Jay POV
"What the hell is going on?!" Voight demands as the seven of us run to the camp set right outside the front doors of the Harper School. There's a crowd of panicking parents, crying kids, and traumatized teachers and staff pooled in the side parking lot, uniform officers trying to match parents with the kids they've already pulled out of the school, it's complete and total chaos.
"SSA Olivia Tanner, FBI. I'm running point on this thing." She says as she holds her hand out to shake, her dark hair pulled back in a bun and clad in a black pantsuit. I know her type, they care way too much about optics and she'll be behind the podium giving a press conference by the end of the day. But we're here now and all of that is going out the window. My daughter is in the building and I know that this unit will do whatever it takes to get her and the rest of those kids out safe and sound.
"Sergeant Henry Voight," He says gruffly shaking her hand, "I don't really give a crap what your name is, I want to know what you know,"
"One of the teachers called about 20 minutes ago, the first shots were fired at 8:34 AM, the principal Janet Kelley and a two counselors, Evelyn Brooks and Jason Henley went down. We've already got about 150 kids out and now the entire building is on lock down, we've got people outside every entrance and SWAT is on the way, but we haven't breached yet."
"Not good enough," He growls, "I need more, do we have a body count? How about a possible suspect? How many shooters do we have?"
"I'm sorry, I've only been here for fifteen minutes, we don't know any of that yet, but we haven't heard anymore gunshots since then,"
"Well you need to figure it out!" He yells back at her. "You see this!" He screams as he pulls out his wallet, pointing to a picture of Lucy. "This is my five year old granddaughter and she is inside that building as we speak!"
"I'm sorry Sergeant, but we are working to collect intel as fast as we possibly can, but we don't have anything yet. So if you want to end this, I suggest that you and your team go over there and start talking to some of witnesses okay? Because you aren't doing your granddaughter or anyone in that building any good by standing here and arguing with me, " She yells back, her voice just as strong as Voight's. I can feel the panic rising in my chest and my patience running out as Voight argues with Tanner. I can almost feel the anger radiating off of Erin next to me as I see her eyes flaming and her little fists balled up.
"Hank!" Erin yells as she grabs his shoulder, "we are all terrified and we all just want to get these kids out, but if we're going to do that we need to focus!" She demands.
"Alright fine, you heard her, get over there and start talking," He says, not really cooling off at all but talking to us now as Erin's words get through to him.
I can feel a fire in my chest, but it's overrun by another feeling, pure and unadulterated fear. I have feared for my life more times then I can count, but I have never, ever had to fear for the life of my child. Your heart and time stop, nothing matters anymore except keeping them safe.
"Halstead, Lindsay," Voight announces as he pulls us over, letting the rest of the squad make their way towards the mass. "You're not working this one, you're here, but you are not here as cops, you are here as her parents. Nothing more,"
"No, we're not," I tell him.
"Excuse me?" He exclaims back at me. "You know the rules,"
"I also know that in this unit, we tend to bend those rules and if there is a shooter running rampant through my five year old daughter's school, you're going to put a bullet in my skull before you pull me off the case."
"Alright," He agrees reluctantly, knowing that neither of us will back down, "but if I see anything that makes me think your head isn't screwed on straight, I'm pulling you, both of you, got it?" He says before walking away and back towards the FBI camp, probably to yell at Tanner again. He loves Lucy, the entire unit does but I know that he'll handle this case the same way that he handles every case, aggressively. There won't be any sympathy, until this case is done he's not Grandpa Hank or Erin's almost father, he's Sergeant Voight, a man on a mission.
"Understood," I say before turning towards the witnesses.
"Jay," Erin says simply as looks up at me, fear in her eyes as they start to gloss over.
