So this is a flashback chapter to help add a little backstory to help where this is going. Has anyone figured out the twist? Please review and let me know what you think. I will try to update the third chapter by Wednesday night. Trying to have the story complete before the new season starts. Thanks for reading and following!
24 hours earlier (The Caribbean)
Jane woke from a very deep sleep. Her eyes opened and she tried to focus on where she was. The last thing she remembered was being jolted off of the bench in the prison transport and smashing her head into the nose of the man who busted through the back door trying to pull her out of the vehicle. A warm friendly voice and the cool touch of hands on her arm brought her back to the present.
"How are you feeling, honey?" asked a heavy set woman dressed in a nurses uniform with a thick Caribbean accent.
"Where am I and who are you?" Jane asked in a voice hoarse from thirst.
"My name is Clerie and you are guest of Mr. Boston Krab at his private island resort."
She tried to recall the name but she couldn't. "Who is Boston Krab and what am I doing here?" Jane questioned.
"That, mademoiselle, I do not have the answer to. I was told monsieur would be arriving late this evening and I was to take care of you and tend to your needs until he arrived." As if reading her mind, Clerie offered Jane a cool glass of water. "You must be hungry, how about if I get you something to eat?"
Jane nodded absentmindedly as she continued to take in her surroundings, assessing everything looking to gain an advantage over whoever brought her here.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," Clerie said cheerily. "There is a bathroom over there where you can freshen up if you like and there are clothes in the closet. Also, here is an envelope that I was instructed to give you once you woke up."
Jane took the letter and watched as the nurse exited the room. Through the open door Jane was able to see two large men armed with semi-automatic guns. She made her way to the large windows overlooking a courtyard pool and saw eight more armed men manning the perimeter of a twelve foot high wall. She turned her attention to the letter in her hand. She opened the letter and removed the notecard.
Dear Jane,
Don't be alarmed as I mean you no harm.
If you make me a deal to tell him how you feel
Then I have a place to keep you safe.
Where you can stay until the day,
You can become strong and get back where you belong.
Just sit tight and I will see you tonight.
The note was unsigned and the cryptic message left her dumbfounded, until she turned the card over. The front was an image she instantly recognized. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let the pieces of the puzzle fall into place in her brain just like Patterson had taught her. She allowed herself a small smile and brief thought that everything may work out for the best and maybe, just maybe, she would find her way back to Kurt and the team.
18 Hours Earlier (Location Unknown)
"How did this happen!" he demanded.
"We aren't sure sir. The CIA were always a possible interference but the other group was a complete surprise and misread by our team." The young man responded.
"MISREAD" he shouted! "This was supposed to be the opportunity to clean up the mess that was made and instead it has forced us to use our best kept secret in order to have a chance at success of the mission."
He had seen his boss mad before but the loss of "Jane" had seemingly sent him over the edge. The old man continued his rant. "It is too early to have this asset exposed but the complete breakdown of the mission so far leaves us no choice other than to proceed. Is everything in place?"
"Yes sir. We believe that this is the best way to reduce the number agents looking for "Jane" and potentially stop whoever took her from exposing this secret. It is our best hope to regain focus on the primary goal of the mission which is to eradicate the United States obstructionist stance when it comes to foreign governments. DNA is no issue and the fingerprints have already been uploaded to all the relevant databases. There are risks and differences that may be noticeable to some but we believe that, ultimately, they can be explained away by a side effect of the ZIP dosage. It is our best chance of success."
The old man tapped his fingers on the desk and gave a curt nod of his head as a dismissal to his underling. "I want it done in the next 18 hours. And know that if this doesn't work, the mission as we know it will cease to exist and all assets will be terminated."
"Yes sir."
12 hours earlier (The Caribbean)
The door to Jane's room opened and she was greeted with an oddly welcome sight. "Janey, my love, it's so nice to see you again!" Rich Dot Com crossed the room and gave her a tight hug that she surprisingly found comforting. "You remember my partner Boston Arliss Krab; he helped us restore the Vermeer that Stubbles managed to blast a hole in."
"Don't you mean he helped you steal the Gardner paintings while you tricked us into letting you escape?" Jane replied.
"Semantics, my dear Janey. But don't worry, I never forget a favor and I owe you and Stubbles a VERY large one."
"Rich, what is going on?" Jane questioned.
"Come with us down to pool for dinner and I will explain everything."
"Why should I trust you? Last time you played me for a fool."
"No, no, my dear. It wasn't you who was the fool; it was the FBI and that nitwit marshall that got played. The criminals always have the advantage over law enforcement because of the ridiculous rules they have to abide by. If you know the rules they have to follow, then you can develop a plan to get what you want because you know what they have to do. It's kind of like playing chess knowing what moves your opponent is going to make."
Jane looked at him quizzically.
"Don't you know how to play chess?" Rich asked.
"No."
"Oh we need to teach to play while you're here! Don't you think?" Rich said as he turned to face his partner.
"Most definitely!" Boston responded.
"Janey my dear, I bet you would be a natural at the game and then you and cousin Stu can spend your evenings playing strip chess like we do!"
Jane crinkled up her nose at the thought of Rich and Boston's naked game night but as they left the room to head down to dinner she a brief flash of Kurt and her spending the evening playing strip chess. Maybe she would take them up on their offer after all.
The three of them sat a table overlooking both the pool and the ocean. The breeze was blowing and Jane couldn't help but turn her face into the wind and inhale the scent of the sea air. It smelled fresh and slightly salty and she felt herself relax just a bit and smile. Rich noticed this small change and looked over at Boston and commented. "See, I told you this was a good idea. It's like we get to be real life fairy godmothers only our Cinderella is a bad ass with super cool ink."
