Will and Jay visit the vacation home of their family in Wisconsin. When they get there, someone is waiting for them at the house who was imprisoned by the Intelligence Unit 5 years earlier. For the two brothers begins a game of life and death...
Spoilers for Chicago PD, Season 6 and Chicago Med, Season 4. This story refers to my fanfic "Memories of a stranger", but you don't need to know the former story to understand this story.
Dislaimer: This fanfiction is just for fun. No money made, no copyright infringement is intended. All characters belong to their respective owners. Diese Fanfiction-Geschichte wurde lediglich zur Unterhaltung geschrieben und es werden keine materiellen Vorteile durch sie erlangt. Mit ihrer Veröffentlichung im Netz werden keine Verletzungen der Copyrights beabsichtigt.
The Auction
"I can't believe my car let us down today," Will grumbled, as he and Jay sat in the back of a cab. "I just had it in for inspection three weeks ago! 600 Dollars!"
"At least it got us almost to our destination.", his brother replied, grinning. "It reminded me of Dad's old pickup, remember? It was at the garage more often than we ended up driving it."
"That thing was awful!", Will returned and he nodded. "I'm just glad that the garage found the damage right away and that we can pick it up tomorrow afternoon, before we head back. With any luck, it's still on goodwill from the garage that did the inspection. I'll give them a call as soon as we´re at the house."
"Speaking of which," the cab driver cut in. "You city boys probably don't know it, but there's pretty much no reception out there. You'll have to call me on a landline if you want to be picked up again. Do you guys even have a landline out there? The house has been unoccupied in forever, right?"
Will smiled. He liked this small town charm and the people here. Everyone knew everyone here and they kept looking out for each other.
"We can call from the neighbor's house, Mr. Jenkins," he replied therefore.
"Ah, Tom Jenkins!" the cab driver replied. "Haven't seen him in town for a while. Tell him to come back to the bar for a beer sometime, okay?"
"Will do, Albert," Jay said as he read the driver's name off the business card in his hands.
The driver had handed him the card as he got in the car. With that, Albert had immediately secured his next job, in case they wanted to be picked up again.
They had gone to their grandfather's house in Wisconsin that weekend to pack up all the personal belongings of the family and to prepare it for transfer to a real estate agent. After their father's death, they had decided to sell the house with heavy hearts. It was located just outside a small town right on the river and there was a wonderful nature to enjoy. They had discussed, that all of this could better benefit a family as a weekend home.
The driver now turned onto the gravel road that led to the house. Will had set out with mixed feelings, but now he was looking forward to seeing the house again and getting out of town for the weekend. If they hadn't needed the money, he might have changed his mind after all and kept the house. Shortly after, the cab stopped, they paid and took their bags out of the trunk. Then they stood in the front yard for a moment, looking at the old building.
Will remembered how Jay and he had used to play out here for hours. They didn't even want to go back in the house until their mother had finally called them in for dinner every night. She had always said that if they stayed out there for too long, the mosquitoes would probably just eat them up - because they were both so cute...
Will wistfully smiled and he suspected that it would be harder to leave all this behind, than he had expected.
"Somehow I still can't believe we're selling the house.", Jay said at that moment, as if he had read Will's thoughts.
Jay probably felt the same way he did. Their final decision would probably not prevail until the course of the next two days. So he tried to be reasonable, looking for rational reasons to stay strong.
"When was the last time you were here?", he therefore asked.
"For a few days with Fiora.", Jay answered lost in thought, as he now walked off and headed for the front door. "It's been quite a while, though."
"That was about five years ago.", Will returned. "At the time, I had just moved back to Chicago and was just starting at the Med."
Jay looked at him in amazement. "Five years? Really?"
Will nodded, marveling to himself at how quickly time could pass.
/
Lost in thought, Jay opened the front door and stepped into the house. Immediately, the familiar smell of the wooden house hit him and he smiled. He put down his bag right next to the door and Will did the same. He let his eyes wander over the open-plan living area and kitchen, to the large glass windows that led to the terrace and the garden. Behind them, the fish-filled river wound through the valley in a wild natural setting all the way to town, where it was finally tamed into a riverbed. He wondered, if he would find the opportunity to do a little fishing later.
They took a few steps into the building and Jay realized that everything was just as he had left it last time. That meant, their father hadn't been here within the last five years either.
Five years... he couldn't believe how much had changed in that time. Then he turned around when he heard a dog barking behind him. Immediately, he recognized the dog and he crouched down.
"Wilson! How did you get in here?", he said in surprise and he cuddled the dog, who had walked up to him in a friendly manner.
"The patio door is ajar,", Will said in amazement. "Mr. Jenkins must have forgotten to close it. He's checking the house from time to time."
"We should have called him over the last five years. I guess, we're pretty ungrateful neighbors. I don't think Dad took much care of anything around here.", Jay said as he stroked Wilson's fur one last time before he stood up.
He walked back to the front door and headed for his bag. He had packed some unseasoned beef jerky for the trip and now he pulled out a few strips for Wilson, who was very excited about the treats.
"I'll bring the dog over and tell Mr. Jenskins that we're here," Will suggested. "Then he'll know that we'll have to use his phone sometime during the day tomorrow. And I'll see if I can still reach my garage in Chicago."
"Good idea.", Jay nodded at his brother. "In the meantime, I'll put the beer in the fridge."
"Sounds like a plan.", Will replied and he gestured to Wilson along with a whistle, so the dog would follow him to the outside.
He pulled the patio door closed behind him and Jay watched him briefly, as he headed across the overgrown lawn to the neighbor's house. After Jay was alone he looked around again. Visiting here brought back so many memories and feelings. He wasn't sure if he could face never coming back here if they did indeed sell. He flopped down on the couch and closed his eyes for a moment. The drive had been more exhausting than he'd thought, after all.
He turned his head as he heard another noise. This time, it seemed to come from the bedroom. He quickly got up again and wanted to go to his bag, but then the door of the room was opened and Jay froze. Two masked men with raised pistols appeared. Jay's gaze once more darted to his bag beside the front door. He had packed his gun into the bag. He wondered if he could reach it fast enough.
Just as he was about to start moving, another man stepped out of the room and Jay couldn't help but stare at him. He recognized the man immediately, he looked the same as the last time they met. The man wore an expensive, tailored suit and a neat full beard. He didn't seem to have changed at all in the meantime. Jay kept telling himself that this couldn't be true. That this man was supposed to be in a high security prison in Minneapolis, with no contact to the outside world.
Five years ago, he and the Unit had been chasing this man. After seemingly endless weeks, their colleagues in Minnesota had finally managed to arrest him. Jay remembered his visit to the precinct all too well. And he remembered how much he wanted to kill this man on that day, when he finally sat before him.
"Surprised, Detective?", the man now addressed him, stepping into the middle of the two masked men who continued to point their guns at him.
Jay swallowed and finally found his voice again. "Cayden.", he spoke his name for the first time in many years. "How the hell-?"
"How the hell did I escape from prison? Blah, blah, blah. Detective!", he interrupted him impatiently. "Yeah, I'm out. I've been tracking you and your brother and I was monitoring Will's cell phone." Jay could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Your brother shouldn't leave it lying around all over the Med. I read all your little messages and that's how I knew you'd be here. I had Will's car rigged, because I wanted to keep you from leaving right away. And now I'm here. Satisfied? All questions answered. No one cares how I got here. What comes next, that's all you should worry about."
Everything in Jay tensed and his eyes darted from Cayden to the two men, who in turn didn't take their eyes off of him. Then his eyes wandered to the patio door. How long would it take before Will returned? Could he warn his brother, so he wouldn't walk into the same trap that Cayden had set out for them?
Jay had studied Cayden's file after he had been arrested and had been questioned by his colleagues. A Psychiatrist had evaluated him at the time. Cayden was a diagnosed Sociopath. He had spent the early part of his sentence in the Forensic Psychiatry, before he was transferred to high security prison. Cayden was also a tech geek and he was still rich. Even after his arrest, they had not been able to find all of his bank accounts.
During their investigation back then they had discovered, that Cayden earned his money by selling videos and auctions on the Darknet. The videos showed the torture and murder of innocent women. One of them had been Fiora, his girlfriend at the time. She had barely escaped with her life, after Cayden had twice ordered her murder. Finally, he had tried to kill Fiora with a package bomb. Jay had been there then when the bomb finally detonated in Fiora's hands. He himself had been seriously injured. All these memories now popped back into his mind and they were highly unsettling to him. However, after the initial shock, it also made him inconceivably angry that this monster had managed to escape.
"What do you want? What´s your plan this time?", he asked tensely.
"You piqued my interest the last time we met, Jay.", Cayden slightly smiled. "You had promised me that you would shoot a bullet into my damn skull. I really liked your enthusiasm and your naivety. Well, five years have passed. I'm sure you had to grow up as well, but that does not detract from the whole thing here. I think back very fondly on our time together, you must know. And of Miss Hillsen."
"I swear, if you´ve touched Fiora, then-"
"I have no more interest in Miss Hillsen, Jay.", Cayden cut him off again. "My interest is now entirely in you."
He turned his head slightly and nodded to one of the men. The two started moving and Jay backed away as they came towards him. He raised his arms and clenched his fists. He would not surrender to them without a fight. He didn't care about the weapons. Jay knew that Cayden wanted him alive because he loved to see his victims struggle and try to stay alive.
When the first man reached him, Jay delivered a blow to the masked man's chest and kicked him in the thigh before his opponent could react. The man doubled over and Jay turned to the second man. Jay tried to block a punch from the side by raising his arm. The guy's fist collided with his wrist, which immediately sent out a sharp pain. At the same time, the guy rammed the barrel of the gun into his ribs, causing Jay to flinch and dodge to the side, where the first man lunged at him and pulled him to the ground with him. Jay landed on his stomach. Upon impact, he felt the not quite healed bullet wound above his hip that he had sustained while investigating the skyscraper fire. All this took his breath away for a moment. The men took advantage of that moment by grabbing his arms and holding him to the ground. Then he felt a knee in his back and he felt like he couldn't breathe, as the pressure intensified. His wrists were grasped and pulled back, where moments later he was aware of cool metal and the well known click of handcuffs. The pressure on his back eased, as the men stood up and pulled him up with them. Jay tried to catch his breath and cursed inwardly, as his gaze landed back on Cayden, who was visibly pleased. Jay's wrist throbbed painfully and the pull that the cuffs were putting on his arms didn't help the situation.
Jay knew that this was just the beginning. They had made sure, that he was under their control before Cayden would now decide how to proceed.
