A/N Hi guys, sorry for the delay posting but as many of you may be aware, we're having a very difficult time with the bushfires this summer here in Australia, coupled with the insane temperatures; at one point it was 50 Celsius here (122F) with high winds, making the fires that much worse and far more dangerous. Anyway, I'm back posting and these final chapters should roll out reasonably quickly. Thanks for your patience.
Intersecting Lines Book 3
96 Confessions
Wyoming Cheyenne the Dearing Family Farm
Liv's viewpoint
We'd finished breakfast and watched Ana depart for Cheyenne airport to collect Burke before Nat had turned and asked Jane and me to come down to the barn with her, she had to look after the horses but more importantly wanted to talk, privately it seemed.
Leaving Kate in the house to watch over the others we followed Nat down to the barn and watched as she pulled some fodder and shared it with each of the five horses there as Jane and I gave her some space, maybe Nat needed some time to work out what she needed to say. It was quiet for a while, just the three of us and five pairs of eyes as the horses regarded us in their domain. I idly noted the names above each stall, trying to put horses' names to their riders. I remembered from a previous visit that Caramel and Champ were Peter and Christie's horses while Traveller, Patch and Smoke belonged to their daughters, though I couldn't remember exactly which. Finishing distributing the fodder, Nat gestured for us to follow her and we ended up at the far end of the barn, sitting on a collection of mismatched old wooden chairs. We sat there for a few seconds before she kicked us off, coming straight to the point.
"I don't know what to do with Ana" She looked between us. "She's not herself" I nodded as Jane replied.
"Honestly none of us are" Nat nodded at that statement of fact.
"I know, believe me I know, but she's clingy and it's like she can barely let me out of her sight, I wander round the house and she comes looking for me, once she finds me she keeps on going but it's like she has to be sure where I am and who I'm with all the time" She shook her head slowly. "That's not like her at all" She gave us a nervous half-smile. "I mean if it was anyone else it'd be borderline creepy" I nodded; understanding her and Ana's perspectives both, god knows I felt the same about Alex and Jane was much the same with Maura.
"You were taken Nat, Ana didn't handle that real well, none of us did, and now…well we're still a little spooked about all of you being safe, Ana's just still dealing with it is all" Jane said.
"We're all kind of doing the same thing Nat, making sure you're safe" I added, getting a slightly confused look.
"But we're at home, what threat could there be all the way out here?" I shrugged.
"Better safe than sorry" Jane nodded and backed me up.
"Didn't say it was rational, but it is real" she said.
"So Ana's not really rational at the moment, is that what you're saying?" I shared a glance with Jane who tried answering her.
You have to understand Nat, you're the most important thing in Ana's world, the thing that makes life worth living, then you were…taken, making her have to face the thought that you may not be there and…well, she didn't cope very well" Jane told her, I remembered Ana's comment back in that house and tried to share some of what I'd learned.
"She was in a terrible place when she got out of the Army, she told us she wasn't living, just existing, then she found you and everything changed" Jane nodded and chipped in.
"You gave her a reason to live again" Nat looked perplexed.
"But I didn't do anything; she was an amazing person so I wanted to be her friend, then it became more"
"Yeah, well Ana back then didn't think she deserved any of that, she was in a pretty bad space, then along came you and made her happy, healthy" Jane stated.
"Sane" I added, getting a confused look from Nat.
"Sane?" I tried to explain without giving the whole game away.
"Yeah, she was in a really bad place Nat, maybe you didn't see it back then, but she was looking for a reason to keep living when you first met, she didn't really have one, until you arrived"
"Yeah, you turned up and made her happy, she never really expected anything more than to be your friend, but then that changed" Jane said.
"You got together, you loved her, and in doing so you gave her something to live for" I shrugged. "You gave her a reason to live and love again" I grimaced. "God, that sounds like a clichéd pop song" Nat looked confused, something that came out in her voice.
"This is crazy, you're suggesting Ana was, what, suicidal?" She shook her head. "She's not like that" Jane handled answering that.
"Maybe not here but back in Iraq, yeah, she was taking a lot of unnecessary risks, taking point on a lot of the missions she was on, any of which might have got her killed" Nat screwed up her face for a second in concentration, then it smoothed as she nodded.
"I remember some of that from the trial, that bitch of a lawyer, Ling it was, but how did you learn about the other stuff?"