"She's going to be okay,"
"What if she's not," she sniffles, tears in her eyes. "There's man with a gun in her school, she's five she shouldn't have to do this. No one should,"
"No, she will be okay," I tell her as I pull her in for a hug and lay my head down on top of hers, "that's just what we have to think okay? That she is okay and we are going to get her out okay? So we have to focus and get it done, okay?" She nods my head as she understands me. "Okay, let's go," I grab her hand to start taking witness statements, but we don't get very far before Voight calls.
"Erin, Jay get back over here!" He calls, waving us over like a crazy person. The two of us break into a run, desperate to get any intel about what's going on.
"What's up?" I ask as we enter into the camp, trying my best to compartmentalize and forget that daughter is a in a building with an active shooter. I can't.
"We got a 911 call from inside the building," Tanner tells us as we crowd around a computer.
"Who's the caller?" Voight asks gruffly.
"Meredith Owens," Tanner tells her.
"Oh my God, that's Lucy teacher," Erin says quietly next to me. I squeeze her hand as Voight nods at Tanner to give her the go ahead.
"Meredith? Hi my name is Olivia and I'm here with three Chicago detectives, their names are Hank, Jay, and Erin. I need you to tell me what's going on in there so we can get all of you out of there okay?"
"I-I-I'm hiding in the art closet with m-m-most of my kids, 11, I-I-I counted them a c-couple times, h-h-he was just here, maybe fifteen minutes ago and he took out six of my k-kids, two teacher a-a-aides, and the art teacher, I-I-I think they're dead, he just star-started spraying bullets and they went down," She chokes out. I feel Erin latch onto my hand as soon as the words come over the computer and I know we're thinking the exact same thing, just hoping and praying that our girl is safe. Voight sees the fear in her eyes and take over the talking.
"Meredith, I know you've been through a lot, just now but I need two things from you. I need you to tell me what the shooter looked like and I need the names," He says slowly, Erin hanging onto me, tears in her eyes and I'm barely keeping it together, I feel as though I could break like a piece of glass at any minute and crumble to the ground. I can hear the whimpers of the kids in the background and I'm trying hard, so hard to see if I can distinguish Lucy in the crowd
"I know w-w-who he is," She chokes out. Voight signals for someone to grab a notepad to write down whatever she's about to tell us and Tanner pulls one out of her jacket pocket. "His name is J-J-Jensen Greely, he was a fourth grade teacher here last year but he was fired after reports of him being ver-verbally aggressive. That man should have never been a teacher." You can hear the disgust, horror, and just pure fear in her voice as she relays the information.
"Alright Meredith you're great, do you know if he's the only one?" Voight asks her as someone types his name into one of the laptops.
"I t-t-think so, he kept saying something about how he was the only person that could finish this," She cries into the phone.
"Alright that's good," Voight says, his voice softer than usual, "Now I need you to tell me their names okay?" I can hear her wail on the other end of the line. "Meredith please, you'd really be helping me out,"
"Grant, get his picture to every officer on the scene, SWAT, FBI, JTTF, Intelligence, and every patrol, got it?" Tanner says quietly to a woman at a table as Voight continues to coax Meredith.
"Okay," She chokes out before taking a deep breath. "Um R-r-rosalie Gatler, Kira Thelen, Peter Ferraz, um Reid Harter, Celia Hendricks, and Elliot Isaacs tho-those are my kids and um Kate Collins, August Farley, and uh Heather Wanner I think they're dead too," She says, her voice shaking as she starts to hyperventilate. I inhale sharply as Meredith reads the list off and I feel so incredibly relieved that Lucy wasn't on the list but at the same time so insanely guilty. Today at least eight parents are going to learn that they have to bury their children and here I am, holding my wife and almost crying in relief after learning that mine won't be one of them.
"Oh my god Rosie," Erin says as she collapses into my arms, "that's Lucy's friend, she was going to come over this week," She says, tears in her eyes.
"Mommy," Lucy says through her tears in response to Erin voice.