Boston said, "Let's hope everything goes according to plan. I'm not interested in getting left holding the bag a second time."
"Not a chance." Rich said as he leaned over to kiss his partner.
The wine was poured and Rich motioned for Jane to hold up her glass for a toast. "To unusual friendships, fairy godmothers and our own angry munchkin." Jane couldn't help but let out a giggle. Rich was an international criminal, certainly a psychopath but right now he was her best hope for getting back to Kurt.
They got through the main course with small talk and back and forth banter. Jane had tried to bring up what had transpired that led to her being a "guest" on the island but was rebuffed with answer "all in good time". Finally, dessert was being served, the second bottle of wine had been finished and Rich decided that now was the time to enlighten Jane on her present circumstance.
"The first thing you should know is your boyfriend's boss is a moron!"
"He's not my…"Jane started to say before Rich cut her off.
"This is my story, so I will tell it like it is. In my line of work, it is important to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Law enforcement of any kind is clearly an enemy and some country's governments are a little easier to work with than others. The FBI and CIA have always had an ongoing love/hate relationship so I have "close contacts" in each place to make sure I am well informed. When Stubbles arrested you a few days ago, I admit I was stunned. I mean, we both know anger his is defacto reaction and your secret meetings were bound to piss him off, but that was an over- reaction even for him."
Jane started to speak but Rich silenced her by raising his hand. "Ah Ah, my story, my interpretation. Shall I continue?"
She nodded and took another large sip of wine as Rich continued.
"After your confession to Patterson, that ass clown Pellington went on TV and announced that they had found the person responsible for the murders of Carter and Mayfair and that you were being transferred to Quantico since your previous involvement with the New York office had caused a conflict of interest in their prosecution of your case. Now WHY he would share that on national TV is beyond me but very soon after my contacts in the CIA began sharing a plan that the terrorist task force unit within the CIA was going to remove you from FBI custody and, well let's say, they would have been more interested in persecution as opposed to prosecution."
Jane's face went pale. The memory of being held captive by Carter for just a couple hours was enough to make her visibly shudder. She couldn't imagine what they would do to her now. "No, that couldn't be right, Kurt would never…." She couldn't even finish the sentence.
"Of course, he would never. He was extremely pissed off but he loves you and he just needed a little time to cool off."
"Rich, I think you've…." She started but once again, she was cut off.
"Ah Ah, my story, my interpretation, remember? So, since I know the rules, I know there is no way that the CIA can get to you without FBI consent, which Stubbles would never give, unless they are going to break the rules. Now, those spooks at the CIA, they have a little bit of different moral compass than our favorite munchkin. Your transfer was so quick that they didn't have time to plan very well and I happen to have mercenaries on speed dial so I was able to get my group together and thwart their kidnapping attempt."
"So you saved me from the CIA kidnapping me and most likely taking me to a black site where they would have tortured me?" Jane managed to choke out.
"Well," Rich responded almost sheepishly, "Boston and I love a good romance and you and Stubbles are the ultimate real life fairy tale love story. It would have been tragic to let the story end that way."
"Thank you. Both of you." Jane's sincerity was heartfelt. She wasn't sure how or why Rich Dot Com had taken a liking to her, but she was sure it just saved her life.
"Your welcome," Boston replied for the both of them. "But there is more to the story."
"How could there be more? You saved me and brought me here." Jane said.
"That is true, but apparently you are a very wanted woman."
"What do you mean?"
"When our group got there, the CIA had already killed the drivers. My guys killed the CIA and went in the back to get you out."
"Wait, the guy who broke in the back of the truck was shot and killed after I head butted him."
"Yes, exactly. That saved me some money as I had to pay him the other half of his contract when he got back. He got killed so I kept the two million. So thanks for that. Anyways, there was apparently another group that wanted you and what was left of my crew was able to kill them and get you here safely."
"Who were the other guys? What did they want?" She asked in quick succession.
"We're not sure. We are monitoring the situation through our contacts and then we will figure out the next steps."
"But, we have to let Kurt know I'm okay. I mean, he is looking for me, right?" Jane wondered aloud, self doubt starting to creep into her mind. "He's still probably pretty angry but…" she let the last part of her sentence trail off.
Boston reached out and took her left hand and Rich did the same with her right. "Look at me," Rich demanded as he squeezed her hand gently, "He is beside himself with worry. We have to wait until the time is right because we can't have them shipping you off again or we will be right back where we started. They are uncovering new information and I am certain that you will be cleared of any wrong doing once everything comes to light. Until then, we will keep you safe, here."
Jane felt the tears start to from in her eyes. She couldn't do anything but nod.
Boston offered reassuring words. "Jane, just get a good night sleep. We will know more in the morning."
"Okay, thank you both again." She said as she got up from the table. She walked back to her room accompanied by Clerie and fell into a fitful sleep.
6 Hours Earlier (location unknown)
"Do you have everything prepared?" the young man asked the doctor.
The doctor replied, "Yes, we've made the necessary adjustments based on the feedback we got from the original handler. We have upped the dosage to help eliminate any flashbacks and we believe the outcome will be the same this time around: cognitive memory will remain intact but her personal narrative will be erased."
"Good, then let's proceed." He stated.
The young man turned his attention to the girl on the operating table. "This is what you've trained for. Close your eyes it will all be over soon."
The girl on the table closed her eyes and felt the pinch of the needle on her forearm followed by a burning liquid then blackness.