Korsak looked closely at the sight before them and then put his hands on his hips, overwhelmed. "I'll be damned."

"Must have come up the river during flood season and got stuck," Jane said while trying to explain how the sub got into the middle of the jungle, then tapped her hand on Korsak's chest. "Let's check it out, huh?"

The man held her back by her arm without warning and looked at her urgently. "Nah ... Wait, wait, wait. Something about this feels kinda hinky." "Hinky?" she asked with a wry smile, then pointed to the wrecked submarine. "You act like you've never seen a German U-boat in the middle of the jungle before."

Korsak, however, didn't feel like smiling. "No, I'm being serious, Jane." "I tell you what," she replied, handing him her belt, to which were attached several pouches containing her necessary paraphernalia, as well as her backpack in which was stowed the long-lost journal of Francis Drake. "Why don't you stay here, I'll check it out myself. I'll call you if I run into any Nazis."

Korsak watched as his protégé gingerly climbed into the river arm and slowly made her way to the wreck. "Yeah, right, you do that," he whispered softly to himself.

As she cautiously approached the submarine wreck, Jane wondered why Korsak had suddenly started acting so strangely while she looked around for a way to get into the wreck without seriously injuring herself. She was well aware that she and Korsak were in the middle of nowhere and a deep cut caused by rusty steel could result in serious infection and help was days away, too far away to arrive in time to save either of them. She found a hole in the wall, which by all appearances had eaten through the steel over the years, that she could just barely fit through without hurting herself on the ragged edges, and with a thud found herself in the belly of the wrecked submarine. "Okay, I'm in," she said into the waterproof radio after hoisting herself out of the cold water, and with the aid of her flashlight, looked around and walked with cautious steps through the once-feared German submarine, listening for any sound that might indicate if inevitable danger was imminent.

The radio crackled and Korsak's voice pierced through the eerie silence. "What do you see?"

Jane looked around slowly, eyes wide and brows raised. "Something nasty happened to these guys. There's blood everywhere." She lifted her shoe and made a face as she realized she had stepped into a liquid that wasn't water and couldn't and wouldn't identify it. "Eugh. And soup."

"What?"

"I should have studied history like any other decent person," Jane mumbled to herself before encountering a skeleton next to which lay several gold coins. "Huh. Now, where did you get this, my decomposing friend?" She raised the radio again and smiled a little while examining said coin closely in the glow of her flashlight. "I think the trail just got warm again."

"How so?" came Korsak's voice again.

She turned the coin in the light and twitched her brow. "Well, I just met a guy with pockets full of Spanish gold, only the coins are stamped with a mint mark I've never seen before."

"You're kidding me."

"Looks like our German friends had a little secret," Jane replied, looking around the cramped room before pulling open a curtain and stepping back in surprise. "Cozy. I'm in the Captain's quarters. And get this, he's still here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She looked closely at the remains and made another face. "Ah, it looks like he was killed, ripped to shreds, actually. What a way to go."

"Yeah, sounds terrible. Check his wallet."

Jane tucked her chin in surprise and laughed. "You're all heart, Korsak." She paused when she saw some kind of notebook lying on a dilapidated desk, picked it up, and opened it carefully. "No way ... You've got to be kidding -"

" Find anything, kid?"

Jane ignored his question and looked at an old nautical chart lying on another table, let her fingers wander over it. "UK2642. U-K ... U-K ... UK2642 ... Gotcha!"

"Are you all right?"

"Korsak, you're not gonna believe this."

"Try me."

"I think I found our missing page," she laughed out loud, looking again at the captain's remains.

"You're kidding."

"It looks like Drake and our German pals were after the same treasure," Jane replied, letting her eyes wander over the old nautical chart once more. "And I've got the map that's gonna lead us right to it."

Surprisingly, Korsak didn't reply immediately, taking a few seconds.

"Jane, this better not be another wild-goose chase. We've got to get something out of this trip or -"

Jane waited a few seconds as he abruptly broke off and an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, she frowned deeply as her buddy continued to not complete the sentence. "Or what? Korsak ... you there? Vince?" she asked as she meandered through the boat with careful steps, then suddenly found herself standing in front of a locked bulkhead. She almost snorted in exasperation before trying to move the wheel that locked the bulkhead with all her might. "Come on," she whispered and groaned before the rusty latch moved squeakily and she then already opened the bulkhead with ease. She stumbled into the next room and held her breath as an old torpedo rolled off a bracket and blocked the only way out. "Ooh, oh, don't, don't, don't -" She took a step toward the dud and stopped stock-still when all at once the propulsion propeller began to move with a hissing sound. "Ugh, that's probably bad," she growled as she realized she must be in the torpedo room and then took a closer look at the torpedo tube, which was underwater but by all appearances had been her only way out of this death trap.

