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Chapter 9

2 months later.

Jane was working out as best as she could in the basement. Her exercise outside had stopped altogether now, in fact she hadn't been outside for months. She'd only left the basement to be allowed her weekly shower, which fortunately had continued. Her workout routine was to hit out at a punching bag that wasn't there. It was something that she didn't want to forget how to do because when the time came for it she would use these skills against Hoyt, or die trying to.

Even though the last time she had hit Hoyt her weak bones had fractured in protest she was determined she would be strong enough to fight him again when she next got the opportunity. Although that injury had healed the memory of it hadn't. The fact that her malnutrition had only worsened had actually made her body less able to fight, but it didn't mean she wouldn't when the time came.

After a moment more of exercise her arms dropped to her side, she was done. She hated her lack of energy but Hoyt had taken to feeding her once a day at most. Occasionally she would get two meals and sometimes she wouldn't get a thing. He had brought her a multi-pack bag of crisps a week ago and she was trying to make them last, but she was always hungry. Eating for two was her excuse.

She was also feeling really run down the last few days. Her entire body ached all the time and she had an almost constant chesty cough that made her sound like she was barking. Each cough hurt her throat and chest more than the last and it was only getting worse. Her cold prison cell didn't help; in fact it was making it worse. As the winter worsened so did the conditions of the basement.

Starved and exhausted, she slumped down on her bed. Her huge swollen tummy growled in angry attention for food. She reached for a half-eaten packet of crisp. She was about to reach in a grab one when the packet began rustling in her hand. She threw it to the floor in shock then watched as a huge cockroach crawled out.

"Christ! Gross!" she yelled as she stood up and stormed across the room. Having moved too far the chain suddenly pulled tight. She managed to steady herself but it aggravated her already injured ankle, setting off the pain in it. "Shit!" she muttered angrily as she limped back over to her bed.

Not about to sit down she kicked out at it; sending it sliding across the floor. Still angry she reached down and picked up the lightweight bed frame and tipped it upside down before she kicked it again, then again, then again. She spun around when she heard the basement door open with a bang; Hoyt came practically running down the stairs.

"What's. Going. On?" he asked her, pronouncing every word slowly and clearly as if to show how annoyed he was.

Rather than speak to him she showed him by kicking the bed again. Hoyt didn't seem impressed; in fact he'd totally changed since killing Drake. It was like having her around was just an inconvenience to him. So kill me already you prick she thought.

He stormed down the last two steps and walked up to her with an instrument she recognised, a tazer. "Stop making so much noise." he said. His tone told her it was the only warning she would get.

"Why?" she asked, purposely shouting. "You have me in the middle of nowhere. Who is going to hear me?" she yelled.

She crumpled to the floor with a yelp as Hoyt pressed the tazer against her thigh. He took a step back and left her on the floor. Completely exhausted she didn't have the energy to push her heavily pregnant body up. She listened to the sound of his shoes slapping down on the concrete as he made his way over to the stairs. "Son-of-a-bitch." she growled at him, stopping him in his tracks.

She looked up as he turned to face her. She wiped away a tear that had rolled down her cheek and managed to push herself up. Showing him he couldn't, wouldn't, beat her down.

He looked at her, smirking in a silence that seemed to last forever, hanging around them like a blanket. "I've been thinking, Janie." he finally said.

"Bet that hurt." she shot at him before she began coughing. She clutched her chest, wincing in pain.

Hoyt just laughed at her and then turned serious again. He glared at her in a silence for what seemed like forever again and then finally she could take the silence no more.

"What?" she yelled at him.

"I've been thinking about your baby…" he suddenly said.

Immediately she protectively wrapped her arms around her stomach. She looked at Hoyt, waiting for him to make a move. Adrenaline was flooding through her body and she was willing to fight for her unborn child. She was sick of being forced to be a helpless victim.

Hoyt saw her reaction and purposely took a step toward her, wanting to intimidate her. She didn't move so much as an inch even though his closeness made her heart beat faster. Bring it on you bastard she thought, prepared.

"I was thinking about your baby and when its born."

"You're not gonna touch my baby." Jane told him matter-of-factly.

Hoyt smiled, said "I've decided that if it's a boy I'm going to keep it. I'll raise it as my own. Raise it to be just like me." he told her.

Jane felt tears burning in her eyes, wrapped her arms tighter around her tummy. She turned her back on him, trying to block out his words

"I need someone to pass my talents on to. Share my skills with." he continued.

"No!" she roared at him, turning to face him and taking an angry step towards him, getting in his face.

Hoyt laughed and said, "But if it's a girl, I'm gonna cut it open like I'm gonna cut you open."

