Chapter One

Tris

"Suspect is heading down East Madison Street, north towards Millennium Park. Suspect is a white male, blonde hair, white t-shirt, and blue jeans." A voice crackles over the scanner as I'm following closely behind the suspect. "Be advised, Detective Prior is in pursuit, backup is needed." I huff once, swerving between people, and trying to avoid running into anybody.

The man's pace starts to slow as he runs through more people and then somebody is tackling him to the ground. A crowd starts to gather around us, but thankfully there are a few police arriving and pushing the crowd back while my partner, Detective Tobias Eaton, cuffs the suspect.

"I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything, I swear!" The man is exclaiming as Tobias yanks him up to his feet.

He rolls his eyes and just gives me a look. "Yeah, right. You can tell that to the judge. We caught you red-handed." He looks back at me, eyeing me up and down quickly. "You good?" He asks, and I nod.

"I'm fine." I'm just annoyed that he took the guy down – I had him.

Tobias shoves the guy forward, one hand on his shoulder to direct him towards one of the waiting police cars that had finally arrived. "Watch your head." He says as he pushes the guy into the back of the car and then shuts the door, ignoring the man's protests about being innocent.

"Is the girl okay?" Tobias asks, turning back to face me.

I nod. "Yeah, she's fine. He barely had time to do much besides ripping her t-shirt before I busted him." I cross my arms over my chest and glare at him. "I had him."

He looks at me, confused. "I'm sorry?"

"I had him! I was less than a second away from taking him down, but then you stepped in."

Tobias just looks at me. "Are you serious right now? Who cares how close you were? I had the chance to tackle him so I took it! This isn't training or the academy – this isn't a competition. If you have the chance, you take it. If you don't, you don't. It's that simple."

He's right, but that doesn't mean I'm still not annoyed. I've been working as hard as I can to try and prove myself, prove that I'm an important part of this team and that I can be an asset. I'm young and most of the officers in our department were skeptical about me being hired – especially as a detective. So far, I've managed to do a good job of putting them to shame for doubting me and having Tobias as a partner has helped.

People respect him, respect his authority, and automatically trust him. He's been a big part in making sure that people don't doubt me, but he still has his moments of cockiness that make me think he wants to be the "star student".

We head back to the station and Tobias escorts the suspect into an interrogation room, shoving him down onto the metal chair. I stand behind the one-way mirror, flicking the intercom button on so I can hear what they're discussing.

Nothing exciting happens – the guy just complains about the handcuffs being too tight, being innocent and that he's being set up. And then he demands a lawyer.

Shaking my head, I flick the switch off and head back to my desk.

"Prior, my office. Now." I look up to see my sergeant leaning out from her office. I quickly try to gauge her facial expression, trying to see if she was angry or not. It was so easy to piss Jeanine Matthews off.

I make my way into her office and Tobias steps in a few seconds after me, looking just as confused as I feel.

Jeanine takes a seat at her desk and folds her arms in front of her on top of the desk, looking up at the two of us. "How many times do I have to tell you two – stop arguing in public!" She sighs, exasperated. "It looks bad on both of you and it looks bad on the department. There's already enough problems with the public's opinion of the police, the last thing that we need is to have two officers publicly arguing." We both murmur and apology. "You guys are partners – start acting like it."

After a few moments, she rubs her hands down her face and then looks at Tobias. "Did you get anything out of Anderson?"

He shakes his head. "He didn't say anything except that he's innocent and then he lawyered up." Tobias scoffs. "Tris caught him before he was able to assault the girl, who made an eyewitness identification – and so did four other girls. He's not getting away with it."

"Alright, I'll take it from here. I have another assignment for you two." She stands up and hands us each a manila folder. "There's talk of a sex-trafficking ring downtown. I need you two to stake it out and see what's going on."

We take our leave and sit down at our desks that are opposite of each other. "Head out around six?" He suggests, looking at me over his laptop.

Later that night, the two of us are sitting in an unmarked car across the street from the house with the possible sex-traffic ring. It's cold, the heater is on and Tobias just recently stopped to get us coffee, my hands clutched around the cup trying to keep them warm. The car's lights are off and our windows are tinted, nobody able to see us in it.

Tobias and I spent less than five minutes discussing tactics – there's an ESU van parked a block over, ready and waiting for us to give any sign to go in.

"So…you don't think that the Blackhawks are going to make the playoffs this year?" Tobias asks, his voice laced with disbelief.

I shake my head. "Absolutely not. They're not constant enough – they win two, lose five, win five lose three. Kane and Crawford are constantly out with injuries this season and the team's looking a little worn down." I shrug, sipping my coffee.

He shakes his head. "I don't believe you. How can you be so pessimistic about your own city's team?"

"I'm just thinking logically. Regardless of whether I'm a fan, which I am, I can see that they need to step up their game and improve their play if they want to make it to the finals again."

Tobias laughs without humor and keeps smiling at me. Something in my stomach twists and I feel my cheeks warm up o I turn to look out the windshield.

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream pierces the quiet of the night and Tobias and I are both out of the car in seconds, heading towards the house. "ESU, now." Tobias orders into the walkie talkie. We both take our guns from our hip-holsters and head up the steps, knocking once and announcing our presence. Ten seconds later, footsteps are heard behind us as ESU approaches and then Tobias is kicking open the door.

"Chicago PD, hands up now!" Tobias barks. There's a good fifteen people in the small living room – eight of them girls in booty shorts and tank tops. "Don't move!" Tobias threatens, pointing his gun at one of the older men in the corner.

