Venus POV
I am in the bone examination room with Cam as I tell her, "Still no cause of death, but the damage to the cartilage and lumbar vertebrae definitely indicate torture. He was bent in some very painful way for a long period of time. I'm analyzing the injuries to get the exact position. But I have some sort of idea how it was done." She nods, "Well, the strange thing is I found no contraction band necrosis... in the myocardium in the heart." I nod, "That means he showed no signs of distress even after hours of torture." "Isn't that impossible? Unless the C.I.A. underestimated this guy. Anyone who can take that kind of abuse.... makes James Bond look like a weenie." I smile, "A weenie?" She smiles a bit, "I'm sorry. I have no idea where that came from." I shake my head, "No, it's alright. It's nice hearing that I make the most amazing and well-known spy look like a weenie." "No, problem... I think." We both chuckle a bit as she leaves. About 15 minutes later as I was focusing on the bones after Temp called me and told me that Mandy told them that Rutledge and Dorit were discussing diamonds when she was listening in with the bug and he was clearly lying. But we can't interrogate him since he's the assistant director of the C.I.A. and we don't have any evidence that ties him into the murder for now.
But maybe I could find something in the bones that could help us. I was focused on the bones that I didn't notice someone walk inside as they put their hand on my shoulder. I reacted quickly as I elbowed them in the gut making them grunt in pain as they bent over as I turn about to hit them on the side of their neck to knock them out as I stopped midway through seeing it was Wendell. My eyes widen as I froze a bit as he lifts his head looking at me and my hand getting real close to him as he slowly says, "I should've remembered to not startle you like that." I quickly shake out of my shock as I quickly help him stand up straight as I say, "I'm so sorry Wendell. I didn't mean to, are you all right?" He nods, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Bye the way where you going to karate chop me." I nod a bit, "Yeah, with enough force, I could've knocked you out to be honest... I'm real sorry..." I then stop for a second thinking about something about the bones as it clicks in my head. Wendell sees me getting quiet as he asks, "Are you all right? I promise that I'm fine now..." I then repeat myself, "With enough force, I could've knocked you out..." He nods giving me a confused look, "Yeah..." I smile looking at him, "Darlin' you are a genius!" I grab his face pulling him in as I kiss his forehead as I quickly start leaving as I tell him, "Check the C3 for me, while I get Cam." He nods confused as I leave.
I come back with Cam as I see Wendell had checked the C3 and seeing what I was thinking off as I tell Cam, "We found, in addition to perimortem disk compaction..." Wendell continues the explanation, "There was also significant hemorrhaging on C3." Cam then says, "Trauma confined to a limited space." I nod, "If a precision knife hand-strike was delivered to C3," I show her how it would be done as Wendell finishes my sentence, "It could be used to render a victim unconscious." Cam then says, "A blow to that region can cause severe nerve damage." I nod, "Which is why the maneuver is known only by trained combatants, like me, special forces, navy SEALS." Wendell adds, "And perhaps the assistant director of the C.I.A." I nod, "If he had been a field agent first, it seems likely." We then hear Wendell's phone ring as he checks, "Oh. Uh, that's my mom. I haven't told her yet. You mind if I take this?" We shake our heads as I say, "I'll go and let Ranger know on what we found." He nods as Cam, and I leave the room. Once out and a good distance away from the room Cam looks over at me for a moment as she says, "You know, I haven't seen you this close to anyone else after Zack." I hum a bit sadly, "Is that so..." She nods, "You know it's all right to get close to someone again."