"Some of it from the trial yeah, some from talking to people like that guy Gibbs who was with her in Iraq, some of it came out while you were gone" Jane shrugged. "The simple truth is Ana needs you in her life to keep her focused and at peace"
"And when you weren't there, it took her to a really bad place, one that terrified her. Now your back, well she can't bear the thought of you not being safe again, so she's watching over you" I made a 'who knows' gesture with both hands then waved at Jane. "We're guilty of the same, maybe not quite as much but, well…"
"So you're saying she didn't handle our…being away well?"
"No, none of us did Nat, Ana least of all" Jane said.
"But she's one of the most capable people I've ever met, she's like you two, she's cool and calm and nothing gets to her" I smiled a little, if only she knew…
"Not with you missing she wasn't, none of us were really" Jane stated.
"When you were gone, Ana stared into a future without you, she looked into that abyss and…well, what she saw terrified her, she saw her life falling apart without you, back to the way it was before you two met" I said, as Jane nodded and jumped in to back me up.
"She didn't cope, not at all really" I could tell that Nat was having some difficulty matching up her image of Ana with what we were describing, her mind chewed it over for a good 30 seconds before I saw her jaw firm, she looked like she'd come to a decision.
"I need to talk to her about all this, everything" I shook my head, I didn't think trying to force something out of Ana would work, something I tried to warn her of.
"I wouldn't" I warned. "Let her bring it up in her own way, in her own time Nat"
"Yeah, it's something that she needs to deal with" Jane held her hand up. "I'm sure she'll tell you, but she needs to get over everything that's happened first" I nodded.
"Yeah Nat, give her some time and space to deal with everything and I'm sure she'll tell you, when she's ready" Nat frowned at my comment.
"You make it sound like she was a little crazy" Nat said. "That's not Ana though" I moved to head off that train of thought.
"Not crazy, more like focused on one thing to the exclusion of literally everything else" I remembered her back in that room…crazy wasn't quite right, but she'd sure as hell lost any moral compass, she would have done everything she promised that guy, tortured him, left him maimed and helpless, all to get him to tell us where Natalie and the others were. I shivered a little at the memory, and the fact I'd gone along with it.
"But you weren't like that, were you?" Nat asked.
"None of us were handling it very well, Ana was maybe a little more extreme but we were all having trouble coping" I shook my head. "We needed you back safe and well, everything else was secondary" Including eleven dead I reminded myself, including that guy I'd shot at close range in the head, there was plenty of blood on our hands from that day.
"Yeah, you were gone and none of us were okay, now, even though your back, we're all still trying to come to terms with everything" Jane shrugged. "You need to cut Ana a little slack, she's the same woman she's always been, she's just still dealing with something that shook her pretty badly, same as it did all of us" Nat sat there for almost a minute, thinking it over as we sat and watched her, before she looked up.
"Okay, I'll do what you suggested and let her bring it up on her own" I smiled, seeing Jane nod as she continued. "If it doesn't start to get better though, we'll be revisiting this discussion though" We both nodded at that.
"I have no problem with that" I said.
"Same here" Jane said. "But I think it will, get better I mean, it'll just take some time"
"Give it some time Nat, that's all we're suggesting" I added.
"Okay" She smiled, suddenly all sunny optimism, the old Nat shining through. "Thanks for listening, I was going to talk to Ana about it but I'll let it go, at least for now" She checked her watch. "We should head back" We stood but before we could leave she'd pulled me into a tight hug, giving me a kiss and speaking quietly into my ear. "Thank you Liv" I held her for a few seconds, before we reluctantly stepped back.
"Always Nat" I got a happy smile before she did the same to Jane, hugging her tightly her as well.
"That's why we're here Nat, to look out for each other" Jane said after they'd parted.
"Let's head back to the house, Ana and Burke will be back soon" With that we headed back but as we followed her out of the barn I moved over to walk next to Jane and spoke, keeping my voice down.
"We're going to have to tell them what happened soon" I got a quiet nod.
"Yeah, we need to talk to Kate and Ana and we need to do it before Nat's parents get back" I nodded and asked the question.
"That's tomorrow right?" I got a nod in return.
"We need work out a time to tell the others, maybe tonight" I nodded, she was right; it was well past time to tell them what had happened.
Washington DC the Jefferson Institute of Forensic Pathology
Temperance Brennan's viewpoint
I was going through some of the additions to the Institute's database, in this case the Yakuza tattoo registry that had been Maura Isle's contribution to our information exchange. It was quite comprehensive, as you would naturally expect from her, divided by Yakuza family and then by stylistic notes, including those done by the traditional method, known as "Irezumi' and the more modern methods utilising tattoo needle guns.