ESU makes their way into the house, handcuffing the men and women in the room. I make my way over to a girl, curled into herself in the corner of the room wearing booty shorts and a tight tank top, her brown eyes wide and scared. "Hi, sweetie." I holster my gun to avoid scaring her more, and crouch down in front of her – she doesn't look more than fourteen years old. My throat tightens. "What's your name?"

She looks at me, tears pooling in her eyes. "She doesn't speak English." A voice speaks up behind me. I glance over my shoulder and one of the women in handcuffs is looking at the girl, worry clear on her face. There was an almost…maternal look to how she was staring at the girl. "Her name's Josephine – she speaks Spanish."

A suspect cooperating without being forced? Strange.

I can't speak Spanish besides 'hello' and 'goodbye'. Holding my hand out to the girl, I help her to her feet and give her my CPD jacket and steering her out of the room full over overgrown men, staring at her, at her legs and body.

"You got this under control?" I ask Tobias, passing by him. He nods, face serious. "I'll meet you back at the station."

More officers were showing up so he could get a ride back with one of them. I help Josephine into the back of the car and then head to the station.

I walk her into one of the…nicer interrogation rooms and place a bottle of water and a granola bar in front of her. "You're okay, sweetie. You're safe here." I reassure her, not knowing how much English she can understand. Wracking my brain, I try to conjure up my high school Spanish education – "Estás seguro…"

Her body visibly relaxes and she wipes her tears away with the back of her hand. The door behind me opens and Christina walks in – she's one of the tech geniuses and, thankfully, speaks Spanish.

Christina gives me a friendly smile and I make my way over to her. "What do you need to know?" She asks, eyes glancing over to the girl quickly and then back to me.

"Just…find out how she got here, who brought her and if she knows where she may have been going. And if you can, find out how old she is and if…if she was raped. If she was, you're going to have to come with us to the hospital so that we have a translator." Christina nods, all business now.

I leave the room and when I'm back in the office, Tobias is walking somebody into the other interrogation room – an older woman, the one who told me Josephine's name. I follow them.

Standing in front of the glass, I watch as he points to the metal chair and she sits, looking rather smug. I press the button on the wall and the speaks crackle to life. "…What were you doing in that house?" Tobias asks, his voice threatening but low. He's leaning on his arms, the palms of his hands pressed to the table.

"I was delivering food." She says nonchalantly, fluttering her eyelashes.

I bite the insides of my cheeks.

Tobias shakes his head, shifting from one foot to the other – he' irritated. "Sure you were. I'm only giving you one more chance – if you cooperate with us, I'll make sure that the DA gives you a good deal. Tell us who is the behind this and where you're sending the girls."

She shrugs again. "I don't know. I don't deal with any of that."

Jeanine appears at my side just as Tobias slams his hands against the table top. "Stop lying! There were fourteen-year-old girls in that house. You knew their names, their backgrounds. You had a part in this – in a part of those men, and who knows how many others, assaulting those girls. Do you know what that means?" She shifts in her chair. "It means that you're an accomplish to, so far, twelve counts of statutory rape. And I'm sure the DA would love to add in a few more charges that will put you away for the rest of your life."

"The other men are giving up information left and right – they're all illegal immigrants, the Johns…" Jeanine says, glancing at me. "The other men there, some of them hold government positions." I stiffen and she notices, cracking a smirk. "I'm sure your father is going to love to hear about this."

He'll keep it out of the news. He'll find a way.

Christina is at my other side, arms crossed tightly across her chest. "Josephine is fifteen, she came here from a small town in Mexico and she was supposed to be going to New York City."

"Who brought her here?" I ask.

Christina laughs, no humor in the laugh. "Her parents, unbelievably."

Both Jeanine and I look at her, surprise etched on our faces. "What?!" We both say together.

"Her parents pulled her from her bed in the middle of the night, handed her off to some men where she was placed in the back of a van and they were brought up here." She sounds disgusted and I can't blame her.

"How did they get past border patrol?" I ask, incredulous.

Jeanine scoffs, looking back into the interrogation room. "You'd be surprised how easily some people can be bribed."

The woman in the room with Tobias is still trying to be cute and flirty with him, except he's not having it and it's starting to frustrate her.

But it still makes me want to slap her.

I turn away from the scene in front of me and pull Christina with me. "Did you find out if Josephine was assaulted?" I ask and I know the answer from the look on her face. Sighing, I glance over to where she's still seated in the room, nibbling on the granola bar. "We're going to have to take her to go get a rape kit done and I need you to explain it to her."

Christina nods and follows me into the room. We both take a seat in front of the girl and her brown eyes are ringed in red from crying. I glance at Christina and nod, and she starts to explain to the girl what is going to happen.

Josephine isn't too happy about going to the hospital, but she still agrees as long as Christina and I stay with her. We both give her reassuring smiles and head out.

As we're leaving, Tobias is walking out of the interrogation room with the woman in front of him, her hands handcuffed behind her and looking rather ticked off. I can't help my smirk.

Author's Note: This is another head's up, but there are going to be topics discussed and brought up throughout this story that might be upsetting for some people. If the mention of rape or anything along those lines makes you uncomfortable, I would suggest staying away from this story. Basically, if you can't watch Law & Order: SVU or similar shows, don't read this. I'm not going to avoid talking about the topics because they do play a major part in the storyline.