Jane lunged forward at him, moving so fast that as the chain pulled tight it pulled her leg right from underneath her. She fell to the fall, landing on her hands and knees, slapping them hard against the concrete.

She yelped in pain as Hoyt pressed the tazer against her shoulder. She rolled onto her side, holding her arm which felt like it was on fire. Hoyt jabbed the tazer into her arm and once more she cried out in pain. "Please, don't!" she begged, thinking of her baby.

Hoyt finally stopped. He stepped backwards onto the first step and sat down on the one above. He watched Jane writhe in pain on the floor. "If you would rather, I could keep a baby girl around. I wonder if she would grow up to look just like her Momma." he said.

Jane looked up at him, fully understanding his words and what they implied. "You sick fucking pervert!" she growled.

Hoyt laughed, said, "You're an extraordinarily beautiful woman, Jane. If you passed even half of your looks onto a daughter she'd be a rare prize to have, to take."

Jane glared angrily at him, wishing she had the strength to rip his head off, if only to get him to stop talking about her baby.

"Do you have any ideas what the baby is?" Hoyt asked. "Girl or boy?"

"I'll kill you before you harm my baby!" she told him confidently.

"You won't get the chance." he said with a smirk.

"Believe me, I will!" she told him confidently.

Jane could only lay on the floor as Hoyt stepped over her. He walked over to the multi-pack of crisps and grabbed them. He turned and walked over to the half empty packet on the floor and kicked it over to her as she began coughing again, her chest tight and in pain.

"Make them last." he said as he stepped over her again and began climbing the stairs. "It's all you'll be eating until I get back."

She looked up as he stopped on the stairs. "You know, you should really have that coughed looked at." he said before he burst out laughing. Jane found it less than funny.

She continued to lie there for a moment when he slammed the door shut. She looked down at the half empty packet of crisps by her hand of which half of its contents lay on the floor. She had no idea how long he was going to be gone for or where the hell he was going. She scooped the contents on the floor back into the bag.

She slowly managed to push herself up and sat down on her bed. She listened to the van as it drove away. She listened for as long as she could hear it then it went silent, really silent. She thought about the crisps, if Hoyt was going to be away for a few days then she needed to make them last. Luckily she still had a full bottle and a half of water. It was the one thing Hoyt always left her with plenty of.

She pushed herself up off the bed and was about to take a step forward when pain ripped through her. It was so strong it knocked her off her feet, thankfully she landed on the bed: clutching her side. The pain lingered for what felt like hours, but was only minutes, before it passed.

With the pain gone, she struggled to get her breath back but finally she had it under control again. She went to stand up again but screamed in agony as the pain returned. It lasted longer this time and took her breath away even more. She waited for the pain to pass but it lingered on and on…..and on…getting worse and worse until all she could do was release a bloodcurdling scream.

~0~0~0~0~

"I have to go back to Washington tomorrow." Gabriel said to Maura.

She looked at him from where she stood in her kitchen as she remained seated at the table. "What about Jane?" she asked clutching her coffee cup between her hands.

"I have to go. It's only for a week and then I will be right back."

"Jane might not have a week, Gabriel. With each day that passes by she loses time. She's nearly full term now. Hoyt could kill her any day."

"Maura, we've not stopped working on this case and we still have nothing. It's been seven months." he reminded her.

"So you're just giving up on her as well?" she said sadly as she stood up and carried her cup over to the sink. She emptied what was left down the drain and dropped the cup into the sink.

Her heart sank; she didn't need another person giving up on Jane. Barry Frost seemed to have accepted the fate of his partner and even Korsak was now wrapped up in the case of a murdered teen. It was like he loved having the distraction as did Frost who was working with him. If Gabriel gave up on the case too then it would just be Maura. She wasn't a cop, she had no idea what to do to find a missing person and catch a vicious killer. She didn't have the connections that Gabriel had.

After what seemed like a lifetime of silence, Gabriel spoke "No! Maura, I've told you that I'm in this until the end. Until I find Jane and Hoyt, because I'm going to make that bastard pay!"

Maura nodded. "I'm sorry. I should have known you weren't giving up. I just feel like….I can't help feeling like maybe we're not going to find Jane alive…and now I sound like I'm giving up."

Gabriel sighed. She knew he didn't want to hear negativism. "Maura…"

"No, look Gabriel, I know you don't want to hear those sorts of thoughts but like you said we have nothing. In my heart I know Jane is still alive. I know it. I just have no idea how we're supposed to find her. I feel like I'm letting her down." she told him, her eyes filling up with tears. "I would give anything to swap places with her." she told him as her tears burst their banks.

