Chapter 1

Present Day

"This is disgusting." Kim murmured, and Jay had to agree.

Any crimes that involved kids always got under his skin but this?

He'd never worked a case quite like this before, where the children being taken were so young. The oldest hadn't even been three. They were practically babies, and from what they'd been able to tell eleven of them had been taken.

Voight let out a frustrated huff and his eyes flicked to where his Sergeant stood staring furiously at the whiteboard, like some new piece of information was going to pop out and give them the break they needed. But he wasn't so sure. They'd been at this for days now and every lead they got was either turning up dry or dead. Their biggest had been Becca Whitman, one of what they were just now learning was an established group posing as Child Protective Services; they conducted fake assessments in low-income neighbourhoods and when a family 'failed' would take the children and sell them on the black market. Intelligence had only found out because they'd begun targeting pregnant women, and four days ago had tried to take a newborn just hours after birth. Thank God it had been at Med and Natalie had been the family's doctor. She'd gotten a feeling something was wrong and had run with it, refusing to let the child be separated from their mother and when Goodwin called CPS to follow up they'd been informed there was no active case file on the family. Worse, Becca Whitman did not and had never worked for the agency.

Unfortunately they couldn't ask Becca about any of this because she was dead. Murdered when the group she worked for realized the police were closing in. They'd found the man who'd killed her last night, Brian Till, but now he was dead too. No one blamed Adam, Till had pointed a shotgun right at him but all of them were left feeling frustrated. They were running out of leads and with two more kids missing they were running out of time too.

"What about the site where they're selling these kids? There's gotta be something on there we can use."

"Tech guys say it's a bust. Whoever set it up knew what they were doing, and passed along their tricks to their customers. Trying to get through it would take too long, and who knows how much they'd even be able to get." Vanessa answered Voight with a shrug but it was obvious she was discouraged- even finding that out had been luck. Till's phone hadn't been password protected and he'd left the damn tab open on his browser, but apparently even that wasn't going to be enough.

"Yeah and while they're looking who knows how many more kids get snatched." Hailey continued, shaking her head as she stared at the board.

Jay couldn't help but watch her for a minute, his gut tightening as he looked her over. He wanted to check in with her, see how she was doing with the case, how she was doing in general but he didn't know what to say. It had been weeks now since they'd had a real conversation and anytime he tried to start one she found a way to extricate herself, usually before he'd gotten more than two sentences out. So he'd backed off. Just like he did now, forcing his attention off of her and back onto that board.

It was too blank.

Too damn blank and none of them had any ideas how to fill it.

None of them.

"So we get someone who can do what they can't."

Everyone looked his way but he only met Voight's stare, acceptance filling his Sergeants face far faster than he'd expected. That alone said how dire the situation was.

"Call her."

"You think she can do it in time?"

"If it takes her more than an hour I'll be amazed." Jay glanced over at Adam as he took out his phone and matched his friends raised brows before turning away, heading for a bit of privacy as Tess picked up.

"Hey there Ranger."

"Hey. You out?" There was a noticeable commotion in the background, things clanging and people talking loudly, a mix of English and… Italian?

"Yeah, I'm at the butchers. Quanto poco pensi che mangi? Why, what's up?"

He had no idea what she'd said but he recognized her teasing tone, and liked the sound of the language coming off her tongue. "We need your help."

"You got it. I'll be there in… twenty-ish minutes."

She answered without hesitation, because of course she did, and just like that the knot in his chest started to loosen. "See you when you get here. Remember, you can use the front door this time."

"Funny."

Jay swore he could hear her smile so when he heard the click that signified she'd hung up he didn't care- he already felt better.

Sure enough twenty-three minutes later he caught the subtle but unmistakable buzz of the gate into the bullpen being opened and was up before he heard it close again, unable to contain his smile when he spotted Tess making her way up the stairs, a small cloth bag swinging from her hand.

"I told you I was at the butchers. I'm not going to leave it in the car- you're going to cook these later."

