I do not own the characters. No profit off this.
Rated T to M
Judicious Jane
Chapter Two: Departure
Jane marched towards the restroom, her face a mask of weariness. The detective part of her brain was reeling over the short man and his devious smile. Fear skittered along her spine as she pushed open the door.
The room was empty except for the far stall, its blue door shut.
"Miss Tosh?" Jane leaned back against the door, her hand reaching out to grab the handle and inspected the closed stall door for any movement beyond it. "Are you in here?"
"Detective Rizzoli? Why are you in here?" Georgie immediately answered in a shaky tone.
Jane suddenly felt foolish for following the snippy author and replied, "um…to do what people usually do in the bathroom." She stepped into a stall and waited for the author to emerge.
Shuffling feet from the other stall echoed throughout the restroom walls.
On impulse, Jane flushed the toilet for authenticity and jiggled her belt buckle. She coughed then stepped out of her stall, glancing down at the still closed door. The hairs on her arms prickled. Leaning forward, she turned on the faucet and washed her hands, staring at the closed door occasionally. As she dried her hands, she said, "Miss Tosh are you feeling all right?"
"I'm fine.."
"I'm going to wait for you just outside. You shouldn't be moving around the store on your own."
"Thank you, but I'm perfectly capable on my own."
Still sensing something amiss, Jane ducked down and looked under the stall. She counted four feet. She stood back up slowly and leaned against the sink counter to think.
The door to the restroom opened with a creak. Maura Isles stepped inside cautiously, her heels clicking on the tiles as she walked.
"Miss Tosh?" Maura stepped into the restroom timidly. "Oh, hi Jane. Have you seen the author, she told the manager she was headed here, but I don't see her."
"Hey." She touched her lips with her index finger to shush any further questions that might pop out of her wife's mouth. Maura loved to ask questions. With her other hand, she pointed at the closed stall door. "Are you about ready to go home. The talk thing is almost over right?"
Maura nodded and grabbed Jane's hand, holding on tight. "I wanted to speak with Miss Tosh, but since she seems to be missing, I guess I'm ready to go."
The stall door opened.
Georgie stepped out of the stall, the kidnapper still resting a hand around her neck. A knife point rested against her shoulder as she walked. The fingers squeezed as she stopped walking to gaze at the two other occupants.
The detective from earlier was standing close to and holding the hand of a woman in a red dress. She remembered seeing the woman when she first stepped up to her guest author table to get an autographed book. The woman spoke very fast and rattled off medical facts with the ease of a Doctor. She thought it was cute. No wonder the Rizzoli is married to her, she's gorgeous, Georgie thought.
"Oh. This is not good," Jane muttered and watched as the masked, tall figure pushed Miss Tosh forward and out of the stall.
A serrated knife reflected the fluorescent lights of the bathroom as the hand wielding it waved it around.
"Hello Jane." The voice was soft and slightly high for a man of such stature.
"Do I know you?" Jane skeptically asked, moving closer to Maura and took a protective stance.
"Once upon a time you did know me very well."
Jane scowled. "You'll have to give me a little more information than that. I've known lots of people in my life."
"You knew me on a professional level let's just say." The figure stepped closer and shoved Georgie against the sink counter. She hit with a thud and kept leaning forward. Maura saw the approaching cranium to mirror impact and reached out to stop her before she hit.
"Thank you," mumbled Georgie as she shook against Maura's hands.
"Are you all right? Any other injuries?" Maura asked, glancing down Georgie's length.
"I'm okay, considering." She shrugged and glared at the masked and dark clad figure standing in front of Detective Rizzoli. "The note said I was being watched."
A knock sounded on the door.
"Come in," the figure husked, watching the three women standing by the sink.
The short man walked into the bathroom carrying a nylon book bag, and softly shut the door. "Are we ready?"
"She won't give us any trouble. Not in front of her wife," the green eyed person said.
Maura growled, "why you scared sack of…"
"Uh, huh," a nylon clad finger waved in front of her face, "you don't want to hurt my feelings this early in the game, now do you?" The knife in the other hand waved around dangerously close to her neck.
She stood perfectly still. "Touch Jane and you will have more than hurt feelings."
"Fiesty little thing aren't you," the green eyed person cooed.
The short man walked over and grabbed Jane's arm in a firm grip, yanking her away from the other two women. Jane tugged away from the strong clasp, her detective brain quickly figuring out that she was about to get kidnapped. Rough hands ran down her body, searching for her weapon. Not finding it, the hand pulled away and grabbed her other arm, twisting it back to prevent her from doing anything rash to escape.
"You're so predictable Rizzoli. For a cop, you don't vary your routine often enough. And your beautiful wife over there, she is even more consistent than you."
Maura glanced into the scowling brown eyes of her wife and smiled. She winked in return nodded and began to watch for an opening to free Jane from stumpy's clasp.
The bag clanged to the floor as it was dropped and barely made any sound.
Maura whispered to Georgie, "no metal in the bag." Georgie nodded as if she understood what that meant.
The black masked figure stepped over to it and bent down to fish in the bag.
As the figure pulled a coil of rope from the bag, Maura saw her opportunity. She grabbed the counter tightly for support and with a swift kick of her heels, she hit the tall person right in the wind pipe, crumbling him to the ground in a heap.
Jane flipped around and elbowed the short man in the temple, watching him shake his head then crumple to the tiles, knocking him out also.
"Son of a bitch," Jane exclaimed, gasping out in relief. "What the fuck was that all about?"
"Watch your mouth honey. I don't know honestly. But we'll figure it out."
