Chapter 14

Jane, Sean and Alex all hovered around the computer Alex had set up to monitor the activity Dean conducted on his laptop. They were waiting for him to get back to his hotel room and launch the computer.

While they waited, Alex recapped what he had found on the copy of Dean's hard drive. He was still working on some of the files as Dean had made it a practice to encrypt everything on the drive and Alex was slowly starting to win the decryption battle.

If Alex was reading the files correctly what he was finding as he worked through the decryption process lead him to believe he discovered who Dean was working for. He found several files on the hard drive that contained confidential federal surveillance notes as well as investigative recaps from field agents assigned to monitor the activity of one specific mob family. He also found bank account records for an offshore account in the Caymen Islands in Dean's name.

Sean and Alex knew that they couldn't use the information Alex was finding to obtain any search warrants against Dean. They were looking at his hard drive illegally. They did, however, have legal means to make a move on Dean even without the hacking he was about to do. Alex had found Dean through perfectly legal means when he was able to link emails sent from Crowe the the IP signature Dean's laptop had left behind.

That was enough to get a judge to sign off on an arrest warrant and a search warrant that would allow them to seize Dean's laptop. The arresting officers, in this case Jane and Sean, would turn over the laptop to CSRU and the IT techs to review. Alex would be requested to assist in that review and he would 'help' decrypt the drive. No one really needed to know that he had gotten a preview of the drive contents from the rootkit he installed The ability to obtain the search warrant through what Alex had found from Detective Crowe would allow all the documents Dean had stored on his hard drive be admissible in court. They had him dead to rights.

The group didn't have, however, the mob family quite yet. Not according to the US attorney Alex spoke with earlier. The records on Dean's drive that covered the mob family weren't quite enough for the feds to make a move on that family. There wasn't any proof yet that Dean shared the documents on his hard drive with anyone associated with that family. That was why Alex thought it was important for Dean to find and send the desired reports and files before stepping in. They needed concrete evidence to go after the mob family.

They all hoped today they would get that concrete evidence today. If things played out the way they wanted them to, Dean would lead them right to the mob family that had started this all. The FBI and the US Attorney's office were willing to step in if Alex could produce enough concrete evidence.

"Hey," Sean's voice echoed through the room. Alex and Jane had been looking at some of the surveillance files he had found on Dean's hard drive. "I think we have something here."

Alex and Jane returned their focus to the computer screen and watched as a program launched itself right in front of them.

"He's using the laptop," Alex said. "Let's see if he works to activate the bot he installed."

The three watched as the cursor moved around the screen starting up different programs. Occasionally Dean would type something in and they got to watch the information appear on the screen almost as if it were magic. It wasn't magic. It was just Alex's rootkit allowing them to see everything Dean was doing.

They watched as he launched his encryption program and then opened his email. Jane was ready for the action to start immediately but they were somewhat disappointed. They had to sit and watch Dean go through his email before he would turn his attention to the software he installed on Maura's PC.

"Come on," Jane practically yelled at the screen. "Who cares about your email. Go find the files."

She looked at both men and who were just staring back at her. "What?" she finally said. "Like neither of you have ever yelled at your TV during a sporting event." She knew yelling at the computer screen wasn't going to do her any good but she felt a little better after having done it.

Finally, after what felt like forever, it appeared as if Dean was going to access the installed bot. In a series of keystrokes, Dean opened up an application that Jane hadn't ever seen before.

"Here we go," Alex said as he recognized what Dean was opening up. He would be the only one in the room to fully understand everything that Dean was opening or doing. Jane had a decent understanding of electronics but all of this was way past her level of understanding.

A few minutes into a flurry of activity she knew Sean was as lost as she was. "Alex," she finally said, "I think Sean and I are going to need some commentary here. I have no idea what he is doing."

Alex snickered to himself more than anything else having forgotten he wasn't sitting next to other IT geeks but two detectives one of which he knew couldn't follow any of this. "Sorry," he said and straightened up to try to walk Jane and Sean through what their eyes saw but their brains didn't understand.

"He's activated the bot," Alex filled them in on what had happened so far. "He's opened up decryption software in case he runs into anything requiring a password. Because he is accessing Maura's computer which she left signed in and ready for him, he shouldn't run into too many password issues. He should just be able to look around and find what he needs."

Just as Alex said that his eyes lit up at something Dean was doing. "He's getting into the deleted folder on Maura's hard drive." He smiled. "He should easily find what he was looking for in that folder."

