A Pain That I'm Used To—Chapter 38

Disclaimer: No matter how much I beg and plead FOX refuses to give me the characters.

Author's notes: Okay, once again, I apologize that it took soooo looonnnggg to post Chapter 37. Sometimes real life just plain sucks…

As always, thank you so much for reading and please feel free to review. In addition to my lowly income, reviews are the only other things that sustain me.

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The siren in the SUV drowned out most of Brennan's thoughts as Booth weaved the large vehicle in and out of traffic at a high rate of speed. Cullen had provided Booth with few details of Max Keenan's condition. From what Brennan could recall of her childhood, her father had never had any type of health issues; but she also didn't recall her parents being bank robbers either.

"I can't believe it took that little weasel Roth so long to notify Cullen," Booth seethed as he slammed his hand down on the steering wheel causing the horn to blare. "Hey!!" he yelled at the other motorists, "do you not see the blue lights dumbass?!"

"Booth, calm down. If you cause an accident it will only delay our arrival at the hospital," Brennan reasoned.

"Well there wouldn't be the possibility of an accident if," he paused as he rolled down his window, "some people would learn what the blue light and siren means!!"

Brennan glanced over at him and raised her eyebrows. "Do you feel better now?"

"A little bit…" he confessed as he rolled up the window and pressed on the accelerator.

"Tempe, what's the game plan for keeping Dad in protective custody?" Russ asked from the backseat. Angela was seated between Russ and Hodgins, clinging to the entomologist's arm as Booth swerved around another car.

Brennan cast a long look at Booth before she turned in her seat to look at her brother. "There is no 'game plan' Russ. Booth and his boss are working on it…but for now the agents with the Chicago office have jurisdiction."

Russ released a long breath and turned his face to look out the window.

"I promise we're going to do everything we can Russ," she assured him. He simply nodded his head as he kept his eyes on the blur of buildings, cars and pedestrians that passed by.

"Uh, Bren, could you convince your man to slow down?" Angela placed her head on Hodgins' shoulder. "I feel a little sick…"

Jack's eyes grew wide as he caught Booth's gaze in the rearview mirror. "Booth…."

"We'll be at the hospital in two minutes," the agent stated as he maneuvered the SUV around another car.

Glancing down at the sickly green hue of Angela's face, Hodgins tensed. "Not cool man. Just not cool."

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Two minutes later Booth brought the SUV to a screeching halt at the entrance to the emergency room. Angela scrambled over Jack's lap to exit the back of the vehicle and took a deep breath of fresh air.

"Ange, are you okay?" Brennan placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, just remind me to take a cab back to Jack's place because your boyfriend can't drive."

"Hey, my driving is just fine." Booth stood with his hands on his hips at the entrance waiting on Brennan.

She rolled her eyes as she led Angela by the arm into the hospital. "That coming from the man who thinks a yellow light means 'go faster'," she muttered.

"I heard that Bones," he retorted as he strode past them to the nurses' station with his badge in hand. "I need to know where Max Keenan is. Now."

Brennan and the others joined him as a young nurse glanced up. "Um, are you his family?"

Booth sighed and looked up at the ceiling as though to ask God for strength. "There's no respect for the FBI today," he muttered. "None."

"He's my father," Brennan said quickly as she placed her hand on Booth's forearm.

The nurse began shuffling through several clipboards and papers to find the requested information. The group began to grow impatient and Angela finally leaned over the counter, grabbing one of the clipboards.

"Hey, you can't do that," the nurse said.

"Apparently I can." Angela's eyes quickly scanned each page. "Room 482. He's not even in the ER."

Brennan and Russ led the way to the elevators as Angela tossed the clipboard on the counter.

"Wait, Mr. Keenan is in police custody," the nurse yelled after them.

"Seriously, do I just not look like an agent today?" Booth complained as he hooked his badge over the top of his jeans.

"No man, you totally look like a tool that our government would use to violate people's civil rights and hide the truth from the American public," Hodgins assured him as the doors to the elevator closed.

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They exited the elevator on the fourth floor with Booth leading the way. As he rounded the corner he spied Agent Roth standing in the hallway at a drink machine.

The young agent glanced up in surprise at the group approaching him. "Agent Booth? What are you…?"

Roth didn't have the opportunity to finish his question before Booth walked toward him and pushed him against the wall. "You better hope he's okay," he hissed as the young agent trembled. "Cause if he's not, I'll have you regretting the day you even thought about joining the Bureau."

"He's fine. The doctors said it was probably just an anxiety attack but they wanted to run some tests…"

Booth glanced over at Brennan who was frowning at him. "Too much of a coincidence," he whispered.

"Tempe what's wrong?" Russ looked from his sister to Booth, unable to decipher what they were thinking.

Brennan moved past Booth and jogged down the hall searching for her father's room number. She heard the others running behind her as she rounded the corner and located the room to her right. She quickly opened the door and entered the room to find the hospital bed empty.

Brennan walked further inside the room and noticed the door to the small bathroom was open and appeared empty as well. Just as Booth and the others reached the room, Brennan heard a moan from the other side of the bed.

"Dad?" she questioned softly.

Booth moved swiftly toward the source of the noise and found a middle-aged man lying on the floor with a large bruise on his forehead. "It's not your father," he remarked as he helped the man into a chair.

Roth pushed his way past Russ and Brennan and looked around the room. "That's Max Keenan's doctor."

