Flameout Chapter 23
Jane had been paying close attention to the amount of personnel that Maura had hired recently. She was concerned, as she was not able to access the background checks that had been run by the department as they were not police personnel. Not that she had access to the background checks of other employees, but she felt in this case she should. All of Maura's employees worked for the commonwealth and not BPD, they merely worked with BPD.
Knowing that it was an election year, Maura had acted quickly when the governor gave her permission to order new equipment and hire additional personnel. She knew how politics and budgets worked. She knew that the governor could be a one-term governor. So, she struck while the iron was hot. She reviewed hundreds of applications and found enough qualified individuals to fill all of the new positions that she was allowed to create.
Jane had a list of about fifteen individuals that she wanted to check on. She knew she could get in trouble for using BPD resources so she called an old buddy of hers that was a private investigator and she hired him to investigate those fifteen individuals. Something in her gut told her that not all of these candidates were who they said they were. Without seeing their background files, she couldn't further figure out what their issue was. It would cost her a chunk of change to have them all investigated and she felt that it was worth it. She had the money so she put the wheels in motion.
Her friend, Liam, told her it would take him a few weeks maybe even a month to have them all fully checked out. She wanted it down quicker but she had to work with what and who she had available to her. It was important but she did not want to resort to using BPD resources and getting in trouble and possibly losing her job. Jane knew she could not confide in Maura about her gut feelings about these individuals. She knew that she could still get in trouble with Maura when she found out, but she was willing to live with that. Protecting Maura and the children was now her top priority. She prioritized the list and Liam said he would let her know as each individual's background was checked.
Once Jane opened her email upon arriving in Syracuse, she noticed that Liam had sent her the results of the investigation of the first person on her list. There were no surprises and Jane was pleased and not pleased at the same time. Her gut was normally accurate. There must be something in the results, she would take a closer look at the report when she went to the base. She knew she would have some free time to review the report.
Come Sunday morning, Jane dressed in her flight suit and was ready to walk out the door. She had a rough time breaking free of Maura's embrace. Maura loved the look of Jane in her flight suit. Maura also loved all of the zippers and how she had easy access to Jane's body via several zippers, one right above Jane's sex and one on each hip.
"Maur, come on, you can't keep unzipping my zippers. I have to leave."
"Jane, I had no idea that I would have such easy access to your sex with this uniform. I find that simply amazing and I am enjoying this. Your abs are easily assessable and on display because you only have half of a t-shirt on. Aren't you suppose to wear a complete t-shirt?"
"Maur, I promise I will let you fuck me later, when I get home. Right now, I must get to work. I don't want to be late on my first day back, and they aren't going to inspect what length of t-shirt I am wearing. It gets hot wearing this flight suit all day."
"Have you ever noticed that you cuss more when you are in military mode?"
Jane thought for a few minutes and then replied, "I haven't really thought about it, but I guess I do. It just comes so naturally; you should hear all the guys at work. I am mild compared to them."
After several minutes, Jane made sure that all of her zippers were zipped up and she proceeded out of the bedroom. The children were in the living room watching cartoons. Maura had lightened up on the time that the children were allowed to watch television since Jane had moved in with them. Jane flopped down on the center of the couch in between the children and pulled them both in for a hug. Jane loved the children as if they were her own and she did not shy off from showing them affection.
When Jane arrived on base, she went directly to her desk. Several of the guys had nodded to her as she walked down the hall. When she arrived at her desk a young lieutenant was sitting in her desk and all of her items were not on her desk. 'What the hell,' she thought as she approached the desk. She coughed to get the lieutenant's attention and he promptly stood up upon seeing her. "Hello, ma'am, how may I help you?"
"That's my desk, where are all of my belongings?"
The lieutenant was new to the unit and didn't know who the hell she was. That flustered Jane as she prided herself on knowing all the members of the unit. Then she thought about it and she had been gone for over six months, things have bound to have changed while she wasn't there and Ace couldn't be expected to keep her up to date on everything.
She went to the squadron commander's office and found the office empty. She looked around and found her stuff in boxes in the corner of the office. Just then Ace walked in. "Ace what the hell is going on? Why are my boxes in the corner of this office and why is some newbie sitting at my desk?"
"Well Major Rizzoli, you are out of uniform and your presence is requested in the Wing Commander's office immediately."
