Logan, Cavanaugh, Korsak, Jane and Frost are standing at Jane's unmarked car and are studying the old construction plan of the abandoned warehouse. They haven't wasted much time as soon as Dane had told Jane about the secret entrance of the building.
The Lieutenant had seen that Dane was sitting in the interrogation room and that he was almost crying while be held his swollen finger. That was the point when he decided not to ask his best detective what has happened to Dane.
Logan looks at the four of them and points at the plan. "The whole construction inside is hidden from view, we have to be really careful when we go in. And if it's true what Chapman said, Dowell is unpredictable."
"He is unpredictable," Cavanaugh states with a nod and frowns. "Our purpose is to get Dr. Isles and Mr. Payton out of there safe and sound. And then we're going to arrest Geoffrey Dowell. I wanna get him alive, understand?"
The three detectives and the SWAT leader are nodding approvingly and they look at each other.
Cavanaugh is talking a deep breath and looks at Logan again. "Sergeant Logan is going to lead this operation again, but we're keeping radio silence unless it is absolutely necessary to break it. Whatever Logan says, it's law. I don't wanna bewail any losses on our side just because someone makes a one-man show. Keep your eyes peeled. Any other words from your side, Sergeant?"
Logan puts his black helmet on his head and closes the chin strap, furrowing his eyebrows. "Yeah, don't bite the dust."
"Cheery and profound," Jane says with a small smile and closes the Velcro faster of her bulletproof vest.
He looks long at her and arches an eyebrow . "I especially try to reach daredevils like you are with that."
Jane tries to hide her smile and is nodding slowly. "Got it." She wouldn't mind it much if she would get fatally hurt when they are already too late.
Frost eyes her skeptically and follows her. "Jane?"
Jane checks the clip in her gun and then the second clip that she has in reserve. She sighs heavily and frowns. "I got it, Frost. I won't do anything reckless."
The younger man looks still worried at her because he knows that she won't stay true to her word if she doesn't see any other chances, he already witnessed when the Italian hurt herself to save other lives.
Korsak seems to read his mind and is patting Frost shoulder, having the same worried expression.
Cavanaugh witnesses the interaction of his people and sighs heavily. He also knows what Jane is willing to do to save her loved ones.
Logan is patting his own vest and nods encouragingly. "All right, guys. Let get going, this is going to be interesting."
Jane takes a deep breath to calm her nerves and looks first at Korsak and then at Frost. Her eyes are telling them that she is there and she is having their backs, no matter what.
The two men are looking at her and nod in unison to make her understand that they're there for her as well and that they are not allowing that Dowell is hurting Maura. That they want to get Maura and Ben out of there in one piece even if it is the last thing they are doing, because at least Maura is one of them.
Jane smiles for a moment but it disappears again in the moment when the SWAT members and the other police officers set in motion. She swallows down the lump in her throat and tells her brain to function as a detective, and tries to tell her wild beating heart to slow down again. She can't be Maura's partner right now, she has to be a cop, and that means that she's gonna try to save as many lives as possible. Feelings has to be set aside in such a situation.
The first time they were here, she had thought that the entrance of the building is the throat of another dimension. Now, she thinks that this the gate to hell.
The gravel under her feet scrunch and her breath is echoing in her ears. She rolls her shoulders and tries to focus on her task at hand: eliminate the threat and rescue the innocent. Everything else doesn't really matter much to her right now. She ignores her inner conflict right now and re-focuses again.
Korsak is looking briefly at her and frowns because she has never seen her so shaken up like right now. He is aware that the search in the building is going sluggish and that the Italian isn't one of the most patient persons in whole Boston.
Jane is warning him with her eyes and smirks when he focuses back on his work, but then she frowns and listens attentively to every sound in the building.
All of a sudden, there is a muffled voice and a female sob filling the halls and the Italian heart is dropping. Jane has to fight against the urge to let all of her guard down and to storm into the next room.
Logan raises an hand and each of them are stopping abruptly to locate where the sounds did come from. He nods at one of his man and signals him that the sounds came from a room with an intact, closed door.
The other man nods and whispers the new information into his radio.
