-/-/-Chapter 36-/-/-
Oscar walked out of the shower in her hotel room, drying her long blonde locks with a towel. The slight breeze from the air conditioning touched her bare, glistening skin, each drop of water running down her perpetually tired face. As the warm rivulets traced the outline of her curves, hot tears captured the muted light, managing to reflect the beauty of the artificial lights beaming from Boston's skyline. On the bed, Bone sat in position of keen anticipation, his fingers playing masterfully with the keyboard. He hardly noticed the beautiful, naked woman before him, raising a single eyebrow in recognition of her sudden presence.
"Better be careful putting your soul on display like that," Bone said, smiling slightly. He nodded toward the open window. "Might attract lechers. Or snipers."
With an eyebrow raised in amusement, Oscar walked over to the open window. She brazenly posed, allowing the red-orange rays from the sunset to caress her damp body. "I'm not scared of being honest, regardless of who might be watching." Oscar turned around to give Bone a flirtatious look. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
Bone laughed heartily. "It's a little late to ask now, don't you think? Besides, I've been your bodyguard since you were thirteen. Your birthday suit hasn't been a surprise since you came crying to me about showing you how to put in a tampon."
"We're moving forward," Oscar said, leaving humor behind.
Bone closed the laptop, transitioning smoothly from pleasure to work. "Taking them shouldn't be much work. Their fed friends and those local yokels won't even know what's happening until it's too late. But are you sure you want to do this?"
"Are you questioning my decision?"
"I know better than that, Silvia," Bone replied. He cracked a knot in his neck with a heavy sigh of relief. "I'm just taking on the role of devil's advocate. We both know how energized you get when you get close to the kill."
Oscar frowned. "An unfortunate choice of words, don't you think?" she asked icily.
"You're right," Bone replied after a brief silence. "I keep forgetting you haven't killed since what happened with those kids five years ago." He motioned his head toward the tattooed stars lining Oscar's waist, normally hidden from view. "Mistakes happen. Don't let them burden you."
"But I don't make mistakes."
Bone nodded. "And you won't. Not this time," he said.
Oscar released a heavy sigh. "Make sure they aren't hurt. I can't stress that enough. Your girlfriend and her little boy-toy are collateral. Keeping them alive is the only way this will work."
Bone made a slight sound of agreement. As Oscar continued to stare out at the window, oblivious to all potential voyeurs, her face briefly lost the mask of indifference that had become a daily ritual in order to deal with the stresses of being an interloper in the male dominated world of power, money, and greed. The dim fire of her amber eyes reflected back at her reminded her of the sadness that she could never seem to shake. Even now as she attempted to relax for her last time, Oscar felt the familiar shadow embracing her, waiting for her to submit to its strength.
What happened to me? Is that me? Where did my innocence go? Where did I go?
"Lea's still MIA," Bone interrupted, watching his boss and longtime friend.
Oscar dropped her head back, allowing the long blonde locks to tickle the small of her back. Miniscule as the sensation was, each teasing touch reminded her that she was alive. "She hasn't checked in with you?"
"Again, Silvia, why would she? She literally called me the devil last time I saw her. And I think she's a spoiled brat who doesn't know how spoiled she really is. As you see, our feelings for each other are mutual." Bone said, narrowing his eyes at the naked woman. "Can I make an observation?"
"Always, Bone," Oscar smiled weakly.
"Why don't we just call this whole mess off? We can jump on that private jet, be flying back to Salvador in no time, and spend the morning at your mother's ranch. This whole Boston job and Lea…it can all be forgotten. I know you want to go back home."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because your father's dead. Ever since your father gave you the business, you've spent all of your energy on cracking his legacy down, piece by piece. But now that he's gone… You just don't have the drive to keep this pace up. He left you before you could get your satisfaction and it's killing from the inside out."
A heavy silence covered the room as Oscar realized that everything Bone had said was true. She had been seriously considering bailing on Boston, Lea, and this charade of drugs and money she had wrapped herself in since inheriting her father's business as a young adult ever since Lea had shown up at her apartment in her typical bitchy mood. The idea of giving the façade up to save what sanity she had left… It all sounded too good to be true to just live a quiet existence for once instead of manipulating and planning three steps ahead with every scenario.
But Oscar knew it was too late for that. Dreams like that were for those who were innocent, who didn't have blood on their hands. All she could do now was fight; continue fighting until an end was reached, no matter how deeper into the darkness this path took her. Bone knew this more than anyone.
Oscar smirked as her hair dropped into her eyes, framing her face like a small child. "Will we make a stop in New York for Henrietta? She'd murder me if I left her behind."
"Of course, as long as she brings those handcuffs and that bull whip. How much does her services cost anyway?"
"She's a professional dominatrix, Bone," Oscar said, "not a sex kitten. She won't have sex with you just because you pay her to emasculate you for a couple of hours."
With a hearty laugh at the vision of the tough Bone being whipped into submission by her girlfriend, Oscar walked over to the bed, dropping down on the mattress with another heavy sigh. Her blonde waves scattered across the white sheets, encapsulating the beautiful woman in a golden halo.