While it was comprehensive I had wondered about its utility, beyond the simple accumulation of knowledge, but Booth had been extremely pleased with its acquisition.
"The Yakuza are a growing problem right across the country, they used to be a west coast issue but they're turning up all over the country, sometimes because they're moving into a city, other times because they're forging links with local organised crime groups and street gangs to shift product, the yak are big in the methamphetamine trade" he'd stated then continued. "Having this will help us determine who's who, given the yak aren't known for being cooperative with the cops"
I was admiring some of the images, contrasting the spectacular artistry with the knowledge it was an identifying and rallying symbol for an extremely ruthless criminal enterprise when Booth arrived at my door.
"Hey" He said, causing me to look up and smile.
"Hello"
"How's it going?" He asked. I indicated the screen in front of me as he walked over.
"I am reviewing a part of the FIDO database" The Forensics Information Database Operation, the name had been proposed by Stella Bonasera, she apparently liked dogs and the name and more importantly the acronym, despite some pro-forma objections, had stuck. Booth walked round and saw the image I had been admiring, a boat riding a huge wave, almost a tsunami; the detail was exceptional while the colours were vibrant, almost vivid.
"Colourful, but painful, normal tattoo's hurt, that thing, wow…" He trailed off as I nodded.
"According to Maura's notes they apparently serve as an initiation rite, as well as an identifying mark peculiar to each Yakuza grouping, the longer serving and more senior Yakuza have their body covered in them" He nodded then changed tack.
"Have you heard anything about Maura and the others?" I shook my head.
"Nothing, though I expect they will need some time to come to terms with what was intended for them"
"Hardly surprising, the Cabal were ruthless, and that Simmonds' guy was a psychopath. Thank god Johnson and her people caught him as he tried skipping the country" I sat back and nodded.
"I am very pleased to hear he is no longer in a position to harm anyone again, he is an incredibly dangerous individual" Booth leaned against my desk as I continued. "I'd not considered the possibility of the Cabal, via Simmonds, striking back at us that way," He nodded agreeably.
"Ne neither, but given that actually happened, we're looking into a little extra security here and at home" I looked up at him, more than surprised, shocked perhaps.
"Do you think that's warranted?" He shrugged nonchalantly, playing it off.
"I'd rather not take chances" He looked at me and smiled. "I did some digging and found we have a budget line item for security so, after a chat with the pencil pushers in admin they agreed that some upgraded security here in the office and at home was an allowable expenditure" I considered that for a moment then queried his statement.
"The office I can understand, but our home?" He smiled happily.
"I may have stated my case rather forcefully, complete with the example of Maura and the others being kidnapped by someone they were investigating, as it turns out they knew all about it" At my surprised look he barked out a laugh for a moment before continuing. "The head of regulatory and compliance is a big fan of Castle's books" He made an off-hand gesture. "In exchange for telling her all about what he and Kate Beckett were really like; apparently Beckett's the inspiration for his most popular character, plus filling her in on the Cabal case, she signed off on the expenditure" I nodded slowly, still coming to terms with the possible thought that someone may come after us as they had Maura and the others in Los Angeles. While not a very likely probability, to quote one of Booth's saying, it was 'better safe than sorry'.
"They, and we, were very lucky that they were somehow found and rescued" Booth pulled a face at that.
"I don't think luck had all that much to do with it:" I looked up at him and tilted my head, inviting him to continue, which he did. "I was talking to the others before we left and we agreed it was likely that the place was raided by a small group of highly-skilled, well-trained and ruthless people" I nodded.
"Yes, the forensic evidence supported that contention" I paused, remembering. "Three Glock 19 pistols and a military-issue sniper's rifle were the weapon's used as I recall" He smiled at my summation and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah and according to a couple of the cops out there, well they have their own suspicions about who pulled off the rescue" I turned my chair to look at him.
"Oh?" He nodded. "What are they?" I'd learnt that the team of detectives that had taken down the Cabal had been just as good in their field as the forensics team in ours, so their suppositions and speculations were well worth hearing out.
"A couple of them suspect it was their partners, Rizzoli and Beckett and the others and I can't say they aren't wrong" I frowned at his suggestion then asked him to explain his reasoning.
"How so?" At my query he settled back against the desk as he spoke, keeping his voice low, probably unconsciously.