Behind his adversary he noticed a movement and his eyes darted for a split second to the windows leading to the terrace. Will was on his way back. He could see him coming down the little path. His heart began to race and the fear that Will might also fall into Cayden's hands suddenly took over. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth. "Will, get out of here!" he yelled, before an arm wrapped around his neck from behind, cutting off his airways with pressure. One of the men also pressed a large, gloved hand over his mouth. Jay thought he was going to suffocate at that moment, as the fear for Will and the adrenaline drove his need for breathing and his heartbeat to unimaginable heights. It took him infinitely agonizing seconds to realize that Will had not heard him. His brother was still approaching the house, now taking the wooden steps up unsuspectingly and finally pushing the patio door open again.
"Jay, I'm back!" he called, stepping into the kitchen without paying much attention to his surroundings. "Jenkins sends you-", then he finally raised his head and their eyes met.
Will froze, visibly shocked. Jay hoped Will would react immediately, would turn and run. Meanwhile, colorful dots danced before his eyes and he felt himself slumping further and further against the man who held him tightly. Then, finally, the guy took his hand away and Jay sucked some much-needed air into his lungs while the grip around his neck also loosened a little. To his horror, Will continued to stand there in shock.
"What's going on here?" the latter asked, raising his hands as he spotted the weapons Jay was still being threatened with.
Jay wanted to say something, still wanted to make Will understand that he had to escape. But he could not speak at that moment. His throat hurt and he was still busy trying to catch his breath.
"Right on time.", Cayden now took over and took a step towards Will, while the second masked man followed him and pointed the pistol now at Jay's brother. The other man stayed with Jay and continued to hold him in a headlock. "Join us, Dr. Halstead."
Will still stood rooted to the spot in the kitchen. The masked man now walked behind him and pushed him along, towards Cayden. Will kept looking uncertainly over at Jay, as he was forced to move further inside the building. He himself looked at his brother in despair. Will had no idea who they were dealing with here, he had no idea what kind of person Cayden was and what was probably still waiting for them. Then Jay finally found his voice again.
"Don't touch him!", he pressed out, as he continued to try to break free of the man's grasp. His gaze fastened on Will's again.
"Touching.", Cayden said without emotion, ignoring Jay and tilting his head slightly to bring Will's attention back to him. "You're probably wondering who I am. My name is Alexander Cayden.", he crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I'm sure your brother has told you about me." It took a moment, but then Will seemed to remember everything. His eyes widened as realization hit him and Cayden laughed. "I figured my reputation preceded me."
Jay watched the color drain from Will's face. The two brothers had spent a long time in the hospital after Cayden's attack - Will as one of Jay's attending doctors, Jay first as a patient and then as a steady visitor to Fiora, when she had been in a coma.
"What are you doing here?", Will now asked in a strained voice.
"All these boring questions.", Cayden returned. "Put your hands behind your back."
Will didn't budge, but the man with the gun didn't hesitate long and with practiced moves, he pulled his arms back to handcuff him as well.
Finally, the guy behind Jay moved as well. He grabbed one of his arms, pressed the barrel of his gun against Jay's neck and pushed over to Will, so he came to a stop next to his brother.
"He has nothing to do with this." Jay said tensely. "Do what you want with me, but let him go."
"In which world did that request ever work, Detective?", Cayden reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a roll of silver duct tape. Jay watched, as he tore off a piece of it and moved closer. "Don't move or your brother is going to feel your mistake," he threatened him. Jay knew what Cayden was up to and so he held still, even though the guy behind him pressed the barrel of the gun a little harder against the soft tissue on his neck. Then Cayden had reached him and pressed the tape on his mouth. "I'd like to have a little conversation with your brother now."
Jay closed his eyes briefly, trying to suppress his rising panic. He tried to get his breathing under control again, as the tape sealed his mouth. His eyes moved back to Will, who seemed completely overwhelmed by the situation and looked at him in horror.
"Dr. Halstead, you're a reasonable man, wouldn't you say?", Cayden now asked him. Will did not move, only his gaze now followed Cayden, who stepped closer to him. "So if I told you that I was giving you and your brother a real chance of surviving this - if you, as a medic, absolutely did what I told you to do, wouldn't you agree that you should follow my instructions?"
Jay realized at that very moment, that Cayden's games were actually about to begin now...
/
Will felt himself begin to tremble but he hoped that the men would not notice. Cayden nodded to the two masked men who stayed with Jay, while the well-dressed man now approached him. He clasped his arm and to Will it felt, as if the icy fingers of death were closing around his arm.
Cayden gently pulled him along, over to the bedroom. They entered the room and then he closed the door behind them. Will's fears for what was about to happen triggered the craziest theories in him, so he stopped as soon as the door was closed. Fortunately, Cayden let go of him at that moment.
"You know my men will hurt your brother if you don't behave, don't you?", he asked casually, as he took a few more steps, stopped, and turned to face him again.
Will nodded again, dazed and heart pounding.
"I'm going to share with you, how I envision this day playing out. I want you to be a professional, active player in all of this. If you have questions, you can ask them now. When we leave this room, it's too late. Do you understand?"
Anxious, Will looked the man in the eye, but Cayden showed no emotional reaction.
"When we go back into the living room, I want you to do exactly what I tell you. You will not speak a word. You will not say a word to your brother. You will be absolutely silent, Will."
"What are you going to do?"
"Just listen to me and you'll find out. As I said before, I'm going to give you and your brother a chance to survive this. I'm going to start by asking you to administer some medication to your brother."
Will shook his head. "No."
"Just some Propofol, completely harmless. He'll sleep a little, that's all. I just don't want to take any chances that your brother will try something unexpected."
"I'm not doing that."
"Will, it's for his own good. I will take you both to another location. Once there, I will ask you to reopen his recent gunshot wound for me."
"Are you insane? Never.", Will took a step back and pushed his back against the closed door. "Why would I do that? How do you even know about the wound?"
Cayden walked slowly towards him. "My men downloaded his medical records at the Med. They also cloned your cell phone. You really have a security leak at the Medical Center. And you, Will... you are way too reckless."
"That's not possible."
"It was a piece of cake," Cayden said. "Back to that gunshot wound..."
"I'm not going to do that."
"Come on. It's a perfect little, minor injury. A through-and-through that didn't hit any major organs, but it's causing intense pain and steady blood loss," Cayden's gaze briefly got lost in nothingness. "Please forgive me, but just the idea sends me into anticipation."
Will couldn't believe what he was hearing and it disgusted him. He tried to gather all his courage and straightened up a little more. The movement caused the handcuffs to press uncomfortably against his arms and he slightly grimaced.
"Is that your thing?" he asked Cayden. "Humiliating people, making them defenseless, and then watching as the life slowly drains out of them? Does that turn you on? Then I'm going to have to disappoint you. Because I'm exactly the opposite of you. I try to help people and save them from what you're doing to them!"
Cayden laughed softly and stepped even closer. He seemed to like the fact that the spirit of fight was slowly awakening in Will. He let his fingers briefly slide over Will's hair.
"Get your hands off me!", Will pressed out threateningly.
"Oh don't worry. Even though I like redheads, you're not quite my type," Cayden smirked. "You know your brother's wound isn't immediately fatal. It'll just keep your brother at bay for a while and provide for my pleasure."
"I don't give a damn about your pleasure!" Will exclaimed and he was beginning to wish that he could use his hands to go after this maniac.
"You will cooperate."
"No!" Will answered in disgust. "I'm not going to do that! None of it!"
"Then you hereby seal Jay's immediate death sentence. I can either watch my men work on your brother right now according to my instructions, or you can do as I tell you. Then you'll both walk out of here alive."
"But maybe, but with a trauma that neither of us will ever leave behind,", it flashed through Will's mind at that moment. He wouldn't do any of that to his brother. He just couldn't.
"I assure you, if I take over your brother this will be a lively refresher on the Anatomy classes that you took while in Medical School. I think I've probably seen more people from the inside than you have."
Will felt nauseous as the meaning of the words dawned on him. He had no idea what to do. He was sure Cayden would kill them either way, even if he made other promises to him at the moment. His mind was racing. Would he want to be responsible for Jay´s dearth right here and now, without them even having a chance to fight?
"I'm not going to hurt him.", he said reluctantly, as despair now spread through him, all at once. Tears came to his eyes.
Cayden smiled again as he noticed Will getting emotional. "You will do it or my offer is void. If you walk through that door and change your mind, you can scream and beg all you want. I won't change my mind then."
"Why? Why do you think you have to do this?"
"Listen and you'll understand.", Cayden began pacing up and down in the room. "Like I said, I'm going to take you and Jay to another place. There you can take care of your brother, tend to his wounds. I'll let you be with him, all the time. But I will set up a camera and people will be able to follow your and Jay's journey on the internet. Surely you know how I make my money?"
Will just looked at him in a daze. By now he couldn't really process the information, that Cayden was revealing to him.
"No?", he continued. "I'll tell you how to make some real money. I sell Videos and Livestreams on the Darknet. I'll even broadcast the Stream for free to Jay's Unit in the Chicago Police Department, so they can be a part of it. And believe me, I'm going to make a lot of money today from all that I'm going to do with you. There are a lot of people out there who will pay a lot of money to see a Cop suffer." Will opened his mouth to say something, but Cayden intervened by raising his hand. "Should you decline, then of course I can sell your brother's Anatomy Video also for a profit. So for me, it's a win-win situation."
Will shook his head in disbelief. "I don't understand. All this because you're making money and because you want to see Jay suffer? Because you want revenge?", he lowered his head. "I don't believe this...", he said the last sentence more to himself, than to Cayden.
"Oh, I'm actually quite proud of my wild imagination!", the latter said. "And I'm not the only one who enjoys this kind of entertainment. Forum Members can even give instructions, if they pay for it. I could even put you both up for a complete auction if I wanted to. I can have someone else get rid of both of you. There are so many different scenarios. So, I think I'm being very generous with my offer to you."
"But I have no idea what you're going to ask me to do or what will happen to us!" Will exclaimed, now upset.
"Oh, nothing is going to happen to you, Will. I just want you to be my tool. Your brother, however... I fear he will be in a very bad state. But if you hang in there and his body keeps up long enough, everything will be all right."
Will was sure that by now his trembling was visible to Cayden, as his heart hammered against his chest and the blood rushed in his ears. He hated the fact that his counterpart seemed to soak up his every reaction with his steel blue, cold eyes.
He didn't want any of this, he didn't want to do any of it. But did he have any choice but to engage in this sick game for now? Maybe he could still change Cayden's mind... Maybe he could take all of this on himself and somehow protect his brother?
