Chapter 9:

Percy's POV

"Here we are, babe. The NYPD: First Precinct. Home of New York's finest." I said while gripping her hand.

"We're doing the right thing, Percy. We have to help our friend." Annabeth said encouragingly. We walked into the precinct and were immediately greeted by my uncle's old partner. He always comes to family events and was always a blast to be around. He even knew Annabeth.

"Holy crap, Percy Jackson?! What on earth are you doing here? Finally came to join the force, like your good old uncle?" said the old friend.

"Sorry, Rich. We came here because we need help with something serious." I said grimly.

"Yeah sure, Perce. What's wrong?"

"Well, a friend of ours has a brother that recently joined a gang. The leader is Lu-"

"Luke Castellan? Right-hand man: Ethan Nakamura?" guessed Rich, to my surprise.

"Uh…yeah. How did you know?"

"We've been investigating them for over a year now. They've been around for a long time, and they are very dangerous. They have a 'rat' in the office here that gets them out of trial and tells them secrets about our stakeouts and plans to catch them. The only thing is: we have no idea who it is."

"Well all we know is that Jason Grace is one of their newest members, and that they buy and sell women, weapons, drugs, and exotic animals. Apparently they have main gang house somewhere on the Upper West Side, but they hang out at our friend's home. If you want her address we can give it to you." added Annabeth.

"Yes! That would be great! This might be a huge break through. Just write down the address and I can take you guys to the chief to talk about this." Rich said happily, looking ready to jump out of his skin. I grabbed a sheet of scrap paper and scribbled Thalia's address, shortly before the paper was snatched from my hand by the eager officer. He rushed behind the desk and ran into the chief's office. Annabeth and I waited for about fifteen minutes until Rich popped his head through the door and said, "He wants to see you two."

We walked in the office and were confronted by the back of a large leather chair, behind an even larger desk. On the desk lay scattered papers about the case we had reintroduced to the NYPD. Pictures of their cargo and suspected members of the gang, along with people they killed by torture, of drive-by shoot outs. The reality of the situation at hand finally hit me and I became scared. I could tell Annabeth was scared as well because her grip on my hand grew tighter. We noticed that the chief began rotating his seat to see us.

"I assume you two know why I called you in here." said the chief.

"Well, yes. You want us to provide information about the gang." I said as confidently as I could without shaking my words.

"That's right. Now why don't you two have a seat and we'll have officers escort you one by one to the interrogation room." Annabeth's hand tensed up even more, and I could feel the blood flow slowing in my hand.

"Interrogation?! But we're not criminals!" said Annabeth loudly.

"Please, Ms. Chase. We would like to believe that you aren't criminals since you are coming into the precinct to give us first hand information. It's only standard procedure."

"I won't go without Percy! Please don't make me go without him!"Annabeth was on the verge of tears. She was terrified for herself and Thalia and was petrified of being arrested.

"Ms. Chase you need to contain yourself. And if you don't co-operate we will have to detain you and your boyfriend." Oh no…I saw the color drain from Annabeth's face, and she sank into her chair. "Thank you. That's much better. Now we would like to give Ms. Chase some time to rest so Mr. Jackson you can go first." Great, I thought. I didn't want to leave Annabeth in this position, especially when she had to go next. Within a few minutes an officer came into the office.

"Mr. Jackson, if you'll please follow me." said the officer.

"Okay. One moment please." I responded.

"Certainly."

I looked into Annabeth's eyes and took both of her hands. "I need you to be brave, okay Annabeth? I won't be gone for long, and it's only standard procedure." I kissed her on the forehead and exited the room, following the officer ahead of me. He led me to a section of the prison with several vacant and occupied cells lining the walls of the corridor. At the other side, there was a metal door, with light sneaking through the small spaces between the door and its frame. We approached the door and the officer opened it for me. Waiting for me to walk in first, he kept the door open and waited by my side. I walked in as my knees wobbled at the sight of the room, and the cliché steel table in front of me. I sat in the cold plastic chair, and waited for the officer to sit on the opposite side. He finally seated himself so we could begin.

