Jay slowed his car and scanned the faces of figures huddled against the cold. None of them looked much older than Jess, but none of them was her.
He threw the car in park and got out. As he approached, a couple of them started to back away.
"Hey, we ain't done nothin' wrong, officer."
"I'm not here for you," Jay said. He pointed to the two who were ready to run. "You two make one more move and I'll find a reason to bring you in."
As soon as he got close enough, he pulled out his phone and showed them the picture. "Any of you seen her?"
A couple shrugs, a couple blank looks, and a lot of heads shaking no.
"Look again," Jay said. When none of them seemed to be giving the picture more than a cursory glance, he grabbed the nearest guy by the back of his neck and shoved the phone in his face. "Look," he bit out.
The rest of the group looked again.
"Have you seen her?" Jay demanded.
A car pulled up behind his and Burgess and Olinsky got out. Jay didn't let go of the guy he held.
"Someone's seen her," Jay snapped. He gave the guy in his grip a shake. "Start talking or I'm going to see what all of you have in your pockets."
Olinsky rested a hand on Jay's shoulder. "That's enough," he murmured.
Jay held the phone with Jess' picture for the group for another beat before he shoved the guy away.
Olinsky kept a hand on Jay's shoulder and walked him away from the group. Behind them Burgess addressed the group. "You call this number if any of you see her. And if we find out anyone is holding back any information, you will be locked up so fast your head will spin."
"What are you doing?" Olinsky asked softly.
Jay clenched his jaw and shook his head as Burgess dispersed the group. She approached Jay and her partner.
"Jay, why don't you come back with us? Take a break. You've been looking for Jess nonstop for three days." Her brown eyes were worried. "Have you been sleeping? Stopped to eat anything?"
Jay ran a hand over his face. "I need to find Jess."
"I know. I know," Olinsky said. "We'll find her. We're all looking."
Jay's phone buzzed and he answered it, the tension in his shoulders making its way to his voice.
"You need to get down here," Voight said. "Ruzek just hauled Danny in."
#
Adam faced Danny across the table. "Where've you been, Danny? Huh? You just flee the scene of a shooting, then fall off the face of the earth?"
Danny shook his head, his legs jumping around nervously under the table. "I was trying to come in. I just had some business to take care of first."
"Business?" Adam asked, leaning back in his chair. "You had drugs to sell."
Danny shifted his bony shoulders and squirmed in his seat. "I got things taken care of. Now I'm here. Let me see the line up."
Adam stared him down. Danny fidgeted, putting his hands on the table then back on his lap.
"Where's Jess?" he asked.
Danny stilled briefly, then went back to his nervous movements. The pause was barely there, but enough for Adam to pick up on.
"I don't—I don't know any Jess," Danny said.
"You don't know…" Adam trailed off.
Without warning, Adam jumped to his feet and rounded the table. He grabbed Danny by the back of his jacket and hauled him up.
Voight was in the hallway when Ruzek shoved Danny out of the interrogation room.
"Ruzek," Voight started, but Adam didn't pause.
Dragging Danny behind him, he picked up the pace until the dealer's feet skittered across the floor, struggling to keep up.
"He's going to the cage."
Voight didn't follow and Adam didn't bother to answer Kevin when he told him to slow down and think about what he was doing.
Downstairs, Adam roughly shoved Danny into the chain link pen. He followed him in, the metallic shake of the chains echoing through the garage when he slammed the gate shut behind them.
"Come on, man. Not like this," Kevin said.
"You don't need to be here," Adam said to him, without taking his eyes off Danny.
Kevin didn't leave, but he didn't say anything more.
"So here's what I'm thinking," Adam said to Danny. "You and I, we go back, right Danny? You've been a good CI. Given me some good information."
"Yeah, yeah, man, I've given you lots of information," Danny said, pressing back against the fence.
"So I think I should give you another chance." Adam took a step toward him. "Where's Jess."
Again, the pause. "I don't know, man."
Adam launched himself across the cage and got a hold of Danny's shirt. He lifted him up and slammed him into the fence. It rattled around them. "Where is she?" he shouted.
