Vanish: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

ladies seem to have brought me a heaping dose of it.”
    He backs the car out of the barn, and we begin to bump along the dirt road, past the ramshackle farmhouse, past a stagnant pond. Suddenly we hear a heavy
whump.
At once Joe stops the car, rolls down his window, and stares toward the woods from which we have just emerged.
    Black smoke is rising above the trees, billowing up in angry columns that swirl into the brightening sky. I hear Olena give a startled cry. My hands are sweating and shaking as I think of the cabin we have just left, now in flames. And I think of burning flesh. Joe says nothing; he only stares at the smoke in shocked silence, and I wonder if he is cursing his bad luck at ever having met us.
    After a moment, he releases a deep breath. “Jesus,” he murmurs. “Whoever these people are, they play for keeps.” He turns his attention back to the road. I know he is afraid, because I can see his hands clenching the steering wheel. I can see the white of his knuckles. “Ladies,” he says softly, “I think it’s time to vanish.”

TWENTY
    Jane closed her eyes and surfed the crest of pain like a wave rider.
Please let this one be over soon. Make it stop, make it stop.
She felt sweat bloom on her face as the contraction built, gripping her so tightly that she could not moan, could not even breathe. Beyond her closed eyelids, the lights seemed to dim, all sounds muffled by the rush of her own pulse. Only vaguely did she register the disturbance in the room. A banging on the door. Joe’s tense demands.
    Then, suddenly, a hand closed around Jane’s, its grasp warm and familiar. It can’t be, she thought as the pain of the contraction eased, as her vision slowly cleared. She focused on the face gazing down at her, and she went still in wonder.
    “No,” she whispered. “No, you shouldn’t be here.”
    He cupped her face, pressed his lips to her forehead, her hair. “Everything’s going to be fine, sweetheart. Just fine.”
    “This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”
    He smiled. “You knew I wasn’t too bright when you married me.”
    “What were you thinking?”
    “About you. Only about you.”
    “Agent Dean,” said Joe.
    Slowly, Gabriel rose to his feet. So many times before, Jane had looked at her husband and thought how blessed she was, but never as much as at this moment. He carried no weapon, held no advantage, yet as he turned to face Joe, he projected only quiet determination. “I’m here. Now will you let my wife go?”
    “After we talk. After you hear us out.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “You have to promise you’ll follow up on what we tell you. You won’t let this die with us.”
    “I said I’d listen. That’s all you asked. And you said you’d let these people go. You may have a death wish, but they don’t.”
    Olena said, “We don’t wish anyone to die.”
    “Then prove it. Release these people. Then I’ll sit here and listen for as long as you want me to. Hours, days. I’m at your disposal.” He stared, unflinching, at their captors.
    A moment passed in silence.
    Suddenly, Joe leaned toward the couch, grabbed Dr. Tam’s arm, and yanked her to her feet.
    “Go stand by the door, doctor,” he ordered. He turned and pointed to the pair of women on the other couch. “You two, get up. Both of you.”
    The women didn’t budge; they just gaped at Joe, as though certain this was a trick, that if they moved, there would be consequences.
    “Go! Get up!”
    The receptionist gave a sob and stumbled to her feet. Only then did the other woman follow her. They both edged toward the door, where Dr. Tam still stood frozen. Hours of captivity had so cowed them that they did not yet believe their ordeal was about to end. Even as Tam reached toward the door, she was watching Joe, waiting for his order to halt.
    “You three can leave,” Joe said.
    The instant the women had stepped out of the room, Olena slammed the door shut behind them and locked it again.
    “What about my wife?” said Gabriel. “Let her go, too.”
    “I can’t. Not yet.”
    “Our agreement—”
    “I agreed to release hostages, Agent Dean. I didn’t say which ones.”
    Gabriel flushed in anger. “And you think I’m going to trust you now? You think I’d listen to a goddamn thing you say?”
    Jane reached for her husband’s hand, and felt tendons taut with rage. “Just listen to him. Let him have his say.”
    Gabriel released a breath. “Okay, Joe. What do you want to tell