Bones

Bones is at a TV station making an interview for the morning show "Wake Up, DC". She is being interviewed about her new book. She seems awkward, trying to be polite and smiling. She is being asked some questions but none of her answers are what the host, or anyone for that matter, would expect. Booth arrives just in time for the end of it. He makes her signs, trying to get her to be happier and elaborate on the answers, but he fails. Finally, the interview is over after she says that she doesn't wants to have kids. The show host takes off with a not-too-happy face. Bones ask him how she was and he takes her to the new crime scene.



They arrive and see a car that seems burned, and inside there's a skeleton in the driver's seat that's all burnt up. It seems like a kidnap and the first 48 hours are critical so Booth needs her to identify the body to know what child they are looking for.



At the Jeffersonian, Bones and Zack are working on the remains. They have identified a woman who gave birth about 5 to 8 years ago and with some features in her molars that are consistent with some eastern European cultures. Zack also finds something in her larynx.



Dr. Goodman enters with Agent Samantha Pickering who will perform a security review for the State Department. From the first moment, Hodgins doesn't look pleased with the idea.



Booth arrives wondering if Bones had some progress. Bones gives him the information she has then he goes to see the facial reconstruction that Angela is working on. Bones again asks Booth how she was during her interview (he never answered the first time) and he just says, "It was fine, you know, for your first interview." She doesn't feel pleased with the answer and keeps questioning him until he finally says, "Next time tell a funny story, oh and never say you don't like children."



Angela has done the reconstruction of the victim's face and scans the data from the immigration database until Brennan picks a good match. It turns out to be an immigrant named Polina who arrived in the U.S. in 1994 with her sister and who later got married to a guy named Carl Decker. They have an 8-year-old son named Donovan.



Booth and Bones get in the car to pay a visit to Carl Decker. In the SUV there's a child's car seat - Booth had Parker for the weekend. They begin to discuss bringing kids to "this world knowing what you know" and Bones in a very inappropriate way tells Booth, "I'll bet Parker was an accident, right? Because his mother wouldn't marry you." Booth is upset and answers, "I'm better for Parker being in the world, someday you will see that."



They arrive at Carl Decker's house (he separated from his wife 3 months ago so they live apart) only to see that there's no one there. Booth sees a blue truck parked almost in front of the house and he runs there, with Bones following him. They get into a fight with the two guys that are inside. When Booth calls "FBI," they answer "U.S. Marshals." Bones just says "Forensic Anthropologist! That's why no gun."



In the FBI building Booth and Brennan are in Cullen's office and they learn that Carl Decker is a federal witness in a case against a company named KBC Systems that, according to him (Decker), made defective body armor (knowing it) and sent them to Iraq where it cost the lives of several militaries. The justice department doesn't want him to know what happened with his wife and son, and both Booth and Bones don't seem happy with this.



Back to the lab Zack informs everyone that the thing he found in the larynx was actually an ear, probably one of the victim's attackers. He gives Hodgins the wax so he can see what's on it. Then Brennan and Booth see a video tape of Carl teaching his son how to ride a bike and a discussion about psychology begins.



At the FBI building, Booth and Brennan interrogate Polina's sister, who tells them that the reason for the break up was that Carl was having an affair: she found several credit card receipts from a motel, then when she confronted him he got furious and wouldn't tell her anything.



Back at the Jeffersonian, Zack is analyzing the victim's x-rays and remains with Brennan. There are a lot of fractures that could be due to multiple spasms.



Angela gets her interview with Agent Pickering, who is asking her about her multiple addresses and about her husband. It turns out that Angela was in Fiji when she got married, but was drunk, and the ceremony was a fire dance, so she didn't think she actually got married for real. She asks Angela if she likes working at the Jeffersonian, and Angela starts rambling, making Pickering write really fast.



Meanwhile, Booth is at the office of the head of KBC Systems, Trent Seward. Seward and his lawyer try to make it seem like Carl Decker was a disgruntled employee. Then Trent tells Booth that he was a soldier himself and that he won't do anything to put them in danger.



Booth returns to the lab with the security videos of the motel, then goes to ask Angela if she can use her mass recognition program to figure out anything helpful from the videos. Bones is with Zack, and he tells her that it turns out that the victim was already dead when she was burned. Because of the fractures and some other findings in the lungs, the cause of death was electrocution - she was tortured. Hodgins informs them that the DNA results of the ear point to a man.



In the meantime Hodgins is talking with Pickering, although he says he doesn't want to be interviewed. He's asks her why she had said that she doesn't need him. She explains that not long ago his cousin was appointed to a high job in the government so he was investigated and their conclusion was that he is not a security problem. Hodgins doesn't like this.



In Angela's office Booth, Brennan, and Angela are looking at the monitor of the computer and get the picture of a man who enters the motel room with Decker. Booth goes to run his picture through the FBI databases and put him on the "hot list".



