It had been 12 hours since they lost Grey and they were searching tirelessly. Kayla was yawning at her desk. "Well, I am beat. I am going home to get some sleep."
Antonio stopped her from getting up. "Where is the closest hotel? We don't have a place to stay yet. No one from the department had time to get that far. We are lucky we even got the plane tickets."
"The closest hotel is way too expensive and the next closest one is in Chapel Hill. Come stay with me. Our house is plenty big."
Antonio shook his head. "We don't want to invade your personal space."
"Oh, please. The closest hotel is 25 minutes away. Just come on." They walked out to her personal Chevy Impala and she took them to her house, less than ten minutes away. It was a straight shot down two roads and then a turn down a dirt road. They finally got to the white ranch house with a green metal roof. A Pit Bull and German Shepherd came bounding down the steps, barking loudly. Kayla parked in the dead spot of grass right in front of an old barn. They got out and the two detectives just felt calm. They were out in the quiet countryside, the case far from their minds. They followed Kayla up the porch steps. She opened the unlocked door and stepped inside. The inside was sunny with warm colors and comfortable and rustic furniture. "If you guys will follow me, I will give you the tour." She showed them their rooms which were both a good size even with the queen sized bed in the middle of the room. They dropped their bags on the floor and she showed them her room, the hall bath, the kitchen, the dining room, and finally the living room.
"This place is nice. You don't see a whole lot of this in Chicago. Everyone likes things modern."
"I can't stand the cold and white design. It's just not friendly. But anyways, come on. Take these." She handed car keys to Antonio and took them out to the barn. She pulled the heavy doors open to show an old car and a newer Ford Mustang. "So the Mustang is for you guys to use while you are here and don't worry, it has a GPS built in."
"Where would we go without you?"
"We will be stretched all throughout this part of the county, which means a lot of square milage. You two will at some point be sent to investigate a lead while I'm at the station trying to keep everything together."
"Whose car is that?" Halstead ran a hand over the pristine hood of the classic car.
"This is my grandfather's '75 Mustang. When he left it to me in his will, it was a mess. We had to tow it over here. But it wasn't anything a little hard work couldn't fix. I spent 18 months working on it. Now, it works as well as it did the day it was built."
"That's awesome."
"Whenever we catch a free second, we can take a ride around downtown." They nodded right as an F-350 Super Duty parked next to Kayla's car. Grant got out and went to the passenger side, pulling the three boxes of pizza off the floor board.
"Sorry cops, the bakery was closed so I couldn't get you donuts. Will pizza suffice?"
They followed him inside and they gathered around the dining table. "You went all the way to Franklin Street to get pizza?"
He nodded. "I just went for a drive but figured you guys were hungry."
"Hungry and exhausted." She handed the plates of pizza to everyone. She carefully watched Jay and Antonio as they tried the pizza.
Antonio was the first person to say something. "Oh my God, this pizza is amazing. I think this is better than Chicago pizza."
"It's this local family owned pizzeria. Whenever you go in the door, one of them shouts 'hey buddy' and it is my favorite thing ever. They are the stereotypical Italians."
Antonio looked around the table. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this relaxed and happy to just be surrounded by good friends like this.
The next morning when Jay and Antonio woke up, they showered and got dressed before going downstairs. Grant was putting food on the table. "Hey guys. Kayla already ran to the precinct but she said I wasn't allowed to let you leave without eating a good breakfast. So help yourselves." They sat down to plates full of food. There was bacon, scrambled eggs, toast with homemade jelly, and classic southern grits. There were pitchers of orange juice and two cups of coffee with creamer and sugar sitting in front of them. Grant grabbed his jacket from the other end of the table. "I'm going to the fire station and the hospital. I'll let you guys know if Captain Myers wakes up." He left before they could say anything.
Halstead started serving himself some food. "Is it just me or are these the nicest people to exist?"
"I agree with you. I mean, the guy made us breakfast and they let us use her car." Antonio pulled the keys from his pocket.
"Maybe that's just a Southern thing."
They shrugged and started eating. By the time they got to the police station, Kayla was out on another lead so the two of them were assigned to go check out a few more mansions. It was slow and boring until the radios Kayla gave them started going off every few seconds. They snapped to attention when they swore they heard a gun shot. Then their hearts stopped. "Shots fired at the police, I need backup at 115 Morris road!"
Antonio looked at Jay in panic. "That's Kayla."
"Where is Morris Road?"
Antonio checked his phone. "We are less than half a mile." They hopped in the patrol car and the tires spit up dirt as they sped away. "Chicago unit responding to 115 Morris road."
They came screeching to a halt at the scene. Kayla was kneeling next to someone. It was her cousin, Officer Stevenson. "He was shot in the stomach."
"Chicago unit, roll an ambulance, we have an officer shot, repeat, an officer has been shot."