"The place was hit by four attackers, three armed with pistols, Glock 19s like you said, Beckett and the others all shoot really well and use the 19, while the fourth was extremely good with a sniper rifle, something the record says Romanov was trained on in the military" I nodded, putting the facts together.
"It is possible, but we have no physical evidence to support your theory" He nodded.
"Yeah, they're too good and experienced to have left any clues…and no one really wants to find any to be honest" I frowned up at him.
"Whatever do you mean?" He played it off with a gesture.
"Well, if I was in their position and it was you, well I'd have done exactly the same to rescue you" He paused and shook his head. "We all would have if it was our family there, so none of us can blame them if it was them, especially given what Simmonds was going to do with them"
I sat back, nodding slowly, even as I realised what he was not quite putting into words, he would fight for me, kill for me and even die trying to protect me. I mean I'd always known deep down how protective Booth was but to hear him state it so bluntly…
I stood and slid both arms around him as I snuggled close, leaning in for a kiss and not being disappointed. We stood there for a long moment, the world ignored as we just luxuriated in a long and very satisfying kiss. Finally we broke apart as a goofy smile appeared on Booth's face.
"No complaints, but what was that for?" I smiled happily.
"For you, for being you" He looked surprised for a moment then smiled happily back at me.
"Well in that case…" He pulled me back in for another kiss, as I reflected on just how fortunate I was to have Booth in my life. Finally it ended and I snuggled against him for a second, hearing his voice in my ear, low and just for me.
"Love you"
Wyoming Cheyenne the Dearing Family Farm
Kate's viewpoint
Once Burke had arrived and settled in with Alex, Jane had grabbed me and told me we needed to talk, we needed to tell the others about what had happened, as she put it we couldn't not tell them. I nodded and she suggested that we head out to the hill overlooking the property and get some pistol practice in while we talked, it'd been almost three weeks since the warehouse and none of us had shot since.
Once Liv had joined Alex in with Burke, Ana and I had grabbed a number of bottles and cans and, tossing them in an old feed sack, we'd carted them round to the other side of the hill and got them set up, this way, any shots that missed would hit the hillside, if any ricocheted there was nothing anywhere close enough that they could hit. Range safety had been drummed into all of us when we'd started handling weapons and none of us had forgotten it since, poor weapons safety got people killed. The location we picked also allowed us to keep an eye on the approaches to the house while doing so.
We wandered back and once Liv and Alex emerged, we made Burke a coffee before he headed into a session with Maura which gave us an hour before Jane would be needed, long enough.
More than long enough in fact, the next half hour was an exercise in humility. I'm good with a pistol, exceptionally good, better than Liv, better than pretty much any woman I'd ever come up against really, but Jane, she was a freak, as her results showed. There wasn't that much between us, but it was more than enough to make me understand that I was definitely number two with a lot of work to be done to make up the difference.
Liv wasn't bad, better than I remembered actually; obviously she'd been practicing, just not quite in our league, while Ana admitted that while she was good with a pistol she wasn't a patch on us, which is why she'd retrieved one of her dad's rifles. I'd seen her shooting in the warehouse and she'd proved that afternoon had been no fluke; honestly she shot a rifle like Jane shot pistols. As she put it, she'd learned the basics from her dad as she'd grown up, then she'd joined the army and the specialist schools there had taught her how to really shoot. I couldn't really argue with the results, especially given her work at the warehouse.
Finally all the targets were gone, the bottles shattered and can's shot to pieces; we collected the remnants and tossed them in the bag for disposal before sitting down, looking out over the low rolling ground as Jane kicked us off.
"We have to tell the others what happened, back in LA"
"No argument from me" said Liv as I nodded and backed her up.
"Agreed, they need to know everything"
"Maybe not everything" Ana demurred, at our looks she held up her hands in a 'warding off' gesture. "I'm not proud of everything I've done and I sure don't want Nat and the others hearing exactly what I did back in LA" She looked down as I nodded, understanding that, seeing the others do the same.
"I get that" Jane stated. "But we need to agree how much we tell them"
"Just that we found where they were, not…how" Ana stated firmly. She looked up from where she was staring at her boots. "I don't want any of them to know about that"
"What about Hayley and Alexis' involvement?" I asked. We exchanged looks before Liv nodded.
"Yeah, they're a part of it" She looked at me. "Plus they're your family so yeah" I nodded, she was right, something I pointed out.
