A/N: CLIFFHANGER

Maura stretched, trying to swallow a yawn as the last of the customers made their way out of the bookstore. She rolled out her right wrist, shaking it lightly, trying to ease the tingling she felt. Maura wasn't sure she had ever signed her names so many times before. She was done, finally done. She could put the celebrity behind her and go back to being plain old Doctor Isles with her Jane. The idea was captivating.

Maura's phone buzzed. A glance told her it was an unknown number. She plugged in her headset, answering quietly so as not to disturb the book store patrons around her, 'Doctor Isles.'

'Hello Doctor Isles,' a man's warm tenor spoke through her headset, 'I've been waiting a very long time to meet you. I'm sorry it has to be done over the phone. I'd much prefer to do this in person.'

Maura felt a shiver move up her back. Something was wrong. She knew her subconscious must be picking up on clues but the rest of her mind hadn't caught up yet. Without any other recourse she did the only thing she could think of. She texted Nina and Frankie: Need your help. Track the number calling my phone. As she texted she responded, 'I'm sorry who is this?' She needed information. Evidence to support her hypothesis that something was amiss. Mostly, she needed to keep the man talking to give Nina time to run a trace.

'You don't know me yet. We haven't had the pleasure,' the man said. Maura felt physically repulsed by the way the man said pleasure, invoking a sensation that was anything but. His voice was trembling, as though he was fighting to maintain control of his emotions, 'you took away my family.'

Maura's mind was like a spinning kaleidoscope, twisting and turning, trying to make sense of it all. At the word family, the spinning stopped, settling in to place leaving a crystal clear image. She knew who she was talking to. She would have to apologise to Jane later for being so very wrong. 'Vincent Russo?' Maura asked rhetorically.

Laughter that made Maura's skin crawl echoed the phone. Vincent sounded pleased when he spoke 'so you do know me.' Maura's phone buzzed with a text from Nina. One single word that kept Maura focused and afloat in this nightmare: tracing.

Maura's sigh was one of relief more than anything but she knew he wouldn't be able to tell that. Nina had her back. 'I didn't take your family Mr. Russo,' Maura said, trying to inject arrogance in to her words. The angrier he was, the more likely he was to make a mistake, to reveal some key piece of information. Anything.

'Bullshit,' came the angry reply, 'you took Isabella. You made Mia run. She took my sons with her.' Every word was dripping in disdain.

Maura saw Panda's face, the bruises Maura had so carefully catalogued. Anger surged through her, making her vision blur and her hands shake. The things she wanted to do to this man. 'Because you were beating and raping them,' Maura said, letting her anger infuse her words with heat. She'd make it clear exactly what she thought of this despicable man.

'I was the man of the house,' Vincent spoke with entitlement and rage in equal measure. 'It was my right,' Vincent said with an air of self-righteousness that made Maura want to gag. Then in a dismissive tone he said that spurred Maura to the core he said, 'it wasn't as if that bastard girl was mine.'

Maura wanted to scream at the implication that Panda, her Panda, was expendable because she didn't share this horrible man's DNA. She wanted to tear this man's testicles off and shove them down his throat. She wanted to tear out his heart and put it on a stake. Maura was glad in that moment that they weren't face to face and she wasn't permitted to carry a gun because she knew she would have shot him then and there. 'No one has the right to beat and rape another person,' Maura began, her anger growing, 'and thinking you have that right because you have a penis doesn't make you a man Russo.' Maura hoped every word she spoke burned the man like acid.

'No,' Vinnie said sounding for all the world like he was agreeing with her. 'Having balls and the power to take what I want makes me a man and I'm about to show you exactly what I mean.'

Maura's blood ran cold, her heart thumped loudly in her chest. She couldn't quite keep the fear from her voice and she hated that he knew he scared her. 'What do you mean?' Maura had to keep him talking. She had to find out what he was doing.

'The bible says an eye for an eye Maura Isles,' Vincent said her name with a possessive disdain that surprised Maura. 'You took my family and now I'm going to take yours. I'll teach you both the kind of obedience a man like me deserves.' Maura's mind raced. Who? Who was he going to teach? Who was he after? Maura had thought he was going to take her. Maura thought she was his target and now her brain was trying to reboot. To reprogram, recalculate. Her stomach churned as she realised, it wasn't her. Russo was going after someone else, someone she loved and it would be Maura's fault because she hadn't taken Jane seriously. Vincent sneered 'I'm going to take everything I want from her over and over again and there's nothing you can do about it.' The taunt echoed in Maura's ears, making them ring in horror. Maura almost missed his parting jab, 'say goodbye Maura Isles.' Maura strained to hear who he was after. Who she was supposed to be saying goodbye to. Maura sobbed when she met with the click of the receiver on the other side and silence.

