Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Rizzoli & Isles. The characters belong to Tess Gerritsen, Jan Nash, Janet Tamaro, and TNT. I am in no way profiting from this. It's just for fun.
Will Jane be rescued in time? I sure hope so... :)
Detectives Without Borders Ch. 8
Frost had just drifted off to sleep on his couch when the pounding and shouting at his door woke him. Instinctively, he grabbed the gun under his pillow and flew to the wall next the door. It was then he was able to recognize the frantic voice.
It was Maura, yelling his name.
"Barry! Barry, open the door!"
He looked through the peephole and sees she is alone, then undoes all the latches and locks to let her in the apartment.
"Maura? What's wrong?" He looks around for his partner but she isn't there. "Where's Jane?"
The doctor sobs into his chest, trying to calm her erratic breathing. Frost shuts the door and looks Maura over, now noticing her disheveled appearance. She was barefoot and her leg was bleeding from a nasty scrape.
He ushers her further into the apartment and sits her down on the couch in effort to try and get her to say what happened.
Maura was hiccuping and shaking. Whatever happened had terrified her. He knelt in front of her and asked again as calmly as possible "What happened, Maura? Where's Jane?"
She took a deep breath, her body shuddered in response. "Jane was ta-taken."
Frost's eyebrows furrow in grave concern and fear for Jane. "Tell me everything. Start from the beginning."
After another breath and a nod, she does. "I was just about to leave for work when I received a phone call telling me Mr. Capello was killed in his bed earlier..." His eyes widen at the news, but he urges Maura to continue. "Ian came to my house to apologize for pushing me the other week, and he showed me Mr. Capello's medical and criminal record. I was worried since Jane is associated with him, that she might be a criminal of some kind too. That's when Jane came over. I confronted her and she begged me to let her explain. I was so scared I just walked away... When I turned around I saw these men grab her. They used what looked like chloroform and carried her into the car. I ran after it, but I fell."
The crying started up again and she buries her face in her hands. "It's my fault she's gone. If... If I gave her that chance to talk then maybe she would be here and unharmed."
Frost places a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "This is not your fault, Jane would agree with me on that."
"I was so scared, Barry. I didn't know what to think. It all happened so fast. When I saw those papers... The horrible things that man is accused of. I should've known better. I know Jane, she wouldn't do something like that. She's not that kind of person."
"You reacted how anyone would in this situation."
"What's going on? Who are you?"
'We were going to tell her anyway, I definitely have to now. I'll need Maura's help to save Jane.' He thinks to himself.
"Jane and I are undercover. Long story short about a year ago we got a case and ended up infiltrating a huge drug operation. It led us here, we were planning on making all the arrests tomorrow."
"You're cops?" She let out a sigh of relief.
"Detectives." He clarified, then looked around the room. "We need to leave. It probably isn't safe here."
Maura's breathing once again steadied. "What should we do?"
"I'm gonna need back up. Damn it... I knew I should've gone with Jane." He says, blaming himself for Jane's capture.
"You would've been taken too... Or killed."
"Yeah, maybe- wait." Frost suddenly remembers something of vital importance mid sentence. "Where was Ian throughout all this?"
"He was standing near Jane, but disappeared when she was taken."
"He might know something... Where does he live?"
"Claymont Street, across town."
"I'll have to drop you off somewhere first... The police station or the hospital would be safest. I don't think anyone would try something there after Nico being killed so publicly." He gets up from the floor to retrieve another gun, and Maura follows.
"Let me come with you."
"No way, Maura. It's too dangerous. Jane would never forgive me if something happened to you, and nether would I." He looks at her like she's crazy.
Maura is adamant in her response, refusing to be told no. "I'm going."
Jane's entire body is stiff as she groggily comes to, not yet completely awake. The remnants of the chloroform still coursing through her veins. The brunette hears two men speaking nearby and listens in on their conversation. One of the voices belongs to the boss.
"Where's Faulkner now?"
"We don't know yet, sir. He took off as soon as he saw our car coming."
The boss growled, not happy at all. "Find him. That idiot has gone too far now. Because of some petty fight with Torres, he kills Nico. He works at the hospital, he should know where the cameras are. He was seen coming out of his room moments after Nico was killed. What was he thinking?"
He notices Jane stirring and kicks her awake. She grunts in pain but lets out a laugh. "Is that all you got?"
