up with his first desire long ago, he couldn't miss out an unique opportunity to provide himself a lifetime guarantee for the title of national hero.
"Okay, l'm exited."
"Have you ever hacked the Pentagon database?"
Seeley found himself with the fact he'd crossed the point of no return. And he felt uneasy, even a little scared, but he didn't back down. Not in his rules.