A buzz made her look at her phone. Nina had texted her the location trace. Maura felt as though she swallowed lava, white hot pain erupting in her lungs. Jane. She had to get to Jane. Maura grabbed her purse and jacket and left without another word. As she headed out, she tried to call Jane, cursing when it went right to voicemail so Maura left her a message, 'Jane, honey, I need to speak with you immediately. Please call me when you get this.' She climbed in to the front seat of her car, firing off a text saying the same thing before plugging in the fastest route to Jane's work. It was too long, too far. Maura took a few controlled breaths, willing the bile and panic to settle in to a solitary thought. She had to get to Jane.

Maura's phone rang as she began driving, 'Doctor Isles?' Maura answered with a flinch. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear more from Russo or never hear from him again. To her relief it was Nina.

'Maura? What's going on? Why did you need me to trace that call?' Nina's voice was thick with worry.

'Is it still called a ransom call if they only called to tell you they're kidnapping someone but don't demand any money?' Maura asked, thinking out loud more than she was answering Nina's question.

'What?' Nina all but yelled in to the phone.

'Never mind,' Maura said thrusting the etymological question away, 'can you send a squad car to that trace location?'

'Technically? No.' Nina said with a sigh, 'there's no legal reason for me to have run that trace and the jurisdiction issues would be a nightmare. Unofficially? Yeah.'

'Great! Thanks Nina!' Maura said as she merged on the highway, driving at faster than strictly permitted speeds.

'Maura?' Nina asked, 'are you sure it was a kidnapping?'

'Yes. No. I don't know Nina,' Maura said, a crack in her composure threatened to let all of her fears spill out. 'Just let me know if the patrol finds anything.'

'Okay Maura. Frankie and I are only a call away if you need us,' Nina said, her tone troubled.

Maura hit the end button without responding. She was grateful for Frankie and Nina and Maura was sure they would do everything they could to help her but they weren't Jane. Maura needed Jane.


Vinnie felt a laugh bubble in his throat as he sped down the highway. He had done it! A glance at the woman next to him brought another shiver of joy through his spine. He reached towards her, grinning when she flinched away. He grabbed some of the silky strands of dark hair that framed her face, marvelling in its softness. How long had it been since he'd touched a woman?

'What do you want with me?' she asked, her voice full of false confidence. Vinnie could hear the tremor in her voice.

Vinnie shot another look at her before yanking the hair in his fist, pulling harshly drawing the most beautiful yelp from her throat. 'You speak when you're spoken to,' Vinnie growled, 'understood.' She nodded, her brown eyes wet and wide with fear. It made Vinnie's throat constrict with want. He pressed harder on the accelerator urging the old beater to a hurry.

'Please,' she whispered, 'let me go. Please.'

Vinnie fisted a handful of hair, ramming the back of her head in to the dash with the most satisfying crunch. 'Be quiet,' he hissed. The most gorgeous purple spot began blossoming over her dark eyebrows. A small trickle of blood fell sluggishly from a cut. Vinnie grinned when she sat silent, looking at him with equal parts fear and anger. 'Do you want to know why you're here?'

The woman nodded, her eyes glazed with pain. Vinnie was tempted to hit her. He asked her a question and he expected an answer but he didn't want to waste all his fun before he got home so he would let it slide. 'You're here because Maura Isles stole my family from me. That wench who calls herself a doctor has been parading all over the country, her face on every channel, haunting me. Taunting me. Do you know how hard it is to sit day after day watching that whore pretend she's a good person? An honourable person? A competent doctor?'

'Maura's a great doctor,' the woman beside him said groggy from the pain.

Vinnie sneered, 'you would think so. But real men know that women can't be doctors. Women are good for nothing but fucking and sucking. It's a lesson you're going to learn the hard way and you have your precious Maura to thank for that.'

Vinnie shuddered at the small whimper she made. He was going to enjoy every minute of this. Vinnie took the exit towards the cabin, the truck jostling as the road turned from pavement to gravel to dirt. 'Take a good look around,' Vinnie said with a laugh, 'this is the last place you'll ever see.'

Vinnie saw the instant her body tensed, knew that she was going to do something stupid. Beating her to it, he grabbed her by the back of her head and slammed it in to the dash, hard enough to knock her out. He sighed in to the surrounding silence. Now he'd have to nurse her back before his fun could being. It irritated him to have to be patient when what he wanted was so close but Vinnie was a virtuous man. He could wait. After all he wanted her to be fully conscious for his next lesson.

Vinnie threw the truck in park in front of the cabin, a slow smile playing over his lips. He leaned in close to the unconscious woman's ear, breathing in the soft scent of her shampoo. His lips brushed the hot skin behind her ear, 'I'm going to have so much fun with you Cailin.'