"They know about the warehouse, plus they were essential to getting them back, so there's no getting around their involvement and besides, Hayley might keep it quiet, but Alexis will raise it with her dad, so yeah" There was silence for a moment before Jane spoke up.
"And Maze?" There was a collection of faces pulled at that question before Jane answered her own question. "I think so, it's probably going to come out anyway, given Nat and Maze are friends" I nodded, I'd asked about Maze after meeting her and heard a bit about the backstory to how they'd come to know her, including that Nat and Maze had clicked at the first pool party Maze and her friend Chloe had come to at Liv and Alex's and become firm friends since despite being polar opposites, dark, brooding, taciturn and intense versus, bright, cheerful, optimistic and affectionate. They all found it hilarious that Maze had become another one of Nat's cuddle-bunnies, mind you, it wasn't like I could talk, given she regularly cuddled with me too.
"It's probably best we do it tonight, after Burke leaves, given mom and dad are home tomorrow" Ana stated, I nodded. I'd not met them but apparently her adoptive parents were happy, welcoming people, or so Maura and Alex had said.
"We're not telling them, are we?" I asked, getting a series of head shakes and a vehement response from Ana.
"No way!" Jane nodded at that.
"Yeah, they don't need to know about that, just that everyone was recovered and we came here afterwards"
"Sounds good to me" I said as Liv nodded slowly.
"Me too" She looked round. "When?"
"After dinner" Ana stated firmly; there were nods around the group as jaws set before Jane spoke.
"After dinner it is"
Los Angeles LAX
Mikki's viewpoint
We were catching the afternoon flight out of LA, bound for Hawaii. Andie had put her foot down, something she didn't do very often, insisting we were all heading for a four-day holiday weekend away. I don't know how she'd bullied either Brenda or Sharon into agreeing, but we'd both been given the Thursday and Friday off. When she'd told us Amy and I had stood there stunned, while a smugly smiling Andrea had explained that we were wearing jeans for the flights there and back, but the rest of the time was bikinis.
"I have two gorgeous women with me; of course I want to appreciate every bit of you, so make the bikinis skimpy, okay?" Amy had smiled then crossed her arms.
"And what about you?"
"Oh, I'll be wearing that red one you like so much" I couldn't help smile at that, it was a 'Baywatch-style' red one piece we'd bought her one day while out shopping, cut really high on the hips, it did a nice job of highlighting the fact that under our tutelage, between me in the gym and running with Amy, Andrea's body had toned up very nicely. Amy and I had agreed we liked the all-new Andrea, a lot, something we were at pains to show her, so much so that she'd commented that she was getting a lot of extra cardio work in, most nights, making Amy and I share a pretty smug smile.
Now though we were snuggled up on the not so comfortable gate seating waiting for our flight to be called, watching the Hawaiian Airlines staff in their dark blue tropical-patterned uniforms standing round the gate, the big plane with the girl with the flower in her hair on the tail visible through the glass.
"You still haven't explained how you got the Chief to give me two days off, given we're short-handed with Rizzoli and Benson still away"
"Yeah, we're not so short-staffed like Mikki's team but the Commander was cool with me having two days off, what magic spell did you cast?" Amy asked.
"I just pointed out to both of them that you had plenty of holidays, that we all needed a break after the Cabal case, and that given I'll be prosecuting Wynter and coordinating the rest of the Cabal cases, I won't have much chance for a holiday for a while to come" I threw her a sceptical look, seeing Amy doing the same; Brenda and Sharon may look nice, but both of them could be hard as nails. At our looks Andie shrugged. "Okay already, enough with the interrogation" She paused then continued. "I may, just possibly, have played on the fact that the Cabal had come after us and that you two saved me during that ambush and I wanted some time to ourselves to thank you personally" I smiled, feeling a warmth, and a little arousal spread through me.
"Aww Andie, that's nice, and just how much thanking are you going to be doing?" She smiled at me.
"I expect I'll be thanking you both for most of the time we're there" I smiled happily at that as Amy nodded, a huge smile breaking out.
"I can get really used to being thanked good and proper, what do you reckon Mik?" I nodded gravely.
"I reckon that by the time we're finished with this weekend, Andie's going to need a holiday to recover"
"Is that supposed to be a threat because threats are supposed to be, y'know, threatening; not something to look forward to" Andrea said, smiling a little teasingly as, in response, I leaned in and spoke, keeping my voice down.