"He talking?" Jay asked, coming into the garage and taking in what was happening.
"He will," Adam said.
Kevin stepped between Jay and the gate. "Naw, Halstead."
Jay narrowed his eyes at the much larger man. "Move."
"Can't do that," Kevin shook his head. "You and Adam against one little worm? I'm not down with those odds."
"Th-thank you," Danny called out.
Kevin whirled around and pinned him with a look. "Don't be thanking me. You tell Officer Ruzek everything you know, or I'm not holding Detective Halstead back. I'm joining both of them in there with you."
Adam pushed Danny higher up against the fence. "Talk."
#
Jess shivered. She wished she had an extra sweatshirt with her. At least the metal of Danny's pistol was warmed by her skin where she had it tucked into her waistband.
Three kids approached. She could see the bills wadded up in the tallest one's hand. They couldn't be more than fifteen.
"You stepping in for Danny?" he asked when they got close.
Jess wanted to say she wasn't. But she couldn't. She had managed to get Danny to agree to let her keep whatever she made. She only had to do this until she had enough money to get out of town. Away from Jay and Will and the look on their faces every time she couldn't get herself pulled together. Away from trials and police lineups.
The youngest of the kids looked around nervously and Jess shook her head. "I don't have anything," she lied.
The tall one frowned. "Ramirez said you were selling."
"Not to you." Jess folded her arms. "Go home. Do your homework," she said, disgusted.
The three of them looked like they were going to argue. Jess raised an eyebrow and lifted the hem of her shirt enough for them to catch a flash of the pistol. They backed away quickly and took off running.
Jess held her ground until she was sure they were gone before she lifted shaking hands to her face. What was she doing? She wished she still had her phone. She wished she had someone to call. But she had thrown it into the river after Mouse called, begging her to come back and talk to him. She was done talking.
The thought of Mouse had her chest squeezing painfully and her hands shook harder. She set down Danny's bag and sorted through it until she found the bottle she wanted. Her hands shook as she worked the cover off.
Just one. Just one to get her through another day. And then she could get on a bus and be done with Chicago.
#
Mouse took in Ruzek's scraped knuckles as soon as he came back into the bullpen. Jay and Kevin followed him. It was killing him to be stuck behind his desk, with all his useless technology, when Jess was out there.
"Did he talk?" Mouse asked. After Jess had run from him, he had lost her. He had tried calling her and then her phone had gone dark. He could trace it to the river and no farther. He had no doubt she had tossed it in so no one could find her.
"He doesn't know where she is," Adam said tightly. "But she's dealing for him."
"That's not…Jess wouldn't…" Mouse started. He looked at Jay's stony face. He ran his hands through his hair and dropped down in his chair.
Voight had come in and heard Adam's bleak statement. "Ok, so we start figuring out who this kid deals to. One of them leads us to Halstead's sister."
Erin stood up when Jay walked past and followed him into the break room. Mouse saw her squeeze his hand and say something to him that was probably meant to bring comfort, but didn't lessen the anger on his face.
Mouse jumped to his feet. He tossed the papers on his desk around until he found his keys and snatched them up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Voight asked.
"I'm getting out there and looking," Mouse said.
Voight crossed the bullpen and planted himself in Mouse's path. "No. You're not."
For a split second, Mouse debated shoving his way past the sergeant. Voight raised his eyebrows, silently daring him to.
"I can't sit here," Mouse burst out. "Sit behind that desk while everyone else gets out there and looks for Jess. Does the actual work."
"Yeah, well they're the actual cops," Voight reminded him. "You're a civilian contractor and your place is behind that desk."
Everything in Mouse rebelled at the words. This wasn't where he belonged. He belonged in the action. He was a soldier, trained to be out there, not babysitting computer monitors and traffic cameras.
"Come on, Mouse," Jay's voice came quietly behind him. "Let's take a break."
Mouse hesitated. He stared Voight in the eye. Finally he broke the contact. He didn't follow Jay. Instead he strode off to the server room. He was the one who had driven Jess away, to Danny and to the drugs again. He couldn't live with that. He would find a way to track her down. Otherwise he didn't know how he would live with himself.
#