"Good afternoon Perseus Jackson. I'm Officer Krupke, and I'm just going to ask you a few questions about the situation at hand." said Officer Krupke. I could tell that he was from the Bronx just by his heavy accent. "Now tell me Mr. Jackson-"

"You can call me Percy." I said, slightly annoyed.

"Okay, Percy. Tell me this: how do you know Jason Grace?"

"He's my friend Thalia's brother." I said curtly. I wanted to get out as fast as possible, and not get nervous.

"Good. How long have you known Jason and Thalia Grace for?"

"I've known Thalia and Jason for sixteen years."

"And how old are you?"

"17."

"So you've known them for most of your life?"

"That's correct, sir."

"What do you know about the Kings of Manhattan?"

"I don't know a lot. I know a few names of members: Jason Grace, Ethan Nakamura, and Luke Castellan." I could hear my voice starting to tremble.

"So Thalia Grace is not a member of The Kings of Manhattan?"

"No, she's not." I said more confidently, because I knew it was the truth.

"Are you aware of any areas the gang might go to do business or hide out?"

"A majority of the members and some of their contraband are located in the Grace's home."

"Are you aware of Jason Grace's whereabouts right now?"

"I assume he's at the house. I gave the Chief the address."

"And Thalia?

"I'm not sure officer. She could be out of state for all I know." I technically wasn't lying. I had no idea where Grover lived, which gave me relief, but scared me at the same time.

"Okay, and last question, Mr. Jackson. Is Annabeth Chase a member of this gang?" said the officer. I couldn't even collect my thoughts, since the question caught me so off guard.

"No, no, of course she isn't. I've been with her for the past couple of weeks, and she would never be a part of some hood-rat gang in the city."

"Son, this is no hood-rat gang we're dealing with. They work out of ports all over the world. They trade slaves, guns, drugs, and animals for money and other priceless items. We've traced connections of theirs to crime organizations all around the globe: Japanese Yakuza, Chinese Triads, Russian Mafia, and Latin Kings. We don't know if they're the masterminds of this whole trade, but they're definitely a huge part in it. We're talking about potential worldwide terrorism here. The FBI hasn't had enough evidence to bust them yet, but they aren't the NYPD. We're the best police force in the country, and we're going to be the ones who take these monsters down." the officer spoke with such courage, and determination. "One final question, Mr. Jackson: Is there anything else we should know about Jason Grace and the organization he's associated with?"

"We have reason to believe that Thalia Grace was abused and raped by Jason, and potentially other members of the g-…organization." I hated calling them an "organization." It gave them too much credit for being so evil. The fact that they were being called an organization meant that they had as much power in New York City as any other business man, or maybe even any politician here. That's what scared me most of all, and I almost wanted to stop this whole investigation, and leave with Annabeth. But it was far too late for that. We were in the deep of it, and there was no way we were avoiding the situation.

We returned back to the Chief's and I found Annabeth sitting in the large chair with her knees up to her chin, but she was mainly motionless. She didn't move until I closed the door and she sprung up from her seat to bring me into a bone crushing hug. If she could crush my bones, maybe I should join her at the gym on occasion.

"Are you okay, Percy? Please tell me that you're okay. I can't handle anything else right now." The words flew out of her mouth like she just released a group of butterflies from inside her.

"I'm okay, Annabeth. You'll be okay too. Nothing bad is going to happen as long as I'm here." I told her softly, followed by a kiss on her forehead. Thankfully neither the chief nor the officer were paying us much attention as they exchanged their notes and surprised looks. The officer turned around once he was finished and pointed towards Annabeth. I hugged her one more time, and slowly released her so she could get out of the office. I saw a single tear run down her cheek and then something clicked; could this be what Annabeth's dream was about? Did she know more about this situation then I did? I didn't exactly feel like thinking about it at the time, but I knew it wouldn't stop eating at me until I asked her about it. So I sat in my chair, anxious about Annabeth's questioning, not being able to keep still in my chair. After what seemed like hours, Annabeth stumbled in through the door and then we walked out of the station hand in hand, making our way back to the safety of my apartment, but I couldn't shake the feeling that my home wasn't exactly as safe as it was before we left that morning.