"Why wait, we could try joining the mile high club on the way, get things off with a bang"
"I wouldn't" Amy stated flatly. "It's not as much fun as you'd think, and the chance of getting caught is a real passion killer, besides you're so rushed that it's not all that much fun anyway" I let my eyebrows rise, that sounded VERY specific, something Andrea obviously picked up on as well, from her question.
"Speaking from personal experience there Amy?" She nodded and played it off.
"Yeah, a long time ago, so I'd rather we wait till we get to our hotel, then you can thank us properly"
"And what do you think constitutes properly?" She teased.
"I'm sure we can come to a mutually agreeable compromise, something that works for all of us" Amy said as I nodded, pretending to consider it.
"You on your knees in the shower would be a good start" I said, drawing a puzzled look from Andrea.
"Why the shower when we have a perfectly good queen sized bed waiting for us?" I gave her a smirk.
"I want you to be nice and clean, before we get down and dirty" At my words her eyebrows went up but before Andie could respond there was a call over the PA system.
"Paging passengers travelling to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines flight HA 9, your flight is ready for boarding at gate 58, please make your way to gate 58 for boarding your Hawaiian Airlines flight HA 9 to Honolulu" Amy nodded and stood, looking around at us both and smiling eagerly.
"C'mon, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get started"
Wyoming Cheyenne the Dearing Family Farm
Alex's viewpoint
We had gathered around the fire pit after dinner, it was going to be our last night of just us together here as Nat's parents Christie and Peter were due back tomorrow, something I knew her and Ana were partially dreading, given they'd have to explain why we were here which would lead to the whole mess coming out.
Rick and Ana had decided to try their hand at roasting over the fire pit, the beef had turned out better than okay, with Maura's oven-roasted vegetables it had been delicious, enough so several people had gone back for seconds.
Once that was done rather than repair to in front of the fireplace in the living room, at Liv and the other's insistence we'd wrapped up warm and headed back out to the still-burning fire pit, with a fresh load of dry wood it had flared up, the radiant heat keeping the worst of the chill at bay as we snuggled close, not saying much, just being together. Finally Jane looked round and spoke up.
"We have something to tell you" she glanced round the circle then pushed on. "We all do" I looked at her curiously as I felt Liv stiffen, looking to her as she met my eyes then nodded.
"Yeah Angel" I was about to reply when Maura spoke.
"Why, whatever is the matter Jane?" Natalie jumped in as well.
"Yeah, what's up?" Jane looked around the circle and then sat back, leaning away a bit from Maura as she did.
"It was us that rescued you in the warehouse" she stated baldly.
"You?" Nat said, almost simultaneously with me.
"Yeah, us" Liv said.
"how….?" It was Maura, obviously stunned, the same as I was. Ana nodded, looking down at her shoes as she did.
"We managed to get a…lead…on where you were being kept and decided we couldn't trust your safety to anyone else so…" Ana looked up and gestured around the circle at us before continuing "We went in and took care of the kidnappers" Her head dropped as we took in what she was saying, there was silence for a few seconds before Natalie spoke.
"Why did you have to, I mean I now know you'd been suspended, how…" Liv shrugged and answered her.
"If we told the LAPD they'd want to know how we found out and we couldn't tell them" Kate nodded.
"Not given how we obtained it" Jane followed up.
"If we tipped them off anonymously and the LAPD sent in a squad car it'd just alert the kidnappers, they might have bugged out and we'd have lost you" Ana nodded, still looking down.
"Or if somehow they were trapped and couldn't escape, it'd turn into a hostage situation and we weren't going to risk them threatening you to get safe passage" She looked to Natalie. "That wasn't an option" We looked at each other before Rick spoke up.
"So the four of you assaulted the building against three times your number of heavily-armed bad guys?" The others played it off with shrugs and nods as I looked to Liv, shocked and concerned and irrationally frightened all at once.
"You could have been killed Liv, that was incredibly dangerous" She nodded once before replying.
"Yeah, but we'd finally found you, we weren't going to risk losing you again" I was still taking that on board as Nat frowned.
"So you fought and killed them all, then left us?" The others left that to Ana to answer.
"We didn't want to, believe me, it was all I could do to not go up there and hold you again, but we had to get away before the cops arrived" Jane backed her up as I knew she would.
"If we had rescued you, been there when the LAPD showed up, we'd be in jail waiting to be tried on multiple counts of murder right now"
"You could have been killed Jane" Maura stated. Jane didn't deny it.
