The house was on the outskirts of the city, it was nondescript and blended in with the rest of the homes on the block. Voight had found a house that was smack dab in the middle of the 21st and where the stash house was located.
The neighborhood was quiet and by all accounts it was safe, Kim was thankful for that. She wasn't sure this was the right thing to do. Truthfully she was positive it wasn't the right thing to do, it seemed cruel and unorthodox. She didn't have much sympathy for the kids parents but she felt for the kids.
Harleigh and Diesel were innocent in all of this but they were the ones feeling the biggest impact from it. Their parents had put all of it motion when they left them home alone and judging my what Harleigh had told them it wasn't the first time.
They'd been left alone a lot, sometimes for just a few hours, and sometimes a few days at a time, Kim seethed as Harleigh disclosed that bit of information. She wanted just five minutes alone with Harleigh and Diesel's 'mother', they just needed to find out who she was and where the hell she was.
Voight told Kim she needed to put all of that aside and focus on the kids and let the unit deal with the parents.
Fuck if that wasn't hard as hell to do.
Kim sighed as Atwater pulled into the driveway and then the small attached garage, he closed the garage door immediately after pulling in.
"Gotta lay low." Kevin told them, "Voight wanted me to reiterate that fact." He opened Kim's door and waited as she unbuckled Harleigh's car seat. He watched as Adam hopped out of the front passenger seat and head for the trunk, unloading their bags.
Adam hadn't been thrilled with the idea of the safe house and tried to fight Voight on it. It had been a waste of time, Voight wasn't going to budge.
"I get it Kevin." Kim huffed, she helped Harleigh out of the car and then grabbed Diesel's car seat and handed it to Kevin, "We know the rules. We stay inside, we don't let anyone in. We got it."
"It's important Burgess."
"Yes, Kevin. I know." Kim was exhausted, both mentally and physically. This wasn't going to be easy on any of them, Adam was annoyed and Harleigh was upset.
"I know this isn't what you want and I get it, but Burgess, I think it will work." Atwater followed behind Kim as she ushered Harleigh in the house. Kevin repositioned Diesel's car seat on his hip.
"I'm glad you're confident." Kim replied, "I don't want to talk about it, not with little ears around." She was going to do her damndest to shield Harleigh from what was going on.
Kevin knew to drop it, he could tell by the tone of Kim's voice that she didn't want to discuss it, "I'll drop by in the next day or two with your supplies. Text me with whatever you need from the store, there's some food in the pantry, a couple of frozen pizzas in the freezer so you're good until then."
Kevin set the car seat on the floor in the living room, "I'm gonna go find Ruz. I'll leave you and Harleigh to it."
Adam had found his bedroom, it was closet to the front door and the smallest of the 3 bedrooms, the other two sat at the back of the house and right next to each other. Adam was thankful for the distance it would put between him and Kim even if it was minimal.
He heard Kevin in the doorway, "I'm fine." Adam beat him to the punch. "I'll be fine."
"So you keep saying." Kevin chuckled a bit, "I told Burgess and now I'm telling you. You need to lay low, stay inside, don't draw any undo attention."
"I know."
"If you think of anything else you need text me, and I'll pick it up. I'll be back up in a few days." Kevin stood with his hands on hips, "Try and relax man."
"I'll see what I can do." Adam turned his back on Kevin, "Thanks for the ride."
"No problem."
Lacey should've known better, she never should've gone with Travis. She should've stayed home and let Travis deal with it.
It was his fault they were in this mess, he had sampled the product he was supposed to transport and instead of owning up to it, he just dug the hole deeper.
The last time this had happened she had told herself that she was going to leave him, and she had meant it at the time but he apologized and begged her to stay. He told her he was nothing without her and the kids.
Lacey forgave him, that was just a few months ago and he hadn't changed and neither had she.
She had run away from home at sixteen, she had fallen in with the wrong crowd and ended up with a rap sheet as long as her arm and hooked on meth, she had managed to get clean a few times. Each time she was pregnant she stayed clean, she didn't use at all while she was pregnant and stayed clean for a bit after she delivered.
Lacey was proud of that, it was one of the few things she could be proud of she made sure her babies were healthy, they'd both been perfect at birth.
She clutched the balled up tissue in her hand, "What are we going to do?" She asked Travis through her tears, "Where are they?"
"Can you just stop talking? I'm trying to think!" Travis growled at her.
They'd been gone a few days, much longer than they had anticipated. They had done what was asked of them but ended up with a bit of extra cash that he had been quick to spend. He had purchased some high quality shit and they were gacked out of their minds and he didn't know his ass from his elbow.
"We need to call the police!" Lacey screamed, they had searched the house from top to bottom and came up empty.
"What the fuck do you propose I say?" Travis screamed, "Excuse me officer, we left our fucking brats home alone while we did a meth run..."
"They're not brats, Travis! Don't you call them that." She slapped her hands against his chest, "This is your fault!"
"The hell it is. You were an active participant. You need to calm the fuck down, the kids have got to be close by." Travis told her, "They couldn't have gotten far, fucking Diesel can't walk, Harleigh couldn't have taken him far."
"I'm calling the police." Lacey lunged for the phone on the kitchen table.
"No. You're not." Travis screamed as he shoved her to the ground, "Stay the fuck down. I will handle this."
Lacey did what she always did, she cowered under his glare. She lay on her side and sobbed her heart out, deep guttural sobs.