„Take me.", he therefore said quickly, as he feared to throw up if he thought about it any longer. "Switch roles. I beg you, just take me."
"Very noble of you, Will. But no. My plan is set. I've had a very long time to deal with your brother, to work out my plan, and we don't want to spoil all the fun at the very last moment, do we? I think I've told you enough now. Are you in?"
"How can I trust you?"
"You can't. You'll just have to go with it. I'm a businessman and I've offered a deal to you. So do we have a deal?"
Will closed his eyes. Everything inside him resisted, but he knew he had to do it. Finally, he nodded.
"Very well. I knew I could count on you."
Cayden patted his cheek and Will shrugged to the side. The older man seemed satisfied. He went to the back corner of the room and pulled out a bag, bringing it to him. Then his fingers closed around Will's upper arm again. He opened the door to the living room and they walked out together.
Will walked beside Cayden as if he was drugged, but then his eyes immediately fell back on Jay, who was still standing between the two masked men holding him. In the meantime, they had also wrapped his ankles with tape. His brother looked at him and again, tears welled up in Will's eyes. He felt like a traitor. Jay had no idea what was coming and he couldn't warn him. A knot formed in his stomach that felt like a rock that was pressing down on his soul.
Cayden walked with him to the living room table and let go of his arm. Then he set the bag on the small table and opened it. He reached in and pulled out a syringe. Then he pulled out a small vial of liquid. He placed both on the table.
"Turn around.", Cayden then prompted him. A moment later, he released the handcuffs and Will pulled his now aching arms forward. "And continue.", was all he then heard from the older man.
Reluctantly, he bent down and took the syringe, as well as the vial, in his hands. He took a quick look at the label. It appeared to be indeed Propofol, if they had not relabeled it. He concentrated on measuring a dose that could knock out an adult for a few minutes.
Will heard Jay becoming agitated and trying to say something despite the tape over his mouth. But Will could only give him a brief, apologetic look. As he held the syringe up and squeezed out any air bubbles, he suddenly saw an opportunity he hadn't seen before.
He didn't know if he and Jay would be able to overpower the two masked men, but he now had the opportunity to at least take out Cayden. Cayden was close enough to him that he could administer the drug to him, if he was quick enough. The Propofol would take effect within a few seconds, rendering Cayden unconscious.
Will once again heard muffled sounds from Jay, who grew increasingly agitated as he lowered the syringe and finally turned to Cayden. Just as he was about to inject the needle into the latter's body, he noticed that Cayden was holding something in his hand. Before he even touched him with the needle he felt his body tense up, as Cayden gave him an electric shock with a taser.
The pain spread from the point of contact through his entire body in just milliseconds, his muscles failed and he immediately went down. The syringe fell out of his hand and that was the last thing he consciously noticed. Then his entire attention was focused on that hot, all-pervasive pain that had been triggered by the stun gun...
/
Jay had watched in horror as Will, who was unusually pale and visibly shaking, filled the syringe with a liquid. Who was it intended for? What had Will and Cayden discussed in the bedroom? What had he threatened him with? What had he talked him into doing?
Then he noticed that Will paused for a moment. Jay hoped that Will wouldn't do anything stupid and that he wouldn't put himself in danger. Jay couldn't bear to see Cayden hurt his brother.
Then he saw Cayden pull something out of his jacket pocket behind his brother. He must have also noticed that Will had hesitated. Jay recognized the device immediately and tried in vain to warn his brother. Shortly thereafter, Will turned around and Jay heard the horrific sound of a stun gun.
His brother groaned in agony and immediately went down, while Jay tried to break free of the two men's grasp. He wanted to get to Will, he needed to know if he was okay. He braced his legs against the duct tape they had wrapped around his ankles, but it held. There was no way he could break free. The two masked men seemed to anticipate his every reaction and held him in place. Jay could only watch as Cayden bent down to Will and picked up the syringe from the floor. Within the next second, he sank the needle into Will's upper arm and pressed the fluid into his muscle.
"That was incredibly stupid of you.", Cayden now said to Will.
Jay groaned in horror, as his brother's eyes closed and his body suddenly seemed to lose all tension. He lost consciousness after only a few seconds. Cayden stared at the motionless body at his feet and seemed to think for a moment. Then he raised his head and looked at Jay again.
"Actually, I promised your brother that we would kill you right now, if he didn't follow my instructions. But I just decided to try out my new concept on you anyway, Jay. After all, I originally developed it for you. Your brother, however, has just demoted himself to a spectator.", Cayden now turned to the two masked men. "Let's take them to the other place."
The men started moving and Jay was pulled along by them. He tried again to break free, but they pulled him over to the couch without effort. They turned him slightly and pushed him backwards, so that he landed on the couch. One of the men walked around the couch and put an arm around his neck again to hold him there.
The other masked man walked over to Cayden, who handed him the handcuffs he had taken off Will earlier. The unknown man bent down, turned Will onto his stomach and put the handcuffs back on him. Then he pulled out the roll of duct tape from his jacket and wrapped it around Will's ankles as well. He then tore off a strip and placed it over Will's mouth.
Jay had watched each of the movements with concern. Cayden had said they were taking them to another location, so they probably wanted to make sure they couldn't break free along the way.
His attention was turned back to the three men. He saw Cayden take a slightly larger bottle and a cloth out of the bag on the table and hand them to the remaining man. The latter soaked the cloth with the liquid from the bottle. Jay realized that they were going to drug him and Will for the transport and he began to struggle again against the other man's grasp. The second was now coming closer with the cloth. Jay jerked his legs up and turned his hips to kick him. The wound in his side hurt again, but he paid no attention to it. The man had already anticipated his reaction and now approached him sideways, while the other continued to hold him. Only a second later the cloth was pressed on his face.
Jay held his breath, but he already knew it was useless. The men waited patiently until he was finally forced to breathe in again. As Jay caught his breath, a sweet, unpleasant odor rose to his nose and only moments later an all-consuming heaviness spread through his body. Dizziness gripped him and then his eyes fell shut. He tried one last time to fight and to open his eyes. But his eyelids would no longer obey. His thoughts wandered off all at once, could no longer be grasped. Then he sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.
/
Sensing movement beneath him, Will finally regained consciousness. It took him a moment to open his eyes and to realize, that he was no longer in the house, but apparently on the floor of a windowless van. He was lying on his side, his face to the wall. He felt that he was wearing the handcuffs again and that he could not move his legs either. With a groan, he turned onto his back. His arms began to ache from the sudden weight. Then he spotted Cayden next to him, sitting on a folding seat behind the partition to the cab. Will's counterpart smiled and watched him for a moment longer, then he stood up and bent down to him. With one motion, he ripped the tape from his mouth and Will eagerly sucked in some air as he was finally able to breathe freely again. Then Cayden took his seat again.
"Where's Jay?", Will asked immediately.
„Right here.", Cayden pointed behind him and Will raised his head. He spotted his brother lying with his back to them, tied up as well as he was.
"Jay?", he called out, but the latter didn't move.
"Oh, it's going to take him a while to wake up."
"What did you give him? Propofol as well?"
"No." his counterpart laughed. "You had your chance, Will. I had shown you the more pleasant way for Jay. You could be over there with him now, making sure he was okay. But you had to do something stupid. If I'm honest, I was counting all along on you turning on me in the end."
"Because no one in their right mind would play along with your sick games!" Will replied, looking anxiously at Jay again.
"You'll soon wish you had played along with my sick games. Once you see what's coming for your brother, I bet your fingers will be itching.", Cayden said. He now turned to look ahead through a small window. "I think we're almost there. Time to send you back to the land of dreams."
Again, the elder leaned down and Will felt a needle in his upper arm.
/
The realization that he was no longer at his grandfather's house was the first thing that went through Jay's mind after he woke up. He still felt dizzy and nauseous. He suspected that they had used Chloroform to sedate him. His thoughts were slow to form anything meaningful and it took him what felt like an eternity to realize in what kind of situation he was in. Cautiously, he moved. Where was Will? Was he here as well?
The room he was in, was small... He heard the sound of his own breathing echoing off the walls. It was dark, pitch black, and his body was curled up. He was lying on his side, his legs bent, his hands now cuffed in front of his body. He tried to stretch out, but after a few inches his feet hit a resistance. Then he tried to sit up. But he immediately bumped against something upwards as well. It seemed to be some kind of box they had locked him in. He raised his hands and pressed against the top of the box. The surface seemed to be made of smooth and durable wood or something similar, perhaps plastic, from the sounds. He noticed that there were some small holes at the top of the box, probably so he wouldn't suffocate in here.
Jay listened and waited if he could hear anything from outside, but there was absolute silence around him. Next, he tried to push with all his might against the walls and the top of the box, but they did not give way. Slowly he felt the confinement getting to him. He wasn't claustrophobic, but the idea of the situation he was in and the knowledge that Cayden was lurking out there, probably watching him, was driving his adrenaline levels up. Again, he tried to make out something in the darkness, then he listened again. But he seemed to be alone. Still, he needed to know if his brother was here as well.
"Will, are you here?", he asked into the void.
But everything remained silent...
/
"Isn't this incredibly entertaining?", Cayden asked excitedly and Will just looked at him somberly. "I'm going to watch this so many times. It's just like I imagined it would be."
They sat in a room, that Will could not have imagined even in his darkest nightmares. The room had no windows, only a door on the far wall. He himself was sitting in a chair and his hands were cuffed behind his back. His feet were taped to the legs of the chair. This was how he had woken up here recently and it hadn't taken long for Cayden to show up.
In front of him was a bed frame that was missing the mattress. Some sort of 5-point restraint had been placed on it and Will feared that unfortunately, it was all too clear to him what this device was for - and for whom. Above the bed was a camera, to the right was a screen and another camera on the wall. On a tripod a little further away, another camera. Next to the door he could see a desk with two more screens and many wires, perhaps the technology to control the cameras. Cayden was probably planning to record all that he was going to do with them from several angles.
At the moment, he was alone in the room with their captor and had to witness the terrible situation Jay was in. On the screen he could see how his brother had just come to. A night vision camera allowed them to see what was going on. For Jay, however, it was probably pitch black in the room. Cayden and his men had locked him inside a cube of thick Plexiglas. It was awful just to watch all this. Will kept thinking about the medical facts that could trigger Jay's situation. Claustrophobia, Panic attacks, inadequate blood supply to the extremities due to the restricted movement.