I nod, "I know, but the idea of being deceived again... it's something that I'm used to, but it hits different if it's with someone you put your trust into." "Wendell isn't the same as Zack." "I know... I could feel the difference between Zack and Wendell." She looks at me, "Different?" I nod, "Yeah. Zack is my best friend, we did so many things together and even he doesn't realize it, but he was the first one to really break down my guard and even though what he did hurt me, I still trust him with anything I tell him and I know that he will still be there for me when I go to him for help. Because the bond that we have is something of true friendship that can't be ever taken away." She nods, "And what about Wendell?" "He's different. When we first met, it was a unusual. I felt we had an instant sort of connection for each other. After that we hanged out a lot whenever we can. I never have that same feeling when I was with Zack all the time. I felt more conscious of myself when I'm around him, yet I could be myself with him as well. Even sometimes when he does something I get these weird feeling in my stomach that I can't even describe." Cam then smiles a bit, "You like Wendell." I nod, "Of course I do. If I didn't, I don't think I would be hanging out with him." She shakes her head, "No, I mean you have romantic feelings for him." I stop walking as I question myself, "I have feelings for Wendell...?" Cam nods, "What you described is having feeling for someone." I nod a bit then smile a little, "What a weird feeling... but it's nice." She nods a bit, "It is." We are at the entrance of the lab as I say, "Well I'll be off to the FBI headquarters. I really enjoyed our conversation Cam." "I did as well." She and I went separate ways.
I am now in the conference room with the guy from state department, Booth, Temp, and Sweets as the man says, "Prior to becoming assistant director, Rutledge was a field agent in Russia." I then add, "Where he could have met Antonov." "And in 2004, he headed a detention center Afghanistan." I nod, "Oh, I've heard of him before. If I remember that's where he earned a reputation for very effective interrogation techniques. I was even put to study those techniques and much more." Booth then asks, "Torture?" I nod, "Yes." Sweets then says reading a file, "One of the techniques... was temporary nerve damage to the spine." Temp then asks, "Why would he torture Greg Dorit? They're on the same side." Sweets then suggests, "Perhaps he's a double agent. Rutledge certainly fits that profile. They're usually intelligent male officers... who had poor father figures resulting in repressed anger and revenge fantasies." The man asks, "Double agent." "By betraying his country, Rutledge is, in a sense, choosing a new father, one who might treat him better than the last." Temp then says, "Yes, but that would also fit Booth, and he's not a double agent. Are you?" He looks at her, "Stop. Watch it, Sweets." Sweets then says, "Elephants are gray, Agent Booth, but not all gray things are elephants." Booth then asks, "Is that good for me, right?" I nod, "Yeah." The guy then says, "You're really going to trust something this important with a kid?" Sweets then says, "Oh, me? At least I tuck myself in at night." I then add, "You do know that him and I are the same age, yet you guys put me lead on this case alongside Ranger here, right?"
The guy then says, "There is a briefcase out there with God only knows what inside of it, and-and apparently, you people don't seem to have a clue." I then ask, "Do you have a clue what's inside of it?" He doesn't say anything as someone gives Booth a file and leaves. Booth takes a look at it as he then says, "Oh." Temp and I ask, "What is it?" "I think we just found our smoking gun." He hands the file over to me as I look at it as I nod agreeing. We know have Rutledge in a interrogation room as Booth says, "You put a request in to I.C.E... to pull a baggage inspector off the diplomatic line... and replace him with one of your own men." I then add, "You created the security hole so the briefcase could enter the country." Booth shows him a paper, "See that right there? That's your signature. You're going down." He looks at us quiet for a moment as he then says, "All right, whatever recording equipment you have in this room, turn it off." Booth looks at me for a second as I nod. He nods as well giving the other people on the other side the signal to turn them off as they leave the room. Once they are gone Rutledge then speaks, "I created the hole... so an additional 20 million in diamonds could be brought into the country. The diamonds were then to be shipped to Pakistan... in exchange for political prisoners." I then say, "To keep Congress in the dark. Iran-Contra all over again. So you killed your own analyst... because he got in your way." "No. Dorit read some on-line chatter about the exchange. I told him to mind his own business. I tried to save him. Dorit got killed because he didn't listen to me."
