Chapter 10

"Guess what Maura?" He asked as he once again grabbed her hair from the back and pulled so he could look in her eyes not that her eyes were open. "Jane and her friends are on the way. She has agreed to exchange herself for you." He imagined that the emotion on her face was fear, it was hard to tell without the eyes open. "Yup in just a little while one of us will be dead. Since I have this…" He caressed her cheek with the gun he held in his hand. "and Jane gave hers up before she entered the building I have the advantage don't I?"

"Why don't you just kill me? You said it would hurt her more than killing her would." Maura begged.

"Because I've decided I want the eye for an eye. I want her as dead as my brother is." He started pacing like a maniac. "Minutes, she will be here in minutes and I can exact my revenge. My brother will finally be able to rest in peace."

"Do you really think he would want this? If he was innocent and you kill another innocent person that will not even the score." Maura tried again to talk him out of killing Jane.

"No it won't but it sure will feel good. If I have my way she will be in worse shape than you are before she dies." He said it with a maniacal grin then he reared back and back handed Maura across the face and blood flew from her lips to the right as her head snapped that way. Then he made a fist and brought it down on the back of her head and she passed out. He waved the smelling salts below her nose until Maura coughed and raised her head slowly. The time for being able to open either eye had long passed so she wasn't even able to prepare herself for the blows she knew were coming and he seemed to take pleasure in that fact. "I've only got a little while left with you and I'm not going to waste it with you passing out. Oh you can pass out and you will but I will wake you up as soon as you do. If Jane is going to kill me I'm going to make sure she has good reason to do it. Did you ever wonder why it hurt so much when I did this?" He kicked her in her already broken leg. And she could not hold back the scream of pain. "It's because these are steel toed boots and I could kick just about anything and put a dent in it. It's no wonder that it broke your leg." He stomped on the top of her foot and she yelped in pain.

"I don't suppose there is anything I can say to change your mind about this is there?" Maura winced as the pain in her lip increased as she spoke. "Have you ever thought about what led Jane to arrest your brother?"

"No why do you ask?"

When Maura spoke it was barely above a whisper because it was all she had the strength for. "Who do you think gathered the evidence from the body of your brother's victim's body? I did. Who showed the evidence to Jane in a way that convinced her your brother was guilty? I did. Who do you think presented it to the grand jury to indict your bother? I did. You saw me at the trial presenting the same evidence to the jury, don't you think I convinced them he was guilty? What about the other cops on the case? What about the District Attorney you presented the case itself. I thought she was pretty convincing in her closing arguments and apparently the jury thought so too. It was more than one person that put your brother in prison. What about the guy that spanked him in the prison yard?"

"Shanked not spanked!"

"Well what about him. He more than anyone else should be held responsible for his death. There were so many variables that led to his arrest which unfortunately led to his death. Why do you blame Jane so much.?"

"I was there when she arrested him. They busted into my house and she threw him up against the wall and handcuffed him but when she said that 'garbage like him didn't deserve to share the air that normal humans breathe' I wanted to kill her right then and there."

"Why didn't you?" Maura asked quietly. She knew if she could keep him talking or thinking he wouldn't be hitting her and it would give Jane and the guys more time to find her.

"Because there were too many other cops around and they would have killed me right then and there and I didn't want my brother to see that." He said with a note of pride in his voice. "I have work to do to prepare for our guests. But rest assured I'll be back." He swung around with a kick and the toe of his boot made contact with her ribcage and she bent forward as much as the tape would allow and let the blissful darkness overtake her.

"This is going to take all day." Jane leaned against the wall and tried not to give into the tiredness that was trying to take over her body. She pushed off the wall and started down the hallway. She looked up and realized there was another floor above them. "Fuck, do you think he's got her up there?" She pointed to the ceiling.

