Liam really pushes his luck in this chapter and Jay struggles to figure out a way to make him understand how dangerous his actions were. The story is finally winding down, with only a couple of chapters left after this one. But they will all be multiple posts due to their length.

Enjoy!

Broken Trust part I

Liam was a bundle of nervous energy, reeking of terror and desperation; the butterflies, crashing and clanging together in his stomach. He kept looking at Adam, imploring the man for his help; his face like a turbulent ocean in a hurricane.

Adam could read and understand the panic in Liam's face and voice as the boy spouted off his story in rapid fire. He had seemed to be honest, taking blame where it lay—and it lay everywhere, much of it at the thirteen year old's feet.

"He's going to kill me Adam," Liam said when he finished his tale, though his pacing and tugging at his hair continued.

"As he should," Adam agreed, noticing that Kim had appeared at some point. "Dude, what happened was pretty over the top and you knew better. You screwed up, screwed up big pal."

"I didn't start it," Liam claimed as if that would help him in some manner.

"No. That's true you didn't. But you didn't stop it and you knew how to and that you should have."

"When my dad comes in here, you have to help me." Liam begged again.

"Help you how?" Adam asked, feeling the waves apprehension that was bordering on hysteria coming from the boy.

"Step in front of me, protect me."

"You won't need protection from your father."

"Yes I will. He's going to be so mad," Liam said, knowing Jay would never really hurt him, but figured being dramatic might help. "Probably the maddest he's ever been."

"I've seen him pretty mad before," Adam said thinking back on tough cases that had the elder Halstead worked up to an agonizing frenzy.

"But not at me—not like this." Liam said shaking his head. "This is worse than when I did that drug deal back when I was ten. This is huge—he's going to be ready to blow-up."

"And rightfully so. Your dad is a good guy and a great father. But you definitely deserve whatever he decides to dish out." Liam nodded in apprehensive agreement, but seemed far away. "Be strong and take it like a man. Okay?"

Liam knew that was true, his father's words were banging around in his head much like the butterflies were doing in his stomach. The warnings, the promises he elicited, the demands that he declared. There were two, well, three golden rules in the Halstead household and Liam had basically broken them all in one short time span. And now he wondered just how true his father's promise of punishment would be, because "I'll have your ass in a sling", didn't sound all that wonderful to him. But he had a sinking suspicion that his butt would very definitely need a sling before the day was out. But how could it not be? He most definitely feared the impending repercussions that would be in his future.

Not far from Liam's pleas, Jay and Hank were getting the full story, well the story that had been witnessed from the patrolmen that were involved. "I swear Detective, I almost shot him. I mean he just grabbed the gun, I knew he yelled something about getting the gun, but we were yelling at them to get on the ground and neither of them would and then he had the gun in his hand."

Jay felt lightheaded and had to lean against the wall for support as Hank looked over at him and then back to the officers. "Were they cooperative after the gun got tossed?" Hank asked, his eyes somewhat unfocused as his thoughts of what could have happened hammered down on him.

"Yeah, well, kinda. The one, Liam, your son," he said nodding at Jay, "he didn't want to tell us who his parents were. Took us several minutes, then we discovered you were police and it made sense why he didn't want to disclose the information. But that's why we brought them here instead of our district. We thought the other kid, Charlie, was going to wet his pants. We contacted his parents, they're both on their way."

"Thanks guys," Hank said seeing them out while Jay tried to recover from what he had just heard. "You okay?" He asked when he returned to find Jay in the same spot and position and much paler than even his usual pallid coloring.

"No—not really. What the hell was he thinking? Doing?" Jay said, blinking as he didn't quite know what else to do.

"Being a stupid kid."

"Yeah, well it almost got him killed," Jay said as his face began to regain some color, going from pale towards an angry fiery red.

"You want me to take Liam and you talk to his buddy?"

"No, if you don't mind, I need to get my hands on my son. I mean that both figuratively and literally."

