Thanks for sticking with me, everyone!
Extra disclaimer: Violence and mention of attempted rape. Nothing graphic.
CHAPTER 11: Bang
The van door slammed shut and Maura was untied from the wheelchair and hauled out by two sets of strong arms into an old abandoned warehouse.
"Wait out here" Hoyt instructed one of the men. "I can't imagine her finding us but just in case, shoot anyone that comes near the building!" The skinny man followed after the two other men that had taken the blonde inside.
They entered a small, dark room that was once used as a supply room. Having several railings in the room and only one door, it was perfect to keep the small woman tied up in.
Maura hit the wall with a solid thud. The men laughed as she slid down it and curled up into a ball on the floor. As she looked up she received a slap to the left side of her face, reopening the cut at her chin. She whimpered and brought her hand up to comfort the area in pain.
"You are going to be a mess by the time Jane ssees you next." Hoyt sneered at the doctor. "Tie her up and do whatever you want with her. Jusst don't kill her. I want Jane to watch her die." He sat in the corner and pulled out his phone to record what was going to happen next. He wanted Jane to see every excruciating bit of torture the blonde was going to endure. He relaxed in his seat as he watched the two large men move toward the blonde.
They tied her hands above her head but she put up a fight, kicking her legs out when they tried to tie them to seperate posts to keep them apart. She caught one man in the face with her foot. Enraged, he grabbed her leg firmly, instantly bruising her. She cried out in pain, desperate to get away. She knew what they intended for her as soon as they had pulled her legs apart.
"NO! P- pleease!" She begged. Moaning at the pain in her face, legs, and at being tied up with thin nylon rope, cutting into her skin, she pleaded but gave up quickly. These men were not listening. They were so desensitised to someone else's pain. Hoyt was psychotic, why wouldn't his henchmen be?
The first man pulled at her scrubs, ripping her top at the front. Maura fought futilely against her restraints. He unbuckled his pants and exposed himself to her. Maura looked away horrified at what was about to happen. As he reached for her pants, Hoyt's voice sounded.
"Wait!" He stopped the process. Standing up from his position, he stalked over to stand in front of her. "I think I might do the honours. I love it when they fight back." He handed the phone over so his henchman could continue to record. Once recording resumed, Hoyt slapped Maura hard across the face again, causing her to cry out.
Tears streaming down her face, she knew she must appear a coward but she wasn't like Jane. She was a neurosurgeon. She didn't understand the evil in the world beyond what her science showed her. Cancer, epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, tumours, head injuries. She had treated all of these and more through surgery. She had so rarely dealt with the lowest of humanity the way she was right now. Having this tiny glimpse into what Jane's world must look like on a regular basis, she felt angry and disgusted. "J- Jane is going to kill—." She received a backhand across the other side of her face causing her to blackout.
"Awww, now where iss the fun in that?!" Hoyt exclaimed, disappointed. "I was looking forward to the fight she would put up!" All three men laughed and then stopped suddenly at the sound of footsteps outside of the door.
Hoyt pulled his large knife from its holder on his belt and held it against Maura's neck.
Motioning the men to grab their guns, they followed Hoyt's silent instruction. Henchman number one was ordered to open the door and find out what was happening. Henchman number two stood with his weapon aimed at the door. After five minutes and no sound movement from outside the door, Hoyt sent his other man out to find out what was going on. "Find that bitch!"
"You're cornered, boss!" The man responded, panic in his voice.
"Fuck, I know! She comes in here and I'll blow her girlfriend's face off." Hoyt had always been a mastermind at this sort of thing but he had seemed to have failed epically in his execution of this plan. He had never expected Jane to find them. "Now, go find her!"
After another few minutes passed, Hoyt cut Maura's binds and caught her as she slumped forward. She became conscious in the process and struggled against him. Pulling his gun out and placing it against her temple, she froze. His vice like grip around her throat and the cold steel at her head made her compliant for the moment. "I think your girlfriend iss heeere." He whispered in her ear. He leaned against the wall furthest from the door and waited.
Practically sliding into the operating room, out of breath, Jane found no one present. She discovered signs of a struggle - scuff marks on the ground and blood on the gurney. She fought the nausea the image of blood produced. The thought that it was probably her girlfriend's had her unable to get her stomach under control and she vomited for the third time in the span of 10 minutes. Lifting her phone back to her ear, she yelled for Frost to hurry up.
"Just around the corner, Jay!" Was yelled back.
She ran toward the closest exit and waited only a 20 seconds before Barry arrived.
She swung open the car door, "Frost, show me how to use that fucking app!"
"Find my iPhone?"
"YES!"
"Gimme the phone." He opened the app and typed in Maura's Apple ID information that Jane was giving him. Getting a reading on the doctor's movements, he gave the phone back to Jane and sped off in the general direction that the screen had shown Maura's phone to be in. Jane gave him directions until the movements stopped just south of the harbour in an old industrial area.