"Did you just call me Major? Wait, have you been promoted?" Jane noticed that Ace was wearing a gold leaf insignia on his shoulders, the insignia of a Major.
"Yes, and yes. We both were promoted about five months ago. Colonel Noble has been anxious for you to get back to work, so we better get to his office."
Jane just stood there in shock so Ace grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the office. It took them a few minutes to arrive at Colonel Noble's office and Jane was still in somewhat of a confused state when the commander's aide announced her arrival. Col Noble greeted Jane at the door and told her, "Well, I am so happy to have you back. Glad that you are up and walking. I must say that you are out of uniform, Major Rizzoli."
The colonel smiled and handed Jane new epaulets with the rank of Major. He shook Jane's hand and congratulated her. On the back of his door was a flight suit with the sewn rank and her new name patch. "Oh, and by the way Major Rizzoli, today at 3 PM you will be given command of the fighter squadron. I hope you are ready for your new responsibilities."
The look on Jane's face was priceless. The colonel then said, "I hope you don't mind foregoing the promotion ceremony so we can have the change of command ceremony. Cindy is at your condo explaining everything to Maura right now. She will make sure that Maura and the children will be here for the ceremony. I guess I should ask, do you accept the position of squadron commander?"
"Yes sir, I do. Thank you." Jane had dreamed of the day when she could be a squadron commander.
"You are welcome, Jane, I know that you will do an excellent job as the fighter squadron commander. It is a lieutenant colonel position however, all of the lieutenant commanders told me that they would like you to hold the position. Your promotion to major was effective five months ago. At two years' time in grade, you will be eligible for promotion to lieutenant colonel. Now I am sure you want to get back to your office and get moved in. You are not on the flight schedule for today. Your promotion was supposed to have taken place last March and I am looking into that with the Guard Bureau. I might be able to back date the promotion being as it was personnel's fault and not ours. Your paperwork was lost. I will explain the whole situation later, for now, you are a Major, so please take the flight suit hanging on the back of the door and get changed."
"Once again thank you, sir." They shared a laugh and she and Ace left the commander's office. Jane and Ace went back to Jane's new office, after Jane stopped in the nearest ladies room to change flight suits. Ace helped her unpack the two boxes and arrange the office. He was not on the flying schedule that day either as he was Jane's flying partner. They would resume flying tomorrow. Jane was excited that Maura and the children would be there. Cindy had called Ace and said that their boys and Maura and the children would be there to have lunch with them.
It didn't take Jane and Ace long to get the office set up. Jane felt strange being a Major, she was so use to being a Captain. Jane learned from Ace that it was found to be an administrative oversight when Jane and Ace's promotion to Major had originally been submitted. They found the paperwork when they went through a former employee's desk that had retired from service. The new employee had wanted a new desk so the old desk was hauled off. Apparently, the paperwork had been on top of the pile that had been shoved into a drawer in an effort to clean off the desk and when the drawer was opened back up the paperwork had been caught and fell out of the drawer into the back of the desk.
At that time, it was not possible to back date the promotion. However, when Colonel Noble found out about the mishap, he immediately promoted both Ace and Jane to the rank of Major. Jane just happened to be out on medical leave at the time. Colonel Noble asked that Ace not inform Jane as he wanted to tell her when she returned from her medical leave.
When Colonel Noble found out that Maura and the children were arriving early to have lunch with Jane, he made a few phone calls. At 1:30 Jane was to be in Colonel Noble's office. She arrived at 1:25 with Maura and the children. Colonel Noble had arranged a small promotion ceremony.
During the ceremony when Colonel Noble handed Jane her new rank he asked, "Is there anybody special that you would like to pin on your new rank?" Jane didn't hesitate to turn to Maura and the children. Jane handed Maura one pin and Charlie and Bella the other. She knelt down and they pinned the rank onto to her uniform. It was really just double-sided tape as Jane was already wearing her new flight suit with her new rank sewn on. Jane hugged Maura and the children and the colonel finished the impromptu ceremony. Colonel Noble, Ace, Cindy and the boys congratulated Jane and then they all headed over to the hanger for the change of command ceremony.
Maura wanted to hold Jane's hand but she knew that with Jane being in uniform she couldn't so she walked alongside her. She had never attended a change of command ceremony so Cindy sat beside her so that she could explain what was happening. Maura was impressed with the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony. She was proud of Jane.