"Lead the way then," Hank stated as he waved towards the back staircase.

Liam was trying not to hyperventilate as he paced around the nearly empty office. Adam and Kim were there, but everyone else was still out working leads on whatever case they had been assigned. He knew his father was going to explode when he came upstairs, not caring who saw what and was grateful for the smaller audience.

"Where's your buddy?" Kim asked Liam.

"Bathroom, getting sick I think."

"You look like you need to join him," she said with a sad smile.

"Will you protect me?" Liam asked her, having decided that Adam was going to be of no use.

"I'm not going to get in the middle of whatever this is kiddo," she said looking over to see Jay and Voight entering the room and once she saw Jay's face she could totally understand why Liam had begged for intervention. She had never recalled seeing that look on his face, even when he was at his angriest during a case or difficult interrogation.

Liam had spun around and saw his father heading towards him and backpedaled towards Adam who also had noticed his friends expression and began to walk towards Liam with the intent to step in front of the boy and let Jay have a moment to calm down. But he wasn't fast enough and Jay got there first. It all seemed to happen in one move—Liam looked up, Jay arrived next to his son, his hand shooting out and slapping his son across the face before anyone could react or even breathe. They all stood frozen for a moment, before anyone spoke.

"Jay, hey man, I totally get it, but maybe you should take a minute." Adam suggested, now understanding the sum of Liam's concern. The silence and tension grabbed at both Halstead's as they stood and met each other's gaze; Jay's tight and angry, Liam's uncertain and scared, but attempting not to show it.

"Where's Charlie?" Hank asked, seemingly unconcerned with what had just taken place. But before anyone could answer, Liam's friend appeared. "You Charlie?" The boy nodded and croaked out that indeed he was. "Come with me then," Voight ordered taking him down the hall to a room, where they could talk.

Liam was standing still, not daring to move, but refusing to cry or touch his burning cheek. Jay took another step towards his son, who stood his ground when Adam came over. "Just take a second," he implored his friend and coworker.

"I'm fine. Far from done, but fine. Let's go." Jay ordered, his face and body taut. "Come on, we're going to talk privately." He said looking at Liam.

"You sure man?" Adam asked again.

"Quite." Jay assured, grabbing Liam by the arm and hauling him out of the office and down the hall.

"What was that?" Kim asked after they were gone. "A little harsh don't you think?"

"No, no I don't think it was harsh at all. Not really." Adam said evenly.

"So it's okay that he hit his kid?"

"I don't see it that way, he disciplined his kid." Adam clarified.

"Adam, he smacked him in the face."

"An open handed slap. I've seen the man hit before and he held a lot back."

"Maybe so, but I just don't think it's right."

"Kim, I think it was appropriate—called for. Liam could have been killed or his buddy killed or somebody else killed. He threw so many rules out the window today that I lost count. His actions demanded a dramatic and severe reaction."

"So he deserved that?"

"Yes! And more, much more. Look, you're a woman, you were a little girl, boys are different. They don't always respond to guilt trips and lectures. Liam clearly knew Jay was going to be like this."

"Because he's done it before?"

"No, because he knew that he earned it—that it was justified. That's why he didn't freak out when it happened. Does Jay hit Liam? No way, but this time, this time it was called for and they both knew it. He can't be soft and risk anything like this happening ever again. He has to send a message that will be received loud and clear."

"Well, I missed part of the story, what exactly did he do?" She asked, wondering just what wrong the boy had done to deserve such a punishment. She had never seen Jay like that and would have never guessed him capable of such action.

"Sit down, I'll tell you all of it," Adam said sitting down himself. "It's pretty bad. You'll understand why Jay was so upset and why I agree with what he did."

"What in the hell did you think you were doing?" Jay asked as he slammed the door behind him as they entered the interrogation room, his arms already folded up across his chest in anger and frustration. His hand was still tingling from the open-handed slap he had just delivered. He wasn't sure if it was the best course of action, but at the moment he didn't regret it. He felt secure that it had been hard enough for Liam to take notice of Jay's anger, and the seriousness of the situation, but not so intense that it would leave any type of mark, in fact the redness was already fading.