"Ok, pull up here. The app shows she is the next block over. Call Tay and Izzy. I'm gonna go find her!" They pulled up around the corner from where the app showed Maura's phone had stopped. Jane took the gun that Barry had brought for her and got out of the car.
"Jay! You can't just go on your own. We gotta think this through!" He spoke through gritted teeth. He knew if Jane busted in there, she would be killed and then what good would she be?
Deflating slightly, Jane sagged against the car. "I know Frost. What are we gonna do? He has her. Fuck! That sick bastard has Maura." She began pacing, clenching and unclenching her right hand whilst her left still gripped the gun. "We have nothing with us. I got a pissy little handgun, no vest, no nothing!"
"Ok Jay, calm down. Izzy and Tay are on their way. ETA 5 minutes."
"What if she doesn't have 5 fuckin' minutes!" Losing her cool, she stormed away, "I'm goin' in."
"Fuck, Jay! NO!" He grabbed her arm to hold her back.
"I can't wait 5 minutes, Baz! He has her!" Instead of her lashing out at him like he expected, Jane teared up and almost crumpled in his arms. "God, I'm a fucking mess." She stood up and wiped her eyes. "Let's, uh, let's go and scout the area?"
"Yeah, ok. We have to be quick. Tay and Izzy will be here in a few."
The pair walked through the back of the building they were parked next to. Stopping at the front windows, they peered out across the road to check the front of the warehouse that they believed Maura to be inside of. Spotting a tall African man with a large rifle standing near the main doorway and a black van parked near him, they knew that they were in the right place.
They raced back to the car just in time to meet Tay and Izzy.
Loading themselves with a few more weapons and putting on bulletproof vests, they formed the quickest plan possible, deciding on a simple tactic. Jane would enter from the left side of the building and Barry would enter from the other. Izzy would wait at the car and Tay would take the rear of the building and wait there.
Jane took a screenshot of where her phone was showing Maura's location, she sent it to Barry so they would both have a rough idea of where she was in the building. The problem was, they didn't know which floor. Having no way to communicate to each other, they trusted their plan to approach one level at a time and meet each other in the position that the app was showing Maura to be. They would repeat this in the five storey warehouse until they found her.
Taking a deep breath, Jane nodded at Frost and Tay and moved towards her entry point.
Tay made short work of the front guard, taking him out without a sound. He moved to his post at the back of the building.
Steadying her breathing, Jane travelled down a few hallways, through doors, and around a sharp corner until she was only a few steps from where the app showed Maura to be. She pushed herself hard against the wall closest to her when she heard the sound of a door creaking open. Training her gun on the direction the sound came from, she stepped around the corner and was met by her best mate, mirroring her pose.
They both lowered their guns and looked disappointedly at each other. "Next level, Jay. Let's go!"
They began again.
By the fourth floor, the marine began to panic, thinking that this was possibly a set up. Not willing to gamble Maura's life on that idea, she continued. Pushing open a door that led to a long hallway, Jane heard something. Is that crying? Oh God, that's Maura! She raced as quietly as she could down the hallway, glancing down at the location on the screen, it showed that the doctor was only a few feet away. Must be in that door. In her agitated state, she failed to quiet her last few steps. The door right in front of her swung open and she spun around the corner, out of sight and had just enough time to be prepared for the large man as he searched around her corner. Wrapping her arm around his surprised head, she manoeuvred herself halfway around his body and cleanly sliced open his throat, without drawing a sound from him. He slumped fast and just as she was about to drop him, Barry was there to help lower him quietly to the ground.
They moved to the door and Frost waited next to her with his gun ready. Just as Jane was about to open the door to the storage room and enter, it opened slightly. They heard two male voices talking, Jane recognised one as Hoyt's and the other, the man's who had opened the door. Jane waved Barry to the other side of the doorway and they both disappeared around the opposite corner to each other.
When the second man exited, he turned in Frost's direction and was quickly and quietly taken care of in the same manner that Jane had taken care of the first.
Standing in front of the door again, Jane took a deep breath and swung the door open. Lifting her gun toward the movement at the back wall, she froze when she met terrified hazel eyes and then half of Hoyt's sinister face hiding behind her girlfriend, holding a gun at her temple.
"Jane!" Maura cried out before the grey haired man roughly wrapped his arm tighter around her throat.
"Jaaane. You made it!" Hoyt smiled sickeningly at her and tightened his hold on Maura's neck. "She's been misssing you, Jane."
Jane's eyes widened at the scene before her but she didn't lower her weapon. "Let her go you fucking arsehole!" Jane yelled at Hoyt.
"Oh, I hardly think you are in a position to make demandss, Jaane." He pulled Maura's hair back and pushed the gun harder into her temple, causing her to groan in pain.
"STOP! What do you want?!" Jane screamed hoarsely at him.
"Drop your gun, firssst."
"No, Jane don't!" The blonde pleaded with her lover as she watched the marine consider the order.
The Australian lowered her gun slightly but kept it pointed in Hoyt's direction. She hardened her voice, "Let her go first."