"If it meant we got to save you, it was worth it, if we hadn't been able to save you, well…" She shrugged, her meaning crystal clear, they'd rather have died than failed. I looked to Liv.
"How did you find us when the LAPD couldn't?" Liv glanced over towards Jane and Ana then shrugged.
"We tracked down an informant, he gave us information that eventually led to us finding you" I frowned, that was very vague, but then let it go, they'd found us, that was the important thing. Rick was looking at Kate, a little stunned as he spoke.
"I'm still trying to deal with the fact you took on three to one odds and won, Kate, that was incredibly dangerous…and incredibly bad ass" The woman in question shook her head.
"I didn't take on those odds Castle, that was all of us, we worked together to free you" Jane backed her up.
"Yeah, it was a team effort, we managed to find you and make sure you'd be safe then bugged out, long enough to build an alibi while Hayley watched the warehouse and Alexis helped us get away"
"They were involved too?" Rick asked, I could tell he wasn't sure how to take that.
"Yeah, we took down the guards then left, Hayley kept watch over the building until your rescuers arrived and in the meantime we met up with Alexis who helped us get away clean" Jane said, backed up by Kate.
"You didn't seriously think they weren't going to be here, given you were missing, did you?" Rick thought about that for a few seconds then shook his head.
"I guess not, but still, there were almost a dozen people there" I nodded at that.
"They were all armed, I mean we heard the gunfire; there were shotguns and machine guns firing" I looked to Liv, suddenly realising just how dangerous and deadly it must have been. "You could have been killed" She shrugged.
"We had surprise on our side, plus better training and teamwork" Jane nodded.
"Plus we made our own luck"
"So you killed all those people…" I was Nat, obviously coming to terms with what had happened, what they'd done. Jane jumped on that fast.
"They were going to sell you as a sex slave to some guy in the Middle East, well you and Maura, Alex was going to be sold to the Ochoa Cartel to be tortured to death for their amusement and they were going to kill Rick and destroy his body" Jane said, making me frown, remembering Simmonds had said as much, but how had they found out…
"How do you know all that?" I asked as Maura nodded. Liv shrugged as Kate answered.
"It turned out Simmonds was threatening Wynter's lawyer's kids, getting her to act as a go between, sending text messages between them both" She pulled a face. "She wasn't happy about it but afraid to go to the police, so she came to us" Ana nodded, rejoining the conversation, she'd been very quiet.
"Simms talked to us and played the latest message Wynter had recorded for Simmonds, telling him what to do with you" She shook her head slowly. "That was the point we knew that we had to do whatever necessary to save you" She looked round the fire, making eye contact with Kate, Jane and Liv. "Whatever it takes" The others nodded at that.
"You killed almost a dozen people…" It was Nat. "I saw some of that" The others looked to Ana, letting her answer that.
"They were going to sell you into slavery Nat, Alex was going to be handed over to a drug cartel with a grudge against her, after Simmonds had finished mutilating her on camera for the media to get Wynter released and they were going to mutilate, then kill Rick" She looked over at him, her expression grim. "They wouldn't even leave a body to bury, but we had a chance to prevent all of that and they were standing between you and safety, so…" She trailed off as Liv nodded.
"Whatever it took, and if they had to die for kidnapping you and for what they planned to do to you well…" I saw Jane nod once as she backed Liv up.
"It wasn't an option, their lives for yours, that was the only chance we had to rescue you, so we took it"
"And we'd do it again in an instant" It was Kate. "We all would"
It was silent for a little while, the only sound the crackling of the fire, I could see the others were processing what we'd been told. I was still coming to terms with the fact that the beautiful women sitting amongst us had tracked us down then ruthlessly killed almost a dozen people to rescue us before escaping with apparently no one the wiser, it was disturbing and terrifying and humbling and amazing all at once.
"No one has any inkling you were responsible for our rescue?" asked Maura, getting a shake of the head from Jane as she explained.
"We were very careful to leave no forensics, we all wore gloves, all the brass was wiped down or taken with us, the weapons have no records and will never be found, Hayley saw to that, there's no DNA evidence to link us to the scene…"
"Even if they did suspect us, there's no forensic evidence to link us to the operation" Ana stated. "We were very careful and Hayley's done this kind of thing before, she knew what to do"
"We knew what to look for, so we knew what not to do" Kate added as Jane nodded.
