Author's Note: I forgot to say this last chapter...how awesome was the summer finale? I was bouncing off the walls at seeing Eliot play cop, in the cruiser and even answering a domestic call! That was just all full of awesome for me!

The Blue Line Job

Chapter Nine: Past Allies

Eliot stopped by the hospital on his way to pick up Jo the next morning. The nurses gave him free pass since he was in uniform. He figured Nate would be awake, even at 6 am in the morning, and he wasn't disappointed. Nate was propped up in bed, watching the news with a slightly fuzzy look in his eyes. Eliot was about to say something when Nate pointed at the TV.

"When did this happen?"

Eliot focused on the news report but could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"Officer Joella Wyatt has served on the Fitchburg Police Department for the last twelve years, following in her father's footsteps of thirty years of service. That all came to a crashing end yesterday afternoon when Officer Wyatt was arrested on charges of first degree murder for the contract killing of Chief Mark Reilly."

The TV shut off and Eliot turned to Nate. "That's the first I've heard of it. Susan never called us last night."

"She might be waiting to talk to you face to face when you go to pick up Jo. Has Bonanno checked in yet?"

Eliot shook his head. "No, he won't be here until later on this morning."

"Call Hardison and have him get all of Jo's phone, email and bank records for Bonanno. We have to get Jo out of that jail before they put her in with people she put away."

"I'll go down to the precinct right now and check on her. I can find enough paperwork to keep me close until Bonanno shows up."

"Eliot, you know the kind of people we're dealing with now. If Bonanno frees their scapegoat, they will kill her too. You're the one that's going to be on the front lines for the rest of this game." Nate took a deep breath. "You want to continue with the job?"

"Yeah, Nate, I'm going to bail with Jo sitting in jail with a contract murder charge hanging over her head." He pulled out the phone and started dialing Hardison's number since the hacker was most likely still asleep.

"And Eliot?"

The hitter paused in the doorway of Nate's room. "Yeah?"

"Go break a few noses."

Eliot gave him a nod. "Finally."

Jo woke up on the hard bench in the holding cell with a headache and a throbbing arm. One of the officers on night duty had enough of a conscience to get her a blanket. She sat up and tried stretching her muscles but everything hurt. She was grateful for a lack of mirrors, she was afraid to see what she looked like at the moment. The clock across from her said it was 7:00. Eliot would know by now what happened to her. She wondered if an arrest was a good enough reason to call the con off, as if they needed another excuse to pull out and go back to Boston. The mark was dead, their mastermind shot and in the hospital with a collapsed lung and she was set up the take the fall for the hit.

"Jo!"

She braced herself for Eliot to tell her they were pulling out. She tried to straighten her bloodied clothes and not look so weary. However, the look on Eliot's face as he came around the corner was enough to make her forget about where she was and put some fear into her. He looked like he was about to hurt someone.

"In here, Eliot." She took a deep breath and waited until he stopped in front of the cell. It didn't take him long to assess her condition.

"Why didn't you call us?" he whispered through the bars.

"They, uh, didn't exactly let me have my one phone call."

Eliot opened the file in his hand. "Which one of these sorry bastards is Brian Howard?"

"He's probably the one that is taking over as acting chief. He'll be moving into Reilly's office this morning. Hey," Jo reached through the bars and grabbed Eliot's arm before he moved off. "Don't make this worse."

"You asked us for help. I did everything you told me to do as your partner. Now, let me do what I do."

"Eliot-"

"You'll be out by noon. I won't leave the building and if anyone comes down here to move you, you scream bloody murder."

Jo nodded, released him and watched as he disappeared from the holding room and headed back upstairs. He didn't talk like the team was pulling out and going back to Boston. The thought of them not leaving after all the events that had occurred brought tears to her eyes. Friends and family had turned their back on her but these five strangers were sticking it out till the end. Jo rested her forehead on the cool bars and let herself cry.

"Hey," someone said, "there's no crying in lockup."

Jo snapped her head up to see Hardison walking into the holding cell, complete with doctor's bag. Eliot was following behind him. "What?"

"They didn't give you your phone call," Eliot said, "but they can't deny you a medical visit. Not with a broken nose and popped stitches."

Hardison opened the bag and pulled out an ice pack. "I had to drop off all your communication and bank records to hand over to Bonanno when he arrives. Once he sees there is no evidence of you contacting anyone, anyway, they have to let you go."

Jo pressed the ice pack against her nose. Better late than never, she supposed. "Brian said that the DA signed off on the warrant, that whatever evidence he had, the DA bought it."

"Yeah, a DA that's in the mob's pocket. We've got our own evidence," Hardison smiled. "There's a whole lot of people going down on this one."

"Don't tell Bonanno yet about the DA," Eliot added. "Sophie is going to go after Reilly's stepson today and try to get him to transfer Reilly's funds into our bank account so we can get your money back. Once that's done, we hand over all the dirt we have on the cops, lawyers, DA's and politicians to Bonanno."

Jo still couldn't believe it. "You're not giving up?"

Hardison actually recoiled. "Aw, hell no, she did not just say that."

"I told you, we keep our promises."

"Yes," Jo nodded. "You certainly do."

Hardison handed her a clean shirt. "I can't help with your stitches but at least we got a clean shirt for you. Eliot can take care of them when we get you out of here since he can't play doctor and cop. And," he also handed her a new sling, "we got this back for you."

"I am more than grateful." Jo was thankful she had worn a sleeveless shirt under the button down shirt that was bloody and wrinkled now. She would have loved a shower but she would take what she could get. She let Hardison clean up the popped stitches and redress them for Eliot to fix later before helping her into the clean shirt and sling.