Sure enough, Jane, Sean and Alex watched as Dean skillfully navigated through the deleted items looking for the labs associated with the Doyle case. Eventually they watched Dean just perform a search query for 'Doyle' and that was when he hit pay dirt.

Dean managed to find the original labs that Maura had run. The CODIS search Maura had performed and the related match that she had obtained. Jane held her breath as she wasn't completely convinced that the records of the first hit the original results had, which was to Maura's profile, had been erased. Beckett had assured Jane that there would be no trace of that anywhere on Maura's hard drive or currently in the BPD servers. His skimming technology was working to help mask Maura's true DNA profile.

They watched as Dean worked to restore the deleted results and save them to his hard drive. Part of Jane wanted him to just close out and get out of Maura's computer. Again, she believed Beckett knew what he was doing but she didn't trust him completely. Getting Dean out of the computer system without finding anything more would make Jane very happy.

"He's running another search," Alex pointed out. He had assumed Dean would find the deleted labs, save them and then work to transfer the information to his mob contact. But he appeared to be lingering in the ME's database.

Jane tried not to swallow hard. Sean knew that they had altered Maura's profile but they hadn't told Alex. Just like they hadn't told Beckett exactly what they were doing and why. He was aware that certain pieces of data were to be changed without detection but they had told him that it was because they were trying to purposefully trap the hacker and their altered information would be proof when the information was obtained from the server. Neither Alex nor Drew knew enough of what was going on to ever guess that Jane and Sean were trying to hide Maura's paternity from Dean and the mob family.

"He's running Colin Doyle's DNA profile against everything stored on Dr. Isles' database," Alex pointed out. It wasn't a nationwide CODIS search but Dean was running Colin's profile against everything Maura had access to.

Jane could only stand there and watch, holding her breath. This was everything she and Maura had worked for over the last three weeks. If Beckett failed to conceal Maura's profile. If Dean found the match. Maura's life would forever be altered.

They waited and watched in silence. Two of the three of them understood absolutely everything that was at stake. The longer it took the more nervous Jane got. She was torn between wanting to pace, which was her natural reaction to stress, and just staring that the screen waiting to find out the fate of the woman she loved. Indecision more than anything else kept her standing still. That and at one point Sean gently placed his hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.

Finally, the results of Dean's query came back. "He found two hits," Alex said. Jane's stomach lurched. Two hits meant he had found Maura's profile. She was about to say something but Alex spoke again. "It's the same match," he said nonchalantly not really understanding just how much was riding on the results. "It appears as if Dr. Isles ran a DNA analysis of Patrick Doyle's blood and Patrick's profile is on file in the Boston database." Alex explained the reason for the second hit.

Jane's legs almost gave out from under her. Beckett had done it. Maura was safe. She let the knowledge of what just happened hit her and she was completely overwhelmed by the moment. She needed a minute to recover without Alex getting suspicious. She very quietly excused herself and stepped out into the hallway. It wasn't until the door to Alex's office closed that Jane let go of the hold she had on her emotions.

She didn't stop the tears. She didn't try to stop her body from shaking. She just released the fear and the worry that had held her captive for three weeks. She'd come too close to losing something she knew she could never live without. All of this had put Maura too close to danger and Jane never, ever wanted to have this kind of fear again in her life.

She tried to recover quickly. She still was needed to monitor what Dean was doing and who he was sending information to but she also needed the time to release her fear and replace it with relief. She fished through her pocket and pulled out her burner phone and did something for the very first time. Instead of texting, she called the love of her life.

'Jane?" Maura was half whispering making Jane wonder where in the station Maura was standing when a phone they had only ever used to text each other started to ring.

"You're safe," Jane said as loudly as she could risk saying out loud. She listened to Maura's silence and could picture the look on the beautiful ME's face. She heard a slight gasp and understood Maura was feeling what she had just been through a few moments prior.

"I love you so much," Jane said wanting to ensure Maura heard and understand that she was safe. "I need to get back to Sean but Maura, baby, you are safe. We did it. I just had to tell you."

She didn't expect much by way of an answer from the ME. Again, based on her quiet voice Jane was certain she was somewhere she couldn't really talk. Before Jane disconnected the call she heard Maura clear her throat so she waited for a response.

"Always and forever," was all Maura could manage.

"Forever and always," was all Jane needed to say back.

R&I

After Jane composed herself she stepped back into the room. Sean gave her a look she knew was his way of asking if she was ok and she simply nodded. Sean knew Jane well enough to give her space when she needed it. She stepped back up to view what Dean was doing on the laptop and looked to Alex for a recap.

"He's encrypting the files he saved from the database," Alex said. "I'm assuming he's encrypting them to prep them for transfer."