"I was stupid. Sorry," Liam whispered looking down at the floor, the room smelling stale and full of despair.

"Stupid? Yes, ridiculously so, and reckless and irresponsible and careless and—and, you could have been killed—Charlie could have been killed—don't you understand that?" Jay yelled, slamming his hands on the table. Liam was sure he would have flipped the table over if it hadn't been bolted to the floor. "I heard what the officers told me, now tell me your details from the beginning and they damn well better match. I hear a lie from you and I don't care who's here, they will get an earful and I'm not just talking about me yelling."

So Liam sat down in the hard plastic chair and started from the beginning, his ears still ringing from the gunshots and the sirens. "Look what I have," Charlie said as he opened his small backpack.

"What the fuck?" Liam said as he looked inside. "Dude, I'm supposed to be at day camp. I told you I'd skip so we could go to the beach, but you didn't say anything about a gun and beer."

"Let's go to Pilsen and that old building that Chris was talking about."

"The one where they hung out, got high and broke windows?" Liam asked.

"Yeah. I know which L stop will take us kinda close. We can hang out drink the beers and—"

"And what? Shoot each other?"

"Naw, just play with it." Charlie said.

"You don't just play with guns," Liam admonished, his mouth hanging open in astonishment.

"Well, you know about them, you can teach me."

"My dad taught me gun safety and has taken me to the range like ten times."

"Hell of a lot more than I've been."

"I should just go to camp."

"Too late. Your bus is already gone. You gonna call your dad and tell him that he as to pick you up?"

Liam sighed and shook his head. "Then let's just go to the beach like we planned."

"Come on man, the beach is boring, this is an adventure."

"Adventure? Adventures often end up going sideways."

"It'll be fine," Charlie assured as they headed towards the L station.

After a train ride that felt much too short, they arrived at the hot and dusty abandoned building. The Midwestern heat and humidity was already clawing at them, the sweat trickling down their faces. Liam looked around the abandoned street that was full of condemned buildings. Despite being close to the Dan Ryan Expressway and the South Loop being just beyond that, he felt as if he was in another world. He knew that Jay had frequented this area in his job, a working class neighborhood that had seen better days, many of the once bustling factories; now empty, worn out and crumbling. All Liam could think about was his father, somewhere in the tangle of buildings and city blocks believed that his son was at day camp. If Jay knew that Liam was not surrounded by campers and counselors, but way down in Pilsen, there would be hell to pay. Liam's body almost tingled as the deceit began to take hold. "Looks like a lot of the windows are already broken out and flat out gone," Liam said as he turned stared at the empty building that had once housed some kind of industrial plant.

"Here, drink your beer, it's already pretty warm." Charlie said handing it to Liam.

"It's barely nine o'clock in the morning," Liam said taking the sweaty can into his equally damp hand. Liam hadn't touched any alcohol since a party that went bad a year ago and he had to call his uncle for help.

He and Charlie had been friends for years, but had grown closer over the last two summers that they spent together at the day camp set up for the children of city employees. Charlie's mother worked for a doctors office, but his father worked in an office creating some kind of reports for the water district. The camp was okay, they got to play sports, go to the beach, explore the city, but sometimes it got boring and when they discovered a friend of theirs got away with skipping several days, they asked for his guidance in how to escape for a day here and there. The program had little money and it was often barely controlled chaos. That along with the fact that their section was for kids twelve and thirteen, they weren't policed quite as well as the younger kids. Today was the third time they had skipped, they hadn't been caught yet, so why should today be any different?

They sipped their beers, their faces puckering with each swallow. Liam had no idea how his dad could actually like this stuff. Charlie didn't appear to be enjoying his either, but somehow this was a rite of passage that demanded their entrance. Once finished they looked at the building. "Think anyone else is around here?" Liam asked.