"I called Bonnano," Eliot said, "and he's going to be here any minute. I told him to listen to Howard first and then have a private meeting with me."

"He agreed to that?"

Eliot shrugged. "He's an investigator."

Jo agreed. Bonanno would meet with anyone and everyone willing to talk. "If he wants to talk to me, what do I say?"

"Uh, the truth," Hardison answered.

"The truth about why you all here helping me?"

"Trust us," Eliot added. "You tell him Nathan Ford is here helping you and he won't ask any more questions."

"Alright."

Eliot's phone dinged and he pulled it out. "Text from Bonanno. He's here."

Hardison packed up the cleaning supplies he had brought with him. "We'll be seeing you later on today, have a big old dinner for you."

Jo gave Hardison his fist bump before he left the holding cell. Eliot gave her a more serious look.

"Anyone comes down here, you do what I told you to do. I'll be here in two seconds."

Jo nodded and Eliot left the basement again, taking Hardison with him. Jo sat back down on the hard bench but more comfortably this time since her arm was supported. After a few minutes though, her arm started to ache and the sling didn't feel quite right, almost like there was...something in it. She looked inside and pulled out a ziploc bag that had a donut and a travel packet of Ibuprofen. Sitting on the bench next to her was a bottle of water Hardison must have brought in with his bag. At least she would some food in her stomach and painkillers in her system when Bonnano came down to talk to her. Things were starting to look up.

Eliot made it to Jo's desk just in time for Bonanno to walk past and make eye contact. Bonanno gave him a brief nod before heading into the meeting with Howard. After the door closed, Eliot pulled out all the records that Hardison had dropped off to him. Everything was there, right down to her current bank account balance of $82.39. He put everything back in order and kept one hand on the folder so no one would swipe it.

"Hey, Turner."

Eliot looked up to see one of the younger police officers standing by his desk. His name tag read "O. Jacobson" and he couldn't remember if this kid was one of the good cops Jo had told him about or not. He didn't remember the name so he assumed he had been working for Reilly. "Hey."

"Guess that was a nasty shock for you, huh? Coming into work to find your partner locked up for killing the chief."

"Yeah," Eliot said, playing along. "I can't figure out why she did it though."

"Oh come on, you can't figure it out? I hope you're not thinking about going for detective." Jacobson leaned down. "People like Wyatt don't fit into this line of work. Too much tension, too physical type of work. Can't let your emotions get the better of you. You know?"

"People like Wyatt?" Eliot repeated. "Oh, you mean women."

"Yeah."

"What's that 'O' stand for on your name tag, Jacobson? Opie?"

Jacobson rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're one of those 'equal opportunity' guys. Women shouldn't be police officers. They can't handle it."

"And Fitchburg shouldn't have given you license to carry an armed weapon."

Eliot watched as Jacobson walked away, shaking his head. He wondered how many other idiots roamed the precinct and shuddered at the thought that if Jo ever needed back up, they were the ones that would show up. He rifled through papers and forms, attempting to look busy and ignoring the looks the other cops were giving him. He found he was actually relieved Jo was in lock up downstairs and not having to face her co-workers.

The chief's door opened and Bonanno emerged, shook hands with Howard and then meandered over to where Eliot was sitting. "Is she is downstairs?"

Eliot grabbed the folder and stood up. "Yeah. What's the evidence look like against her?"

Bonanno snorted. "A bank account print out with white out over the name. The same thing with the phone records. The DA is either a moron or part of the conspiracy. How's your boss?"

"Recovering. He's in room 412 at HeathAlliance if you want to see him."

"I planned on dropping in to see him. Thank him personally for what you all did for me a couple years ago."

"You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours." Eliot handed him the folder. "Here's all Jo's records for phone, cell phone, email and bank accounts. No evidence whatsoever that she hired a hit man for Reilly. In fact, we have more evidence to prove Reilly was a loan shark squeezing three other families here in Fitchburg. And Reilly wasn't even his real name."

Bonanno opened the folder and looked over it before heading into the basement holding room. "When I heard they picked up Jo for this I couldn't believe it. I've only worked with her a few times but when I did," he whistled, "she was fierce. I keep trying to recruit her for the state police."

Eliot shoved his hands in his pockets. "She's not so fierce right now."

"Well, let's fix that."

Eliot watched Bonanno's face as he took in Jo's appearance: arm in a sling, two black eyes and a swollen nose. She looked a little better since he last saw and realized she must have discovered the food, medicine and water Hardison had left behind. She smiled in greeting.

"Hi, Patrick."

"Hey, Jo." Bonanno pulled the key to the cell off the wall and opened the door. "Eliot's already given me all the evidence I need to get you out of here. The so called evidence they used to lock you up is a joke. So why don't you head home, take a hot shower and I'll stop by later to get your statement."

"Doesn't the DA need to drop the charges?" Jo asked.

"The DA needs to explain why they charged you in the first place," Bonnano replied. "Go home. I'm sure if you ask nicely, Eliot will drive you."

"Thank you."

"There is one more thing," Bonnano said. "Because of the ongoing investigation-"

Jo held up her hand. "I know. I'm suspended from the force until the case is closed."

"I'll make sure it's suspended with pay though. That's the least these idiots can do for you."

Jo shook Bonnano's hand and Eliot lead the way out of the holding cell. They flanked Jo as they left the precinct and Eliot was thankful for it given some of the looks Jo was getting. Eliot made sure he made direct eye contact with Howard and was rewarded with the other man looking away. When they stepped outside and said their good-byes to Bonnano, Eliot put his arm around Jo.

"You're in the homestretch, darling."