"Winter, spring, summer of fall, all you have to do is call and I'll be there yes I will…"
Halim has explained and shown Jane everything he has and can think of. By the time they've finished talking the sun has risen on a new day. Jane prays it's going to be a good one. Halim looks at her "how long has it been since you've had a proper meal or any sleep Jane" he asks.
Jane stops looking at maps of the bunker and thinks for a second. "I don't know!"
"We are going to need an arsenal of weapons and I may have a contact that could help us. Why don't you get an hour's rest and I'll bring you back food when I return." Halim stares at Jane encouraging her to listen to him.
"We can get food and water on the way" Jane answers as she pulls the bag of weapons out from under the hotel bed. "I just need a quick shower and to change into more appropriate clothes. You do what you need to do but if we can't get Maura out with what I have here, no one can."
Halim looks at the weapons Jane has. He looks back at her. He nods. "When do you want to leave" he asks.
"Give me fifteen minutes."
Halim nods and leaves; the only thing Jane hasn't thought of is a first aid kit. Halim is pretty sure they're going to need one. As he goes to organise it he thinks about Jane. She's tough; she's strong and incredibly beautiful. He finds it genuine and humbling that she has no sense of that beauty. He's noticed the scars on her hands; the one on her right hand has been bleeding. He's pretty sure it's self-inflicted. He finds her singular focus on helping Maura and her lack of interest in her husband interesting. Whether justified or not, Jane clearly blames Doctor Faulkner for Maura's predicament. As far as Halim's concerned it's completely justified.
Halim has done his homework and knows a lot of the history of Detective Jane Rizzoli and her best friend and the Medical Examiner from Boston, Doctor Maura Isles. From what he's gleaned from the internet they have been through a lot together. As a crime solving team their record is phenomenal. The fact that their friendship is intact despite Jane having shot Doctor Isles biological father is a testament to the depths of their bond. Halim finds himself in awe of these women; despite having met them under different circumstances he has nothing but respect and admiration for both.
When Halim knocks on the door, Jane opens it. As he enters he holds up the first aid kit he's obtained. "I never even thought; I'm sorry that's careless of me" Jane tries to explain.
"Don't; it's fine Jane. Hopefully we won't need it."
Jane goes back to finishing her preparations. She's wearing black cargo style military pants. She has women's black military boots on her feet. Casey had suggested the men's boots were better, but they were too heavy for Jane. Jane has her hair pulled back in a pony tail and is wearing a black singlet. She has her favourite pilot style Ray Bans pulled up on her head and tucked into her hair. She picks up the shoulder strap for the ammo on the 300-SR semi. As she holds it up she catches herself in the mirror. A nervous sort of gasp type laugh escapes her.
"What's wrong" Halim asks.
Jane looks at him, "I just caught myself in the mirror. I look like Sarah Conner from Terminator Two!"
Halim laughs "You are more attractive than Linda Hamilton and you do not need Arnold Schwarzenegger to pull this off; you have me; Halim! 'I'll be back'." His Arnie impersonation is terrible.
Jane's surprised by Halim and can't help laughing with him.
"What Jane; I studied in America, I am familiar with your popular culture."
Jane drops the ammunition shoulder strap into her bag. She picks up a light blue, light denim shirt and throws it on. "Come on Halim, it's time to go." They pick up everything they need and head out to Jane's car.
Jane stores the kit in the back of the car. She puts her loaded 300-SR Semi into the passenger seat under the dash where she stored it before. Instinctively she checks the ASP in her belt and then goes to jump in the driver's seat. Halim has loaded his maps and papers in the back and stored the first aid kit under the driver's seat. As Jane goes to jump in he looks at her. Jane stops in her tracks. "I'm sorry, old habits die hard; please" she stands back to let Halim drive.
"A wise decision Jane," Halim looks at her. "I know the fastest way to the only McDonalds in Asmara; I also know the quickest and safest way to our destination.
Jane looks at Halim in amazement "there's a McDonalds here?"
As Jane and Halim get closer to the Islamiyah of Allah's headquarters the earlier frivolity has given way to anxiety and tension. The building is domineering on a sparse horizon. Jane can't believe it. She looks at Halim. "Its stands out like dogs balls" she says in amazement.
Halim looks at her "I beg your pardon Jane?"
"Oh sorry; I mean you can't miss it can you?" Jane explains.
Keeping their distance they weave their way around the building several times. Eventually Jane's satisfied. "OK Halim, I know how I'm going to do this; find as discreet a place as you can to pull over."
Jane points Halim to a small hill near a sycamore tree. "There; I'm going to set you up there" she explains. Jane grabs the kit from the back of the jeep. From this position they are about two hundred and fifty meters from the building. Jane sets up the Ares Shrike magazine-fed automatic hand-held machine gun. She takes out all the hand grenades and sets them up for Halim.
"OK; give me half an hour to get set up on the other side of the bunker" Jane explains. "Then what I want you to do; is to throw a couple of hand grenades as close to the bunker as you can. Throw them to different landing points. When they start firing I want you to start and keep firing the Ares, OK?"
Halim nods. Jane continues "once this starts I want you to keep firing until I get back or until the ammunition runs out. Once the ammo runs out, if I'm not back get yourself to safety, OK Halim?"
He nods at Jane, "Yes I am clear on your plan Jane; it is a good plan."
Jane smiles "you are only a distraction Halim; fire the bullets into the building and the air. We're not here to kill. We're here to rescue. OK?"
Halim nods; again he finds himself filled with respect and admiration for this amazing woman.
Jane picks up her phone and calls Constance. Jane informs her she's about to go in. She checks that Constance has the Helicopter ready and waiting in Asmara. Constance confirms they are ready. Jane ends the conversation by promising to bring Maura home safely. When she hangs up she looks to the sky and prays that she can honour the promise she has just made.