She reached up her hands and hid her face behind them. It was only when she felt Gabriel's supportive arms wrap around her that she moved them away, to wrap her arms around him as she let her tears fall.

~0~0~0~0~

Maura had fallen asleep on the couch. She presumed she'd probably cried herself to sleep, she hadn't had a decent sleep in weeks and she was exhausted. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the things Hoyt could be doing to Jane.

She pushed herself up on the couch and noticed a piece of paper on the glass coffee table in front of her. It read: Maura,

Had to go. Didn't want to wake you

I'll call you at 11.30pm, when I get to the

airport, to check on you.

Gabriel.

She put it back down and looked at her watch. Midnight. He hadn't called. She then noticed the cup of coffee on the table. She guessed Gabriel had made her, but it had gone cold now. She got up and went and rinsed the cup and left it to drain. She was suddenly reminded of how exhausted she felt and the pounding headache that she had.

Enough was enough, she was off to bed. She walked across the kitchen, turning the lights off as she stepped out of it. She checked the living room lights were all off and had just begun making her way towards her bedroom when she heard a knock on the door.

She couldn't help but wonder who could be calling round at this time of night. She thought perhaps it was Gabriel, maybe he'd forgotten to tell her something. She walked over to her door and opened it without checking.

She swung her door open to find…nothing. Confused and then thinking perhaps it was just Bass moving around somewhere she shut the door and locked it all up. She turned and was about to make her way to her bedroom when she heard a knock again. Being right by her front door she could easily tell that was where the sound had come from.

She silently stepped over to it and this time looked through the peephole before opening it up. She saw nothing. She closed it again and put the chain on. She took a few steps back from it then jumped back more with a startled scream as the knock came again. Without really thinking it through she jumped forward, unlocked and ripped open the door, her heart pounding in her chest. Nothing.

She leant forward out the door, quickly glancing all around but still she saw nothing. She stepped right out of the door and took a good look down the street. She didn't even see any house lights on. She looked ahead and saw the same lack of lights, up the street was just the same. Not a soul in sight.

A chill ran up her spine and she quickly ran back inside slamming the door shut behind her, making sure every lock was turned, every bolt pushed across and the chain securely fixed. She lingered by the door for a moment. The sound of a clatter behind her made her spin round so fast she stumbled and fell into the door.

She them saw Bass right behind her in the hallway. He'd knocked her phone off the stand having bumped into the cupboard upon which the phone stood. "Geez, Bass, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she said as she walked over and picked up her phone. She placed it by her ear and noticed that it made no sound, when she moved it away and looked at it she saw the damage.

She looked down at Bass who had come to a stand-still by her feet, looking up curiously at her. "Bass, sweetie, you broke the phone." she said as she put it down on the cupboard. She crouched down and patted Bass's shell. "And people say that puppies are destructive." she muttered. "Good night. No more breaking things." she said to Bass as she stood up and finally managed to make it to her bedroom.

~0~0~0~0~

It was a creak that woke Maura from her sleep. She had hardly been in a deep sleep but the quiet creak had her suddenly wide awake and alert. She lifted her head off the pillow and listened through the darkness of her house.

Creak. Thump.

"Bass!" she called out in a whispered voice.

She pushed herself up slightly, resting her weight on her elbows. She continued to listen out. For a moment she heard nothing, then another creak.

What on earth is he up to? she thought to herself as she sat fully upright. She rubbed her tired eyes which had begun to adjust to the darkness. She moved her hands away and caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her bedroom; a black silhouette standing out in the dark…..Bass, still as stone on the blanket where he slept in her room.

She turned to her bedroom door as she heard another, louder creak. Heart pounding, she tried to push herself up off the bed as her bedroom door burst open. Something, or rather someone, caught her ankle and pulled it, hard. She screamed loudly as she went soaring forward and fell straight off the other side of the bed, her head connected with the corner of her cupboard.

The pain was sickening but she pushed herself up and tried to dash around the bed but her attacker was coming at her. She turned and was about to dive over the bed when a painful electric shock took her legs from beneath her. She screamed in excruciating pain.

She fell forwards onto her bed as her attacker continued to hold the tazer against her back. Her cries of pain were now muffled by her thick quilt which she lay face down against. Finally the tazer was pulled away from her, but the pain still lingered, pain that called her into unconsciousness.

She was barely with it when she was flipped over onto her back. She could see nothing but she heard a family voice say, "I'm in need of a good Doctor, Doctor Isles."

"Hoyt…" she slurred before she succumbed to unconsciousness.

TBC

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