"You know what's interesting about a Camera silens, Will?" asked Cayden now. "You can't see anything, you can't hear anything from outside. Your own sounds are sort of swallowed up by the walls. If you stay in a room like that long enough, your senses start to go crazy. You can have hallucinations and perceptual impairments." Cayden came closer, walked around the chair and put a hand on Will's shoulder. His muscles tightened involuntarily under the touch. "Of course, the thing we built isn't the same, it's not a true black box - after all, Jay can very well hear the sounds he makes in there. But it does come close, and I think it's very aesthetically pleasing. During my incarceration, I was locked in an isolation cell more than once. A disgusting place. That's where I got the idea for this. What do you think? How long would it take for your brother to show the first signs of hallucinations?"
"Get him out of there." Will merely replied. He would not discuss medical matters with Cayden.
"I suspect it wouldn't take long," Cayden continued, not responding to Will. Then he leaned down a bit so he was right next to Will's ear. "Since we're a little pressed for time, I thought - what if we helped out a little?"
/
Jay had tried to find a halfway tolerable posture in the box. He was now leaning against one of the walls, while he had rested his arms on his drawn knees. He tried to remain calm and concentrate on his breathing. He had no idea how long he would have to endure in here. Again and again he thought he heard noises from outside, but when he turned his head, only blackness and silence greeted him. Then all at once he flinched. He was startled when he actually heard something... Gunshots... there were gunshots to be heard. It was so loud all at once! Had they found them? Or was Cayden possibly shooting at his brother? It almost drove him crazy when, after the sounds, silence surrounded him again. He heard his own heartbeat in his ears. He turned in the direction from which he suspected the shots had come. But, where exactly were they coming from? Then he froze, as he suddenly heard something again - his own voice.
"Fiora... Calm down. It's over, do you hear? Just lie still... I need someone here! Now!... Help me turn her on her side, I need to cut the rope... Gently."
Jay stared into the darkness as his breathing continued to quicken. He now realized that Cayden was playing a recording - he had been livestreaming the kidnapping and storming of the room where Fiora and Erin had been held at the time. Now he was apparently putting the recording on. He heard Fiora suddenly cry out in pain. He saw the scenes that had played out before him then in his mind's eye. The panic, his worry, the blood - all this came back to his memory. The kidnapper had plunged a knife into Fiora's side then, hitting her lung. Then the recording continued, "Jay...?" softly, very softly, Fiora's voice could now be heard and Jay got goosebumps as he thought back to the horrible moment when she had finally collapsed in front of him... "Fiora! Stay awake!... Where's the damn ambulance?"
Then the recording stopped and Jay heard only his own rapid breathing again. His heart was racing. Then, after only a few moments, the recording started again...
/
"You're so incredibly insane...", Will angrily observed what was going on in the room Jay was in.
His brother had meanwhile lowered his head. He held it between his hands to cover his ears, as far as the handcuffs would allow. But the recordings were probably so loud in the small room that Jay couldn't really tune them out. After the first recording had been played several times in a row, a new one had followed and Will had realized after a few moments that it had to be a recording of Fiora's first abduction. She had been tortured by a man for several days. Cayden had also commissioned this video back then and it was in his collection. Now he tortured Jay with the audio recordings. One could hear how Fiora literally begged for her abductor not to hurt her any further. Will himself was brought to tears by the recordings.
"Your brother still seems to have feelings for this girl," Cayden said, his gaze literally glued to the screen. Now he turned back to him. "Maybe my interest in her hasn't completely waned after all. There's something about her."
Spotting Will's tears, he moved closer and frowned. "You're all emotional, doctor."
"No one can listen to that and not feel sorry for the girl!", Will replied, as he tried to get himself back under control. A tear escaped and ran down his cheek.
Cayden sighed, reached out and wiped the tear away. Will turned his head away and Cayden lowered his arm as he continued to look at him. "Too bad you don't like it.", he said disappointedly as he rubbed the tear fluid between his fingers. Cayden now glanced at his expensive wristwatch. "Mhm... let's give your brother some more rest and then we'll move on to the next phase."
/
The recordings had stopped and now Jay was again fighting the blackness and silence that surrounded him once more. He was already emotionally drained and he just felt tired. He had completely lost the sense of time. How long had he been sitting here without hearing anything? Then, a bright white light blinded him. He winced and squeezed his eyes shut as he lowered his head again. The light hurt his eyes after the long period of darkness. Then he heard Cayden's voice.
"Detective, it's time for a little family reunion."
Jay raised his head and forced himself to open his eyes. Cayden was talking about Will. He needed to see what this was all about. He blinked as his eyes were slow to adjust to the light. His gaze roamed the room briefly. Only now he realized that he was in a cube of Plexiglas and that the space around him was rather small. In front of him, there was a screen on the wall, next to which two spotlights and a camera on a tripod had been positioned. He had been correct in his assumption that Cayden had been watching him the whole time. The spotlights now illuminated everything with bright white light. It took a moment before Jay could make out anything on the screen, but then he saw Will. Only his torso and face could be seen, but he appeared to be sitting down and his arms still appeared to be tied behind his body. His mouth was taped shut, but he was alive. That was all that mattered to Jay right now. He wondered, if Will could see him too.
Then Cayden's face came into view, as he leaned down to Will. Jay watched as Cayden buried one hand in Will's hair, pulling his head back. With his other hand, he now held a knife to Will's throat. His brother blinked and finally closed his eyes in fear. Jay, too, felt panic rising within him.
"Cayden, don't do this!", he shouted, his own voice echoing loudly off the walls of the cube.
"No?", the older man was now looking at the camera. "So, you need your brother?"
Jay blinked nervously, his mind racing. He raised his hands slightly to signal Cayden that he would do what he asked. "What do you want? What do you want me to do? To leave him alone?"
Cayden was smiling now. "I wouldn't have thought you two would be so attached to each other, considering all your family history."
Jay had no idea how he would have found out more about their family, but he kept quiet.
"My men are about to come into the room to get you out of there," Cayden now continued. "I want you to offer no resistance, and then I'll let your brother watch us for a littel while longer."
Jay nodded. "Okay...okay."
A moment later, the door opened and the two masked men stepped inside.
/
Will took a deep breath of relief and exhaled, as Cayden took the knife away and went back to the camera he had brought closer from the back of the room. His eyes wandered back to the screen on the wall, but it was now black. He couldn't see the men taking Jay from the other room.
But shortly after, the door was opened and the men pulled Jay in with them. He seemed to be unconscious again, which immediately worried Will. It was possible that Jay´s circulation had collapsed after the period of immobility. But he was forced to watch as the men now hoisted Jay onto the bed. With a knife, they cut through the fabric of Jay's shirt and then they removed his shoes and socks as well. Then they fastened the restraints to his arms, legs, and across Jay's chest. Cayden was behind the technical desk and seemed to be preparing something. Then he approached and surveyed his men's work.
"Let's go over there and check the Servers again.", he then said to them. The two started moving, but Cayden came to Will once more. "And you stay right here. I can follow everything that happens in here. If I hear so much as a sound from you when your brother wakes up, I'll cut your throat after all.", he said, patting his cheek again.
/
Jay had kept his word and actually had not resisted. The men had come into the room and had opened the cube on one side by removing several locks. Then they had dragged him out and had pushed him to the floor. One had pulled out a syringe and sunk it into Jay's arm. After all the torture that day, this was something he had tried to tolerate. It had taken only seconds after that for his eyes to fall shut.
This time, waking up was easier. He didn't feel dizzy or nauseous. Only at that moment did he realize that he was lying on a kind of bed that lacked a mattress. There was only a coarse-meshed grid underneath him. He wanted to sit up, but the movement was immediately stopped by something. He raised his head and discovered several straps that had been tightened around his arms, legs and across his chest. His torso and feet were bare, and he was wearing only his jeans. He turned his head to the right and tried to take in his surroundings. His heart began to race again, now that the drug's effect seemed to be steadily diminishing.
He realized that the bed was in the middle of a windowless room. The walls and floor were made of concrete. On the right side of the wall, a large screen had been placed. Next to the screen was what looked like a small camera. A small light on the device flashed every now and then. Did that mean that all of this was already being recorded? Again he raised his head and looked to the foot of the bed. There was a tripod with a camera, behind it three empty chairs and what looked like a desk with two screens and electronics... Next to the desk, a closed door. Jay lowered his head back onto the metal grate beneath his body and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't believe this was really happening. Then he spotted the third camera that had been mounted on the ceiling above him.
He had been aware that he would be the main actor in Cayden's game. But he had not imagined what would follow after the torture in the cube. Now he turned his head to the left and in the corner of his eye he finally saw what he had actually been looking for all along. He bent his head further back and could finally spot his brother sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. Apparently, his hands were still tied behind his body and his ankles had been taped to the legs of the chair. Will's mouth was still taped shut and his brother looked at him with concern.
"Will, are you all right?" he asked.
His brother just nodded, but he was visibly scared. His gaze kept darting to the door. Jay suspected Cayden would return at any moment.
"I'll get us out of here somehow...", Jay muttered.
He wasn't ready to give up yet. He tugged at the straps, but they didn't give an inch. Then his attention was suddenly drawn to the door as it was unlocked from the outside. He raised his head and saw Cayden and the two masked men enter the room. The unknown men walked to the desk, while Cayden came closer. Cayden pulled a clear plastic mask over his face just before he reached him. Apparently he wanted to hide his identity, as soon as the cameras were turned on.
"It's good to have you back, Detective,", he greeted him and he stopped at the foot of the bed. "I hope the little time out in isolation has done you some good. I'll include the recordings in my little private collection."
Jay just shook his head in disgust.
"Let's get started, then. Now that my two Main Characters are assembled here." Cayden turned his head and now looked once more at Will. "Welcome to the show."
He walked to the left side of the bed, where he placed himself next to Jay. His gaze was no longer on him, however, but on the camera next to the screen, which suddenly turned on.
Jay could hardly believe, when he recognized himself on the screen. He saw himself, strapped to that bed - in real time. The camera zoomed out a bit and the rest of the room became visible, including Cayden and Will. Cayden spoke to the camera and Jay's head snapped back to him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. I welcome you to our first interactive Auction. I'm pleased that so many of you have purchased tickets for the Livestream and that there is so much interest in actively participating in the announced Auction."
Jay felt himself begin to shake with tension while his heart pounded wildly against his chest. He again stared in disbelief at the camera next to the screen. Cayden moved a few steps away and went to the desk, where one of the men handed him a Tablet. Then he returned after glancing at the display.