Jane knows that she has to keep her impatience in check, otherwise she runs into the room and risks that Maura, Ben and herself gets killed.
Logan nods once more and signals the vanguard to enter the room in ten seconds.
A female SWAT member looks at the other ones and they pull the double door open with a loud bang. It is always the moment when hell breaks loose. The moment when it shows if they'll succeed or fail.
Loud voices are filling the empty room when a aimed Geoffrey Dowell is coming into view and all kind of guns are aimed on one single man.
Jane is studying him closely and she realizes that it really is easy to mistake Geoffrey with Ben. The only difference is that Geoffrey is a little bit smaller and his skin is darker than Ben's. She licks her lips and she has to tell herself not to pull the trigger. She is scanning the room and her eyes meets scared hazel ones.
Maura is kneeling on the hard concrete floor and is crying thick tears. Next to her, Ben is rolled into a ball and he groans in pain. It is obvious that be is pretty badly beaten and that he needs the EMTs as soon as possible.
The Italian is looking back at Maura and nods full of confidence after she had made sure that Dowell hasn't laid an hand on her. It's like time is standing still.
Maura sobs and closes her eyes like she's trying to tell herself and Ben that she knew that Jane would make it in time to save both of them.
"Get the hell out," Geoffrey barks loudly and gets Jane's attention back again. He points his gun at Maura's head and she cries out loud.
"Drop that gun, Geoffrey," Frost says dominating and grits his teeth.
"I am just doing what Ben did to me! I take everything that I want to have! And she is mine!"
"It's over, Geoffrey," Jane says as calm as possible and takes a step forward. "It's over, you don't have to hurt any of them anymore. Come on, drop that gun. You don't need to do this anymore."
"I just got started." Geoffrey growls through clenched teeth and kicks Ben's side.
Ben howls in pain and his whole body went rigid.
"Stop it!" Maura yells on top of her lungs and tears are streaming down her cheeks.
Geoffrey point his gun back at her head and bends a little forward. "Stop it? Stop it? I am going to make him pay for everything he did to me. All these years I had to go without a father because he was daddy's darling. And every time when I found a woman attractive in law school, he go and asked her out before I even had a chance to do so. This is just an eye for an eye."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ben groans and looks up at his half-brother.
Geoffrey holds the barrel of the gun at Ben's forehead and bare his teeth. "You are the reason for what I've become, brother. You took everything from me. I just wanted to have a father, a nice woman. But you thought you'd be the center of the universe."
Suddenly, something is clicking in Jane's head and she shoves her gun back into the holster. She holds her hands up and makes a step forward. "I got it, Geoffrey."
"Rizzoli!" Logan and Cavanaugh are barking in the same time.
She ignores them and raises her eyebrows. She sees that as the only chance to catch Dowell alive, when he thinks that one of them is sympathizing with him. "I got it. The only thing that you were wishing for was a chance for a life with your dad, but Ben grabbed all the attention for himself, and if that wouldn't be enough he also snapped all the women that you liked. He never looked for real at you when the two of you were at Francis King Carey."
His facial muscles are twitching and he is about to pull the trigger. "He was my role model and be treated me like trash. He had everything and even that wasn't enough for him. But not it's my time to take whatever I want."
Jane is furrowing her brows and she nods. "I know what you mean, man. Ben also took something away from me that I love more than my own life. And, man, I can tell you, I felt more than once the urge to smash his stupid face in. But that wouldn't make it any better, Geoffrey. I would have gone to jail and he'd laugh in his sleeve. But do you wanna know why he never treated you like a brother? Because Ben didn't know that you are having the same father. You wanna be mad at someone? Be mad at your father."
Geoffrey's whole body Lange seems to change and be lowers the weapon. "He didn't tell him?"
Jane is shaking her head and tilts her head to the side. "No, Tim and Nicole never told any of your siblings. I went to Baltimore myself to talk to them, and they told me that Ben didn't know about your relations until now, Geoffrey. It is not Ben's fault. I even start to understand why you left these flowers with … the women. They were making you happy, right?"
He is nodding slowly and frowns. "Yes." He whispers.