Jane is slapped hard across the face, then is gripped by her hair tightly to hold her head up. He tells her "You and Ian have caused me a lot of trouble. I can't have that going on here... You're both going to die. But first, I want to have a little fun with you."
He releases his grip and goes over to a table to unwrap a belt full of various sharp tools and knives, running his fingers over the blades. Picking one up, he walks over to Jane and drags it across her face and neck. She tries to jerk away from the cold weapon but is tied to a chair and unable to move very far.
The boss applies enough pressure to break through her tan skin, letting a fair amount of blood flow from her neck, not enough to kill her but still causing great pain. Jane grits her teeth and struggles to hold her in painful cries, while he just laughs evilly.
"I can't believe he's involved in all this. I should've known something was up when he came to my house." Maura remarks after being told by Frost that Ian was at the warehouse earlier.
"Let's hope he's here..." Frost says while parking the jeep.
They quietly walk up to the large home one normally wouldn't be able to afford on a Ian's doctor salary, which Maura took mental note of. Unlike her, Ian doesn't come from a wealthy background. So he didn't inherit or win any money she knew of. When they got to the front door they noticed the lights were still on.
Frost moved Maura to the side out of harms way. "Stay here until I give the ok to come in."
She nods, then Frost kicks down the door and charges in to the living room. Ian is startled by the loud noise and rushes to grab a gun, but the detective already has his aimed at him.
"Don't move. Sit down." He sees clothes strewn all over the floor and a couple suitcases. Frost kept his gun trained on him and sarcastically asks "Going somewhere?"
Once Ian is seated, Frost says "Maura, you can come in now."
She does, and storms over to Ian and smacks him so hard across the face even Frost winces.
"Where's Jane?" She demands in a fierce tone.
Ian spits out blood and replies in a cocky tone. "I won't say a damn thing."
"You're in a hurry for a reason. The longer we're here the more chance we have of being interrupted by the very people you're running from. It's only a matter of time. If you want, I'll just tie you up and leave you here to wait for them. Give up what you know or be killed by the boss. Your choice." Frost's voice was much calmer than Maura's, but he was just as intimidating.
The honey blonde quickly grew more impatient by the second, pacing on the carpeted floor. A golf bag is sticking out of a hall closet and she grabs one of the clubs. Going back over to Ian, she slams it onto the ace bandage covering his wrist.
"Talk!" She demands again in the same angry tone after his scream stopped.
He pants as he contemplates Frost's choices for a minute, then finally asks "What do you want to know?"
"Where could they have taken Jane?"
"The boss has a house not many know about. Few have the privilege of going there, not many being trusted with that information... But I know where it is. It's the only place I can think of that he might have her."
"Where is it?"
"Off the main highway, it's hidden in the mountains. There's only a few houses out there. It's the first one, you can't miss it."
Frost takes out cuffs from his back pocket and secures them tightly around Ian's wrists, ignoring his cry when he tightens it over the broken one. "You better not be lying or we'll be seeing you again... Cops will be here soon to take you in."
They would've laughed at his priceless expression of fear were it not for the serious situation. "You're a cop? Wait... No! Please. Don't go. You need to get me out of here before they show up and kill me."
Frost gives him a humorless laugh and says "Better hope the cops get here first then." He turns to Maura and nods, the silent exchange frightening Ian.
Maura smiles and thwacks him on the side of his head with the golf club, effectively rendering him unconscious. "What now?"
"We need to find a way to talk to Ballard. Gotta be careful about any moles. We don't want the boss knowing we're on to him." He takes one last look at Ian and smirks. "Nice swing by the way."
They close the door behind them and hurry back to the jeep to go get the help they need.
The blood from Jane's neck wound had dribbled down and covered half her shirt. Her arms and legs only had a few bruises on them, but she didn't know how many were on her aching stomach. Judging from the several times she was hit, losing count after 7 or 8, there were probably a lot.
The boss' tech man came into the room, much to Jane's relief to have a break from the relentless beating and any more cutting.
"Sir, take a look at this. She's been deleting her texts and call history."
"Oh, Jane... What are you hiding from us?" His hurt tone obviously faked.
"Go to hell you sick bastard." She refuses to break in front of him, using so much strength.
"If I'm going to hell, then I want company. I think I'll take you and that pretty Doctor Isles with me."
