CHAPTER TEN
A/N Looks like you guys don't like Maura being in trouble. Who knew tossing a couple guns in a stream would cause a reaction J Actually, I just did it to set up a certain situation. It would seem that James isn't the only one with some extra baggage. Thanks for reading and don't unbuckle your seat belt just yet!
He should have just enough time to get everything done before Maura woke. Drugging her was not his first choice, but he couldn't have Boston PD breathing down his neck. James had been undercover for three long years. It was time to bring him home…If any of him remained. Before arranging a nice long prison sentence for him, James had become addicted to Heroin. Brian had been the seasoned professional and James the innocent. Had he really told the rookie it was OK to try the drugs to see what effect they would have before making a buy? The dumb fuck and taken him at his word and injected pure heroin.
"It does matter!" He snapped to the silently judging boat. "I sent him into this den of vipers. I have to give him a chance to get out and get clean." He kicked the boat and watched it ride the small wave. "It was supposed to be me going undercover on this OP. The Savages were going to be my ticket out of the field and into a nice cushy Pentagon job. Ten years experience running the most clandestine, off the books missions and he had let his dick turn off his brain. While James had been riding his high, Brian had been riding a Senator's wife.
Brian looked to the heavens and said a small prayer before he crossed the point of no return. He held his breath and began loading fifteen small square bricks the color of grocery store paper bags. He took particular care in placing them along both sides of the boat. Each was lifted straight up and gingerly placed straight down. Absolutely no side-to-side movement, or he and the boat would become less than nothing. Three weeks of planning and this was the best he could do. A deadly, harebrained plot.
He would maneuver as close to the Savage home as possible and set his surprise packages at irregular intervals. The first would detonate in two minutes; the final in ten. The last and most powerful, would be placed directly outside the back door of the barn. Once the charges were hot, he would take cover in the pond between the barn and the house. If he was late, or one of the charges went early, all bets were off. He and James would be reminiscing over a beer as Satan poked their asses with his pitchfork.
The entire nine mile trip was made in terrified silence. Brian took shallow breaths and a five year old could have rowed faster with one hand tied behind his back. Sweat dripped off the ridge of his brown and splashed the nearest charge. He whispered a hoarse "Please!" and lifted a shaking hand to wipe his face. He gave a defeated chuckle after looking down and seeing the huge wet spot on his pants leg. It would take a miracle neither of them deserved to get through this alive. But he owed it to James to try.
"Why are you so fucking jumpy today?" Adam asked holding his hands up defensively in front of his face. He had flicked James' ear at least a hundred times in the past and never gotten so much as a grunt. Yet he was pinned against the wall and James was about two seconds from beating him senseless.
All the air rushed from James' lungs and he seemed to collapse in on himself. "Something isn't right. I can feel it in my blood. The hair is standing up on my neck, and my guts are churning."
"I knew it!" Tyler shouted sauntering into the room. He took one look at his brother and James and pointed a knowing finger at James. "You took a ride on that fancy piece didn't you? Oh yeah, you better be worried. If Savage finds out, he'll castrate you!"
Adam stared deep into James' haunted eyes and shook his head. "This has nothing to do with the women. I feel something off too."
"You two scaredy cats stop sucking each other off and get ready for the delivery. I'm technical support. No way am I going to carry body parts in a fucking cooler like some alien six pack."
"It always seems cooler when they do it on TV. Hearts are gross and livers just make me want to puke. Still, all those zeros at the end of my bank balance make even the ugliest kidney a beautiful thing to behold." He dropped his hands and moved carefully around James. "He's right, we gotta get a move on if we don't want to be late."
James took one step away from the wall before finding himself airborne. The concussion of the blast shredded his eardrums and sent him flying through the kitchen window. His last conscious thought was that Brian would never know what happened to him. Wait a minute! Brian was outside. He had given the signal. The call of a crow! Everything was going to be OK. Brian was here and he was going home.
"We're under attack!" Buck yelled entering the room in time to see James land on the side lawn with his neck barely attached at the throat. The window had broken leaving a vicious sword of glass now painted bright red from James' almost beheading.
"What the fuck?" Loretta screamed seeing bits of skin and fragments of bone strewn about the room. The bloody off-white bits had once been part of Adam and Tyler. A wet splat landed on her shoulder. "Buck!" She shrieked before fainting. A bloody tooth had fallen form the ceiling and now lay on her shoulder like a cruel polka-dot.
Evan lumbered into the room his prized cleaver held at the ready. "Boss, what's going on?"
"Stay here. We are under fire." Buck strode to the den and flung open the gun cabinet. "I'll teach these fuckers to attack my home!" He chose a Colt AR-15 and a looped an ammo belt over his shoulder. This was the United States of America. Some dumb shit couldn't just walk up and start blowing up private property and killing ones employees! "When I find this turd I am going to ass fuck him with the barrel of this rifle and then I'm going to shoot his brains out through his eyeballs!