"Ah shit I never thought about that. The building has 4 floors so she could be anywhere and it's isolated enough so that he wouldn't have to keep her in a room where no one would hear her. Should we bring in help? I looked at the floor plans and it never occurred to me that he would set it up like this. The plans had each floor as wide open space and I thought we'd be able to see her easily. I never thought he'd be this sick." Jane could see the same frustration on Frost's face that she herself felt.

"Jane I know you want to be the one to find her but she may not have the time it would take us to search this whole building."

"I know you're right Korsak but if Lt. Cavanaugh comes out here, which we all know he will, he will not let me exchange myself for Maura. Can we bring in some guys on our own? Do not call Frankie because he won't let me make the exchange either." She turned and started pacing then started down the hallway again opening doors. She turned to tell the guys to start making calls but they were already on their phones. Just then hers rang with Maura's ringtone. "What do you want now you prick I'm in a hurry, I thought you said you would call again?"

"I just called to let you know that your guys may as well hang up their phones because if you bring in extra help Maura is dead. If I see one body come over that hill outside I will shoot her. Remember I have more than that one camera so they cannot get in without me seeing them."

"Then what would you use as a bargaining chip to get to me?" Korsak and Frost we're listening intently.

"Your anger." He said smugly.

Jane muted the phone and told the guys to call everyone back. She took the phone off of mute. "Can you at least tell us what floor she's on?"

"It goes against my better judgment but I will tell you that she is on the bottom floor." Jane heard the distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh and heard Maura sharp intake of breath before he hung up the phone.

"What did he say?" Frost asked quickly as he was still dialing his phone.

"He said she was on the bottom floor. Did the floor plans show anything below ground level? Don't answer that. If he could do all of this her could certainly create a room below us." She said it as she waved her arms around to indicate all that was there but was not supposed to be. "You know what? Fuck this." She turned around and stormed back the way they had come from.

"Do we follow her or wait to see if she comes back?" Frost looked to Korsak and saw an equally confused look on his face.

"I say we keep opening doors, we know she'll be back. She wouldn't leave without Maura." The two of them continued down the hallway occasionally looking behind them to see if Jane was coming. Finally they looked back and both started laughing Jane was carrying a sledge hammer in each hand.

She had a big smile on her face when she got to them. "What are you two laughing at? Should make things go faster don't you think?" She handed one to Frost and kept the other one for herself. "Now let's find Maura the old fashioned way." She swung the sledge hammer as far over her head as she could and brought it down on the flood with a satisfying crunch of wood.

"What's your plan Jane?" Korsak asked from his vantage point leaning up against the wall. "Break down the walls instead of opening the doors?" Korsak was still laughing.

"I figured he thought we would open every door until we found one with stairs either going up or down." She was huffing and puffing between each word but continued to swing the hammer. "If we make a hole large enough for me to fit through I can see if we are already on the bottom floor of if there is a floor below us. Maybe this is the only floor with a maze, he thought we'd spend all day in this maze. He may have even steered us in the wrong direction to begin with to give him more time."

"What about me, I won't be able to fit through a hole that you can fit through?" Korsak was almost whining.

"Well tubby you should have thought about that before you had that 3rd jelly donut this morning." She smiled to take the bite out of the remark. "I will send Frost back after he finds the door that will let you down. First let's see what's below us." She swung the hammer with extra power as she felt a surge of adrenalin course through her. After three more swings she broke through and she and Frost started pulling up floor boards. Jane stood up and took a couple more swings to make the hole bigger. She laid down on the floor and stuck her head through the hold then stood up and started swinging with renewed speed. "There's a floor below us with cement floors. That has to be the bottom floor." Jane pulled a few more boards out of her way and was able to lower herself through the hole with Frost following behind. She looked up and saw Korsak at the edge of the hole. "Don't even think about it Vince. I'll leave a trail of breadcrumbs for you to follow. Oops don't have any. Like I said I'll send Frost back for you. Bye." She said with a smile and took off.

