"Martinez. Where do you think she is right now?"

Halstead looked at Purrazzo while he considered her question. She was driving them to see Alexa Bliss, who was going to receive an offer that would likely not appeal to her, until the ten grand entered the equation.

"Well," he said after a few seconds, "Burgess says she's pretty sure she shot Gonzalez in the arm. If she's right, the first thing they would have had to do is seek medical attention. I'm sure Martinez had someone she could go to for that kind of thing. By now, that will be taken care of. Now they'll likely be heading for the Mexican border. Down there, I'm sure she'll have plenty of money and false identities lined up. There's not been a single sighting since they slipped the net, so who knows for sure?"

"Likely they're heading for Mexico," Purrazzo said thoughtfully, keeping her eyes on the road. "But they might not be."

"No, they might not be. Which is why Sergeant Lindsay and myself have been watching our sixes. Some kind of reprisal is possible. Unlikely, but possible."

"If I were her I'd get far away from Chicago, and stay away."

"Hmmm," Halstead said quietly. There was something in the back of his mind that told him Bayley Martinez wouldn't see it that way. There was something else on his mind, too. He and Purrazzo had talked about her screw up that had blown the operation. But there was something they hadn't talked about.

"So, you shot someone yesterday," he ventured. "You've not mentioned it apart from during the debrief. It was the first time you've killed someone since you left the Marines, right?" It wasn't really a question; he knew that what he had said was true.

"Yeah, that's right," was all Purrazzo said in response.

"Are you okay? Killing someone is never easy to deal with, or at least it shouldn't be."

"Can't say I slept much last night," she admitted. "I had Sergeant Lindsay's words on my mind, plus the guy I shot. Like I told you before, I'm good at killing people when it needs to be done, but I take no pleasure in it. The guy I shot opened fire in the direction of Detective Olinsky and myself. When I fired, it was in defence, and it was no question a justified shoot. Even so, it has been on my mind."

"I can absolutely relate to that. It'll stay with you for a while. Was it clean?"

"Yes it was. One shot fired, hit him in the forehead," she said without boasting.

A woman not to get into a gunfight with, Halstead thought, not that he hadn't known that before. Her proficiency in that area was one of the main things that had gotten her the position in Intelligence.

"Well, if you need to talk about it you only have to say so. Remember we're partners."

Purrazzo glanced at him and smiled. "Thanks, Jay. I'll be fine though, honest. We should talk about what I need to know before I take on a CI."

"Yes. Yes, we should," he agreed.

By the time Purrazzo parked the car just up the street from the apartment block where Alexa Bliss lived, Halstead had familiarised her with the dos and don'ts of running a CI. As with anything in life, however, knowing the theory was one thing. Putting it into practice was another.

"What's she like, this Alexa Bliss?" he asked as they got out of the car.

"Really attractive, which I think is quite rare for a hooker. They're usually rough around the edges to say the least in my experience. I guess that's why her clients seem to be people who have some money to throw around. She's also got quite an attitude towards police, but that's hardly unusual with hookers, is it?"

"No, not really," Halstead said with some humour.

"So, we talked about me and Sylvie. When do we talk about you and Sergeant Lindsay?" Purrazzo asked as they entered the apartment building.

It wasn't the worst place in the world, but there were definitely many better buildings in Chicago. It bode well for the coming conversation. Someone living here would consider ten grand to be a lot of money, Halstead thought. More immediately, he had little intention of talking about his relationship with Erin. "We don't," he said simply.

"Come on, you can't be like that," she teased. "Partners talk about everything. And besides, we talked about me and Sylvie."

"We really didn't," he grinned. "You told me you were dating her, and you told me she didn't know she was into women until she met you. I've not been able to get that out of my head since I heard it."

They reached a bank of two elevators. Purrazzo laughed as she pressed a button to call one. "Pervert. In any case, that was talking about us. So now your turn. When did you start dating Sergeant Lindsay?"

"You use the word Sergeant too often, Purrazzo."

"Try being in the Marines and not saying it when you're supposed to. Anyway, you dodged the question."

A young black man joined them in waiting for the elevator. He looked suspicious of them, perhaps correctly guessing who, or rather what, they were. Halstead gave his partner a look that said the personal chat would have to wait. Now was a time to get into work mode. Pleasingly, she was good at picking up on signals, and nothing more was said until they stepped out of the elevator on the third floor.

"306," Purrazzo said, heading to the right.

"I'll let you do the talking, unless I need to step in," Halstead said.

"Okay."

Reaching the door with 306 on it, Purrazzo wasted no time in knocking loudly on it. After a few moments there was no answer, so she knocked again even louder.