She took a deep breath before squeezing through the launch tube that was just wide enough for her and hoped that she wouldn't end up stuck and miserably drown, but Jane also knew that she had only two choices. Either stay in the torpedo room and hope that the explosive device would not detonate or try her luck through the tube. In the worst case of either scenario, she would die, either blown up or drowned in a torpedo tube for minutes with no chance of success. Neither end was in her best interest.

Jane didn't know exactly how long she had been underwater, the only thing of utmost urgency for her was to fill her lungs with a deep draft of fresh oxygen as she returned to the surface. It took Jane a few seconds to realize that not only was Korsak waiting for her on the shore but he was joined by several people who were heavily armed and didn't look like they just happened upon the submarine. She swam to shore and was instantly lifted out of the water by the arms of two burly men.

"Hello," said a man about her age with a piercing look and an English accent she could barely stand.

"Hey," she said warningly as the two thugs continued to hold her by the arms, only letting her go when the obvious leader nodded discreetly. "Hey. Friends of yours, Korsak?"

Korsak rolled his eyes guiltily.

The Englishman approached her with a smile. "I'm Casey Jones."

Jane shook her arms and looked at the man, unimpressed. "Yeah, I know who you are, asshole."

"Manners, lady," Casey replied, glancing briefly at Korsak. "This is just business."

The man, who by all appearances seemed to be Casey's right hand, gave Jane a shove toward Korsak. "Get over there."

Jane stumbled against the older man and gave the other a warning look. "Easy."

"Put your hands up."

"All right," the woman replied with a quirked brow as she lifted her hands, "they're up."

Casey strode up to the two and pointing at Korsak with a grin, rotating the finger in Korsak's direction. "See, your friend owes me money, Ms. Rizzoli." He turned serious again. "A lot of money."

Jane opened her mouth as she looked incredulously at her old friend as if to ask him if all this was a bad joke.

Casey stepped toward the two and smiled almost conspiratorially. "So when he told me that you two were onto something big, 'the find of a lifetime,' he said. Well, I was intrigued. But he's made grand promises before. Haven't you, Vince? And here we are again. Another fool's errand."

Jane snorted and rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed by the arrogance the Englishman displayed. "Sheesh, does he always go on like this?" She grunted in amusement as Casey's right hand approached her, by all appearances ready to beat respect into her.

Casey held the other man back and smiled again, "Take it easy, Navarro." He looked first at Korsak and then at Jane. "So, I'm afraid the time is up. Unless of course, you found something in there, Ms. Rizzoli, that might compensate for all this unpleasantness?"

"He's screwing with you, Jane," Korsak sighed, shaking his head as she looked at him questioningly. "They heard everything. Just give 'em the map."

Jane gritted her teeth and leaned down a little.

"Slowly," Navarro growled, raising his semi-automatic rifle.

Jane looked at him somberly while she pulled out a plastic bag from the pocket on her thigh and tossed it to Navarro, gritting her teeth again.

Navarro took the journal out of the waterproof bag and handed it to Casey. "What does a Kriegsmarine map have to do with El Dorado?"

"What, you think this is a coincidence?" retorted Korsak, taking a step toward the man and pausing as several rifle barrels were pointed at him. "The Germans were after the same treasure, that map has something to do with it. So, we square?"

Casey looked at the journal and nodded slowly. "For now," he replied, suddenly pulling a Glock from a gun holster and pointing it directly at Jane, who inevitably flinched. "But just in case you need a reminder -"

Korsak inevitably stood in front of her and looked at Casey long and urgently with a furrowed brow. "Hey, come on, leave her out of it."

"Yeah," Jane chuckled and shrugged, "don't you guys usually just cut off a finger or something?"

Casey clicked his tongue and almost shook his head in disgust. "That's far too vulgar." He pointed his gun at her, now looking more than determined. "No, I think this will hurt him a bit more."

