Chapter 1. The Prison Riot

Charles Hoyt stretched out on his bunk bed, the Boston newspapers tucked neatly beside him. Breakfast over he had twenty minutes to scan the headlines before his hour long exercise period began out in the yard. He scanned the headlines to see if any of Boston's finest made headlines; he was looking for Detective Jane Rizzoli, to be precise.

His Jane. He smiled slightly at the thought of the day he would have a chance to pin Jane down again, literally. He licked his lips when he recalled the day he almost had a chance to claim her as his, and enjoy her blood on his hands.

A commotion outside of his cell disturbed his reverie. He checked the time. The guards were early. Quickly Hoyt got up and went to the small slot in his death row cell. Several inmates ran past his cell, dragging a guard. The guard was minus his cap, firearm and necktie. Check that, Hoyt thought. He's wearing his tie as his gag. Hoyt stepped back from his cell door for a moment and grinned.

Finally, he wanted to shout. A way out of the prison so he could be reunited with his Jane. Hoyt saw the handle of his prison cell door jiggle and the door swung open. A large beefy man dressed in inmate blues motioned to Hoyt. "Let's go, buddy, time to swim."

Jane grabbed the container of coffees and headed to the morgue. She stopped for Maura's favorite specialty coffee and wanted to give it to her first. Lately Frost had developed a taste for Maura's special blend and tried to grab it from Jane whenever he could. Jane wanted Maura to have her special coffee; Frost could go buy his own.

"Hi, Jane," Maura said. She just completed the first autopsy of the morning. Stripping off her gown and gloves she piled them in the toxic laundry bin and settled at her desk.

"Hey, M, got your coffee for you," Jane smiled. She noticed Maura's tired eyes and pale face. "I hope you haven't been here too long."

"Couple of hours. I have the rest of the family to autopsy in a bit. I wanted to finish the file on the father before Mom and the kids had their time under my knife."

Jane set the container down on Maura's desk and pulled her into an embrace.

"You okay, Maura? You look awfully tired," Jane hated to see Maura this tired. The medical examiner was quite the trooper, Jane always admitted, but ever since they started dating she took an even greater interest in how Maura Isles looked and felt.

"I think I may be coming down with something, Jane. My throat has been a little scratchy lately and all I want to do is sleep."

"You may have a cold coming on, Maur. Take some extra vitamin C, drink some juice. As soon as you can, put your feet up and take a nap," Jane suggested. If she could she'd take Maura's place so she could send her girlfriend home for a long snooze but Jane Rizzoli was a homicide detective, not a cutter upper of bodies. Maura looked horrified at the idea.

"Jane, a nap at work? I've never slept here," Maura was the ultimate professional and preferred conducting her private life away from the Boston precinct. Jane shrugged her shoulders.

"Just a thought, M. As tired as you admit to being I thought maybe taking a nap between autopsies or during your lunch hour might help you feel better."

Maura allowed herself to be pulled into another embrace. She leaned against Jane, inhaling her scent. Every time she thought of it she was grateful for the day she was so upset at the thought of losing Jane she blurted out her feelings for the detective. Maura couldn't think of how sad her life would be right now if Jane Rizzoli didn't love her. As in, in love with her, head over heels, let's move in together and have children kind of love.

Maura smiled. Jane looked down at her love and caught the smile.

"All right, what's swimming in that big brain of yours?" she asked affectionately. Jane still remembered the day Maura blurted out how she felt toward Jane and how that emboldened Jane to reveal her own feelings for the medical examiner.

"I love your body wash," Maura said. Jane laughed.

"Time for coffee, Maura. Let's see if we can wake you up," Jane said just as her phone rang.

"Rizzoli."

"Jane, Lt. Cavanaugh wants all of us in his office, Dr. Isles included. See you in a few minutes," Vince Korsak said and hung up. Jane sighed. What's up now? She thought.

"Grab your coffee, M, we're wanted in Cavanaugh's office."