"Ahh, he hit me," the doctor moaned.

"And he took your lab coat," Brennan observed.

"We gotta shut down the hospital," Booth told Roth. "No one in or out until we find him…and when we do, he's in my custody. Got that Roth?"

The young agent placed his hands on his hips and glared first at Booth and then at Brennan. "No, no, he's my prisoner…"

"I may not be a big shot FBI agent here, but it seems to me that my father is no one's prisoner at the moment," Russ noted.

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Twenty minutes later, the hospital was effectively in lock down mode. Booth checked and double-checked every room, storage room, restroom and nurses' station on the first four floors himself. He sighed as he entered the stairwell and began his trek back to Max Keenan's room.

He had instructed Brennan and her brother to stay on the fourth floor. While Booth didn't want to believe that Max would take one of his own children hostage in order to negotiate his release, he wasn't willing to take that chance. Who knew what Max Keenan was really capable of?

As he exited the stairwell, Booth found Brennan pacing in the hallway while Angela and Hodgins sat in the chairs next to the drink machine watching her. Russ was seated across from them on the floor with his head lowered, resting on his knees.

"He's not on the first four floors…"

"What about the morgue?" Brennan asked as she approached him.

"I've got Roth and some of the other agents checking that area. I've not heard anything…"

"He's already gone," Russ muttered from his position on the floor. "He's probably safer that way too."

Brennan's jaw tightened as she closed her eyes. "He's not safe out there by himself Russ." She opened her eyes and looked over Booth's shoulder, noticing two men—one blond, one brunette, both husky—wearing dark suits. "Maybe those agents have some information."

As Booth turned around to see who she was referring to, his brow creased. "Those aren't agents Bones," he mumbled. He turned back around to face her. "Stay here."

"Booth…"

"For once Bones just do what I ask."

Brennan watched as he reached inside his jacket and unsnapped the thumb break on his holster. "Booth," she said as she stopped him by placing her hand on his arm. "Be careful."

He nodded as he turned away from her and began to approach the two men. "Hey guys, how ya doin'?" He pulled open his jacket to display his badge. "The hospital is under lock down; I'm checking out all the occupants of the building. So you, uh, gentlemen have any ID on you?"

The blond smirked and turned slightly toward the other man. Booth easily side-stepped the punch that the blond man threw at him as he grabbed his arm and slammed the man's face roughly into the wall.

The other man seized Booth by the collar of his jacket and pulled him back, forcing the agent to the floor. "You're not going to be able to save them Agent Booth," the man hissed as his knee came down hard on Booth's chest as his hand squeezed Booth's throat.

Suddenly the man slumped over and fell beside Booth. The agent looked up to find Brennan standing over him with a bedpan in her hand.

"You're dangerous with those things," he noted with a small smile.

"I'm just glad I found one that was clean," she joked as she tossed the bedpan to the floor and helped him to his feet.

"What the hell was that all about?" Angela demanded as she, Hodgins and Russ approached the couple.

"If I'm not mistaken these two clowns are with the syndicate and they're here not only to kill Max but Bones and Russ as well."

Brennan stared at him while Russ ran his hand through his hair nervously. "What? How do you know that?" he demanded.

"He told me I wouldn't be able to save 'them'; plural, as in all of you." Booth glanced over at the blond man who had attacked him first. Blooded gushed from his nose as he slowly sat up and stared at the agent. "But maybe blondie here will be able to clarify things for us."

Booth removed his weapon from its holster and kneeled down in front of the man. "Now, you wanna play nice and tell me who you are and how many more are with you?"

"I don't work for nice people Agent Booth and I don't play nice." He looked over Booth's shoulder at Brennan and smiled. "Although in her case I might make an exception."

The gun was pressed against the man's forehead in an instant. Booth's jaw clenched as he held the weapon in one hand and the man's face in the other. "Let me explain something to you. I don't have a problem with killing you—you'll just be another body on an already long list." His grip on the man's face tightened. "You may be in a hospital but they won't be able to save your sorry ass. Now, give me your name and tell me how many of you managed to get in."

"Frank," he muttered. "Me, Jake over there and three others…"

"Where are the other three?"

"Don't know." Frank opened and closed his mouth after Booth released his hold on his face. The gun however stayed firmly planted against Frank's forehead. "I just know we had orders to come in and take out Keenan and his kids if they were here."

"Whose orders?"

Frank chuckled mirthlessly. "If I tell you they'll kill me."

"If you don't, it's lookin' like I'll kill you so….since you're dead either way…."

"You won't kill me Agent Booth. I'm more valuable to you alive."

Booth narrowed his eyes and pulled back the hammer on his revolver. "I really don't care whether you live or die."

Brennan kneeled down beside Booth. "Booth, don't. We can question both of them later." She held her breath and watched Booth's jaw clench and unclench as though he was weighing out his options.

He slowly released the hammer of the revolver much to Brennan's relief and swiftly swung the weapon, striking Frank in the face to knock him unconscious.

"Hodgins, you and Angela go downstairs, find Cullen and let him know that there's been a breach," he instructed as he stood up. "Bones, you and Russ are coming me with me."

"Where are we going?" Russ asked as he watched Hodgins and Angela rush to follow Booth's orders.

"We're gonna find your father before those other goons do."

A/Ns: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter…if you did, let me know. Press the button. It won't hurt you, I promise! Perhaps another chapter will appear in the next few days.