Without warning, Korsak stood protectively in front of Jane and gave Casey a penetrating look. "Now, whoa, whoa ... Come on, Casey, she's got nothing to do with -"

Before Jane could respond, a resounding noise tore through the seemingly peaceful background noise, and Korsak looked at her for a long, incredulous moment. "Korsak," Jane said in horror as he slowly slumped. "Korsak!" She wanted to go after Casey and Navarro even as they held the unlocked weapons in their hands. "You son of a bitch!"

Casey realized that Jane was not to be trifled with at that moment and stepped right behind Navarro, yelling, "Stop here!"

Jane stopped in her attack motion when she heard the first bullet whiz just past her and inevitably ducked, even as her head commanded her to keep moving behind Casey and his henchman. She realized it was best to retreat and try to save herself in the shelter of the jungle as the second and third bullets slammed into the tree and earth just beside her. She looked at the lifeless body of her mentor and close friend, her 'father'. She flinched again as the next bullets hit in front of and behind her and instinctively looked for a way to escape, overcoming the urge to go to Korsak and die right next to him. She knew that was exactly what he wouldn't want her to do, so she started running towards the jungle, not just straight ahead like you always saw in the movies, but zigzagging to give her attackers no easy target, to have at least a tiny chance to get out of this mess Korsak had put her in. Her heart pounded as bullets and splinters flew around her, ignoring the searing pain in her lungs and legs, and the burning desire to kill Korsak if he were not already dead. She gasped as she ran into something, or someone, and looked puzzled into familiar hazel eyes that she couldn't immediately place.

"Whoa there -" the person said, looking at the brunette with equal astonishment. "Jane?"

Jane opened her mouth and staggered against a tree as she painfully felt a fist against her chin. "Ow!"

"That's for leaving me at the dock," Maura barked, shaking her aching right hand with which she had punched the treasure hunter in the chin.

Jane, heart-pounding, took a step toward the blonde and through clenched teeth, pressed, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Maura reared back at the other woman, looking at her almost insulted. "Listen, I'm a good enough reporter to follow a couple of no-luck tomb robbers!"

Without knowing what she was doing, she pressed Maura against a rock and her body against the blonde's as she heard voices nearby. "Shhh!" she admonished as Maura to all appearances wanted to protest and swallowed hard as two heavily armed men from Casey's crew roamed the jungle nearby, pressing her hand over Maura's mouth.

"She went this way," the man who was apparently leading this search operation stated to the other.

"I'll radio ahead!"

Jane waited until the men were out of earshot and sight before dropping her hand and taking a few steps back, swallowing hard. "Well, you're down to one tomb robber, now. Korsak's dead."

Maura's eyes grew wide. Even though she didn't necessarily like Korsak and suspected that he had been the mastermind behind the abrupt ... departure at the dock, she could tell that he had been an important person in Jane's life."What?"

"Yeah," the treasure hunter almost whispered, licking her lips, "and we're next if we don't get outta here."

Maura looked around uncertainly and searchingly as if to ask if this was just a bad joke and Korsak would come out of one of the bushes at any moment, but then she realized that Jane wasn't joking. "Oh God ... I'm sorry."

Jane nodded slowly and wiped the sweat and hair that had fallen down her face. She herself had not yet been able to process what had actually happened. "Please tell me you have a car."

"Of course," Maura replied and led Jane to the not immediately visible 'road' where an SUV was parked.

Jane, without thinking further, got right behind the wheel and let her head sink back. "All right, let's get outta here."

Maura nodded slowly before getting into the passenger seat and her eyes instantly grew wide as she saw a man come out of the thicket, inevitably raising his rifle and pointing it at the two women. "Look out!"

Jane ducked her head as bullets whizzed through the air again all at once and tried to start the car without much success.

"You always seem to be getting shot at," Maura noted, ducking as well.

Jane took a long look at her and furrowed her brows while trying to start the engine. "They're shooting at you, too, you know!"

Maura's eyes were still wide and tried to look around, which was not necessarily easy under the hail of bullets. "What the hell is this place, anyway?"

"Long story," Jane growled as she continued trying to start the vehicle. "Tell you later."

"You always been this popular?"

Jane suppressed the desire to roll her eyes as she tried to finally start the car while they were under increasing fire. "Well, I do seem to attract the scum of the earth." She breathed a sigh of relief as now the engine started and smiled at the blonde. "Uh, yeah, no offense."