He held back a laugh as she passed it over, taking a quick peek before he dropped it on his desk. He couldn't tell what was inside the brown paper packages but if she wanted him to cook them they were likely for grilling. Steaks maybe? That fit the size of at least one of the packages but without a label he had no idea where it was from- she had a few butcher shops she frequented, all of which were amazing.

"Thanks for coming."

He looked up to see Voight had come out of his office, he and Tess exchanging brief nods, and quickly gave them his attention. This was going to be interesting.

"Anytime."

"Jay'll get you caught up-"

"No need."

As her shoulder lifted in a small shrug Jay realized he knew exactly what she was going to say- and probably should've thought to give his superior a heads up.

"I may have taken your invitation as permission to do that myself. Apologies if it was an overstep. Jay's mentioned what you were working on so I know we don't have time to waste."

There was a solid beat of silence but Tess stayed calm, her face the perfect combination of mischief and contrition while the rest of them waited with bated breath to see how their Sergeant would respond. But surprisingly, or maybe not, he didn't seem to care; he had gotten used to that kind of thing with Mouse. And much like he'd done with his friend Voight just looked her over, huffing softly before he nodded.

"What do you got?"

"The black hat who set the site up-"

"What's a black hat?"

"A kind of hacker." Tess explained to Vanessa, glancing around to make sure they were all following. "There's roughly six kinds, black, white, grey, red, blue and green, and no, I don't know who decided to colour-coordinate that system. A black hat will sell their services to anyone who can meet their price. The one who set this site up lives in France-"

"You found him already?"

Voight looked at him in surprise and though Jay knew that normally having a man ignore her, especially to look at another man in her place would have pissed her off Tess seemed like she was letting it slide. At least this time. But just because she wasn't going to say anything didn't mean he wouldn't, though he did it by way of a subtle nod back in her direction.

"I'm running his info now but that's mostly just to give the French government everything they need to nail his ass. The site itself is what I think we should focus on. The way they set it up was stupid. Smart, but also stupid."

"How so?" Adam asked, not even looking at Kev as he pointed his finger at him. Kim, and Vanessa both barely held back smiles as Kevin grinned but Hailey…

Hailey still looked tense, and this time it was clear to him and everyone else that it had nothing to do with the case. But since there wasn't anything he could do about that he ignored the ache in his heart and tuned back into what Tess was saying.

"The whole point of the dark web is to be able to browse anonymously but whoever is in charge of your ring wanted to be able to limit and monitor who was coming and going- which was good for them but also for us."

"How?"

This time she didn't hold back on the look she gave Voight at his tone, except… she did. Her brows rose only slightly- and briefly, not at all like the epic stare downs he'd once witnessed between her and his army commanders. But it was still enough that his Sergeant noted it, looking his way once more when she continued; Jay couldn't quite tell what he thought of her but if he had to guess it was a mixture of wary reluctance and begrudging respect.

"They had it made so that everyone who wants to access the site needs to have a registered account linked to it, which means that I can trace those scumbags right back to the dingy basements they're creeping in."

"But the tech lab said-"

"She's better than the tech lab."

He'd known bringing her in was the right call.

He might've been worried about how it would go down, how these interactions between her and his team would play out but he also knew there wasn't anyone better suited to handle this. And once she found the people responsible… well hopefully it would make the next time he called her in even easier.

"What is it you need from us?"

"A law book. I don't actually know if I know what's legal for you."

"Screw legal." Voight said with a shake of his head, and Jay just barely held back his wince as the man took a step in her direction. "You can get these bastards, you do it as fast as you can."

"How I do it doesn't affect my speed."

The room went quiet again as everyone looked between the two but like always Tess kept her cool, even if her tone had finally hardened. A touch.

"I'm not just going after the people doing this in Chicago- I'm going to find everyone who's ever logged onto that site and every child who was ever trafficked through it."

This time he didn't even bother looking at the rest of his team, pride rushing through him as he watched her.

That was his girl.