"Nah. Too hot. The homeless, drug dealers and junkies are still hunkered down in the shade or air conditioning." Charlie assured, as if he were the authority on such matters. "Show me how this works," he said pulling the gun from the bag, the barrel pointing directly at Liam who was trying to picture what air conditioning the homeless were enjoying.

"Dude, don't point that at me." Liam snapped as he came back to reality. "Is it loaded?" Charlie shrugged his shoulders. "Great. Give it to me, grip first." He instructed. Charlie did and Liam checked to ensure the safety was on and then pulled the clip out and checked the chamber. "Chamber is clear, thank God. The safety was on, so that's good. But there are five bullets in the clip." He said after taking inventory.

"Cool," Charlie said enthusiastically.

"How did you even get a hold of this?"

"I found the code for the lockbox."

"Won't your dad notice bullets missing?"

"Nah, he never gets it out, he won't remember what he had in there. Show me how to shoot it."

Liam looked at the gun, as always it felt heavy in his hands. Jay had shown him how to load, unload, clear the chamber, put the safety on and off, and shoot. But each act had come with a warning that Liam was never to handle a gun unless his life or the lives of others were in danger. Or it was a lesson from an approved administrator. This was none of these things, and if Jay had been able to peek into this scene he would have exploded faster and bigger than any bullet. Liam looked up to see Charlie several yards away setting their empty beer cans on the ground, only to have them blow right over.

"Bring them back here," Liam shouted as the cans rolled away on the ground. "You don't want to aim at the ground anyway."

"So we shoot out the windows," Charlie suggested.

The abandoned and beat up building looked like it had been victimized in many ways long before they showed up, but Liam didn't particularly like the idea of shooting at it. But Charlie was so excited he was already bouncing on his toes. "If my dad could see this—" Liam began.

"He won't, he's not here, nobody is here. Come on man, I'll even let you take three of the five shots."

Liam sighed and began to explain the inner workings of the gun and how to stand and aim. Wishing he had hearing protection he fired off three shots, two of them going through the window he had been targeting. He had to admit he felt kind of exhilarated.

"Okay, my turn, my turn," Charlie said reaching out.

"Dude! You don't reach for it like that. Let me lower it, put the safety on and hand it to you. You can't grab at it."

"Sorry, I'm just pumped you know. I've never shot a gun, barely held one."

"Which is why you need to calm down. Now hold it with both hands and don't raise it up until you are ready to shoot. The safety is on the side and you can flip it off with your finger." Liam instructed. "It'll have a kick, and it'll be more powerful—"

But Liam couldn't finish his sentence before Charlie fired off a round, the kick causing his arms to fly up in the air. "Dammit man, you could have warned me so I could have covered my ears. They're already ringing from when I shot."

"Sorry," Charlie replied, grinning from ear to ear. "That was so cool. I have one more bullet."

"Listen to me this time. You felt the kick, so hold it with two hands, plant your feet, squeeze the trigger, don't pull it and shoot after you exhale." Liam had just got his fingers to his ears when Charlie fired.

"We so have to do this again." The boy said, practically giddy.

"I don't think so," Liam said, but as he finished his sentence he looked up to see red and blue lights racing their way. His eyes grew huge as he looked at the squad car closing the gap at a breakneck speed. He looked over at Charlie who seemed to be frozen, the gun still in his hand, dangling at his side. "Put the gun down," Liam screamed, but he was drowned out by the sirens and tires squealing to a stop.

What happened next was the very definition of chaos, the officers sprung out of the car, as their doors swung open, guns drawn, screaming words that could barely be heard or understood. Liam kept yelling at Charlie to drop the gun, but he wouldn't, or couldn't. Liam could see the adrenaline and testosterone pumping violently through the officers veins and knew if something in this scenario didn't change and change quickly, tragedy would be the only outcome.