Maura looked over her shoulder as the other woman put the car in reverse and nodded curtly. "None taken."

"Do you have a good memory?"

"Yeah, why?"

"UK2642, you got that?"

Maura nodded quickly as the all-terrain vehicle began to move. "Yeah, what is it?"

Jane floored the gas pedal and looked briefly at the journalist. "It's Kriegsmarine coordinates. I think I know where the Spanish took El Dorado."

Maura chortled in surprise and amusement as she was jolted by the rough ground in the jungle. "El Dorado? I thought El Dorado was a legend. "

Jane nodded and furrowed her brows as she looked to get herself and the journalist out of this jungle in one piece. "The problem is, so do the bastards who killed Korsak. Damn it! If the Spanish found the treasure, they had to've moved it there, to that island. And Drake followed 'em."

Maura took the nautical chart from the bag Jane had had in her other pocket and handed it to her, grinning broadly. "Well, what are we waiting for? I'll get the story, and you get ... whatever it is you're after."

Jane closed her eyes briefly. "Yeah."

"Come on then."

Jane took a long look at her and furrowed her brows. "Hey, this isn't gonna be a vacation, you know."

Maura grinned broadly as the jungle whizzed past the two women. "I can take care of myself. Besides, you owe me one."

Jane nodded slowly and took a deep breath. "I suppose I do," she sighed aloud.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jane sat on the bed in her hotel room with her elbows on her knees and stared straight ahead, trying to understand and process what had happened within a day. First, she had found out with her mentor and old friend Korsak what or who El Dorado was, and shortly after he had been shot by someone she had only heard rumors about, just like El Dorado Casey Jones had actually only been a legend, a bugbear that men told inexperienced treasure hunters about. She had met him and had to learn that Casey was no She had heard that behind his friendly, British facade was a stone-cold bastard who wouldn't even shy away from taking out his own client if the price was right. He was literally a wolf in sheep's clothing, striking when least expected. She didn't want to imagine the kind of deal Korsak had made with Casey Jones just to pay off his debt. Jane winced as she felt something cold on her shoulder and looked up, smiling as Maura held out an ice pack to her and took it. "Thank you."

Maura looked at her for a long moment. "I'm really sorry about that chin hit."

"Deserved it," Jane replied, wincing briefly as she held the bag to her bruised chin.

"You did," Maura laughed and cleared her throat as the other woman stared straight ahead, lost in thought. She took a deep breath and licked her lips indecisively as brown eyes looked at her. "You should have a doctor look at that."

Jane looked at her long and questioningly with furrowed brows before her eyes fell on a graze on her upper arm that she hadn't noticed all this time. "No, it's fine. It'll just be another scar. I don't need a doctor."

Maura nodded slowly, licking her lips as she realized that the treasure hunter had already made up her mind and she had little to no chance of changing the brunette's mind. She took a deep breath and looked to the bathroom she had just come from. "I saw some sort of first aid kit in the bathroom. At least let me clean the wound before it gets infected."

Jane looked at her over her shoulder and furrowed her brows, almost amused. "Some kind of first aid kit?"

"Hey," Maura replied with a shrug, smiling a little, "what do you expect? This isn't the Ritz."

the Italian grunted, then nodded in resignation. "Okay, I surrender to my fate. Besides, I have a feeling you won't rest until I acquiesce."

Maura grinned broadly and went back into the bathroom to get the so-called first aid kit, wondering in passing how she had actually gotten into this mess since she was really only after a story that would boost her show's ratings again, and if she were, to be honest with herself, she'd rather expected to have been taken in by Jane, a con artist. As she now had to realize, a serious mistake. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and asked herself for what reason she was willing to help a woman who obviously didn't work with legal means. The woman named Jane Rizzoli had openly admitted this while the two of them were confronted by a swarm of pirates on the open sea. When she was informed by her editor that a person named Rizzoli had contacted them because 'they' had a lead on the find of the century, Maura had expected a middle-aged, stocky man, not an athletic woman her age. And above all, she hadn't expected to be chased and shot at by pirates and other shady people. Maura took a deep breath and went back to the room with the two beds and put on her smile that people knew from TV. She sat down next to the woman, who in her opinion wore her hair down far too rarely, and again licked her lips while soaking absorbent cotton in disinfectant and carefully palmed the bullet wound with it. She raised her eyebrows as the treasure hunter winced, hissing. "Don't act like a girl."