The mood shifted as she was reminded of her sister. "I don't understand you, sister. I've given you everything and you insist on being an idiot… Why? What are you planning in that small brain of yours?"
-/-/-/-/-/-
"What do you mean you don't know where she is?"
Jane's loud voice echoed around the safe-house as she glared furiously at Agent Dean's emotionless expression. Her hand twitched uncontrollably next to her holstered gun, anger threatening to overcome her walls of self-control.
Dean shrugged. "She slipped under the radar."
"How can one of your agents, who you were fucking, by the way, just slip under the radar, Dean?" Jane screamed. She ran her hands through her curls, already feeling the tangles beginning to return. "You contacted her about helping us out with the case, didn't you? Why didn't you follow up on her absence back then?"
"I didn't think anything of it back then. I just assumed she was giving me the cold shoulder for…"
Jane narrowed her eyes, sensing a lie beginning to develop. "For what?"
"For breaking up with her before I told her to go back to Quantico."
Jane, for the first time in her adult life, was absolutely speechless. She didn't know what to do first: punch Dean in his nuts for dropping the ball or throw anything with a sharp edge at him, hoping something would result in damage. How could he be this stupid? Of all times, he had to pick now to not follow up on a potential double agent working for the very same guy they were trying to capture in their raid.
Damn it, Jane cursed bitterly. Moving forward with the raid now was too risky with Lea doing god knows what with god knows who. She had to call it off. But calling it off was just as reckless as sticking with it. Cisco, Bone, and Oscar were always one step ahead of them. If the feds didn't go forward with the raid, their odds of getting another chance like this one were slim to none.
"We'll find her, Jane," Dean offered apologetically, despite knowing how little his words meant in the reality of the situation. "Lea has never gone off like this. She'll turn up."
Jane shook her head. She didn't have time to worry on that mess right now. They had bigger fish to fry. If Lea was working with the enemy she would be treated like one when the time came. The team needed her and Dean to be focused on what they could control.
"Lea's a liability now. If you want to find her, then by all means, have at it. But do that after we get everyone home safely with Cisco and his cronies behind bars." Jane lowered her head toward a list of last minute checks needed before they could give the go-ahead on starting the final phase. Everything was in order on her end. BPD's special task force from the Drug Unit was in place at the docks waiting for the signal to get in position where the meet was scheduled to occur and Dean's team was in place at Bone's place.
After a brief moment of silence, Jane felt Dean staring at her intently. She looked up with an annoyed glare. "Is there something else you'd like to confess concerning your inability to handle your job duties?"
"That's not fair, Detective."
"And it's not fair to me to have to explain to my mother that my brother is dead because my boss couldn't keep it in his pants enough to maintain his judgment," Jane deadpanned. "Unlike you, I take this seriously. If you can't handle this, then leave, Dean. God knows I'm not gonna stop you."
Dean frowned. "Listen, Jane, I'm sorry."
"Apologies don't mean much to me right now." Jane swiveled in her chair to give Dean her full attention. "I need you show me you can handle this. And, lately, you've been failing my expectations."
"Well, would this help?" Dean asked before throwing out a large manila folder with several confidential files and reports inside. "I called in some favors with my friends in the Bureau who can peek around Oscar, Bone, and Cisco without red tape. Some of the techies can help us look things through to find connections between them. We might be able to use some of the info in the interrogations to get one of them to take and plea and spill on the rest."
Jane skimmed over the files before returning her attention back to Dean. "We don't have time to play librarian. The raids are scheduled to happen," she checked her watch, "as soon as Frankie and Riley give the a-ok that Bone is heading out to the docks for the meet with the distributor. We're working the old-fashioned way with this, no radio transmitters. After the mess that happened last time, it seemed like an unnecessary risk. Korsak will have to send us their answer when they get into the car."
"They're going to be fine without them. This raid should be a simple grab-and-dash type operation."
Jane smiled. "You'd be surprised how quickly things like this can go sour."
The two sit comfortably as they weed through the acquired files, marking anything that can be used in the future. After a brief silence, Dean looked over at Jane with a frown.
"Do you need to take a break?"
"Why would I need to take a break?"
"I just think Maura would like it if you were at home with her, with the baby and all."
Lifting her head from her task, Jane sighed heavily. "She understands that this is my job."
Dean shrugged. "I'm sure she does. But I know I'd want you there…if I was a woman about to give birth to my first child."
"And you know so much about the issue with that smaller than average dick in your pants," Jane added sarcastically.
But before Dean could respond, several harried techies came running into the conference room, nearly toppling each other over in their rush.
"What's the emergency?" Jane said, swallowing the giggle at seeing the techies so red from physical effort.
One techie finally managed to catch his breath before the rest. "We…have…an emergency!" he exclaimed. The techie turned to Dean with a quivering lip. "Code red, sir! They're gone. Riley and Frankie have been taken."