Jess stared worriedly at the subject she was attempting to talk down. The gun started to go up.
3 hours earlier
Things were relatively quiet since the last incident. The team was finishing up their pre-shift briefing when the call alarms went off, "Team One! Hotcall! Armed abduction, young girl, Katie Loreigh, took her parents hostage at gunpoint. They're in the woods near their house. Caller lost visual." Winnie read off the call info, "How old's the girl?" Greg questioned. Winnie typed on her keyboard then stared blankly at the screen. "Winnie?" The Sargent continued to question. "14… She's 14." Winnie replied. Jules responded, "Oh jeez." Greg stated to his team, "Team One, stay sharp. This one might get tough." The team jogged to the equipment cage, got geared up, then went to the vehicle garage.
The team was driving in their SUVs when Greg started to speak, "Alright team listen up. We are strictly less-lethal for this call with the exceptions of Sam and Kris." The team responded with the usual 'Copy' then proceeded to go over call info for the rest of the drive. Once they arrived Sam started to give out orders, "Spike, Jules cover Northeast! Kris, Wordy Northwest! Jess and I will cover North." Greg glared at Sam, then Sam replied, "Sorry boss, but we got a lot of ground to cover I need everyone. Once we get a visual, I'll have Spike setup parabolic then send Jules and him back." "Copy Sam, but hurry I'm going to need them." The Sargent responded. The team then prepared their equipment and headed for the forest.
5 minutes later
"Team One status." Greg asked the team. "Nothing so far… Wait… I got something, voices about 10 meters northwest of my position." Spike said as he was waving the parabolic around. "Sam?" Greg questioned. Sam responded, "We got them…" Then Jess realized something. It sucks to have a 14-year-old in her crosshairs. "Alright Spike setup parabolic for the boss then fall back to command post with Jules." Sam directed the tech-wiz of the team. Spike did as he was told then went to investigate the house with Greg and Jules. Jess asked Greg, "Boss let me take this. I can get through to her." Greg replied, "Jess you sure?" "I'm sure, she looks scared. Also… There's physical signs of abuse." She replied. Greg's fears were confirmed. "So, she's getting abused by the parents and finally she can't take it anymore and she lashes out. Jules you in her room yet? Jess take it. But remember, Connect, Protect, Respect." "Copy boss." Jess replied. Jules answered her boss, "Yeah boss I'm in her room there are signs of a struggle." She looked around the room and saw something. "Hey Spike, looks like we got a hidden camera." Spike walked into the room and pulled an SD card out of the camera and put it in his laptop. "Guys she's definitely being abused. I got dozens of videos of her being beat by both parents… Guys I even have a couple of sexual assaults on here. Timestamps go back at least 6 months." He told the team.
Jess handed Sam her Mp5 who slung it around his back. Wordy and Kris were a little back from where they stood and were covering them. Jess slowly approached Katie then started to talk, "Katie?" Katie quickly looked over at where the voice was coming from. "My name is Jessica, friends call me Jess. I'm with the police, I want to help you. Can you tell me what's going on today?" Jess stared worriedly at the subject she was attempting to talk down. The gun started to go up. Katie hesitated then lowered it back down. She motioned towards the people knelt at the ground in front of her. "They like to hurt me. They beat me constantly; I can't take it anymore." She said. "I'm sorry that's happened to you. I know exactly how you feel right now. When I was younger, it happened to me too." Jess's response shocked the whole team except Greg. Greg was in the room with Spike and Jules, Jules turned to Greg, "What's she doing? Rule #1 of negotiation, never lie to the subject." "She's not lying." Greg said as he walked out of the room. Katie replied, "You do? So, you know the pain I've gone through? Both physically and emotionally?" "I do, now can you put the gun down so we can talk through this?" Jess replied with hope. "Team, Katie is the victim not the suspect, the suspects are the parents, Jess you're doing great. Keep it up." Greg stated
A few minutes later Jess talked Katie into putting the gun down. Wordy and Kris approached not to cuff Katie, but the parents. Jessica and Katie embraced tightly. Katie was in tears, Jess whispered in her ear, "It'll be okay. You'll get through this. I know you will." While this was happening, Sam secured the weapon. Jess eventually started to guide Katie out of the forest.
15 minutes later
The evening was over, and the night was just coming in. The chilly night breeze was hitting the scene in which several emergency vehicles brightened the night. Crime scene investigators were there, the Special Investigations Unit was there to take a brief report from Greg but that was all they needed so they left. Jess was receiving her accolades from her team, when they were done, she walked away and towards Katie who was sitting on the bumper of an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her. "What now?" Katie asked "I have no one else to go to. No friends, my parents kept me at home all the time. No family besides my parents." "Well then you have 1 of 2 options. #1 I can hand you over to CPS." Jess responded. Katie proceeded to question, "What's option #2?" Jess smiled, "You can come stay with me if you would like." She replied happily. Katie responded, "Really? You would do that?" "Well yeah, as long as you're not scared of 2 pug puppies." Katie thankfully replied, "Thank you so much, this means a lot to me." "Okay, come on, I gotta debrief with my team, hop in the back of the truck over there, we'll go to the station in a few minutes."
10 minutes later
The SRU trucks were pulling into the vehicle garage. Before they left the scene, Jess and Parker ran into the house and grabbed most of Katie's belongings. Except for pictures featuring the parents and the secret camera and put them in the backseat of the truck with Katie. They took the stairs to the main lobby of the SRU building. As they were walking past the dispatchers' desk, Jess asked Winnie, "Hey Winnie can you watch her while we debrief?" She motioned towards Katie. Winnie replied, "Sure thing." Katie went to go sit on a bench while the tactical unit went into the briefing room and shut the doors.
Greg started out with, "Great work today Team One..." The debriefing continued for the next 10 minutes discussing what happened. When the debriefing concluded the team started to head for the locker rooms. Greg stopped Jess before she exited, "You okay?" He asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." Greg continued, "You saved that kid. I'm proud of you." Jessica replied, "Thanks boss." "Before you go home, you should get her checked out, she's been through a lot." Greg told her, "Yea, I was gonna do that. I'm gonna get changed and take her to the doctors office." She walked past Greg and towards the locker room.
45 minutes later
"She'll be fine." The doctor reassured. Jessica breathed a sigh of relief then took Katie to her apartment, as they were walking in, Jess said, "Welcome home."