"Oh my God," Erin cries as she leaps out of my arms and to the computer mic, me not far behind her at all. "Baby everything is going to be okay, we're going to get you all out and then I'm never letting you go okay? I need to stay with Ms. Owens and keep quiet alright, you be brave," She cries.
"I love you Mommy," Luce tells her, tears streaming down Erin's face.
"I love you too baby," Erin says into the phone, her voice starting to break. "Be brave, Daddy and I are going to see you very soon, I promise,"
"Mrs. Halstead?" Meredith asks shakily as the phone is transferred to her. "Is that you,"
"Yeah, it's me. My unit is here and we are working as fast as we can to get you out. What I need from you is to try and stay calm and keep your kids calm until we get there okay? Do not open that unless you are told by me, I don't want that door opening under any other circumstances, you got it?" Erin repeats to her, wiping her tears with one hand as I hold the other one in mine.
"Okay," She whimpers, "I'm going to hang up now I don't want to freak them any more than they already are, is that okay?"
"It's perfectly fine okay, we'll get you soon," I tell her. The phone hangs up with a click and Erin falls into my arms once again.
"She's okay," She cries as her tears soak through the exposed part of my t-shirt.
"Yes she is," I respond my voice shaking slightly as Erin grips onto my shirt. "But we've got to go back to work, we aren't losing anymore kids today, alright?"
"Okay," She says, shaking her head and wiping her tears, "let's go,"
Erin POV
"Let's move in!" One of the men masked in a full SWAT uniform says through the radios as we all stand in front of the doors of Harper, suited up with Jay and Adam on either side of me and the rest of the unit behind me, all with guns drawn with the exception of Voight who'll be running point along with Tanner back at our base and Alvin who's waiting on a rooftop across the way with a sniper rifle. I know that Lucy is okay, I heard her voice but I'm not going to able to relax until that man is either in cuffs or on the floor bleeding and my girl is in our arms.
The mass of us split at the main hall, us and half of SWAT going left and the other half and the FBI and JFFT guys going right. We know that Greely is in the library on the third floor and from the images on our pole cameras, it looks like he's got hostages, a class of fourth graders and two teachers. They're all huddled in the corners of the library, curled into each other as Greely waves the gun around and yells a bunch of things that don't make any sense.
We move silently up the hallway, the only noise being the rhythmic beating of boots on the staircases as we wind our way towards the library. It's odd, to to running a raid like this, as these halls aren't foreign to me, I've walked them more than a couple times with my daughter in hand. But this is different.
We approach the library, glass walls on three out of the four sides and windows on the other. He's facing away from us, staring out the windows and waving a gun around as our teams approach from both sides. Our guy Reynolds gives him a signal and we all storm the library, but he saw us coming and grabs a hostage and presses the gun to her head, a little girl no more than nine years old.
"I'll kill her, I swear I'll do it!" He cries as the whimpers in the room turn to screams. FBI agents begin to clear the library, the rest of us surrounding Jensen in the center of the room.
"Help," She whimpers, her chin pulled up to the ceiling and a lone tear rolling from her green eyes, pumped full of fear.
"Drop it!" I yell, my gun pointed directly at his skull, feeling more anger than I've felt in a long time. I hear Voight's voice through the earpiece inserted into my ear.
"I can't do that!" He yells back at us, his darting eyes around the room crazed.
"Drop it Greely!" Jay repeats, louder this time.
"O do you have the shot?" He barks, clearly only talking to Olinsky.
"Yes," He responds slowly, his eyes trained on the target.
"Take it," He responds gruffly. I don't see the bullet coming, but I feel a sense of relief plow through my system as his body falls, dead before he hits the ground. Atwater and Ruzek dash over to his body to pull it off the screaming girl he's fallen on, his blood soaking through her shirt.
"Lindsay, Halstead, we're good. Take a five SWAT guys with you and go get the kid and then unload that room, understand?" Voight says through the earpiece. I nod at Jay and he grabs a couple guys by the arm, three others following him. The seven of us rush back down the stairs, winding through the hallways searching for the art room Meredith told us she was hiding in.