Jane is nodding and takes another step forward. As much as she wants to put a bullet into his head, she wants to end this without any shooting and she has the feeling that she got through to him. She knows that Geoffrey is unpredictable and that the situation can get explosive in any moment again. That's why she has to act fast and she steps up to him, placing an hand over the gun as long as she has the chance. "Come on, this doesn't have to end badly, Geoffrey. I make sure that your family is seeing you from now on."
He looks into her eyes and is pleading for comprehension. "I must wanted to have a family. I just wanted to be loved."
Jane nods and is disarming him. She hands the gun to the closest SWAT member and sighs. "I know." She gets the handcuffs from her belt and frowns. "I have to put you these on now."
Geoffrey let his head hand and a tear runs down his cheek.
Korsak is watching the whole scenario in amazement and shakes his head as they lead Geoffrey and laughs. He has seen a lot of things, but he has never witnessed that a cop has talked themselves into a serial killer.
Jane releases her breath and hurries to Ben, checking on him. "You okay, buddy?" She asks and doesn't dare to touch him as she sees how bad be looks.
Ben groans in response and his eyes are rolling in the back of his head.
She looks at the waiting EMTs and waves to tell them that it's safe now and that he needs immediately medical attention. Then, she hurries to Maura and gets her Barlow knife out of her pocket, cutting the duct-tape on Maura's wrists. "You okay, baby?"
Maura is still crying but nods her head yes.
The Italian is cupping the ME's face with both of her hands and releases an shuddering breath and leans her forehead against Maura's. "I thought I lost you."
"I knew you would make it in time." Maura whisperer and closes her eyes as the detective is wiping the tears off of her cheeks.
Jane nods and holds the smaller as tight as possible and does not want to ever let her go again.
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Jane walks slowly to the ambulance and looks at one of the EMTs. "Can I have a minute?"
"Make it quick," the woman says and nods.
"Thanks," Jane replies and gets into the ambulance. She looks at the very bad bruised Ben on the gurney and smiles. "How are you doing?"
He groans and looks at her, lifting the oxygen mask from his face. "It could be worse, right?"
She smiles broadly and nods approvingly. "Yeah, much worse."
"You risked a lot in there." He says and pauses. "I know you didn't do it only for me, but I do owe you more than one."
She shrugs and takes his hand in her own. "I was doing my job, Ben. Buy me a box of a really old and good Single Malt Scotch and we're even."
"Only if we're emptying one bottle together," he laughs and coughs.
She pulls his mask over his mouth again and pats his shoulder. "That sounds like a pretty good deal. But first you have to get better."
He closes his eyes and tries to inhale the pure oxygen deeply.
She closes the doors and knocks on them to signal that the ambulance can finally take off.
Korsak comes to her and he sighs loudly. "I think that was what Logan and Cavanaugh meant with a one-man show."
She looks at him and shrugs. "All's well that ends well. Not one bullet was fired."
He pats proudly her shoulder. "That was a hell of a good job, Rizzoli. I was never more proud to be a mentor than right now. Now, go and check on your woman."
Jane smiles and walks to the second ambulance and looks on the shaken up Maura. She takes Maura's hands and runs her thumbs over the red wrists.
Maura can see what the Italian is thinking and frowns. "It's just brushing and scratches, Jane. It'll be okay in some days."
Jane takes a deep breath and swallows hard. She still can't believe that she got them all out of the warehouse with a minimum damage. She sniffles and sits down next to Maura, and she wraps protectively around the blonde. She kisses Maura's head and a tear runs down her cheek. "I will be there and rescue if I have to, by all available means, Maura."
Maura smiles a little and puts her head on the detective's shoulder. She knows that she's gonna be save with Jane and that the Italian is too overwhelmed by all kind of feelings to say the most simple sentence. "I love you too, Jane."
Jane scoffs and looks down at the smaller woman. Her smile grows wider when hazel eyes are meeting hers. She sighs heavily and kisses the blonde long and gently.
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That's it, only the epilogue is left to go. God, I hope this chapter.
Thank you all for sticking with this story, it was a kind of matter of heart for me. I do not favorite my stories but I really did enjoy writing this one. Again, I am asking if you would like to have a sequel of it? You are welcome to tell me yes or no.
I hope you will like this one as well.
T73.