Something inside Jane snapped, and if it weren't for the restraints, she would've lunged at him and tore him apart. "Don't you dare touch her!"
He smirks at her and turns his attention back to the tech guy. "Can you get them back?"
"It's a sophisticated phone, but yes. It'll take a few minutes though."
The boss looks over at Jane again and laughs. "We've got time."
He unties one of Jane's wrist restraints, she quickly uses all the energy she has left and swipes at his face. Three claw marks redden on his cheek instantly. Her wrist is grabbed and clenched tightly to prevent her from inflicting any more damage.
"I love it when they fight... You've definitely got a lot of that in you. So feisty." He groans excitedly as she attempts to break from his grasp.
Jane's fighting ceases when the boss injects something in her neck, and she slips from consciousness again.
Behind the Stad Van Hitte Police Station, Maura and Frost waited in the dark for the Ballard men. Frost had sent one of the coded messages to the Lieutenant to let him know they needed to meet up and it was an emergency. About 5 minutes later, Trevor and James casually strolled out with their empty coffee cups and threw them away in the dumpster, the act to throw off any possible suspicion. They looked around, saw no one else, and went across the parking lot to where Frost and Maura stood near a large tree.
"Our father and his partner will be out here in a minute. We all agreed it wouldn't be good if we left at the same time." Trevor explains to Frost.
"Understood."
"Who's this?" James asks, pointing to Maura.
"This is Maura... She's Jane's girlfriend. She's clean, it's ok to talk in front of her."
"Where is Jane anyway?"
"That's why we're here. Someone took her. We have a lead about where she might be but I can't go without back up."
"Shit..." James curses, as he removed his hat and runs his hand through his hair. "What else do we know? Anything?"
Frost and Maura gave a brief but detailed recap of the events that took place, during which the Lieutenant and his partner joined them, catching the tail end of it.
"I'm David, Jacob's partner. Sorry we haven't met before, I've been busy on another case."
"It's fine... You're here now. We need to go to this place and find Jane."
"I'm going with all of you." Maura's quiet voice interjects into the conversation.
The five men all simultaneously shout no, and David states "Miss, you're a civilian. We can't allow you to do that. These men are very dangerous, you need to stay here. We wouldn't be able to guarantee your safety if you came with us."
"I have experience with guns, I can help." Maura argues, but it doesn't quite convince the guys.
"What experience do you have?" David asks her.
"My half-sister Kate is an agent at NCIS, she taught me how to shoot. I assure you I have excellent aim, I even beat Kate at target practice sometimes." Seeing their still reluctant expressions, Maura continues on insisting she go. "Listen, we don't have time to argue this. If Jane is still alive we need to hurry and save her."
"Maybe she's right... She could help us, we're only a five man team. She says she can shoot and a highly trained government agent taught her how." Trevor finally says. Maura is throws him a grateful glance, relieved she has some support.
Lieutenant Ballard considers it for a moment and sighs. "Alright... You can go. But you're wearing a vest like the rest of us. It won't protect your head but I least want you to have some protection."
"I will. Thank you, Lieutenant."
"We're taking two cars. I'm riding with you and Detective Frost. Trevor and James, you're going with David. Once we get close to the mountains, turn off your headlights. We don't want to be spotted. There aren't many houses up that end but with what's going it'll be obvious why someone is out driving this late. Be careful, all of you."
After some parting words, the rescue team got into the unmarked cop cars and drove off.
When the bloodied and beaten detective wakes again, she discovers she is laid on the floor but not tied up. Jane is powerless, too weak to move her free limbs, as the evil man above her is ready to inflict more pain upon her. They're interrupted by the tech man again before Jane is further tortured.
"I got through. She's been texting and calling Boston and Local PD. Says here on this encrypted file she's a cop. That's not all... Man, you're not gonna believe this. According to a text she sent earlier, Marco is still alive and in police custody."
"What?!"
Knowing he'll want to take his anger out her, Jane improvises. She tries to stall by making threats, hoping it'll scare him somewhat. Anything to buy her time.
"I'm a homicide detective and cops will be here any minute to rescue me. You're all dead men."
"Then I guess we'll just have to speed up our fun, won't we?" The wicked sneer spread wide across his face and as he brings the blade to her sprawled out body, he warns in a bone chilling sinister voice "This is going to hurt a lot."