Jane didn't know, but Colonel Noble had called Angela and Gen and told them about the ceremony so Angela, Frankie, Tommy, Gen and Frost had flown in and were in the audience. He knew that Jane's family as well as Gen and Frost would want to be there for Jane. The Syracuse police chief picked Angela, Frankie, Tommy, Gen and Frost up at the airport and made sure that they arrived on the military side of the airport in time for the ceremony.
Nina had arrived and was sitting with Maura, Cindy and the children. She didn't want to miss the ceremony either. Jane was now a part of her life as well. She had formed a friendship with Jane during her brief hospital stay. She had also been texting with Jane after her return to Boston. Jane wanted to make sure that Maura was truly okay and Nina was able to keep Jane in the loop. Nina loved Jane's sense of humor and was happy to have her as a friend.
Not knowing that Angela, Frankie, Tommy, Gen and Frost were going to be in town for the remainder of the weekend, Maura decided to have a dinner for everyone and truly celebrate Jane's promotion and new position. Maura conversed with Cindy. They knew the perfect place and Maura gave Cindy her credit card and Cindy called and made all the arrangements.
Maura knew the owner of the restaurant and knew that they had a back room that would be perfect for such an occasion. They had stopped renting out the room but Maura knew that they would open it up for her. She had saved their son's life a few years back and they told her that she would never have to pay for a meal in their restaurant again. She would pay them and the help that they would have to hire for the evening. Maura was very generous.
Maura hated it but she knew that money talked and with short notice events like this, the money would do the talking for her. The Isles name had a great reputation and the work that the Isles Foundation had accomplished over the years brought a great deal of attention to her. She was a shy individual but when she wanted something like hosting this celebration dinner for Jane, she wasn't shy at all. It helped that Cindy had great communication skills and offered to assist Maura. Cindy had no qualms about throwing Maura's name around. The Isles name opened up quite a few opportunities for her as well. Maura had hired Cindy to work on some projects for her and Cindy was very happy to work for the Isles Foundation.
Jane was so surprised when she saw her family and Gen and Frost. She had no idea that they had flown in for the ceremony. Heck she would have invited them but she didn't know about the ceremony until that morning. Jane wasn't surprised to know that Maura and Cindy had thrown together a last-minute celebration dinner. Those two could do almost anything when they set their minds to it.
The dinner was nice and Jane enjoyed being able to spend time with her friends and family. The past year had been tough on her and these are the people that helped her the most. She was pleased that they were there to stand with her as she achieved some additional milestones in her life. A life that may not have been if the events of that fateful day over six months had turned out differently. Jane was thankful that she was alive and that her family and friends were able to be there with her.
Monday was just a normal day at the office for Jane. Yeah right, Jane thought to herself. She had to learn quickly all about her new responsibilities of being the squadron commander. She was lucky that Colonel Noble had appointed Ace as her vice commander, so he was right there with her, except that he had actually been performing his duties for the last five months under the former squadron commander.
Jane was happy that she was able to fly mid-day before her late afternoon meeting. Knowing that Jane was going to be there for the week, Ace had taken the week off from his job and he would be performing some of his annual training days while she was making up her missed drill days.
Jane loved working with and flying with Ace. That was one thing she loved about the Air National Guard, most of the time people stayed in their positions. While on active duty, people moved from base to base during their career. With the ANG quite a few people stayed at the base, so it was like a family.
When Jane came home Monday evening, Maura was upset that Jane no longer had her flight suit on. She had plans and they included Jane being in her flight suit. After the children went to bed, Maura asked Jane, "Sweetheart, can you put your flight suit back on. I want to experiment some more and discover all about those zippers and what I can do to you while you are still in your flight suit."
Jane didn't hesitate in responding, "Sure, Maur, but I am going to wear my old flight suit as I don't want to get the new one dirty. I have to wear it in the morning."
"That is fine, but please hurry. I have been waiting. I didn't know we were going to have company." Angela, Frankie, Tommy, Gen and Frost had all flown out shortly after lunch on Monday, but Jane was flying so Maura had to wait until Jane got home and it was driving her crazy. She made sure that the children were ready for bed early so she had Jane all to herself. She knew she couldn't keep Jane up to late but she wanted to have her way with her fighter pilot.