But first he had to find the attacker.
Brian felt the concussion of the first blast and began counting in his head. He had to last to the count of one hundred. Once he cleared that mark, all the charges would have detonated and the occupants of the house should be dead or so severely disoriented a child could take them into custody. He prayed his air supply would last. He clenched the Rebreather between his teeth and offered a prayer for help.
Blackness threatened to envelope him. Somehow, he had gotten distracted and lost count. He had no way of knowing how long he had been under. Dead silence greeted him when he broke the surface of the pond. Leaden legs carried him toward the mostly destroyed home.
"No!" He cried when he saw James' broken body. Brian dropped to his knees and pulled the lifeless man into his arms. "I'm so sorry, James. I thought the plan would work. I'm so sorry." He held the body tightly and began rocking back and forth.
"Jane, Korsak!" Frost yelled excitedly. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "We got her! We know where to find Dr. Isles."
"Then stop dancing and let's go get her." Jane snapped striding past the grinning Frost.
"Jane, wait a minute." Korsak cautioned.
"What?" she barked. Maura was out there and they wanted congratulations?
"Jane, we can't go barging in there. We have no way of knowing who has Dr. Isles. We could get her killed." Normally Korsak would use tact and logic, but Jane was keyed so tight he expected her ponytail to start whipping around and fly her out to find Maura.
Jane stopped mid-stride and turned to glare at her ex-partner. She knew it wasn't his fault, but all this waiting was killing her. If she hadn't been such a bitch to Maura in the parking lot….
"Rizzoli, Vince is right." With an unusual amount of insight, Captain Matthews addressed Jane and sought to get control of the situation. "This isn't your fault. You were taken by those savages too. We will get Dr. Isles back, but we gotta be smart about it. We go busting in like movie cops and we get people killed. Take a seat and let's see what we're dealing with. OK?"
Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Jane and Korsak were in her unmarked tearing toward the small house where the call from Maura had been traced. The SWAT team was on their way to the Savage property. Jane cursed under her breath as the city melted away and the road became a narrow two lane road. They had to hurry, Maura needed her and once again she had let pride and stupidity wound them. One day, Maura was going to stop giving her the chance to make things good again and they would be known in gossip circles as, "those two used to be such great friends until Rizzoli became a major bitch and ruined it."
"Matthews is right, this isn't your fault. The hell you survived was every bit as traumatic as whatever Maura has suffered." Korsak spoke kindly but firmly.
"You don't know what I said to her." Jane muttered fighting tears.
"It doesn't matter. What does matter is what you say now and every day going forward." He took his right hand off the wheel and gave her shoulder a fatherly squeeze.
"Do me a favor?" Jane begged.
"Name it." Korsak agreed smiling.
"If I start being a royal bitch, shoot me."
"Deal." They broke into companionable laughter and then made the rest of the trip in silence.
Brian dragged himself out of the pond and crawled across the grass toward the house. The front door was relatively unscathed. He struggled to his feet and squared his shoulders. Once he was standing directly in front of the house, he marshaled his strength and called out in his most commanding voice. "Buck and Loretta Savage. This is Brian Banks with the FBI. Throw down your weapons and step outside your hands clasped behind your heads. You are both under arrest for multiple counts of kidnapping and murder."
"The Fucking Bureau of Idiots." Buck spat coming up behind Brian. Was this a lone wolf trying to take down an entire heard of cattle?
"Drop your weapon and lace your hands behind your head." A semi-automatic pistol against the firepower of an automatic rifle. Guess who had greater firepower?
"Am I supposed to be afraid of that child's gun? Where did you get it anyway, a box of cereal? Tell me, Mr. Not-so-super-agent, doesn't the FBI give it's drones decent weapons?" Buck caressed the safety and pressed it gently.
"I supposed a child's toy destroyed your fancy house then." Brian stepped closer hoping his bravado would carry the day.
"I don't have time to stand around playing Who's is bigger. I got a very important meeting to attend. So I guess I'll just kill you and be on my way." Buck snarled and squeezed the trigger.
His ploy worked. Brian forced himself to ignore the bullets ripping into his flesh. He dropped his weapon and clawed at his pocket. With the last of his strength, he dragged the grenade from his pocket, pulled the pin and lobbed it toward the porch where Evan and Loretta now stood. The last thing he heard was the sound of the SWAT leaders voice ordering Buck onto the ground and the screams of the dying man and woman as the grenade exploded.
"I hope this Asshole is as lucky as he is brave."
The entire SWAT team echoed the hope of their leader as they watched two of their members set up central lines and get IV bags flowing as well as applying pressure to half a dozen wounds on James' chest. They could hear the chopper in the distance and prayed for it to land while there was still a chance in hell of saving him.
A/N And so we draw close to the end of this little tale. We have to get Maura home, or at least find her…OK, get her home and see if James will survive his wounds. As always, thank you for reading. I love to hear what you think, let me know.