Disclaimer: These characters belong to Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro and TNT, and not to me.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jane sat down in one of the swings and quickly scanned the park. It was deserted and she didn't see anyone. She started to swing back and forth then dragged her feet in the dirt to stop herself. For a moment Jane wished she could become a child again, only concerned with stopping the swing in time.

"Hello, Jane," a voice said behind her. Jane stopped herself from whirling around and confronting Doyle.

"Hello. Are we continuing the meeting here?"

"Yes, since you have Vince Korsak across the street in an unmarked car. If I were to take you elsewhere I'd have half of the Boston PD on my tail in minutes."

"True," Jane smirked.

"However, I'd leave them in the dust in no time. Detective I asked you to come alone."

"You think I'm going to meet with a member of Whitey Bulger's gang without company? At least he's across the street."

"True, and he's too slow of a runner anyway."

"What do you do in your spare time, Doyle, follow us all around?"

"I'm much too busy for that. But I do have a few friends who find watching the Boston PD to be an amusing hobby."

"I'll bet. What do you want, Doyle?"

"Let me handle this."

"Handle what?" Jane was on alert.

"Your soon to be ex-husband, that's what. Joey Grant can disappear off the face of the earth. You won't have to worry about him showing up at the inopportune time to hassle you, you'll have full custody of your kids and you and Maura will be free to live your lives together. You are planning on living with Maura, aren't you?"

"Spoken like every other doting daddy," Jane said sarcastically. "I can't give you permission to do anything like that, Doyle, you know that."

"I'm not asking permission, Detective. This is a courtesy call."

"Has it progressed that far?"

"You know it has. Korsak knows it, which is why he wanted to be here. Right now we're trying to keep an all-out Irish mob war from exploding all over this city. This is the only time my boys and the police are on the same page."

"Why? What's in it for you?"

"Our interests lie elsewhere. We appreciate a calm city. It makes it easier to move and work for what we want. My boys have Grant under constant surveillance. We know what he's planning we just don't know when."

"What is he planning?"

"Mr. Grant has ambitious plans for taking over the Shannon Clan. He plans to make a big splash in our world. He has positioned himself to be the FBI's number one target for the next several years."

Jane groaned. She thought of Angelo and how he idolized his father. A sudden hatred of Joey welled up from within. She turned in the swing and faced Doyle.

"I can't give permission for any of this, Doyle."

"He's planning on hurting you, Jane."

"He can try. As long as he comes after me and not Maura."

"He's after the children. He wants to take them with him to his hideout. You'll never see them again."

Pain rippled through Jane. Tears blinded her eyes and she fell out of the swing to the dirt and grass below. She gritted her teeth.

"I still can't give permission, Doyle. I have to live with myself and I won't be able to, knowing I told you it was okay to take out my children's father."

"I understand. But I have some things I have to do, Detective."

"I don't want to hear them, Doyle. As much as I don't want any harm coming to the scumbag that fathered my children I also don't want to arrest my future father-in-law."

Jane looked up at Doyle. A small smile crossed his face. Jane turned her head toward Korsak. When she looked back Doyle had gone.

Jane headed back across the park to where Korsak was parked. "Geez, Korsak, you're as obvious as an old maid hanging her trousseau on the clothes line for all to see. No wonder Doyle knew you were here."

"I know. I nodded hello to him when he crossed the park to come up behind you."

"We have work to do. He wanted permission to take out Joey."

"And?"

"Of course I said no. He said his boys are also doing surveillance on Joey. They presume to know Joey's plans, including the plans to kidnap my kids and take them with him. Joey's planning on taking over the Clan."

"I suspected as much. When Frost showed me those membership lists I realized Joey had them out for a reason."

"Do you mind filling me in, Korsak?"

"I think Joey's lining up the ones loyal to him and the ones loyal to others in the Clan. If a mob war breaks out he'll have the perfect excuse to eliminate any perceived enemies."

"It will be like Boston went to war, won't it?"

"Reminds me of my rookie years, Jane. It was gruesome then, it'll be even worse now. Homicide will have work to do for months if not a couple of years, cleaning up the bodies and trying to decide who did what to who."