Korsak huffed in frustration as he leaned against the wall and lowered himself to the floor. "I hope she doesn't do anything stupid. Who am I kidding we're talking about Jane here." He leaned his head back against the wall and prepared to wait.

Jane and Frost moved slowly around the area they had fallen into. Jane stopped and held her hand out to stop Frost then turned to him. "We got two doors, I've got the gun so I want you to go low and I'll go high. If he's there he'll aim high and I'll take him out. He should be the only one besides Maura here so if it's not Maura get out of the way."

"And if it is Maura?"

"You'll get her out of here and I'll go after him." Jane gave him her patented smirk knowing he wouldn't go for it. He adamantly shook his head. "Ok the two of us will bring her back to Korsak and he can get her to the helicopter and we'll go after him. But remember, he's all mine."

"Well duh, unarmed man here, what could I do, disarm him with my good looks?" He gave her his best smile.

She turned and gave him the once over. "You are kind of cute, maybe you could. Let's go." They both moved slowly to the door on the left, Frost crouched and Jane stood at full height with her gun pointed towards the door. Frost reached up and flung the door open and what they saw tore Jane's heart apart. She put the gun back in her waist band and ran to the woman on the chair. She reached up gently and raised her head and had to take a deep breath before she could speak. "Ah Maura I am so sorry." She reached up and gently moved the blood mottled hair off of her face and cringed.

"Jane? I knew you'd come." Jane watched as a tear slid down Maura's cheek. She reached up and carefully wiped it away. She was worried at how quiet Maura's voice was.

"Sweetie I am so sorry this happened to you. It's all my fault." Jane didn't even realize that she was crying until she saw a tear drop on the front of her shirt "We're going to get you out of here ok honey?"

Maura yelped in pain as Frost removed the tape from her broken leg. "It's broken, it hurts." She whispered in Jane's ear.

"Careful Frost her leg is broken."

"Sorry Maura, I'll be more careful." Frost said gently as he removed the tape as careful as he could without moving her limbs.

"Just rip the shit off I am so damn tired of it keeping me tied to this chair." Jane and Frost looked at each and smiled.

"Language Maura." Jane joked.

"Ah shut the fuck up and get me the hell out of here." Maura smiled as best as her swollen lip allowed. When her hands were free she reached down and tried to pull the taser probes out but her fingers were numb and she could grasp them. "Jane pull these probes out will you?"

"He used a fucking taser on you?" She turned around to try to try to get her anger under control. When they had all of the tape off Jane reached down and carefully lifted Maura from the chair. She winced when Maura cried out in pain. "I'm sorry sweetie I didn't mean to hurt you."

Maura reached up and put her arms around Jane's neck and whispered in Jane's ear. "That's ok it feels better now with you holding me like this." Then she laid her head on Jane's shoulder and passed out. Jane turned her head and lovingly kissed the top of Maura's head.

They made it back to the hole with no incidents and they were able to pass her through the hole to Korsak but not before Jane placed another kiss on her head. "Hey Korsak wait a minute." She turned to Frost and lowered her voice. "I want you to go back up there and help him get her to the helicopter, we both know he can't do it himself and she needs the help now. Come back when you do that and I'll be waiting here for you. You may not believe it but I really don't want do face this guy alone but I do want to find him. I will wait here unless something comes up to change the situation. Get going he may not let me wait long." She watched as Korsak reached down and pulled Frost up far enough so he could reach the edge of the hole and pull himself up.

Frost turned around and leaned down the hole. "Hey how's your hand?"

Jane held up her right hand and looked at the splint that was more or less in pieces but still held her hand still. She smiled up at him. "Completely forgot about it but now that you mentioned it it hurts like a son of a bitch." Frost smiled and pulled himself back up and took off after Korsak. Jane turned around slowly and the smiled faded from her face. "Hope you guys will forgive me but I gotta do this one alone and I don't want anyone else getting hurt." She turned and took off for the door to the right.