Now knowing that there's no one to hide from, we disregard any and all of our previous attempts to be quiet. The only objective now is to get to those kids as fast as possible, boots pounding as we run through the halls.
"We're here," I say quietly as I run my fingers over the label off to the side of the door and mentally prepare myself for what I'm about to walk into. I've seen a lot of things in my time, but six dead kindergartners, that's something you'll never be prepared for.
"It's okay," Jay says as he comes up behind me, "you can do this, it's okay," I take a deep breath and push the art room door the rest of the way open. My hand flies to my mouth and I have to hold back both vomit and tears when I see the sight before me. This is personal, I knew the kids and none of our victims are, but more than ever these aren't just going to be faces on a board. Just this morning I saw Elliott and Kira running from their cars through the front doors of the school, smiles on their faces as they waved goodbye to their moms and now they'll never breathe another breath again. I see Ms. Collins' slumped over Celia's. She died protecting her.
"Cover them," I say softly, "these kids don't need to see their friends like this," Two of our SWAT guys, Gregory and Hayfield nod at me before grabbing canvas covers folded up on a shelf in the back of the room and laying them over all nine victims, leaving our victim count at 12. Or higher, that's only the ones we know about.
"Meredith it's Erin, I need you to open the door up," I call through the door, my face pressed up against the cool wood as I re holster my gun on my hip.
"Erin?" She calls, her voice breaking through the soft whimpering of the kids surrounding her. I hear the lock click on the other side of the door and she swings it open to reveal the small room, metal shelves full of art supplies lining the walls and a large group of little kids, tears streaming down their faces in the center.
I see Lucy's sweet face looking up at me, fresh tears clouding her eyes and running down her cheeks.
"Mommy," She shrieks as she jumps into my arms, her face pressed into my neck.
"It's alright baby, everything's okay now," I soothe her as I run my hands through her hair. "Everybody's okay. Hi guys," I say, peering past Lucy's head. "My name is Erin and I'm a police officer, everything's all good now so we're here to evacuate you. These men," I say as I move away from the door frame to reveal the SWAT guys, "are going to carry you guys out, okay. Everybody's okay, we don't need to worry anymore." They nod up at me and I give Hayfield the go ahead to start retrieving kids and the rest of them follow, each pulling up two kids, one with each arm and shuffling them out as fast as possible.
"Are you okay?" I ask Lucy frantically as I scan her little body up and down, Jay coming over to wrap his strong arms around us.
"I'm okay Mommy," She promises me, tears in her eyes, "Can we just get out of here please?" She pleads.
"Yeah sweetheart," Jay tells her as he reluctantly lets go of her, grabbing a shaking Meredith by the shoulders and leading her out behind us, the braids woven by me this morning bouncing against her back
"We're coming out!" Jay yells as the four of us rush through the front doors, Meredith wailing and Lucy whimpering in my arms, a slight spattering of blood across her forehead, something I can only imagine came from one of the other victims. The news vans are already parked outside the school, a mob of photographers and reporters with microphones in hand scrambling behind police lines.
"Erin!" Hank yells as he sees our family coming towards and starts to run towards us. "She okay?" He asks once her gets over to us, skimming her tiny frame the same way I did, Lucy still shaking and crying a bit.
"She's shaken up, but she should be fine," I tell him as he engulfs both of us in a hug. I watch over his shoulder as Jay hands Meredith off to Tanner and rejoins the three of us.
"It's okay," He whispers in Lucy's ear as he takes Voight's place beside us, "it's okay, we're all okay."
Not going to lie guys, this was a bit of a tough chapter to write, but I'm really proud of the way it turned out, so I hope you guys enjoy reading it. Please take a minute to leave me a little review because they really do encourage me to write faster and have updates done quicker for you guys.
Thanks guys,
Addison