Pickering is interviewing Zack, who's answering her questions while viewing the victims x-rays on the table. Zack then realizes something and runs out the room, living Pickering standing there.



Booth enters Cullen's office to see the man he saw on the security videos of the motel. He turns out to be Ken Weeks, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Carl Decker's justice department handler, who indeed has both of his ears still. Cullen informs Booth that the justice department lost Decker and Weeks explains that when Carl couldn't speak with his son in the morning he just freaked out and left.



Booth arrives at the Jeffersonian discussing the latest events with Bones when Zack comes in muttering about the number of amperes and voltage that it would take to cause the spasms necessary to make those fractures in the bones. Booth says that they used a generator. Because Decker has an IQ of a genius, Booth asks Zack what he would to in Decker's situation. Bones and Zack explain to Booth that intelligence just determines how effectively you'll do things, not what you will do.



Booth and Bones go to KBC Systems, and are surprised to see the lawyer on the floor with blood running out of her nose and mouth. They enter Seward's office and see is Carl Decker holding a gun and pointing it at Seward's head, trying to make him call the kidnappers to release his son. Bones convinces him to drop the gun. They go to the FBI building where Cullen and Weeks join them to talk to Decker. Decker explains that he knows that KBC Systems is responsible for his son's disappearance and explains to them how he was the one that calculated the penetration tolerance of the combat jackets and the company didn't listen to him. Weeks and Decker leave the office after telling Booth that the only way Decker will testify is if he gets his son back. Decker tells Booth that if he finds Donovan, "paladin" is the secret word that will tell Donovan that Decker was the one who sent Booth.



Back at the Jeffersonian Hodgins is telling Brennan that he found on the ear wax some traces of a grass that's only found in South Africa and in asbestos of automobiles brakes. Bones calls Booth, who's at his office, to fill him in. While Booth is listening someone arrives at his office and hands him an envelope. He opens it to find a note that reads "BACK OFF" along with a jewelry box. He opens it and sees a finger. He takes off to the Jeffersonian and asks Bones to take a look on the finger - the boy was alive when it was cut. Booth looks worried and tries to makes Bones work faster.



Booth is talking on the phone with Parker when Hodgins and Zack arrive; they found particles in the finger that, along with the fact that the mother was electrocuted by the current of a generator, makes Booth come to the conclusion that they are looking for an abandoned gas station or mechanic shop.



Brennan is in her office, with Pickering seated across the desk asking questions about a visit Brennan took to Cuba. When the agent asks something about a man named Juan Guzman, Temperance picks up the phone and starts dialing a number. She explains to the person on the phone that someone is asking her about "you know, him." Brennan hands the phone to Pickering who says, "Yes sir, yes I'll wait, I'll wait here." Pickering tells Brennan that the review was suspended and Pickering has to wait until someone comes to destroy her notes. Booth enters and takes Brennan with him to try to find the kid.



In Booth's SUV, Booth is explaining that because Polina's phone was still on during the kidnapping, the cell was assigned to a routing tower as she left the coverage area. With that information they locate an area of about 75 square miles where six abandoned gas stations are, with just one of them being in a rural area, which Booth thinks is the one the kidnappers are at. Booth explains that SWAT is also going to be there.



They arrive at the depot and Booth is talking with a member of the SWAT team. There are 3 adults on the site according to the heat images. According to Booth, they might have not been able to pick up a sign of the boy because he's small. Bones asks, "What about me?" and Booth tells her to wait outside because they are dealing with really dangerous people. She stays outside with an upset look on her face.



The SWAT team and Booth enter the building and the firing starts. They manage to kill all the men inside and Booth sees Donovan on the floor below a desk crying with his hands up to his face, and with a blood-filled bandage on one of his hands. Booth runs to him and starts trying to make him look at him. Donovan is afraid and tells Booth to get away; he doesn't want him to grab him. Finally Booth says, "Paladin, okay, paladin," gaining Donovan's trust. Booth grabs him and runs outside.



The ambulance is there and a paramedic is finishing wrapping Donovan's left hand in clean dressing. Booth and Brennan are with him. A car arrives and Carl Decker gets out of it. Donovan sees his father and gives him a wave with his right hand. Carl Decker starts to cry. "Is my dad crying?" Donovan asks. Booth answers, "I think your dad is crying because he's happy. He's happy to have you back." Carl runs to his son and embraces him.



Booth walks toward Weeks and says, "I hope you are really good at your job Mr. Weeks, cause otherwise you got nothing going for you." Bones walks after Booth, asking if he thinks that KBC Systems was behind everything. He replies, "We'll let the grand jury figure that out, we did our job." Booth then asks Bones if she's still glad she doesn't have a kid, mentioning that he saw the way she looked at Donovan after he was rescued. Bones says that yes, she's still glad she doesn't have a kid. Then she asks Booth if he's still glad he does have a kid, and he replies, "Gladder today then yesterday."