Almost Forever

Chapter 46

"Call my father? Why? He's not involved in this."

"Just get him here." Hoping to put off an explanation for a little while longer, Booth's tone was short. "As quick as he can. When he hits the barricades, tell him to find someone who looks like they're in charge and give them my name and badge number."

"But . . ."

Booth cut her off by pivoting on one foot and pointing a long finger at a surprised Hodgins. "You, Conspiracy Boy. You got a go-bag here, in case one of your crazy theories ends up with a grain of truth?"

Hodgins blustered for a bit, avoiding Booth's eyes . . . and Angela's. "What? I don't . . . I mean, that's just . . . I wouldn't . . ." When he finally met Booth's gaze head-on, the hard stare made him swallow the evasion. "Yes."

"Cash? A weapon or two? IDs? Burner phones?" Hodgins' expression shuttered, which was all the answer Booth needed. "How much cash?"

The scion of the Cantilever Group just laughed. "Enough."

He stopped laughing when Booth hauled him to his feet by the collar of his lab coat. "Come on, we're going to get it. Nobody else leave this room."

Hodgins protested to no avail as Booth dragged him toward the hallway from which they'd just escaped. "Hey! Wait! I can't just leave Angie!"

Booth looked over his shoulder; when he found Cam, a jerk of his head sent her to Angela's side. "She's fine. Cam's on it. Bones!" he added sharply, when he noticed her standing there, unmoving, watching him with a furrowed brow and a strange intensity in her eyes. "Call Max. Now."

As he tugged Hodgins along beside him, he heard Brennan speak from the group they left behind. "I don't understand why my father needs to be here."

"Oh, honey." The pitying note in Angela's tone was clear, at least to Booth's ears. "Think about it. What does your father do best?"

"He's a thief."

"Who hid in plain sight for thirty years."

Even without seeing her face, Booth knew when the pieces fell into place. He felt Brennan's furious stare boring into his back. "I'm not going anywhere!"

Angela cheerfully gave voice to his own silent, grim vow. "It's sweet that you think Booth will give you a choice."

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AN: I apologize for the short chapters. In order to keep my promise of posting every day (14 days in a row! Yay for me!), and work my day job, and handle everything else that's going on around me, the brief little bits that make up one specific moment are inevitable. On the bright side, there will be more tomorrow! :-D

Thanks for reading!