"583 active viewers, there is indeed a lot of interest and we don't want to keep you in suspense for long,", he raised his head and looked at the camera. "Meet Detective Jay Halstead, a member of the Special Intelligence Unit with the Chicago PD. Some of you may have even had personal contact with Detective Halstead and you can now buy yourself a little piece of revenge and satisfaction. So let's get started. The first auction will last 15 minutes. The prize is a stab wound to the hip area. The starting price is one Dollar. The wound will be inflicted as soon as we´ve received a bid of 300 Dollars. But remember not to spend all your money right away, I plan to keep you entertained for as long as possible... Let's go!"
/
Hailey had been in the office early on that morning and she just couldn't believe how slowly this day was dragging along. It was only two in the afternoon and she suspected that the boredom stemmed from Jay not being present. She had been glad that her partner had returned to duty rather quickly after his gunshot wound, because when Jay was here, everything always went more smoothly and she just felt more comfortable at work.
So when he had opened up to her that he was going to take the Friday off again for a family matter, she had been less than thrilled. Only casually had she asked where he was going. He'd told her that he and Will were preparing their Grandfather's house for sale, now that their Dad and the brothers hadn't visited it in a while. She'd immediately felt guilty, because at first she'd reacted selfishly and hadn't wanted him to miss work again. But she could of course understand that the brothers still had a lot to sort out after their Dad had died.
"Where is the house?" she had asked him, as they drove back to the Police Station.
"Right outside of La Farge.", he had replied.
"La Farge? Where is that?", she had laughed and, surprisingly, he had also smiled. He had often been far too introverted and serious after his father's death.
"It's in Wisconsin. And it's located on the Kickapoo River. Will and I used to make fun of it when we were kids.", he'd told her, glancing at her from the side and finally joining in her laughter. "But seriously. I love being out there, Hailey. The quiet, the nature - I don't know if we should really sell."
"I can see what you mean.", she had replied and they had continued the rest of the drive to the Station in silence.
Now Hailey glanced over at her counterpart's empty desk chair and she wondered if Jay and Will had decided by now, what they should really do with the house. Maybe they were sitting somewhere along the Kickapoo River right now, fishing for their dinner.
She turned in her chair when she heard someone come up the stairs who was greeted by Adam and Kim. She discovered that Seargent Platt came in with a serious expression, merely nodded to them, and then Hailey watched her disappear into Seargent Voight's office. She closed the door behind her. That was never a good sign. Hailey stood up and walked over to her colleagues, who had also watched curiously, as Seargent Platt had disappeared into the office.
"What do you guys think? A new case?" Kim asked.
"I don't know, it's not like her when she´s not giving me a stupid comment on my daily outfit.", Adam replied and he ran a hand over his beard. He always did that when he was tense.
"So you're into your daily squabbles after all?", Kevin joked and Hailey grinned, before turning back to look at the glass door that led into Voight's office.
They could all see that Platt had now walked around Voight's desk and that they were looking at something on the computer screen.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," Adam muttered and Hailey could only agree with him.
She also felt an uncomfortable tension spreading through her.
/
"Hank, I almost keeled over when I opened the link.", Trudy said, who had forwarded him an e-mail and then immediately joined him in his office. Now she was standing next to him, looking at him seriously. "It's Halstead."
"What about Halstead?", he asked, expecting anything, but certainly not what he would see on his computer screen in the very next moment.
He klicked the link and a window opened. A picture of Jay appeared, he seemed to be unconscious. It took Hank a few seconds to realize that it was not a picture, but a video, when the camera zoomed out a bit. Now he could see that Jay was tied to a bed frame. That was all that could be seen at the moment. Then some subtitles blended in at the bottom of the screen.
"Auction starts in 10 minutes. Bidding and voting for registered users only."
"What the hell is this, Trudy?", Hank asked, his mouth feeling dry all at once, as his heart began to beat faster.
"Don't ask me, I know as much as you do. But I'd say Halstead is in a lot of trouble."
Hank gave her a worried look and clicked on the email. He sent it to everyone on the team, forwarding the link of the video. Then he rose and gestured for his colleague to follow him outside to join the others.
/
Hailey couldn't take her eyes off the screen that showed her partner in an absolutely helpless position. Her heart was racing and she felt a slight nausea rising. She couldn't bear to see him like this. Inside, she was tense to the breaking point and she immediatley wanted to do something to help him.
Jay seemed to just regain consciousness, looked around the room, and a moment later he noticed the camera that had been placed above him. For a moment he looked right into the lens, but then he turned his head to the side and seemed to notice something behind him. He said something, but it was impossible to hear what. Apparently, he was not alone. The writing at the bottom of the screen was now updated.
"Auction starts in three minutes."
"Okay, I've got something.", she then heard Kevin say next to her and she forced herself to look back at her colleagues. "I just got off the phone with the Department, they were able to track down the source of the video. The link is to a Forum on the Darknet. Access to the video has only been granted to Forum users who have previously purchased a ticket for it. $50 per ticket."
"If someone sent us that link, then they want us to watch the whole thing.", Kim said.
"And this is really live?", Voight asked.
"It sure looks like it, Sir," Kevin replied. "I've asked for the Special Victims Unit to look into this and give us all the info they can find out about it."
"Good, let's first find out, if Jay and his brother even reached their destination today. If they arrived in Wisconsin. Reconstruct their route and check their cell phone records. I want to know where they were last."
Hailey nodded, but then she averted her gaze from her Supervisor again.
"Sarge.", Adam pointed to the screen. "The countdown has ended."
They could see the image zooming out, revealing the person who was in the room besides Jay. It was Will.
"Shit...", Hailey muttered and she gritted her teeth.
Then another person came into view, but he was wearing a transparent plastic mask to hide his features. It appeared to be a man, somewhat older, judging by the gray hair. He was wearing a suit and at first he remained standing at the foot of the bed, before he moved and came to a stop next to Jay.
"Who is that?", Voight asked, pointing at the man. "We need to find out. Fast. He's leading us to Jay."
Then something cracked in the connection. Apparently, the audio had just been activated and they could now hear the man's voice.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. I welcome you to our first interactive Auction..."
/
Will watched in horror, as things unfolded in front of him. Cayden spoke like a Presenter into the camera that was on the wall to their right, while the image on the large monitor showed them three and after that Jay in close-up. He wished there was something he could do, but he had already tried several times to free himself. But he could only continue to watch what was happening.
On the screen, one could now see the bids that were coming in on the top left. On the right, the clock was counting down. The price rose and reached the set mark of 300 Dollars after only a few minutes. The countdown stopped and Cayden re-entered the picture. Will switched from the screen back to what was happening in the room.
"Three hundred Dollars after only four minutes! You're really hungry, I see. Very nice. Before I get started, I'd like to introduce you to our very special guest."
Everything in Will tensed again, when Cayden approached him and when he realized that the recording now showed him. Nervously, he glanced at the camera.
"No! Leave him out of this!", Will heard his brother, but the well-dressed man was still focused on him.
"This is Detective Halstead's brother. Will is head physician at the Gaffney Medical Center in Chicago, and I was actually hoping that Dr. Halstead would perform the planned medical procedures to help Detective Halstead to last as long as possible. But Dr. Halstead has refused to cooperate, so I will now be doing the procedures myself. And I'm certainly not going to be as skilled at it." Cayden laughed and ran his hand over Wills hair again. Will was so disgusted by his touch by now, that he jerked his head to the side as he glared at him. "Of course, you can also decide about Dr. Halstead's fate later. So by all means, stay tuned."
Cayden went to the desk for a moment, then he returned with a thin carving knife. Will was now fully aware of the role that Cayden had intended for him, when he had proposed their deal. Then his eyes fell back on Jay, who was agitatedly watching everything that was happening. No, Will could never have done this to him...
/
Everything in Jay tensed, as he saw Cayden coming at him with the knife. Again, he yanked at the straps.
"Detective Halstead recently recovered from a gunshot wound,", Cayden now informed his viewers. "So I'm going to try to insert the knife pretty much right at the spot where the tissue has just grown back..."
Jay gritted his teeth and tried to brace himself against what would follow. You could still clearly see the entry wound above his hip. It stood out red against his otherwise pale skin. Cayden now placed the tip of the knife in the center of the wound. Jay did not want to give Cayden, or the spectators, the satisfaction of screaming. He felt the tip of the knife penetrate his skin a moment later. Then Cayden applied enough pressure for the blade to finally cut into the tissue and into his muscles.
Jay groaned as the pain exploded in his side. The pain reminded him back to the day when his father had died. Of the moment when the bullet had hit him in exactly that spot... He felt himself begin to shake with tension, while his breath came in short gasps. It felt like the process was taking an eternity. When Cayden finally pulled the blade out slowly, he couldn't help but scream in agony after all.
/
Will thought he was going crazy, as he watched what Cayden was doing to his brother. He watched in horror as Jay's blood dripped from the wound through the bars of the bed onto the floor. It slowly but surely formed a small pool of blood there.
"And we're moving on.", Cayden announced. "You can vote on the next injury for free. Broken bone or cut? We'll move on in five minutes."
The man walked back to the two masked men and thus out of the picture for the spectators, who, however, could continue to watch Jay endure the inflicted pain. Will's gaze was literally glued to Jay, who lay on the bed breathing heavily and shaking. He was sweating and Will was trying to communicate with his brother despite the tape over his lips. Jay actually turned his head to look at him a moment later.
"It's okay, Will...", he said softly, his voice shaking. "It's all right."
Will shook his head. Nothing was okay, what was Jay talking about? Was he seriously trying to calm him down, even though he was the one who was being tortured? Frustrated, he felt tears welling up again.
/
"Okay, so what do we know about what happened before the kidnapping?", Voight asked and Hailey walked over to the memo board, to summarize their findings so far.
"The two left Canaryville for Wisconsin this morning around 5:00 a.m. by car. Destination was the vacation home of their family. The house is just outside of La Farge. It takes about four to five hours to get there by car. We were able to ping the last locations of their smartphones before they apparently drove to an area, where there was no reception. There is still a lot of nature out there that is not covered by the network. Apparently, the car broke down and Will's car was dropped off at a repair shop in Viola. The employee there said that they took a cab after that. They probably drove to the house from there. So the kidnapping must have taken place at the house, which means the perpetrators had to know about their visit."
"Do we know who the guy in the mask is by now?" Voight asked.
"No, but Kevin continues to follow the Livestream and maybe we'll get a clue from Jay himself or through voice recognition.", Adam now said.
"Okay, we have to continue to stay alert,", Voight said. "Hailey, Adam, I want you both to assist the authorities in Wisconsin in finding the two. I'll have flights to La Crosse and a rental car booked for you. You should arrive in La Farge in 2 to 3 hours.
"2 to 3 hours?" Adam asked. "Sarge, that's too long."