Liam's eyes ping ponged back and forth between the cops and his friend and the gun. He was nearly coming out of his sneakers as the tension became almost unbearable, words, threats were being aimed at a boy who simply couldn't abide by them. Liam stepped forward only to be yelled at to remain where he was. He replied back as loudly as he could that he was going to grab the gun and toss it, but with all the noise from the sirens that were still blaring, he was sure he couldn't be heard. But he had to act or Charlie was doomed so he took three quick steps and grabbed the gun and tossed several feet away, practically hearing the decision to shoot being made. But once the gun hit the ground the officers seemed to both take a breath and lower their guns. One finally turned the damn siren off as the other ordered them face down on the ground. But Charlie still didn't move so Liam practically pulled his feet out from under him, causing him to trip forward and end up where he had been ordered.

They were cuffed, sat up, spun around to lean against a nearby concrete barrier. Charlie was still lost inside his head, while Liam began to picture his own demise at the hands of his father.

The patrolmen asked them their names and what the hell they were doing out there. Charlie finally came around long enough to answer not only for him but for Liam as well, as if his cooperation now would outweigh the stupidity of their earlier actions.

"What's the contact information for you?" The officer whose name was Belman asked Liam.

"Um, I can't think of any phone numbers right now."

"Work number? Cell number for either parent?"

"Nope," Liam said with a shake of his head.

"We can ask your friend if they have your information. Where are you supposed to be right now anyway?"

"City camp." Charlie answered. "His last name is Halstead," he offered as Liam had left that out of his reply. "His dad is a cop, that's probably why he doesn't want to tell you his phone number."

"What district?" Officer Lyman, the second patrolman, demanded to know.

"Thanks Charlie," Liam snapped.

"What? Like they'd just leave you here because you wouldn't give them your dad's number."

Fair point, but Liam just wanted to catch his breath before hellfire rained down on him. "The twenty-first."

"Your dad's name?"

"Jay, Detective Jay Halstead." Liam said and then giving up his brave, but brief battle of noncompliance let loose with the phone number, more than aware that he had just signed his own death warrant.

"He's police and that's why you didn't want to tell us?" Lyman asked.

"Well, yeah. He'll have a better idea of the danger involved than a civilian would. And I don't think it will make him proud."

"Whose gun?" Belman asked picking it up and taking the clip out.

"It's spent," Liam assured.

"Yours? Your dads?"

"Oh hell no. I'm never allowed to touch his gun."

"But you'll fire another persons gun?"

Liam sighed as he tried to flex his hands from behind his back. "Can you take these off?" He asked, speaking of the handcuffs. "We're no threat, you have our parents information."

"Is the information accurate?" The officer asked.

"Why would I lie and say my dad is a cop?" Liam retorted.

Officer Lyman nodded as he finished speaking to Charlie's father. "This one told the truth anyway," he said looking at Charlie.

"Fine." He said as he unlocked the boys handcuffs and noticed the beer cans nearby. He picked them up after he freed the boys and sniffed them, then tipped them upside down and saw a few drops hit the ground. "Been drinking?"

Liam let his head fall back as Charlie looked like he was going to throw up. "I am so dead," Liam whispered.

"Yep, I believe you are." Just got off the phone with Detective Jay Halstead, he did ask if you were okay, then he said he was going to kill you. He's on a case on the northwest side, but he'll be heading back to the twenty-first district shortly. We're supposed to take both kids there where their parents will pick them up or kill them, whichever the case may be." Officer Belman stated as he stared at Liam.

"Saddle up boys, and if you run, I will kill you myself," Lyman warned.

"And that's it," Liam said as he finished.

"Oh, that's it? You're sure?" Jay asked, his nostrils still flaring in anger.

"Yeah."

"How much did you drink?"

"Just the one can." Liam replied as if that would make much difference.

"I can smell it all over you."

"Maybe I spilled some of it But I swear it was just one can—I didn't even finish it," he lied.

