BONES: Next Generation

Chapter Six

The pen flew across the tablet, eyes glued to the Angelatron screen. Brennan had relayed what Alfred had said in the interrogation room, and after some poking and prodding, told how they came across the information. Booth slamming someone against the wall was in the recesses of Angela's mind at this point in time, though. She was so much closer to finding her son, getting him back home. Angela's fingers shook as she clicked, dragged, and pointed at several files and pictures. There were several Rodneys in the FBI's database.

The information Christine had gotten to Booth had helped narrow down the possibilities, but the search was nearly impossible without a last name. Angela sighed exasperatedly, none of the Rodney's had osteoporosis. This meant there was an entire person unaccounted for. Flopping down into a chair, Angela refreshed her search and watched as the pictures flew past the screen for a second time.

A quiet knock could be heard from the doorway, causing Angela's gaze to stray from the screen. Brennan slowly made her way into the room, almost cautiously. She looked towards the screen, pursing her lips in attempt to hide her disappointment. But Angela could see the red rim of her eyes, the far away stare. Brennan was deeply concerned for the life of her child as well as Angela's.

"Did you... Did you find anything yet?" She asked despite already knowing the answer.

Angela shook her head, "Not yet..." Brennan glanced down to the floor before taking a seat across from Angela, "Where's Booth?"

"He's following up on the lake with a few other agents. If they find anything," she held up her phone that had been clasped in her hands, "he'll call us."

Neither spoke up, no comforting words were exchanged for both knew that they would be useless. The sound of their silence comforted one another, both knowing what the other was experiencing. How terrified and utterly useless they felt. It was enough to wait for the call.

                                                                               .~.

The howl from a train sounded from the tracks not all that too far off. Booth kicked a pebble into the murky water at the sound. Nothing had been found, just a dirty lake and a few picnickers. A small brick building sat near the parking lot, it was empty, holding remnants of teenage sex and drugs. Nothing of importance was here. They had been so close... and yet... he should've known that this wasn't the place. Then again, what if it was and they were missing something?

Booth squinted against the sun's rays, and stepped towards one of the closer agents, "I want eyes on this place 24/7. You got me?"

His threatening tone didn't sway the agent, "Yes, sir."

                                                                                 .~.

The pain was searing, she could feel the bone move against her skin. Christine let out another grunt, half out of frustration half out of pain. She wanted to yell, wanted to punch her kidnapper in the face. With her good arm of course. She wanted out of this mess. But that wasn't happening any time soon. Were her parents going to pay the ransom? They were taking quite a long time to do so if they were. Christine figured it had something to do with the banks maximum withdrawal amount. She knew for a fact that her mother had enough money in her account to pay the ransom. Even with the information she gave to her parents and the rest of their team, it was hardly enough to come up with a single person in the DC area, let alone two. They must have given up on figuring out Michael and her location and decided to go down the easy route.

Scraping against the pavement caused Christine to open her eyes despite the flash of white she knew would be coming. Her captors stepped inside, blocking most of the light.

"Your parent's don't know what they're getting themselves into." The taller one said.

The smaller seemed to tremble, "M-Maybe we should... ya know... let 'em go before we get into too much trouble. If we let 'em go, the charges might be dropped."

"I doubt that would happen," Christine rasped, causing both men to look up at her.

"But if we cooperated fully-" The smaller spoke up.

The larger pushed the smaller out of the room and slammed the door behind him, leaving Christine alone with the stronger captor. She heard scratching and a few grunts, as if he were fumbling around with something that had a switch. A small light turned on and moved across the room until it landed in her eyes.

"How can we make it so that your parents pay the ransom, sweetheart?"

Christine bit her bruised lip. If her parents weren't paying the ransom... then they must be getting closer...