Jane noticed Alex was typing on another keyboard to the left of the screen they were monitoring. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Letting Drew's friend Luke know that Dean is about to transfer files," Alex said. Luke was who Doyle had found after Jane had convinced Drew to give them a name of someone on the outside that could help trace the file transfer back to the mob family. Alex and Luke had exchanged some details and it was set up that both could monitor the file transfer. Luke had an aversion to cops so he wouldn't meet Alex in person. They managed to work out a way to stay in contact during the transfer.

Jane was aware that it was Doyle who located Luke and Luke wasn't doing this task out of the goodness of his heart or because of his friendship with Drew. Doyle was paying him a significant amount of money to use Drew and Colin's technology to back trace the transfers to the actual source. From Jane's understanding, there was a lot of money going to Luke so she was hopeful he would succeed in the task.

"How long will it take to find the source?" Sean asked. They had enough to move on Dean and Crowe but he was curious how long it would be before they could tell the feds which mob family received the stolen documents and paid an FBI agent to hack into the station server to get them.

Jane was hoping the answer was quickly. They had federal contacts willing to review the information and decide if they could act on it. Hers and Sean's concern still was what Patrick Doyle would do when he became aware of which mob family was involved. They both knew Doyle was wherever Luke was and would see the answer when they all saw the answer. If Sean could get the feds to react quickly enough perhaps they could keep Doyle from doing something stupid.

"Almost instantly," Alex said, "if Luke's programming does what he claims it can do." They were all quiet for a moment when Alex spoke again. "It's sent." Dean had transferred the files to his mob contact. Only time would tell now if they would get the source.

Once again they all stared at a computer screen. Only this time it wasn't the one Alex setup that mirrored Dean's computer. This time they were watching the one Alex was using to communicate with Luke. Three sets of eyes stared at the screen waiting for their answer.

It took about three minutes. But three sets of eyes got the answer they were looking for. Alex got his confirmation. It was the family Dean had amassed the surveillance materials for. Jane and Sean exchanged a look. They now knew who they needed to investigate for Colin's murder. They had their source.

R&I

Jane pulled her phone from her hip and dialed a number.

"Frost," the voice came.

"We got them," Jane said. "You and Korsak can make your move."

"Gotcha," Frost replied. He hung up from Jane and turned to Korsak. "Time to go," he said.

Korsak checked to make sure he had the arrest and search warrants, "Come on then," he replied.

They were off to arrest Crowe.

R&I

"It's being sent," Luke said to Doyle. He had altered everything just enough that they could not only monitor what the bot did but also received the identification of the recipient of the file transfer. Colin's work on the skimmer had been pure genius and Luke didn't need to make too many modifications to the programming to be able to adapt it to his current need.

Considering the amount of money he was being paid to handle this it had been more than enough to make him forget that the man sitting next to him was the head of mafia family and he was about to expose another mafia family that had been responsible for Colin's death. Hell, he'd just been paid enough money that he could flee the country and not have to worry about any Boston mob families. He'd always wanted to travel through South America. He was about to get his chance.

Doyle waited impatiently while Luke let his eyes scroll through what appeared on the screen. He was just waiting for the transferred files to register as received to find their final destination.

Finally Doyle heard what he wanted to hear. "Got him," Luke said.

R&I

Crowe was sitting at his desk working on paperwork when Frost and Korsak approached him. He looked up and smiled. He liked both detectives even though neither really seemed to like him very much. His issue was with Jane, not them. He didn't like all the accolades Jane would receive for doing her job. Everyone in the station thought she was such a big deal and he just didn't see it.

"Hey guys," he greeted. Both men had pretty serious looks on their faces. "What's up?" he asked not sure what they wanted.

"Can you stand up for me?" Korsak asked without much explanation.

Crowe didn't move. "Why?" he asked trying to figure out what they wanted. Maybe it was some sort of prank.

"Stand up," Frost said in a few authoritative voice.

"What the hell is your problem?" Crowe asked getting a little annoyed with the attitude he was getting from both detectives.

"Currently you are my problem," Frost said. "This is the last time we are going to ask you to stand up. I suggest you do so."

Utterly confused Crowe found himself standing up if only to see what in the world all of this was about. "What…" was all he got out before Frost took his arm and pulled out his handcuffs.

"Darren Crowe," Korsak stated. "You are under arrest for violations of the RICO statute, conspiracy and felony obstruction of justice."

Crowe didn't know what to say. Frost slapped the second cuff around his wrist before Crowe started to verbally and physically resist. It was a stupid move especially with his hands in cuffs already.