"Alright! Jesus Christ!" came an annoyed female voice from inside. Seconds later, the door was opened by an extremely pretty woman with blonde hair dyed pink at the tips. She stood five feet tall at most.

Good things come in little packages, Halstead thought. He had never paid for sex, but if he was going to, he could do a lot worse than Alexa Bliss.

"What do you want?" Bliss said dismissively, recognising Purrazzo.

"We need to talk, Alexa," Purrazzo said.

"No, we don't. I have nothing to say to you." Bliss tried to close the door, but Purrazzo was quick enough to get her foot in the way.

"This is Detective Halstead. You're going to want to hear what we have to say."

"So say it then, and fuck off."

"We don't talk to people on their doorsteps," Halstead said. "And like Officer Purrazzo just said, you're going to want to hear what we have to say."

Bliss rolled her eyes and sighed, as if opening the door to them was one of the most reluctant things she had ever done. But she did open it, and Halstead followed his partner inside. Somewhat to his surprise, he found the place nicely decorated and immaculately clean.

"So what do you want?" Bliss demanded after closing the door.

"Why the hostility, Alexa?" Purrazzo asked. "You didn't behave like this when you told me all about..."

"You talked me into giving you information on one of my clients. You're good at your job, Purrazzo, I'll give you that. But I shouldn't have done it. It was stupid and risky, and I've been pissed at myself for doing it ever since."

Halstead took note of what was being said. He would have liked to have seen the questioning session between Purrazzo and Bliss, since his understudy had done well by all accounts.

"It wasn't stupid, Alexa. A murderer is behind bars, largely thanks to your information," Purrazzo said.

"Yeah? And what if it comes back on me? What if it gets out that I snitched on someone? Losing clients would be the least of my worries. I could be killed!"

"We can protect you, Alexa. The reason we're here is to ask you to become a CI."

Halstead wouldn't have gone in with that quite so soon. He decided to step in. "We figure it's a something that could be mutually beneficial," he added.

"No," Bliss said, standing with her hands on her hips.

It was time to dangle the carrot. "It could be very profitable for you," Halstead said. "Our Sergeant, Sergeant Lindsay, has authorised us to pay you ten thousand bucks for the info you provided on the last case, if you agree to become a CI."

"Ten grand?" Alexa said disbelievingly. "What game are you playing?"

"No game, Alexa," Halstead said. "From what I hear, you have your clients in the palm of your hand quite often, so to speak, and they like to show off their criminal prowess to you. If you provide us info on serious crimes that lead to charges, you could make a lot of money. Plus, like we said, you'll be entitled to protection. If anything did go wrong, all you'd have to do is call Officer Purrazzo and you'll be taken care of."

"You're intelligent enough to be able to do this on the down low, and there is good money to be made," Purrazzo added.

"You'd have to have a lot of sex to make ten grand," Halstead said. "And that's just the start, if you cough up good, usable info."

Bliss walked past them and into the living area, giving herself some thinking time without having to look them in the eye. Halstead was glad that Purrazzo had the good sense to join him in keeping his mouth shut.

Eventually, Bliss sighed and turned around. "It might surprise you, Detective Halstead, you condescending son of a bitch, but I actually like what I do for a living. I'm not a cheap hooker, giving out blow jobs for fifty bucks a time. I'm an escort. I do okay for myself. But the money you're offering is tempting, though. You'll really protect me if needed? You won't leave me in the wind?" The questions were directed to Purrazzo.

"Before I joined the police, I was in the Marines, Alexa. One of the things you're taught is that when someone is relying on you, you have their back. You've got my word."

Bliss seemed convinced by that. "Then tell your sergeant we've got a deal. But I'm saying nothing about anyone until I see my ten grand."

"I'll pass that on," Purrazzo said.

"Out of interest, what stops me taking the ten and never giving you anything else?"

Halstead handled that one. "Nothing, apart from the fact that you'll have made yourself very unpopular with the police. In your line of work, that wouldn't be very smart."

"Hmm," Bliss grunted. "You can leave now."

"Give me your number, and I'll be in touch about the money," Purrazzo said.

Bliss recited her number from memory, and Purrazzo typed it into her phone.

"Now you can go," Bliss said.

Purrazzo nodded. "We'll be in touch."

With that, Halstead led the way out of the apartment, and Bliss quickly closed the door behind them, glad to have them out of her home.

As they continued towards the elevators, Purrazzo took pleasure in offering a fist bump. With a bit of amusement and some satisfaction, he touched his fist to hers. "Nice work in there. It's been a while since we recruited a good CI for Intelligence."

"Things are looking up," she replied cheerfully.

A/N: Purrazzo and Halstead recruited Alexa Bliss. But not even a clue about Martinez has been found since her escape. Is she on the way to skip the border? Or is she closer to home?