Booth then says, "Or maybe he got killed because there was something more dangerous in that briefcase... instead of diamonds." After that we went back to the lab to take another look at the bones. After a bit Cam comes in telling us that the CIA are coming over to take over the investigation. Booth then says, "Rutledge is claiming national security." Temp then says, "He can't do that." I sigh, "He can." Booth nods angrily as he says, "He can just bury the evidence, and we won't be able to touch him." Cam then says, "Nine minutes left." Wendell asks, "Nine minutes? You're joking, right?" Booth shakes his head, "No, it's not a joke. Let's just pretend this is the Stanley Cup finals right now. Right? You're down by two goals. You got nine minutes left." "Yeah, but there's so much data here-" "The puck is about to drop. How do you wanna go down? How do you wanna be remembered?" He smiles a bit, "All right." I smile as he then begins explaining, "I found avulsion fractures along the proximal humerus. Also, the head of each femur were dislocated from the acetabula. Mr. Dorit's body was bent back so far the tendons snapped the bone." I nod adding, "That would happen if his hands and feet were tied behind his back."
Wendell nods, "Right. He was then hung by his hands. You did a computer simulation." He puts up the simulation as we watch how it went down as Cam says, "Okay, if he was left upside down long enough, congestion of the head and brain would lead to asphyxiation. Petechial hemorrhaging explains the bloodshot eyes." Temp then says, "We have cause of death." Booth then says, "Great. That's one goal, but we still can't tie Rutledge to the murder." I then say, "We can't tie him, because he didn't do it." They all looked at me as Booth says, "What?" I nod, "Who knows better than me about torturing others. I've been forced and made sure to memorize every torture technique there is and what method works and for who. Obviously Dorit was able to handle the pain of this method so the best option to get information out of him is through mentality. And I've read about Rutledge methods on torture and even though this may look like one of them, it's a bit different." "Alright. Then what are we missing." Wendell then says, "The holes in the radius- I've been trying to figure out what caused them." He moves the camera over to the holes on a bone as he says, "It wasn't a drill. It was something strong enough to bore through bone but leave no trace." I then say, "A laser." "Diamonds are cut by lasers." Temp then says, "But Lena Brodsky is the head of a diamond firm. She would have easy access to a laser." Booth adds, "She's Ukrainian. Dorit got to the case before she did. She's the one who tortured and killed Dorit."
Rutledge comes in and says to his men, "Take the body." We look at him as Temp says, "No. Wait. You can't take him." Wendell adds, "We're still in regulation. We got four minutes left on the clock." Booth then says to him, "Look, we know you didn't kill him. But Dorit knew Antonov was working for Lena Brodsky." I add walking over to him, "He came to you guys. You didn't listen, so he takes care of it himself." Temp adds, "And then Lena finds out, kills him. She must know where the briefcase is." He looks at us for a moment then nods. We are know in the FBI interrogation room with Lena as I say to her, "We have neodymium laser you used to burn holes in Greg Dorit's arms." Booth adds, 'And the gun you fired at Dorit's car after you saw him take off with your case." I ask, "What was in that case that is so much more valuable than millions in diamonds?" She doesn't say anything as Rutledge asks, "Where's the briefcase, Lena?" She doesn't say anything as Booth says, "Okay, great. You know what? Whoever hired you, they can't be too happy. So when we send you back to the Ukraine, I'm sure you'll live a long life." We all stand up to leave as she then says, "I don't know where the case is. Dorit never talked. After what I put him through, he should have talked. Anyone would have talked." I shrug, "I don't know, that really seems a bit of lazy work to me, and it seems that you don't know anything about that side of business, right Rutledge. Even I wouldn't start talking with Childsplay like that?" He nods agreeing. She then says, "I've never seen a man so brave."
Booth's phone rings as he answers it, "Booth... All right." "Excuse us a moment." We all leave following him to his office as he opens a computer as Angie pops up as she says, "I was right. It's a map. Keep your eye on his hand. He wasn't waving good-bye. He was telling Mandy where he hid his briefcase." We look at his hand as she zooms in on it as the hand gets scanned. revealing coordinates to a location." Booth then says, "We don't know what's in that case. You call in your cavalry." We start to leave as Rutledge says, "I know how to do my job." Temp then says, "Well, then how come we found the killer and the case?" I chuckle a bit at Temps come back." We get to the location as they have everything set up. We wait outside a bit back as they send one of their bomb squad members in as they enter the perimeter as we watch from the computer. He checks the lockers and found the one it's located in using pliers cutting the lock open. He opens the locker revealing the case as he carefully pulls it out placing it down gently and opening it. He checks then looks over at us giving us a thumbs up as one of the officers says, "We're all clear." We go inside and check inside the case seeing it was a U.S.B. drive as Temp says, "It's a U.S.B. computer drive. That's what all of this was about?" Booth says, "Information. Today, that could be more dangerous than one bomb." I nod, "Yes, it is."