Getting a laugh in response, Hoyt shook his head. "Jane, Jane, Jane… That's not how thiss works."
They stood facing off for several moments until Hoyt smiled his malicious smile and made a move to pull the trigger.
"NO!" The brunette jumped at the threat. "Ok, okay! She caved and began to lower her gun. She had no idea what else she could do. She knew he was going to make a move soon.
She was right.
As the marine dropped her gun to the ground she watched Hoyt turn his towards her. Knowing the inevitable was about to happen, she screamed for her backup. "FROST!" Was the last thing out of her mouth as she crumpled to the ground.
"JAAAANE!" Maura screamed. "NOOO!" Suddenly, the man behind her dropped like a sack of potatoes, his arm almost pulling her over. Frost's bullet embedded in his forehead.
The sound of the gun in her ear had been deafening but the sight of her love, lying on the ground was excruciating. "Oh God, Barry!"
Barry Frost was crouched over his commander, checking her pulse. "Fuck. FUCK!" He yelled. Her pulse was shallow. Her wound was… bad to say the least. The side of her head covered in blood. "Maura I— Do something!" His voice cracked and he looked at her with wild eyes. He picked up his phone as the doctor moved to help her lover.
"Tay!" He yelled into the phone. "Call an ambulance, NOW! 4th floor."
Crawling over to her marine, Maura assessed the wound. Her professional eye scanning the damage. "Give me your sweater!" She yelled at Barry. She tilted Jane's head slightly to the side, pressing her hand tightly over the wound. "Oh my God, Jane." She fought her tears.
Rushing to strip off his sweater, he passed it to the doctor who used it to place pressure to the wound on the side of Jane's head.
"What can I do, Maura?" He knelt next to her, feeling hopeless.
"Noth— Nothing. There's nothing we— can do. I— I can't p- pull the sweater away to assess the d- damage without risking her bleed— bleeding out." The blonde was an emotional mess.
The neurosurgeon looked up sharply at the sound of sirens. 2 minutes later Barry was opening the door to direct the paramedics into the room. Maura informed them of the situation. "GSW to the left side of the head. I can't tell if it breached the cranium or if it's superficial." She began crying, feeling like her credentials were completely useless in this situation.
"Ok, Dr Isles. We need to move her asap. She may need surgery and she will definitely need a CT scan." The paramedics checked Jane's vitals and made sure she was as stable as possible before moving her onto the stretcher and packing her into the ambulance. Barry helped Maura into the back of his car and they followed the ambulance to Tufts Medical Center.
"Maura!" A familiar voice called out. "Maur?!" The tall redhead crouched next to her best friend, panicking at the sight of blood all over her hands and shirt. "Fuck Maur, are you ok?!" Not getting a response, she moved in front of the blonde and grabbed her hands.
The smaller woman was snapped out of her stupor. "Adrianne?" Big hazel eyes filled up with tears. "Oh God, Ad— J— Jay…" She couldn't finish, collapsing into her friend's arms.
"Oh Maura, what happened?" Not expecting an answer at the moment, she held the traumatised woman and rubbed her back gently to try and calm her. "Did something happen to Jane?"
Maura nodded against her shoulder. "In surgery."
"How long have you been here?"
Looking up at the clock, she hiccupped softly and whispered, "About 4 hours."
Barry came back into the room from checking on Jane's progress. A doctor right behind him, "Maura!"
She looked up at the African American's voice, "Barry? Oh, Dr Flom! Any news?!"
The older, grey haired doctor answered his colleague, "Yes Dr Isles, it's good news. She's stable. There was minimal blood loss and Dr Weller found in the CT scan that the bullet fragmented on impact and only a partial part of the casing travelled through the right frontal lobe, just above her zygomatico-frontal suture. It looks to have missed all vital brain tissue and vascular structures. The rest only skimmed the periosteum."
Maura grabbed Adrianne tightly. "Oh thank God!" She sobbed. "What's her status."
"Well…" Dr Flom sighed, causing Maura to worry again. She knew the human brain. Knew how fickle it could be. She thought of worst case scenario with the information the doctor had just given her. She's in a coma. Shock waves have caused too much trauma— Her thoughts were interrupted.
"Like I said, it seems that the fragment missed vital brain tissue but... She's in a coma. We believe she will wake soon but head wounds are difficult to assess sometimes." Barry paled at the news. Adrianne and Maura nodded, understanding how that can happen. The honey blonde allowed a few more tears to slip out.
"Can I see her?" Maura questioned.
"Of course. She's obviously in ICU and can only have one visitor at a time. You know the rules Dr Isles. Just give it about 10 minutes while they settle her."
"Thank you Dr Flom." Barry said as the older man nodded and walked away. "Maura, you should get cleaned up?"
"No. No, I want to see her first." She argued. No one argued back. She stood up and made her way towards the ICU to see her marine.
Hope it wasn't too painful! Let me know what you think :)