Chapter 1
Shots rang out as they rounded the corner into the dimly lit parking garage. Jane went for her gun, pushing Maura back against the wall with just enough time to shield her friend as she caught a bullet in the shoulder.
Jane fell back, crumpling into Maura even as she fought through the shooting pain to raise her weapon again and fire in the direction of the shooter. The man ducked away and the bullet went wide, her arm spasming with the pain and effort of keeping the gun up and absorbing the recoil. Lifting her arm was close to impossible, her shoulder felt heavy and pain radiated out from her wound when she tried to move it.
Maura was on her knees in front of Jane, having pulled her back up against the wall and as much out of sight as was possible. Her eyes were wide in panic as she pulled back Jane's jacket to try and get a better look at the wound, Jane wincing at the movement.
"It looks like a through-and-through. We have to keep pressure on it," Maura was instructing, struggling to keep her voice level as she tried to reassure her friend.
"Maura-" Jane called out urgently, staring over the woman's shoulder.
Maura whipped around to see the shooter advancing towards them. An overwhelming sense of impending doom overtook Jane as she watched the man reloading own gun, and she fought unsuccessfully to lift her weapon again. He was going to shoot them, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Maura's sudden movement took her completely by surprise. In a moment she had grabbed Jane's weapon and spun around to face the man, and as he raised his arm she fired twice hitting him squarely chest. He went down immediately.
Maura stayed frozen, crouched protectively in front of Jane, gun still trained on his lifeless form, tensed for any movement. There was only silence besides Jane's ragged breathing. Jane stared at her friend whose face had been transformed into a mask of focused rage. Maura slowly got to her feet and approached the body, gun still ready, moving carefully until she stood in front of him. He was not dead, but he would be soon. He was groaning quietly and staring up at her, determinedly drawing each rattling breath as his body shut down. She tilted her head as she took in his desperate clinging to life, thinking to herself that it would probably be a kindness to put him out of his misery. This man who had hounded and hunted her and made her life hell, now whimpering here like an animal mown down on a highway.
Jane's heart was pounding as she watched Maura standing over the man, watched her raise her weapon, and fire once into his head. The body jerked as the shot rang out. Then Maura lowered her arm again and walked back to Jane.
Jane was staring at her friend in wide-eyed disbelief but Maura didn't seem to notice. She was working on Jane's shoulder again but her focused expression had started to slip; her hands were shaking and she took a long slow breath to calm herself.
"Maura," Jane said urgently, trying to get the woman to look at her.
But sirens and the sound of reinforcements arriving cut through the silence. Maura's head snapped up and she looked around wildly.
"Maura!" Jane tried again, but yelped in pain as the doctor took her hand and pressed it to shoulder.
"Keep pressure on it," she she said firmly, though Jane didn't miss the crack in her voice. "I have to go."
"Maura no!" Jane cried, desperately trying to think how to reason with her friend, fighting through the fuzziness at the edge of her vision as waves of nausea hit her over and over.
Finally Maura met her friend's gaze.
"You can't protect me, Jane," Maura said fiercely, but her voice softened as she added, "and I can't protect you. I have to go."
A car squealed to a halt behind them and one of Paddy Doyle's cronies threw the passenger door open for her.
"Maura, no…" Jane tried again weakly. The pain was dulling all her other senses as it pulsed through her arm, but even as her vision swam she thought she saw a moment of indecision cross her friend's face.
But it was gone almost immediately. Maura took Jane's head in her hands and pressed her lips to Jane's forehead, trying to communicate the turmoil of feelings that were bubbling up in her chest through hot lips. She pulled back and bent down to Jane's ear.
"I love you," she whispered.
Then she was gone. And Jane felt completely broken.