"One can! Just one can?" Jay said turning and moving back to the corner of the room and then paced back and forth, anger sweating from his pores. He hadn't been in town when Liam had pulled his earlier drinking stunt, but he had thought he had made it pretty damn clear that it wasn't allowed and the consequences would be serious if he were to do it again.

"It wasn't my idea. The beer, the gun. You can check the beer in our fridge it's all still there. Charlie made a mistake—"

"And you let him!" Jay yelled. "You are the son of a Chicago Police Detective and with that comes extra responsibility. It was on you to step up and do the right thing. To convince him to put the gun back where it belonged, to toss the beer. To at least not drink it. You carried a loaded weapon around the city. The officers heard the shots, you think nobody else did? What if some banger's came looking for you instead?"

"I didn't see anybody," Liam offered causing Jay to shake his head. "Besides I didn't ask to be the son of a Chicago cop."

Jay looked up at the ceiling in disbelief. "You are so done talking right now," Jay said his face once again aimed at his son. "You knew better on every count and you can't deny that for even a second. You of all people know the damage that a bullet can do, you know the terror of waiting to see if a loved one is going to survive and what happens when they don't. You could have been shot by the responding officers, by a banger, or even by Charlie who had absolutely no business holding a gun. You should have taken it away from him, took the clip out and come to me. You also could have shot someone. Did you know that they had to go back and clear the building and make sure that you didn't shoot anyone?" Liam shook his head no that he wasn't aware or that the thought of someone being inside had occurred to him. "There's junkies and dealers all over that area.

"You had multiple opportunities to redirect this day and instead you made every wrong decision. You are so damn lucky that this didn't go sideways." But Liam wasn't feeling very lucky at the moment as his father wore the twisted angry face that rarely reared its head except in extreme situations—and here here he found himself in the middle of one of them. "Then I understand you didn't want to cooperate with the officers? Refused to give your name?"

"Mostly, I refused to give them your name," Liam said causing Jay's head to swivel and glare at him "I was scared. I knew you would freak out." Liam explained.

"You were scared because you knew that everything you did was wrong. What are the three golden rules of our household?" Jay demanded to know both of his hands on the table as he leaned on it.

Jay had drilled the three R's into his son, that stood for respect, responsibility and doing what is right. Later he added the three golden rules, honesty, no playing with any weapons and no drugs, drinking or smoking.

"Honesty," Liam began. "No playing with any weapons unless supervised and no drugs."

"And you broke every single one of them and it isn't even noon yet," Jay stated.

"I didn't lie. I told you the truth." Liam replied wondering where this bravado he suddenly had was coming from.

"You absolutely did lie to me. You lied when you skipped camp. I believed that you were there, where you were supposed to be and you weren't."

"Oh." Liam said looking down at the table, picking at something invisible with his finger nail.

"Yeah oh."

"I didn't do drugs," Liam replied, looking up.

"If you recall, it is drugs, drinking or smoking. And drinking and drugs are classified as the same."

"You drink," Liam said wondering why is mouth was suddenly betraying him.

"You really think this is your best course of action?" Jays asked, his face a tight mask as he stepped around the table and towards his son.

"Jay," Hank said as he stepped into the room. "How about we talk for a minute and then switch it up. Charlie's parents will be here soon."

"Sure Sarge," Jay said as he glared once again at his son before upending a chair in his frustration upon his departure.

"You okay?" Hank asked once he and Jay were in the hallway?"

"He's not even trying to be contrite? I don't get it." Jay said pacing in a circle. "Clearly I'm screwing this all up," he said putting hands on his knees as he bent over to catch his breath.

"You're doing fine. He's reacting because he is contrite and terrified. He deflecting because he knows he screwed up big. Let him stew for a minute and then I'll talk to him. Let's think about a few punishments for the boys—something that they have to face for some time to come." Hank said pulling Jay over towards the main room.

To be continued...

Soundtrack:

Poor Issac The Airborne Toxic Event

Run by Belstop