Three days later I spend every night and morning creating the scholarship for Wendell with no ounce of sleep as both Temp and Hodgins came to me saying that they wanted to help with the funds for Wendell as well. I smile as it was the last thing, I needed to finish this scholarship. I was surprised that I was able to complete it within such a short amount of time. A bit later on that day Temp, Booth, and I, went over to the memorial of Greg Dorit with Rutledge. Booth then says to Temp, "The stars on the Memorial Wall- they represent agents who died courageously while serving their country." Temp then says, "The Memorial Wall is reserved for agents. Mr. Dorit was not an agent." Rutledge then says, "In Mr. Dorit's case, I asked that an exception be made." We were back at the lab as everyone went to Temps office to give Wendell a fair well as I had to go a bit later since I got a call. After the call I told cam then Iwas rushing to Temps office as everyone was giving Wendell a fair well as I say entering the room, "Hold on a second."
They look at me as he then says smiling a bit, "Don't worry. I wouldn't have left without saying good-bye to you." I chuckle a bit, "That's kind of you, but you I did say that you won't be leaving." "Excuse me?" Cam comes in standing next to me as she then says, "I was just notified by the director that they just created a new funding for your scholarship." I nod, "You are covered in full for the next two years." Cam nods adding, "Apparently, the director and two other donation was made anonymously." He questions, "Anonymously?" He looks at all of us as he then says, "Well, then uh, please allow me to say thank you... to Anonymous." We smile as I take out a paper, "This is your scholarship and all the information about it." I go up to him handing him the paper as he reads it. He then says softly, "The Miracle Scholarship..." I nod, "I did promise you that I was going to figure something out for..." Before I could finish my sentence, Wendell had grabbed both sides of my face pulling me into him kissing me.
I stand their shocked alongside the others. After a couple of seconds Wendell seemed to comprehend what he was doing as he quickly let me go moving back as I stood their trying to comprehend what just happened as everyone looks at us as Wendell says, "Uh... sorry... I just got really happy and excited that I just reacted...." I try to speak, "I-I..." Hodgins laughs a bit, "Wendell it seems that you broke our young genius here." Temp then tries to divert the situation as she then says to him, "We still need all of the evidence photographed and cataloged... before we send it to the federal prosecutor's office, Mr. Bray." He nods, "Yes, Dr. Brennan. Right away." He then looks at everyone, "Thank you." He then clears his throat and walks away. Angie comes over to me, "Hey, sweetie are you okay?" I don't do anything as Cam then says, "Actually, they received enough anonymous donations for three scholarships." Everyone smiles as my brain catches up to what happened as my face starts turning red as Hodgins then says, "Oh, I think she's coming back to us." Temp then says, "What makes you say that?" "Because she's turning red." "Oh, is this because of the kiss Mr. Bray gave her." Angie nods, "Yes, honey, it's because of the kiss." She then looks at me, "So, did you like it." My face only got redder as Hodgins says, "I think she might overload again." And just as he said I did as my mind went blank and I faint falling onto the ground as they all watch.
Later that day I was in the apartment resting regaining my energy that I lost from the past three days as I get a call. I answer, "Hello." "Hey Ven, do you think you could come over to Booth's apartment." "Sure thing, why?" "We need your help to fix the plumbing." I smile, "Sure thing, did you guys just glue it then turn on the water right after?" "Yes, how do you know?" "Just a lucky guess. I'll be over in a few and bring you some new clothes." "Thank you." "No problem." I hang up smiling as I get ready and grab my tools and new clothes for Temp to head over to Booth's place.
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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN "BONES". IT IS OWNED BY JOSEPHSON ENTERTAINMENT, BY HART HANSON. I ONLY CLAIM MY CHARACTER VENUS BRENNAN. I ALSO DON'T OWN ANY OF THE IMAGES. THANK YOU.