"That's the fastest we can currently organize. We'll keep you posted on any news in the meantime."
"All right...", Adam rose from his chair and reached for his jacket.
Hailey hesitated. She found it hard to move away from the only connection she currently had with her partner. On the road, they couldn't follow what was happening on the Livestream. But maybe, she thought then, it was better that way - considering what Jay might be facing. The images would probably burn into her memory forever. So she finally nodded in agreement and followed Adam down to the garage.
/
After the first vote had fallen on a cut by knive, Cayden had cheerfully inflicted it to Jay's right forearm. There had been other auctions and votes after that. Jay had meticulously followed each countdown at the beginning, but none of the time periods set had counted down completely in the end. The required amount of money had been reached earlier and earlier. It was almost as if the speed at which the viewers placed their bids was increasing. And apparently, they were willing to pay any sum that Cayden asked for.
The votes between countdowns only served to show the details of his injuries and to examine them more closely, as he had come to realize. But they were the only moments when he could be sure that he would not have to fear further abuse. He then tried to focus on his training in the military, to face the pain rationally and to stay strong. He had no idea how long the torture had been going on. In the box and in the darkness, he had lost track of time and the countdowns offered no reliable clues, as they kept stopping before their time.
He could, however, count his injuries. In addition, there had been a stab wound to his right shoulder, three broken fingers on his left hand, a burn on his abdomen, two electric shocks, several punches and cuts. The current Auction was in for a broken Collarbone. The price: 1,000 Dollars.
By now, Jay felt pain in almost every part of his body. He had long since given up his plan not to scream. His voice was hoarse. His head was throbbing with every heartbeat and he wondered if it was from the blood loss or from the constant tension. His strength was slowly fading and he almost wished that he would drift into unconsciousness for a few minutes. Just not feel anything... But whenever he threatened to drift off, Cayden used a kind of smelling salt to wake him back up.
Will had gone quiet behind him a while ago. Jay didn't even want to imagine what he was going through by having to watch the whole thing - as a brother and as a doctor.
Jay kept his eyes closed and focused on his breathing. Then, he heard Cayden next to him again. "A thousand Dollars! Awesome!" He opened his eyes when he felt Cayden's hand on his sweaty forehead. It took a moment for his eyes to focus. Cayden was holding something in his hand, a cloth that had been twisted into a rope. "I want you to bite down on this, Detective. I don't want you choking on your own tongue, when we get right to it. You're drifting away a little too often for my liking. And we're going to need you for a while longer."
"Fuck you, Cayden!" ,Jay groaned softly, turning his head to the side.
Rudely, the latter grabbed his hair and pulled his face back to him. Then, he stuffed the cloth in his mouth and Jay had to gag It immediately sent new pain through his battered body. Cayden covered his mouth, while one of the masked men approached the bed. He held a large hammer in his hand. Jay could no longer take his eyes off the tool, which shortly thereafter smashed his left collarbone with a powerful blow...
/
Hank looked up, as Atwater approached him and Burgess. He was glad for the interruption, because he couldn't bear to watch what was being done to Jay any longer.
"I know who has them. Jay said his name a few minutes ago. Very low, but I was able to filter it out. It's Alexander Cayden.", he looked excitedly at him and Burgess.
They all knew immediately about the case, even though it was several years ago. Now Hank also realized, why the kidnapping had focused on Jay and why it was all happening on the Darknet. He cursed himself for not thinking sooner about the fact, that Cayden had used a similar approach in the past to commission the murders of young women and to sell them for as much profit as possible.
"Cayden is supposed to be in high security prison, isn´t he?" Burgess asked now.
"Apparently, he isn´t anymore,", Hank replied somberly. "I'll call the Authorities in Minneapolis right away and I´ll try to find out, how the hell he got away and why they didn't inform us.
/
Hailey straightened her seat belt after they´d picked up the rental car at the Airport in La Crosse.
"Even if I hit the gas the whole time, it's still going to take us an hour to get there," Adam complained, as he pressed the start button on the navigation device for the tenth time. He had just entered the address of the La Farge Police Station.
"Hey.", Hailey reached for his hand. "It won't go any faster that way. Shall I drive?", she asked, though on the inside, she was at least as tense and frustrated as Adam.
Adam glared at her now. "No... I just can't get these images out of my head. I've seen Jay injured way too many times... And haven't they both been through enough? How long has their dad been dead? Has it even been a month? These two don't deserve this, Hailey."
Adam had always been impulsive and he needed to be open about his feelings. Hailey on the other hand, was the stark opposite. Ever since they had both recently gotten closer, she had been trying to deal with that part of his personality. She herself preferred to work things out with herself, but she didn't want to hurt him, so she was looking for an appropriate response. At that moment, she was almost glad when her cell phone rang. She saw that Voight was trying to reach her, so she immediately put it on speaker.
"Sarge.", she greeted him.
"We have the name of the kidnapper. Alexander Cayden.", the latter said straight out.
"Oh shit...", Adam muttered next to her and he finally started the ignition of the car.
Hailey frowned and looked at her colleague. She had no idea who Voight was talking about. Then her Supervisor continued.
"Cayden was supposed to be transferred from High Security to the Psychiatry, after he seriously injured an inmate. Somehow, he managed to escape during transport. They don't know how yet themselves. He killed all the officers who were with him during the transport."
"How long is he out?", Adam asked.
"Long enough to plan the kidnapping of the two brothers.", Voight returned. "We'll send everything over to you. Hailey, get familiar with the case."
"You got it, Sarge.", she confirmed. Then Voight ended the call. She immediately turned back to Adam, who was now watching the traffic with a tense expression.
"Who's Alexander Cayden?", she asked him.
"Man, I was hoping never to hear that name again.", he replied, giving her a worried look. "It took Jay months to process it all back then."
Then he told her what had happened five years ago...
/
Will had been staring at the slowly growing pool of blood, that was formed by the stab wound in Jay's abdomen for what felt like an eternity now. He felt nauseous and at some point it seemed to him, that his body had taken control and had sent him into a kind of shock.
Jay's screams, the sounds of abuse, Cayden's good-humored chatter - he was still aware of all these events, but he felt strangely numb. Everything came through to him only in a muffled way, and by now, he was concentrating mostly on breathing and calming his stomach. He hoped he wouldn't throw up. He knew if that happened, he would most likely choke because of the duct tape.
He was then brought back to reality when he realized, that someone was walking towards him. He lifted his gaze and saw one of the masked men. The man crouched down in front of him and cut through the tape that bound his legs to the chair. Then the man rose again and grabbed his hair. Finally, he pulled the tape from his mouth. Will immediately gasped for air, then he was pulled onto his feet. His legs initially buckled under him. He had simply been forced to stay in one position for too long. The guy pulled him back up and Will groaned, as the pull sent a sharp pain up his bound arms. One hand now grabbed his neck, while the other was wrapped around his upper arm. The masked man pushed him along and Will stumbled over to the bed - to Jay.
Their eyes met. Will realized he had seen that look on his brother before. But it had been a very long time ago, shortly after he had returned from War. His usually lively green eyes always told him how his brother was really doing, even though he didn't talk to him about such things. Now, Will could read in them that Jay had already given up. That he was ready to put all of this behind him. The scariest thing for Will about it was, that he could understand him. A person could only take so much. Jay's numerous injuries also had consequences that affected his circulation. Hypovolemic Shock, Hypokalemia, accompanied by Cardiac Arrhythmias from the blood loss, Electrolyte Imbalances and Fluid Deprivation. Slowly, Jay's muscle functions probably ceased. He urgently needed an infusion of Isotonic Saline and Blood Infusions. In addition, there were other factors that Will could list endlessly in his head.
„I'm sorry.", he wanted to tell him, but his voice failed, so that only his lips moved. He was sure, however, that Jay had understood him. His brother nodded imperceptibly and closed his eyes.
"Dr. Halstead...", Cayden's voice came through to him now. "I've decided that maybe we do need to involve you a little more. You've been way too quiet over there. Come, stand next to me."
He was pushed over to Cayden and then the masked man moved away. Cayden stood in front of him with a knife.
"I don't think you caught the last vote, did you?"
Will looked over at the screen and saw the result - Stab Wound Upper Thigh. His gaze drifted back to the knife that Cayden was holding. The blade would cut through Jay's muscle tissue, causing violent bleeding and pain.
"Where do you want me to stab? More to the side or would you rather do it up here?", Cayden asked him.
Will cleared his throat. He didn't want to answer him, but he did anyway. If Cayden cut through a major artery, Jay would bleed out in minutes. He had lost too much blood by now.
"Lateral.", he therefore answered quietly. Then he raised his head and looked at Cayden. "Take me. Go ahead with me. I beg you."
Cayden acted surprised. "What was that? You want to volunteer? Sorry, my audience has already paid for something else."
With one motion, Cayden sank the blade into Jay's thigh and his brother cried out hoarsely, his voice failing by now. When the knife was pulled back out, dark blood immediately welled up from the wound and that was the moment when Will finally threw up. He turned to the side, doubled over and vomited on the floor next to the foot of the bed. It wasn't the blood, Will was sure of that. It was Cayden and the whole situation that finished him completely.
The masked man was back all at once, dragging him backwards again, where he gave him an additional punch in his cramping stomach. Will stumbled backwards, his tied arms and back hit the wall, then he slid to the floor and stayed on his side. He tried to catch his breath, as he heard Cayden's laughter ringing in his rushing ears.
/
"So, Jay saw Cayden back in Minneapolis during the interrogation?", Hailey asked, as Adam slowly came to the end of his narration.
"I remember him telling us at the time, that the brief meeting with him had been very disturbing."
"And what happened to Fiora?"
"She woke up from the coma shortly after. However, she had lost part of her memory. She didn't recognize Jay after that. As far as I know, he never saw her again after that."
"Woah, what?", Hailey asked in amazement. "And none of you had ever thought to tell me that? I've been trying to figure this man out for about two years now. I'd like to know, if I'm entering another minefield. The time of his therapy really sucked for me, too. Do you realize that, Adam?"
"I know that you worry about him. I´m sorry, but if Jay had wanted to talk to you about it, he would have. That´s how I see it. You know Jay..."
"Yes, but whenever I think I know him, I find out something like this and I feel like I actually only know a fraction of him."
She glared at him, yet he continued to focus on the road. She wasn't angry or really surprised that she had never heard the story before. What she actually meant but didn't want to say in front of Adam was, that she and Jay had been through so much together over the past few months. And he finally had actually made noticeable progress during his time in therapy.