"Don't we always Maur." Jane turned to Georgie with a concerned expression and asked, "Miss Tosh, are you alright?"
The author stared at the crumpled men then over to Maura. "Wow…I'm fine, but just..wow."
"What did he say when you walked in here?" asked Jane.
"He said I was bait. I didn't understand at the time, but I think you were their target. There must be others around the store. I was being watched he said."
"Don't worry about us. We deal with this all the time. It's old hat for me," Jane said with a nonchalant wave.
Maura bent over the figure she kicked and pulled off the mask. All three women gasped at the face revealed.
A short haired redhead woman lay sprawled on the floor.
"I swore it was a man," Georgie said, looking at Jane for confirmation.
"I wasn't sure but it sounded like a man. I don't remember any women that would hate me enough to kidnap me," Jane thoughtfully commented as she stared at the sprawled woman.
"You don't know for sure," Maura said, staring down at the pretty woman kidnapper. The short peaked her jealous nature, thinking the woman might be one of Jane's exes. She stared at her suspiciously.
Jane glanced up at Maura then back down to the woman and scratched her head thoughtfully, running through the list of past lovers and still drew a blank. She shrugged.
Maura felt the neck for a pulse and sighed when she felt a very strong fluttering of Carotid Artery. The woman was just knocked unconscious and would be able to be questioned. Jane bent down to the short man and felt his neck. A faint pulse fluttered against her long fingers and she resisted the urge to kick the figure in the stomach as compensation for the disruption to her evening with her wife.
"We need to get these men in an ambulance and under police escort. Jane call it in please. Miss Tosh, we need to keep you safe until this gets resolved. Just in case Jane wasn't the only target. They did attempt to kidnap you first."
"Miss Tosh do you have bodyguards here?" Jane asked as she searched the pockets of both unconscious kidnappers for identification or any other helpful clues as to their intent. She sighed as all the pockets proved empty. "Damn."
"I have never needed bodyguards before. The manager and clerks keep me safe from overzealous fans, but I've never felt threatened at my book signings. Why?"
"I agree with Maura. You need to have a bodyguard until we figure this out." Jane glanced between Maura and the author then said, "I'm going to notify the authorities and find out why you were allowed to wander back her alone. Maur, keep her safe and be alert." Jane exited the restroom and left her wife guarding her idol.
"Well, under the circumstances I would say my book signing launched with a kick," Georgie joked. She walked over to stand by the exit, wrapping her arms protectively around her torso.
"I am glad we got to speak more, but I wish it was not at knife point." Maura glanced down at the sprawled woman, trying to remember the pale face. She came up blank and sighed at her inadequacies to keep her wife safe. "I feel like this is my fault."
"How could you know this would happen. It shocked me," Georgie exclaimed with wide eyes.
Maura pointed at the short man. "That man looked at Jane as we entered. I was jealous but not worried he would be a creep, a real creep."
Jane stepped back into the restroom and motioned to Maura and Georgie to exit. Maura led the way, grabbing Jane's hand the minute she stepped up to her wife. Jane squeezed her fingers tightly and whispered, "cops are on the way."
Georgie looked at Jane and said, "I just don't understand this. Am I safe to go back to my hotel tonight?"
Maura looked up at Jane excitedly. "We have a guestroom Miss Tosh."
"As I said, I don't want you without a protective detail, and if they knew we were coming to see you, then I can't guarantee that the others won't get you another time."
"But Jane, what if they come to our house? He said they knew our routines." Maura looked up at Jane with a worried expression. Even though Jane carried a gun, she was still worried for their safety.
"I'm calling Frost and Korsak to see if one of them will camp out on our couch for tonight. We can figure this out."
"Alright…I have a plane to catch tomorrow for the next city on my tour," Georgie said softly, not willing to let a few kidnappers disrupt her schedule.
"Well I'm sorry Miss Tosh, but it looks like you won't be making it. We need you here for a few more days until I determine that you're safe from further abductions."
"That's very sweet of you Detective, but as I said before, I can take care of myself. I won't postpone my tour."
"I will place you under arrest if I have to in order to keep you safe. I'm not about to let Maura's favorite author get murdered on my watch."
"Murdered?" Georgie gasped and looked to Jane with frightened eyes.
Jane slapped her forehead with her palm. "I'm a homicide cop, comes with the territory. I'm sorry. Just disregard that statement. Anyways, you're staying in our guestroom tonight. No arguments."
"Fine then."
"Miss Tosh, trust Jane for now. She knows what she is doing," Maura said and smiled at the author, trying to calm her nerves.
"If you say so," Georgie murmured and rolled her eyes. She watched Jane walk away to greet a tall man in a tie and suit and shook her head at how her evening turned from celebration to imprisonment in the blink of an eye. "It sucks to be famous," she muttered under her breath, then looked into twinkling green eyes of her new host for the evening.
"I'll get us some wine to chill out. We'll make it relaxing somehow. When I was in protective custody, Jane kept me relaxed."
"I bet she did. She appears to be a very relaxed kind of woman… Um, wine would be great." Georgie turned to look at Jane again and whispered, "I bet your wife hates wine."
"She likes beer,"
"Seems the type. I like her."
"Me too." Maura smiled and watched her wife pace around the store with a scowl gracing her features, pointing towards the restroom door and yelling at the manager. "She's great."
A/N: This update isn't what I wanted it to be, but here it is anyways. The next update will be a bit better. Review and let me know if you liked it at all and such.
TTFN….bounce, bounce.