"We can't prevent an all-out Irish mob war, Korsak."

"No, but we can solve a small portion of it, Jane. Let's get to the precinct and see what else Frost may have found. If we move quickly enough we may be able to prevent some of this."

"I'm going home to check on Maura and the kids. Ma's there now. I'll be there shortly."
"I called a couple of unis to stand watch so don't be surprised if you find Frankie and a couple of his buddies there, too."

"Thanks. See you soon."

Jane stopped by briefly and found Frankie eating a plate of pasta in Maura's kitchen with Angela standing guard. Two other uniforms were outside of Maura's home. Jane nodded at them as she entered.

"Hi, Ma, Frankie. Nice to see you're busy at work, Frankie."

"Hey, Ma said she wanted someone inside the house. What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, but Ma, what are you planning to do with that spatula?"

"Huh? Oh, Jane we heard the front door open. Frankie had his mouth full so I grabbed the spatula and held it up in case I needed to throw it at someone."

"Helpful, Ma. That spatula with its spaghetti traces would look nice all over Maura's sofa. You throw like a girl, Ma. Maura asleep?"

"No, she's coming into the kitchen for a plate of your mother's delicious pasta," Maura replied. She stopped and kissed Jane then headed for the stove.

"Sit down, sweetie, I'll get you a plate."

"Thanks, Ma, but I don't have time. I came home to check on everyone and I'm heading into work."

"Good. I wasn't talking to you anyway. I was talking to Dr. Isles."

Maura giggled. "I see you're feeling better," Jane said. Maura nodded. Jane leaned over to kiss Maura goodbye.

"Then I'm off to the salt mines. You know to call if you need me."

Jane spent the better part of two hours going over all of Frost's information. They didn't have much to go on. Joey was seen leaving the Shannon house three hours ago and he vanished by the harbor. Jane's gut told her he was preparing to slip away somewhere. She just wished she knew when; if he was planning on kidnapping the children he'd need to see her.

"Hey, Korsak, what if I call Joey and tell him I need some things for the kids from the house?"

"Lure him to meet you there?"

"Yeah, he changed the locks so I don't have access."

"What if he sends one of his flunkies?"

"I'll tell him Angelo wants to see him, so he'll have to be the one to show up."

"That's dangerous, Jane. We'd have to plan this carefully in case he tries to grab Angelo and run. We can't guarantee he won't have us outmanned and outgunned."

"Do you have any friends on the harbor patrol that may be working today? Any unidentified boats being launched into the harbor today?"

"Sammy Smitten may know something. I'll call him and check the register. Let's think over your plan and see if we can improve on it, Jane."

Joey set the wheels in motion himself. Later that day he called Jane, asking to see the kids.

"I'm back from my business trip to D.C. I'd like to pick up the kids this evening."

"No, that won't work, Joe. Angelo has a cold and Caitlyn is already sniffling. I don't think they need to be out in the evening air. What about tomorrow?"

Joey sighed. "That might be difficult. I have meetings here all day tomorrow. Mrs. Hidgens was coming over to watch them tomorrow after school. Why don't I have her pick them up from school? I'll be home tomorrow evening."

"I wasn't planning on sending them to school tomorrow, Joey. Angelo is too sick to go and I wanted to keep Caitlyn quiet."

"I want my children, Jane."

"They're sick, Joe and they're my children, too."

"Well, in a couple of days, then," Joey said reluctantly and hung up. Jane motioned to Korsak and relayed the conversation to him.

"So we have a couple of days to plan something."

"I don't think so, Korsak. Either Joey is planning to snatch the kids tonight or tomorrow or he'll have a court order for me to surrender them to the sheriff's department again."

"That's a thought. We'll put extra surveillance on your house to make sure he can't grab the kids and wait to see what he does."

"I'm going home, Korsak. I want to be there before anything happens," Jane said. Korsak was already on the phone ordering the extra detail and nodded at Jane. Grabbing her gun and keys Jane left in a hurry. She wanted to be there to confront Joey and protect her family, not necessarily in that order. Jane's gut clenched when she thought of what might be coming.

TBC