"Get your fucking hands off me," Crowe argued and tried to pull himself away from Frost. In less than two seconds Frost had Crowe bent over onto the top of his desk and he was applying pressure to Crowe's wrists and elbow driving him into the desk.

"Shut up," Frost said. "You know what this is about. We know whose payroll you are on. Make this easier on yourself and just shut up."

Crowe tried to squirm one more time but Frost's control over him was complete. He had no choice but to relax.

When Frost felt the fight give way in Crowe he pulled him upright. This was the first time Crowe got to see the audience now surrounding the disturbance. The entire bullpen was in a semicircle watching Korsak and Frost arrest a fellow detective. Everyone was in shock.

Korsak removed Crowe's firearm from his hip and then the two detectives walked Crowe out the bullpen and to the elevators. Anyone within sight of the scene froze in place and just stared at what was transpiring. They stood there quietly waiting for the elevator to come take them down to processing. For Crowe, it would be one of the longest waits of his life.

R&I

Jane and Sean approached Dean's hotel room. Neither had guns drawn at that point simply because Dean had no idea they were aware of what he had done. Alex was on standby still remotely viewing Dean's laptop activity. With the rootkit, if Dean started to try to delete any information or eliminate what was accumulating evidence Alex had administrative rights to change the laptop system configurations remotely. In essence Alex could lock Dean out of the laptop with a single keystroke.

"You'd better knock," Sean said. He knew Dean would respond to Jane before responding to him. They had uniformed officers as back up just down the hallway. Jane asked them to keep a slight distance and only step in if needed or after the agent was in custody to assist with the execution of the search warrant.

Jane nodded. She took a breath and knocked on the door. They heard movement in the room and sounds of footsteps coming closer. Sean stood off to the side so when Dean looked through the door's eyehole he saw Jane but didn't see Sean.

He smiled immediately. Perhaps Jane had rethought her decision to turn him down. Maybe she really wasn't seeing anyone and had thought about him enough to want to have that actual date. He checked his appearance in the mirrored closet door before opening the hotel room door to greet the detective.

"Jane," he announced not concealing his pleasure at seeing her again. "What can I…" and he paused when he saw she was with Sean. "What's going on?" he asked a little concerned.

"Where's your firearm?" Jane asked in a rather cold voice.

"What?" Dean asked as if not understanding her question.

"Where's your gun?" Sean repeated a little more forcefully and he didn't hide his displeasure.

"On the dresser," he said pointing to the holstered Glock 19 on the hotel dresser. "What's going on Jane?" he asked starting to get the idea that something was really wrong.

Sean stepped into the hotel room without being asked and made his way to Dean's gun. He nodded to Jane that it was there and that he had possession of it. "Gabe," Jane said and looked right at him. "You are under arrest for felony grand theft, computer hacking, computer espionage, violations of the federal RICO statute, conspiracy and felony obstruction of justice."

Dean just stood there with a blank look on his face. Jane didn't flinch. "Jane…." he started but wasn't allowed to finish.

"Save it," she said. "You have the right to remain silent and I highly suggest you do so."

He was dumbfounded. The hostility in her tone convinced him that they weren't kidding around. The uniformed BPD officers that peaked into the room to make sure their lieutenant and detective were alright was his next hint. Sean's hands on his wrist and the cold sensation of metal being slapped around them was his final clue. He really was being arrested.

"You know the drill Agent Dean," Sean said. "Not only do you have the right to remain silent but I'd listen to Jane's warning about doing so if I were you," he said knowing Jane was furious with Dean. "If you say anything going forward it will be held against you. You have the right to an attorney. I hope for your sake you know a good one."

The second cuff slapped onto Dean's wrist and the reality was starting to sink in. He glanced over at his laptop and Jane caught the look. "Oh, don't worry," she said and pulled out a search warrant. "We'll be taking care of that for you."

He saw the search warrant and turned three shades of pale. He knew what was on his drive and he understood he was in serious trouble.

The CSRU techs entered the room to start to execute the search warrant. Two officers stood guard over Dean who was standing in the middle of the room without a real clue what to do. Sean signaled for the officers to take him down to the waiting police cruiser but Jane stopped them for just a moment.

She got close enough to Dean so he could hear her without anyone else listening in. She leaned in to speak to him. "For the record," she said and looked at him. "It's a she. Not a he."

That was all she needed to say. She stepped away from him and just watched as he really heard what she said. The minute it registered Jane knew. She knew he was now completely aware that he had been played from the start. And she also knew he'd guessed the she was Maura.