He had opened up more to her and she felt that a real friendship had developed between them. She could trust him, and she found it harder and harder to think of him merely as her partner, even though she didn't really want to let herself have those feelings. She had sworn to herself, to keep work and private life separated. And now, all of a sudden, she was somehow with Adam and she was worried about Jay more than ever.
"We'll be right there. We'll find him, you know that, right?", Adam asked now.
Hailey crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked out the window without answering him. She thought about how much the current events could destroy Jay´s progress in therapy. How long would it take him to process it all?
"Hey...", Adam put a hand on her leg.
She glanced at him and nodded. "I know. We'll find him.", she only replied and she forced herself to smile briefly.
/
Jay just wanted to sleep. He was freezing and slowly, he didn't get much of what was going on around him. He only felt the new injuries, if they came. He perceived that something cold was being poured over him, but he could not open his eyes anymore...
/
Welcome to La Farge.", Seargent Anderson greeted his two visitors after they´d entered the Police Station. "How was your flight?"
"All good. Thank you, Sir.", Adam replied politely.
Hailey and he shook hands and they nodded to the other bystanders. Voight had already briefed the local officials on everything. As far as Hailey was informed, the search for the brothers was already underway, with interviews being conducted and patrol officers keeping their eyes open for anything suspicious.
"So where can we start?", she asked without hesitation.
"We've tried to narrow down the search radius, depending on the time of arrival to the start of the Livestream. Interviews have revealed that the victims were taken north, out of town in a van. After that, unfortunately, the trail gets lost. Our traffic surveillance is not that well developed here. We therefore have to assume that the perpetrator could have detained the two victims outside our jurisdiction. We have therefore informed the Police Stations north of us as well and sent pictures of the two victims and of the perpetrator to them."
Hailey could feel herself getting angry. She was frustrated, because apparently the colleagues on the scene had found out purely nothing. And they already had shifted the responsibility further.
"The victims? Their names are Jay and Will Halstead.", she therefore said tensely. "Show me a map, what's north of us?"
A young female Officer approached her and pointed to a map on the wall. "I'm informing you about the search radius," she said.
"I don't care about the search radius right now. We don't know when exactly they were taken or if the Livestream was started immediately after they were transported. Get me someone I can talk to about network coverage and internet hubs around here."
/
Will's nerves were at breaking point after noticing that Jay had apparently fallen into a deep unconsciousness. Not even Cayden's smelling salts or dousing him with cold water could bring him back. He feared that his brother's body wouldn't last much longer. Part of him was petrified at the idea that he could actually lose Jay in a very short time. But another part was almost grateful that he was currently finally free of the pain that he had been enduring for so many hours.
"We're going to take a short break, Ladies and Gentlemen.", Cayden said at that moment, looking into the camera. "We'll resume in thirty minutes. In the meantime, vote on how you want to proceed. You have several options to choose from. Take advantage of the time. This vote is free."
Will noticed Cayden nodding to the two masked men, then the transmission changed and the screen simply showed the interim voting results, while the cameras were turned off.
„Damn it!", Cayden yelled angrily all at once. He tore the mask from his face and Will flinched involuntarily. Then Cayden came towards him. Will was still lying on the floor. They hadn't bothered to move him back to the chair. He looked up at him. "I want you to use the break to take care of him. I don't care if you tamponade the wounds or give him fluids. I want him awake for the grand finale!" Cayden grabbed his arm and pulled him up.
Will struggled to his feet and looked determinedly at the older man. "No." he said.
"Excuse me?", his counterpart took another step forward and grabbed his neck. He pushed Will against the wall again. It hurt, but he didn't squeeze hard enough to cut off his air. "So you're going to let him die?"
"He's going to die either way, isn't he?", Will squeezed out. "I'm not going to prolong his suffering,", he countered, as he held Cayden's gaze.
Cayden leaned forward, searching Will's gaze for any uncertainty, anything he could use to blackmail him further. But Will had made his decision.
"What a damned stubborn man you are," Cayden muttered. "I'm beginning to think it might be worthwhile to play with you a little after all."
/
"Sarge, I was on the phone with Hailey a while back. She had the idea to look for suitable access points for the internet broadcast. Cayden needs high bandwidth for the Livestream."
Burgess had just walked into his office and Hank looked up. "The Livestream just got cut off,", he said. "I'm starting to worry we might be too late."
Burgess looked at him nervously. "No... Hailey's approach is good." she then said, and she lifted a tablet that showed a map of the area around La Farge. "The van was seen heading north, out of town. The next largest city from the time line is Sparta." She clicked on the city name and handed him the tablet.
Hank took a quick look at the infrastructure of the place. About 10,000 residents, several major resident businesses.
"I'm sure they're there somewhere.", Burgess continued. "Also, when I was on the phone with Hailey, something occurred to me. I´ve talked to the Senior Physician who last treated Cayden in prison."
"Okay, tell me you have something useful."
"The doctor told me that there's a new government project that allows particularly dangerous inmates, to be implanted with a microchip without their knowledge. Cayden has been given such a chip.", with wide eyes she looked at him.
"But previous chips don't have much range.", he said. He was not well versed in these things. "How does that help us?"
"The government's new chips have a longer range than previous RFID or NFC implants. The range could be increased to a mile and should serve the case that a fugitive can be found quickly, once the escape is known."
"Except Cayden's escape wasn't even noticed at first," Hank returned.
"Not soon enough to locate him there, but now we can narrow down the search area. The Sparta urban area covers about 12 miles. If you use several cars starting from a central point, you can probably locate the chip very quickly. After that, you can draw the circle tighter and tighter. And as someone with an active transmitter gets closer to the microchip, we'll eventually be able to pinpoint Cayden's location."
"And how do we make sure people in the field get an active transmitter?"
"An app. The doctor is sending it over to us. Sir, that might actually work."
Hank wanted to share Burgess's enthusiasm, but in the end he could only trust that she hadn't miscalculated.
"Fine. Call the Sparta Police Station and let them know that we need their help. If you get stuck, keep connecting to me. Send them this app. I'll inform Hailey and Adam. I´ll have them download this app to their smartphones as well. They shall get on the road immediately."
Hank watched, as the young woman left his office. Then he ran his hand over his forehead. He hoped they finally had some luck. Next, he reached for his smartphone and he dialed Ruzek's number.
/
Will stopped against the wall, heart pounding, while Cayden beckoned the two masked men to join him. "Move the bed to the wall and get their dirt off the floor." Cayden pointed to the blood and vomit, then pulled Will back to the chair and made sure he sat down. He went back to the bed for a moment and returned with a knife in his hand. "It's time you realized that your stubbornness will not only cost your brother his life, but yours as well."
Will's gaze fell on the knife. He dreaded what was coming, but if Cayden was now focused on him, it meant that at least Jay was safe from him for the moment.
Cayden brought a finger to the neckline of Will's shirt and pulled the fabric from his neck a little. Then he placed the tip of the blade on Will's chest and began to pull it down. Not only did he cut through the fabric, he also cut into Will's skin. The sensation was sickening. Will pressed his lips together and tried not to make a sound. He didn't want to give Cayden any more satisfaction. Unfortunately, he didn't succeed in his plan, as the older man was still visibly pleased with his handiwork, when he finally ripped the shirt open a bit more.
"Promising.", Cayden said as he stroked a finger over the bleeding wound.
The cut wasn't deep, but the touch burned like fire and an anger suddenly flared up in Will. He did something, he was about to regret shortly after. He unexpectedly thrust his head forward, thereby giving Cayden a headbutt, that sent him stumbling backwards. Then, Will jerked his legs up and he kicked at the older man. He caught him, knocking him to the ground. Will stood up and already saw the two masked men coming towards him. With his hands behind his back, he couldn't do much, but he used the last moment to kick Cayden in the head, before he was grabbed by the two men and brutally pulled to the ground.
To his regret, Cayden had not been knocked unconscious and the man was already straightening up, although he seemed surprised at Will's attack and was now pressing a hand against his head. The men held Will down, kneeling on his legs and pressing his shoulders to the floor. Will was still amped up from his action and tried to squirm out from under them. Without another word, Cayden picked up the knife he had been holding earlier. Will could see him swaying, but then he approached him.
"Get him up."
Then everything happened very quickly. The men moved, got up, and pulled Will back to his feet as well. The next moment, Cayden jammed the knife into his stomach. All at once, all air left Will's lungs as his back arched and he slumped forward.
"Into the box."
/
„Thank you, Detective Brown. We'll be right there.", Hailey finished and looked at Adam. "They've located the signal to the east of town. He said probably behind the Golf Course. There are some empty houses for sale there. We'll meet the Units at a church on Montgomery Street. Then we'll narrow the area down further."
"So Kim was right!", Adam laughed in relief. "Put in the address and then let's finally get going."
Hailey liked nothing better. The drive to Sparta had taken more than thirty minutes and she was annoyed, that they had already wasted so much time. She wanted Jay and Will to finally be safe again.
/
Breathing heavily, Will leaned against the back wall of the Plexiglas cube the men had brought him into. They had removed the handcuffs and then locked the cube. When they had left the room, they had turned off the lights, so he was now left in total darkness, just as Jay had been before.
He pressed a hand against the wound, which kept sending waves of sharp pain into his upper abdomen. In the darkness, he could not make out how much the wound was still bleeding. From the position of the wound, he guessed that Cayden had caught his gall bladder, if not part of his liver. Probably Cayden would be right and he would not survive this...
/
Jay didn't know for how long he had been unconscious. The pain in his shoulder from the broken collarbone had finally brought him back to reality. He expected to hear Cayden's voice again at any moment. So he tried to continue to pretend to be asleep and move as little as possible.
"Several police cars are approaching our position, Sir,", he then heard someone else say.
"Then it's time to go. You know what to do. Back up the data and be gone," Cayden replied.
Jay realized that this was the first time he had heard the voice of one of the masked men. Suddenly, he felt Cayden's hand on his chin.
"I know you're awake.", he said and Jay slowly opened his leaden eyelids. Cayden's face was close to his. "I'm sorry we can't finish our little game. But rest assured, it's been a very special pleasure to me, Detective."
Then he let go of him and Jay wondered, if that was indeed the end of the torture. Was Will going to be all right? Had Cayden spared them, for instance? But in the next moment his hope was dashed, as all hell broke loose around him. After a moment he realized that a fire had been lit in the room...
/
"Shouldn't the Livestream be back online by now?", Kevin asked. They had all gathered around his screen by now, waiting for news.
"Hailey, status.", Hank requested tensely over the cell phone.
"We're about to go into the house, Sir,", she informed him. "I'm switching off now, radio silence while we approach the building."