After a moment Voight gave another nod, his signature seal of approval, then let out a quiet but amused huff as he shrugged. "I get a little fuzzy on the rules sometimes. But I'll get you someone who loves em'."

His Sergeant looked at him one more time, greater understanding and respect in his eyes before he walked into his office, pulling out his phone as he did; probably to call someone from the States Attorneys Office. Probably Kot- they worked with him most often.

"You said less than an hour."

Jay looked over to find Adam grinning at him, and running his eyes over Tess who turned his way with a raised brow.

"You bet on me? How much?"

"Not for money."

"You didn't bet money?"

Kevin and Adam both started laughing at the outright indignation in her voice but he just shook his head and gestured for her to follow him. "Come on. I'll show you where to set up."

A month.

It had been one month since Tess had come home. Thirty-two days to be exact, because he was counting; he may have even gotten it down to the minute at one point if he'd done his math right.

And what a month it had been.

The initial shock of her arrival had started to wear off but every so often he still found himself doing a double take when she walked by or keeping himself up long after she'd gone to sleep, and his regular arrival at work was now pushed back ten minutes to accommodate how long it took to pull himself away in the morning. And how unwilling he was to leave any earlier. She'd always been a bit of an insomniac so he hadn't been surprised the few times he'd woken and found her sleeping in the sunroom or on the deck and would instead just climb in beside her, waking her up slowly or doing everything he could not to until he had to slip away, spending the rest of the day looking forward to the moment he'd get to see her again.

But he wasn't distracted. If anything his mind felt clearer than it had in a long time. So much of what had been weighing on him was starting to lift off, even as new weights piled on. And not just ones related to Tess, to the guilt he felt for abandoning her or the responsibility for their situation now.

This had not been an easy month for their unit.

For his partner.

Not too long before she'd come back Kevin had gone undercover to take down a drug trafficking ring and been forced to work with an officer he'd had issues with in the past, Tom Doyle. Jay had never met the man but from Kev's account he didn't seem like good police, despite being third generation, but then that kind of history in this kind of field often resulted in a lot of power, whether or not it was deserved. And his partner… Kevin had thrown himself up against it. Doyle had chased a man, a black man, into a warehouse without any probable cause and then when he spotted drugs began shooting. And when the men inside defended themselves had been killed. Most police would have kept their mouths shut, backed the blue, but Kevin hadn't been able to stomach it. Jay wouldn't have been able to either and he was doing his best to show his support but sometimes he wondered if it was enough- there was a reality his friend experienced that being white he never would, that none of them bar Vanessa could and though it was clear to everyone that the two were getting close Kevin was up against a lot.

There were only two people he knew who'd faced an institution as powerful and won.

And only one who'd done it with the grace and integrity he himself strived for.

"You're staring."

"I'm glad you're here."

Tess paused her typing, giving him a dry look even as a smile tugged at her lips but she didn't say anything, just bumped her chair against his and then went back to what she was doing; there were three screens in front of her and each one had something different on it, or at least it looked that way to him. Despite her and Mouse trying to teach him he'd never been able to read code the same way they did.

Jay knew she was keeping an eye on the situation with Kevin in the same way, with all her little eyes and ears, and with one particularly long stare down he'd made sure she knew he knew. But they hadn't talked about it explicitly, not beyond her counselling him on how he could help his friend but he knew that if things got bad she would be there. Just like she was now.

Just then the rapid clicking of her fingers on the keyboard stopped, replaced by the cracking of knuckles as she swivelled her chair towards him.

"Done already?"

"Not quite." She said with a rueful smile and shake of her head. "Letting a program do its thing."

"So impressive."

There was the tiniest flicker in her eyes that reminded him he didn't know just how true that was anymore but before he could dwell on it she leant forward and slipped one of her hands in his. "I'm glad I'm here too. I know how much these cases mean to you."

She did.

Everyone did, his disgust for pedophiles wasn't something he even tried to keep hidden but Tess… she knew better than the rest just how deep that rage went.