"Why?" Maura asked. She didn't like surprises and being summoned to Lt. Cavanaugh's office was rarely a treat.

"I don't know, Maura, Korsak didn't say." Jane hit the elevator button and they joined their colleagues a few moments later. Jane looked at the crew in Cavanaugh's office. Beside Jane and Maura, Frost and Korsak were on the other side of the office. The door opened and four uniformed officers joined them. Jane raised her eyebrows as Korsak but he shrugged his shoulders. No one seemed to know the reason for the meeting.

Lt. Cavanaugh entered his office and swept his eyes over the group.

"Everyone's here so let's get started. Good morning. That's the last civilized thing I'm going to say for the rest of the day. The state prison is in an uprising as we speak. Both Army and Marine national guard units have been deployed, the navy is sending two warships and helicopters to help with surveillance and a green beret unit is being readied for a prison invasion." Jane heard Maura's gasp of surprise at Cavanaugh's words. Out of sight of Cavanaugh Maura's hand found Jane's and she gave it a squeeze.

"We know very little right now, except that several guards and medical personnel have been taken hostage. There are injuries and transport has been arranged with the inmates in charge to evacuate the injured. At the same time two bodies were loaded into the evac chopper, both deaths were guards killed at the outset.

Because of the outstanding reputation of our medical examiner, both bodies are being sent to us for autopsy. I know you're busy today, Dr. Isles, but the governor has specifically requested you to do the autopsies of both guards. Your assistants will be handling the homicide victims you were originally planning for today. The guards' remains should be here in approximately thirty minutes. We need to know everything you can get from these bodies, Dr. Isles, for future prosecution against the inmates involved. Because the inmates are presently in charge, when the remains arrive, I want extra detail in the morgue to assist when the body bags are opened. We don't want any unusual surprises. That's it, ladies and gentlemen. Any questions?" Cavanaugh moved around behind his desk as if he knew questions wouldn't be tolerated. The detectives glanced at each other partly in disbelief at the news and partly wanting to be on guard to protect their precinct. And our medical examiner, Jane thought. Despite her own feelings toward Maura she knew the rest of the precinct held Maura in high esteem because of her professionalism and depth of knowledge.

"I must admit, Jane, it's been awhile since I've been through the protocol of handling this type of situation," Maura said. Jane's fingers brushed against Maura's hand.

"It's okay, Maura. We've got this. We have to review this protocol once a quarter for our certification. I think it's imbedded in everyone's mind. You'll be well protected, don't worry," Jane replied. Her tone of voice fought to remain neutral, for the sake of being professionals at work but Maura knew her guarantee of protection was for Maura the girlfriend as well as Maura the colleague.

Jane motioned to Frost and Korsak. "Have a seat by my desk, Maura, we'll map it out before we go downstairs to accept the delivery." For fifteen minutes the three detectives took Maura through the detail, step by step. Maura was reassured she'd be safe.

"We should probably head downstairs, now, since the helicopter was due to arrive by now," Jane mentioned. Maura's phone rang.

"Isles," Maura said, then listened. She nodded her head. "We're coming down now," Maura said in the phone then closed it shut.

"The guards' remains are here but my assistant went ahead and accepted delivery. He said he opened the one body bag without incident."

"It's probably okay, Maura, but let's check things out. Frost, Korsak, go ahead and tell Cavanaugh they're here. I'm going downstairs with Maura."

Jane led the way off the elevator. It was her nature to want to put herself between Maura and any potential danger. She entered the morgue and noted nothing different except for two body bags unloaded onto the respective autopsy tables. Jane nodded at the assistant.

"These are the guards?" she asked. The tech nodded.

"I'm sorry, Detective but the helicopter pilot wanted me to sign off and I wanted to be certain."

"Of course. Since you opened the one body bag without incident, everything's probably okay. Let's take a look, shall we?" Jane said and slid the zipper down. A hand popped out and before she knew what was happening Charles Hoyt was standing on the autopsy table.

"Hello, Jane."