Jane regarded the blonde with a smile and frowned a little. "In case you haven't noticed, I am a girl."

"Believe me," the journalist whispered inevitably without looking the other woman in the eye, "I certainly haven't missed it."

Jane arched a brow when she heard the sentence come out of the journalist's mouth, but winced again. "Easy."

Maura now raised her gaze, which was rather admonishing. "I doubt that was your first nor your last gunshot wound," she countered, as it had not escaped her notice that Jane bore various scars on her body. They weren't disfiguring, but telling, almost attractive to her taste. The silence in the room that settled over it without warning seemed almost stifling, and she cleared her throat. "You and Korsak ... You seem to have been close."

Jane exhaled loudly and nodded slowly knowing full well that the blonde had no idea how right she was after all. "He's -" She closed her eyes as she realized her own mistake and gritted her teeth. "He took me in when I was down," she said, taking a long look at the blonde, who frowned deeply after saying this. "Korsak ... He wasn't a bad guy, if it wasn't for him, there's a very high probability that I would have ended up dead in a ditch. I know it sounds absurd, but he saved me from myself."

Maura opened her mouth to ask if Jane was really sure about that fact, but decided to save the question for another time, one that was not overshadowed by the fact that a close friend of Jane's who had 'raised' her had lost his life only a few hours ago.

Jane looked closely at Maura's face, memorizing every detail. Every little wrinkle and freckle, while she didn't miss the fact that the journalist looked up now and then almost furtively and blushed a little every time she was caught.

When she had been younger, she had realized that she was different from other girls her age, that she didn't fall for young guys no matter what they looked like or whether they came from the same milieu as she did, and such guys she had met in abundance. When Korsak once tried to set her up with a seemingly nice guy, he ended up in the ER with a broken arm because he couldn't accept a clear announcement that he wasn't her type, and the nice guy turned into an asshole who wanted to get into her pants even without her consent. That night she had revealed to Korsak that she wasn't so much interested in guys/men as she was in women. Quite contrary to her apprehension, Korsak had only grinned knowingly, taken a swig from his beer bottle, and gone back to the daily grind. That day Jane knew that her old friend, ally, and confidant had long suspected that she was more interested in her own sex, but had given her enough time to tell him herself directly to his face. After that, life went on as if nothing had ever happened.

Jane swallowed audibly and tried to smile as the blonde suddenly looked up. "Thank you," she whispered.

Maura's lips twitched briefly, a slight hint of a smile before she bandaged the wound. It didn't escape her notice that goosebumps were spreading on Jane's arm. "You're welcome." She licked her lips again and looked firmly at the other woman. "I want the rights to this story," she said suddenly.

Jane, who had opened her mouth to at least invite the journalist in for a drink as a way of thanking her for all Maura had done in the last few hours, lowered her eyebrows in surprise. "Um, 'scuse me?"

Maura didn't look at her at first and inwardly cursed herself for changing the subject so suddenly, but it hadn't escaped her herself that a kind of mutual attraction had built up between her and Jane unintentionally and her diversity had always been not to mix the professional with the private. In the past this had always worked very well, she had had the ability to let one or the other flirting attempt of men bounce off her without having a bad conscience afterward, mostly they were men with whom she would never have gone out in principle. Either they were beyond her age limit or such sleazy types that it wasn't difficult for her to politely but firmly reject them. Of course, she was also aware that part of her job was to get in good with people and even flirt a little with them to get the content of her show. With Jane, however, it had been different, for this reason, she had very fast and very high her protective wall again pulled up again with extra reinforced concrete strengthened. Therefore, she had focused on her actual goal again. Maura took a deep breath and looked into questioning brown eyes. "No more tricks, and I won't be left on a landing stage either. Do I make myself clear?"

Jane nodded slowly as she understood what had just happened and swallowed hard. "Yes, crystal clear. We should lie down for a couple of hours. Tomorrow morning we'll take Korsak's floatplane to the coordinates on the chart."

"Agreed," Maura said a little too quickly, drawing her eyebrows together as a question popped into her head. "Can you fly a floatplane?"

Jane grunted with a smug grin while flipping back the covers. "Are you serious about the question or were you just trying to insult me?"

Maura rolled her eyes with a smile before crawling under the covers of her bed. She realized in the second that the question was moot after it left her mouth.