"So the first time I met you guys, we were going after an insane arsonist, this time it's a gun wielding psychopath." She looked at her cousin's face as she kept pressure on his wound. He was drifting into unconsciousness. "Hey, Everett, stay awake!" Antonio took her place as she grabbed his face with her blood covered hands. "Ever!" His eyes barely opened and he kept rocking his head slowly from side to side.
The ambulance arrived and took Everett to the hospital. Now the police were swarming the scene. Jay questioned Kayla. "What happened?"
She had finished cleaning off her hands then took her coworkers to the closed front door of a small trailer home. "I was going to check up on Old Larry. He used to be in the military and he somehow manages to legally get his hands on assault rifles only soldiers should have. I thought there was a slight chance Grey could have come here. So he opens his door and sees me. He's fine. He sees Ever's uniform, he freaks out and draws a gun." She pushed the front door open. The coroner arrived as Antonio and Halstead saw the dead old man. "He shot Ever through the door." She looked down and saw blood on her shirt. "I was trying to drag him away after I shot back through the door."
"I'm sorry this happened."
She shrugged. "Everett is tough. But come look at this, I found it interesting." They followed her into the house and she showed them a guest room. The bed was slept in and there was green hoodie on the floor. "Apparently Grey has a thing for green hoodies. I also found a few full magazines in here. I saw this when I looked through the windows. I was doing a walk around to see who could be home."
Antonio sighed as he looked through the piles of firearms. "There hasn't been any sightings as far as Grey goes, right?"
"Right. We need to come up with a way to draw him out." She looked stumped but then smiled. "There is a small diner downtown. We are going to get lunch." Kayla walked to her Interceptor and left the two guys to shake their heads in confusion.
"She acted like she had an idea but instead we are going to get lunch?"
"Let's just get going before we miss the genius." Antonio said before they got in their borrowed patrol car.
They pulled up to the Soda Shoppe where her Interceptor was parked on the busy street. They got out and went inside, surprised by the interior. It looked like a 1940's diner, complete with the old jukebox. Kayla was sitting in an old wooden booth, talking to a waitress. When the waitress saw Halstead and Antonio walking over to Kayla, she turned and left. Antonio slid in next to Kayla and put his arm on the back of the booth. Halstead sat down but kept looking around at all of the old details, including the titled ceiling. Kayla handed them both menus and when the waitress returned, they ordered before looking at Kayla.
"What genius idea did you get so suddenly at Old Larry's house?"
"Okay, there is a guy that works in the kitchen here, let's call him an unwilling CI. I overlook his petty crimes if he gives me my information. He always knows what's going on around here and he used to be very close with Old Larry. We are not going to tell him about Larry's current condition but when he comes out here to refill his drink, we can ask him if he knows about any new people Larry was helping."
"How reliable is this guy?"
"100 percent. He knows if a tip is bougous that I'll be all over him."
Their food came out and they sat eating in relative silence. They had just finished when a man around 20 years old came out of the kitchen with a Styrofoam cup in his hands. Kayla tapped Antonio on his forearm and pointed to the guy. He got up and Halstead followed blindly. The two Intelligence detectives stood at the end of the ice cream display case, trapping him behind the counter. Kayla sat on the bar stool in front of him as he kept refilling his drink. "So you got in a little trouble, didn't you Tyler?" He looked up and his expression turned to annoyance. He left his cup on the counter in front of him, walking toward the end of the ice cream case. Kayla followed him along the other side. Tyler's frown deepened when he noticed Antonio and Halstead were in his way. "Yeah, I actually have partners this time. Do you care to sit down?" He was allowed to sit in the chair closest to them. "So, how's Larry?"
"Last I heard, fine. He hasn't gotten any new guns if that's what your worried about."
Kayla shrugged. "Nah. I'm not interested in that. I want to know about his new friend. He was the one that went into my sister's fire station with an M-4. Tell me about him."
Tyler laughed. "You are the only police officer that can be bad cop and good cop at the same time." He sighed. "I just know he's from a big city and he was packing major fire power when he got here. Larry let him go through his arsenal because this guy reminded him of an old war buddy."
"Where does he like to hang out when he's not at Larry's?"
"I don't know. Larry said he was going to scout out competition or something."
Kayla frowned. "Okay. Thanks Tyler. Those parking tickets will disappear. Now get back to work."
He shot out of the chair and nearly ran into a waitress with a tray full of food when he pushed the kitchen door open.
"Scout out the competition?"
"We need to out units on my sister, Grant, and my mother right now." She pulled the radio out of her jacket pocket. "Unit 587, I need patrol units on Justice Stevenson, Grant Ray, and Gretta Stevenson, we have evidence that Grey will make an attempt on their lives."
"Copy, unit 587."
"Where is your family?" Antonio watched his friend's face, the stress obvious on her attractive features.
"My mother works in the brick factory in Sanford. Justice is probably at home and Grant is still at the hospital."