"Roger that.", Hank ended the call and looked at his remaining Unit. "Now we know why the Livestream stopped. Presumably Cayden realized that he was being tracked."
"You think he escaped?", Burgess asked.
"Someone like him would´ve taken precautions.", Kevin said. "Hopefully Jay and Will are still alive."
"Let's hope they're still in the building and that he didn't take them with him.", Hank added, impatiently staring at his smartphone screen.
/
"We have to wait for the Fire Department!", one of the Senior Officers shouted.
"I'm not waiting any longer!", Adam shouted to Hailey and she was incredibly glad at that moment, that he was as determined as she was to enter the building.
As they had made their collected approach, the house had burst into flames with a thud. Cayden must have prepared it in advance. She was sure that Jay and Will were still in the building, and they probably didn't have the time to wait for the Fire Department. She nodded to Adam and then they both ran.
"Stop!", the Officer called behind them.
They ignored him and kept running. Adam finally kicked in the door, so they could gain access to the inside of the building. The foundation of the house appeared to be stone and concrete, but the upper part was made of wood and it was already ablaze, when they went inside anyway.
"Basement!", Hailey shouted and Adam headed for a door next to the kitchen, that presumably hid the access to the lower floor.
They tried to hurry past the burning furniture as quickly as possible, but Hailey felt the heat scorch the hair on her arm. With weapons drawn, they waited until the door was fully open after they´d reached it. They were lucky and sure enough, there was a staircase leading down here. The smoke that had been created by the fire hit them and rose up through the now open door. Hailey had to cough and the smoke burned in her eyes, but they kept going.
Once downstairs, they could breathe a little better and their vision was clearer. They found three doors here. Adam nodded to her and he took the first door on the left, while Hailey covered him. The door was unlocked. When he opened it, they discovered lots of technology and cables in the room.
"Keep going!", Hailey shouted and she now turned to the right. She opened the door and smoke hit her again.
Again, she and Adam had to cough, but they went in together. In the glow of the fire, which seemed to be coming through from the room next to it, they could make out something in the middle of the room. It was a kind of square cube...
Hailey pulled out her cell phone and turned on the device's flashlight. It didn't do much, but she was able to shine inside the transparent cube. They stepped closer and Hailey could hardly believe her eyes, when she spotted Will inside the cube. He was lying on his side and the bottom of the box was smeared with blood. He appeared to be unconscious. The door of the cube was secured with two locks and they couldn't free him at the moment.
"What a sick bastard!", Adam groaned in horror beside her and he took the radio that he had received from the other Officers out of his pocket. "Send someone in with a bolt cutter immediately. Basement, second door on the right. And I hope the fire department is there by now, guys."
"Just arrived.", someone replied.
"Then send the Paramedics down here as well."
"We've got to keep moving.", Hailey said and she coughed again.
Even though it was awful to leave Will behind, they still had to find Jay. They left the room and approached the last door. Hailey tried to push it open, but it was locked.
"No!" she shouted in frustration.
"Step aside!", Adam stepped beside her and pointed the gun at the lock in the door.
He pulled the trigger and the wood of the massive door splintered, as the bullet hit its target. Then he kicked it and the door finally swung open. Heat and more smoke hit them and they saw, that the fire was raging much more fiercely in here. The flames blocked their way.
"Jay!", Hailey called after him and she tried to run inside, but Adam held her back.
"We can't go in there!", he said desperately.
"He's in there!", Hailey groaned and Adam put his arms around her torso from behind, to hold her tight. She began to cry, unable to hold back any longer. Adam pressed her against him and pulled her back a little. "No!", Hailey sobbed desperately and she tried once again to pull away from Adam.
"I know... It's okay...", he said next to her ear and he rested his chin on her shoulder, as he continued to hold her in his arms.
Then, finally, she perceived several people rushing past them into the basement. Two Firemen began to fight the flames in front of them with water.
/
"Ruzek, report!", Hank almost yelled into his phone, when it finally rang. It had taken far too long for either of them to finally answer.
„Both alive.", was the first Ruzek said and Hank, as well as everyone present, breathed a sigh of relief. He had immediately put the call on speaker.
„Thank God.", Burgess groaned.
„What's their condition?", Hank now asked.
"Critical. Sarge, that sick bastard set the house on fire when he realized that we found him. That's why we couldn't call in sooner. The Fire Department got them both out. They have severe smoke inhalation and Jay has so many injuries, I couldn't count them. Will has a stab wound in his abdomen and he´s going to need surgery. Jay probably, too."
"Will they pull through?", Kevin asked with concern.
"The Paramedics on scene couldn't answer that. Hailey went with them to the hospital and I'm heading there now."
"Get back to me, as soon as you have any news.", Hank concluded and he ended the call.
The initial relief that the two brothers were alive had quickly turned to a new concern and as he looked into the faces of the others, he knew they felt the same way.
/
„Hi.", Hailey looked up as Adam entered the hospital waiting area and greeted her. "Do you know anything new yet?"
She glanced at him briefly, then lowered her head again. "They're both being prepped for surgery. However, because of the smoke inhalation, their blood oxygen levels need to come back up first. Will is bleeding internally and Jay... Jay is a landmap of injuries. First they want to fix the collarbone fracture.", she summarized.
"And how are you?", he asked, and she looked at him again. He was worried about her, she could tell, but she was also angry with him and she didn't know how to act.
„You shouldn't have held me back.", she blurted out.
"I was trying to protect you.", he replied quietly.
„I can protect myself, Adam,", she returned. "Jay was damn lucky the flames hadn't fully reached him. But his arm got burned... If I'd gotten to him sooner, I might have been able to prevent that."
"You could have died in the process, though," Adam countered. "It was too dangerous, Hailey. And I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."
Again, she looked at him and finally she nodded. Basically, she knew he was right. He took a seat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. She allowed it, and so they waited until there was finally news regarding the brothers.
/
Jay had been awake for a few moments now. When he had come to and realized that he was lying on a soft bed and that he was obviously in a hospital room, he had been grateful for the first time in his life to wake up in such a place.
He cautiously turned his head and spotted Hailey just entering the room, holding a coffee mug.
"Jay!", she quickly approached and a smile broke out on her face. "How are you feeling?"
Jay looked at her tiredly and he wanted to ask about his brother.
"Will?", was all he could get out hoarsely.
He had to cough and Hailey quickly sat down on the chair, that was next to the bed. She reached for something and then Jay felt something cool against his lips. Ice... she had handed him an Icechip and he opened his mouth. The cool liquid immediately soothed his irritated throat and he slightly nodded gratefully. Then he looked at her again, waiting.
„Will's alive, he's going to be okay.", she then replied immediately.
Jay frowned. "What happened to him?", he whispered.
Hailey looked at him with concern. "You don't know? A stab wound. But it's going to be okay."
"That bastard.", he wearily closed his eyes. "Where's Cayden?"
Hailey grimaced. "He's on the run, but he won't get far."
Jay couldn't believe it. So the nightmare wasn't completely over. It wouldn't be over until Cayden rotted back in prison.
"Tell me, how do you feel?", Hailey repeated her question and he looked at her again.
Instead of an answer, he then looked past her and he watched the painkiller drip from the IV into his cannula. He did feel like gravity was pushing him further and further into the pillows and like he was underwater, but he was grateful that he was currently pain-free and that he could escape the reality out there for a little while longer.
"Jay?", Hailey leaned forward a bit and gently placed her hand on his arm. "It´s okay. You´ll be okay..."
He nodded and closed his eyes once more. He couldn't talk about what had happened right now, even though he was incredibly glad to see Hailey at this moment. He was incredibly relieved that Will would apparently be okay. And he would tell Hailey everything when he felt ready. But for now, he needed a little more rest. He didn't even notice himself drifting back into a deep sleep.
/
Will had regained consciousness in the recovery area of an unknown hospital. The nurse present had reported, that he had just come out of surgery. A doctor had come to him shortly afterwards and had told him that the bleeding caused by the stab wound, had been stopped.
He had also learned from the doctor that Jay was doing well under the circumstances and that he was stable again. Will had already expected the worst and so he was just happy to hear this news.
As he was taken to a room, he spotted Adam Ruzek in the doorway a moment later.
"I'm sure you were hoping to have a pretty lady visit you," the Officer greeted him.
Will smiled slightly and he tried to sit up.
"Hold on, hold on.", Adam was with him in two steps, helping him.
"Thanks.", Will let himself sink back into the cushions. "Good to see you, Adam."
"Hailey's here too, she's with Jay," he informed him.
"How's he doing? Is he awake?"
"He came through surgery okay. Whether he's awake, I don't know yet, sorry.", Adam pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. "How are you doing? I think I'm still getting some nightmares thinking back on this case. So I don't even want to know how you're feeling."
"I think it's going to take me a while to process this, too...", he admitted.
/
Jay flipped through the television program and he was glad when he noticed movement in the corner of his eye that distracted him. Maybe Adam or Hailey had come back?
He turned his head and was surprised, when Will walked in. His brother was propped up against the doorframe, still looking pale, but he was smiling. Jay was relieved to see him. He returned his smile. Then, Will had reached the chair next to his bed and he carefully settled down on it.
"What are you doing here?", Jay asked in amazement. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"
"That's all right, I asked a doctor.", Will tried to joke as he grimaced in pain.
"Do you want me to call someone?", Jay was concerned.
Will raised his hand. "I'm fine... I'll be fine." Then he looked at him. "I wanted to see you."
Jay just nodded. "Looks like I'll be here for another while."
It was a stupid answer, he knew. He was glad to see Will, but he didn't know what to say.
"I was really scared for you.", Will then continued.
Again, Jay was silent and just looked at him. He felt guilty for what had happened to Will. If he hadn't been so eager to see Cayden back then in Minneapolis, probably none of this would have happened.
"I'm sorry.", Will said now and Jay shook his head slightly in amazement.
"No...", he replied. "I'm the one who needs to apologize."
"What makes you think that? Cayden cloned my phone and was able to ambush us because of it.", Will said.
"He could have been waiting for us somewhere else. None of this is your fault and I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I wish I could have spared you all this."
"I'm glad I was with you.", Will said now. "It's going to take a while to get over this, but maybe we can agree that Cayden alone is to blame for what happened?"
Jay regarded his brother for another moment, then he nodded. "Thanks... I'm glad you're okay."
Will took Jay´s uninjured hand in his and squeezed it briefly. Jay was grateful that all was well between them.
"So, what are we going to do about the house?", Will asked then and Jay even had to laugh at his cranky brother for a moment...
/
THE END