Jane straps the 300-SR ammo strap around her shoulders, she again checks the ASP. As she jumps into the jeep to head to the other side of the building she reminds Halim "Half an hour from now. OK Halim?" Halim nods.
When Jane gets to the other side of the building she goes over the map she has studied a thousand times now. She hides the jeep behind an old shack about five hundred meters from the bunker. She sees the door she is going to enter by. She has planned her path to that door. She's ready. She sits and waits for Halim to begin his attack.
Within ten minutes she hears the first explosion. As they had hoped there's returned gunfire immediately. Jane hears another grenade go off. More gunfire! As the battle seems to escalate Jane waits another five minutes to be sure all focus is on the other side of the building. Here goes she urges herself as she up and races to her entry point. The noise is deafening, so when she shoots the lock off the doorway she's at, she confident no one will notice.
Inside Jane heads to what Halim believes is the control centre. It's up three flights of stairs. Their decoy tactics are working. Jane hasn't encountered a soul yet. She has a clear path to her destination. The door to the headquarters is locked. She points her gun and shoots the lock off. As she opens the door someone shoots at her. Jane feels searing pain go through her thigh. She returns fire. Her attacker goes down.
Jane scans the room quickly for more attackers. All she sees are concerned faces. Then she sees Ian holding an Arabic man in a head lock. Meanwhile the battle continues to rage outside. When Ian looks up he can't believe his eyes. "Fair dinkum; Jane bloody Rizzoli. What the hell!" Jane doesn't miss a beat. She goes over to the man lying on the ground. She checks his pulse and kicks his weapon over to Ian. She points her gun at the computer operators looking at her in fear. "I want you to remove every hard drive from that computer system and put them on the floor."
When the operators don't move Jane points her gun at the ceiling and fires. "I suggest you do what I say and quickly." The operators start to do as instructed. Jane scans the room for a bag and some ropes to tie up the people in this room.
"Doctor Faulkner looks rather well doesn't he?" Ian's hostage speaks out.
"Shut up or I'll blow your bloody head off" Ian retorts.
"I hope you find your other colleague in as good a state" the hostage continues looking directly at Jane.
"I said shut up." Ian hits Al Hakam with the gun.
"Watch them all Ian, I saw a bag with ropes and stuff in it on my way up. I'll be right back" Jane races out the door. As she picks up the bag and heads back to the headquarters she hears a shot "no; Ian!" Jane shouts as she races in. Ian points the gun at her. Al Hakam is lying on the floor with blood oozing from his head.
"I'm sorry Jane but I can't let you do this. I'll take it from here. I'll get Maura out and play the hero and no one will ever know I was involved." Ian smiles at Jane.
"You're wrong Ian; Maura knows." She stares at Ian with more hatred then she has ever felt in her life.
"So I'll kill her too" Ian fires at Jane.
Jane's as quick and her bullet strikes Ian right between the eyes. At the same time Jane feels excruciating pain go through her right arm. She's now operating on pure adrenalin. Jane moves over to Ian. She looks down on him with contempt "I warned you, you bastard. I told you if you ever hurt Maura you'd have me to deal with."
Jane turns her attention to the shocked computers operators. "Is that all of them?" Jane looks at the hard drives lying in the floor. One nods. "Good; you tie the other two up. Here" Jane tosses him the rope. She takes the bag and loads up all the hard drives. Then Jane ties the last guy up. She looks at them "I didn't come to hurt you and I'm sorry you had to go through this. Please stay put for at least an hour and I promise you won't get hurt, OK?" They nod and Jane races out the door to find Maura.
The battle is still raging outside and Jane's comforted by this. She reaches the basement in no time. There appears to be at least six cells. "Maura" Jane shouts. "Maura are you in here." Jane can't hear anything over the noise. She tries the door on the first cell and it's locked. She shoots the lock off. As she opens the door the stench from the cell is sickening. Jane is overcome with pure rage. She quickly scans the dark room. There's no one in it.
She goes through the same process at the second cell and then the third. When she fires the lock off the fourth cell she's hears a whimper. "Don't shoot; please don't shoot."
"Maura is that you?" Jane moves into the cell. Jane finds a woman shivering and cowering in a corner. It's so dark she can't tell for sure if it's Maura. Jane tries to touch the woman but she pulls away.
"Ermias is dead; I don't know if my husband is alive. Please I can't stand the shooting, can you please stop the noise." Maura is weak and her words are distant and frail.
"Maura it's me Jane." Jane is overcome and is trying to maintain her control.
"Jane is my best friend; she'd stop the noise. I've been thinking about the stairs on the Mountain, Jane will know; I know Jane will know." Maura is rambling but the words are the sweetest thing Jane could hope to hear at this very moment.
"Come on sweetie, I'm going to get you out of here. Can you stand up?" Jane tries to move Maura; she screams in pain. It's then Jane realises she's also chained. She's frustrated by how dark it is in the cell. Jane's grateful for the little bit of light coming from the doorway. Jane follows the chain to the other end, away from Maura's leg and she's glad there is more light there. Jane shoots that end of the chain out of the wall.
At the noise and proximity of the shot Maura cowers and screams "Ermias, no!"
Jane finds her way back to Maura and wraps her in her arms. "Oh honey, Ermias is alive. He's alive. Come on Maura I need you to fight for him OK; he wants to see you again." Jane is gently rocking a shaking and sobbing Maura. "OK Maura; we've got to get out of here. Please try to stand." Jane feels an arm move around her shoulder. She puts her hands around Maura and helps pull her up. Jane wraps the length of chain from Maura's ankle around her own neck and shoulders. Slowly Jane guides Maura to the door.