"I haven't been hanging around you all these years without picking up a few tips about forensics and what you'd be looking for" I saw Maura nod distractedly then speak.
"I am pleased that you were in fact paying attention when I was explaining what I was doing" She got a lopsided smile back from Jane.
"Always" I nodded and looked to Liv.
"You risked everything for us" She nodded slowly.
"They didn't leave us with much choice really, they had you, they were going to take you away from us and we'd never see you again; we'd do anything to get you back, even this"
"But to kill all those people…" I said.
"Whatever it takes" Liv said quietly then looked to me. "They were going to mutilate you on camera, to pressure the LAPD to release Wynter then hand you over to the Ochoa…" She shook her head once. "If they had to die to stop that from happening…" She trailed off as Kate spoke.
"Rick, Simmonds was a psychopath, he'd planned all of this, with Wynter, none of you were ever going to be released; it was them or you" She made an off-hand gesture. "It was never a question" I could see the others were taking it in even as Ana spoke up.
"Nat, they'd taken you, all of you, and they were going to make sure we never saw you again, you'd be dead or a sex slave to some monster in the Middle East. We had a chance to rescue you but those men would have killed us to stop us, no mercy, or they would have used you as leverage to make us surrender" She stared into the fire, her expression grim and her eyes far away. "They had to die so you would live" She looked to Natalie. "I'm sorry Nat, I know that sounds brutal and harsh, but that was the equation, their lives for yours, and I'm sorry if it's not what you want to hear, but I'd do it again in an instant"
"We all would" It was Kate. It was silent around the fire as we all took it in, before Natalie eventually broke the quiet.
"Why tell us now?"
"Mom and dad get back tomorrow and with them home we wouldn't have another chance to talk in private, not like this" Ana paused then continued. "We knew we had to tell you, but…well…this seemed like a good time"
I nodded slowly, seeing similar, if tentative, sentiments on Maura's and Nat's faces, while Rick was nodding slowly as well. I knew we'd be talking about this again, we all would, it had been a lot to take in and a lot to process, to know that people had died at the hands of the women I loved. Those same hands that held me had ended other people's lives…I forced myself to stop, Liv had been placed in positions where she had to kill people before, it was a part of the hazardous job she did so well, something that I had come to terms with long ago.
In this case she had fought to save us; they all had, risking everything to see us safely rescued, so that we could sit here, under the vast Wyoming night sky and appreciate that we were all alive, safe and, if not exactly well, we were getting better. I almost shook my head at their daring and audacity, to pull off something like that with no one the wiser, it was incredible, but still, that opened up another issue.
"So now we know, but what do we tell people? I mean we are going to be asked, definitely by the Major Crimes team when we go back, plus at the trial and in discovery beforehand" I asked. I saw nods around the circle before Jane spoke.
"We need to come up with something that's the truth" She turned and looked meaningfully at Maura. "…that you can tell people without spilling the beans" Kate nodded.
"Yeah, you'll eventually have to testify, at Wynter's trial and we should work out what you're going to say"
We ended up talking it out for a while, long enough that we had to refresh the fire with more wood, before eventually coming up with a simple enough statement that we could use going forward. We watched and listened as Nat ran through it.
"I didn't see the people who attacked the building, the first people I saw after the shooting ended were our rescuers from NCIS. I'm not able to provide any details on the people who killed our kidnappers as we never saw them" I nodded at the wording as Jane spoke.
"That should stand up to scrutiny; it's the absolute truth..." She nodded at Maura. "…while telling the police or the court nothing more than the essentials"
"Yeah, stick to the truth, less liable to get tripped up" Liv said as I nodded.
"Good advice, keep to that general statement, using your own words and we'll be fine" I said.
Looking around I could see that each couple had snuggled closer and closer, now they were each wrapped in the other, not hard to understand given I was sitting with my back to Liv, in between her legs with her arms around me and her chin on my shoulder, just having her there made me feel safe and protected and loved, speaking of which... I twisted my head around to look her in the eye.
"Maybe we should head to bed Liv" She looked to me, all solicitous concern.
"Sure Angel it's pretty chilly, it's getting late and you must be tired" I leaned in a little and spoke for just us.
"Not yet, but I can assure you we will be" I saw that hit her, her eyes widening as she took me in and smiled at her expression. "C'mon Liv, take me to bed" She smiled, a little eagerly.
"Yes ma'am" I winked at her and let my voice drop to a more…suggestive register.
"Good girl"