Jane closes her eyes and sucks in a breath as the boss' arm raises slightly to gain more strike power. He slams the scalpel into her palm and she can't hold in her screams anymore. Her eyes pop open and she cries out in brutal agony louder than she had ever yelled in her entire life, never feeling this much pain.
"Scream all you want, Jane. No one can hear you."
Little did he know, someone did.
Frost and Maura had just split up from the others just outside of the house and prepared to go in. They crouched as they walked next to the 5 foot tall stone and brick wall. Peeking over, the two see a couple of men guarding the back door and observe their patterned movements.
"I don't see anyone else back here. I think it's just those two. When that one goes towards the pool again, I'll go after the other. Stay behind that bush and cover me, ok?" The detective whispers then boosts Maura up and she plops softly into the yard behind the bush, he follows immediately after.
The guard did the same move as predicted and calmly strolls towards the pool, giving Frost the opportunity to sneak past without being seen. He reaches the other oblivious guard and takes him down with a chokehold, but inadvertently causes him to kick over a potted plant.
Maura watches as Frost wrestles with the man as the other turns around and raises his gun at him. She had no choice but to shoot, the silenced bullet hitting his chest. He flailed his arms as he fell into the pool, not resurfacing.
She is momentarily shocked and numbed by ending a person's life but it passes when she hears a muffled scream coming from inside the house.
"Jane!" She yells and looks for Frost, who had finished taking care of the guard.
With Frost by her side, Maura rushes into the house.
Both of Jane's hands had scalpels sticking out of them, she knew it was only a matter of minutes, or even seconds, before he killed her.
'I need to try and stall a little more. But If I am going to die... I can at least be satisfied in getting one last chance at pissing him off.' She thinks with a grin that surprises the boss.
"How does it feel knowing they're closing in on you? Even if you kill me they'll still come after you. They'll hunt you down like a pack of wolves. You'll be paranoid and looking over your shoulder until the day my partner ends your life."
Her plan to aggravate him worked, the panic and fury set in when the realization of everything falling apart hit him at once. He loses his cool and yells "Playtime is over!"
He was about to go in for the kill and slice her neck when Maura and Frost swung the basement door open, the boss turns to the intruders. They didn't hesitate using their guns on the monster, the bullets pierced his body, killing him instantly.
Maura drops her gun and rushes over to Jane, pushing the dead body away from her side.
"It hurts... It hurts..." She repeats, letting the tears flow more freely. Jane opens her eyes and sees Maura, her pain is soothed mildly at the beautiful sight.
"Maura..."
"I know... It's ok, Jane. You're safe now, he can't hurt you anymore." Maura brushes stray hair out Jane's face and smiles down at her sweetly.
Frost went to check the pulse of the boss, feeling nothing as expected. "I'm gonna take watch by the door... Maura, you got her?"
"Yes." The doctor replies then looks back at Jane. "Help will be here soon, I promise. You're going to be alright."
"Good... I'm a little sore. I might... have to take off work for a couple of days." Jane manages to joke, her tears had stopped and she was trying to distract herself from the pain but it was still evident in her hoarse voice.
"I think people would understand." Maura chuckles lightly and wonders something. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Have all that strength... It amazes me how incredible you are."
"I have people I love that are worth the fight to stay alive, no matter how hard it is. I don't give up because of them. They're my strength... So are you." Jane weakly smiles up at Maura, her sweet words bringing tears to her eyes. "Sweetie... Why are you crying?"
"I'm just so happy you're alive. I was very worried... I'm so sorry, Jane. I should've given you a chance to explain things. I knew you couldn't be like those people."
"Hey... I don't blame you at all, neither should you. You were just scared. Hell, I would be too if I were you."
Their brief conversation ends when the Ballards and David came to the door.
"Perimeter is secure, all hostiles are down. An ambulance is on the way as well." The lieutenant informs, then goes outside with David to wait for the EMTs.
Maura looked at the deceased boss and gasps, startling the others.
"What's wrong?!" They all ask at the same time.
"I know this man... He used to work at the hospital, but he was fired. That's... That's Dr. Charles Hoyt." She says in disbelief.
I just had to make an NCIS reference in this... Kate is my favorite character. Wanted Maura to bring that side out of her and go all badass.
How many of you thought Hoyt was the boss? I left a couple tiny hints. Who caught on?
Let me know what you think in the reviews! Each one makes my day. :D
Twitter ~ ProZombieKillr
